A/N: Hey all! I've finally gotten back on a regular updating schedule, as those of you who have me favorited and are following me can see! Please enjoy this update of "The World Is Ugly"!

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That day at lunch, the entire group came together to comfort Lilli. Mei and Laura bought Lilli's favorite snacks from the cafeteria shop as Natalia held Lilli's hand and said comforting things to her. Neoklis and Raivis did the homework that Lilli was unable to do the night before, so that she could turn it in on time. Yong-Soo, being bad with people and things like this, was quickly dragged away by Max to get Lilli one of her favorite sodas to drink. Leon held the girl's other hand from across the table as a form of comfort, offering comforting words wherever he could spare them.

Emil felt as if he were the only one who didn't have anything to offer to Lilli. He felt horrible as he sat next to Leon and just stared down at the table, unable to think of anything that he could do for her. It wasn't exactly the ideal position that he wanted to find himself in, but he felt stuck. All he could do was hope that he really wasn't coming across as the jackass he felt like he was being.

"If Emil hadn't been in the hallway earlier, who knows what could've happened," Lilli quietly said, causing the Icelandic boy to look up at her in surprise. "I can't imagine what would've happened if a teacher had found me instead." She offered her friend a kind smile. "Thank you for finding me, Emmy. You really saved my ass."

"I didn't really do anything," he quietly countered. Though she was thanking him just for sitting next to her in the hallway and helping her by letting her cry it out to him, he didn't feel like he did anything that was thank-worthy, so he felt more awkward than anything. He couldn't figure out why she was praising and thanking him just for letting her cry on his shoulder. Everyone else was doing something that was much more caring and friend-like, yet she seemed focused on him.

"He and his brother even gave me a ride to school this morning," Lilli piped up. "They saw me walking down the street by myself and picked me up. His brother is so nice."

Emil snorted. "Are you sure we're talking about the same person? Lukas is more of an ass than anything." He smiled, trying to imagine what Lukas would think of Lilli saying he was nice. "That said, I think he would be happy to know that you think he's nice. I'll be sure to tell him for you."

Natalia smiled. "Is he really that much of an ass?" she asked. "I mean, he let you stay at Max's house with us during homecoming, and he didn't even know any of us. My parents would never allow that. Hell, they won't even let me stay with my cousin half the time because Leon lives there and he's a boy my age."

"Wait, what?" Emil asked, a look of confusion dawning on his face. "Who is your cousin?"

Leon rolled his eyes dramatically before looking to his boyfriend. "Who do you think?" he groaned. "I mean, how could you not tell that she and Ivan are related?"

"Wait, they are?!" the Icelandic boy exclaimed. "What?!"

Natalia giggled. "Oh, Emil, how I love you. Yes, Ivan is my cousin. When he moved here from Russia, he lived with us until he met Yao. After that, Leon transferred to my school. Not many people know that we're technically cousins, even though they wouldn't exactly believe us anyway."

The Asian boy at the table grinned at his "cousin". "As if you'd ever admit that to anyone other than our friend group anyway," he snarkily responded.

"That's the truth. Who would want to be related to you anyway?" She looked to Lilli, whom she was glad to see seemed to be enjoying the conversation. "Anyway, Lil, where are you going after school? Don't Vash and Irunya work tonight?"

Lilli sighed, frowning. "I have no idea. Usually I stay with Jiri, but his grandma is visiting today and needs the guest room." She held her head in her hands. "I could always stay at home, but I just really don't want to be alone tonight, you know?"

"I wish you could stay with us, but you know how my parents are about staying on school nights," Natalia sighed. "Do you know anyone? I really don't want you staying by yourself if you don't have to."

"Yeah, me too," the other girl sighed. "Unfortunately, I don't think I'll get that lucky."

Emil thought for a moment before pulling out his phone. "Let me see what I can do."

.

Lilli's eyes were wide when she walked into the apartment Emil shared with the Køhler family. She looked around at how immaculately clean it was, commenting on how she had never seen a home that was so clean. Her marvelling made her Icelandic friend decide not to tell her that it was only this clean because she was there.

"Your apartment is beautiful," she slowly said, directing her gaze to the many pictures on the walls. She walked over to the window and looked out over the city. "It even has one of the best views of the city!" Her eyes lit up as she turned to look at Emil. "When do your brothers get home? I would love to meet them!"

"I think Mat is working until about seven-ish," he replied, thinking hard. "He's a triage nurse at the University of Iowa Hospital. And I think Lukas should be home around five. He usually is anyway."

