Moments after shutting off the water, Ludwig stepped out of the shower, grabbed his towel, and wiped himself down. Once he was sufficiently dry, he grabbed his boxers from the counter and slipped them on, before giving his hair one more thorough rub with the towel. He paused as he went to hang up the towel, before reaching over instead to wipe the steam off the mirror to look at his reflection again. Once he had a clear spot, he had to lean in close to even see the very faint hickey that Madeline had left him the night before.
Ludwig frowned in his confusion. He could've sworn that Madeline was rougher than that in bed.
After the heist last night, Ludwig and Madeline had stuck around at the cafe to celebrate with the others. They had a couple drinks before they slipped off to the spare room in Feliciano's apartment to get some rest. They had already arranged to spend the night there, so it was only a matter of Ludwig sharing a bed with his girlfriend for the first time, which quickly took an intimate turn. Once he had removed Madeline's shirt and started kissing her neck and shoulders, she brought a small vial to his lips, and convinced him to drink what she said was an aphrodisiac. Ludwig had obeyed, then gave her another kiss to the lips before continuing down to her chest.
That was all Ludwig could remember. Perhaps it was an unexpected side effect of the aphrodisiac, but he couldn't recall how far he and Madeline had gone after that in their intimacy. The next thing Ludwig could remember was waking up in the morning with Madeline cuddling to him like a teddy bear. He was tempted to try initiating a round of morning sex, but Madeline claimed to have a hangover. After cuddling a little longer, Ludwig was the first to get out of bed and get his things together, since he needed to get home and take care of a few errands during the day.
Ludwig shook his head at his reflection, before turning away and hanging up the towel. Next time they had sex, he would have to make sure Madeline doesn't give him that aphrodisiac again.
He opened the bathroom door, and walked through the hallway to his bedroom, shutting the door behind him. He went over to the bed, grabbed the fresh clothes he had laid out before his shower, and put them on. Once he had the pants, belt and shirt on, he sat on the bed and grabbed his socks. As he was putting the first one on, he heard the apartment front door open and shut, followed by a shout from a familiar voice.
"Luddy, are you here?"
"Yes I am, Gil," Ludwig called back as he grabbed his second sock, "Shouldn't you be at work?"
"I'm already at work," Gilbert called back, "Come out to the kitchen, I need to talk to you about something."
"I'll be right there."
Once the second sock was on, Ludwig rose from his bed and went to open the bedroom door. As he walked down the hallway, he could hear his brother's voice coming from the kitchen, along with another familiar one answering him. When Ludwig turned the corner, he saw Gilbert sitting at the table, with a folder and a glass of water sitting in front of him. He was accompanied by the Lieutenant, who remained standing and leaned against the counter.
"Good morning, Ludwig," Lars greeted, "Have a seat, we need to talk to you."
"What's going on here?" Ludwig asked as he pulled out the chair opposite his brother and sat down.
"You were out with your girlfriend last night, weren't you?" Gilbert brought up, "How did that go?"
"It went very well, our date was lovely," Ludwig answered as Gilbert took a sip of his water.
"What kinds of things do the two of you do together?" Gilbert interrogated, placing the cup back on the table, "Do you guys stick to the general dating fare, such as kissing and fucking? Or do you like to play it dangerously, breaking into the biggest bank in town and helping to steal a shit-ton of cash?"
"What?" Ludwig stuttered, surprised to hear Gilbert say that.
"We have video surveillance of you and Madeline Williams at the National Bank of Commerce last night," Gilbert declared, opening his file and pushing it over, "The two of you helped a gang of wanted criminals break into the vault and steal the cash."
Ludwig pulled the open file over, and flipped the pages over to reveal shots of himself and Madeline in front of the vault. They each had their faces shown in one picture each, while a third picture showed their kiss.
"It can't be," Ludwig muttered, "Ivan said he shut off the cameras."
"You know your colleagues are wanted criminals, don't you?" Lars drilled.
"Yes, I do," Ludwig admitted.
"You also knew I was arresting your girlfriend a few weeks ago, didn't you?" Gilbert accused, "You kept your mouth shut when she nearly killed us?"
Ludwig couldn't find the words to confess, so he merely gave a small nod.
"And you're still in a relationship with her?" Gilbert yelled, rising from his seat and smashing his fist on the table, knocking over the glass, "First you hide Madeline from me, and now you're helping her break into banks? What the fuck, Ludwig?"
"Sit down, Gilbert," Lars sternly ordered.
Ludwig watched as his brother glared at the Lieutenant before slowly sitting down.
"Roderich has allowed you one chance to cooperate, Ludwig," Lars stated, "If you immediately turn yourself in, and tell us what you know about all these criminals, Roderich will only have to put you on suspension and probation. If you refuse this offer, you will be discharged from the force, and branded as a rogue and mobster. He will have Arthur prepare the warrant for your arrest, and have you charged for all your crimes against the law, including those of breaking the police codes of conduct."
Hearing metal clinking, Ludwig turned to see that Gilbert had dropped a pair of handcuffs on the table between the file and the spilled glass of water.
"Please don't screw yourself over, Ludwig," Gilbert pleaded, "Surrender peacefully, your freedom depends on helping us catch Madeline."
As Gilbert spoke, Ludwig couldn't keep his eyes off the handcuffs, and felt the guilt running through his veins. He had been caught breaking the law, and answering for his actions was the only reasonable thing to do. His eyes then drifted to the pictures of himself and Madeline in front of the vault. Ludwig had made all those promises to keep his mouth shut, to secretly work for Lovino and help them out. He had done it because he wanted to stay with Madeline, because they loved each other. Maybe he was the only one to say it so far, but he knew she was just being shy about it. If he made the wrong choice now, Madeline would be locked up for life, and he would never hear her say those words.
