Work Text:
Let’s go on a family trip together, they had said. Bring your boyfriend, it will be fun, they had said. Matt wanted to punch the one who thought that would be a bright idea. Although he didn’t know why he hadn’t seen this disaster coming. When his parents invited him and his boyfriend to come with to the lakeside cabin over spring break, he should have known it would go bad.
But Ludwig wanted to meet his family. So he agreed to it.
Now they were two days in and he already missed his tiny dorm back at the university. The cabin was much smaller than he remembered it being as a kid, and there was absolutely no privacy at all. Literally, there weren’t even locks on the bathroom doors.
He had to get away from his parents and spend some time alone with Ludwig, if only for an hour. That was why he was tromping down through the overgrown shrubs towards the lake, flashlight in hand and his boyfriend a few steps behind.
“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Ludwig asked quietly, swinging the flashlight around at the ground to avoid tripping over a root. He already had to duck a few times to keep from hitting a low branch.
Matt replied, “Of course it is. How else will we get a moment of peace together?”
“I understand, but…” Ludwig trailed off when he stumbled and swore. Once he regained his balance, he went on: “Skinny-dipping in the lake?”
A soft snort escaped him. “You were the one that forgot to pack a swimsuit.”
“I didn’t forget. You told me not to bring one.”
“Oops.” Matt wasn’t apologetic in the slightest. He continued to lead the way down to the lake, following the overgrown path he had gone down as a kid. It seemed like it had been years since anyone used it – and all the more guaranteed that they would be alone.
Eventually they broke through the trees and onto the lake’s shore. The rocky sand crunched under their sandals, and Matt eventually came to a stop right at the water’s edge. “All right. Let’s strip.”
“You’re really serious about this, aren’t you?” Ludwig asked, shining the flashlight on his boyfriend when he dropped his on the ground. Matt taking off his shirt was his answer, and he sighed before looking away.
Soon Matt was as bare as the day he was born. He picked up his flashlight and swung it around to gather his bearings. Farther out into the lake were a few islands and rocks that they could sit on. He shone the beam on the closest one and looked back at Ludwig with a grin. “Race you to it.”
Ludwig was in the middle of unbuttoning his shirt and shot a look at him. “Give me a moment to—” But before he could finish, Matt was jumping in with a splash and wading his way towards deeper waters. It was so dark that eventually all he could see was the waving around of the flashlight. “—undress…”
Holding the flashlight above the water and doing a three-limbed doggy paddle, Matt reached the closer rock first. He climbed onto it with a laugh, listening to the splashes of Ludwig coming after him. “Too slow!”
“You cheated!” Ludwig retorted in a gasp once he got close enough and hauled himself onto the rock as well. All he got was a cackle in reply. The flashlight beam abruptly found his face, and he squinted against it before holding up a hand in front of his eyes.
Matt was grinning at him, his golden locks wet and curling against his chin. “Love you, Ludwig,” he suddenly said, and the resulting blush that engulfed his boyfriend’s face made him laugh all over again.
“Scheiße, you know saying that embarrasses me,” Ludwig said after recovering, fumbling to turn on his own flashlight and not be the only one being blinded.
“Why? It’s true.” Matt frowned and scooted closer to him until their knees bumped. He felt Ludwig jolt, and then a splash as something fell in the water.
There was a brief silence, and then Matt asked: “Was that your flashlight?”
“Yes.”
“Fuck.”
They tried looking for it, shining their remaining flashlight at the water, but it was useless. It sunk like a rock, and neither wanted to dive around in the dark water looking for it. Matt groaned into his hand, trying to think of how he could possibly explain why one of the flashlights went missing overnight.
“—Mom is going to kill me, Papa’s going to know we went out and will never let me hear the end of it—”
“I’m sorry,” Ludwig mumbled, and Matt sighed.
“It’s not your fault,” he said, and began shining the flashlight around once more. He eventually landed it on a group of rocks farther out. “Those look flat and big. Let’s head over there and you can make it up to me.”
With Matt gripping the flashlight tighter this time around, they dove back into the water. They almost made it to the second group of rocks when the light started to flicker.
“No, no!” Matt scrambled to climb onto the rock, shaking the light and shouting at it. “Shit! The battery’s dying!” Water splashed as Ludwig climbed onto the rock next to him.
“Should we head back?”
“I don’t think the light will last…” Sure enough, the flashlight flickered one last time before dying completely and plunging them both into total darkness.
The two were silent for a good minute. Then, Ludwig asked, “Why didn’t you check the batteries before we left?”
Matt huffed. “I could only check one. That’s why I brought two of them.”
“Oh.” Ludwig’s voice was laced with guilt. “Right.”
They sat there in silence, and it didn’t take long for Matt to regret suggesting that they go swimming in the nude. He wrapped his arms around himself and started to shiver, knitting his brows together. “Fuck, this was my dumbest idea ever.”
“No,” Ludwig responded a heartbeat later. “Your dumbest idea was getting drunk the night before midterms. To ease up the stress, was what you said.”
A groan escaped him from the memory. “Okay, fine. But this is my second dumbest idea.”
He got no argument from Ludwig on that.
