11-16-2025, 06:20 PM
Monday
It was actually ridiculous. But Chris was nervous. He was on his way to his holiday job at the magistrate's office and today was the first day. He was always a bit nervous when he met new people, and he didn't know anyone at all, not even any of the other holiday workers, as his friend Andreas had unfortunately not got the job. He headed for the entrance and was about to ask the porter where he could find room 513 when he saw that there were already a few young people standing outside the porter's lodge. Chris joined the group and approached one boy: “Excuse me, are you a holiday worker too?”
“Hi, yes. The whole bunch of us here. We're all supposed to wait together and then we'll be picked up and assigned, the gatekeeper told us. But you still have to go to him so that he can tick you off his list.”
“Thank you.” Chris marched to the doorman as instructed and gave his name. Then he went back to the group and stood around a little lost in the area. The others didn't seem to know each other either, as everyone was looking around conspicuously inconspicuously, playing with their cell phones or smoking.
“Don't you know anyone here either?” Came a voice from behind him. It was the boy he had spoken to earlier.
“No. Do you?”
“No, neither do I. What's your name anyway?”
“Chris.”
“Hello, I'm Max. Which department have you been assigned to?”
“Wait, building services administration.”
“I'm with the fire police.”
“That sounds great. What do you do there?”
“No idea. But it's probably not as great as it sounds. You've probably never had a holiday job at the magistrate's office?”
“No, have you?”
“Yes, that's why I know what I'm talking about. I was with the cemetery gardeners last year.”
Chris grinned.
“Don't grin!” laughed Max. ”That's a serious job! It was quite a slog. I mowed the lawns all over the cemetery, trimmed the hedges, weeded various graves, all that kind of stuff.”
“Sounds incredibly exciting.” Chris' sarcasm could not be ignored.
“Yes. And because daisies aren't really fulfilling as conversation partners in the long run, I applied for an office job this year. Maybe I'll get an answer for once when I talk to someone.”
“Hey, look. I think we're off now.” Chris poked Max in the ribs.
A young woman in a costume walked up to the gatehouse and came back out with the list of names.
“Good morning, everyone. I'm Mrs. Nikolic. I'm going to see who everyone is here first. Then we'll walk through the building together so that you don't get lost and then I'll assign you to your departments. So let's get started. Adam Marion ....” ”Good, everyone here. Let's go”
After Ms. Nikolic had checked that everyone was really there, she led the whole group through the building.
That was really necessary, because it was a huge block. Chris looked unobtrusively over at Max, who was marching along beside him as if it were a matter of course. He was pleased that he had found someone so quickly. And such a good-looking, likeable boy at that. He was usually the shy type. The tour ended in the canteen.
“Before I 'hand you out', a few organizational matters. There's a children's party at the swimming pool the day after tomorrow. There will be all sorts of play stations for which we need supervisors. You would be the ones to do this and we would be delighted if you all came. I don't think you'll mind a day at the pool, even if you have to work a bit. Please be at the main entrance on time at 8.00 am. If anyone doesn't want to come, please let me know afterwards. They'll have to work, of course.”
The young woman then took the individual people to their respective departments.
“Great, a paid day at the swimming pool. You're going too, Max, aren't you?”
“Of course, do you think I'm going to miss it? It's sure to be a fun day. Besides, they've announced 30 °C for Wednesday. That's far too hot to work anyway.”
“Which one of you is Christian Nelskamp?” Chris spoke up.
“You're actually assigned to the construction department, but they wanted the girl from last year again. You'll get her job with the fire police, okay?”
“Sure, I don't care,” Chris replied. He cheered inwardly. This was the same department Max was going to work in.
“Good, then I still need Maximilian Schütze, Melanie Adam and Katharina Lehner.”
“Hey, cool.” Max whispered in Chris's ear. “Same department!”
“Right, march off, ladies and gentlemen.”
And so they trotted after Ms. Nikolic. When they arrived in the department, she introduced the young people to their boss for the next four weeks, Mr. Schmalfuß. He first explained to the four of them what their future tasks would be. The girls were allowed to organize various files that had accumulated over the year, scan them, then punch holes in them and file them in folders. The two boys had been given a special task. As no one was really responsible for the archive, it was a real mess. Chris and Max had to clear all the files from the shelves, dust them and the folders, dispose of all the files between 1960 and 1980 and sort the rest alphabetically.
“Holy shit. Did you hear that?”
“Unfortunately. Loud and clear. Didn't I tell you that working for the fire police wouldn't be very exciting?”
“Well, at least we'll have some peace and quiet. How do we get started?”
“The best way is to get the containers where we can throw the old files.”
“Ah Max?”
“Like what?”
“You didn't happen to remember how to get into the cellar, did you?”
“Sure! I'm an orienteering genius!”
“Your word in God's ear canal. I certainly won't find my way down there.”
The two of them set off and Max did indeed find the storage area in the basement with somnambulistic certainty, grabbing two wheelie bins and rumbling back upstairs. Once back in the archive, they began to systematically take the old folders off the shelves one by one, look through them and take out the files from 1960 to 1980 as requested. Soon empty folders were piling up on the floor, the containers were filling up and the two boys were covered in dust from top to bottom. Suddenly Max began to giggle.
“What is it?” asked Chris.
Max just laughed louder and pointed at Chris. He just looked at him questioningly.
“Come on, I'll show you.” Max grabbed Chris by the arm and pulled him towards the sink and the mirror in the archive. When Chris looked at himself in the mirror, he knew why Max was giggling. His face looked as if he had swept a chimney with it. He had to suppress a grin.
“Ha, ha. You go ahead and laugh. But make sure you don't look like that soon.”
“My dear Chris, unlike you, I'm not a piglet.”
“Piglet maybe not, but you still have a sooty face!” And before Max knew it, Chris had run his dirty hands down his face. The two of them wrestled around and giggled inanely. When they heard a door slam, they stopped abruptly, looked at each other and started chuckling again.
“Stop it, I can't take any more.” pleaded Chris.
“I'll stop if you stop.” Max gasped. And they continued to giggle. When they finally got themselves together, they carried on working until lunch. They went to the canteen together and chose a menu. When they had finished eating, Chris said: “And what are we going to do now until 2pm? It really sucks that we have a two-hour lunch break here.
hours for lunch. What are we supposed to do in that time?”
