Gilbert scarcely remembered the details of the remainder of the night. He remembered the loudest applause he'd ever heard in his life, watching the band take a bow, and then drinking in the green room for hours with the boys, the crew, and Hannah. He also distinctly remembered Roderich passing out on the couch after two and a half beers. And Elizabeta taking him home… and catching the first rays of sunlight through his window before collapsing into his bed.

His alarm went off at nine, which he considered sleeping in. He didn't typically suffer from hangovers, but it was so early… he probably hadn't slept for more than four hours. If he slept in any more he wouldn't hear the end of it from Ludwig. Unless he was at work…

"Wake up, Dornröschen!" Ludwig called from the kitchen, unfortunately not at work.

Gilbert groaned, rubbing his eyes and slowly rolling out of bed. "Only if you come kiss me, mein Prinz!"

Slowly but surely, he shuffled into the kitchen, the tile cold on his feet. It was colder than usual, he noticed. Much colder. When he reached the doorway, he saw that the window above the sink was wide open. "Christ, Ludwig, it's snowing."

"I know! It probably won't stick, though. I thought that the fresh air would wake you up," his brother said, sitting at the table. He was peering at his phone over his coffee mug.

"Shouldn't you be at work?" Gilbert asked, his toes curling as he walked. The floor became colder closer to the window.

"It's Sunday." Ludwig simply said.

"Oh, yeah." Gilbert reached over the sink to shut the window, seeing snow accumulating on the ledge just outside. "How long has it been snowing? It wasn't when I got home… I think."

"It started about seven," he stated, and then put his phone down in front of him. "You were out quite late. I assume you enjoyed yourself?"

"Oh yeah," Gilbert said as he poured a cup of coffee for himself. "It was a great show. Their music is actually pretty good. Less boy-bandy than I expected!"

"Did you enjoy your time with Roderich?" Ludwig asked.

"I did, yeah," he said. He took a drink of the black coffee. Not his favorite, but not the worst. "I… don't really know where we're going from here."

Ludwig did not respond other than a quiet hum. He wasn't great at offering relationship advice. He had never heard his brother mention relationships, soulmates, or even his Words. Just like their father, he was private beyond reason. Maybe he would never talk to Gilbert about his Words. The two of them were close, but that was the one line that Ludwig had never crossed.

"He wants me to go to Vienna with him," Gilbert said after a few moments of silent contemplation.

"When?" Ludwig asked.

"Not sure, but with Christmas coming up it's a good opportunity to go."

"I thought he was Jewish," Ludwig said, unlocking his phone and resuming his reading.

He had a point. But Gilbert didn't know anything about Judaism, other than sometimes men wore yamakas. And Roderich didn't wear a yamaka. Was he religious? Maybe he was raised in a religious household? Gilbert and Ludwig had been dragged to a Lutheran service every Sunday for years by their father… but neither of them had retained much of the doctrine. Gilbert figured he should probably ask Roderich next time he saw him. It was an important thing to know about his boyfriend, but it wasn't until now that he had thought of it, or had felt comfortable enough to ask him.

Would they have to step on a glass or whatever at their wedding?

What was he saying? He suddenly shook his head, as if to throw the thought from his mind.

"He's not Jewish?" Ludwig asked.

"What? No, he is, I think."

"You think?"

"His family is, at least."

Suddenly the conversation paused, as Gilbert's ringtone went off loudly in his bedroom. "Be right back…"

He ran and picked up his phone, sliding it to answer without looking to see who it was. "Hello?"

"Good morning, Gilbert," Roderich said, sounding tired.

Surprisingly, his heart began to pick up the pace at hearing Roderich's voice. "Hungover, Wienerblut?"

Roderich scoffed, trying to find footing. "…In Austria, we say hello before we begin a conversation."

"So yes?" Gilbert said.

"You left your jacket backstage," Roderich said. "I'm bringing it to you."

"What?" Gilbert said, astonished.

"It's a size too big for me, but Mendel seemed like he wanted it. But I told him the white looked much better with your hair than it did with his."

"Um… thanks…" Gilbert said, unsure what to say.

"Elizabeta and I will be at your flat in fifteen minutes." Roderich continued.

"Oh, um, okay…" he walked out into the living room, suddenly feeling the desire to clean stronger than usual. What a morning. How had Roderich woken up before him? Elizabeta was probably responsible for that.

"Well, I'll see you soon…"

"Are you Jewish?" He found himself asking. Damn it, the coffee hadn't shaken off the remainder of the sleepiness yet.

There was a long pause while the two processed the outburst.

"…not practicing, no." Roderich said. "But I had a Bar Mitzvah if that's what you're asking."

"Sorry, I don't…" Gilbert began.

