New Horizon (Private) (18+)

[-Hideki-]

New Horizon

Previously:
When closeted gay Republican Governor and heir to a multination Corporation Devon Ashfield who refrained from any kind of romantic relationships in favour of his political career decides to visit a luxurious brothel for the first time in his life he doesn’t expect to find love in the form of a sex worker named Kario Teshu.

But the timing for big feelings couldn’t have been any worse. In the middle of the re-election campaign Ashfield gets publically outed and claims of him being a whoremonger spread all across the media.

While Devon denies the accusation, his father the ruler of the Ashfield Corporation empire, buys  Kario from the brothel and drags him to Devon’s mansion to give him to his son so that he will refrain from ever visiting a brothel again and risking their position of power.

Devon however destroys the contract and tells Kario that he can go and do whatever he wants to upon which the former sex worker chooses a relationship with the Governor that they publically announce while still denying the accusation of the visit to the brothel and that the other has ever been a prostitute.

Being openly gay however is enough to turn the campaign into a shit show and a stress test to the newly found love Devon’s father isn’t happy about and the old man tries to sabotage and put an end to his son’s relationship with Kario on top of that unfolds.

In the end however the Governor gets re-elected and can remain in office and he looks forwards to a great time with his boyfriend but the future has something different in store for them.

Riots, attacks and chaos break loose in the state and the Governor barely has any time for his boyfriend much less his friend Sven who comes to visit. When Devon’s father finally reveals his ultimate plan to divide Devon and Kario and ruin their relationship at a dinner party and an amok shooter runs wild and kills people in front of the government building while nationalist militia storm the Governor’s office the situation escalates and Kario and Devon decide that it is best for the former prostitute to accompany Sven to Hamburg.

 

Smoke and old leather seats; it was a very specific smell that left the tree-shaped air freshener that was dangling down from the rear vision mirror powerless.
The car radio that still contained a cassette tape player instead of a CD player, much less an USB connection was playing the newest chart hits the young people were listening to these days. It was like one of those pictures in puzzle books where one had to find and circle the obvious mistake.

The beat was roaring through the car but the fingers of his calloused, aged marked hands remained still on the steering wheel while the taximeter was going in its own rhythm.
He didn’t get the music. Throughout the 45 years in which he had been a taxi driver the music that the first radio station played had gradually gone further and further away from him. At this point it was unreachable. It was as far as he deemed possible to be away from what he called music but the music wasn’t the only thing that had changed.

Since he had started to drive a taxi in the city of Hamburg in the 70ies he had learned and known everything about the city. He knew every street, every place one could possibly want to go to and even when navigation systems had become a thing he had never needed them, the map of the city was in his head and it was constantly updated. When a costumer told him where they wanted to go he didn’t only know where to get there, he also knew what this location had been 10, 20, 30 or 40 years ago.

Thus he was more prone to be aware of the changes the city had undergone and frankly the terrible music, to him, was one of the more bearable changes. Hamburg was a rich city nowadays they said, Hamburg was an exemplary city they said, Hamburg had done it the right way they said, Hamburg was a river of innovation, a magnet for the young and ambitious they said but if one asked him Hamburg wasn’t a rich city but a city for the rich these days.

From the supposed wealth of the city he hadn’t noticed a thing, hadn’t seen a dime. What he had noticed was gentrification, exploding rents, higher living expenses, multinational corporations dominating trade as they had destroyed the small businesses decades ago and homelessness. He definitely wasn’t better off now than he had been in the 80’s or 90’s, no, he was far worse off and didn’t know where he and his wife should go if they lost in court and the new landlord their apartment complex with all the renters in it had been sold to would kick them out. They would have to leave their home city, the city he knew every corner of, the city he loved after 45 years of living and working there.

The taxi stopped at a red traffic light and his blue eyes behind the heavy glasses that had become translucent with old age threw a gaze into the rear vision mirror where he saw the two costumers he had picked up at the airport.

They were two men! One of them had raven black hair, was rather short and slim and the pretty face with the intensive dark eyes looked concerned maybe even torn. The other man was taller, had ashen blond buzz cut hair, steel grey eyes and glasses that had probably cost 100 times the amount of his own glasses. Overall that one was dressed in a way and carried himself in a way that was different from the people who usually called his taxi service. He was mostly driving middle class people, the elderly, tourists and young party folk around. The rich usually called more luxurious services than his, of which there were plenty in the city.