“Why don't we go to the city park? At least we can lie in the shade for a while and doze.”
“OK. I hope I don't fall asleep, tired as I am.”
“Well, if you do, I'll wake you up, I promise!”
“Yes, by pouring water over my head. I've only known you since this morning, but I wouldn't put it past you.”
“Well, you've got a good opinion of me,” grinned Max.
“You've only got yourself to blame.”
“Yes, yes. Off we go, or do you want to stay here?”
The lunch break in the park flew by and the rest of the day didn't drag on too long either. And both boys were glad when they were able to go home at 6.00 pm.
Tuesday
The next working day wasn't very exciting either. It soon became routine. Max and Chris sorted out old files, disposed of them and piled up folders on the floor.
Wednesday
Fifteen minutes before eight on Wednesday, Chris was standing in front of the swimming pool. Some of the others were already there, but Max wasn't yet. Of course, he arrived just two minutes before eight.
“Hello, I thought you'd rather spend today in our beloved archive.”
“Anything but that. The three weeks we're still locked up in this dungeon are enough for me.”
“Well, it's not that bad. At least it's nice and cool there.”
One by one, everyone started to arrive, including the people from the play bus who had brought all the play stations with them, and together they set up the stations. Chris and Max volunteered to supervise the bouncy castle. In retrospect, however, this turned out to be a mistake, as the bouncy castle was the kids' favorite game and the two of them were constantly surrounded by people, whereas some of the other places were yawningly empty. But at least the time passed quickly and before they knew it, it was already lunchtime. The whole group, around 15 boys and girls, met further back in the bathroom, where it was a little quieter, and made themselves comfortable on blankets and bath towels. The sandwiches and drinks they had brought with them were unpacked and they were fooling around and having a lot of fun. Until suddenly ...
“Hey, look at those two faggots over there!” shouted Manfred.
Chris got hot.
“Fuck off, you fucking homos!”
“That's disgusting. Now they're even groping each other!”
Two young men had walked past near their campsite, holding hands. As Manfred let out his rant, one of them turned around, gave Manfred the finger and provocatively put an arm around his friend's waist and kissed him on the mouth. When the two of them had long since disappeared, the small group was still on edge.
“Why are you getting so artificially upset?” asked Melanie. “Did one of them do something to you?”
“What do you mean, artificially upset? Do you think it's normal for two guys to make out or fuck each other in the ass? When I see something like that, it makes me puke!”
“Exactly, two men doing it together, that's disgusting.” Vanessa stood in for Manfred.
“I really can't understand that. What's so disgusting about kissing another person?” Melanie asked sharply with raised eyebrows.
“Nothing, but two men - or even two women - that's completely unnatural.” Manfred got upset.
“Exactly.” Vanessa agreed.
“You're so sick, both of you!” Chris exclaimed. “You couldn't care less what they do when they're in bed together. It hasn't occurred to you that they love each other, has it? If you can't watch when two people like each other, then don't watch. Nobody's forcing you to.” Chris had really worked himself up into a rage.
“You're a little pansy yourself, aren't you? Does it turn you on to look at the boys' dicks? Max, watch out when you're bending over in the archive!” Manfred laughed dirty. He didn't notice that the others - with the exception of Vanessa - didn't find his joke very funny.
Furious and red-faced, Chris jumped up and ran off.
“Idiot!” Max shouted and ran after Chris.
At the family pool, Max finally caught up with Chris.
“Hey, wait!” He grabbed Chris by the arm and spun him around to face him. “Why don't you leave the idiots alone?”
“Aren't you afraid they'll think you're gay too?”
“Why would they?”
“Well, Manfred and the others probably all think I'm a fag now.”
“It doesn't matter what they think. Besides, it was only Manfred and Vanessa who got so upset. The others didn't really care. That was my impression anyway. But maybe running away wasn't such a good idea.”
“Mmm.” Chris said and looked carefully at Max. “And what do you think?”
“I think it's none of my business, and if you want to tell me something, you can, and if there's nothing to say, you just don't say anything. I have nothing against gays, if that's what you want to know. My best friend likes boys too.”
“Really?”
“Yes.”
“So?”
“And what?”
“You too?” Chris asked shyly.
“I prefer girls, but Andreas is a good kisser!”
Chris gave him a big look.
He laughed. “Maybe I'll tell you sometime. But now come on,” Max put an arm around Chris' shoulder and pulled him along, ”our bouncy castle is calling.”
Chris smiled shyly. “Thanks, Max.”
“That's OK.”
All afternoon, Chris couldn't get the argument and subsequent conversation with Max out of his mind. He knew he was gay. He wasn't under any illusions, it didn't really bother him, he'd already gone through that phase. What scared him were the reactions of those around him. What would his parents and friends say?
Would they drop him or would they react as cool as Max? Chris was sure that Max suspected that he was gay, and he was 100% sure that he didn't mind. And Melanie had also stood up for the two boys she didn't even know. He didn't really have any concerns about his friend Tom either. He was the one he had often wanted to tell. But somehow the right situation had never arisen or he had probably never really tried seriously. In principle, he didn't care about Vanessa and Manfred. After these three weeks, he would probably never see them again. And slowly he came to a decision. He would no longer play hide and seek. Firstly, he would tell Tom tonight and he would set an example.
“Hello Chris, come in. I haven't seen you for ages!”
“Hello Mrs. Hartl. Is Tom there?”
“Yeah, sure, he's upstairs in his room. Do you want something to drink?”
“Thanks, I'd love one.”
“Wait, I'll fix you something quickly.”
A few minutes later, he knocked on Tom's room door.
“Yes?” came from inside. Tom was sitting on his couch reading.
“Hi.”
“Hey, Chris. Have a look at you again. I haven't seen you all week. How's work going?”
“Thanks, but it's really boring.” Chris sat down on Tom's bed.
“I can guess that. What do you have to do?”
And Chris talked about what had been going on this week. When he told them about the scene in the swimming pool, Tom just said:
“Such idiots. Like it's any of their business. And what did you say?”
