Chapter Text
It was hot as hell in Goddamfuckit, California.
The weather had been stuck in the high 90’s all week, and even if the humidity wasn’t Georgia, it wasn’t helping Ludwig enjoy his morning jog. It took all of 5 minutes for him to sweat enough to drench not only his back, but sweat to the point where the layer on his upper lip was dripping into his mouth. And he could taste it.
But Jesus, he needed to get out of the house. All summer with the boys has been amazing, don’t get him wrong. Post break up it was exactly the kind of shit he needed- mindless drinking (with Aiden), mindless hours of video games (avec Nick), and mindless, braindead, stupid fucking back and forth (Anthony. Obviously.) He just needed some space to think. The house was really where he spent most of his time, he’d noticed, and almost any time he came downstairs there was at least one of his best friends. It made the place lively. Now he wanted some space from all the noise.
And it was way more than just trying to escape his thoughts or feelings or anything like that. The guys wouldn’t let him. Over the past few weeks they’d all made it a point to get him alone and check in on him. He knows if it were anyone else he’d feel weird and claustrophobic from all the attention, but these guys got him. They knew when to push, and what.
No, he actually wanted to think. About his problems. Yeah. Man he loves his friends.
Of course none of it replaced QT. Ludwig was quick to make that clear with his own inner-head-voice. It was just that he needed to bide time for it to heal all of his wounds, and why not bide it with his boys? He didn’t need to rush, especially because it was hard to remember what life was like pre-QT. Having his friends around made it so at least he wasn’t suddenly completely alone. There were the few weeks where things had not been so… great. In his mental.
Rounding the corner back home, he felt his breath come back to him as he imagined the sweet feel of air conditioning, and after tossing off his shoes inside and passing a quick hello to whomever happened to be home, he bounded up the stairs.
Ludwig peeled off the shirt sticking to his back as soon as he closed the door to his room. Inside the sopping wet mass of cotton he got stuck momentarily, before heaving as his arms finally chucked the shirt to the top of the pile of clothes in his hamper. The dry ones soak it up. Ludwig nodded as he left for the shower.
-------------------
After getting dressed and getting ready, Ludwig went downstairs.
“Aiden! Are you supposed to do a protein shake after a run?” He jogged down the steps, expecting Aiden to be at the kitchen island typing on his Macbook.
“Woah,” Ludwig started, taking in the empty kitchen. Suddenly, the noiselessness of the house unsettled him. He left the kitchen to look around.
Aiden would’ve been making noise in his room, either watching a movie or gaming or whatnot with no headphones. Or he’d be on the back porch on a phone call but Ludwig checked from the window in the upstairs bathroom. He walked to the other side of the house to see if anyone was in that apartment, but it looks like Nick and Zipper 2 had both cleared out for the day- everything looked clean.
Slime’s room held no clues either. Not that Ludwig really looked. Slime’s room smelled like he played Valorant in there 8 hours a day for the last three weeks and never bothered to take the trash out. Detective Ahgren found evidence of DoorDash orders in the hallway outside, and a quick peek through the door (nose held clothespin-style) added nothing of value.
Back in the kitchen, he tried to think it over, using prior evidence (also known as precedent, journalism major) to form some sort of hypothesis.
You guys never do anything. Ludwig thinks. I would get it if it were just Aiden, but all three?
And the fact they were all gone at once was cause for concern: thinking back on it, Ludwig couldn’t remember a time they’d hung out without him.
Like maybe once in Italy? OH shit that one Genesis. Ludwig chuckled out loud.
Yeah okay, they hang out. He remembers a picture Slime took of Nick and Aiden celebrating after their doubles win, hands on both sides of a trophy featuring the Luigi twink pose. Insane.
But what were they doing today of all days? As he paced the kitchen, opening the fridge every once in a while looking for answers, he tried to find any significance to the day. His birthday had passed, that he knew for sure. Lord knows when the guys’ birthdays were so he hoped that wasn’t it, although he assumes someone would be blowing up his phone (Anthony. Obviously.) if he were late to some scheduled event. And the Big Holiday this month was America Day. Already passed. So it was just late July. Fuck.
Out of the clues in the kitchen, Ludwig made his way to the living room to analyze. And to grab his sunglasses, in case he needed to go back outside. He might have left those in here. Something caught his eye when he entered the room- a quick scan had identified a potential clue: a pillow and blanket tossed haphazardly on the couch, as if someone had just woken up.
So Slime slept on the couch last night? Ludwig’s inner voice piped up, making a mental note to call him out for that later. You can’t go around begging for a floor wife and then take the cuck couch. Ludwig was already writing his speech in his head.
He decided he’d do better with some caffeine in his system. As he grabbed his keys off the hanger they kept next to the door, Ludwig failed to notice not all of the other sets were off the hook, too.
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“Nope. We’re not gonna kiss.”
“Dude. Dude,” Slime couldn’t stop, “He would die. Just you and me, sweaty, making out-”
“No, dude, no way,” Aiden repeated, looking directly at the road.
