2025-07-11, 06:57 PM
Kai gave Tobi his best smile and a gentle kiss. Holding hands, they stood in the middle of the hallway of Tobi's parents' apartment, trying to delay the moment of farewell a little longer.
“I don’t want you to leave,” said Tobi unhappily.
“Oh, sweetie…” Kai stroked his reddish-brown hair.
"I have to. Otherwise, my parents will make a fuss. I'd rather stay here, too, but if I don't come to my grandma's birthday party, things will get tense again."
Tobi sighed heartbreakingly.
“But,” he looked up at Kai with his doe eyes,
“We wanted to this afternoon…”
"...go to the movies. I know. I'll be back by then."
Tobi wasn't so sure. Birthdays like these could take a long time. He'd probably end up standing alone in front of the cinema, waiting in vain for his sweetheart. He shook his head. No, he didn't want that.
Suddenly, the two heard the key in the door, and at the same moment, Tobi's father entered the apartment. Tobi immediately let go of Kai's hand. As soon as Mr. Schenke saw the two boys, he grimaced angrily, but said nothing. Silently, he pushed past them into the living room.
“I think I really have to go now,” said Kai.
Tobi nodded slowly and followed his friend to the front door, which was still open. An unmistakable signal from Tobi's father for Kai to finally leave. He stopped in the doorway and turned to Tobi.
“I’ll be back for the movies, I promise.”
He wanted to bend down to give Tobi a goodbye kiss, but then thought better of it. It was exactly the right decision, because Mr. Schenke came out of the living room, paused in the hallway for a moment to give Kai a dirty look, and then disappeared into the kitchen. The two looked at each other helplessly. Why couldn't parents accept it when their son was gay? This question was related to the silence between them. It was even worse with Kai's parents. They went crazy as soon as they heard the name Tobias. And whenever the word "gay" or "homosexual" was mentioned anywhere, they looked at Kai reproachfully and disapprovingly, as if he could do something about his feelings.
“Life is cruel,” Kai said quietly, trying to smile.
But Tobi didn't seem to have heard him at all. He looked absently past him and stared at the wall behind him. Only after a few seconds did he regain his composure.
“What did you say?” he asked, looking at Kai apologetically.
“Sorry, I was just out of here.”
"It doesn't matter. It wasn't that important."
Kai took a short break.
"Well, I'm going now. See you later, okay?"
“Okay. But be on time!”
"Naturally."
After making sure Mr. Schenke was still in the kitchen, he leaned down to Tobi and whispered "I love you" in his ear. One last loving look, and he went down the stairs leading to the apartment. Tobi watched him go and closed the door when he could no longer see him.
On his way home, Kai replayed the scene in which Mr. Schenke had entered the apartment, as well as all the other scenes in which he had seen him and Tobi together. He didn't want to have to endure that repulsive look any longer. Tobi's mother was just as unhappy about this relationship, but since she was usually out of the house due to her job, thankfully, it rarely showed.
When would Tobias' parents and his own parents—and everyone else, for that matter—finally realize that it was perfectly natural for two people to love each other, regardless of whether they were heterosexual, homosexual, or bisexual. After all, they lived in the 21st century, so surely they could expect a bit more tolerance?
He shook his head. What was he even thinking? Tolerance? Pure wishful thinking! The fact was, their parents knew about the two of them. It was also known in Tobi's class that Tobi was into boys, after it had come out by unfortunate coincidence. Although his classmates didn't know anything about Kai, the fact that Tobi was "the other way around" was enough to make him angry from then on. The worst part, though, was that Kai couldn't do anything about it because he went to a different school. He didn't have any problems there. His homosexuality was still a secret, apart from his parents.
Sighing, he stepped through the garden gate, for he had now arrived home. He and Tobi had been a couple for six months, and he loved him more every day. He wouldn't let anyone take away his wonderful happiness. "Not even you," he thought bitterly as he unlocked the front door and approached his parents, who wanted to know where he had been.
