The silence sat like a dead weight in the pub.
"Nothing to see here, please, go back to what you were doing." Ludwig barked. Someone slipped some coins into the jukebox, and soon the pub was back –at least partly- as it was before the incident. Antonio, Francis, and Lovino made their way to where Gilbert was standing.
"What the hell just happened?" Lovino questioned, sounding pissed off, though even an idiot could tell he was concerned for the albino.
"We can chat later. I need to clean this up." Roderich said.
"And you are?" The three said in unison.
"My name is Roderich Edelstein, Gilbert's childhood friend." He replied curtly. By that time, Gilbert and Ludwig had bent over, assisting the brunette in carefully picking up the shards of glass from the floor. Gilbert never once looked up, avoiding the inevitable awkward situation by pretend to be very involved in the clean up job.
"You're not that Austrian kid he's always blabbing about, are you?" Antonio blurted. Gilbert jerked his head up, his face flushed.
"I don't always talk about him!"
"Non, I guess not all the time, but you do mention him occasionally." Francis corrected, leaning against the counter. "Anways, Monsieur Edelstein, are you seeing anyone?"
"Excuse me?" Roderich and Gilbert glared at Francis.
"Oh, I see, Gilbert already has dibs?"
"Lovino, will you take him up on your offer to rip his dick off and beat him with it?" The albino hissed.
"It seems our Italian is occupied at the moment." Francis smirked, motioning over to the table behind him, where Antonio and Lovino were practically shoving their tongues down each other's throats. Gilbert made a show of fake puking, before he turned away, dumping the last of the glass into the bin.
"So, uh, Roddy, Ludwig," Gilbert started, awkward shuffling to where the two were standing. Francis took this as his queue to leave, flipping open his cell phone and dialing a number.
"I really don't know how to say this. If there's anything I can say I regret most, it would be leaving you two at the orphanage. I wanted to come back, I really did, but my goddamned pride wouldn't let me. I know I've been gone far to long to reasonably ask you to forgive me for what I did, but it's worth a shot. So, uh, I'm sorry. Please, please, try and forgive me." The albino looked down to the floor, bracing himself for the utter rejection he knew was yet to come.
"Okay, I forgive you," Roderich answered, resting his hand on Gilbert's shoulder. "That was the most sincere apology I've ever head you utter. I believe you, and I forgive you." Gilbert looked up, shocked by the reply.
"I agree with Roderich. Besides, you are my brother, and even when you were gone, even if I was mad at you for the longest time, I could never hold a grudge on you." Ludwig stated. Gilbert smiled a sincere smile, before wrapping his arms around them, and squeezing them with all his might.
"Gilbert, I breathe with that, I'd appreciate you not breaking it." Roderich smirked, in reference to his aching throat. Gilbert released the two, and wiped his eyes.
"Thank you. I missed you both so much. Anyway, come meet my friends!" Gilbert beamed, before dragging them over to the table Francis, Antonio and Lovino were currently occupying.
"Hey, Gilbert, Feliciano's coming soon, he's going to drive us all home." Lovino said, upon the three's arrival.
"Sounds good to me." The Prussian replied.
"Um, excuse me, but do you all live together?" Roderich inquired.
Gilbert turned to face the brunette. "Sort of, we all live in the same apartment building. It's as much 'home' as we are a 'family'." He said fondly.
"There are more people back at the apartment, you and Ludwig should come home with us tonight to meet them all." Antonio offered.
"That's very kind of you but-," Ludwig began, before he was cut off by Roderich.
"That sounds great." Roderich replied. Maybe he was a bit too eager to spend time with Gilbert. But then again, he'd missed him for the past 5 years.
"Sounds like a plan!" Gilbert grinned. "So, where's Francis?"
Antonio motioned to the back of the bar, where Francis was blabbering into his phone, with a perverted leer on his face. Antonio yelled out across the bar, and waved the Frenchman down. Francis walked up to the table, and pulled out a chair as far away from Lovino as possible.
"Ah, my Matthieu, I adore you more than anything in the world, I will be thinking of you, mon cher! Good night!" The Frenchman sang into his phone, before flipping it closed.
"How's Mattie?"
"He's returning in two days!" Francis exclaimed. "Mon dieu! I cannot wait to take him on a candle-lit dinner by the sea shore, then bring him back home and make sweet love to him all night!" He stared dreamily off into space, while everyone at the table stared at him, completely horrified.
"Erm. Anyway, Roderich, Ludwig, this is Francis Bonnefoy." On queue, Francis winked and blew them a kiss.
"A pleasure to make your acquaintance."
"Those two are Antonio Fernandez," The Spaniard waved, "And Lovino Vargas." The Italian gave a feeble wave. Suddenly, a bubbling Italian boy, who closely resembled Lovino, skipped up the table.
"Ve! How is everyone today?" he chirped, looking around the table, he stopped when he got to Roderich and Ludwig.
"Who are these people?"
"This Roderich Edelstein, and Ludwig Beilschmidt" Gilbert introduced, and Feliciano smiled, before he made a connection.
"Gilbert, I didn't know you had a brother! He's hot too!" The Italian said, making Ludwig choke for a second on his drink. The Italian grabbed Ludwig's hand and shook it vigorously, causing the German's face to color. Gilbert laughed at his brother's flustered expression, and the younger Italian's obliviousness.
Gilbert managed to avoid the awkward atmosphere that surrounded them. He knew he'd have to patch everything up. It wasn't as simple as a just apologizing and forgiving. Things just didn't work like that.