Roderich cut him off. "…no, it's alright. Are you religious?"

Gilbert laughed. "No, I don't really know what I believe."

His boyfriend hummed in agreement. "That makes two of us."

He wasn't really sure how to respond to that rather… heavy statement, so he didn't. He just sat there, like a complete idiot. What a conversation to have over the phone.

"Well, I will see you shortly." Roderich continued.

"Yeah, see you." He hung up the phone before he could say any more stupid things, and looked around the living room for anything out of place. He wasn't sure why he was panicking, Roderich had been to his place before. But it seemed consequential now. Gilbert didn't want to explain it to himself.

"Hey, Roderich and Elizabeta are going to stop by and bring me my jacket," he called to his brother, taking a couple books off the table and putting them back on the shelf. That was really the extent of the clutter. He and Ludwig kept a mighty clean house.

"Isn't it rude to come over uninvited?" Ludwig asked as Gilbert returned to the kitchen.

"Hey, I'm the one who forgot my jacket. They didn't have to bring it to me." He crossed his arms.

His brother looked up from his phone. "Your boyfriend and his wife are coming over and you're wearing the same clothes you had on yesterday?"

Gilbert looked down at himself before processing his words. "Ludwig…!"

"Go change clothes."

"Okay mother," he grumbled, sulking back to his room. He quickly threw on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. Maybe he should try to make himself look a little more respectable. He had just finished combing his hair when the doorbell rang.

He ran to get it, opening it wide. Roderich for once stood in front, carrying Gilbert's jacket over his own purple-sleeved arm. Elizabeta stood behind him, semi-hidden and looking uncharacteristically down at the ground. "Hey, you guys want to come in?"

"Certainly, thank you." Roderich said, stepping inside. Elizabeta silently followed.

He turned his head backwards, toward the kitchen. "Lud, we have guests!" He turned back around to face them. "Can I take your coats?"

"Of course," Roderich shed his purple coat, a glowing white shirt underneath. Elizabeta also took off her coat, handing it gently over to Gilbert.

He placed them on the coat rack next to the door as his brother stepped into the living room. Ludwig towered over the three of them, especially Elizabeta. He offered a handshake to Roderich.

"We have not yet properly been introduced," he said robotically. "I'm Ludwig Beilschmidt, Gilbert's brother."

Roderich shook his hand, standing straight as a board. "I'm Roderich Edelstein. Nice to meet you."

Gilbert felt the hairs on his neck stand up, so he quickly redirected the conversation. He motioned towards Elizabeta. "And this is their manager,"

"Elizabeta Hedervary." She said, introducing herself. She held out her hand, and gave Ludwig as firm a handshake as he gave her. He seemed surprised by this.

After a moment of the strangers standing in each other's presence, Gilbert spoke up. "Uh, do you guys want to stay?"

Roderich and Elizabeta spoke at the same time. "Certainly." He said.

"No thank you." She said.

They silently turned to look at each other, exchanging an unidentified kind of eye contact. Gilbert pretended not to watch their very odd encounter. He had never seen them act so intensely to each other; there was an unspoken something that brought out silent hostility. Elizabeta did seem to be oddly quiet, but Roderich was as normal as Roderich had the capacity to be.

Not breaking from her stare, Roderich began to shed his coat. "We can stay for a while."

She said nothing, but slowly did the same. She was visibly pissed off. Why wasn't she saying anything? This wasn't normal behavior for her. Something had happened, and Gilbert couldn't imagine what.

"…can I… get you some coffee?" Gilbert asked, taking their coats from them and hanging them on the rack just inside the front door. "It's, uh, real coffee. From the Christmas Market."

Roderich's eyes lit up, and his eyebrows shot above his glasses. "Yes, please, I would love some."

Gilbert looked to Elizabeta. "Liz?"

"Sure. Black, please." She said, still fuming. She looked off to the side, trying to contain whatever anger she was experiencing.

Ludwig had remained silent for the whole interaction, but motioned toward the living room. "Make yourselves at home," he said politely.

"Thank you," Gilbert heard Roderich say as he entered the kitchen. He poured two cups of black coffee and returned to the living room. He handed one to each of his now-seated guests and took a spot on the couch next to his boyfriend. Ludwig reappeared as well, pulling a seat from the kitchen table to join the silent group.

"So, that was a great show," Gilbert said, trying to lighten the tension.

"I'm glad you enjoyed yourself," Roderich said. "This coffee is quite good, thank you."

"I really did! I didn't know you could sing!"

Roderich laughed, trying to hide his bashfulness. "So you said."

"I had just told Ludwig that I didn't know how boy-bandy it was going to be, you know?" He smiled and elbowed his side.

"I'll have to listen and decide that for myself," Ludwig said, crossing his arms.