The film ended shortly after 5:30. Kai had actually managed to arrive on time and was now leaving the cinema with Tobi. It was still bright daylight outside, which was because it was mid-June, and at this time of year the days are, as we all know, quite long. Long, sunny, and hot. (Unless you lived in Germany, where it rained for a few days every now and then.) Only in one respect did tonight differ from the previous ones. In contrast to those, which had been unbearably hot, today it was pleasantly warm. A light breeze dispelled the terrible heat and blew away the ash that Kai had flicked from his cigarette.
“I thought you stopped?” said Tobi, surprised.
“Well…I wanted to, but somehow it’s not that easy…”
Tobi shook his head with a smile, reached for the cigarette, and took a drag as well. "All the better for me," he said, exhaling the smoke with relish.
“Where else would I get the nicotine from?”
“How about buying it yourself?”
“I don’t have any money for that.”
“Oh, but me or what?” Kai took the Marlboro pack out of his pocket and took a new cigarette, since Tobi made no move to give him his old one back.
“Well, who do we have here?” they heard a voice say behind them.
When they turned around, they saw Thorsten and Dennis, two of Tobi's classmates, coming out of the cinema.
“Tobias and his first lover!” said Dennis maliciously and the two boys started laughing.
Kai took an angry step toward Dennis.
“Listen, you retard!” he hissed angrily.
“I’m not Tobi’s lover, I’m his…”
“Buddy!” Tobi Kai interrupted hastily.
Kai turned to him in surprise. Buddy? Had he heard right?
“I think a moose is kissing me!” he thought.
Buddy?! That was the height of it!
“Oh, so that’s how it is.”
Thorsten stood a few centimeters in front of Tobi and looked at him pityingly.
“So still a virgin?”
Dennis laughed again. Thorsten grinned, took the cigarette from Tobi, took a deep drag, and blew the smoke in his face. Tobi immediately started coughing.
“Fuck off, Thorsten!” he gasped.
"Na, na."
He shoved Tobi in the shoulder, causing him to stagger back.
"That's not how you talk to me. And anyway..."
He pushed him again.
“What do you faggot want to do against me?”
“That’s enough!” thought Kai when he saw how Thorsten treated his treasure.
With a forceful gesture, he threw down his cigarette and grabbed Thorsten by the shoulders. With a jerk, he pulled him away from Tobi and pushed him with his back against the outer wall of the cinema.
“There’s going to be a fight,” Tobi realized.
Thorsten and Kai looked into each other's eyes full of hatred, and Dennis took up position behind them, ready to punch Kai if he tried the same thing with Thorsten.
“If you don’t get out of here right now, I’ll show you how to deal with people like you
bypasses," said Kai threateningly.
Thorsten didn't seem at all impressed, even though he was the one who literally had his back against the wall.
“Take your gay fingers off me,” he growled.
Kai pretended he hadn't heard it.
“Touch Tobi again and you’re dead, got it?!”
Thorsten just grinned.
“Uhh! Now he’s playing the big protector!”
With a swift movement, he raised his knee and aimed between Kai's legs. But Kai was faster and managed to dodge to the side at the very last second. At the same moment, he punched Thorsten in the gut with his right fist. That was Dennis's cue. While Thorsten was still writhing in pain, he kicked Kai in the back of the knee, forcing Tobi to watch his friend fall to the ground.
What should he do? He wasn't a thug. That was more Kai's thing. But he had to do something! Helplessly, he scanned the street. Not a soul in sight. This was the cinema! There should be a lot of people around! But apart from them, there was no one around.
Thorsten had recovered somewhat and, together with Dennis, now kicked Kai, who was still on the ground. Down there, he had no chance against the two of them. Tobi rammed Dennis with his shoulder.
“Leave him alone!” he shouted.
Dennis sent him against the wall with a skillful push.