The rich man typed something on his phone, then looked at the dark haired one in a somewhat over challenged manner. As though he wanted to cheer him up, get him to have fun, to get him out of his head but was completely out of his league and expertise when it came to situations like this one.

They wanted him to drive them to the Sonnenkönig. The Sonnenkönig was a baroque style gay bar famous for its drag shows and opulent parties. Thus he presumed that they were gay but they didn’t seem like a couple. He was 99% sure that they were not. He thought that they were acquaintances or perhaps friends who just wanted to go and have a fun time, maybe to cheer up the dark haired fellow.

He asked himself whether they knew that the Sonnenkönig had already been there when he had first arrived at the city in the 70’s - actually even before that - when the §175 had still been a thing and being gay had still been illegal in Germany. He had been there, he had witnessed it. Sometimes he would drive past the bar with his taxi and see a police raid happening, persecuting the people. He also clearly remembered how he had dropped out a costumer at the bar to see him get arrested as he wanted to enter the bar. The memory of the police officer approaching him and asking him to report every costumer of his to them who asked him to drive him to any known meeting points for gay men, how his heart rate had gotten up and how he had clung himself onto the steering wheel when he had looked the officer into his eyes and had told him with his at that time heavy Polish accent that he wouldn’t get involved in his costumers business, that it was none of his business and that he was merely a taxi driver and as such drove the people to the destination they told him to, not more not less.

The officer had hit him on his head for not cooperating but had left him alone otherwise. He had never had anything against gay people, they had been costumers like everyone else to him and he had found the persecution of them very wrong. And although he couldn’t directly relate as he had not been gay he had known his thing or two about being ostracised and persecuted. Not only had he grown up being an Atheist in an ultra catholic village in Poland, he had also been a free spirit and not even fitted in with the Soviet Occupiers who saw him as an instigator for freely speaking his mind about the government. So the only option he had seen for himself had been to flee the nations of the Warsaw Pact and get to the West and that way he had landed in Hamburg in the first place.

He threw another gaze back at the two men sitting on the backseat of his taxi and although one of them looked concerned neither one seemed terrified, nervous, fighting against panic and he remembered some of his costumers from the 70’s and 80’s, and the police raids. The traffic light turned green and he continued his drive. Well, maybe not everything had changed for the worse. Some things had definitely changed for the better, he concluded.


 

Steel grey orbs were staring out of the taxis window and the city lights were passing him by until they got stuck in traffic another time. Every once in a while Sven threw the black haired male next to him a look and he felt as though he had to do something to make this easier for the other, to make him feel positively  exited for this new adventure but he really didn’t know how.

Kario, his best friend’s boyfriend, had seemed so torn, almost guilty the entire time and while he could understand that it had been a difficult decision for him he couldn’t help himself but to think that it wasn’t fair that the other had to feel like this. When he had been in his twenties and he had travelled or lived at new places he had always been thrilled and enthusiastic about it. The black haired man next to him wasn’t but could he really after all of what had happened?

It had been a gloomy car drive back from Governor Devon Ashfield’s parents’ mansion to the Governor’s mansion and in the end Sven hadn’t really expected the other to accompany him and to take the chance of an internship and then maybe the dual education he had offered him but he had.

Sven had waited the promised time in one of the private jets of the Ashfield Corporation and while he had finally checked all the messages he had gotten onto his phone after he had turned it off for months without telling anyone where he had gone after his break-up, Kario had stepped into the jet and they had taken off.

It had been a long flight. And the first hour he had tried to cheer the other up somehow with some stupid stuff. Then he had tried to make him look forward to their arrival in Hamburg by telling him that he had exchanged some messages with his ex-boyfriend Benjamin who was booked as the main act in a drag show in Hamburg on the night they would arrive in Sven’s home city and that they would go, have some fun and pick Ben up there.

After that he had tried it with being as serious as he possibly could, telling him that he should not make his impact on Devon seem that small. And that while Kario himself may have thought that his impact had come too late, he didn’t see it that way. That from his perspective Devon might have gone through his life seeing nothing and no one outside of his own bubble, with no connection as to how the average person lived, who they were and what concerned them and that the man who had already been born with power in his cradle had used that power destructively for half of his life but that Kario had now made it possible that the bubble of this powerful and impactful person had busted, that the people of other societal classes were real to him and not just numbers and a statistic or “human resources” in his corporation. That he had opened Ashfield’s eyes to things he had not possibly been capable to see on his own and thus probably drastically reduced the damage that Governor Devon Ashfield would do from now on in the half of his life that was still to come and where he would actually have the most power and the most impact, even more so than he had had before and that this was absolutely valuable.
 

