Quiet.
That's how it had been for a while, since he was alone at home. Felicia had gone on a shopping tour with her sister, to buy the last missing presents for Christmas. Given the fact the two of them weren't able to meet up for a while, they'd probably sit in a café afterwards to catch up, so it was safe to say it'd be a while until she'd be back.
Before then, he could finally get some peace in those busy days before Christmas.
Just, he couldn't really get into festive mood, something didn't sit right with him.
When the cuckoo-clock struck the full hour, he was reminded of his brother's silly remark that that thing would make him look even more old-fashioned. As the bird's cry echoed through the living room, he realized why he didn't like the silence.
Gilbert.
Gilbert who had, not so long ago, declared that he would move out of the house they inherited together and move in with a friend.
"Can't interfere with my brothers chances to score some, can I?" he had said, winking.
Ludwig, red as a beet, had been grateful in accepting the offer to live alone with his future-wife-to-be.
Remorse had eaten at him ever since. It was the house they had spent all their childhood in, that held so many memories, that had been their home.
As of that moment he couldn't really think of it as a home.
Felicia had done her fair share of redecorating. "Nesting instinct!" Gilbert had jokingly called it. And it had turned the house into something nice and warm, but without his brother in it, it felt sort of empty.
It seemed like he wouldn't be able to enjoy Christmas without a bit of Gilbert in it.
He reached for the phone.
They met at the snow filled park nearby Gilbert's new place. With his brother were his new roommates, long-term friend and former classmate Roderich and his brother, Fritz, who was pulling a sleigh after him.
They sure made an odd pair! While his brother's attire gave away his military past, everything in camouflage, the other looked rather elegant in his navy blue long coat, whilst his legs were stuck into knee high boots, far too dressed up for a mere stroll in the park and Ludwig's taste.
As they had waved their "Hello's," they decided on walking around the park for a bit.
"Shall I pull the sleigh for you?" he offered to Fritz.
"Yeah!" the bouncy kid answered and sprawled on the sleigh in a superman pose.
So they walked for a while, the adults talking and Ludwig dragging the sleigh for Fritzi.
"How is living with my brother? He isn't that bothersome, is he?"
"Pffft, please~ When am I ever?" Gilbert said.
Having lived under the same roof for long enough, Ludwig just cast Roderich a meaningful glance.
"Hmmm…" Roderich tapped his chin. "How about, when you burned pizza once and tried to make up for it with ice-cream for dinner?"
"That was a one-time-thing!"
"Or when Fritz had left paint stains on the carpet and you decided the wall could do well with matching colours?"
"To be fair, I wasn´t entirely sober, then…"
"OR, when you and Fritz were so set on helping me bake and ate all the dough before the actual baking?"
"THAT wasn´t even my idea!"
"So how about, when you taught Fritz how to play 'Rammstein's Haifisch?'"
"That was just a display of musical talent!"
"…on my pots and pans?"
The bickering went on like this for a while and Ludwig simply moved in front of them, pulling the sleigh faster in order to get him and Fritz out of the way, just in case those two would jump each other's throats.
'How did those two ever become friends?' Ludwig wondered, more importantly, 'Why was a man like Roderich okay with his brother moving in?' he mused when, suddenly, snow exploded on him.
He turned to face his brother, who had another snowball ready, aimed at him.
"Hey! Mister! Where are you running off to with that child of ours? Looks suspicious to me!"
'Oh no he did not!'
A snowball fight ensued.
After they had calmed down a bit, they were walking side by side again.
"Seriously!" Ludwig stated his confusion "How do you even get along? Are they always like this?" He addressed the last part to little Fritzi.
"Uh-huh!" the kid nodded "It´s been like that always, like, since Gilly made my brother to allow~ to him sleep in the living room."
'The living-room?' Ludwig wondered, and then realised: Roderich's house was small. In fact, the only bedrooms were Roderich´s and Fritzi´s.