„Uff!“
Tobi was out of breath. As soon as he caught his breath, he tried Thorsten – with the same result.
“That can't be true!” he thought desperately.
Kai had gotten back on his feet and had managed to knock out a tooth from Dennis. But Thorsten held him back after the little incident with Tobias, and Dennis delivered one blow after another. Kai kicked wildly, but it was no use. Thorsten may have been five centimeters shorter than him, but he was apparently stronger.
“What should I do? What should I do?” Tobi repeated in his mind.
He hastily looked around for something he could hit the two of them with, but he found nothing. Not even a stick or anything similar. Suddenly, something caught his eye. He bent down and picked up the cigarette Kai had thrown away. It hadn't gone out yet, which could be very useful to him now.
He stood behind Thorsten and pressed the lit cigarette to his neck.
„Ahh!“
He immediately let go of Kai. Finally free of his hands and feet, Kai immediately attacked Dennis. He kicked him in the shin and then punched Dennis's lower jaw. Another tooth, or at least a piece of it, flew onto the sidewalk. Finally, he kicked him between the legs with full force. Dennis screamed and fell to the ground, his face contorted in pain. Now that Dennis was apparently finished, Kai wanted to turn to Thorsten, but he was already fighting off the pain. After the attack with the cigarette, he had intended to punch Tobi somewhere else, but Tobi had skillfully dodged and only hit the lamppost.
"Oh! I'll kill you both!" he groaned, holding his right hand.
In fact, it looked as if it were broken. Kai, unfazed, pulled Dennis up by his T-shirt and grabbed Thorsten by the collar.
“Fuck off!” he snarled.
"Otherwise, I'll kill you!" He let go of the two, whereupon they immediately started moving. At the end of the street, Thorsten turned around again and yelled: "See you at school, Tobilein! I'll finish you off there!"
Then he turned a corner with Dennis and disappeared.
“What wankers!” said Kai, wiping the blood from the corner of his mouth.
His lip was split, and he was also missing a piece of a tooth. Tobi was relatively unscathed, but Kai looked really bad. His T-shirt was ripped in one place, and he had scrapes and scratches all over him.
"Damned!"
He spat out a little blood.
“This asshole got me!”
He looked at Tobi questioningly.
“Do I look very bad?”
Instead of answering, Tobi looked down.
“That says it all,” said Kai when he got no answer
. “I’m sorry,” mumbled Tobi.
“I didn’t want that to happen.”
Kai sighed.
"Me neither. But there's nothing we can do about it now."
He went to his bike and unlocked it. While he was still
key was busy, he asked:
“What does that even mean?”
„Was?“
Tobi did the same as Kai and opened his bike lock. Out of the corner of his eye, he watched Kai struggle in vain with the lighter, trying to light a cigarette. Tobi knew something was bothering him—and it wasn't the fight. Kai's expression revealed that he was annoyed or offended by something else.
“Come on, let me.”
Tobi couldn't stand watching Kai struggle with the lighter any longer and took it from his hand. It worked on the first try, and the cigarette released its smoke into the air. Grumbling, Kai put the lighter away again.
"The 'buddy' thing, I mean," he said after taking a few puffs. "Buddy?" Tobi thought hard. Suddenly his face lit up, but the next second he became embarrassed.
“Oh, that’s what you mean.”
"Yes, that's exactly what I mean. Am I that embarrassing to you?"
"No, I…"
“And then in front of these guys.”
Kai nodded in the direction Dennis and Thorsten had disappeared.
“I actually thought you would stand by me.”
With these words he swung himself onto his bike.
“Kai! Wait!”
"What?"
"I'm sorry. I wanted to...I...I don't know..."
Tobi fell silent. What should he say now? Of course it was wrong. Kai must have been really hurt. If he imagined Kai calling him a friend... He would be just as disappointed.
“I’m leaving now,” Kai interrupted his thoughts.
“See you then.”
