The Long Run
Gilbert's changed a lot since he was younger. And he's finally going to get Elizaveta to notice him, for better or worse. Domestic pruhun. Blind!Gilbert.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
His walking stick kept hitting the sides of the very narrow isle in the plane, and he grumbled loudly. Red eyes narrowed, and his nose crinkled. Damn. That was annoying.
"26 D, sir." Came the nasally voice of the young flight attendant. "Take a right, it's the first seat."
"Yeah, yeah." Gilbert muttered, holding out his walking stick for the young woman to take. There was a lightening of his grip, and he let go. As there was no clacking noise, he assumed she had it. He turned to the right, extending his hands in front of him, and felt his way into the seat, plopping down the first moment he could. He sighed. "Finally, the debacle is halfway over, not including going to see my relatives." The flight attendant laughed, though he didn't think it was that funny. She handed him his walking stick, and he set it in between his legs. She walked away, as he heard heavy footsteps moving away from him. Good riddance. He hated having to be /assisted/ on a god damn airplane.
But, as his lack of focus told everyone, he was as blind as a bat. Hell, worse than that, he was so blind drunkards could see perfectly fine compared to him.
It hasn't always been like this though. When he was young, he had been able to see perfectly fine, if he required glasses for reading. Then, as he grew older, 20/20 vision became a thing of the past. When he last saw his family two Christmases ago, who lived in Germany, he had needed the biggest, ugliest pair of glasses humankind had ever seen.
So naturally, he fumbled around, making a damn fool out of himself, instead of wearing them like her /should/ have been.
And the doctors scolded him, but told him that he had six months before his sight was gone completely.
Suckiest six months ever.
Nothing was worse than waiting to suddenly be in the dark, for good.
And now he was going to have to tell Mutti, Vati, Luddy, and all the other crazy relatives, that his sight was for shit, and he was officially blind.
That would be an interesting first conversation after his four years in the US for an international college experience. He wondered absently if they would yell at him for not divulging this information sooner.
Probably.
Especially Luddy.
That kid had a serious case of stick-up-his-ass-itis.
His cousin would probably have a field day, as he had been the only one Gilbert had told about the sight problem, and he would be all, /I told you so/, in his stupid nasally, self righteous voice. Gilbert's eyes were rolling at the very thought.
Little Lily and uptight Vash would be okay, he suspected. They would assume he had his reasons for not saying anything.
Mutti and Vati would be both disappointed and proud. He had not said anything, but had kept up his grades. They would hopefully get over it soon.
Seeing as this was going to be a hella long flight, Gilbert closed his eyes, and napped for the first solid few hours.
He should have known getting off would be harder than getting on. Gilbert internally groaned as a flock of stupid walked as slowly as possible down the aisle. Couldn't they see the struggling blind person? He loudly tapped the cane on the floor, and coughed. That, unfortunately, woke up the baby next to him. He, and a few other passengers gave the mother dirty looks as it wailed.
Babies. Don't. Belong. On. Planes.
Gilbert had to inevitably sit back down as the other passengers grew impatient with him, and he waited 10 minutes before he could get the fuck off the giant metal death trap.
His walking stick was tapping against the seats again, and he was ready to shoot someone.
He hadn't even gotten home yet.
When he finally, finally got to the hotel he was staying on, after a tram ride, a train ride, and a short car ride.
He rubbed his temples as he made his way along, having an assistant help him to the elevator. Once he was on the fourth floor, he could muddle his way along the hallway until he got to 457. Once there, he was lying down, and going the fuck to sleep, until his brother was knocking on his door with his giant fist that always knocked too loudly. It would come in the form of three loud thunks.
He got in the elevator, and had the assistant press the button for him. He heard the doors close, but didn't hear anyone in there with him, so he leaned back, waiting with his bags til he heard the elevator ding. He scooted off, and put his things down as he walked to the wall, and felt for the sign. He found it in a bit, and read the Braille directions. Go right for 450-459, left for 440-449. He turned right, and strode down to the end of the hall, counting how many steps he was taking, and then felt the door signs. 459, he read, so he went to the door next to it. 457.
He took out his room key, and slid it through the scanner, opening the door and feeling his way around. Once he heard the door close behind him, he plopped his bags down and sighed. He toed around the room, finding the bed, the dresser, and the TV. He accidentally missed tapping the desk, and knocked his foot into that. Fuck. Shit. Ow. That hurt.
Once he had mentally mapped the room (with careful consideration to the location of the desk) he found the bed, set down his walking stick, and got some more shut eye.
It came with three loud thunks, and one, "Gilbert Beilschmidt, wake up!" Gilbert laughed, and hoped out of bed.
"That's no way to treat your big brother after he flew all the way out here to see you graduate, even though you didn't see mine!" He said, while fumbling around for his walking stick. Once he found it, he went up to the door, retracing his steps, and going up to the door.
"Yeah, well, I brought you a little surprise for that." Ludwig said gruffly.
"I bet you mine is bigger!" Gilbert said, trying to lighten the mood before everything came crashing down.
He opened the door, and opened his arms for a hug.
He of course got a polite hug, and then he forced his brother to give a better one by hugging him tighter, clinging to his walking stick. "It's great to see you too, Gilbert." He muttered, and Gilbert nodded.
"Great to be here!" He said cheerfully, attempting to look where he suspected Ludwig to be.
There was no response, and he could practically hear Ludwig's gears turning. "Why aren't you looking at me?"
Dammit.
"Uhhhh..." He fiddled with his fingers and walking stick.
"And what is that?" He asked, his voice becoming very calm. It was a ruse-the calm before the storm.
"Look, I can explain..." Gilbert started, but he didn't see Ludwig's hand go up to stop him, so he just continued. "It started soon after high school, and I'd been meaning to tell you..."
"You can't see my hand telling you to shut up, can you?" Ludwig said flatly.
"Damn. I forgot you did that." Gilbert muttered, sounding annoyed.
"You can't?!" He could practically hear the panic in his brothers voice. He felt the air in front of his face move, meaning Ludwig was probably waving his hand futilely in front of his eyes, trying to prove this wrong.
"No, I can't. Don't make a big deal out of this, Luddy." Gilbert attempted.
"How can I not make a big deal out of this, idiot?!" Ludwig yelled. "You're blind!" Gilbert sighed.
"Well, I was right, my surprise is definitely bigger."