Brotherly Love

"Fuck!" Gilbert Beilschmidt cursed, having just stubbed his toe on the island in the middle of his kitchen. "Gottverdammt!"

"Bruder?" A small blond boy with bright, ice blue eyes came wandering into the kitchen just then, looking up at his older brother in confusion, who was currently trying not to kill the island. "Are you okay?"

Gilbert looked down at him, red eyes wide in shock. He didn't even realize the boy had been standing there. He quickly smiled, however, and ruffled his hair. "Don't worry, Ludwig! Big Bruder's got this!"

Ludwig scowled, fixing his hair, before he sat at the table. He followed his albino brother's movements as he wandered around the kitchen, trying to find the stuff to make his famous—okay, maybe not famous, but it was certainly a favorite of Ludwig's!—wurst. Finally, with a triumphant cry, he produced a pan, and started cooking.

"Took you long enough." The fourteen year old muttered, though he smiled. There was no trace of the stoic side of him that would plague his life later on. "Are you just making wurst?"

"Nope!" Gilbert beamed, pretty much glowing as he leaned over as though to tell his little brother a secret. "Remember that boy I told you about, Matthew?"

Ludwig nodded; he remembered the blond well. He had always been one of Gilbert's best friends, and just recently, his brother had confided in him that he thought he loved the easily-forgotten Canadian. Ludwig didn't have a problem with his brother being gay; in fact, nearly the entire town was gay. Rosen View might as well have committed hate crimes against straight people!

"Well, he's coming over to make us pancakes." Gilbert declared, smiling a smile Ludwig hadn't seen in a while. "Have you ever had any before?" A shake of the head, and a gasp. "Was? And this is why I told him it was a crisis!"

Just then, the doorbell rang, and Ludwig informed Gilbert that he would go get it. His brother—who may have acted like a sixteen year old, hormonal boy on the outside, though when it mattered, he acted his age; twenty-two—let out a yelp, and ran to get ready while the wurst cooked.

"Hello, Matthew." Ludwig greeted the lilac-eyed boy with a smile, and let him in. "He was just beginning the wurst."

"Hi Ludwig!" Matthew replied cheerily, carrying a few ingredients and utensils. "I'll get started then, eh?"

Ludwig nodded, and sat at the table again, watching the quiet Canadian get to work. He seemed to know just where everything was, which made Ludwig wonder if he had been to the house before. The young boy blushed, when he thought about just why Matthew would have been there before.

"Birdie!" Gilbert suddenly super-flying-tackle-pounced (Gilbert's creation) the poor unsuspecting male, causing Matthew to let out a yelp as he crashed to the ground. "You're here!"

"Of course I'm here." Matthew groaned as he shoved Gilbert off of him. "I told you I would be here, didn't I?"

Ludwig watched as the pair bickered like an old married couple, then kissed as though they were honey-mooners. He felt as though he were invading the intimacy of the moment, and got up to pull the wurst off the stove. He put it on a plate, and hoped to sneak out without Gilbert noticing. What? Ludwig liked his wurst!

"Stop where you are, fiend!" Gilbert yelled just as Ludwig had managed to get to the living room with his prize. "Come back here! You're going to eat a pancake, right now!"

Miraculously, in all the kissing and bickering, the older boys had managed to cook up several pancakes. A plate was placed before Ludwig on the table—after the wurst had been taken from him—and he stared at the round thing for a moment.

"Please tell me it's not what I think it is?" Ludwig groaned, assuming it was those strange potato latkes that a crazy little Latvian down the street had tried to get him to eat. As much as he loved potatoes, there was no way that Ludwig was going to eat something that so badly destroyed potatoes. Oh, how Ludwig loved potatoes…

"It's batter, not potatoes." Gilbert replied, knowing exactly what Ludwig meant. Even Gilbert, who eats anything and everything, couldn't stand them. "God damn blasphemy to potatoes…"

Ludwig curiously poked it with his fork, before taking a bite of it. His eyes widened in shock, and he quickly started shoveling more in. Eventually, his fingers were sticky—how did syrup get on his fingers?—and he had bits of pancakes all over his clothes.

"Did you like it?" Gilbert asked, white eyebrow raised.

"Can I have some more?" Ludwig replied, blushing slightly.

"I'll take that as a yes!" Gilbert started laughing along with Matthew, and went to get his brother some pancakes.

From then on, Ludwig always looked forward to Matthew coming over.

Okay. So, don't hate me, because I totally butchered them, but I don't care! Older Brother!Gilbert and Young!Ludwig are too cute. I imagine that Ludwig was much more open, less stoic when he was little. I can't imagine he was always such a stick-in-the-mud!