It took another fifteen minutes for the two of them to give the police their statements. While Mathias was giving his, the paramedics dealt with Lukas' head injury, telling him to be careful and to come back if the dizziness didn't go away. They'd already tried to deal with Mathias' arm and almost didn't succeed with his, 'it's hardly a scratch!' attittude. Only when the two of them were left alone again did he speak to Lukas. "Let me walk you home."

Lukas gave his statement first, explaining only the bare minimum of what happened. His head hurt to much to try to focus on to many details. He then let the paramedics look over him without a fuss, unlike a certain Dane. He agreed that he would come back if the dizziness continued solely so that he would be able to go home and already knowing that he wasn't going to come back no matter what. He really hated hospitals. So it was a relief when they could leave.

"Do what you want." he told Mathias in response. He just wanted to get home, knowing Tino most likely sent Emil a message after he left informing him he'd be heading home earlier than planned. He loved the guy, he did, but he was so paranoid about people walking alone at night. With good reason, apparently, but he really would rather they didn't worry about him. He could handle himself... Most of the time.

Mathias always did what he wanted so he found that a funny thing to say. Or would at a better time for laughing. He'd clearly gotten over his earlier anger though and hummed as he walked, a grin on his face. As always, he was quick to anger, quick to cool down. "So where do you live? Have a girlfriend waiting for you at home? Oh yeah, bet she'll fuss all over you after this! Are you sure you're alright?" Lukas still looked in pain.

Lukas tried to tune out Mathias talking. He was way to loud to deal with right now. "Not to much farther. No girlfriend, just my brother. And he's not the type to fuss over anybody. That's more of a Tino thing. And I'm fine." he responded in order of the questions. Sure, his head still hurt. But that was probably because Mathias couldn't be quiet. "Speaking of my brother, I would appreciate it if you didn't say anything to him about what happened tonight. Or to Tino for that matter. They don't need to know."

Mathias looked at him in confusion. "Why not mention it? You're going to make them worry!" he exclaimed. It was hard to miss someone close to you was the victim of a crime. He would notice it and he was dumb, but protective and it would piss him off if someone tried to hide that. "Anyway, if you didn't want anyone to know, you shouldn't have filed a police report..." Even to him that was obvious. Mathias ran a hand through his hair, just plain confused.

"I was just bashed over the head. Of course I wasn't thinking straight at that moment." Lukas responded. "Besides. If I hadn't filed the report against them, once they woke up they would have filed a case against you for assaulting them." He was silent for another moment, continuing to walk, trying to get his thoughts together. "I just.... I just don't want him to worry about me. He has other things he should stay focused on."

Okay, being hit in the head was kinda a good excuse. Mathias' head was helluva hard though so he couldn't be sure. He paused for a minute, trying to process that. "They were in the wrong. They can't cry assault..." he whined, but in a much more quiet voice than usual. He knew he screwed up and tried not to show that. It occurred to him that even if it was, Lukas still said something interesting. "Are you worried about me getting in trouble? You're actually looking out for me?" He shook his head, trying not to get hung up on that.

"Don't let that go to your head. Like I said; hit over the head. Not thinking straight." Lukas responded. He knew it would be easier to have not filed the report. The guys who assaulted him were just kids after all. He could tell that had been their first time trying anything like that. Though he felt bad that they had chosen their path, he knew if they didn't do something to nip this in the bud now, before they did something really serious, then it would be to late for them to change.

He continued walking in silence the rest of the way. He stopped walking in front of a nice townhouse and turned to Mathias. "Well... This is it." he said. He could see lights on inside, so he knew Emil was still awake. He had been so hoping his brother would have been asleep so that he wouldn't have to face him until morning. Nothing he could do about it now. He reached into his pocket to pull out his keys, though the door probably wasn't locked if the younger sibling was still awake inside.

Mathias hummed to that and decided to ignore everything Lukas said. He was totally worrying and that meant lukas didn't hate him after all. When they came to the townhouse, Mathias did his best to look around and gather details like the good little snoop he was. It looked like a nice home. "Aw, home already? Hey! It was nice meeting ya! Let's do this again, kay?" He grinned and lifted one hand in a wave, waiting for the other to head inside before he left.