Chris just shrugged his shoulders.
“Well, I would have given those two idiots a good talking to.”
There was a brief silence and Chris sucked nervously on his drink.
“You Tom?”
“What?”
“I've wanted to tell you something for a long time ...”
“Yeah? What?”
Chris couldn't look at him as he said quietly, “I ... don't like girls that much either.”
“Well ... really?” Tom widened his eyes. “You mean you're ... gay?”
Chris nodded and looked at him anxiously.
“Awesome!”
Chris' expression changed from anxious to confused. “Hey?”
“Well, I think it's cool. It takes some getting used to but it's awesome.”
Chris slowly relaxed again. “So you don't have a problem with it? Did I get that right?”
“No, I don't have a problem with it. Why should I? You're no different than before because of it. And besides, now I don't have to worry about you snatching the girls away from me.”
“You were afraid I'd snatch the girls away from you?”
“And how. Because you've got a pretty great figure.”
Chris blushed. “Weirdo! Besides, since when can you judge whether I have a good figure or not?”
“Well, listen, I may only be a chick, but that doesn't make me blind.”
“OK, then I'll take your word for it. Tom, I'd like to ask you something else.”
“What, spit it out. Nothing can shake me today.”
“I'd like to get an earring. On the right. What do you think of that?”
“Phew. I don't know. That's quite a step into the public eye, for those who look closely in case you've tied your hair up once and then also know what it means and rule out the possibility that it's just an accident or you didn't know what it meant or maybe you have a piercing on the other ear too, or somewhere else, or...”
“All right, all right,” Chris interrupted him, laughing. “So you think I should do it?”
“Yes, I think you should. But only if you're sure. Of the consequences it could have, I mean. And if need be, you can always hand it over.”
“Are you still going to sit next to me at school?”
“No, of course not! Idiot, how can you ask something like that?”
Thursday
Chris entered the jewelry store on Thursday evening with a slightly queasy feeling in his stomach.
“Good evening, what can I do for you?” asked the sales clerk.
“Hello, I'd like to have an earring pierced. How much does it cost?”
“The piercing itself and the medical stud cost EUR 25. If you also want a stud for afterwards, that's expensive, of course. You know that you'll only get a medical plug first?”
“Yes, I know that. But I would also like to buy a real earring for later.”
“Good, what did you have in mind?”
“I'd like one of those little gold rings. Do they come separately, or do I have to buy a pair?”
“No, we have all these little studs individually because there's a lot of demand for them.”
Chris picked out a small gold ring. He then followed the salesman into the next room.
“Here we go then. Where would you like the hole?”
“In the right earlobe, please.”
“On the right? Not the left? Are you sure about that? ”
Chris blushed. He hadn't expected the sales clerk to know what he was trying to signal with the ring.
“Yes. On the right.” Chris tried to say in a firm voice.
“Hey, you don't need to blush, I don't care where you want to wear your earring. But you do realize what that means, don't you?”
Only now did Chris see that the young man also had a single stud earring. In his right ear.
“Yes. That's right.”
“OK.” The salesman grinned a little, disinfected Chris' earlobes and drew the point where the hole should go with a black pen and held a mirror up to Chris' face.
“Is that all right?”
“Mhm,” Chris agreed.
Half a minute later, Chris' ear was on fire and he was the proud owner of an earring.
“There we have it. You have to leave the medical plug in for two weeks, then you can take it out and put the gold one in. If you have any problems with your ear, like it getting infected or something, make sure you take it to the doctor. These things are not to be trifled with. OK?”
“I promise.” Chris turned around and was about to leave the store when the sales clerk called after him.
“If you have any other problems with the ring - you know,” the young man grabbed his own plug and smiled shyly, ”or you need someone to talk to, just come by, yeah?”
Chris blushed a little again and nodded, “OK. I'll do that. Bye!”
“Bye!”
Friday
He was feeling a little queasy. Well, a little was a great understatement. The night before, he had taken extra care to make sure his parents hadn't noticed his new acquisition, and somehow he was constantly making sure Max wasn't looking at him from the right side.
“You're an idiot, Chris.” He said to himself. “First you get a big earring so that everyone can see that you're gay, and now you don't want anyone to notice. But you can't get out of your skin that easily.”
“Are you coming to the recycling bin?” Max interrupted Chris' thoughts.
“What? Uh. Yeah, sure.”
“Not quite slept in today, are you? Come on, I'll push and you pull.”
And that's when it happened. Since, as a right-handed person, you usually use your right hand, it was quite dusty in the archive as already mentioned and longer hair always hangs in your face at work and is therefore tied up, Max suddenly had an unobstructed view of Chris' freshly pierced ear. Max grinned and Chris promptly turned fiery red.
“Nice piercing. And so revealing.”
Chris couldn't get a word out and just grimaced slightly.
Max just grinned to himself and said nothing more.
Before lunch, Max and Chris were washing the dirt off their hands and faces, and Chris reached back to pull the rubber ring out of his hair when Max grabbed his hand and stopped him.
“Don't, don't do that. Otherwise the plug will have been for nothing. No one will see it like that.”
“Do you think that's a good idea?”
“I don't know if it's a good idea, but that was the whole point. Am I right?”
“Actually, yes, but...”
“You're scared! Aren't you?”
Chris nodded.
“Hey. Cheer up. Let me tell you something.” Max grabbed Chris by the arms, turned him towards him and looked him firmly in the eye. “You're going out there with me now with your head held high, and if anyone has something stupid to say, you tell them off or, even better, you ignore it, even if it's not easy. That's also a good way to shut such people up. It may be a bit cowardly, and only effective for the moment, but it works. Manfred and Vanessa will certainly notice, they'll certainly add their two cents, and that won't be nice. But you're OK. Listen. I think you're a great buddy. If anyone's not OK here, it's those two idiots. You can count on me and on Melanie too, I'm sure of it. Now come on, grab your food.” And Max grabbed Chris's hand and pulled him along behind him.
With fully loaded trays, the two boys headed for the table where some of the holiday workers were already sitting and stuffing their faces with food.
“Hello boys,” Melanie greeted them cheerfully.
Several His flew through the area. No one noticed Chris' plug. And gradually he loosened up a bit.