"Do your neighbors always bring you home after school?" Lilli asked, remembering the bubbly and happy man who gave them a ride home, along with his two sons in the backseat.

"Yeah," Emil answered with a nod. "Although as payment for that, I tutor their kids." He then glanced at the time on his phone. "The gremlins should be here soon. I hope you don't mind me helping them with homework while you're here."

"Not at all!" she excitedly replied. She seemed really excited to be in her newest friend's home overnight, so much so that it seemed she would enjoy even doing chores there. Her entire expression perked up when she heard a knock at the door. "Is that them?"

"Should be," he replied before walking to the door. He opened it to reveal two middle school-aged boys. "You two know where the living room is."

The smaller of the boys had angelic features, blond hair and beautiful, blue eyes. He looked over at Lilli with wide eyes before scampering over to her excitedly. "Is this your girlfriend?" he excitedly asked. His smile widened as he looked up at her. "I'm Peter!"

"It's nice to meet you, Peter," Lilli replied, smiling back at him. "You seem to be the cheery type." She sat down on the couch and looked over at the other boy, who had just thrown his backpack to the floor. "Is something the matter?"

"He's angry because he was in the middle of painting when Dad sent us here," Peter explained, using his finger to draw a ling from his cheek and across his nose to indicate the green line on his brother's face. "Erland is an artist, and he hates to be interrupted when he's in the middle of a project. Don't you, Erl?"

The ginger-haired boy glared at his brother. "Shut up, Peter," he grumbled, throwing himself into an armchair.

Emil placed his hands on the back of the chair that Erland was occupying. "Sorry, Lil," he sighed. "He's always like this." He ignored the glare shot to him by the boy in the armchair. "They're only here for about an hour. Please bear with them."

"You're acting like we're just a giant bother to you," Erland groaned.

"When you act like this, can you really blame me?" The Icelandic boy was silent as he waited for a retort from the other boy, which never came. "That's what I thought. Now get your homework out."

Peter giggled as he sat down on the floor in front of Lilli and unloaded his homework onto the coffee table. "They always argue like this," he explained to Lilli. He lowered his voice as he said, "Erland actually really looks up to Emil, but he would never admit it to anyone else." A pink eraser suddenly hit Peter in the head. "Hey!" he exclaimed, looking over toward his brother.

"Shut up," the other boy snarled at him. "Don't say stupid things like that. I would never look up to someone like him!" There was a noticeable venom in his voice when he said the final word, but too much venom for Lilli to actually believe him. It was quite obvious to her that he really did admire her friend.

Emil, who was holding Erland's notebook and looking over it, whapped the younger boy over the head with it. "Get your head in the zone, Erland," he reprimanded, failing to hide the smile on his face. "Let's get started."

Lilli grinned widely as she watched Emil enter what she called "Big Brother Mode". She loved watching him coach the two brothers through their schoolwork that the couldn't understand. Her impression of what Emil's home life really was had really been off-base from the reality of it. To her, it was as if she was seeing a brand new side of Emil that no one else had seen. It mesmerized her, and was almost sad when it was time for the younger boys to go.

.

When Mathias arrived home that night, he was surprised to find out that the friend of Emil's who was staying overnight with them was a girl. Lukas had failed to mention the gender. His eyes widened at the sight of the petite blonde. She was so cute that Mathias couldn't take his eyes off of her as she helped Lukas set the table for dinner.

"I'm home," he announced, walking into the kitchen where Lukas was busy finishing up dinner preparations. He wrapped his arms around Lukas from behind and rested his head on his husband's shoulder. "How's your day been so far?" he asked, kissing his cheek.

Lukas smiled slightly when Mathias kissed him. "It's been pretty okay," he answered. "Work was stupid, as usual." He turned off the stovetop and turned to face his husband. "How's your day?"

"Just another day of triage," the Dane replied. "No interesting stories today, unfortunately." He decided that then would be the perfect time to bring up the one thing that was currently on his mind. "So Emil's friend is a girl?" he finally managed to say. "She's one of the most adorable people I have ever seen."

"I know, right?" Lukas enthused. "She's the one who invites him to the study sessions they all have, too." He smiled widely. "The moment I got home, she excitedly introduced herself to me. It turns out that she was the girl I picked up this morning on the way to school. And get this." He pulled Mathias even closer as he lowered his voice. "She's the sweetest thing. Without me even asking either of them, she offered to help with getting dinner prepared."

Mathias gasped in mock surprise. "Maybe your brother could learn a thing or two from her," he whispered back.

