Chapter Text
“I just wanted to ask you… Is everything okay at home?”
The question took Gilbert completely off guard, and the surprise was evident in his pale features. “Excuse me?”
The teacher looked down and away, her fluffy tortoiseshell ears pushed flat against her curly brown hair. “It’s just… Ludwig, he’s been… having a bit of trouble.”
Gilbert growled quietly as his red eyes found the young boy. Ludwig clung to the albino’s leg, pointedly looking at his feet. Sharply pointed blond ears, too big for the little boy, were pressed against his head, and an equally blond tail was shoved tightly between his legs. He’d done something, and knew he was in trouble for it.
Gilbert pinned a sidelong glare on the teacher. She shrunk back a bit -- he was still growling. “What exactly has Ludwig done?”
“H-he doesn’t listen and pay attention, he’d rather be off on his own than working together in a group. He rarely speaks. And recently, when he does speak, he’s started to talk back. H-he’s normally a sweet boy, even if he’s a bit introverted… But even so,” And here, she leans in to Gilbert closely, gaze flickering momentarily at the child. “He hasn’t made any friends... so I just wondered…”
Gilbert gave a curt nod and glanced down at Ludwig. He was still looking away, but now his face had gone red.
“Is this true, brat?”
Slowly, Ludwig nodded. He wouldn’t meet Gilbert’s eyes.
“We’ll talk about this.” He hissed, another growl rising under his breath. “But for now, I want you to apologize to your nice teacher for everything. She’s concerned about you. And I want you to tell her that you will behave from now on, and do as she asks without complaint.”
Ludwig raised his eyes, big blue orbs that Gilbert was shocked and dismayed to find were full of tears, even though he was giving them both a big smile. He could not handle Ludwig crying, he absolutely could not.
“I’m sorry, Mrs. Moore.” He couldn’t seem to hold her gaze… but that wasn’t unusual for him.
“For what?” Gilbert prompted.
“For my behavior.”
“Yeah, now put it all together.”
“I’m sorry for my behavior, Mrs. Moore.” His voice was shaking now, and when Ludwig looked up to Gilbert to see how he’d done, tears streaked his fat, ruddy cheeks as he smiled too hard up at his brother. Gilbert’s heart absolutely broke.
He sighed, attempting to muster control to resist, at least somewhat. He gently pet the boy’s head with a murmur of good boy , and kneeled down beside him. Ludwig huffed a loud sigh -- he didn’t appreciate physical gestures very much, but he tolerated them from Gilbert. With a soft touch the albino wiped some of Ludwig’s tears away. “Big boys don’t cry.” He quietly admonished.
When Gilbert stood again, the teacher was smiling. “You’re so good with him.” She murmured, before turning her smile to Ludwig. “It’s okay, sweetie. I forgive you. Can you be good for me from now on? Like you are with your big brother?”
Ludwig looked up to her with the most earnest expression, and gave a nod.
Gilbert gave a short as well, and grabbed Ludwig’s hand. “I really need to drop him off at home and get to work but --” He glanced at Ludwig and sighed. “If there’s anything else, or he starts misbehaving again, just give me a call. You have my cell number.”
The teacher’s ears perked up and she nodded. “Of course, Mr. Beilschmidt.”
“Just Gilbert. I don’t feel like a mister .”
The small woman laughed lightly as the two walked away. Gilbert wasn’t smiling. He could feel the boy’s apprehension rising in the distress pheromones that he released. They got into the car -- it was Roderich’s, not Gilbert’s, as Gilbert was worried about putting the little boy on a motorcycle just yet -- and as soon as the albino shut the door, he spoke, switching to German.
“Now tell me what’s wrong.”
The boy’s distress pheromones wavered and sputter. He remained quiet, and when Gilbert looked through the rearview mirror, he could see the boy looking at him with cautious curiosity, his ears now ramrod straight and swiveled towards Gilbert. Though when he was caught looking he tore his eyes away and to the window. Gilbert sighed. Obviously he’d been expecting a tongue lashing, and was confused at this turn of events.
Gilbert sighed, his big white ears relaxing and drooping slightly. “Mrs. Moore is right -- you are a good boy, Ludwig. That’s why I’m asking. While I know you aren’t very talkative, it’s not normal for you to misbehave like that.” Every so often he did bad things and talked back -- he was only five after all -- but he was widely well-behaved, sweet and obedient. Soft-spoken, certainly, but keenly observant.
