(no subject)
Title:You deserved better/...?
Author: traumschwinge
Wordcount: 2100+
Characters: Gilbert, Ludwig
Fandom: Axis Powers: Hetalia
Rating: T
Summary: Gilbert decides, that more or less forcing himself onto Ludwig is definitely more important than any phone call.
Warning: Human names as always. Gilbert's mouth gets fouler every day, I swear.
Gilbert spent the rest of the day sulking in his room. He had no idea if that even got noticed by his brother. Now and again, he listened for noises in the flat but never heard anything, save for one time when he thought he heard a hushed, yet agitated conversation. At that, Gilbert hugged his cushion closer.
He didn't regret what he had done. He told himself that he should have done this years ago, even. It wasn't like relationships lasted forever. Not even that stupid Austrian's marriage with Elizabetha had, no matter what it had felt like to him or what it still did look like today. And he was right to make a move soon enough so he would still be the first, he reminded himself, shaking off that last trail of thought. He was sure his brother attracted enough people. After all, it was his brother and that meant he had to be awesomely handsome, as it ran in the family.
With what kind of sorcery Francis had tricked the poor boy into a relationship Gilbert would never understand. Since he had gotten to know about it,he had always wondered if Arthur had had his hands in with it or if their bosses, and everyone else's too, had forced them to and by now it was just more bothersome to break up than to simply leave things the way they are. He really hoped that he tipped the scale in favor of break-up with what he had done.
After all, he had witnessed that kind of relationship before. And he had seen how it ended, even though those two had at least been in love with each other. He didn't consider Francis and Ludwig to be in some sort of love for even one second.
点点点
On Monday morning, Gilbert stared glumly into his mug of coffee during breakfast. He hasn't slept well the last tow nights. Actually, he hasn't slept at all. Ludwig and him had spent the Sunday avoiding each other which had went surprisingly well for them living together in a two bedroom flat and having nothing to do on Sundays. Well, at least Gilbert had nothing to do because he had when he had gotten around to glimpse in his brother's room, it had looked like Ludwig had been burying himself in work.
Now, Ludwig was sitting at the same table as his awesome big brother, having breakfast while reading the news or his mails or something,and not paying Gilbert any attention at all. He hadn't even spoken to him, save for an muttered reply to Gilbert's “Good morning” and handing him some copies with a handwritten note attached. Gil wasn't thrilled at all by what he has to read there.
“You know, you could simply tell me that you're mad at me,” Gilbert grumbled, still staring at the copies. Travel plans and appointments all over the republic and it wasn't like he would be going on his own either. Gilbert hoped if he stared at it long enough the stuff in front of him would cease to exist to the point of being wiped from everyone's memory.
Ludwig didn't look up from whatever he was reading. “I'm not mad,” he said calmly. “Is there any reason why you would assume I was mad at you?” He sounded so awfully calm and collected Gilbert felt the urge to punch him in the face, brother or not.
Gilbert slammed the copies on the table. It had taken him some effort not to throw them into his brother's stupid face. To think that he even had wanted that brat to love him any more than a brother should. “Because of this shit,” Gilbert hissed. “You know I hate that guy!”
Ludwig shrugs. “I don't have time to go and one of us should,” he said flatly. “I have more important things to do next week. I'm sure you can do this, you know how to act nice around people you don't like.” From the corner of his eye, Ludwig looked at him. “I know you can around Roderich and Ivan, at least. And those are the people you claim to hate the most.” His voice had turned to ice while he was saying this which confused Gilbert. He couldn't put his finger on it just now but he had a weird feeling about all of this.
“That's because I'm used to these creeps!” Gilbert whined. “I'm not putting up with him.” He pointed accusingly at the name on the first of the copies. “No way! I'd rather fuck Francis!”
The corners of Ludwig's mouth twitched. “You know that could be arranged,” he said smugly. Damn it, when had Ludwig learned how to act smug like that. Gilbert didn't like this. He really should have a word with whoever taught this to his baby brother. “After what you did on Saturday, I'm sure Francis wouldn't mind having your ass handed to him.”
Gilbert stared at his brother slack-jawedly. He thought his ears might not work properly because he was sure he couldn't have heard what he just thought to hear. It took him a while to recover from that. “So... you guys have made-up again then?” he cawed because he couldn't think of anything better with his mind still blank.
“We're working on it,” Ludwig said vaguely. “So, do you want me to ask Francis to come by and fuck you or will you start acting like an adult and do your job? It's not like he will kill you. There's no reason to be afraid of our president. And besides, I like him.”
For a moment or two, Gilbert was tempted to go with the first option, just to mess with his brother and get off the hook. He didn't really expect Ludwig to want to share his boyfriend with him. After all, they acted like they were married. Just going with it to see which one of them would chicken out first really was tempting. Gilbert took a sip of coffee to delay his answer for another few seconds.
By the time he put his empty mug down on the table, Gilbert was grinning. “I wouldn't mind Francis, really,” he said, his voice betraying that he's trying to provoke Ludwig. “Roderich always tells me how good a lover he had been.” That wasn't quite true and he was almost certain that Ludwig knew that as well but it was the first thing that came to his mind that he can use. At least, he was positive that he isn't lying about the fact that Francis and Roderich had fucked, at some point, probably. It was more likely than not.
