The first thing that Gilbert was aware of was the smell off coffee. It was some kind of spiced coffee, but it was a good, comforting smell.

Then he was aware that he was in a soft, warm bed, covered up to his shoulders. The pillow was nice and the sheets were some kind of fleece.

He opened his eyes and was staring up at the ceiling. The distinct ceiling fan told him that it was his brother's room.

No. That was wrong.

He sat up, and immediately regretted it. His entire body felt stiff and sore and he felt like he had just been hit by a car. What in God's name had happened? He tried to remember what happened before but...he couldn't.

What day was it? What time?

"Gilbert." A voice filtered into his ears and he slowly looked over to see his brother, smiling at him kindly. "It's me, it's Ludwig."

"Ludwig," he repeated. Of course it was Ludwig. He sat in a plush chair next to the bed, but something about him looked...off. "What happened?" he whispered, looking around. Not just Ludwig, but everything seemed off. Everything seemed in right order - his chest of drawers next to his brother, his side of the bed that they shared, photographs on the wall and nightstand, but yet...

It was as if he was in an exact replica of the room. He was here, and everything looked the same, however it wasn't quite right.

Ludwig gently reached out and put his hand over Gilbert's, giving it a gentle squeeze. "You were hit by a car," he said quietly. "You...you died."

"I died?" Gilbert's attention snapped from the surreal room back to his brother.

"Yes. You died. But it's okay. I brought you back to life."

Gilbert fisted the sheets underneath him. "...But how - what - how long-"

Ludwig shushed him instead of reply. He shifted and moved to sit on the edge of the bed, slipping an arm around Gilbert's shoulders gently and pulling the man against him. Gilbert allowed it, still reeling from shock. He died? He was dead? Only for a few minutes, right? People's hearts stopped sometimes but if you could get it to beat again in enough time before brain activity stopped...

"We had an argument...but I got very upset and I told you to leave. So you ran away and...you got hit by a car. That was a year ago."

"A year-" Gilbert's heart almost stopped again just from that. A year? A year ago?! What...how...

"But I couldn't just...accept that you were gone." Ludwig looked away, sounding emotional. "I love you, Gilbert. And you love me too, of course, we were just so inseperable, so I just...couldn't even think of my life without you. So I worked so hard to bring you back. I worked for a year to bring you back. And I'm so happy that it worked." He pulled Gilbert against his chest and cradled him there.

Gilbert slowly, uncertainly, slipped his arms around Ludwig. This seemed...familiar. Kind of. He wasn't even letting himself process it. Gilbert had died, Ludwig had brought him back to life, a year later.

"How did you..." was all he could muster out.

"I always loved biology and anatomy," Ludwig explained, running his fingers through Ludwig's hair. "I admit I got obsessive. I had to do it. So I researched and experimented and...it took so long, but it was worth it."

He kept saying that. And he kept touching Gilbert. And it was nice, he supposed. But he just needed several minutes to think. "Ludwig, can you...get me water," he whispered.

His brother let go of him and left the room per his instructions.

Once he was alone, Gilbert looked around again, flexing out his limbs. This might explain why everything felt off. It was his brain's first time processing these things in a while, after all. That must be it.

Next to the bed was a framed picture of the two brothers, embracing one another and gazing lovingly into each other's eyes. At first glance he was puzzled by it. He didn't remember that. Maybe he had just forgotten...memory loss was probably something that just happened.

Him and his brother...the way they looked at each other was definitely not the way brothers should look at each other. Were they...?

Oh right, they were. Memories slowly flitted across his consciousness. They were lovers. Had been for several years. Slept together, went on dates together, loved each other...

Somehow, though, that didn't sit right. He loved his brother romantically? No way.

But he kept remembering that. Ludwig's arms around him, his lips against his own, his body weight on him, his-

He stopped right there and closed his eyes tightly, shaking his head to banish the thought. Not now. He was probably just in shock. That must be it. There was no way the brain could just continue to function normally after being dead for that long.

Ludwig came back shortly after with a smile on his face and a glass of water in his hand. He stopped in the doorway, taking a deep breath when him and Gilbert met eyes. 'It's so good to see you...sitting up, looking around, breathing! It's wonderful."

Gilbert just offered a strained smile and reached out for the glass. He took it carefully, drinking it quickly. He was incredibly thirsty, without even realizing it. "Ludwig," he said quietly once the glass was empty, placing it on the nightstand. "We're...um...together, right?"

"Yes." Ludwig said eagerly, sitting on the chair again, a bright smile on his face.

"How long?"

"Hmm...well. You were about eighteen. And I was fifteen, when we...got together."

Right. That fact stuck out to him. "I...approached you?" he said. He vaguely remembered that. Talking to Ludwig about how much he loved him and couldn't keep it in any longer.

"Yes. And I said I felt the same." Ludwig put his hand gently on Gilbert's shoulder. "It's okay. It will all come back to you in time. Spotty memory is...kind of typical of this. I'm pleasantly surprised that you remember as much as you do."

Gilbert looked at him, smiling back weakly. "Right...me too, Ludwig." He whispered the words, but this feeling of surrealism that nagged at the back of his mind would not go away. It was like watching the world through some kind of film or tint over his vision. Everything appeared fine, and there was no one thing that was jarringly out of place, however the world just did not seem the way it should be.

"I missed you so much, Gilbert. I love you." Ludwig's hand on his shoulder moved to his brother's chin, lifting it.

Gilbert's eyes met Ludwig's, and he didn't move even as Ludwig leaned in to kiss him gently. Gilbert kissed him back, hoping to squash the mental war raging in his head about how this was right, it wasn't right...had it always been like this?

"I love you, too."


A/N: I thought it was going to just be a 2-parter but I want to keep the chapter pretty short, so this one will wrap up next chapter. Promise!