As he drove, he took another drag on his cigarette before flicking it away. Tobi remained alone, watching him.
"Kai," he thought. "I love you..."
“I don’t want you to leave,” said Tobi unhappily.
“Oh, sweetie…” Kai stroked his reddish-brown hair.
"I have to. Otherwise, my parents will make a fuss. I'd rather stay here, too, but if I don't come to my grandma's birthday party, things will get tense again."
Tobi sighed heartbreakingly.
“But,” he looked up at Kai with his doe eyes,
“We wanted to this afternoon…”
"...go to the movies. I know. I'll be back by then."
Tobi wasn't so sure. Birthdays like these could take a long time. He'd probably end up standing alone in front of the cinema, waiting in vain for his sweetheart. He shook his head. No, he didn't want that.
Suddenly, the two heard the key in the door, and at the same moment, Tobi's father entered the apartment. Tobi immediately let go of Kai's hand. As soon as Mr. Schenke saw the two boys, he grimaced angrily, but said nothing. Silently, he pushed past them into the living room.
“I think I really have to go now,” said Kai.
Tobi nodded slowly and followed his friend to the front door, which was still open. An unmistakable signal from Tobi's father for Kai to finally leave. He stopped in the doorway and turned to Tobi.
“I’ll be back for the movies, I promise.”
He wanted to bend down to give Tobi a goodbye kiss, but then thought better of it. It was exactly the right decision, because Mr. Schenke came out of the living room, paused in the hallway for a moment to give Kai a dirty look, and then disappeared into the kitchen. The two looked at each other helplessly. Why couldn't parents accept it when their son was gay? This question was related to the silence between them. It was even worse with Kai's parents. They went crazy as soon as they heard the name Tobias. And whenever the word "gay" or "homosexual" was mentioned anywhere, they looked at Kai reproachfully and disapprovingly, as if he could do something about his feelings.
“Life is cruel,” Kai said quietly, trying to smile.
But Tobi didn't seem to have heard him at all. He looked absently past him and stared at the wall behind him. Only after a few seconds did he regain his composure.
“What did you say?” he asked, looking at Kai apologetically.
“Sorry, I was just out of here.”
"It doesn't matter. It wasn't that important."
Kai took a short break.
"Well, I'm going now. See you later, okay?"
“Okay. But be on time!”
"Naturally."
After making sure Mr. Schenke was still in the kitchen, he leaned down to Tobi and whispered "I love you" in his ear. One last loving look, and he went down the stairs leading to the apartment. Tobi watched him go and closed the door when he could no longer see him.
On his way home, Kai replayed the scene in which Mr. Schenke had entered the apartment, as well as all the other scenes in which he had seen him and Tobi together. He didn't want to have to endure that repulsive look any longer. Tobi's mother was just as unhappy about this relationship, but since she was usually out of the house due to her job, thankfully, it rarely showed.
When would Tobias' parents and his own parents—and everyone else, for that matter—finally realize that it was perfectly natural for two people to love each other, regardless of whether they were heterosexual, homosexual, or bisexual. After all, they lived in the 21st century, so surely they could expect a bit more tolerance?
He shook his head. What was he even thinking? Tolerance? Pure wishful thinking! The fact was, their parents knew about the two of them. It was also known in Tobi's class that Tobi was into boys, after it had come out by unfortunate coincidence. Although his classmates didn't know anything about Kai, the fact that Tobi was "the other way around" was enough to make him angry from then on. The worst part, though, was that Kai couldn't do anything about it because he went to a different school. He didn't have any problems there. His homosexuality was still a secret, apart from his parents.
Sighing, he stepped through the garden gate, for he had now arrived home. He and Tobi had been a couple for six months, and he loved him more every day. He wouldn't let anyone take away his wonderful happiness. "Not even you," he thought bitterly as he unlocked the front door and approached his parents, who wanted to know where he had been.