Ludwig huffed. “Well then,” he sighed. “I'll call Francis if you call in sick at the office.” He took his cell out of the pocket of his suit coat. “So, you first. Francis wanted to swing by this week anyway. A day sooner wouldn't hurt at all.”
Gilbert snorted and took his own phone to search for his boss' number. Before he hit the call button, he blinked. Wait a second, there was something not right here. “And what are you going to do?” Gilbert asked. “You also have work to do.”
Ludwig smiled a smile that would have been very unnerving if it had been directly aimed at Gilbert. “That's the trouble here,” he said, calmer than Gilbert would have because from what he was saying Gilbert himself would have gloated by now. “As long as Francis is involved and my-- our bosses know he's here, it is work.”
Gilbert wasn't very close to saying “I fucking hate you sometimes” at all. Not even in the slightest. And his fists also weren't trembling with the urge to punch his brother. No, most definitely not. He was sure he hadn't raised him like that. The brother he had raised had been cute and studious and more concerned about his work than anything else. The years apart hadn't done Ludwig any good, in Gilbert's very valued opinion.
Swallowing most of his current rage, Gilbert finally finally forced himself to say, “Well, if you want me to fuck your boyfriend so bad...” He let his voice trail off in the end. And, just to prove his point, he now finally hit the call button and brought the phone to his ear. Ludwig wouldn't do him any harm in front of witnesses. What he would do as soon as Gilbert was finished calling was something else entirely though.
Turned out, all Ludwig did while he was calling was finishing his breakfast and then cleaning the table, putting the used dishes into the dishwasher and the leftovers into the fridge before he cleaned the table with a wet cloth. He wasn't done when Gilbert put his phone away sighing.
He had been left off the hook ominously easy, as if everyone already had expected him to chicken out or something. It gnawed a bit at his pride. Back in the old days he never would have dared anything like this and now everyone just assumed he was like that. But then again, in the old days things had been easier to begin with, plus they had been a lot less boring and fake. Well, okay, they had been as fake as things are now but in a different way.
“I called,” Gilbert grunted. “Your move.” He was really pissed about this whole affair. He shouldn't have let Ludwig provoke him this easily. It was like he had done exactly as Ludwig had wanted him to. The way his little brother had been smiling - or pulled a face that Gilbert had learned to count as a smile on Ludwig's part - while he had been calling was proof enough of this in Gilbert's opinion. It unnerved him almost as much as it would with Roderich acting all like a know-it-all again. And he would punch Roderich for that. Well, or at least slap him hard enough to notice. He didn't dare doing this to Ludwig. After all, he might not survive the counter.
Ludwig turned around. He was smiling as he leaned against the counter and dialed. It didn't even take him a minute to explain what was going on and ask him to come. That made Gilbert feel uncomfortably and fed his suspicion that he had acted just like his brother had wanted him to, having been manipulated into facing Francis, the person he currently hated the most. He had hated him the most for more than hundred years which only showed how much of a bastard the Frenchman was in his eyes. After all, Gilbert deemed himself a very forgiving person. But mostly, Gilbert felt angry at his brother for speaking French with his lover instead of a more neutral language.
After he was done, Ludwig slipped his phone back into his pocket. “He said he will be here around dinner,” he informed Gilbert. From what the latter could tell, his brother was really happy about this. Well, that meant at least one of them was looking forward to the visit. “Plenty of time to get something done before he arrives, don't you think?”
Gilbert raised an eyebrow. “Getting what done exactly?” he asked. The living room was spotless, as was his room and he dared to assume Ludwig's. The kitchen had been cleaned up just now. Gilbert was very serious about the weekly cleaning of his flat. Back when he had been younger, untidy rooms had not been tolerated. He hadn't been able to shake these habits off entirely so when the flat became a mess, he tended to clean it up afterwards. They would need to get groceries if they wanted to cook but he doubted that. Francis would whine too much if one of them did and he wouldn't allow that bastard to use his kitchen no matter what. So Gilbert had no idea what his brother could mean.
Ludwig pushed himself away from the counter. “My work,” he declared. “And yours. Just because you called in sick doesn't mean I'll allow you a lazy day. There's plenty of work you could do from your computer. And when you're done with that, I'm sure I will find you some more.” And with this, he walked to the door, just to stop there, turn and add, “I will check if you really are working. So don't even think about being lazy.” Then he left for his room.
Just a second before a tea towel could hit him, Ludwig was gone. “MANIPULATIVE ASSHOLE!” Gilbert yelled after him. He wished he had thrown something harder.
A/N:
- Just to be save: Every opinion expressed here is the characters' and not my own until stated otherwise. Thank you.
- About Gilbert not liking the President of the FRG: Well, since I go with Gilbert = former GDR I can't imagine him to like someone who is rather unpopular in Eastern Germany. Besides my headcanon says that Gilbert really likes “Die Linke” and they practically hate Gauck for the obvious reason of him having been head of the Stasi archives for years. If you want to know more go look Joachim Gauck up, I bet Wikipedia has a decent article about him.
- Tidy Gilbert: ...seriously, Prussia was said to be tidier and more obsessed with order than anyone else. I will never understand why Gilbert should be different.
Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed this and look forward to the next chapter! If you spotted any mistake, let me know. I don't really have a beta so every mistake is entirely my own fault.