Gilbert ignored his brother knocking and hammering against the door. He wouldn't dare to break the door down, Gilbert was sure of that. He also ignored the pleading which was a bit harder because it made Gilbert feel the tiniest bit guilty about what he was doing. On the other hand, he was an awesome big brother and just there to fix his brother's life even though he didn't like some of Ludwig's life choices. That's what a good big brother did.
He didn't even have to search for the entry with Francis' number. "You saved you lover's addresses like any other business contact?" Gilbert called out to his brother. He really disapproved of his brother's lack of sense for romance. Then again, he hadn't much of that, either. "I'm really disappointed in you," he added anyway.
"Well, if you would give me my phone, I could change it," Ludwig yelled back. Gilbert ignored that remark and instead hit Francis' private number and then the call button popping up on the screen. For a moment, he wondered if he should set it on speaker but decided against it. Francis would be able to hear Ludwig's protest no matter what.
Gilbert listened to the dial tones. It unnerved him,just as always. He hated to wait for others to pick up their phone. They should pick up by the first ring when he was calling. That was his opinion at least. Finally, he heard the awaited crack in the line, followed by Francis' voice, "Ludwig, listen, if this is about yesterday..."
"This isn't Ludwig," Gilbert interrupted. His voice was almost, only barely not a snarl. "It's Gilbert. I need to talk to you."
Francis was silent for some heartbeats. Then, after he recovered from his surprise or so it seemed, he asked, "Did you murder your brother?"
"I wan- wait, what? Why would I murder him?!" Gilbert hissed. "Why would you think that?"
"Well, you have his phone and you called me of all people, so I figured," Francis replied. He didn't sound half as concerned as Gilbert wished he would. This was probably all just tactics to make him lose control of his temper.
"He gave it to me," Gilbert lied.
"Ludwig never gives his cell to anyone," Francis said calmly. "So, what did you do? If you hurt him I swear..."
Gilbert blinked. Now Francis did sound concerned. The undertone in his voice just now had almost been frightening. Then again, he was talking to Francis who had never managed to defeat him in modern times so it could be alright. "I snatched it off him and locked him out of the room," Gilbert admitted. "Are you happy now?"
"No," Francis huffed. "Why the heck are you calling me?"
"Because Ludwig's getting on my nerves with his constant look of total miserableness," Gilbert snarled. "And I want you to make up again."
"Make him apologize to me first," Francis said coldly. "I won't talk to him properly before he said he's sorry for what he said and that he won't ever say it again."
Gilbert sighed. So he had thought they had gotten over that age. "What did he said, Francis?" he asked, as softly as possible. What ever it was, it was bound to be stupid. Even Specs had a certain class to his insults and Gilbert very much doubted that his brother had any of it. Then again, neither had Francis.
"He called my boss socialist," Francis complained.
"So?" Gilbert sighed. "As far as I recall, he's member of the socialist party."
"But that's beside the point!" Francis insisted. "He made it sound like an insult!"
It was like he was talking to a five year-old. This was the best his brother could come up with? They needed to talk about this as soon as Gilbert had time to. "What did you call him in return?" Gilbert asked. He made his voice sound stern, as he had back when his brother had been a small child. He felt weary but he needed to know as much as possible about the fight.
"I called him mama's boy," Francis mumbled. He sounded embarrassed. Good, Gilbert thought. That was at least something.
"Which he is," Gilbert nodded. He wondered what he had done wrong that let his baby brother into calling a woman like Merkel Mutti. "Well, that's it, is it? You really had a fight because of that?" He put the phone a bit further away from his mouth. He didn't want Francis to hear that he was close to break into laughter.
"Well, he also didn't want to lend me money for a cup of coffee," Francis added sulkily, making it sound as if this was far less an insult than having his boss called socialist.
Gilbert sighed. "Listen, he doesn't even lend me any money and we're practically the same country," Gilbert said. He didn't really consider himself the same country as his brother when it came to domestic policies, but as far as Francis was concerned this was beside the point. He drew in a deep breath. Not breaking into laughter with these two fighting was hard. "I hope you know you're both being stupid," Gilbert informed Francis, loud enough to be heard at the other side of the door as well.
"There's nothing stupid about fighting when your partner doesn't trust you," Francis pouted.
"Yeah, right, fight," Gilbert chuckled. "You fight like little boys. You know what you sound like? You sound like, 'Daddy, daddy,'" Gilbert started imitating the voice of a child. "'He destroyed the sandcastle I made.' -'Just because he stole my shovel first.'"
A moment of embarrassed silence at the other end of the line followed. Then Francis grumbled, "Shut up, Gilbert."
"Let me guess, you started with a discussion about where to head for dinner, right?" Gilbert mused. "Amateurs. I'm sure you also fight about who's washing the dishes even though both of you know that it's always Ludwig who does because you think you're the better cook." He was already laughing now.
There was no answer from the phone and no answer from the door as well. Gilbert strolled over to turn the key around again, unlocking the door. He doubted Ludwig wanted to get inside anymore.
"Do you want me to call Rodkins to set up a date for beginner's lessons with you?" Gilbert volunteered. "Looks to me like you really need a 'Relationship quarrels 101'. Gosh, you don't break up over something as stupid as that."
There was silence at the other end of the line. Then, puzzled, Francis said, "Whoever said anything about breaking-up?"