Sven had had no idea whether any of that had made it easier or better for the black haired male, whether any of that had been helpful in the slightest but at this point he had been tired and told Kario that he would go into the comfortable and luxurious sleeping room, had suggested him to get some sleep too and had fallen asleep for the rest of the long flight.

And now here they were. In a taxi on their way to the Sonnenkönig, the bar where Benjamin would perform tonight while he asked himself how he could get his friend’s boyfriend out of his head and to be less nervous and anxious about all of this.

Deciding that it might help if he told him a little more about how this night and the upcoming day would look like for him and how his perspective would look in general might help he started to talk.

“After we’ve picked up Ben we’ll be going to my place where you can stay temporarily but don’t worry in one or two days you’ll have your own space.” Sven promised the man. “Well, it’ll be flat-share but you’ll have your own space within the flat share.” He specified.

Sven coughed. “I own real estate.” He admitted, like someone would admit to having smashed their grandma’s favourite porcelain figurine. “I have bought all the real estate when I dropped out of economics and my family’s business as an investment, a store of value.” The man explained. “I made massive profits with those until I thought more about it and realised what I was doing there. What I was basically gambling with. So I quit doing so and turned myself into a housing cooperative one could say. I don’t make profits, keep the rents as basic and low as possible maintenance costs, taxes etc. and should I make profits I divide them between all renters and give them back to them. I basically only administrate the real estate because I have the means to in this system but kind of gave them back or so I tried. I specifically offer my places to renters in need who have a difficult time finding something on the housing market, are going through a rough time and could never afford to rent in a district like those. Most of my renters currently are from the LGBT community and there is one flat share where the other apprentices who currently do the same dual education or who will finish and get their exam soon and whom will work together with you in the animal shelter live. And since there is a room free there I thought this might be ideal for you. A lot more ideal than having to stay in my loft! I’d bore you pretty fast I assume. I deliberately don’t live in a castle. I live a lot differently than Devon does, you know.” He spoke further. “So I hope this sounds good.”

“And tomorrow, we’ll go to the shelter together and you’ll meet the people there. I’ll introduce everyone to you and you’ll get assigned one animal to whom you’ll be a bit like a godfather. While you will help to care for many animals this animal you’ll dedicate a lot of your time to.” Sven stated.

The man straightened his glasses and thought about whether or not he had forgotten anything but before he could think about anything else he heard the voice of the taxi driver: “Und hier wären wir!”

When Sven looked out of the window he saw the huge, lightened sign that said “Sonnenkönig” on it, right between another bar, a diner and a club and one could feel the vibrating sound of the bass coming from within the popular bar. The bar was decorated with rainbow flags and the street filled with people, some of whom looked very eccentric, fancy and wild. Some people were standing in crowds chatting and laughing, some were smoking, some drinking, some making out, a drunken fellow was hugging a lamp post, people were walking by and the street was even busier than it was during daytime.

 

 

 

The bar was as crowded as Sven had not seen it in a long time. Some of the costumers had stayed seated while most of them had gathered around the stage at the end of the hall celebrating the performance that was going on there.

It wasn’t exactly easy to manoeuvre Kario and himself closer to the stage, especially not with their suitcases. The bar was one giant pile of humans finding escapism from their mundane everyday life in letting themselves go, in some kind of euphoria on demand, seeking to feel alive.

Even though it was cold outside, at least significantly colder than the November in the South of the USA where they had just arrived from, it was hot as hell in the Sonnenkönig. The smell of sweat and endorphins was lingering in the air and some men and women had actually dropped their shirts some of whom were waving them around like a flag above of their heads.

A waiter with a plate full of cocktails was fighting his way from the bar counter to the seats. “Aus dem Weg!” the young man with the short blond hair yelled and Sven moved to the side pulling Kario over with him. “Danke!” the waiter exclaimed as Sven turned towards Kario.

“I haven’t seen this place this crowded in a long time. Benjamin seems to have gotten even more popular than I’ve imagined.” The artist in the designer suits told the other having to shout to even be understood.

Deciding that they probably wouldn’t get any closer to the stage than that he settled where they were looking up at the stage. A tall, incredibly thin figure with a simulated hourglass shape in high-heeled leather boots, tight as hell leather pants, a corset with chains and straps and long leather gloves up to the shoulders was singing and dancing on the stage. The face was painted with scales with a white, blue and purple colour scheme, glowing white contacts were hiding the real colour of the eyes and a violet wig with a ponytail down to the knees was sitting on the head.