Emil lay on his stomach, a bag of licorice in front of him as he played his favorite video game in the living room. The house got too quiet so he gave one of the game controllers to his stuffed puffin and the two had been engaged in a heated tournament for the last two hours, complete with snarky chatter. He dropped his the second he heard the door open. "You're late," he complained first thing, trying to sound mature or like he didn't care. Tino texted him ages ago and that led to more licorice eating than usual.

"Let's not do this again." Lukas responded. He didn't really feel up to getting mugged again sometime soon. Though he knew that wasn't what Mathias had meant. At least, he hoped not. He went up the couple of steps to the door and stopped and looked back at him. "Thanks though... For earlier.." he told him, his voice low. With that, he went inside.

A small, fond smile formed on his face when he entered the home and saw what Emil was doing. Though it dropped when he entered the room his brother was in, keeping his face indifferent to give nothing away. "I was held up. Why are you still awake? Its close to midnight?" he asked, not caring that it was Saturday night and that Emil didn't have school the next day. He just wanted to keep him from asking why he was so late. His head was still hurting, but he couldn't go get ice for it until his brother went to bed. So instead, he just took a seat on the couch and watched him.

"Move over, you're hogging the road!" he told Mr. Puffin who in fact was being played by a CPU, but Emil didn't seem to care. He glanced at Lukas without pausing his game, a little too distracted to catch much. "I don't have to sleep just because you say so. I'm not a kid. How about you go to bed before your manager kills you." Emil was seventeen and even though he admired his brother in just about every way, he was not going to come out and say he was glad to have him home.

Lukas hummed in agreement. It would probably be for the best. Sleep would probably help and he needed to be on the top of his game when dealing with his manager. He figured if he took some pain pills, he wouldn't need any ice for his head. With that in mind, he stood up. But standing up so suddenly left him disoriented for a moment and he nearly tripped over the coffee table in front of the couch. He quickly righted himself before heading out of the room. Before he left completely, he stopped and turned back to Emil. "Don't stay up to late." he told him. He then proceeded to the bathroom to grab the pills before he went to his room.

Emil finally did pause his game to trade looks with Mr. Puffin. "How drunk do you think he is?" He noticed the way Lukas stumbled and of course he guessed drinking caused it. After a second of silence, Emil nodded. "Yeah, I think so too. How embarrassing. I bet I can hold alcohol better than him...once I'm old enough to drink." He popped another candy into his mouth and turned his game back on, ignoring everything his brother said about not staying up too late.

Lukas went into the bathroom and opened the medicine cabinet, pulling out a bottle of pain pills. The tiny font blurred before his eyes, so he didn't even bother trying to read it. He just opened and poured some out into his hand, more than he probably should have, before swallowing them without water. He left the bottle on the sink and looked into the mirror. He had to admit, he looked like shit. He was glad Emil hadn't noticed. If his own brother couldn't figure out something had happened, then nobody would be able to. Reassured by that, he went into his own bedroom and kicked off his shoes before falling face first on the bed, to tired to change. He was instantly asleep.

Monday night rolled around and Gilbert was back to acting like his usual annoying self. He'd been looking forward to work the entire day and ended up eating dinner too fast. The second he finished, he pushed back his chair and smiled at his brother. "Anyway, see ya tomorrow. Bout time for me to head to work." He lifted one hand in a farewell before he fetched his bag from his room, threw on a jacket, and toed on his shoes. "Bye!" He hopped out the door a second later, slamming it shut behind as he headed to his car. The ugly blue thing could be spotted a mile away, but then, he liked it that way. He never lost it in a parking lot. After putting on some Die Atzen, he drove off.

Ludwig watched Gilbert all through dinner. Although he was acting like himself again, something seemed off. And he was going to find out what his brother was hiding from him. Sure, he knew spying was wrong. But it was driving him mad not knowing. He was determined to do this himself, despite the fact that Feliciano offered to help. Letting someone else in on this would have made him feel worse than he already did. He waited until Gilbert had gone before locking Astor up and following him, his car being easy to follow.

