Next morning, Gilbert stared into his second cup of coffee. He had had his first before he went to the bakery to get them breakfast – Brötchen, definitely none of the wheaten sorts – and then had to walk a little further because he had forgotten that the nearest bakery was Turkish and sold mostly stuff that dripped with sugar. He wasn't even annoyed by that. The little walk did help him waken up and act like he had slept at all.

Which he hadn't. He had tried but then given up on it. It was just so odd to have Ludwig lying next to him. He was unlike anyone else Gilbert had had there in a long while. And he knew that he wasn't supposed to cuddle this time.

Gilbert kept telling himself that it was him being unfamiliar with Ludwig in his bed that hadn't let him sleep. In truth, he hadn't been able to sleep because he never managed to shut out his worries about his little brother. That it had been hours before Ludwig had stopped sobbing didn't help much either. By five in the morning, Gilbert's nerves had been so much on edge he didn't even want to stay in bed anymore. So he had gotten up, showered, gotten dressed and then went to buy breakfast.

It was eight now and Ludwig hadn't stirred yet.

Gilbert was chewing on his Brötchen on which he had smeared jam and browsing the news pages he knew. There was nothing on the BILD website where he looked first, nothing on the online versions of sueddeutsche or spiegelonline. He wondered if whatever had happened was really all personal. This would make things worse in his book. He wouldn't forgive that stupid frog eater for tearing his little baby brother's heart apart for personal reasons. If that was the only reason, they shouldn't have gotten together in the first place, Gilbert caught himself thinking. He pushed his plate away a little too violently. And maybe, he should stop talking only to Roderich about relationships because said one's shitty views on all this started to rub off onto him.

By nine, Gilbert gave up on waiting. He went back into his bedroom and sat down close to Ludwig. Leaning with half his weight onto his brother because he had noticed that the latter was awake, Gilbert purred: "You can't hide in here forever."

Ludwig tried to push his brother off and pull the blanket over his head at the same time. It was, of course, in vain. Gilbert was used to deal with a certain someone who was not a morning person either. "I can try," Ludwig grumbled after a while. His voice sounded hoarse from all the sobbing and silent crying.

"I bought breakfast," Gilbert volunteered. Then, because he hadn't slept much and it was all Ludwig's fault and not in a nice way, he added: "When I bought them at seven they were still hot."

Ludwig huffed. "I'm not hungry," he murmured. Gilbert knew his little brother was lying. He had heard his stomach growl before.

"I also got muesli," Gilbert purred, leaning down so he could utter the words directly into his brother's ear. "And fresh fruit. Yogurt. All the stuff you like." He tried to sound as alluring as possible. It wasn't that easy for him. He usually had just to mention one certain beverage to get other people out of his bed and into the kitchen.

Ludwig grunted. It seemed like he thought for a moment. "There's also coffee, right?" he asked carefully after a while.

Gilbert beamed at him as bright as he could. "Of course there is," he grinned. The prospect of getting Ludwig to have breakfast did just enough to cheer him up. He got off his little brother. "Now get up," he hummed, crawling off the bed himself. "You can stay in bed for the rest of the day." Before he went back to the kitchen, he opened the roller blinds to let the morning sun into the bedroom. Just adding another reason for Ludwig to get up, he told himself.

点点点

It was while preparing dinner when Gilbert finally lost his patience. He had put up with Ludwig's gloomy mood for longer than even he himself would have thought he could. Okay, he had dragged his brother to eat out this noon, just to watch him pretend everything was fine. But it wasn't fair at all that he had to put up with the constant sighing and whatnot on his free days. He even got glared at for texting one of his friends with a smile on his face.

And now he was peeling and chopping potatoes for dinner while he could feel his brother's gaze on his back and it unnerved him to no end. Also, he was sure Ludwig was on the edge of crying again and he couldn't put up with those watery eyes anymore. He needed to do something. His inner voice told him that this just proved how much he lacked tact. He hated himself for thinking this and sounding like that stupid priss in his head.

Gilbert slammed the knife down on the cutting board. It sent cubes of potatoes flying but he didn't care just now. Swiftly, he turned around to face his brother. "Get a grip, will you?" he hissed. Gilbert was far too angry to yell just yet.

Ludwig flinched under his big brother's fierce glare. He was even to shocked for his eyes to tear up. Gilbert watched him gulp and shift uncomfortably in his seat. But Ludwig didn't seem to be able to speak up under his brother's angry stare.

"Do you want to drown yourself into self-pity for the rest of your life?" Gilbert hissed, stalking closer to his brother. Ludwig quickly shook his head. "No?" Gilbert repeated. "Then tell me..." His voice had become softer. He put a hand down on the table and the other one on the back of the chair Ludwig was sitting in and leaned towards his little brother's face.

"WHAT ARE YOU, A MAN OR A WIMP?" Gilbert yelled, letting all his pent-up rage out at once.

To Ludwig's credit, Gilbert had to admit that only his left eye closed for a split second while he was yelled at. Gilbert was glad this was all the reaction he got. Roderich would have slapped him and Gilbert wasn't sure if his eardrum would survive a slap coming from Ludwig. Probably not.

Gilbert patted his baby brother's cheek. "Then tell me why a grown man like you would cry this much," he said softly. "Did Francis" The way Ludwig flinched when he mentioned that name gratified Gilbert deeply even though he wouldn't show that. "Did Francis cut off your balls?"