“I don’t know. I’m… I’m... Not happy. I don’t think I’m happy. Happy is good.” It was a very slow, thought out response. A cold fear gripped Gilbert’s heart. He wasn’t moving quickly enough.
“Hey… is this about… ya know. Is this about Aunt Liz and Uncle Rod?”
Ludwig stared quietly at the back of Gilbert’s head in response.
“Look, Lutz. I know it’s tough. I do. It’s not easy for me, either. But just think: we’ll be leaving soon. And then they can’t bother us anymore.”
“Uncle Rod told me I was a nuisance yesterday.” Hot flames of anger erupted in Gilbert’s chest, melting and replacing the cold fear. “He started crying.”
He was drinking again, Gilbert would bet his left hand on it.
“Roderich doesn’t mean it.” Except the albino knew he really, really did.
“He doesn’t?” The response was quiet, but full of hope.
Gilbert felt guilty. “Regardless, you can’t just--”
“I hate everyone.”
That effectively ripped Gilbert into a shocked silence.
“You’re the only person I don’t hate.”
“You don’t hate Uncle Toni or Aunt Chiara…”
“I do…” He trailed off weakly. It was just bluster from the little boy… He was very angry and sad, and sometimes had trouble showing these feelings or speaking about them, unless it was through extremes.
Gilbert sighed, defeated. “I don’t know what to do.” He admitted, then immediately regretted it. This kid in the backseat was five , and Gilbert needed to take care of him, not spill his problems on the little boy. “This is just a rough patch. We’ll get through this, and move out soon. I just need to work more, get a little more money. I almost have enough. Won’t it be great when we live all alone?” He plastered a toothy grin on his face, and glanced back into the rearview mirror. His face fell as he watched Ludwig staring vacantly out the window.
“If you’re my brother, how are you adopting me?”
The question was… unexpected to say the least. And a stab of guilt wormed its way into Gilbert’s heart. He… wasn’t actually in any way related to Ludwig.
“Because,” He replied, voice full of false cheer. “I’m an adult! And our parents are dead… so it’s okay! As long as the nice lady that comes to visit us is satisfied with us.”
“I don’t like that stupid babymaker.”
Gilbert swerved over to the side of the road and practically slammed on the breaks. It took a good second for his mind to catch up with him, but when it did, he glared coldly back at Ludwig, menace radiating from his every pore. Ludwig responded with a whine, shrinking back into the seat with a small smile.
“ What did you just say?”
Ludwig quickly averted his eyes, and said nothing.
“I feel like you know that was a bad thing to say.”
Ludwig glanced at Gilbert quickly, once, then twice, and the third time shakily held the gaze. “B-but I-I -- I didn’t swear. And that’s what she is.”
“Who taught you that?”
He bowed his head with a small chuckle. “A classmate.”
“Is that how you think of--” Shit, he had to pick an omega that wasn’t Roderich. “Of Chiara? Or her little sister? A useless babymaker, good for nothing but having and raising kids?”
Ludwig quickly shook his head, laughing even harder.
“Do you think Alphas are better than omegas? Is that why you’re laughing? Do you think this is funny?”
Ludwig shook his head again still laughing, but attempting to stifle it, perhaps realizing Gilbert didn’t appreciate it.
“More important? Smarter? More deserving to be listened to and taken seriously?”
“No, no! That’s not what I meant! You’re changing it, you’re changing what I said!” Ludwig bawled with laughter. “I don’t like the lady, I hate her!” He roughly kicked out at the back of Gilbert’s seat.
“When you say things like babymaker , it’s called being derogatory . When you say something like that about one omega, you show that you have the same attitude towards all omegas. If you don’t like her, there are other things you could say -- like that she’s mean. Or ugly.”
Ludwig snorted, and nodded seriously. “She is ugly…”
Gilbert grinned, pulling back onto the road. “But you understand, right? You can’t say things that refer to whole groups of people like that. Like… it’s okay to say that someone is an omega, or an alpha or a feline, or whatever. As long as you’re just saying it conversationally, like… Roderich is an omega canine. Just saying things like that, it’s fine.”
He couldn’t see Ludwig’s expression as he changed lanes, but he could hear the frown in the boy’s voice. “I think I get it…”
Gilbert sighed. He knew the boy didn’t mean to say such a mean thing -- he was sensitive and kind, and if he hurt another child’s feelings it was more likely that Ludwig would start crying. It’d happened before, and Ludwig hadn’t even known what he’d said or done wrong. There were just some things he had to teach Ludwig before society got the boy in its cold, cynical grip.