The energy was incredibly high and Sven didn’t quite get how Ben could hit the notes and still do gymnastics on the stage, in those bloody shoes on top of that. But apparently what they had seen until now hadn’t been all as he would realise at the instrumental part of the music where he suddenly felt as though he was at Flicflac.

What he knew was that Benjamin performing his songs was the last part of his program. He usually showed his stand-up comedy number, plays and the numbers with the audience engagement prior to this and they had apparently missed all of that. Hence he wasn’t surprised when large dragon wings shot out of Ben’s costume and unfolded on stage with the drag queens last pose.

The audience exploded in applause and Ben beamed into the room, waving and bowing, looking around in the hall and when his eyes found Sven’s within the crowd he grinned and winked.

After Benjamin had disappeared from stage the place was clearing up, people left, others went to sit down, went to order something at the bar or decided to get some fresh air or pollute the air and being unpleasant to everyone around them by going to smoke outside ruining the ambitious of those trying to catch some breath.

Sven felt his phone vibrating in his pocket, took it out and saw the message Ben had send him.
“Wait for me backstage. My dressing room is the one with my name on it ;)”

“He says we shall wait for him backstage.” He informed Kario and gesticulated him to follow him.

Benjamin’s room was indeed easy to find. It was fairly spacious, had a comfortable sofa that the artist immediately threw himself onto disregarding the costumes Ben had discarded onto it during his costume changes. There even were snacks which Benjamin, of course, hadn’t touched and Sven took the liberty to serve himself, offering some to Kario and a TV that was showing the international program of an English speaking news channel.

When Sven looked up towards the TV he saw a red banner saying “Gunman in the US kills 5 people and injures 7”.  The blond news anchor in the blue lady’s suit announced that they would show what the Governor had had to say when he had spoken about it on the press conference and the picture on screen changed.

A man with short blond hair, grey patches on the side and a short full beard was shown walking up on stage. His face was torn into a frown, his golden eyes displaying determination and maybe even anger. He was wearing a black tuxedo as though he had just arrived from a party. A top hat with a purple ribbon was sitting on his head that one of his assistance was getting off of his head as inconspicuously as possible before he reached the stage.

He positioned himself at the speaking podium next to the police Commander waiting for the man to finish his report. His forehead was furrowed and his brows narrowed when he started to speak with the words “Thank you police Commander Mahler.” Before continuing to express his deep shock and was showing his empathy and concern to the victims who had survived, the families of the victims and the people in the entire state, emphasising the importance of standing together as a people and to not let instigators and violent extremists like those divide them.

Whoever had heard previous speeches of Governor Devon Ashfield when a tragedy had happened may have found himself surprised of the emotion that was actually displayed here and they also may have found the speech lacking in linguistic smoothness what indicated that it had not been written by his speech writer Valentina but the Governor himself. Maybe he hadn’t even written it down. He even seemed to genuinely feel that this was his business that this actually concerned him as well and he wasn’t just speaking on something that didn’t actually concern him and he just had to speak to because it was his job.

And then there was the part where the journalists asked the Governor questions and the first person wanted to know whether the Governor’s father Andrew Ashfield’s, the owner of a business empire, the multinational Ashfield Corporation, triads on social media, his invocations to take the country back from the anti-police protestors and rioters and the installing of a private police consisting out of nationalist militia groups had been what had inspired armed counter protest from the nationalists and the shooter to open fire at those people.

One could see that there was an impulse of the blond politician to deny the allegations right away and to defend his father in order to get Ashfield Corporation and his family out of the line of fire but he suddenly hesitated and his eyebrows got even narrower his eyes merely remaining small slits.

“I don’t have a degree in communication science nor am I a lawyer, I went to business school, I have an expertise in economics so I can’t say whether there is a direct, provable connection between my father’s social media output, his private police and tonight’s tragic events, that is on professionals to figure out definitively but I do personally think that Andrew Ashfield was definitely an instigator.”  

This answer had been so unexpected that the entire room fell silent for a minute and until another journalist raised his hand and got accepted to ask his question. The Governor answered question over question for quite a while until someone asked him what consequences he would take and what steps he intended to go now.

The Governor straightened his back when he answered that there would be a popular referendum in regards to the statue in front of the government building where the people of the city could decide whether the statue of his ancestor who had fought for the Confederacy in the civil war should remain or be replaced by something else.