The film ended shortly after 5:30. Kai had actually managed to arrive on time and was now leaving the cinema with Tobi. It was still bright daylight outside, which was because it was mid-June, and at this time of year the days are, as we all know, quite long. Long, sunny, and hot. (Unless you lived in Germany, where it rained for a few days every now and then.) Only in one respect did tonight differ from the previous ones. In contrast to those, which had been unbearably hot, today it was pleasantly warm. A light breeze dispelled the terrible heat and blew away the ash that Kai had flicked from his cigarette.
“I thought you stopped?” said Tobi, surprised.
“Well…I wanted to, but somehow it’s not that easy…”
Tobi shook his head with a smile, reached for the cigarette, and took a drag as well. "All the better for me," he said, exhaling the smoke with relish.
“Where else would I get the nicotine from?”
“How about buying it yourself?”
“I don’t have any money for that.”
“Oh, but me or what?” Kai took the Marlboro pack out of his pocket and took a new cigarette, since Tobi made no move to give him his old one back.
“Well, who do we have here?” they heard a voice say behind them.
When they turned around, they saw Thorsten and Dennis, two of Tobi's classmates, coming out of the cinema.
“Tobias and his first lover!” said Dennis maliciously and the two boys started laughing.
Kai took an angry step toward Dennis.
“Listen, you retard!” he hissed angrily.
“I’m not Tobi’s lover, I’m his…”
“Buddy!” Tobi Kai interrupted hastily.
Kai turned to him in surprise. Buddy? Had he heard right?
“I think a moose is kissing me!” he thought.
Buddy?! That was the height of it!
“Oh, so that’s how it is.”
Thorsten stood a few centimeters in front of Tobi and looked at him pityingly.
“So still a virgin?”
Dennis laughed again. Thorsten grinned, took the cigarette from Tobi, took a deep drag, and blew the smoke in his face. Tobi immediately started coughing.
“Fuck off, Thorsten!” he gasped.
"Na, na."
He shoved Tobi in the shoulder, causing him to stagger back.
"That's not how you talk to me. And anyway..."
He pushed him again.
“What do you faggot want to do against me?”
“That’s enough!” thought Kai when he saw how Thorsten treated his treasure.
With a forceful gesture, he threw down his cigarette and grabbed Thorsten by the shoulders. With a jerk, he pulled him away from Tobi and pushed him with his back against the outer wall of the cinema.
“There’s going to be a fight,” Tobi realized.
Thorsten and Kai looked into each other's eyes full of hatred, and Dennis took up position behind them, ready to punch Kai if he tried the same thing with Thorsten.
“If you don’t get out of here right now, I’ll show you how to deal with people like you
bypasses," said Kai threateningly.
Thorsten didn't seem at all impressed, even though he was the one who literally had his back against the wall.
“Take your gay fingers off me,” he growled.
Kai pretended he hadn't heard it.
“Touch Tobi again and you’re dead, got it?!”
Thorsten just grinned.
“Uhh! Now he’s playing the big protector!”
With a swift movement, he raised his knee and aimed between Kai's legs. But Kai was faster and managed to dodge to the side at the very last second. At the same moment, he punched Thorsten in the gut with his right fist. That was Dennis's cue. While Thorsten was still writhing in pain, he kicked Kai in the back of the knee, forcing Tobi to watch his friend fall to the ground.
What should he do? He wasn't a thug. That was more Kai's thing. But he had to do something! Helplessly, he scanned the street. Not a soul in sight. This was the cinema! There should be a lot of people around! But apart from them, there was no one around.
Thorsten had recovered somewhat and, together with Dennis, now kicked Kai, who was still on the ground. Down there, he had no chance against the two of them. Tobi rammed Dennis with his shoulder.
“Leave him alone!” he shouted.
Dennis sent him against the wall with a skillful push.
„Uff!“
Tobi was out of breath. As soon as he caught his breath, he tried Thorsten – with the same result.
“That can't be true!” he thought desperately.
