Chapter Twenty Five

After arriving back at Frederick's home the grey-haired man had smiled tiredly at his temporary guests. "Make yourselves at home in the spare room, my boys. I'm afraid there is only one bed, but if that is a problem then feel free to make use of the living area as well. I'm afraid it's time for me to retire, I'm not anywhere near as young as I used to be." he told them with a warm laugh, giving them his spare blankets before he departed.

"I think we should probably do the same. We've had a long journey - and I don't know about you but I'm quite tired myself." Ludwig stated as he sat himself down on the bed, rolling his shoulder to work out a small kink that had developed.

Gilbert snorted slightly, sitting down next to him. "I guess you've got a point." he conceded. "I wasn't expecting today to be so difficult, but at least we've got Solace behind us now." Ludwig nodded and gingerly wrapped an arm around Gilbert's shoulder; he leaned in against Ludwig's side. "How do you know that woman, Katyusha?" the albino asked eventually, not moving to look up at the younger man.

There was a pause as Ludwig looked at him questioningly. "She would look after me for father while he was working in the Smithy. We lost my mother while I was still young and Katyusha offered to take care of me so things would be easier for him." A small nostalgic smile tugged at the Relbiner's lips. "Why? I've already told you, apart from yourself the only person I've been intimate with was Lili. You have no reason to worry - as attractive as she is, I can't see her in anything other than a maternal light."

"I never said I was jealous, West." Gilbert huffed, sending him a half-hearted glare. "Don't go reading things into what I'm saying!" the Sauprisian pulled away, facing the wall with his arms folded over his chest.

~#~#~#~#~#~#~

In spite of Gilbert's slight mood the previous night the two men woke quite contentedly in each others' arms. In fact in an attempt to stave of his impending alertness the Sauprisian had grumbled in his native tongue and nuzzled further into Ludwig's neck while tightening his grip on the younger man's waist.

At first Ludwig had considered making Gilbert get off him and wake up, however with the couple of days they had been given to rest and recover he couldn't bring himself to disturb the older man. So instead he let himself relax back into the bed and gently rested his chin against Gilbert's head.

It had been far too long since he hadn't had a pressing reason to get up in the morning. Although he would never admit to it verbally, Ludwig was grateful for an excuse to just stay in bed with Gilbert. Holding the albino against him; just basking in the peaceful morning atmosphere. He really did appreciate the quiet calm. In fact it had to have been years since he had last experienced such relaxation.

"Hrnn." Gilbert groaned and shifted reluctantly before pulling away and sitting up for a stretch. "What the hell is with that stupid grin on your face, West?" he grumbled. "You'd better not be going sappy on me. I swear to the Matriarch if you start spewing poetry or whatever at me then I'm staying in that other room from now on."

"Shut up, Gilbert."

~#~#~#~#~#~#~

Frederick apparently needed to be at the base while things were being sorted at Solace. He had given the other two permission to use his home as they saw fit and recommended that they take some time to get used to the town. Apparently despite the busy market-streets Vike was an incredibly relaxing town to be in.

So after breakfast they took his advice.

"Well what did you think of them?" Gilbert inquired. "The people we met last night." he clarified when Ludwig just looked at him with confusion. "Definitely a mis-matched lot, in any case."

Ludwig just shrugged non-commitally with a slight grunt. "You mean like we are?" The Sauprisian raised a pale eyebrow at him. While sarcasm wasn't exactly a stranger to Ludwig it wasn't normally used to tease Gilbert. He deliberately slowed his pace and slid an arm around Ludwig's shoulders, forcing the blond down to his height with a wolfish smirk.

"Don't go getting cocky with me, West! It doesn't suit you!" Gilbert sniggered, raking his fingers through the younger man's hair in order to mess it out of the carefuly slicked-back style Ludwig had spent a whole twenty minutes that morning getting right. It took a lot of protesting and struggling before Ludwig managed to break free. He scowled heavily at Gilbert and immediately began trying to slick his hair back again, only for his wrists to get captured by the albino's long fingers. "Leave it. Suits you better this way." Gilbert crooned, swiping his tongue over Ludwig's lips.

He practically cackled at the dark blush that erupted onto the younger man's face as Ludwig pulled away with a grumble and a half-hearted swat to the back of Gilbert's head. "Sometimes I don't know how I put up with you." he sighed, shaking his head.

"That's too easy. It's because I'm awesome - therefore I make you awesome by association." Gilbert boasted, smirking as if that should be the most obvious thing in the world. "Anyway answer my question: what do you think of them?"