“Well… that aside. How was school, kiddo?”
A quiet sigh. “Boring! I knew everything already.”
It was Gilbert’s turn to frown.
“All the kids are so stupid.”
“Ludwig, they’re not stupid. It’s not their fault that you know more than them.
“They’re stupid because it takes so long for them to learn anything.”
Gilbert knew this was a huge part of the problem. Once Ludwig got into the first grade, he’d probably end up skipping a grade… or three. He was too smart, and that was a big reason he didn’t pay attention in class, and resented doing activities he felt were beneath him. Gilbert was genuinely concerned both about this behavior, and about the fact that Ludwig was obviously the smartest person in his class. He was worried that so much time spent without stimulating the child’s mind would affect him adversely. That, or he would just be further alienated from his peers as he continued to rise above them.
But unfortunately, it was nothing that he could help. He was raising this child alone (for the most part), and even if Ludwig wasn’t really an orphan, he was just as good as one. No one knew who the father was, and his mother couldn’t stand to look at him. Even thinking about the little boy’s situation was making him sad.
Gilbert sighed, drumming his fingers on the steering wheel. He loved this little boy like a son. He just wanted to do right by him. Truth be told, Gilbert used to have dreams. In the marines, he often thought about being an engineer, and on the side playing in a band. But dreams and gambles just didn’t seem as important when he had a child thrust upon him so aggressively. Ludwig was Gilbert’s whole life, now.
“Are you okay?” The small voice from the back seat shocked him out of his reverie. He gave Ludwig a startled smile, hoping that he didn’t appear sad. He must have been releasing enough negative pheromones to cause Ludwig to wonder. He wouldn’t have asked otherwise.
“Of course, kiddo! I’m always awesome!”
Ludwig frowned. “I know.” Gilbert sighed. The kid was so off-putting sometimes. He’d learned to interpret which facial expressions meant what, but it was still just unsettling at times to see such a discordant expression for the situation at hand.
“We’re almost there, buddy.”
Silence met him. Which wasn’t unusual, but…
“I want to stay with you.” Ludwig replied quietly in English. They did this every single day.
“German, Lutz.”
“I want to stay with you.” Ludwig repeated, this time in German and more forcefully.
“You can’t. You know you’re not allowed.”
They went back and forth like this for the remainder of the car ride, a short five minutes or so. Gilbert groaned inwardly but kept a stern, almost icy exterior. When he parked, Ludwig started screaming. Unfortunately, this was normal, too. Shouldn’t he have grown out of this clinginess already? Shouldn’t he be alright with staying here without me? He had Liz and Rod for the first three years of his life. Why aren’t they good enough for him anymore? Why do we do this every single day?
He dragged Ludwig from the car seat, tucked the boy under his arm and kicked the door shut.
“C’mon.” He spoke softly despite Ludwig’s kicking and screaming. He was a strong little bugger. “We’ll get you a snack and then I have to go to work.”
“No!” He screamed. There was a tiny, high sound bubbling from his throat, vibrating in his chest, and Gilbert realized with amusement that Ludwig was growling . He’d never growled before that Gilbert had heard.
Stifling his laughter into a loud snort, Gilbert unlocked the door and tossed the blond on the couch. A big, black dog careened into the entryway, only to nearly slam into Gilbert’s legs. He whined and aggressively licked the man’s pale hand.
“Hey, Fritzi.” Gilbert greeted him with a smirk. Then he looked back to Ludwig. “I’ll go grab some pudding for you, okay? But only if you promise to behave.”
Ludwig tried to dry his tears before giving a petulant nod. Clearly, he didn’t care much about getting the snack. Gilbert hid his frown until he was in the kitchen, but it only deepened when he saw Roderich.
The omega was sitting at the table, head lying across his arms and three empty bottles of liquor in front of him.
“Liza?” He slurred, looking blearily up at Gilbert.
“No, asshole.” The albino hissed. “Do you think you could go into your room? The kid’s home.”
Roderich huffed, and laid his head back down, cool dark blue eyes regarding Gilbert blankly.
The albino curled a lip in disgust. “I don’t like having to do this,” He murmured with a strong undercurrent of menace, “But you will go to your room. You will not show your face around Ludwig like this.”