Melanie, who was sitting to his right, had looked at him for a moment, slightly puzzled, but then said nothing.
She leaned past Chris to Max, who had taken a seat to Chris's left.
“Max,” she waved him closer and winked at him, ”have you heard the latest? This Chris, he's supposed to be gay. He's even got an earring on his right recently.”
“Really? Do you think I'll have to watch out in future?”
“Well. Gays only like handsome men. I don't think you're in any danger.”
Chris turned around with a grin: “Hey, you two, could you maybe stop talking about me behind my back?”
“Hach!” Melanie turned to Max in mock horror: “There he is. I didn't even see him now!”
The three of them burst out laughing.
“What's so funny?” Manfred joined in from the other side of the table. “Ah!” His face darkened. He had spotted the earring. “I knew it, I knew it. You're such an ass-fucker too.”
Suddenly there was dead silence at the table. Everyone looked spellbound from Manfred to Chris.
He tried to stay cool, continued eating and just said: “Do you mind?”
“Absolutely. I don't eat at the same table with assfuckers.”
“Then you can find another seat.” Came an unexpectedly fierce response from the usually quiet Katharina.
Some of the others looked at her in surprise.
“That's true! First all that fuss in the bathroom, and now he's starting again.”
Vanessa, who hadn't said anything until now, now joined in: “All this gay and lesbian shit is really getting on my nerves. How come I have to watch it all the time?”
“What do you mean by that?” Max wanted to know. “Like Chris?”
“Yes, two men drooling over each other. Disgusting.” Manfred nodded in agreement.
“But nobody kissed Chris!” Max was slowly getting worked up.
Chris put a hand on his arm reassuringly. “Not at all Max. Don't get upset about the idiot. He's not worth it.”
“There! That's what I mean, you see, he's already grabbing you, the pervert.” Disgusted, Manfred pointed to Chris's hand, which was still on Max's arm.
“And that's why you're getting upset. Because of something like that? Didn't I just see you walking down the corridor yesterday with your arm around Richard's shoulder? Ew, how horrible.”
“But that's completely different, Richard and I aren't gay.”
“So that's why you can touch him but Chris can't touch me? That's too much for me. But I would like to know one more thing.
Can I touch Chris? Or does that make me a pervert or maybe it makes me gay too?”
“Who voluntarily touches a gay man?”
“Maybe someone who thinks this gay guy is his boyfriend. Someone who thinks he's nice, maybe wants to comfort him, or maybe because he wants to see how assholes like you lose their breath!” With these words, Max turned to Chris, pulled him close and kissed him right on the mouth.
Before Chris could even think about fighting back, Max had already let go of him. The others cheered and clapped, but Max had achieved his goal. Manfred's mouth was open and his eyes almost popped out of their sockets. Vanessa's face color had also changed to match the opposite wall. They both grabbed their trays and left the table in a hurry. But Chris, who had gone a little pale around the nose, also stood up, mumbled something and disappeared in the direction of the courtyard.
“I think I have to apologize to someone.” Max also pushed back his chair and ran after Chris.
He found him staring straight ahead, sitting on one of the benches in the courtyard. No one else was out there in the heat.
Chris looked up briefly as Max sat down next to him.
“Hey.” Max touched him lightly on the shoulder. “Sorry about that. I should have asked you before. But I just can't stand guys like that. Andi's been mobbed like that a few times too, and I totally flinch every time.”
Silence. After a few moments.
“Is that when you kissed him?”
“What do you mean? I see. No. That was something else.”
“Are you going to tell me now?”
“If you want to know.”
Chris nodded.
“It was shortly after Andreas confessed to me that he was gay. We talked about it a lot back then. And he told me that he'd never kissed anyone. Not even a girl. Imagine that: 17 years old and still unkissed! Yes, and that's when I taught him. That was it.”
“You seem to have a talent for it.”
“For what?” Max looked at him questioningly.
“Kissing gay boys for the first time.” Chris was still staring at nothing.
“Oh. I didn't know that.”
“No. Who would think of something like that. 17 years old and still unkissed. Unimaginable!”
“I'm really sorry.” Max said, embarrassed.
“Oh, it's all right.” Chris grinned a little wryly at first and then grinned all over his face.
“What are you grinning about?”
“Oh, nothing. But maybe you could make up for it ....” Chris blushed slightly.
Max grinned too and put an arm around Chris' shoulders. “I'll do it if you want. I have no problems with that.”
Chris' complexion darkened a few shades.
“What is it. Are you pinching now?” Max asked quietly, leaning closer.
“Okay.” Chris almost whispered.
Max smiled softly. He carefully placed his left hand on Chris' cheek and turned his face towards him.
Chris held his breath. His heart was pounding. He could hardly believe that Max was really going to kiss him. Here. Now.
In the middle of the day. In the middle of public. Max's face came closer, Chris could feel his breath. Nervously, he closed his eyes, and at that moment he felt warm lips touch his. Soft, tender, sweet. Arms that held him carefully and after a moment pulled him close to one breast. Max opened his lips and Chris automatically did the same. He flinched slightly as he felt a foreign tongue enter his mouth, touching and gently caressing his, but then finally relaxed and surrendered to the kiss. He saw nothing and only heard the blood rushing in his ears and his heart beating up to his throat. For him, there was only Max at that moment. He tasted like strawberry ice cream.
When Max pulled away from him, his face was slightly reddened and Chris didn't know how much time had passed. It could have been seconds or it could have been minutes. But it had definitely been a long and intense kiss.
They were still sitting close together, Max's arm around Chris's shoulder.
“So, nice? But what am I asking, you're shining like a second sun.”
Max laughed as Chris could only nod speechlessly.
“And you're sure you're not gay?” Chris managed to say with difficulty.
“Absolutely. I just like kissing.” Transitionally serious, he continued: “Chris. Please don't fall for me. I'm not inhibited and I could definitely imagine trying something with a boy, but it wouldn't be enough for a relationship. That's really not my thing. Okay?”
“Okay.” He replied with a heavy heart.
“Maybe I should introduce you to my friend Andreas. I think you two would get on.”
“Can he kiss as well as you?
“Of course he can! He learned from me. Come on now, our archive is waiting.”