"Lukas," a tiny feminine voice said from the doorway, "I finished setting the table. Is there anything else that you need help with?"

"That should be good, Lilli," Lukas responded, smiling at the girl in the doorway. "Thank you very much. I appreciate it."

Mathias turned his attention from his husband to the girl. "You must be Emil's friend," he said, smiling warmly at her. "I'm Mathias Køhler, Emil's brother-in-law. It's nice to meet you."

Lilli blushed, averting her eyes for a moment. "It's nice to meet you, Mathias," she replied. "My name is Lilli Zwingli. I'm Emil's first friend he made at school," she proudly told him. "Everyone in our little group adores him and they all became friends quickly. Thank you for allowing me to stay here tonight. Some rather difficult things have happened, and I am very grateful for the fact that I don't have to be alone at home."

Feeling pity for the girl after seeing the sad look on her face during her last sentence, Mathias couldn't stop himself from saying, "You're welcome here whenever you need it." He sighed. "I'm sorry that you're going through a rough patch right now. If you need anything at all, don't be afraid to ask us."

A bright smile made its way to the girl's lips. "Thank you very much, Mathias," she cheerfully replied. "I appreciate it."

Mathias and Lukas were absolutely charmed by the girl, just like anyone else who encountered her. Only her friends from school knew how devious she could really be when she wanted to be. Due to her adorable looks, Lilli was always able to wrap adults around her finger, and Emil's family was no exception.

"Let me guess," Emil began when Lilli sat down next to him on the couch, "Mathias absolutely loves you?"

"Am I good, or what?" she giggled. She checked her phone to see a text from Leon, laughing as she read it. "Leon is so jealous right now. He wishes he got to be here too after I told him how nice your place was."

Emil rolled his eyes. "He'll come here eventually," he said. "I'm just not really all that used to having people other than Lukas and Mathias here. I plan on inviting him soon, though. First, I have to lay down ground rules with my brothers to make sure they don't embarrass me into an early grave."

"There's no way they could be that bad," she laughed.

"You have no idea," he groaned back. "Don't worry. Before too long, you'll see what I mean."

.

Lilli definitely saw what Emil meant during dinner. She had to stifle many giggles as Lukas and Mathias fussed over and doted on her friend, much to his dismay. Her heart felt full, witnessing firsthand just how loved Emil truly was, even if he complained about it to great lengths.

The evening went on without a hitch. It was decided that Lilli would sleep in Emil's room, and that he would sleep on the couch. Though it was common knowledge that the two showed know interest in each other, Lukas and Mathias felt that Lilli shouldn't have to share a room with a teenage boy. Neither of the students had any problems with that ruling, seeing as how Emil really wanted his friend to feel comfortable during her stay.

As Emil laid on the couch, miserably failing to fall asleep, he heard his phone go off. He quickly checked it to find a text from Lilli, asking him to come to his room. Hoping nothing was going wrong, he quickly hurried off down the hallway, careful not to tip off his brothers as to what he was doing.

Lilli looked so small, lying in the center of his full size bed. She almost seemed to be cowering as Emil entered the room and closed the door. "Emmy," she said in a small voice, I don't want to be alone…" Her hands scrolled through her phone as she pulled up a chat conversation. "I already texted Leon and Nat and explained the situation, and they gave me their approval and said they wouldn't be angry at all." She turned the screen off and gave Emil a pleading look. "Please sleep in here with me," she begged in a tiny, timid voice that was so unlike herself that Emil could hardly believe what he was hearing. "If I'm alone, I think I'll be worrying about Arthur all night." She sat up and hugged her knees to her chest. "I can't stand being alone right now. Please just do me a favor." Lilli's gaze fell to her knees. "I really hope this isn't asking too much, because I would hate for you to feel awkward around me."

"It's not a big deal," Emil stated, walking over to the bed. He sat on the edge of his bed before crawling under the covers as well. Keeping a respectable distance from her after she scooted over, he turned his full attention to his friend. "Is your mind dwelling on what happened yesterday?"

"Yeah," she quietly said. "I don't know what I'm going to do if he doesn't recover." A couple tears streamed down the sides of her face. "Suicide is a terrifying concept to me, Emil. It scares me to even think about how much someone I love could've suffered enough to want to die. The idea of someone feeling so horrible that they think death is the only way to solve things is so painful to think about." Lilli looked over at Emil. "What scares me the most was that Arthur was just fine until he shot himself last night. How could someone's mindset change that quickly?" Her body shook with silent sobs. "It terrifies me to think that anyone I love could suddenly die like that without warning, and that I couldn't do anything to save them. Life is such a fragile and fickle thing. If someone in our friend group were to ever commit suicide, I would never be able to forgive myself for not seeing their pain that was so great they had to die to escape it."