Gilbert never noticed a thing and arrived at the club early for once. Bag slung over his shoulder, he strutted inside like someone who belonged there. Immediately, he found Antonio who also arrived early and he stopped to chat a minute before heading backstage. Gilbert was trying out the friendship thing after all. That idiot and Francis wanted to be his friends right? He could at least ask him how his boyfriend was even if he didn't want to hear and proved by leaving before Antonio finished explaining the latest 'cute' thing Lovino did. The club wouldn't open for another five minutes so he had time to spare and spent it preening himself in front of a full length mirror.

Ludwig was surprised by the club Gilbert had stopped at. He had thought his brother would be going to work. Unless this was where he worked. What kind of jobs could you have at a club anyway? He wasn't sure. He noticed it wasn't open yet and waited. And sure enough, people started showing up. He waited another couple of minutes, so that there would be plenty of people to hide behind before going in. Upon entering, he immediately began looking around for his brother, but couldn't see him. And Gilbert was easy to pick out from a crowd too. He walked slowly, still looking.

For the first five or tenish minutes, the usual dancers did their usual dance up on he stage, waiting for enough crowd to make Gilbert's show worth it. They reached that full crowd marker earlier than usual so Elizabeta pushed him toward the stage, literally. "What the hell! You're messing up my ears!" he whined and had to pause to fix the black headband.

"Stop acting like a baby and go dance them into a coma already!"

They could still hear Antonio's voice announcing the club's special treat, a performance from the city's best, peter rabbit. It of course, had been Gilbert's idea to call himself the best. Once the music finally came on, he pranced out onto the small center stage, his boots clacking on the floor and a grin on his face. He wore his usual getup--straps across his chest, bunny ears, and highly ripped up black shorts paired with the tall, heeled boots which he handled with more skill than the average lady.

Ludwig eventually settled at the bar. He ordered a beer and continued looking around for Gilbert. He barely paid any attention to the dancers coming out on stage. They held no interest to him. He received his drink and looked around again, just as the dancer 'Peter Rabbit' was announced on stage. He started to take a drink and immediately began choking on it when he saw who the dancer was. He coughed to clear his throat, looking at his brother, completely confused. Why was he dressed like that?! Why would he want to be dressed like that?! He had no idea, but he knew he was going to get answers out of the older man.

Gilbert flaunted everything he had on the stage, clearly enjoying himself. It was only toward the end of his dance that he glanced over the audience, trying to drink up their hypnotized expressions. His eyes swept over slicked back blonde hair. Huh. He snapped his gaze back. "Brother?!" He froze mid-spin, his eyes going wide. It couldn't be. Why would Ludwig be here of all clubs? Why did he have to come to this club and ruin everything? Any other club would be fine, but no, he had to show up at this one. Gilbert's eyes darted down to look at himself before he tried to pull in on himself, shoulders haunched and eyes down. A second later, he ran off the stage.

The spell broke and the audience errupted into noise and chaos, leaving Antonio to try to explain what he couldn't over the mic. He'd never once seen his friend act like this before.

Ludwig could tell the instant Gilbert noticed him. He stood when the other ran off the stage. After setting his drink down, he went after him. He had to push past some people, but he didn't care. Nothing was going to stop him from reaching his brother. He found the door that lead backstage and went through it, looking around. He had no clue where the albino could possibly have gone, but that was a minor setback. He kept going, looking into every room/corner he passed.

"Gil?" Elizabeta called as he ran past. Concern leeked through her voice, but he didn't pause. Panic mode set in and he ran without any real direction, just needing to get out and away from Ludwig's questioning eyes. Although he felt awkward in the clothes that hadn't made him feel awkward in years, it never even occurred to him to change. He caught sight of Ludwig from behind and made a mad dash out the backstage door and to the club's back door.

Ludwig finally got sight of Gilbert. When his brother started running, he ran after him. He quickly caught up and grabbed him by the arm. "Gilbert! Don't run from me. I just want to talk." He told him, forcing him to stop. He kept his grip on his brother's arm firm, but not overly tight. He wasn't going to let him run off again without giving him some answers.

Gilbert yanked hard on his arm, but Ludwig had a good grip and it left him jerking to a stop and remembering the exact day when he realized his brother was stronger than him. "Let me go, bastard!" He snapped, turning over his shoulder to glare before he looked away again, unable to meet that gaze. He was so embarrassed he couldn't stand it. "Why did you have to come here? Do you think I wanted you to see that?!"