Title: Looking After
Artist/Author: KivaEmber
Character(s)/Pairing(s): Young!Germany, Prussia - platonic
Rating: PG- 13 (because of Gilbert's cussing)
Summary: AU. Ludwig remained up late one night to see Gilbert to bed.
A/N: This was for Kaya, because she was feeling depressed XD; I know I've been neglecting my creative writing in favour for work, this is a bit rusty. Ahahah…
You may all guess how old Gilbert is in this, he can be anything from eighteen to twenty two (shrugs lamely because she is lame).
Enjoy!
X.x.X
Ludwig was drowsing on the kitchen table when Gilbert came home.
The twelve year old boy jumped back into full awareness when he heard the front door slam shut and was followed by a muffled curse. He sat up straight and rubbed his eyes to be rid of the itchiness of sleep and peered blearily at the kitchen clock. It was an old Mickey Mouse clock that Gilbert had found years ago, and was always an hour late in telling the time.
"He left the light on again? Fucking brat…" Ludwig heard Gilbert's voice mutter, and he tore his sleepy eyes from the clock to glance down at the homework sheets sprawled out before him on the kitchen table that he had been working on. That's when Gilbert came into the kitchen, unbuttoning his thick jacket and pulling the checkered scarf from around his neck.
"Ludwig…" Gilbert growled, and Ludwig looked up at his older brother looming over him with a faint frown. "What the fuck are you doing up past midnight? You go to bed at ten, idiot."
"I fell asleep doing my homework, Bruder," Ludwig murmured, lowering his eyes to the still incomplete sheets. Normally he would've gotten such things done on the day he got it, but lately there had been many things going on at the moment that Ludwig had entirely forgotten about these homework sheets until he had started to pack his bag for school tomorrow – well, technically, today, as it was fast approaching one in the morning.
Gilbert draped his jacket over the back of the kitchen chair Ludwig was sitting on, and dropped his scarf over Ludwig's head. The young boy pulled it off with a disgruntled expression. "Homework? I thought your nerdy ass got your homework done on the day you got it?" He laughed and picked up one of Ludwig's homework sheets.
"Well, I…actually forgot about it," Ludwig admitted with a faint flush as he folded up the scarf and placed it carefully on the table. "I've been busy making dinner and cleaning, and well…"
"…" Gilbert put the homework back down and walked over to the small fridge they had. They had small everything, since most of the money went to the payments of the flat they lived in. It was two bedroomed and modest sized, but Gilbert had to have three jobs paying for it so the things inside the flat were small, like that fridge, and the television. They only had one sofa too.
"I'll buy some ready meals tomorrow," Gilbert suddenly said as he picked out a beer bottle from the fridge door. "Five minutes in the microwave," He rapped his knuckles on the ancient microwave atop of the fridge, "And then you can spend all you fucking want on cleaning and remembering to do your homework."
"Ready meals aren't healthy for you though," Ludwig spoke up, shuffling his homework sheets into a neat pile. He wouldn't be able to finish it tonight, and he could get up earlier in the morning to get it done before he went to school.
"Fuck brat, eat a carrot with it then!" Gilbert snapped and Ludwig fell silent, making sure that the edges of his pile were straight.
Gilbert was quiet too, drinking the rest of the beer bottle in large gulps before he tossed it into the 'recycle bin'. It was something that Ludwig had brought up, and even though Gilbert scoffed and laughed at him for being so caring of the planet, he did obligingly throw plastics and glass into it.
"Look," Gilbert sighed, rubbing a hand over his face and Ludwig carefully peeked at his brother's drawn face. "You can do that in the morning; let's tuck you into bed now."
Ludwig slid off of the kitchen chair with his homework papers in hand, and Gilbert picked out another beer bottle from the fridge before ushering Ludwig to his bedroom. It was the biggest bedroom – which wasn't saying much – and only held a bed, a dresser and a small cupboard, as well as the doggy bed in the corner for the dog Gilbert bought him last year for his birthday.
(It was because Ludwig always wanted a dog, and even though he never asked Gilbert for one because he was aware of the money problem, his brother still bought him a dog saying, "Well, if he ends up getting too expensive to keep, we can keep him as emergency rations" before exploding into that odd laugh of his – Ludwig hoped he wasn't serious)
Ludwig placed the homework sheets on his dresser and Gilbert crouched by his dog, Berlitz – a rather pudgy German Shepherd – and patted his head. Ludwig quickly got changed into his pyjamas, a pale blue with little yellow chicks emblazoned on them, before crawling into bed, and Gilbert stood and stepped up to his bedside.
"No more staying up past midnight, right?" Gilbert said, pulling Ludwig's duvet up to the boy's chin. "Don't want to burn your innocent eyes whenever I bring some bints round to fuck."
"I'd still hear you," Ludwig said – the closest he ever got to being cheeky – and got a mild smack on the head in reprimand.
"Shut it. No, you don't hear me. It's your imagination. Now," Gilbert took a pull from his beer, "Need me to read you a bedtime story?"
"I'm twelve, Bruder."
"Still young enough for a good bedtime story," Gilbert said absently, looking about Ludwig's small bedroom, "Now where's the Brothers Grimm's book? Those are /real/ fairytales."
"I'm fine, Bruder, I don't need a story," Ludwig sighed, discreetly sniffing the air. Gilbert already smelt strongly from beer, and he doubted it was from the two he had just had. It wasn't unheard of for Gilbert to hit the pubs after work before he came home. "Go to bed, you have work in the morning."
"That I fucking do," Gilbert muttered and patted Ludwig's head, "Remember to get up on time, ja?"
"I always do."
"Good," Gilbert stood there awkwardly for a moment, staring down the neck of his beer bottle before draining it. "If the teachers give you shit for your homework say I tripped down the stairs or something and you were too distraught over my injury."
Ludwig nodded although he knew he would say no such thing, "Gute Nacht, Bruder."
"Ja, ja, Gute Nacht," Gilbert stayed there for a minute longer before walking out of the bedroom, and now that Ludwig was looking carefully, he could see the slight sway in his brother's gait.
A minute later Ludwig heard Gilbert's own bedroom door open and closed, and climbed out of his bed to switch his bedroom light off. He paused though, staring out of his open doorway into the darkness of the hallway, before quietly treading out down to Gilbert's bedroom.
He opened the door without making a noise, and peeped in, sighing when he saw Gilbert sprawled out on the bed, face down, the beer bottle having been dropped onto the floor. Ludwig stepped in on his tiptoes, and carefully pulled the duvet out from under his brother's prone body and clumsily draped it over Gilbert. He even tucked the arm and leg sprawling off of the edge of the mattress back onto the bed and stepped back to observe his handiwork. He nodded in satisfaction.
"Gute Nacht," Ludwig whispered as he quickly retreated from Gilbert's room.
All he got for an answer was a snore.
Fin.