Again, Ludwig shook his head quickly. Gilbert watched his brother then pause, look down and reach for the left side of his chest and fist the fabric of his shirt there. A pang of sympathy flickered up in Gilbert. He knew the feelings his baby brother was currently suffering from. But he also knew they passed. And Ludwig needed to learn this fast and maybe even the hard way if Gilbert didn't want to suffer from his brother's current mood much longer. He shoved the sympathy back down where it had come from.

Gilbert leaned even closer to his brother. "Are you sure about that?" he asked. He still made sure his voice was soft. It really was a good thing that he had years and centuries of training in dealing with annoying counterparts. "Let me check that," he grinned. And with that, he reached down of the zipper of his brother's jeans.

He really deserved the blow that followed.

Well, it wasn't so much a blow as it was a forceful push. Ludwig had caught him off balance and the sheer vigor of the action would have sufficed, when the moment of relative surprise had also added into it. Gilbert was sent to the ground and hit it hard. He was sure he also hit his head on one of the kitchen's cupboards.

"What the hell?" Gilbert hissed, fully aware that he had done something very wrong but not ready to ever admit that. "That hurt!"

"Good," Ludwig answered, leaning back on the chair and crossed his arms in front of his chest. Gilbert grumbled. He had met his goal but he didn't like this. With some effort, he pushed himself up again and patted non-existent dust of his clothes.

"Care to answer my initial question," Gilbert grumbled. "That's the least you could do. You're getting on my nerves."

Ludwig raised an eyebrow. "I never asked you to come to my room," he huffed. "And I also don't recall wanting you to fuss this much over me. I can take care of myself just fine."

"Yeah, right," Gilbert snorted. "That's why you went back to your house yesterday just like every other Friday." He didn't look into his brother's face. There might be some hurt showing on his own.

Ludwig flinched. But he recovered from it very quickly. Gilbert would have missed it If he hadn't paid as close attention. "I didn't feel like driving so long," Ludwig said, shrugging. "And I have to be in the office quite soon this Monday be-"

"Bullshit," Gilbert cut his brother off. "You were afraid to go there and face your empty, boyfriend-deprived house." He would never call that house his brother's home. In that case, he would have to acknowledge that his flat wasn't.

Ludwig looked hurt by the words, even more so because he had to admit it was the truth what Gilbert was yelling at him. He bit his lower lip and turned his head away from his big brother. "And even if you're right with that, what of it, really," he pouted. "You never really cared about my relationship anyway."

Gilbert was sure this was what pouting sounded like coming from his little brother. He couldn't help himself but to giggle which earned him a stern glare. This reminded him so much of the cute little boy he had raised despite all odds – and despite the meddling of certain someones whom he had beaten in 1866 and 1871 respectively.

"I always cared about your relationship," Gilbert retorted. He really did. Well, he had cared for it do end but now, he had to admit that he also cared for his brother's happiness and whatever made him happy. After all, he didn't want him to be sad. He just wished he would be included in his life some more. Old resentments made him add in his head, that getting Francis to be a non-existent part of it was a close second.

Ludwig sighed. "You were annoyed by it," he corrected. Then he frowned. "And I guess you're just more annoyed by it being over now."

"Well, a little," Gilbert grinned, folding his arms behind his head. "But that doesn't change the fact that you cried and I would love to know why." He laughed. "I haven't seen you cry like this since forever. Actually, I haven't seen you cry this much since Specs wouldn't stop yelling at you for mixing salt and sugar up when he was baking."

Ludwig blushed faintly. Gilbert grinned at that because of course he had said that on purpose. There was nothing better than making his little brother feel embarrassed from time to time. "If you don't tell me, I'll tell you some more of the story in case you forgot about it," Gilbert purred. He was sure his brother knew he would. He had proven capable of things like that countless times.

"We had a worse fight than usual and I, sort of, ran away in the middle of it," Ludwig grumbled after a while.

Gilbert nodded. "I already figured that you had a fight, you know." He paused. "Wait, what? A worse fight than usual?" he repeated.

Ludwig turned away. He nodded. "We have been fighting a lot lately," he admitted lowly. He sighed. "I don't even know anymore why we had been fighting." Another sigh. "I feel so terrible."

Gilbert tilted his head. He wasn't sure if he was able to follow his brother's chain of thought. "So you were fighting about nothing in particular and...?" he asked. Sometimes, he wasn't sure if his brother maybe was an idiot.

Ludwig shrugged. "That's it," he said.

Gilbert sighed. He extended his hand towards his brother. "Your phone," he demanded.

"What?" Ludwig sounded puzzled.

"Gimme your phone," Gilbert repeated. Rolling his eyes like he had seen Roderich do it so many times, he added: "I'm calling Francis."

"No!" his little brother dared to oppose him. Gilbert glared at him for that.

"I'm cleaning up your mess so be grateful," he snarled. Then, his mouth twitched upwards. "But I see that you left your phone in the bedroom. Well, that's solves the problem of your cooperation."

He left before Ludwig could get up and hurried to his bedroom. First thing he did there was locking the door. Then, he snatched his brother's cell phone from the nightstand and starting searching through the address book.

A/N:

Brötchen: Apparently called bun in AE but from what I gather buns are not Brötchen at all. I had fun scrolling through Leo to find this out, though. Let's settle for: Brötchen are little breads about the size of a palm with an usually fluffy, soft inside and a harder outside. Essential part of a good German breakfast and best served hot. Or to put it like BlackPanther1987 : "Those are bagels without the holes, losers."

Sueddeutsche, Spiegel, BILD: I was naming news papers (and news programs on TV in the last chapter (Tagesschau, Heute)), as well as their web pages, at random. Kudos to you if you know which show Gilbert didn't want to watch in the last chapter.