Gilbert blinked. "You're not?" he asked. That came unexpected. The way Ludwig had acted the day before and today, Gilbert had been sure he had been dumped. Any other explanation that had come to his mind just hadn't fit. It still didn't fit. "But what are you doing then?" he asked dumbfounded.
"We..." Gilbert waited as Francis paused. "We needed a break. Well, I needed one anyways and it was his idea in the first place so …" Francis sighed. "Is he alright? You called because you were concerned, right?" Francis sounded worried.
"He just came home crying, if that's what you would call alright," Gilbert snorted. "And he slept in my bed. If that's what he does when he's okay then yes, I think he's alright."
He could hear Francis gulp on the other end of the line. "And how is he now?" he asked lowly after a while. He sounded so horribly worried that it almost made Gilbert feel bad. Then he remembered that he never ever would want to feel bad because of Francis' misery. He should rather be satisfied that he managed to talk that stupid frog into having at least a bit of a bad conscience. Poor little Ludwig had looked devastated yesterday and today as well. Gilbert wasn't ready to admit that he might not have know enough about their relationship and its problems to meddle with it.
"I don't know," Gilbert answered slowly. "Haven't heard him since I started talking to you." He grinned. "But I can go looking for him, if you want me to." He would, but he didn't want to hand over the cell phone just now. Of course, he didn't tell Francis this much.
Silence. Then, "Yes, please." It sounded almost like a sigh. And he was definitely worried, something that irritated Gilbert to no end. It almost put him off wanting to learn more about the relationship between Francis and his brother.
Gilbert left the bedroom and looked into the hallway. His brother had gone. He hadn't expected him to be there. After all, Gilbert wouldn't have waited for him to finish the call. Well, maybe if he had been sulking but he didn't really think Ludwig would be sulking. Gilbert was doing the right thing in his opinion after all.
Gilbert looked into the kitchen and Ludwig's bedroom, before he finally found his brother sitting in the couch in the living room. He was concentrated on something on his tablet. Too busy to even look up when Gilbert walked into the room and much too busy to do as much as raise his head when Gilbert slumped down on the couch right next to him. They both knew this lack of attention drove Gilbert somewhat mad.
"Watcha doing?" Gilbert asked, ignoring the fact that he still had Francis on the line and trying to peer on the screen to see whatever it was that his brother was doing.
"Sudoku," Ludwig muttered back, still rather tapping around on the screen than looking up while talking to his brother.
"He's playing sudoku on his tablet," Gilbert informed Francis. "I don't think he has time talking to you right now, he's much too busy for doing even as much as raising his head when he's talking to his awesome brother. Perhaps he's playing against a old dude in a wheelchair."
"I'm not playing against one of my bosses," Ludwig huffed. So he was listening after all, good, Gilbert thought. After a little pause, Ludwig added reluctantly, "Not often anyway." Gilbert laughed.
"Gilbert," Francis said, pleading but with an accent so heavy Gilbert didn't want to recognizing is own name. "Would you pass the phone on so I could talk to my ch- … to your brother," Francis quickly corrected himself before he said something that would make Gilbert angry at him again.
"No," Gilbert said without even thinking. "As I said,he's too busy to talk right now." Gilbert wanted them to make up again, yes, but he also hoped they wouldn't. He still disliked it that his brother's taste in men was this bad. There were lots of better men around. Even Specs would have been better than Francis, Gilbert claimed.
Ludwig looked up. "But I want to talk to Francis," he said, putting his tabled aside. "Hand me the phone."
Gilbert furrowed his brows, trying to look as stern as he could. That look had never worked on Ludwig when he had been a child but maybe, things had changed. "No, you don't," Gilbert decided, holding the phone out of his brother's reach. "He made you cry, so you don't want to talk to him."
Ludwig tried to snatch his phone back from his brother, but Gilbert stretched his arm as far away from him as possible and when this wasn't enough, he even leaned back. With his free hand, Gilbert tried to hold his brother off. When that failed – Gilbert blamed it on his brother being heavier and more muscular than he had been as kid – he also tried kicking him, which did him no good as well.
An irritated look on his face, Ludwig put one of his knees between his brother's legs. Gilbert's breath caught as Ludwig leaned over him to grab the cell phone. Gilbert gulped hart. He suddenly felt nervous and his heart was beating much too fast. His sweet little Ludwig's eyes looked so endearingly earnest.
Distracted, he let the phone slip from his hand. His arms were around his brother's neck before it even hit the ground.
A/N:
1. Thanks to my fiancée and my best friend, I will change the plot I had planned and turn this even more into the triangle they want. I don't mind, I really love to write these three as a threesome/ménage à troi.
2. Politicians mentioned in this text (so you get the things I wrote):
- François Hollande is the current President of France and as mentioned member of the French Socialist Party, which is not as bad a thing in Europe as it sounds to Americans.
- Angela "Mutti" Merkel is the Chancellor of Germany (as of now, this might change in the next few months even if this is rather unlikely). I will stop calling her Mutti as soon as the quality newspapers and all satire shows on German TV cease to refer to her in that way. Or eventually just replace it with Omi. Who knows what comes first.
- There has been a little "scandal" involving the German Minister of Finance and a game of Sudoku a while ago. Google it.
3. Ludwig not wanting to lend either Gilbert nor Francis any money. To sum it up, France is in financial trouble right now which leads to a bit of talk about needing to do something about on an European level and the West of Germany (in various, state based coalitions) is strongly opposed to giving the East money (or, well, to give any other state any money, based on who you ask).