Roderich picked his head up again, something igniting in his eyes at the authoritative tone and the commanding, almost threatening pheromones.
“I’ll clean up, here. You just leave.”
Roderich glared, but shakily got to his feet. “This is my house.” He hissed.
“Your shitty apartment, you mean. And I pay rent, so it’s mine for now as well.” Was Gilbert’s matter of fact reply, and the omega’s glare sharpened.
Gilbert took the bottles as Roderich left the room, rinsing them and throwing them into the recycling bin. He sighed, attempting to calm his pheromones as he grabbed a spoon from the silverware drawer. He brought the pudding and spoon back out to Ludwig, who was sitting quietly now and staring at Gilbert. There was a certain level of knowing in those calm, observant eyes, and Gilbert knew instantly that he’d smelt the aggressive pheromones. He sighed again, sitting next to the blond and sending out calming pheromones.
“Uncle Rod is drunk again, isn’t he?”
Gilbert just nodded.
“Have he and Aunt Liz been fighting again?”
“I think so.”
“Oh.” The little boy smiled gently into his pudding cup. “You say talking it out is the right thing to do. So how come they don’t do it? Is it hard for them to talk about stuff, too?”
Gilbert grimaced inwardly, and one of his ears flicked outwards, then back upright. “Listen…” He debated for a moment about trying to explain the intricacy of relationships and having adult emotions, which were more nuanced and complex than a simple and straightforward reaction from a young child. But he was rather poor with words when it came right down to it… and he didn’t have time. “You’re absolutely right, they should talk it out. I’ll… I’ll talk to them about that, okay?”
Ludwig frowned gravely, and he nodded.
“Hey, I have to go now, okay? Dinner is in the refrigerator, and you have juice boxes in there as well. It’s a Friday, and you don’t have school tomorrow, but make sure to get to bed by nine. Brush your teeth for a whole two minutes okay? And get a glass of water before bed so that you don’t get up in the middle of the night.”
Ludwig sighed and nodded into his pudding. “I know, I know.”
Gilbert smiled faintly. The poor thing was just too mature for his age. He stood to leave, only to have Fritzi prance from foot to foot, licking his lips and whining softly at his master.
He patted the dog on the head. “I’ll feed you when we get home.” He placated. “I’ll walk you, too. How’s that?” With a last loving stroke, he grabbed his keys and headed for the door. “Bye, Ludwig. Love you.” The boy didn’t reply, didn’t even look at him. But Gilbert hadn’t expected him to.
When Gilbert got home late that night, he could hear the screaming all the way down in the parking lot. He sighed heavily, his thoughts immediately landing on poor little Ludwig. Hopefully the boy was sleeping through this.
As soon as Gilbert opened the door he shut it, avoiding an empty glass bottle that crashed against the door frame. This time, more tentatively, he pried the door open, peeking inside before slamming it open.
“What the fuck!” He snarled, practically throwing his keys on the table by the door. “You almost fucking hit me with that!”
Roderich shrank back, though his eyes held sharp menace in them. “Good.” He spat.
Gilbert narrowed his eyes, stomping over to Roderich, pheromones raging with aggression and hostility. “Care to say that again, you shitty little --”
Suddenly he was slammed against the wall, only to see Elizaveta, who snapped her teeth in his face. It took everything not to flinch on instinct.
“Don’t fucking touch my omega!” She growled
In response, Gilbert tackled her to the ground, and Elizaveta narrowly avoided a bite that would have taken a chunk out of her face. She rolled Gilbert over onto his back, and went for his throat, but missed by a hair’s breadth. Summoning all his strength, Gilbert lept up at her, toppling her and pinning her by the neck to the floor, his red eyes shimmering with animalistic rage. He stopped abruptly, however, when he heard a soft sniffling sound that caught him off guard. Elizaveta used his distraction to her advantage and punch him in the face, before flipping him and kneeling over his back.
“Not in front of the kid!” Gilbert squawked, just as Ludwig’s chubby legs carried him across the room. He careened into Elizaveta with all his might, who caught his weight effortlessly. She gave a surprised stutter that might have been words, but she had no chance to form them. Ludwig snarled, long and low, confronting her head on in defense of his big brother. A muffled shit could be heard where Roderich was in the kitchen, and Elizaveta made another sound, something confused and unsure as her pheromones were forced to switch suddenly from aggressor to protector.
