And here our story starts again, 14 years later.
Lilli, now a teenager rather than the infant her mother once held, brought out the bowls of soup, placing them in their proper spots. "Okay, Roderich's goes here..." She whispered to herself, being careful. She went back to grab more bowls, and two more after those. The front door opened, Gilbert coming inside. Lilli looked away from the table, being able to see him from where she was. "What's for dinner, Lils?" He asked, putting his jacket up. "Father insisted on soup tonight. Ludwig made it." She replied, placing the last bowl down.
"That type?" He questioned, walking towards the kitchen. "Mhm." She mumbled. "God damnit, that's old people food." Although he expected a small laugh from Lilli, she stayed quiet.
"Lils?"
"Hm?"
"Something up?"
"No, but thanks for being concerned, I guess." She answered, going back into the kitchen. The kitchen wasn't exactly the most pleasant of environments - With stubborn stains on the counters that just wouldn't come off, as well as an utterly disgusting stove, which no one really wanted, or even knew how to clean. Lilli had tried, that meaning she scrubbed it with whatever they had in the cleaning closet, which usually was useless products, resulting in the house still being filthy despite frequent cleaning.
Gilbert followed her into the kitchen. "God damnit, has father not once considered picking up actual fucking stove cleaner?" He hissed, looking at the stove. "Look, Gilbert. As a young boy, he was taught that women were only supposed to clean, not men. And even though you boys sometimes clean, he never does. Therefore, because of those two factors, he knows nothing about cleaning and thinks that the stuff in the closet will do the trick." Lilli said.
Gilbert sighed. "No wonder we can never get the house fully clean. That and the fact that there was a period of time where like, no one cleaned until our grandmother came over, saw the mess, scolded him because she's the only fucking person he ever listens to, told him to clean it, refused to, so poor grandma over here had to clean up this shithole of a house, telling him what to do since he no longer had a wife to do it for him, but he ignored it all and decided why not fucking make the kids do it until Lilli's old enough to get forced into doing like 60% of it while the boys get like barely anything?"
"Gil! Shush!" Lilli exclaimed quickly, panicked. Gauthier had come upstairs, and Lilli could hear the footsteps. He walked towards the kitchen, standing in the doorway of it. "What's taking so long? Dinner should be ready by now." He said sternly. "I-" Lilli was cut off. "Speed up, for fucks sake. Gilbert, leave. You're distracting her."
"Fine." He grumbled, leaving the kitchen. Gauthier stood there for a few seconds, Lilli awkwardly looking at him. "What? Get back to work!" He commanded, Lilli nervously nodding before continuing putting everything on the table.
Gauthier rolled his eyes, sighing. He headed out onto the patio - Most likely to smoke. Lilli looked out the kitchen's doorway. She could just barely see him outside, it would have been easier from maybe the living room. But, Lilli honestly couldn't care less about him. Besides, he barely even cared about her - Or any of his kids, honestly.
The only one he even gave the slightest shit about, was Ludwig. In his eyes, Ludwig was... perfect. Nothing short of it. Nearly identical to him, obedient, strong, intelligent... Nothing seemed to be wrong about him. When it came to Roderich, Vash, and Lilli, he was mostly neutral on them. He disliked how weak Roderich could be physically, how much of a shut-in Vash was, including his fiery temper (Which, admittedly was something he got from Gauthier) and how Lilli was born female.
But there was no child he fathered that he hated more than poor Gilbert.
Where did Gauthier start with that boy? Well, firstly, his albinism. Gauthier viewed him as less of a person due to it. And then there was his tendency to... rebel. Gilbert always went by his own set of rules, it seemed. Always coming up with some new crazy adventure as a little boy, and the case wasn't much different when it came to adult Gilbert. It wasn't rare for him to get yelled at over some new piercing or tattoo he came home with.
But the worst trait to Gauthier?
He wasn't scared of him.
Not one bit.
No matter what Gauthier said or did, Gilbert refused to show any fear, never afraid to stand up for himself or any of his siblings.
And Gauthier hated that.
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"Dinner!"