After a moment or two of teeth-chattering silence, Matt suddenly felt an arm wrap around him. It was wet and just as cold as he was. But all the same he leaned into Ludwig’s side with a drawn-out sigh. “Maybe we should swim for it.”
“And risk going the wrong way?” Ludwig shook his head. “It’s only a few hours until dawn, right?”
“Four,” Matt mumbled, and a violent shiver wracked his body. Four hours of sitting naked out on a lake? It sounded more romantic on paper. Whoever thought skinny-dipping at night was romantic never mentioned how quickly it got cold.
They were both quiet again, this time for several more minutes, before one of them broke the silence. “Do you think your parents will notice?” Ludwig asked.
Matt cringed and squeezed his eyes shut. “Oh, I hope not. My papa will never let me live it down.” He could practically hear his father laughing about it now. “The moment it’s light enough to see, we’re swimming for shore and booking it back to the house.”
“And the flashlight?”
“Fuck both the flashlights.”
Once more they sat in silence. It stretched on and on, with only the sound of soft lapping of the waves against the rock edges. Matt tried to stay warm by pressing up against Ludwig, but with both of them naked and shivering, it did very little.
It felt like an hour had passed when Ludwig suddenly said: “For what it’s worth, it started out fun.”
Matt snorted. “Gee, thanks.”
“I mean it,” Ludwig insisted, and he shifted beside Matt, his head turning. “And even if we haven’t been able to spend time alone together, I’ve been enjoying this trip. Your parents are…”
“Crazy?”
“I was going to say interesting.”
“Sure you were.” Matt cracked a smile and pecked a kiss on his boyfriend’s cheek. “I get to meet your family next.”
He felt Ludwig cringe. “Do you really have to? My brother can be a bit of a… handful.”
“Clearly you haven’t been around Alfred enough,” Matt quipped.
“Your brother is obnoxious. Mine is a handful. Very different things.”
“I guess I’ll find that out when I meet him.” He heard Ludwig sigh, and a small frown drew his brows together. This wasn’t the first time they had this conversation. He doubted it would be the last. Ludwig had been completely willing and eager to meet his family, but seemed to be dodging bullets to keep him from meeting his.
More silence drew out. He should have brought alcohol. That would at least have given them something to do. But his parents definitely would have noticed if some scotch or beer went missing.
Of course, the longer they went on doing nothing, the more Matt was left to his thoughts. He really needed to know why Ludwig was reluctant to introduce him to his family. They had been dating for nearly a year at this point, after all, and probably would for a long time more. He sat up suddenly, causing his boyfriend to jolt a bit, and turned his head in the dark. He could see his vague silhouette. “Okay, spill. Why don’t you want me to meet your family?”
Ludwig sputtered. “What makes you think that?”
“The sighing, the nervousness in general. Come on, Ludwig, I’m not dense. Is there something about me that you don’t want your parents knowing? Are you embarrassed over me?”
“What?” Ludwig’s voice carried far across the lake in his shock. “No, Matthew, it’s not you. No.” He sighed, and Matt could hear him push back the bangs from his forehead. “It’s that… well…”
Matt waited patiently as he struggled to find the right words. Eventually, he heard Ludwig sigh and mumble something unintelligible. “What? I didn’t catch that.”
“My brother, he’s…”
“He’s what?”
“He’s dating my ex-boyfriend.”
A sharp bark of laughter nearly made Ludwig fall off the rock. Matt was giggling – no, he was full-out cackling. Of all the reactions, that was the last one he had expected. It drew on for nearly a full minute, with him growing hotter and hotter with embarrassment each passing second.
When Matt finally was reduced to snorts and the occasional wheeze, he at last said: “Are you fucking serious? That’s why you don’t want me to meet your family?”
Once again Ludwig ended up sputtering. “Th-they’re living together! I didn’t know how to tell you that I used to date my brother’s boyfriend, and I…” He trailed off as Matt snickered again. “I guess you’re taking it well.”
“Are you kidding? This is hilarious.” Matt straightened up again – having bent double during his guffaws – and placed a hand on his shoulder. “How the fuck did that happen? Isn’t your brother three years older than you?”
Ludwig muttered, “I was the younger one in the relationship by two years.”
“Oh my god.”
“I-it’s still really embarrassing to even think about,” Ludwig said, shifting and trying to ignore the burning stare he was receiving. “That’s why I don’t go home much. It’s too awkward.”
Matt shook his head. “I can’t believe it. Here I thought I was the problem.” He paused, contemplating, before he turned back to Ludwig with a newfound grin. “How far did you two go?”
The way he tensed up was all the answer Matt needed, and he dissolved into another laughing fit.
With the tension between them resolved, the hours passed uneventfully. At some point Matt nodded off, and was only woken by the nudging of Ludwig as the sun began to peak on the horizon. He grunted, exhausted, before peeling his eyes open. The sky was dusted pink and gold barely above the treetops.
“This will probably be the only time I’m awake early enough to see the sunrise,” he muttered, and Ludwig chuckled beside him. He rubbed his face and tore his gaze away from the skyline as the sun came further up. On a whim, he glanced to the right – and his jaw nearly hit the water.
There was the shore: a meager ten feet away from the rock they sat upon.
“For fuck’s sake.”