"I wouldn't have had to follow you if you had just been honest with me." Ludwig responded. He couldn't understand why Gilbert couldn't just tell him what his job was. Though judging by the other's embarrassment, he could take a guess. "Bruder... Why couldn't you just tell me?" He asked, his voice quieter now. He was hurt that his brother felt he had to hide this from him. Did he think he was going to judge him for it?

Gilbert bit his tongue. How could he just be honest? He knew exactly what he looked like. He wanted Ludwig to respect him, to always look up to him as that older brother who practically raised him. "Would you really be proud of me all these years if you knew?" he muttered back. "How could I just say, by the way, I shake my ass for a living?! You'd never be able to proudly say to your friends the sort of person you live with!" He didn't often raise his voice to Ludwig, but he couldn't even stop himself.

"I would have preferred for you to be honest with me." Ludwig told him. Though he couldn't help the slight flinch when Gilbert raised his voice; something he rarely did. At least, towards him. "I wouldn't have cared what you do for a living as long as you were honest with me. Instead you made the choice to be a liar. Which is a lot more of a disappointment to me than this job. You're my brother and I love you. But I can't respect someone who would lie to someone they love over something so simple as a job." With that, he released his grip on Gilbert's arm and turned to walk away. He meant what he said; he was more hurt by the fact that his brother would lie to him rather than be mad about his job.

Gilbert flinched at his brother's words. Only one word clung to him so the rest faded away, becoming meaningless. Disappointment. If Gilbert were a less proud man, he would have hung his head at that. Instead, he bit back like he always did when trying to hide his much he'd been affected. "Fine. Just walk away from me. I don't need your approval! I...I don't want to see your face again!" With that, he turned and stomped off at a pace that could only be described as running away. Ludwig didn't respect him anymore, the one thing Gilbert wanted most. He didn't even know what to do. Not noticing he still wore his stage clothes, he wandered through the city until he'd cooled down enough to regret his words. Then he sunk onto a bus stop bench and just sat, still not knowing what to do.

Ludwig flinched at Gilbert's words. It hurt that his brother didn't want to see him anymore. He wanted to tell himself that the albino didn't mean it, but he couldn't be sure. Fine. If he wanted to be that way, then he'd stay out of his way. He left the club, wishing he hadn't followed Feliciano's advice about how to find out what Gilbert was hiding. This whole night just ruined everything. He went home and locked himself in his room, curling up with Astor on the bed. He was mad at both himself and Gilbert. But mainly himself. He felt it was his fault their relationship was ruined. Even if his brother was a liar.

Since Gilbert couldn't go home after saying such awful things, he just stayed there on his bench in the cold night air. He felt just awful about everything, but still refused to go home, ignoring the increasing stream of text messages that were at first from Elizabeta, then from Francis and Antonio too. He didn't respond to a single one and finally fell asleep outside, trying to pretend he liked the cold and the loneliness and the way the two of them mixed together inside him.

Ludwig couldn't sleep that night. He kept waiting to hear Gilbert come home. When he never did, he knew he'd have to go look for him, if only to make sure he was ok. If his brother didn't want to see him, that's fine. But he'd feel better knowing he was safe. He hooked Astor on his leash and headed out, starting at the club and branching out from there. It took close to an hour of searching, but he eventually found him. And he wasn't happy about what he saw. He went over to the albino and took off his jacket, laying it over the sleeping man. He didn't know whether or not to wake him, so instead just gently lifted him and started carrying him home.

When Gilbert woke, he found himself in his bed. He blinked in confusion because he had no trouble remembering yesterday and he shouldn't have been home. He should definitely not be home. Sitting up, he recognized the jacket that slipped off of him. Why did Ludwig bring him home? He told his brother to go away and he still came back? It didn't make sense to Gilbert at all. He groaned and ran a hand over his face. Even if it was like this, he didn't want face his brother yet, so Gilbert zipped up the oversized jacket and pulled on a pair of sweat pants over his stage clothes. He lost the ears long ago and decided not to change his shoes in favor of leaving before Ludwig woke up. He'd only slept a few hours. This time though, Gilbert had an idea of where he would go.

Ludwig placed Gilbert back in his bed when they arrived home. He was glad the older man hadn't awoken during the journey. He didn't know how to explain that he was carrying him. Especially since his brother didn't want to see him. After that, he prepared himself for bed and laid down, Astor curling up at his feet. He fell asleep easily after that, knowing his brother was home safe. He didn't have any classes until noon the next day, but he knew despite that he would probably awaken sooner. And sure enough, he did. He thought about what he would say to Gilbert, but forgot about it when he noticed the albino wasn't even there. And he had no clue where he went. After spending a couple of minutes debating whether or not he should track him down, he decided not to unless he didn't see him later that night.

Gilbert wandered the streets, avoiding the early morning traffic and pissed off drivers without flipping them off in return. That in itself showed he hadn't recovered yet. When he reached his destination, he paused to stare at himself in the window's reflection. His eyes looked dull and red, far redder and poofier than they should have been. He didn't remember crying, but maybe he had. Even though he sort of dressed, he could tell it was a rush job and the boots gave him away. In short, he looked wrecked and he knew it.

Too late to stop himself, he pushed his way into the animal shelter and went looking for Matthew.

Matthew was restocking some shelves towards the back of the shelter. He didn't normally come in this early in the morning, but the girl who normal does called him to ask him to cover for her. He didn't mind though, considering she sounded awful on the phone. Upon arriving, he had immediately fed all the animals. Now he was doing this. When the small bell over the door went off, signaling someone came in went off, he turned around. "How can I help y-..... Gilbert?! Are you alright?" he asked, completely surprised to see the albino. He went over to the other man and noticed how awful he looked and was instantly worried.