But he didn’t stop there. He went on to say that this but also the events of the past months had shown that they had problems in their state that the police was left alone with although they weren’t qualified and trained to handle them and it weren’t tasks for the police force to begin with. He said that the prevention of crime couldn’t be done by the police alone but had to begin earlier and that he would introduce a massive reform with extensive social and community programs as well as a boost in education and the prevention of extremism as tendencies like those didn’t rise within in the population out of nowhere and that he would redirect government founds from the police force into social programs and would also redirect responsibilities and tasks that currently rested on the shoulders of the policemen towards those new social programs and the social workers.

When the Governor spoke about “redirecting government founds from the police force” the police Commander who was still standing next to him was turning his head around in surprise and absolute shock and his expression could be used as the definition for the figurative speech “his face fell off”.

Sven smiled. He smiled and then turned towards Kario who was or at least for now remained the boyfriend of the Governor they had just seen on TV.  “That’s your impact on him! You might still think it isn’t worth much but I definitely have to disagree.”

The man wanted to say more but the door was getting opened and the entire room was immediately filled with the presence of the man who just entered the room, not looking like a man but more so like a diva an evil queen from a fantasy movie instead, although someone had already freed him from the heavy, mechanical dragon wings.

The eyes with the white contacts met the television that now showed the news anchor in front of a picture of the police Commander talking about one of his statements. “That guy’s a meme now.” Benjamin said showing Sven his phone with a gif of the police Commander’s chin dropping to the floor someone had posted on Twitter, cracking up in laughter again.
“Hello Benny, great to see you.” Said Sven mockingly and Benjamin let his phone disappear again. “Hello Sven, glad that you made it.” The drag queen smiled, went over to the artist and pressed the coloured lips onto Sven’s for a greeting.

“Vanilla.” Commented Sven surprised. “Your lips taste like vanilla.” He specified what he had meant and Ben chuckled and waved if off with his hand. “Yeah, that’s from my new lip colour collection.” He spoke with his English accent and the voice that was a little soft and high for a man. “Your suit looks sharp.” Benjamin complimented the other before he searched for something in his dressing room but then noticed the presence of Kario instead.

“Oh....” he said. “Who is that? Your new fling? A new boyfriend?” he wanted to know, being extremely critical, examining Kario with eyes like daggers and one could actually think that he’d breathe fire every second now and turn the black haired male into ash.

“No, he’s not my boyfriend. This is Kario he’s....” but he didn’t get any further. Benjamin made a 180° turn, his heavily painted face went soft and he smiled at the stranger with a wide smile. “Gosh, where are my manners...” he said and Sven remarked:”You have none.” What was deliberately overheard by Benjamin. “My name is Ben, Benjamin Wilton, it’s nice to meet you, you’re gorgeous by the way.” The man introduced himself to Kario and his hand with the long thin fingers with the black glittering fingernails shook the other’s hand.

“Kario is Devon’s boyfriend and he wants to become an animal attendant and will be an intern at the animal shelter.” Sven explained and Ben hesitated for a moment and looked at Kario and then to the TV where Devon Ashfield was speaking again. “Assuming Sven’s talking about Devon Ashfield: Why? Did you lose a bet? Or did you murder someone in a previous life or something and having to be that jerks boyfriend is your punishment now? And how does wanting to be an animal attendant go together with living with this douche? He kills animals for sports, he even has like killed an endangered tiger or something and had to pay a fee.” the drag queen wanted to know. “Elephant. He killed an elephant.” Sven corrected.


 

 

After a foot walk of half an hour, dragging their suit cases behind, they arrived at a beautiful, perfectly maintained Jugendstil building with playful ornaments that displayed bears, angels and floral elements. The old building exuded and elegance and attention to detail that modern buildings completely lacked.

The street they were standing on was clean and quiet and the shops that were all closed at this hour made it clear that this was a wealthy and good area of the city with rents that normally would be unaffordable for a normal person.

“That is where I live.” Sven said. It actually was his building but he had all the apartments rented to other people except for his loft.

While Sven was unlocking the door Benjamin continued to talk. He talked a lot and he had talked the entire march to the apartment almost on his own. “Since Brexit working abroad has become a major hassle. It makes everything more complicated and time intensive. It makes travelling stressful and I actually always enjoyed it before. Can you imagine how it is to live in a country where half of the people are swayed to make a decision without thinking the consequences through by a bus printed with lies? Urgh!” he ranted and didn’t stop as they entered the hallway of the building not quite caring whether he’d disturb anyone in their nights rest.