“Luddy,” she murmured, her Hungarian accent heavy in her emotion. “Luddy I’m sorry. We didn’t mean to scare you."
“Yeah.” Gilbert affirmed as Elizaveta blessedly got off of him. She held Ludwig in her arms, and though Ludwig struggled and screamed, Gilbert was comfortable in the knowledge that she wouldn’t dare hurt Ludwig. The woman was a bitch, but she treasured the boy dearly and if it concerned him, she proved a better ally and caretaker than Roderich. “Look, see? We’re friends.” He offered Elizaveta as convincing of a smile as he could manage, and to her credit, Elizaveta smiled back.
Ludwig grinned almost ferally -- there was an edge of viciousness to the smile. Gilbert shivered. Sometimes -- like now -- Ludwig’s expressions were downright creepy.
“Hey.” Gilbert murmured softly. He tried to ignore the way his face felt like it was swelling. “Let’s put you back to bed, okay?”
Ludwig continued to grin at Gilbert, tilting his head just slightly. He knew that the adults were only trying to get him out of the way, and he’d once expressed as much to Gilbert. Yeah… too smart for his own good, he was.
“You don’t want to, do you?” Elizaveta asked with no little amount of concern. “Honey, it’s okay. I know I hurt Gilbert, and I’m sorry. It wasn’t fair of me, either, since he was distracted when I did it.”
Ludwig turned his gaze up to Elizaveta, a tiny growl bubbling from his chest even though he could not maintain eye contact this time. Elizaveta flashed Gilbert a concerned look, and the albino returned it. Ludwig should be able to hold eye contact while challenging an alpha. The three of them and the doctor agreed that Ludwig showed signs of being an alpha, though it was too early to tell. As such, either something was very wrong with him, or Ludwig just wasn’t an alpha.
“I don’t care.” Ludwig muttered childishly. “Say sorry to my brother.”
Elizaveta smiled wryly and looked to Gilbert. “I’m sorry, Gil.” She wasn’t, and they both knew that, which was fine -- just so long as Ludwig was led to believe otherwise. That was all either of them cared about.
“It’s fine, Liza.” He replied, trying for an amicable tone. “I forgive you.”
“Hey Luddy,” Elizaveta hedged, “You know… punching people and fighting isn’t very nice. We were wrong to behave like that. Hurting people is bad, okay?”
Ludwig hmphed , and gave her an impish grin. “Of course I know that. I’m five, not stupid.”
“Ludwig.” Gilbert snapped. “Watch your mouth. That’s not how you talk to people.”
“I’m angry!” He finally exploded with a punch aimed at Gilbert. “I don’t care about how to talk to people!”
Gilbert groaned. “Okay. You’re angry, and you have every reason to be angry.” Elizaveta nodded in agreement. “But it’s how you deal with your feelings, like anger, that makes you a big boy. Okay? You need to remain calm and composed.”
Ludwig screwed up his face and tried to stop angry tears from falling. A moment passed, then two, and finally, he said, “Okay.” The voice was utterly devoid of emotion, and Gilbert worried that maybe he’d said the wrong thing.
There was no way Ludwig was going to sleep at this point. He sighed.
“Hey.” He started. “Do you want to be a big boy and stay up late with me tonight? You can help with the laundry.”
Ludwig’s eyes lit up at the prospect of being able to be a big boy and help his brother. He nodded quickly and squirmed, Elizaveta finally letting him free.
Gilbert only said that to distract Ludwig, in all honesty. When Ludwig was struggling to put on his coat all by himself, Elizaveta gave him an inquisitive look. He just shrugged helplessly at her, and heaved the bag of laundry onto his shoulder. He didn’t really have to do laundry, so he’d combined everyone’s dirty clothing into a single load. What he really wanted was to hunker down in the futon with a beer and his homework… but obviously that wasn’t going to happen. He sighed as he left, Ludwig “helping” him to carry the laundry bag down the stairs. With kids, things like this happened, and it was fine. Finding his soulmate was a bit… far fetched. But sometimes, he just wished he had a mate to share Ludwig with. He wasn’t a burden, nothing like that, but sometimes...
Gilbert gave a wistful sigh and threw the laundry in the trunk, before scratching the birthmark on his back that someone, somewhere, supposedly had a duplicate of. It was fine. Really. He didn’t actually need anyone.