I felt like writing something different today and this happened. I have no clue how many chapters this will be. Set at the end of WWl.

—

Chapter One

Gilbert wasn't sure how it happened. He remembered it, of course he did, but it had gone by so fast. He'd come home after a long afternoon fixing up someone's car, not even bothering to wash his hands as he collapsed on the sofa.

Not like there was anyone around to notice anyway. Gilbert had long given up caring about the occasional oil stain on his old and beaten up couch.

His thoughts about getting a beer were interrupted when he heard a loud thud in the kitchen.

Shit. Had someone broken in?

He grinned widely at the thought. He'd wanted some excitement in his life. And hey, if he shot the bastard, no harm no foul, right? They'd been asking for it by breaking in after all.

Gilbert grabbed his gun from the desk, adrenaline and excitement running through his veins as he slid into the kitchen, ready to show whoever it was that they picked the wrong fucking house.

He was surprised by large blue eyes, staring up at him in mortification from the floor.

It was just some kid.

Some kid that looked like he'd sprained his ankle pretty damn badly. Great.

"The hell you doing here, kid?"

The boy's small mouth quivered slightly and Gilbert realized he still had the gun cocked at him.

"Hey, I just thought you were some burgler, I ain't gonna shoot!" He threw the gun on the counter to make the point clear, the boy looking slightly more secure, though still completely embarrassed, cheeks all red and eyes downcast, Gilbert would almost say he was cute.

If he had liked kids at all.

He finally noticed the apples scattered on the floor and realized, the blond was trying to steal from him. He must have fallen trying to crawl out the kitchen window.

"Hey! You better tell me who your parent's are! I'm not gonna just let you go!" Even if the kid probably couldn't walk out if he tried and even if he was just a boy. He still clearly needed a good whipping.

The boy kept staring at the floor and Gilbert snarled, grabbing his small chin. Damn, he was terrible with kids. "Well?!"

"I don't have parents."

Gilbert was going to call bullshit, but when he really looked at the young boy's pale face and just how sunken in it looked… Not to mention the fact that he was taking nothing but food… He suddenly felt a pang in his chest. He'd lost his own father fairly young, and he couldn't imagine growing up completely without one.

He sighed and lightly touched the boy's ankle. "Does it hurt?"

"No…" Gilbert wasn't sure why the other was lying, because the pain was visible on his face when he moved his fingers.

"Well, you obviously can't walk. I guess I'll call someone to get you."

"No! Please!"

The plea was so full of emotion and it made Gilbert stop in his tracks. The boy looked suddenly mortified by his own outburst.

"I can walk. Please. I'll leave." He placed his small hands on the floor and tried to push himself up, whimpering in pain before he was even halfway there.

Goddammit. It looked like Gilbert was going to have a kid on his hands for a couple of days. "Stop it. You can stay here. I won't call anyone."

"I don't take charity."

"But you'll steal from me?"

That shut the kid up, and when the hell was some eight year old kid so damn proud?

Gilbert shook his head and scooped him up, ignoring the slight splutter of protest as he carried him to the couch. "There. Make yourself comfortable or whatever."

Not that the kid could move anywhere. He didn't respond, simply tracing an old stain on the couch with his finger.

"I'm Gilbert. What's your name?"

More silence.

"Hey, I can still call someone. You can at least tell me-"

"They called me Ludwig."

"They called you? Is that your name or what then?"

"I don't know my real name."

"Oh…"

Gilbert slumped his shoulders and fell down on the other side of the couch. Yeah, he'd really needed this.

"You hungry?"

Ludwig looked like he wasn't going to answer again, but his stomach quickly answered for him.

"You like sausage?"

The boy couldn't hide the joy on his face at the word sausage. Gilbert just grinned. This wasn't so bad. "I'll make some, yeah?"

"Sure!"

And it wasn't long before Ludwig was stuffing the meat in his face like he'd never eaten before in his life.

But that wasn't what struck him.

No, what struck him was the way Ludwig was looking at him. Just a few small sausages and the boy was looking at him like he was the greatest thing in the world. Was that really all it took?

A sharp knock on the door brought him out of his thoughts, and he quickly walked over to answer it. Visitors were always fun.

Not that he had many. Well, any really. Who the hell could it be? Maybe it was an old army buddy!

"Ah-" Nope. Just a policeman. Of course. "Hello, officer."

The uniformed man looked him up and down, staring at his dirty clothes disdainfully, but Gilbert didn't care. Living in this part of town and in this kind of house earned him enough deference, he didn't need them to think he was some stuck-up priss like Roderich. "We're looking for a young boy that recently escaped from the orphanage. Ten years old, goes by the name of…Ludwig. Have you seen him?"

