Rating: M (beginning is a little suggestive)
Author's Note: This is based off of the au I formed from our very first promo image of what became Gangstertalia. I thought Ludwig looked like a detective so I came up with this au where Ludwig goes undercover in a crime ring that Arthur led and ends up falling for him.
It was never supposed to be this way.
He was cold. He was calculating. Watch, listen, pounce when the time was right. And like that, one less criminal off the street. Such routine was second nature at this point. And yet…
“It’s too early for that pretty head of yours to be bombarded by thoughts,” a smooth voice brushed against his ear, an arm draping across his torso. “Do you need me to help you turn it off again or–”
“Shut it, Arthur,” he gritted out.
Arthur scoffed. “I should have known. Well, did you get your kicks? Going to put how well I fucked you in that little report of yours?”
Ludwig whipped around. “What?”
“Please. Do you really think you get to be the Prince of Crime without knowing how to comb out traitors? Not that you needed to be an expert in this case. You’re really shitty at pretending to be a hardened criminal.”
Ludwig’s heart stuttered, staticky cold bolting through his veins. Instinctively, his fingers curled into the sheets. Though smugness swirled in Arthur’s eyes, he ran soothing fingers along Ludwig’s bare side.
Arthur shrugged. “You were a fun plaything. Seeing you tripping over yourself trying to unravel me. It also helped that you’re quite…” his eyes drifted along the exposed skin, tongue flicking out to lick his lips, “attractive.”
“So, what are you going to do to me now?” Ludwig squeezed out of his tight throat.
“Better question is,” Arthur smirked, tugging him closer. Their lips merely inches apart now. “What are you going to do Detective?”
Ludwig couldn’t stop the way his eyes were pulled to the lips in front of him. Thin. But he knew how warm they were, the way they could press against him and make him forget everything else. He wanted to feel all that again.
“You want to kiss me so bad, don’t you?” Arthur chuckled.
Ludwig rolled his lip between his teeth. He was losing. He knew it. He lost the moment he stepped into this hotel. “Or maybe I’m just trying to wiggle into your inner circle.”
Fingers cascaded dangerously low, heat pooling beneath the touch “Come now,” Arthur tisked, “you’re smarter than that. You wouldn’t reveal your master plan to me.”
He wasn’t smart. Or maybe he was. But he was also foolish. Foolish to think he could ever do an undercover mission. He was too nervous, suffocated by second guesses and a mask just a little too tight to contain him.
But the mask was gone now. Arthur had stripped him bare, and for the first time since starting this mission, Ludwig could breathe.
“You had a good run,” Arthur praised, pressing a soft kiss to his cheek. “All things considered that is. I know fresh blood when I see it. But hey, you did your best, and look, you managed to bed your target. That’s got to count–”
“Just stop,” Ludwig growled, finally pulling himself away from Arthur’s grasp. “Stop fucking with me. You already won. I get it, I’m an idiot.”
There was silence for a long while. Ludwig pulled the blanket up to his neck, suddenly cold without Arthur against him (even if the man’s skin was normally cool to the touch).
“Look at these shoulders,” Arthur finally murmured. His thumb dug into the muscle connecting said shoulder to his neck. “Hm. Just as I thought. Got the weight of the world on them.” He rubbed along to Ludwig’s back, loosening each and every knot he could reach. “Perhaps it’s time for someone to take care of you for once.”
He needed to leave. That’s what he needed to do. He had gotten some photos, jotted down some whispers, names of leads. Perhaps they could even send Feli in, get the rest of the information they needed.
But those hands felt so good. Each touch leaving Ludwig glued to the mattress.
“I’ve become quite fond of you, you know?” Arthur continued.
“Careful,” Ludwig teased, though his voice had gone soft. “You may give away a weakness.”
“I think we both know each other’s weaknesses already. Know every inch of each other. Why deny the pleasure now, when we’ve gone so far? What’s waiting for you when you go home, hm? I don’t know how your boss will feel hearing how cozy you got with the enemy.”
Arthur was right leaving Ludwig’s stomach flopping all over his inner torso. He couldn’t go back, not with heart ensnared like it was, by the man he was sent to take down no less. Yet he could feel the bile rising at the idea of entering the very world he desired to destroy.
“Look Mr. Goody Two Shoes. I’m not saying completely give up your morals. Believe it or not, we’ve got our own moral code down here too. But what I am offering is security and pleasure. You won’t have to lift a finger for anything you wish, let alone get into dirty work. The most I will ask is that you attend an occasional card game as my arm candy.”
It was far from ideal but… “I don’t have much of a choice, do I?”
“I’m…I’m truly sorry. It was never supposed to be this way.”
For all the failures, Ludwig had learned one thing. He knew when Arthur told the truth. The way his voice would get soft, almost like talking to a child. The tremor that rolled through his hands when nervous, when angry, and now, when sad.
Ludwig took a shaky breath. “Thank you. I’ll…I’ll think about it. But for now…” He turned back to Arthur, slotting himself in the man’s arms again. As thin as they were, especially against Ludwig’s larger frame, there was something safe in there. And for now, he’d focus on that.