Ludwig winced. He had driven his brother out after all. Living in a makeshift guestroom, off the goodwill of a childhood friend, that couldn't be right. He was known to worry too much about things, but this time,… He had basically made the other homeless!
"Gilbert, I…" he started, but was interrupted by Gilbert right away.
"Folks, I'm hungry! Can we get dinner?"
"Oh, sure! What about you Ludwig? Are you eating with us?" Roderich offered.
So they all headed to the house.
When they got back to the house, Fritzi was first to get rid of his jacket and scarf, throwing them in a corner. While Roderich was starting a lecture, Ludwig had to chuckle at his antics, feeling reminded of how he had been as a child when getting home.
'…home…' he thought as he felt a soft tug on his heart
"Come on let´s sit in the living room till dinner is ready!"
"No, Gilbert you're not!"
"Huh?"
Roderich repeatedly pointed to the ground. Everyone looked down and noticed that the tips of their pants had become drenched during the snow fight, leaving wet smears all over the floor.
"You're not running around like this!"
"Then, what do you expect us to do? Drop our pants in the hallway?"
"Yes, I would very much like that. Thank you!"
Gilbert shrugged and turned to Fritz.
"Alright kiddo! You heard the commander!" he ordered, zipped his pants open and dropped them, revealing red boxers with "Angry birds" print, causing Fritzi to giggle like a maniac. Gilbert flashed him a smile.
Rolling his eyes, Roderich went to the kitchen, leaving Gilbert to deal with the mess.
Gilbert eyed his brother. "I'll lend you some," he offered, and Ludwig nodded at him. He took his pants and went upstairs, taking two steps at a time.
The boy simply wiggled out of his pants, revealing bright red, cotton tights, hopped off to the stairs and flopped down.
Ludwig mimicking the boy, simply undressed in the hall.
When his brother came back, he had jeans on and handed him a spare.
While Gilbert cleaned the floor from muddy prints, Ludwig slid into the jeans. Low cut, just as his brother liked them, but Ludwig preferred jeans that weren't sliding down to his knees with every step.
"Could I borrow a belt?"
"Oh? Are they big on you? That's your fault for being so skinny. Are you sure you're eating enough, little one?"
Which earned him a great laugh from the child, because, to him, it must seem ridiculous to call someone as big as Ludwig little.
"You can borrow one of mine!" Roderich stated walking out of the kitchen, while he tied an apron around his back; blue with white snowflakes. "The bedroom left from the stairs, closet on the right." he added, while disappearing again.
And as he made his way past Fritz, he ruffled the boy's hair, who squealed, shot up, grabbed his brother's hand and dragged the laughing man off to the living room.
When he finished putting the belt on and was about to shut the closet door again, he met eyes with a poster of "Frederick the Great of Prussia".
As soon as his eyes fell on the jovial face, he caught his breath and the entire world seemed to stop.
When Gilbert had moved out, everything that he owned would fit into a bag.
In fact, the only bag he took from home held all of the things Gil deemed worthy of keeping.
Spare clothing, a photo book filled with his most precious memories, a yellow radio clock that Ludwig gave him as present, a stuffed toy that he had gotten at a fair ages ago, a rusty harmonica, his passport, and said poster of old Fritz that he had bought on a trip to the museum when he was sixteen.
As he had joined army as soon as he had left school, he was of the practical kind, never to keep things that would slow him down. In fact, if there was a fire and every other person being at loss of what to save first, Gilbert would know just fine what he would. The life of his beloveds first and foremost, followed right after by this bag.
Now, all that had been in this bag was there, in Roderich´s room - properly hung on coat hanger or neatly folded or placed on the shelf. Not to mention a good deal more that simply screamed Gilbert, such as black, neatly polished army boots, a pair of Adidas sweat pants, the "twelfth man" fan shirt of the German national soccer team, some collectable mini-figures and on the wall next to the closet, a movie poster of "Pacific Rim."