Gilbert cleared his throat. "H-hey," he croaked. Even his voice sounded wrecked. "I didn't know where else to go." He knew it wasn't much of an excuse to show up here in this state and he couldn't explain it well himself. Just like he said, he didn't know where else to go. Somehow this place came to mind first thing after waking up, so he came. It was as simple as that. He pulled awkwardly on the jacket shoulder, trying to keep it from slipping down and revealing he didn't wear a shirt underneath.

"Um.. Can I get you anything?" Matthew asked, concern clear in his voice. Sure, he might have been mad at the man. But that didn't mean he had to be rude. Not that he was rude in the first place. Especially not when the other was in such a state. He thought about what he could offer him, knowing there wasn't much considering where they were. "Can I get you something to drink or something?" He wanted to ask what happened, but he wanted to help Gilbert calm down first.

Gilbert nodded his head. "Yeah...sure." He was waiting for Mathew to ask why he came and he nearly bubbled over with the need to say it, but he also felt relieved to procrastinate. "Water sounds good." He leaned against a shelf, not sure what else he should do with himself. He wanted to sit, but that pushed the pathetic factor a little too far so he didn't slide to the floor. "You're not going to ask anything?"

Matthew nodded and went and got Gilbert a cup of water from the sink. It wasn't the best water, but it would do. He handed the man the cup in silence, thinking. "I figured you would tell me if you wanted to." He responded. He wasn't going to say that he didn't feel like he had the right to ask, considering what happened at their last meeting. Regardless of the fact the albino came to him. He didn't want to push him to talk and end up starting another argument between them.

Gilbert drank the cup of water before he spoke again. It helped his throat and he managed to sound almost normal. "No...I want to talk. You're the only person I could think of to talk to..." He trailed off, trying not to think about that statement. Sure he still had s pile of un-answered text messages waiting on him, but somehow he couldn't talk to any of them about this. Only Elizabeta knew he even had a brother. "I had a fight with Lud. Like, we've never even had a fight like that before. Ever. And I said I didn't want to see his face ever again..." he ended on a whisper. Once he started talking though, the words flowed out.

"What are you fighting about?" Matthew asked. He was still slightly confused about why Gilbert came to him about this. But he would help him through this. He barely heard the last part. It was something he couldn't believe. He could tell Gilbert and Ludwig were close from when he had dinner at their house. "What could have caused you to say that?"

Gilbert stared at the floor, rubbing his eyes even though he wasn't crying. They just itched real bad. "I don't know. I was really freaked out. He followed me to the club and we just started fighting. I never wanted him to know..." He sighed, still unsure why he wanted to say all of this. Sure Matthew was the only person who knew both his family and his work life, but he probably didn't want to hear all of this. The two of them hadn't parted on the best of terms after all.

"Know what? About your job? I thought he would have known considering he's your brother." Matthew responded. He couldn't imagine keeping something like this from his brother. But that was probably because he couldn't hide much from Alfred. If his twin thought he had a secret, he'd dig until he found it. No matter how long it took.

"Yeah. I told him I worked as a night security guard. It...seemed like a good idea at the time." Once he started the lie, it became harder to tell the truth so he kept it up long after he came to accept and love everything about dancing. He never dreamed that Ludwig would accept that with open arms. "You have a brother so you must understand a bit. Aren't I awful for saying I don't want to see him?"

"Why would you lie? You had to have known he would have found out eventually." Matthew responded. "I do have a brother, yes. But I wouldn't have lied to him. Mostly because I'm pretty sure he only hears half of what people say to him." He wasn't sure how Alfred made it through life like that. Then again, it might only be when he's talking. That thought annoyed him, so he pushed it away. "That was an awful thing to say to him. It's something that should never be said, no matter how angry you are."

Gilbert opened and closed his mouth multiple times, trying to get words to come out. Maybe he shouldn't have come. Talking to Matthew wasn't making him feel any better about himself. As much as he could love himself sometimes, he found it hard to dredge up even a hint of it right now. "You'd have told your precious little brother that you prance around on stage in little more than bunny ears? Just come out and say it?" Why did everyone make that sound like such an easy thing to do? "I only ever wanted him to respect me. And he just sounded so...disappointed..." His voice choked and he stared harder at the floor.

Matthew was silent for a moment, thinking. "I'm sure he's more disappointed that you lied to him. Ludwig respects you a great deal. I could tell after knowing him for only a day. When you care about someone that much, it's not what they do that you respect. It's what type of person they are. And by hiding your job from him, all he can see right now is liar. Just talk to him. Calmly. You can make this right again."

"You really think so?" Gilbert asked. He felt sure he screwed up more than usual, but he so badly wanted to believe Matthew. Ludwig meant everything to him. It used to be just them and now...he shook his head. "I'll go talk to him. And...thanks." He pulled away from the shelf, but hesitated there. He felt he still had things to talk to Matthew about, but he wasn't sure how to word them. He realized something though and wouldn't leave without saying them this time. "Um...about what you said last time..."

"I'm completely sure everything will work out." Matthew told him. He noticed Gilbert was getting ready to leave, so moved to continue what he had been doing when the albino came in. He stopped and turned back to him when he heard him speak again. "I said a lot of things. You'll have to specify." He said, thinking back to their last meeting again.