It was actually ridiculous. But Chris was nervous. He was on his way to his holiday job at the magistrate's office and today was the first day. He was always a bit nervous when he met new people, and he didn't know anyone at all, not even any of the other holiday workers, as his friend Andreas had unfortunately not got the job. He headed for the entrance and was about to ask the porter where he could find room 513 when he saw that there were already a few young people standing outside the porter's lodge. Chris joined the group and approached one boy: “Excuse me, are you a holiday worker too?”
“Hi, yes. The whole bunch of us here. We're all supposed to wait together and then we'll be picked up and assigned, the gatekeeper told us. But you still have to go to him so that he can tick you off his list.”
“Thank you.” Chris marched to the doorman as instructed and gave his name. Then he went back to the group and stood around a little lost in the area. The others didn't seem to know each other either, as everyone was looking around conspicuously inconspicuously, playing with their cell phones or smoking.
“Don't you know anyone here either?” Came a voice from behind him. It was the boy he had spoken to earlier.
“No. Do you?”
“No, neither do I. What's your name anyway?”
“Chris.”
“Hello, I'm Max. Which department have you been assigned to?”
“Wait, building services administration.”
“I'm with the fire police.”
“That sounds great. What do you do there?”
“No idea. But it's probably not as great as it sounds. You've probably never had a holiday job at the magistrate's office?”
“No, have you?”
“Yes, that's why I know what I'm talking about. I was with the cemetery gardeners last year.”
Chris grinned.
“Don't grin!” laughed Max. ”That's a serious job! It was quite a slog. I mowed the lawns all over the cemetery, trimmed the hedges, weeded various graves, all that kind of stuff.”
“Sounds incredibly exciting.” Chris' sarcasm could not be ignored.
“Yes. And because daisies aren't really fulfilling as conversation partners in the long run, I applied for an office job this year. Maybe I'll get an answer for once when I talk to someone.”
“Hey, look. I think we're off now.” Chris poked Max in the ribs.
A young woman in a costume walked up to the gatehouse and came back out with the list of names.
“Good morning, everyone. I'm Mrs. Nikolic. I'm going to see who everyone is here first. Then we'll walk through the building together so that you don't get lost and then I'll assign you to your departments. So let's get started. Adam Marion ....” ”Good, everyone here. Let's go”
After Ms. Nikolic had checked that everyone was really there, she led the whole group through the building.
That was really necessary, because it was a huge block. Chris looked unobtrusively over at Max, who was marching along beside him as if it were a matter of course. He was pleased that he had found someone so quickly. And such a good-looking, likeable boy at that. He was usually the shy type. The tour ended in the canteen.
“Before I 'hand you out', a few organizational matters. There's a children's party at the swimming pool the day after tomorrow. There will be all sorts of play stations for which we need supervisors. You would be the ones to do this and we would be delighted if you all came. I don't think you'll mind a day at the pool, even if you have to work a bit. Please be at the main entrance on time at 8.00 am. If anyone doesn't want to come, please let me know afterwards. They'll have to work, of course.”
The young woman then took the individual people to their respective departments.
“Great, a paid day at the swimming pool. You're going too, Max, aren't you?”
“Of course, do you think I'm going to miss it? It's sure to be a fun day. Besides, they've announced 30 °C for Wednesday. That's far too hot to work anyway.”
“Which one of you is Christian Nelskamp?” Chris spoke up.
“You're actually assigned to the construction department, but they wanted the girl from last year again. You'll get her job with the fire police, okay?”
“Sure, I don't care,” Chris replied. He cheered inwardly. This was the same department Max was going to work in.
“Good, then I still need Maximilian Schütze, Melanie Adam and Katharina Lehner.”
“Hey, cool.” Max whispered in Chris's ear. “Same department!”
“Right, march off, ladies and gentlemen.”
And so they trotted after Ms. Nikolic. When they arrived in the department, she introduced the young people to their boss for the next four weeks, Mr. Schmalfuß. He first explained to the four of them what their future tasks would be. The girls were allowed to organize various files that had accumulated over the year, scan them, then punch holes in them and file them in folders. The two boys had been given a special task. As no one was really responsible for the archive, it was a real mess. Chris and Max had to clear all the files from the shelves, dust them and the folders, dispose of all the files between 1960 and 1980 and sort the rest alphabetically.
“Holy shit. Did you hear that?”
“Unfortunately. Loud and clear. Didn't I tell you that working for the fire police wouldn't be very exciting?”
“Well, at least we'll have some peace and quiet. How do we get started?”
“The best way is to get the containers where we can throw the old files.”
“Ah Max?”
“Like what?”
“You didn't happen to remember how to get into the cellar, did you?”
“Sure! I'm an orienteering genius!”
“Your word in God's ear canal. I certainly won't find my way down there.”
The two of them set off and Max did indeed find the storage area in the basement with somnambulistic certainty, grabbing two wheelie bins and rumbling back upstairs. Once back in the archive, they began to systematically take the old folders off the shelves one by one, look through them and take out the files from 1960 to 1980 as requested. Soon empty folders were piling up on the floor, the containers were filling up and the two boys were covered in dust from top to bottom. Suddenly Max began to giggle.
“What is it?” asked Chris.
Max just laughed louder and pointed at Chris. He just looked at him questioningly.
“Come on, I'll show you.” Max grabbed Chris by the arm and pulled him towards the sink and the mirror in the archive. When Chris looked at himself in the mirror, he knew why Max was giggling. His face looked as if he had swept a chimney with it. He had to suppress a grin.
“Ha, ha. You go ahead and laugh. But make sure you don't look like that soon.”
“My dear Chris, unlike you, I'm not a piglet.”
“Piglet maybe not, but you still have a sooty face!” And before Max knew it, Chris had run his dirty hands down his face. The two of them wrestled around and giggled inanely. When they heard a door slam, they stopped abruptly, looked at each other and started chuckling again.
“Stop it, I can't take any more.” pleaded Chris.
“I'll stop if you stop.” Max gasped. And they continued to giggle. When they finally got themselves together, they carried on working until lunch. They went to the canteen together and chose a menu. When they had finished eating, Chris said: “And what are we going to do now until 2pm? It really sucks that we have a two-hour lunch break here.
hours for lunch. What are we supposed to do in that time?”