“You’re being kinda selfish,” Nick nudged Aiden’s side in shotgun, “I think you should kiss him.”
“If you both think he’d fucking die laughing, then you two should kiss.”
“It’s not the same,” Slime said, shaking his head and closing his lips firmly.
“So much less funny.” Nick turns to Slime, “I can’t believe he doesn’t see how that’s not even funny.”
Aiden already felt close to exploding.
“Oh my God. Oh my God. Why did I offer to drive with you two?” Aiden kept his eyes on the road, but the other two saw them get wider and more crazed as he continued, “I’m going to lose my mind. I’m gonna go crazy, dude. I have a girlfriend! Oh shit, Blaire’s calling.”
Nick sat back up in his seat and pressed the ‘answer’ button on the car’s console, while Slime, for his part, cooled off immediately. Aiden made eye contact with him in the rear-view as he answered the phone.
“Hey, Blai-”
“AIDEN,” her voice came through with breath, like she was on a walk or moving around, “I’M WITH MAYA,”
“Sorry, sorry,” Nick moved to turn down the radio’s speakers he had just turned up. “Fuck, ahh.”
“Oh my goodness is that what I sound like? Jesus,”
“We’re listening,” Slime leaned in.
“Oh sweet! All three,” Blaire huffed a sigh, not unkindly but readying herself, “Lucky me. Okay, I know you guys are up to something,” Aiden noticed Nick and Slime both go still.
“I don’t know what, and I promise I’m not trying to barge in. I just wanted to see if there was anything I could do to help.”
Aiden took this moment to bring his eyes back to the road and noticed they were about to miss a very important turn. If he missed this it’d be at least 15 minutes until they could even exit to turn back around.
And then his hand slipped and cut the call.
“Aiden what the FUCK!” Nick screamed, leaning forward as Aiden felt the car twist to his left. He felt Nick’s elbow ram into him from the force.
“Sorry! Sorry! Sorry!”
Slime’s hand dove in between them, grabbing the phone and pulling it to the backseat.
“Fucking Christ. Okay, I got it,”
The call picked up before it could ring. Aiden turned on his signal and moved.
“Umm what the fuck?”
“Aiden couldn’t fucking keep his head in the game driving,” Slime started. Aiden was too tired to fight it. He succumbed to the idiocy.
“There actually was something we couldn’t do without you, Blaire,” Aiden turned to look at Nick, waiting for him to do something to stop him, “could you meet us-”
“Oh my god, Aiden!” Slime yells from the back, grabbing his shoulder, “You just fucking passed the Starbucks!”
—------------------
Ludwig sipped his iced coffee as he drove to the warehouse. He assumed he’d go about his day as normal and just see if anyone else had heard from his roommates. He noticed the parking lot was sparse on the way in, but he wasn’t expecting the office to be completely empty when he arrived.
It was dark all through the building, the only desktops he could see on were all normal, just work left open from yesterday. He even tried the people who lived in the housing coalition across the street, but after exchanging a pair of his shoes for information he still had no clue where people were.
He thought maybe it was time to change tactics. He was too busy thinking like Ludwig. He needed someone who was on the same level as his friends.
But nobody was picking up.
“Hey, this is Nicholas Yingling, leave a message and I’ll get-” Ludwig pressed End Call.
He tried Atrioc, Stanz, Richelle, and literally every person he could think of had their phone on silent, apparently.
What if I got in a car crash? He thought, Fuck. Qt’s still my emergency contact.
He decided to go back into the building to use the bathroom before heading out. He left most of the lights out and just walked in the backup lights. It smelled like linoleum, if that had a scent. Or maybe window cleaner? What’s up with office buildings?
On the throne he tried brainstorming. If he couldn’t get someone else to think like his friends, he’d need to try some other way. Ludwig remembered the existence of calendar apps, but even that came up empty. He had no idea where they could be if they weren’t at home or work. After not washing his hands (he didn’t touch his dick, jesus, chill), he made a beeline for the door. As he passed by the yard set into the office space, something made him stop cold.
I’m not alone in here.
Ludwig ducked quickly, hoping the dark figure didn’t turn around- right now they were facing the opposite way. He was pretty sure this wasn’t an employee, assuming they’d turn the lights on to get work done. But then how did they get in the building? His heart raced, and he tried calming it down so it would stop pounding in his ears. After taking a second he moved toward the door and did what he always did in Valorant.
He peeked the corner.
It was hard to tell with lights off, but Ludwig tried to memorize as much as he could- they were tall, wearing all black probably, and their hoodie was pulled up so he couldn’t see hair or a face. They were bent over the desk they were at, typing something on the computer.
Ludwig tried scooting forward to get a better view, slamming the door into the wall next to it. The intruder took one look back at Ludwig (Fuck I wish I’d turned the lights on. Goddammit) and bolted out.
Ludwig got up and walked up to the desk the intruder was working on, excited to have an actual clue to work with, but felt his spine tingle as he noticed it was his desk. And there was a note.
Holy shit, Ludwig thought. Is this real?
And after another second, The fuck?