Emil silently took in every word that she said. He understood how upset she was over that. Deep inside, he felt the same way she did about it. Part of him wondered if he should tell her about how depressed he was a lot of the time. Yet while that part of him wondered about telling her, another part was harping at him for even thinking of bringing up a topic that would give her more stress to deal with. The loudest part of himself was screaming at him that it wasn't like he was depressed enough to end it all anyway, so he needed to keep it to himself. He considered all of those things and decided it would be best to keep it to himself. After all, it wasn't like he was always depressed. It was only occasional.

"I don't ever want to lose a friend to something as horrible as that," she decisively stated. "All I want is to live a long, happy life with my friends. It wouldn't be that same if one of them was gone."

"Even if it was me?" Emil dared to ask. "I haven't been friends with you all for that long."

Lilli looked at him with teary eyes. "Emmy, it doesn't matter how long you have been in the group," she explained. "You're a part of it now. If you were to suddenly leave the group, it would never be the same. We love you, Emil. Please don't say things like that, even if you're not serious. I would hate it if you were suddenly gone, and I'm certain that everyone else feels the same." She wiped away the tears that had spilled from her eyes. "If you're ever upset or have any sort of problem that you can't sort out on your own, please come to one of us for help. You don't ever need to suffer alone when there are people who care about you and want to help."

The intensity in her eyes made Emil feel guilty for keeping his depression from her, but he knew that it wasn't a good time to mention it. She was too upset for that. Instead he took her hand and looked into her eyes as he said, "If I ever get to the point where I can't bear how upset I am, I will reach out to you all. I know that I shouldn't suffer alone, so I won't."

"Do you promise?" she asked, sticking her pinky finger out to him.

Emil wrapped his pinky around hers. "I promise," he said.

Lilli seemed to relax a bit after that, lying back against her pillow. "Thank you, Emil," she softly said, stifling a yawn. "I think I will be able to sleep easier tonight."

"Not a problem." He still couldn't believe that he had told her such a bold-faced lie and got away with it. His heart felt heavy as lead with guilt as he watched Lilli close her eyes and begin to nod off.

"I'm glad that I can trust you," she yawned, drowsiness slurring her words. "Please stay in here with me tonight. You can blame me in the morning if your brothers get upset. I'll take the fall for you."

Emil smiled at her. "If you say so, Lil."

"Goodnight," she sleepily slurred at him. "I hope we can always be best friends like this. That would be the best thing in the whole world."

"I hope so too," he quietly agreed. He smiled as she finally nodded off to sleep.

Seeing her sleeping so soundly like that, he wondered if she had gotten any sleep at all the night before. From what he knew about Lilli, she was the type who worried for the people she cared about, no matter what the physical toll to her body. She seemed so much smaller as she slept, so tiny that Emil was suddenly aware of just how fragile she really was. Though Lilli was known to talk tough, she really was just as sensitive as other girls.

The weight of lying to such a sweet and trusting girl pinned him down to his side of the bed. He could feel it pressing down on his chest to the point that he would've gasped for air if he wasn't worried about waking his sleeping friend. Instead, he endured the suffocating feeling, hoping that it would end before morning. Was this his punishment for keeping something like that from her when she had point-blank asked him to tell her?

Finally managing to roll over onto his side, his back facing Lilli, he felt like he could breathe once more. It was a slightly more comfortable position, yet his body felt as if it were made of lead. He knew there was no way he could fall asleep like that, yet he dreaded being awake. If he was awake, he was going to be alone with his thoughts, which was scarier to him than any nightmare that his brain had to offer.

.

Once morning had rolled around and the two had to wake up for school, Emil noticed that he had slept a grand total of about two hours. Knowing that was the best he would get, he woke Lilli up and the two prepared for school.

Lukas and Mathias were surprised to see them both emerge from Emil's room that morning, but they chose not to say anything. Having figured it had something to do with the reason why Lilli was there in the first place, Lukas advised his husband not to ask about it. Instead, they just asked how they slept that night when they sat down for breakfast.

While apparent that Emil had barely slept at all, he still claimed that he got a good night's sleep. No one really bought it, yet they didn't push the matter any further. Besides, he took a nice nap at lunch on Leon's shoulder, to which his boyfriend took many selfies because Emil looked to precious to pass it up.