“Why don't we go to the city park? At least we can lie in the shade for a while and doze.”
“OK. I hope I don't fall asleep, tired as I am.”
“Well, if you do, I'll wake you up, I promise!”
“Yes, by pouring water over my head. I've only known you since this morning, but I wouldn't put it past you.”
“Well, you've got a good opinion of me,” grinned Max.
“You've only got yourself to blame.”
“Yes, yes. Off we go, or do you want to stay here?”
The lunch break in the park flew by and the rest of the day didn't drag on too long either. And both boys were glad when they were able to go home at 6.00 pm.
Tuesday
The next working day wasn't very exciting either. It soon became routine. Max and Chris sorted out old files, disposed of them and piled up folders on the floor.
Wednesday
Fifteen minutes before eight on Wednesday, Chris was standing in front of the swimming pool. Some of the others were already there, but Max wasn't yet. Of course, he arrived just two minutes before eight.
“Hello, I thought you'd rather spend today in our beloved archive.”
“Anything but that. The three weeks we're still locked up in this dungeon are enough for me.”
“Well, it's not that bad. At least it's nice and cool there.”
One by one, everyone started to arrive, including the people from the play bus who had brought all the play stations with them, and together they set up the stations. Chris and Max volunteered to supervise the bouncy castle. In retrospect, however, this turned out to be a mistake, as the bouncy castle was the kids' favorite game and the two of them were constantly surrounded by people, whereas some of the other places were yawningly empty. But at least the time passed quickly and before they knew it, it was already lunchtime. The whole group, around 15 boys and girls, met further back in the bathroom, where it was a little quieter, and made themselves comfortable on blankets and bath towels. The sandwiches and drinks they had brought with them were unpacked and they were fooling around and having a lot of fun. Until suddenly ...
“Hey, look at those two faggots over there!” shouted Manfred.
Chris got hot.
“Fuck off, you fucking homos!”
“That's disgusting. Now they're even groping each other!”
Two young men had walked past near their campsite, holding hands. As Manfred let out his rant, one of them turned around, gave Manfred the finger and provocatively put an arm around his friend's waist and kissed him on the mouth. When the two of them had long since disappeared, the small group was still on edge.
“Why are you getting so artificially upset?” asked Melanie. “Did one of them do something to you?”
“What do you mean, artificially upset? Do you think it's normal for two guys to make out or fuck each other in the ass? When I see something like that, it makes me puke!”
“Exactly, two men doing it together, that's disgusting.” Vanessa stood in for Manfred.
“I really can't understand that. What's so disgusting about kissing another person?” Melanie asked sharply with raised eyebrows.
“Nothing, but two men - or even two women - that's completely unnatural.” Manfred got upset.
“Exactly.” Vanessa agreed.
“You're so sick, both of you!” Chris exclaimed. “You couldn't care less what they do when they're in bed together. It hasn't occurred to you that they love each other, has it? If you can't watch when two people like each other, then don't watch. Nobody's forcing you to.” Chris had really worked himself up into a rage.
“You're a little pansy yourself, aren't you? Does it turn you on to look at the boys' dicks? Max, watch out when you're bending over in the archive!” Manfred laughed dirty. He didn't notice that the others - with the exception of Vanessa - didn't find his joke very funny.
Furious and red-faced, Chris jumped up and ran off.
“Idiot!” Max shouted and ran after Chris.
At the family pool, Max finally caught up with Chris.
“Hey, wait!” He grabbed Chris by the arm and spun him around to face him. “Why don't you leave the idiots alone?”
“Aren't you afraid they'll think you're gay too?”
“Why would they?”
“Well, Manfred and the others probably all think I'm a fag now.”
“It doesn't matter what they think. Besides, it was only Manfred and Vanessa who got so upset. The others didn't really care. That was my impression anyway. But maybe running away wasn't such a good idea.”
“Mmm.” Chris said and looked carefully at Max. “And what do you think?”
“I think it's none of my business, and if you want to tell me something, you can, and if there's nothing to say, you just don't say anything. I have nothing against gays, if that's what you want to know. My best friend likes boys too.”
“Really?”
“Yes.”
“So?”
“And what?”
“You too?” Chris asked shyly.
“I prefer girls, but Andreas is a good kisser!”
Chris gave him a big look.
He laughed. “Maybe I'll tell you sometime. But now come on,” Max put an arm around Chris' shoulder and pulled him along, ”our bouncy castle is calling.”
Chris smiled shyly. “Thanks, Max.”
“That's OK.”
All afternoon, Chris couldn't get the argument and subsequent conversation with Max out of his mind. He knew he was gay. He wasn't under any illusions, it didn't really bother him, he'd already gone through that phase. What scared him were the reactions of those around him. What would his parents and friends say?
Would they drop him or would they react as cool as Max? Chris was sure that Max suspected that he was gay, and he was 100% sure that he didn't mind. And Melanie had also stood up for the two boys she didn't even know. He didn't really have any concerns about his friend Tom either. He was the one he had often wanted to tell. But somehow the right situation had never arisen or he had probably never really tried seriously. In principle, he didn't care about Vanessa and Manfred. After these three weeks, he would probably never see them again. And slowly he came to a decision. He would no longer play hide and seek. Firstly, he would tell Tom tonight and he would set an example.
“Hello Chris, come in. I haven't seen you for ages!”
“Hello Mrs. Hartl. Is Tom there?”
“Yeah, sure, he's upstairs in his room. Do you want something to drink?”
“Thanks, I'd love one.”
“Wait, I'll fix you something quickly.”
A few minutes later, he knocked on Tom's room door.
“Yes?” came from inside. Tom was sitting on his couch reading.
“Hi.”
“Hey, Chris. Have a look at you again. I haven't seen you all week. How's work going?”
“Thanks, but it's really boring.” Chris sat down on Tom's bed.
“I can guess that. What do you have to do?”
And Chris talked about what had been going on this week. When he told them about the scene in the swimming pool, Tom just said:
“Such idiots. Like it's any of their business. And what did you say?”
Chris just shrugged his shoulders.