He was staring at what he could only describe as a ransom letter written by a label maker: Look where memories are made.
—------------------
“I thought I was going to have a heart attack,” Aiden panted as he slammed the back door of the car, “I was like this close to being caught.”
“He didn’t see you though, right?” Slime raised his eyebrows above the rim of his sunglasses as he pointed his eyes at Aiden through the rearview mirror, “You didn’t fuck this whole thing up, did you?”
“No! He didn’t see me, I swear,” Aiden yanked back the seatbelt and started turning left and right looking for his water bottle.
Nick was in shotgun, ever wise, “We need to get out of here. Let’s go, dude.”
Slime pulled out. “Aiden, bro, you need to hit the gym,”
“Hey,” Aiden panted, struggling for air, “What’s up? Why are… what are we doing?”
“Uhh,” Nick checked his phone for a second before replying.
“Maya says he’s heading in the wrong direction,” Nick reported, “Fuck yeah.”
“Wait what?” Aiden asked, “How does she know where he’s going,”
Slime turned from the passenger seat to look at him, “QT had a tracker installed a while back,” he turned back to his own phone, “It’s nice we have some breathing room, I was worried Aiden had fucked the whole shit up.”
“She installed a tracker?” Aiden looked between Nick and Slime, “Like a microchip?”
“Nope,” Nick glanced at Slime, “And I’m pretty sure it wouldn’t matter either way. I’m pretty sure I know where Ludwig’s going right now, and he’s way far off.”
Slime’s eyes brightened, “Oh really?”
“Like, under his skin?” Aiden’s eyes widened.
“Like, 95 percent sure.”
“No, dumbass,” Slime turned to face Aiden in between the headrest and the seat, “QT still has his location.”
“Oh,” Aiden’s expression went slack, “Well, okay then.” His eyebrows twisted back up, “Well hold on, where’s he going?”
Nick smirked, “Where he thinks we spend our best quality time.”
“What?” Aiden laughed, “Lemme see the dot? Can we see him traveling?”
“Yeah,” Nick passed him the phone behind his back, “He’s going to the gym.”
Slime cackled. “Oh my god. I think that’s the funniest thing I’ve ever heard.”
Nick wasn’t laughing. “What the fuck? Have I ever gone to the gym with you guys?”
Aiden grabbed Nick’s phone, sighing, “I’ll call Maya,”
—------------------
Ludwig knows the best memories are made on the court.
He’s always loved sports and working out. As a kid, it was kind of his whole world outside video games. Honestly it was probably working harder in athletics that built up his confidence. Once he realized taking a soccer ball to the face isn’t that bad, he kind of enjoyed getting better and better. Even when he rode the bench, he still got the benefit of having a whole team to hang out with at away games and overnight trips.
A lot has changed over the years in that sense. He smiled to himself as he thought about how he played sports now, without all of the ego he used to have. He had more fun now, and had way more fun being competitive now that he only really cared about having a good game.
Ludwig stepped into the room, which activated the motion sensing lights and washed the big, empty room in fluorescence. For the first time all day, he felt some sense of comfort in being alone. It was kind of nice to have the space to-
“Hey, Lud,”
“Fucking Christ,” he spun around, his eyes falling directly on a familiar smirk. “Do I even ask why you’re here?”
“You can ask,” Maya smiled.
“Roger that, not asking.”
“Smart man,” Maya moved past him into the empty room. He followed, unsure what else to do.
They walked to the three point line before she stopped and turned to face him.
“Hey,” her voice echoed around the court, making her seem even smaller. Ludwig almost laughed out loud. “Sorry about not reaching out this summer.”
Damn. Ludwig thought. This is a Maya he doesn’t get to see often. The nice Maya.
“I get it,” he replies, surprised at how easily he was telling her the truth, “You were helping her out, it would have been insane to go back and forth between us, getting both sides of the breakup would have been insane. Plus,” he smiled, “I had the guys.”
She nods for a second, breaking eye contact to look at her shoes and collect herself, seeming more sure, “Good. I’m glad you didn’t get stuck in your own head. You’re a nice guy, Lud.”
“Thanks,” he smiled, then, “Fuck it, I’ll bite. What are you doing here?”
Maya smiled.
Ludwig felt his stomach drop, and his Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed hard. Well this can’t be good.
“You make 100 free throws, I’ll tell you where they are.”
“A hundred?!”
“You can do it,” she walked over to the side of the room, grabbing a ball from the rack and passing it his way, “I’ll count.”
Ludwig dribbled for a second and paused before he lifted up to shoot. Maya was probably the person QT let get the closest. He knew he shouldn’t ask, but before he could stop himself,
“How’s she doing?”
From the look that passed her face, he thought Maya might call him out for prying. But after a second she softened, and actually seemed… grateful, maybe?
“Not too bad. We’re looking at possible locations for a bakery,”
Ludwig nodded to himself. He wasn’t sure what closure actually felt like, but when he jumped and felt the ball smooth past his fingers on its way to meet the net, he wasn’t worried about anything else.