Kai had gotten back on his feet and had managed to knock out a tooth from Dennis. But Thorsten held him back after the little incident with Tobias, and Dennis delivered one blow after another. Kai kicked wildly, but it was no use. Thorsten may have been five centimeters shorter than him, but he was apparently stronger.
“What should I do? What should I do?” Tobi repeated in his mind.
He hastily looked around for something he could hit the two of them with, but he found nothing. Not even a stick or anything similar. Suddenly, something caught his eye. He bent down and picked up the cigarette Kai had thrown away. It hadn't gone out yet, which could be very useful to him now.
He stood behind Thorsten and pressed the lit cigarette to his neck.
„Ahh!“
He immediately let go of Kai. Finally free of his hands and feet, Kai immediately attacked Dennis. He kicked him in the shin and then punched Dennis's lower jaw. Another tooth, or at least a piece of it, flew onto the sidewalk. Finally, he kicked him between the legs with full force. Dennis screamed and fell to the ground, his face contorted in pain. Now that Dennis was apparently finished, Kai wanted to turn to Thorsten, but he was already fighting off the pain. After the attack with the cigarette, he had intended to punch Tobi somewhere else, but Tobi had skillfully dodged and only hit the lamppost.
"Oh! I'll kill you both!" he groaned, holding his right hand.
In fact, it looked as if it were broken. Kai, unfazed, pulled Dennis up by his T-shirt and grabbed Thorsten by the collar.
“Fuck off!” he snarled.
"Otherwise, I'll kill you!" He let go of the two, whereupon they immediately started moving. At the end of the street, Thorsten turned around again and yelled: "See you at school, Tobilein! I'll finish you off there!"
Then he turned a corner with Dennis and disappeared.
“What wankers!” said Kai, wiping the blood from the corner of his mouth.
His lip was split, and he was also missing a piece of a tooth. Tobi was relatively unscathed, but Kai looked really bad. His T-shirt was ripped in one place, and he had scrapes and scratches all over him.
"Damned!"
He spat out a little blood.
“This asshole got me!”
He looked at Tobi questioningly.
“Do I look very bad?”
Instead of answering, Tobi looked down.
“That says it all,” said Kai when he got no answer
. “I’m sorry,” mumbled Tobi.
“I didn’t want that to happen.”
Kai sighed.
"Me neither. But there's nothing we can do about it now."
He went to his bike and unlocked it. While he was still
key was busy, he asked:
“What does that even mean?”
„Was?“
Tobi did the same as Kai and opened his bike lock. Out of the corner of his eye, he watched Kai struggle in vain with the lighter, trying to light a cigarette. Tobi knew something was bothering him—and it wasn't the fight. Kai's expression revealed that he was annoyed or offended by something else.
“Come on, let me.”
Tobi couldn't stand watching Kai struggle with the lighter any longer and took it from his hand. It worked on the first try, and the cigarette released its smoke into the air. Grumbling, Kai put the lighter away again.
"The 'buddy' thing, I mean," he said after taking a few puffs. "Buddy?" Tobi thought hard. Suddenly his face lit up, but the next second he became embarrassed.
“Oh, that’s what you mean.”
"Yes, that's exactly what I mean. Am I that embarrassing to you?"
"No, I…"
“And then in front of these guys.”
Kai nodded in the direction Dennis and Thorsten had disappeared.
“I actually thought you would stand by me.”
With these words he swung himself onto his bike.
“Kai! Wait!”
"What?"
"I'm sorry. I wanted to...I...I don't know..."
Tobi fell silent. What should he say now? Of course it was wrong. Kai must have been really hurt. If he imagined Kai calling him a friend... He would be just as disappointed.
“I’m leaving now,” Kai interrupted his thoughts.
“See you then.”
As he drove, he took another drag on his cigarette before flicking it away. Tobi remained alone, watching him.
"Kai," he thought. "I love you..."