Gilbert scoffed. "Boy bands are all about the personalities and they all just sing the same notes and don't actually write their own songs, and they don't play instruments."

Roderich laughed. "There is some truth to that."

"Well, you guys are all really talented." Gilbert said proudly.

"Thank you, Gilbert. I appreciate it." He took another sip of his coffee. "I only wish that you didn't have to sit alone backstage."

Gilbert shrugged. "I didn't mind. I mean, I had Hannah…"

"Hannah is a witch," Elizabeta said suddenly. The three men turned to look at her. She was staring down into her coffee, her face frozen in frustration.

"…did she do something?" Gilbert asked.

"She's always doing something," Elizabeta spat. "She is so damn annoying. Self-righteous."

Gilbert wanted to laugh, but it seemed too serious of a situation. He felt exactly the same about Hannah, but he didn't want to upset Roderich. That was his friend, as far as he could tell.

"Oh, of course she is," Roderich said. "None of us like her. Jonas calls her Yoko Ono. Not to her face, of course." He smirked, hiding his expression with his coffee cup.

Gilbert thought Roderich's statement made it more acceptable to laugh, so he let out a smile and some air through his nose. "Why do you keep her around?" He held out a hand and turned to his brother. "It's Mendel's girlfriend, he's the bass pl…"

"I won't get involved in other people's business," Ludwig said, holding up a hand in return.

Roderich scoffed. "She and Ben are childhood friends, but I'm not sure that they get along all of the time. They seem to disagree on fundamentally different things. Of course, Mendel thinks he's in love with her."

"Thinks?" Gilbert repeated.

Elizabeta sat up and took a drink of her coffee. "She manipulates him time and time again. She uses him for control. We had to change some of the tour dates because Mendel wouldn't do anything that she didn't want to do."

"She is always with him." Roderich said. "And therefore, always with us. So we don't have the opportunity to speak to him about it."

"She's doing that on purpose," Elizabeta said.

"I'm aware," he said, sipping coffee.

"That's… wow." Gilbert said. "So what are you going to do?"

Roderich shrugged. "It's not my business."

He scoffed. "It sure sounds like it is."

Elizabeta spoke firmly. "Roderich needs to figure out his own business before he can start dealing with external problems."

Roderich whipped his head around to look at her. The same anger he had directed at Frida appeared for a split second. "Excuse me?"

Elizabeta held up a hand, and looked over at Gilbert. "We really should be going back to Vienna. Thank you for your hospitality," she turned to Ludwig. "It was wonderful to meet you, you have a lovely home." She left her cup on the coffee table and stood, taking her coat from the rack. Roderich had barely set his cup down before she threw his coat at him from across the room.

Gilbert stood up and quickly walked towards the door. "Stay warm in the snow," he said, standing less than a foot away from Elizabeta. He looked her in the eye, trying to read her thoughts. Something was wrong, but he didn't know what. Her eyes showed him only frustration.

"We will," Roderich said, pushing his way forward. "Thank you." He slipped his hand into Gilbert's. Gilbert watched as his boyfriend looked over his face for a moment before opening the front door. "Thank you, Ludwig."

Ludwig, bordering annoyed and entertained, waved to him as he left. "You're welcome."

Roderich took his and back and stepped outside into the cold, Elizabeta trailing him: the same way they had entered. Gilbert watched the pair silently walk to the car on the curb and quickly drive away.

He shut the door and turned to his brother, still seated in the same place, but with his phone in his hand. "Something's wrong. That's not what she's like at all."

"Married couples fight, Gilbert. That is the way of things." Ludwig said.

"Jesus Christ, the one time I'm trying to be serious." He threw his hands in the air and began to pace.

"I am sorry, Gilbert." Ludwig shut his phone screen off and looked up at his brother. "What do you think is bothering her?"

He leaned against the doorway to the kitchen and sighed. "I don't know. Maybe it's about Hannah? But it seemed like Roderich had done something to piss her off."

"Doesn't he piss you off?" Ludwig asked.

"No!" He shot back, and then groaned. "Well, yes, sometimes. She just knows him so well that she knows how to deal with his bullshit. But this time is different. She's like… really angry."

"Well, I don't like to interfere with other people's problems." Ludwig said, and stood. That was his cue that this conversation was over. He never wanted to discuss such things, even if it directly involved his brother.

Gilbert sighed and rubbed his forehead. Ludwig was frustrating, but maybe he had a point. It probably wasn't any of his business, but he couldn't help but worry. Then again, he barely knew Elizabeta. And he still hadn't known Roderich for very long. Perhaps there was no reason he couldn't just let this blow over, and if they wanted to, they could tell him what was going on. He decided to do some cleaning before his shift. That would keep him distracted enough.