The six family members were sat at the dinner table. It was scratched up, with one of the corners gone from it, near where Ludwig and Gilbert sat. All the soup bowls seemed to be same, except for Lilli, who had a smaller portion that the rest. It was silent, no one daring to speak up. Gauthier cleared his throat, breaking the silence. "How'd everyone's day go?"
No one spoke.
"Anyone?" He repeated, more stern this time. "Why do you care?" Asked Gilbert, fiddling with his soup. Gauthier muttered a snarky remark under his breath. "Just... go fucking eat upstairs if you're gonna be like that." Gil rolled his eyes. "You think I'm gonna let a man who is like an absolute stranger to me dictate what I do?!" He exclaimed.
"Guys, not in front of Lilli, for fucks sake." Vash said. "Vash... you can stop being overprotective of her, you know." Roderich replied. "Did I ask?!-" He was cut off by Gauthier. "Vash, control your temper for crying out loud, and Gilbert fucking Beilschmidt, must I repeat myself once more?" Gauthier hissed. "I was just telling you how I feel." He mumbled. "You started this. You spoke back to me, you rat."
Vash sighed. "God damnit, this family is fucking dysfunctional." Gauthier gave him a look that shot daggers at him. "My god, can't you calm down with the language?!" Vash rolled his eyes in response. "You're one to say that."
"All of you guys are nuisances. Should've stopped at Ludwig, honestly."
"You wanted five kids!"
"You guys think I wanted-"
"GO ON! CONTINUE WHAT YOU WERE GONNA FUCKING SAY!"
Gauthier sighed. "Screw this. I'm going out." He grumbled, taking his jacket off of the chair. "Drinking the ol' problems away, are we now?" Gilbert teased. Gauthier ignored him, grabbing his wallet from the counter before heading out the door. Gilbert rolled his eyes. "Bastard, he is."
"... I don't know why father wanted five of us. He didn't even have a big family, he only had like... A sister, or something. Neither did mother. She was an only child." Roderich said. "Well, he's all about the concept of 'continuing' his legacy, hence his choice to have five of us." Vash replied.
"So he only had us for that reason?" Lilli asked. Vash sighed. "It's the ugly truth, but yea. Also an explanation as to why he's so pissed about little imperfections - And things we don't have control over." He responded.
"He wants us to be perfect just for his legacy?" Lilli questioned, looking down. Vash gulped. "Pretty much." Lilli's eyes filled with fear, looking up at her big brother. "You mean I have to be some housewife like he said?!" Vash nearly spit out his water that he'd been drinking. "He said what?"
"I- I thought he told you that!"
"I mean- He did say that being a housewife was a woman's only purpose, which obviously is wrong, but he said that to you?! His own fucking daughter?!"
"I thought it was obvious he'd already told her such bullshit." Gilbert muttered. "She's 14. He told all of us, including her, from a young age about that."
"Well he shouldn't have!" Roderich put his hand on Vash's shoulder. "Just... Calm down, would you? You're being ridiculously. I know father's in the wrong eyes, but it doesn't mean you have to-" Vash tore his hand away. "Go fuck yourself, Roderich." Roderich's eyes widened. "All of you are idiots. I'm going to Elizaveta's."
"Roderich, I said go fuck yourself, 'not go get fucked by your girlfriend'."
Gilbert absolutely lost it, doubling over with laughter. Roderich just scoffed and got up to head off. "I won't miss you." He said. "Good, same here." Vash responded harshly.
Ludwig sighed, finally getting up from his spot. His soup was barely touched, almost as full as it was when he first sat down. "I'm going upstairs. I have work to do."
"Oh, wow." Vash muttered sarcastically. "Another problem avoider, for fucks sake." Ludwig groaned. "Can you please stop being such an asshole for a few minutes?" Vash rolled his eyes. "Not much better yourself, Lud. Favourite child attitudes, honestly."
Ludwig sighed. "That doesn't mean I have it easy with father or anything." Vash slammed his hands onto the table. "Yes you do! You're the only one he doesn't constantly hurt!-" Ludwig finally reached his limit, snapping. "DON'T ACT LIKE I DON'T FUCKING EXPERIENCE FATHER'S BULLSHIT TOO!"
Vash went quiet.
Too quiet.
Lilli looked at the two of them.
Ludwig sighed once again.
"Goodnight."
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