Gilbert realized the man had a full view of the couch and he swallowed nervously. "Can't say that I have…"

"And who's that?"

"Oh, that's my…little brother. Starved after being at school all day, you know?"

Gilbert didn't want to admit how nice saying that had sounded. He'd always wanted a brother… The officer didn't seem interested in chit-chat though, and he just nodded and gave a curt, "Let us know if you see anything," before leaving.

He breathed in deeply as he shut the door after him, turning to go back to the couch. "Hell, you trying to get me in trouble or-"

The look on Ludwig's face had completely changed, and he hadn't thought the boy could get any more pale. Apparently he'd been wrong. "Hey, it's okay, they're gone. Don't look so-" This is why he hated kids. Sure, they were cute when they were all happy, but what the hell was he supposed to do now? He placed a hand clumsily on Ludwig's head, trying to smile down at him. "There's seconds, if you want it."

"…Okay."

Ludwig didn't say much for the rest of the night, ice blue eyes just watching everything Gilbert did, which would have been unnerving if the kid was any bigger, but he just chucked it up to childhood curiosity and left it at that.

—

The next morning he woke up to find Ludwig looking through a book. He hadn't even remembered leaving it on the table, and he was slightly suprised the kid could read.

And that he looked like he'd been up for a while. What time even was it?

"You like books?"

"Yeah… I don't really understand it though…"

That made more sense. Must have just been bored.

"Your ankle still hurt?"

"Mmm…"

Well, at least he was slightly more talkative now. "I'll make breakfast, you can-"

"I have to go to the bathroom."

"You have to-" Oh. Right. He hadn't been able to move all night. How long had he been holding it in?

Gilbert suddenly realized the boy needed more than directions too.

Fuck.

—-

Once that embarrassing ordeal was over, he sat the boy at the formal dining table. Might as well get some use out of it after all, not like anyone came to use it and it'd probably be fun for the kid to pretend he was at some huge banquet. He saw Ludwig's eyes land on the piano in the corner, staring at it almost wistfully.

"You play?"

"A little."

"Great! You can play while I make food!"

Ludwig looked reluctant, but Gilbert wasn't going to hear anything after he helped the kid piss. He seemed to take it well enough once he was moved to the bench, stretching his fingers and asking the older man what he wanted to hear.

"Aw hell, anything! That piano hasn't been played in years!"

Gilbert turned to go towards the kitchen, stopping suddenly as Ludwig started confidently playing the Moonlight Sonata.

He didn't miss a note.

"That why they named you Ludwig?"

Ludwig just bristled slightly and kept playing, leaving Gilbert to finally turn back and start making the food.

It was nice having someone play for him.

—

Later that evening Ludwig was finally able to stand again. A little wobbily, but it confirmed that it was just a sprain and nothing had actually been broken.

"I'll pay you back," he said quietly.

"..For what?"

"The food… All of it… I would have paid you back for what I was taking too. Once I found a job. It…wasn't stealing."

Gilbert didn't have any doubt now that that was true. He could already tell from the brief encounter with him that the boy was extremely principled.

But he was sickly looking too, and that was likely why he'd had such a hard time at the orphanage. How would he ever survive the streets? Being principled wasn't exactly something that helped you survive out there.

"Where are you going?"

"I don't know."

And hell if Gilbert wanted this kind of responsibility, but it'd been nice having someone here, and he wasn't going to throw some kid out on the street.

"You're staying here."

"I told you, I don't take-"

"Yeah, yeah. Trust me, it's not charity. This place is big. There's more than enough dust for you to clean up and keep busy with."

"Dusting doesn't take that long…" Ludwig looked unsure and he was being slightly petulant, but he didn't want to be a burden on anyone.

"Well, you'll be in school too. Ever been to school?"

"…No."

"You're 10, right? I can probably get you into the Gymnasium… Since you can play like that. But you'll be behind."

"I can't-"

"Don't talk back."

Gilbert could tell the boy was torn between his pride and his need to listen to authority, and Gilbert for all his slacking off knew how to be authoritative He'd been a Leutnant in the recently ended world war after all, he knew what it was like to command people.

He briefly wondered if that was how Ludwig lost his parents…

A moment of silence passed before Ludwig shuffled his feet and let out a quiet, "Yes, sir."

Truthfully, Gilbert didn't know the first thing about getting the boy's papers together or getting him into school… He'd have to call Roderich.

Great.