Eyes wide, Ludwig turned and faced the bed. The sheets were folded on his now right side and on the nightstand next to the lamp sat a digital clock flashing the time at him in bright blue. Next to that lay a thick book closed, bookmarked about halfway through.
On the left side, there sat a panda plush on the pillow, the nightstand held another radio, shaped in the form of a yellow bird. On the floor next to this side was a hastily folded pair of green army trousers.
He made it to the door, feeling like on the inside of a soap bubble, sort of floating, disconnected, his heartbeat raging, all sounds strangely dimmed.
As he stood at the top of the stairs, he was greeted by the smell of dinner and cookies. Roderich's doing, no doubt, and that would explain the rumble in the kitchen. The sound of laughter, coming from the living room, washed over him as he strolled downstairs.
He paused at the living room door. Inside sat Fritz and Gilbert, both busying themselves folding papers into star-like shapes. They were giggling and drawing faces at each other.
In front of his brother sat a piece of paper that looked like a one-by-one how-to instruction.
His sight blurred, replacing Fritz with himself and the stars with cookies.
Their grandfather had never been one for sentimental antics, and as Christmas came around presents would be handed over unwrapped at the breakfast table. As Ludwig was around eight, he wished for cookies. Knowing what "Gramps" would think of baking, he had asked his brother.
Gilbert didn't know how to bake, but when his younger sibling begged for it, he went to buy himself a cookbook and made it happen.
Ludwig could still see themselves covered head to toe in flour as the first plate of cookies came out the oven, only slightly darker than they ought to be.
His arms were running goose-bumps.
The scene before his eyes now was not much different, as the up and down of voices ebbed over him. The face of his brother filled with fondness while the face of the child gleamed with joy.
He backed off, letting his feet wander towards the smell of childhood memories.
He stopped short in the kitchen doorway. Inside, Roderich moved around, stirring a large pot that sat on the oven, taking out a spoon and tasting what the pot contained, "Gulyas," judging from the colour, nodding in approval.
Ludwig let his eyes wander over the other, taking in his appearance.
Slim waist, small shoulders, legs which were clothed tight with denim. Legs that would never fit into camouflage army pants. Slender hands that now held a mixing bowl and a dough scraper, placing cookies on a plate. Now that he was inside, he wasn't wearing a scarf anymore, revealing the arch of his neck, and on it, just in between the crook of the shoulder and the loop of the ear, sat a small, cherry coloured circle.
White dots clouded Ludwig's vision, while his heart beat somewhere near his Adam´s apple.
'…home…' he thought again, '…Gilbert's…' he thought.
Before his mind could catch up to where his subconscious already was, his alien legs took three long strides, crossed the room, and pulled the older man into a bone crushing hug.
Evidently startling him, since he dropped the dough scraper sending spatters every which way. Ludwig didn't pay attention, while he was holding the other, he was deeply inhaling the other's scent. A mixture of vanilla and some shower-gel, which smelled like his brother's favourite.
Roderich's voice washed over him but he was not really hearing it. He pulled back, only a little, to face two amethyst eyes layered with confusion and concern. A pale hand was raised in a fashion to either cup his cheek or to touch his forehead, to feel if he was running a fever. As the other didn't seem to know how to proceed the hand was frozen in midair. Ludwig caught it and squeezed it affectionately.
And as if the touch reconnected his haywire thoughts, the world shifted again, leaving his mouth to twitch into what could have been called a smile, if only it lasted long enough.
He bounced back, turning on his heels, heading for the door, where he turned his head.
"I´ll set the table," he stated, leaving the other bewildered in his wake.
My first fanfiction ! ^-^
Since I was unsure about it, I asked for help.
A kind person, who did not know me, but still agreed to this. Thank you! =)
The title "Fröbel Sterne" relates to the paper stars Gilbert and Fritz are folding. The term translates to "German Stars" in English.