“Well, I would have given those two idiots a good talking to.”
There was a brief silence and Chris sucked nervously on his drink.
“You Tom?”
“What?”
“I've wanted to tell you something for a long time ...”
“Yeah? What?”
Chris couldn't look at him as he said quietly, “I ... don't like girls that much either.”
“Well ... really?” Tom widened his eyes. “You mean you're ... gay?”
Chris nodded and looked at him anxiously.
“Awesome!”
Chris' expression changed from anxious to confused. “Hey?”
“Well, I think it's cool. It takes some getting used to but it's awesome.”
Chris slowly relaxed again. “So you don't have a problem with it? Did I get that right?”
“No, I don't have a problem with it. Why should I? You're no different than before because of it. And besides, now I don't have to worry about you snatching the girls away from me.”
“You were afraid I'd snatch the girls away from you?”
“And how. Because you've got a pretty great figure.”
Chris blushed. “Weirdo! Besides, since when can you judge whether I have a good figure or not?”
“Well, listen, I may only be a chick, but that doesn't make me blind.”
“OK, then I'll take your word for it. Tom, I'd like to ask you something else.”
“What, spit it out. Nothing can shake me today.”
“I'd like to get an earring. On the right. What do you think of that?”
“Phew. I don't know. That's quite a step into the public eye, for those who look closely in case you've tied your hair up once and then also know what it means and rule out the possibility that it's just an accident or you didn't know what it meant or maybe you have a piercing on the other ear too, or somewhere else, or...”
“All right, all right,” Chris interrupted him, laughing. “So you think I should do it?”
“Yes, I think you should. But only if you're sure. Of the consequences it could have, I mean. And if need be, you can always hand it over.”
“Are you still going to sit next to me at school?”
“No, of course not! Idiot, how can you ask something like that?”
Thursday
Chris entered the jewelry store on Thursday evening with a slightly queasy feeling in his stomach.
“Good evening, what can I do for you?” asked the sales clerk.
“Hello, I'd like to have an earring pierced. How much does it cost?”
“The piercing itself and the medical stud cost EUR 25. If you also want a stud for afterwards, that's expensive, of course. You know that you'll only get a medical plug first?”
“Yes, I know that. But I would also like to buy a real earring for later.”
“Good, what did you have in mind?”
“I'd like one of those little gold rings. Do they come separately, or do I have to buy a pair?”
“No, we have all these little studs individually because there's a lot of demand for them.”
Chris picked out a small gold ring. He then followed the salesman into the next room.
“Here we go then. Where would you like the hole?”
“In the right earlobe, please.”
“On the right? Not the left? Are you sure about that? ”
Chris blushed. He hadn't expected the sales clerk to know what he was trying to signal with the ring.
“Yes. On the right.” Chris tried to say in a firm voice.
“Hey, you don't need to blush, I don't care where you want to wear your earring. But you do realize what that means, don't you?”
Only now did Chris see that the young man also had a single stud earring. In his right ear.
“Yes. That's right.”
“OK.” The salesman grinned a little, disinfected Chris' earlobes and drew the point where the hole should go with a black pen and held a mirror up to Chris' face.
“Is that all right?”
“Mhm,” Chris agreed.
Half a minute later, Chris' ear was on fire and he was the proud owner of an earring.
“There we have it. You have to leave the medical plug in for two weeks, then you can take it out and put the gold one in. If you have any problems with your ear, like it getting infected or something, make sure you take it to the doctor. These things are not to be trifled with. OK?”
“I promise.” Chris turned around and was about to leave the store when the sales clerk called after him.
“If you have any other problems with the ring - you know,” the young man grabbed his own plug and smiled shyly, ”or you need someone to talk to, just come by, yeah?”
Chris blushed a little again and nodded, “OK. I'll do that. Bye!”
“Bye!”
Friday
He was feeling a little queasy. Well, a little was a great understatement. The night before, he had taken extra care to make sure his parents hadn't noticed his new acquisition, and somehow he was constantly making sure Max wasn't looking at him from the right side.
“You're an idiot, Chris.” He said to himself. “First you get a big earring so that everyone can see that you're gay, and now you don't want anyone to notice. But you can't get out of your skin that easily.”
“Are you coming to the recycling bin?” Max interrupted Chris' thoughts.
“What? Uh. Yeah, sure.”
“Not quite slept in today, are you? Come on, I'll push and you pull.”
And that's when it happened. Since, as a right-handed person, you usually use your right hand, it was quite dusty in the archive as already mentioned and longer hair always hangs in your face at work and is therefore tied up, Max suddenly had an unobstructed view of Chris' freshly pierced ear. Max grinned and Chris promptly turned fiery red.
“Nice piercing. And so revealing.”
Chris couldn't get a word out and just grimaced slightly.
Max just grinned to himself and said nothing more.
Before lunch, Max and Chris were washing the dirt off their hands and faces, and Chris reached back to pull the rubber ring out of his hair when Max grabbed his hand and stopped him.
“Don't, don't do that. Otherwise the plug will have been for nothing. No one will see it like that.”
“Do you think that's a good idea?”
“I don't know if it's a good idea, but that was the whole point. Am I right?”
“Actually, yes, but...”
“You're scared! Aren't you?”
Chris nodded.
“Hey. Cheer up. Let me tell you something.” Max grabbed Chris by the arms, turned him towards him and looked him firmly in the eye. “You're going out there with me now with your head held high, and if anyone has something stupid to say, you tell them off or, even better, you ignore it, even if it's not easy. That's also a good way to shut such people up. It may be a bit cowardly, and only effective for the moment, but it works. Manfred and Vanessa will certainly notice, they'll certainly add their two cents, and that won't be nice. But you're OK. Listen. I think you're a great buddy. If anyone's not OK here, it's those two idiots. You can count on me and on Melanie too, I'm sure of it. Now come on, grab your food.” And Max grabbed Chris's hand and pulled him along behind him.
With fully loaded trays, the two boys headed for the table where some of the holiday workers were already sitting and stuffing their faces with food.
“Hello boys,” Melanie greeted them cheerfully.
Several His flew through the area. No one noticed Chris' plug. And gradually he loosened up a bit.