Ludwig fell silent for a moment, choosing to ignore Gilbert's attempts at inflating his own ego for the sake of his sanity. "They're different, I'll give them that." he admitted. "But their hearts are in the right place, any more than that I can't really say having only met them once." Without either of them even needing to look at the other, they automatically sought out the nearest stone wall low enough to sit on.

For the longest time neither man spoke, simply enjoying sitting in the other's company while watching the civillians of Vike going about their daily business. With a tiny quirk of his lips Ludwig discreetly twined their pinky fingers together.

~#~#~#~#~#~#~

For the next couple of days Ludwig and Gilbert didn't really do an awful lot. They would wake up contentedly in a mutual embrace, have breakfast with Frederick; then wander around the city, occasionally stopping for Ludwig to get some supplies ready for when they all set out once more. When the time came for evening meal they would eat at Solace's headquarters; becoming more aquainted with the men and women they would soon be travelling with. Gilbert and Matthew had immediately hit it off, while Ludwig preferred the quieter company of people like Emrys or Berwald.

Once that was over they would head back to Frederick's home and make themselves comfortable in their room, although Ludwig would get up once in a while to do a bit of cleaning or tidying up around the house. Whenever Gilbert teased him for it the tall blond would simply glare and state that it was only right that he did something to thank the man for letting them stay.

Those arguments never lasted long as Gilbert always somehow managed to coax him back into lying down with him on the bed. In spite of Ludwig's best efforts, Gilbert was always far more stubborn and convincing than was fair. So they would just lay together, talking every once in a while until they drifted off into sleep.

The night before they were due to leave, however was different. All that day the routine had been exactly the same, right up until Ludwig rose to his feet for the first time to try and tidy up a little. Before he had properly straightened up Gilbert's surprisingly strong hand found his wrist and dragged him back down onto the bed. "Not tonight, Westen." he growled slightly, pushing the blond so that he was flat on his back and nuzzling at the crook of his neck.

Ludwig sighed, lazily threading his fingers through Gilbert's hair. "And why not?" he murmured, taking no notice of the warmth in his cheeks. Would he ever get used to the closeness or the affectionate gestures? Honestly Ludwig had absolutely no idea.

"We leave first time tomorrow, it's possible that at least one of us won't survive this." Gilbert whispered, refusing to meet Ludwig's eyes as he started lightly kissing at the blond's shoulder and neck. "Once we're on the road there might not be another chance before we get to Relbin." He drew in a long shuddering breath and pulled up, moving to hover right above Ludwig's face before gently pressing their foreheads together. "I want to have you just once more before we leave." he murmured, crimson irises dull and pleading.

Ludwig didn't say anything, even as he tried to get his brain to put together some kind of response all he could muster was a blank canvas. So instead of making a fool out of himself he closed his eyes with a heavy sigh and shifted his face to catch Gilbert's mouth in a slow kiss.

Neither had wanted to face the truth of the situation until now. Over the last few days it had been harshly chained in the backs of their minds; ruthlessly locked away, out of sight. Now, as their lips moved together and their bodies pressed closer in an attempt to relay everything they felt without the words to aid them, it loomed morbidly over them.

Tomorrow they would leave the sanctuary that had Vike had become. They would be on the road back to Relbin for the sake of people neither of them really knew.

If anyone had asked him later then Ludwig would have fiercely denied that, when Gilbert's mouth encompassed his length, a few tears rolled treacherously down his cheeks. This could be the last time they ever got to enjoy such intimacy together; despite all the differences between them, tonight their minds were completely in synch. Neither was willing to let dawn come without taking advantage of what may just be their last chance.

"Ich liebe dich, Ludwig..."

A/N: Happy, light-hearted chapter has a sad ending. It made me whimper to write it! I hate to have to say this but there isn't much longer left for this story - I'm not entirely sure exactly how many chapters but we are coming up to the conclusion of it all.

I shouldn't really have to translate that last little bit there, but it's Gilbert saying 'I love you' in the one way Ludwig won't be able to understand. It might sound mean to do that but he has his reasons.

Also just a couple of points I forgot to mention in my last few author's notes: The old blacksmith that Abilio mentions is my name for Magyar Hun, Hungary's ancestor. Two chapters ago, when Kat and Ludwig are reunited she mentions that Ludwig used to be chubby - that happens to be one of my favourite AU headcanons, that Ludwig used to be the fat kid before he hit puberty and then he became the hunk we all know and love today. And someone asked me in a review that I couldn't respond to if there were any other creatures in this world besides werewolves. There are, but on this particular continent they are very scarce. Aside from Unicorns, there are also quite a few of them around but they're just shy. They're also the reason that Thorfin has a dodgy leg.

Anyway that's me finished for now as I have to get up and ready for college. Please leave me some feedback to let me know how I'm doing. Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed it!