"I can't do this," Ludwig calmly chose, standing from his chair, "I'm sorry, Gilbert."
"Can't do what?" Gilbert asked, also rising as Ludwig turned towards the hallway, "Where are you going?"
Noting that Lars was about to leave the counter and follow him closely, Ludwig turned right into the hallway, marching swiftly towards his bedroom instead of turning left to the apartment's front door. He stepped into his bedroom, turned on his heel, and slammed the door shut in Lars's face before locking it.
"Ludwig, open up," Lars demanded, pounding his fist on the door, "That's an order!"
Ludwig didn't bother answering verbally, having already reached the other side of his dresser. He quickly pushed it along the wall and past the door's frame, the sound of the moving furniture alerting the outsiders to his plan.
"Gilbert, get over here now," Ludwig could hear Lars shout back down the hallway, "He's barricading the door with his dresser."
Ludwig knew he only had at most a couple minutes to get what he needed, maybe only 30 seconds if Gilbert and Lars removed the doorknob by pulling out a gun and shooting at its joint. First he grabbed his wallet and phone from the bedside table, slipping them into the back pockets of his pants. Next were the gym shoes on the chair, which were swiftly pulled onto his feet without bothering to retie them. The last item Ludwig grabbed was his hoodie, which he quickly put on before approaching the window, ignoring the sounds of Gilbert and Lars pounding at the door.
Ludwig unlocked it before sliding the glass all the way up, revealing the exit large enough for him. He peeked out the window first and quickly gathered his bearings. Their apartment was on the 8th floor, but a small ledge ran along the building outside his window. This ledge connected directly to their rusty old metal balcony, which had a set of stairs as the fire escape.
He leaned back into the room, before stretching to put his legs through. Once he was seated on the windowsill with his legs dangling out, he got his footing on the outside ledge before slowly pulling his body through, hanging onto the inside of the window for dear life. When he was finally completely outside and in a safe position, he slowly turned in his spot to have his face to the outside wall instead of his back, holding the window frame while maneuvering his feet. Seeing that their balcony was only a few feet away, he held the window frame with his right hand while reaching for the rail with his left. With the rail clasped in his left hand, he let go of the window frame and slowly shuffled his feet over, only for his left foot to find the slippery spot on the ledge.
As Ludwig slipped and started to fall, his left hand lost its grip of the top rail, but his right hand managed to catch the lowest rail. His left hand quickly joined it, and he let himself swing below the metal structure. His body's impact make noise against the balcony, and Ludwig found himself hanging on for dear life. He glanced up, knowing that he could do a pull-up and get himself onto the higher balcony, but knew that Gilbert likely heard the noise and would be investigating any second. Ludwig glanced down and started swinging his legs back and forth. Knowing he was about to lose his grip anyways, he let his legs swing forward below their balcony and let go of the rail, allowing himself to crash onto the downstairs neighbour's balcony.
He managed to land perfectly on his feet, but the ruckus against the metal was more than enough to be heard from upstairs. Knowing that he'd be followed any second, Ludwig immediately rushed towards the stairs and barreled down, making it down another floor before he heard the noisy footsteps on the balcony upstairs followed by Gilbert's loud and angry roar.
"LUDWIG, GET BACK HERE NOW!"
He kept rushing down the stairs, ignoring the thumping of his heart from hearing his brother shout at him like that. Ludwig focused on his steps instead, and listened as Gilbert's steps followed him from above. He finally made it to the second floor balcony, where the stairs ended and a ladder was along the wall to connect to the alley floor. Ludwig glanced up and saw that every moment of hesitation was getting Gilbert one step closer to him, so he took his chances, jumped off the front of the balcony instead, and landed in the bag-filled dumpster below.
As soon as he made impact, Ludwig quickly pulled himself up, and climbed out of the dumpster. Once his feet were on solid ground, he glanced upward and regretfully made eye contact with his furious brother.
"For fuck's sake, Ludwig, don't do this!" Gilbert bellowed as he barrelled down the stairs between the balconies on the second and third floor, "She's playing you for a sap, don't throw your life away for her!"
Knowing that Gilbert would also have to jump into the dumpster, Ludwig ignored his brother's warning and ran out of the alley. When he made it to the street, he spotted a passing taxi and quickly flagged for it, managing to get the driver's attention in time for them to pull over. Ludwig quickly pulled open the back door, scrambled himself in, and shut the door in time to see Gilbert just getting out of the dumpster.
"Where to, sir?" the driver asked.
"Please just hit the gas and get me out of here," Ludwig quickly barked, "I'll figure out my destination on the way."
Ludwig turned to watch Gilbert rushing down the alley towards him, but the car had already pulled into traffic and started moving faster than him. He spun in his seat to watch as Gilbert ran out into the road and was forced to abandon his foot chase, a look of despair on his face as he pulled his radio off his shoulder.
"You know it's bad for business, driving someone away from a cop in pursuit," the driver warned.
"That officer is my brother, and I am also a cop," Ludwig quickly countered, "As long as you don't ask questions and keep driving, I'll pay you quadruple the fare."
"Sounds good to me," the driver accepted, "Just tell me where I need to go, and I'll get you there."
"Thanks," Ludwig acknowledged as he pulled his phone out of his pocket. He quickly unlocked it, looked up a number, and dialed without bothering to send his safe word. He brought the phone to his ear, and only had to wait three rings for an answer on the other end.
"What the fuck is it, Ludwig?" the person on the other end bluntly greeted, "I'm trying to fry eggs for Liz right now."
"I'm afraid Elizaveta's breakfast may have to wait, Lovino," Ludwig replied, "The cameras stayed on last night, and Gilbert found out about me and Madeline. I'm on the run, and I need your help."