Melanie, who was sitting to his right, had looked at him for a moment, slightly puzzled, but then said nothing.
She leaned past Chris to Max, who had taken a seat to Chris's left.
“Max,” she waved him closer and winked at him, ”have you heard the latest? This Chris, he's supposed to be gay. He's even got an earring on his right recently.”
“Really? Do you think I'll have to watch out in future?”
“Well. Gays only like handsome men. I don't think you're in any danger.”
Chris turned around with a grin: “Hey, you two, could you maybe stop talking about me behind my back?”
“Hach!” Melanie turned to Max in mock horror: “There he is. I didn't even see him now!”
The three of them burst out laughing.
“What's so funny?” Manfred joined in from the other side of the table. “Ah!” His face darkened. He had spotted the earring. “I knew it, I knew it. You're such an ass-fucker too.”
Suddenly there was dead silence at the table. Everyone looked spellbound from Manfred to Chris.
He tried to stay cool, continued eating and just said: “Do you mind?”
“Absolutely. I don't eat at the same table with assfuckers.”
“Then you can find another seat.” Came an unexpectedly fierce response from the usually quiet Katharina.
Some of the others looked at her in surprise.
“That's true! First all that fuss in the bathroom, and now he's starting again.”
Vanessa, who hadn't said anything until now, now joined in: “All this gay and lesbian shit is really getting on my nerves. How come I have to watch it all the time?”
“What do you mean by that?” Max wanted to know. “Like Chris?”
“Yes, two men drooling over each other. Disgusting.” Manfred nodded in agreement.
“But nobody kissed Chris!” Max was slowly getting worked up.
Chris put a hand on his arm reassuringly. “Not at all Max. Don't get upset about the idiot. He's not worth it.”
“There! That's what I mean, you see, he's already grabbing you, the pervert.” Disgusted, Manfred pointed to Chris's hand, which was still on Max's arm.
“And that's why you're getting upset. Because of something like that? Didn't I just see you walking down the corridor yesterday with your arm around Richard's shoulder? Ew, how horrible.”
“But that's completely different, Richard and I aren't gay.”
“So that's why you can touch him but Chris can't touch me? That's too much for me. But I would like to know one more thing.
Can I touch Chris? Or does that make me a pervert or maybe it makes me gay too?”
“Who voluntarily touches a gay man?”
“Maybe someone who thinks this gay guy is his boyfriend. Someone who thinks he's nice, maybe wants to comfort him, or maybe because he wants to see how assholes like you lose their breath!” With these words, Max turned to Chris, pulled him close and kissed him right on the mouth.
Before Chris could even think about fighting back, Max had already let go of him. The others cheered and clapped, but Max had achieved his goal. Manfred's mouth was open and his eyes almost popped out of their sockets. Vanessa's face color had also changed to match the opposite wall. They both grabbed their trays and left the table in a hurry. But Chris, who had gone a little pale around the nose, also stood up, mumbled something and disappeared in the direction of the courtyard.
“I think I have to apologize to someone.” Max also pushed back his chair and ran after Chris.
He found him staring straight ahead, sitting on one of the benches in the courtyard. No one else was out there in the heat.
Chris looked up briefly as Max sat down next to him.
“Hey.” Max touched him lightly on the shoulder. “Sorry about that. I should have asked you before. But I just can't stand guys like that. Andi's been mobbed like that a few times too, and I totally flinch every time.”
Silence. After a few moments.
“Is that when you kissed him?”
“What do you mean? I see. No. That was something else.”
“Are you going to tell me now?”
“If you want to know.”
Chris nodded.
“It was shortly after Andreas confessed to me that he was gay. We talked about it a lot back then. And he told me that he'd never kissed anyone. Not even a girl. Imagine that: 17 years old and still unkissed! Yes, and that's when I taught him. That was it.”
“You seem to have a talent for it.”
“For what?” Max looked at him questioningly.
“Kissing gay boys for the first time.” Chris was still staring at nothing.
“Oh. I didn't know that.”
“No. Who would think of something like that. 17 years old and still unkissed. Unimaginable!”
“I'm really sorry.” Max said, embarrassed.
“Oh, it's all right.” Chris grinned a little wryly at first and then grinned all over his face.
“What are you grinning about?”
“Oh, nothing. But maybe you could make up for it ....” Chris blushed slightly.
Max grinned too and put an arm around Chris' shoulders. “I'll do it if you want. I have no problems with that.”
Chris' complexion darkened a few shades.
“What is it. Are you pinching now?” Max asked quietly, leaning closer.
“Okay.” Chris almost whispered.
Max smiled softly. He carefully placed his left hand on Chris' cheek and turned his face towards him.
Chris held his breath. His heart was pounding. He could hardly believe that Max was really going to kiss him. Here. Now.
In the middle of the day. In the middle of public. Max's face came closer, Chris could feel his breath. Nervously, he closed his eyes, and at that moment he felt warm lips touch his. Soft, tender, sweet. Arms that held him carefully and after a moment pulled him close to one breast. Max opened his lips and Chris automatically did the same. He flinched slightly as he felt a foreign tongue enter his mouth, touching and gently caressing his, but then finally relaxed and surrendered to the kiss. He saw nothing and only heard the blood rushing in his ears and his heart beating up to his throat. For him, there was only Max at that moment. He tasted like strawberry ice cream.
When Max pulled away from him, his face was slightly reddened and Chris didn't know how much time had passed. It could have been seconds or it could have been minutes. But it had definitely been a long and intense kiss.
They were still sitting close together, Max's arm around Chris's shoulder.
“So, nice? But what am I asking, you're shining like a second sun.”
Max laughed as Chris could only nod speechlessly.
“And you're sure you're not gay?” Chris managed to say with difficulty.
“Absolutely. I just like kissing.” Transitionally serious, he continued: “Chris. Please don't fall for me. I'm not inhibited and I could definitely imagine trying something with a boy, but it wouldn't be enough for a relationship. That's really not my thing. Okay?”
“Okay.” He replied with a heavy heart.
“Maybe I should introduce you to my friend Andreas. I think you two would get on.”
“Can he kiss as well as you?
“Of course he can! He learned from me. Come on now, our archive is waiting.”