Ladders

Point out

Emil tosses and turned on the couch. Gilbert had turn off the basement lights about an hour ago and now he was just sitting in darkness. He didn't know if Gil was asleep or not, as he didn't hear snoring but didn't hear Gil move around that much. Emil sighed and looked around at the outline of the room in the dark. He used to get so paranoid by the dark thinking rapist or murders were hiding in the dark corners. Now he rubs shoulders with those types of people now, and things such as the dark no longer loom over him as a fear. He sat up and looked around. There was Gilbert's bed in the corner directly across from the stairs that led up to his living room hallway. Then about six feet from the bed was the couch Emil was sitting on. Emil saw a Tv and a coffee table in front of him. Emil wished his family could afford a large house like this and he could get the entire basement to himself. There was no use in getting sleep so Emil just laid on the couch pillow and looked at the ceiling. It soon became too hot and he slipped off his pajama shirt to cool down. He laid back down and tried to fall asleep. The peace and quiet of the night however was met to an end when his stomach growled loudly. It was calling out for at least some food. He clutched his stomach in pain hoping to quiet it down and make him stop hurting. "Holy fuck dude was that you're stomach?" Emil jumped hearing the albino boy talk. He must've been awake too. "Here let's go get a snack upstairs" Emil watched the dark silhouette cross the bedroom/basement floor and turn on the soft light. "I'm fine" he said in a voice that portrayed his lie. Gilbert rolled his eyes "dude come on, think of it this way. Do you really want to die of hunger on my basement couch?". Emil gave slight laugh "I don't want to die on yours and Madeline's sex couch" Gilbert smiled seeing the Icelandic boy had a sense of humor so he played along "how'd you know that was our special couch?" He said as he wiggles his eyebrows. Emil let out a tired laugh, as though he hadn't laughed in awhile. "Ew don't be weird" he said as he followed Gilbert upstairs. "Sex ain't weird if you do it enough times" now it was Emil's turn to roll his eyes "I'm sure you and I have different definitions of 'enough'". They both walked into the kitchen. They were met with two other boys. One of which made eye contact with Emil and they just stared at each other. Uh oh. You've been found Emil. Work will never stop following you. Gilbert coughed and pulled Emil to the side breaking the tension between him and Ludwig. "Oh hey Lud what are you and Feli doing in the kitchen so late?" Gil played it off smoothly as though he didn't know what happened between Ludwig and Emil one night. "Um Feli got hungry and so did I so we are making some noodles with butter and salt if you and Emil would like...". Emil froze. Ludwig knew exactly who he was and yet he still fucked him and beat him. This fucking sadist German- breathe Emil. Don't say anything.You wouldn't want Feli to find out about you being a whore do you? If you tell him Ludwig cheated on him with you at the brothel then the little blabber mouth with go and tell everyone at school. He is the most popular boy in school after all~. Emil looked down as his stomach growled again and he gripped his bare stomach. Feli cocked his head at the noise emitting from Emil "oh you must be starving. I'll give you extra noodles!" He smiled at him. Emil was terrified at the idea of eating double than anybody else. Ludwig stared the boy down and saw how his ribs protruded through his skin. He also saw faint marks littering his entire body along with many bruises. Ludwig truly does regret the night he...had Emil. Along with alcohol and the fight he had with Feliciano everything was building up in his mind that night. He can't just apologize to him directly though, but if he doesn't Emil could potentially tell Feli about that night. Emil noticed Ludwig staring at his bare torso and tried covering up and much as possible. This made Ludwig look up and make eye contact with him. "Uh Emil can I talk to you in the living room really quick?" Ludwig motioned towards the darkened hallway for Emil to follow him through. Emil raised and eyebrow and looked at Gil. Gil shrugged in response not knowing why his brother would want to talk to him. Emil sighed "Sure" and followed the tall man out into the dim light room. "Look...I can't reverse what I did that night but I want to apologize it's just-" Emil was surprised by his apology but quickly cut him off "it's fine Ludwig, I get it but thank you for apologizing". Ludwig nodded confused on why he had accepted his apology so quickly. It was weird.

Two weeks had passed since then and Emil was slowly intergraded into their friend group. He already was friends with Romano and Gil always tried to pry and make Emil open up so his friend group slowly expanded. Ironically it did the same in the brothel. Emil was trying to light a cigarette in the break room of the brothel, a habit that he picked up to relived stress when his lighter stopped work. "Damnit" he whispered as he kept trying to light it. "Here" said the boy next to him and pulled out his lighter and handed it to Emil. His named was Matthew Williams. He was one of the three boys who worked in the brothel as the rest of the prostitutes were women. It was Emil, Matthew, and Alfred. Matthew and Alfred were street orphans and forced to come here around the same age as Emil was when he first joined. They were four years older than him though, and had worked here for much longer. Emil quickly lit his cigarette "thanks" he said handing the light back. Emil then found himself in a lighthearted conversation with Matthew. They talked about nature, but mostly about animals. Emil soon learned that Matthew had wanted to be a Vet but couldn't due to money shortages. Matthew also told him about his brother wanting to be an archeologist but had the same issue. They truly weren't brothers by blood but had become close in the orphanage. Emil then told Matthew his own story and explained how he was put in the brothel. They both had soon found themselves always talking in the break room along with Alfred as though they finally had someone who knew what they were going through and knew their pain from experience. It made the living hell they were in not as painful just to talk with those who shared their torture.