“And our prime minister is a fat rat with a poorly dyed dust mop on his head playing the dumb clumsy clown and idiot trying to make himself seem harmless. But he isn’t fooling me! He’s not a harmless moron, he’s a calculative, manipulative dangerous bastard! I am seeing right through him, he fucked the country over to gain power. This greedy wanker!” the drag queen coursed while they were climbing the stairs. “Honestly Sven, you could have chosen any of the floors in this entire building and you decided to live on the highest one.” He complained and Sven was almost thankful when a door went open once they had arrived at second floor, one under his.

The first thing to leave the apartment was light and warmth and right thereafter came what appeared like a wave of dogs flooding them, happily waving their tails eager to greet Sven.
A West Highland White Terrier was jumping up and down on Sven’s leg until the artist picked him up and he could lick his face, an ancient, blind Beagle was sniffing on the man’s trousers, a Dutch Shepherd and a Dobermann almost threw him down and an Old English Bulldog was torn between wanting to greet his human and being way too lazy to move fast or much at all in any pace.

And while Sven was beaming at his dogs, happily greeting them two women appeared in the hallway, one of whom had her arms crossed in front of her chest and a stern expression on her face.
She was of average height for a woman, curvy, had her peroxide blond hair cut in frayed bangs and a chin length bob. Some of the strands falling from her head in waves, some in curls and some were straight. A small, fake sunflower was stuck into her hair, she was wearing a woollen sweater, shorts and house shoes and her hazel eyes looked at Sven strictly.

The other woman was tall, slender, had long, straight, blood red dyed hair, wore a sports bra, an open hoodie jacket she had thrown over and leggings and was looking a lot more chilled than the other one.
 

“Mona!” said Sven buried under the enthusiastic dogs. “I’ll give you Mona! Idiot!” hissed Mona, the peroxide blond woman. “Yes, I have agreed to take care of your dogs when you’re away but when you left you said you’d be gone for a few days now. I don’t know what you think a few days mean but normal people don’t mean almost half a year when they say that. Everyone was worried about you! We couldn’t reach you to discuss important issues for our organisation and the shelter and people generally expected me to step in for you! You have some responsibilities in your life you know! Other people can’t just exit their life when they are going through a rough time. But you, you just do it without thinking about the consequences you selfish, entitled, grossly incompetent, unreliable, useless rich kid!” the woman yelled at Sven who was taken a back for a minute but then laughed.

“We’re the same age! I’m 41!” he said. “Shut up!” yelled Mona and it was echoing through the entire building and one could almost see smoke fuming out of her nostrils and awkward silence followed.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have disappeared like this for so long.” The artist apologised. “You could have at least said something. It wouldn’t have been half as bad if you had informed everyone properly and we could have planned for this time beforehand.” Mona argued. “You’re right.” Sven admitted. “Again, I am genuinely sorry for my behaviour. It was definitely irresponsible.” He repeated his apology. 

And that seemed to be enough for the woman because Mona went over to Sven and hugged him tightly. “I have worried about you so much.” She said laying her head on his shoulder and Melissa, her partner, smiled.

“Wait... Does this mean that I am the oldest here?” Benjamin interrupted. “I’m 45!” he added. “Yes, you are.” Sven informed him and Mona turned around. “Ben! What are you doing here?” she was curious to learn her eyes going from Sven to Ben and from Ben to Sven. “I have performed here.” He informed her pointing at his drag costume that he was still wearing. 

Mona nodded. “You look insanely hot!” Melissa complimented the drag queen. “I know right! Weird!” Mona agreed with her girlfriend and Benjamin beamed. “Thank you ladies!” with a wide self-satisfied smirk before Sven pressed the ancient Beagle into Ben’s arms, gave the West Highland White Terrier to Kario and took up the Old English Bulldog himself turning towards the stairs. “We’ll be heading up now, it’s late and we don’t want to wake up everyone. Have a good night you two, see you tomorrow.” Sven told the two women heading up the stairs carrying the dog, the remaining dogs following him up the stairs.

“Hah, look at that, lesbians think I am hot! Isn’t that awesome!” the drag-queen announced. “Great. That’s the dream.” Sven remarked sarcastically with a snorting laugh. “Oh you laugh but it speaks to my supreme costume design skills!” Benjamin declared swaying his hips walking up the stairs when the Beagle suddenly licked over his painted face. “Eewww! He ruined my make-up!” made Benjamin, screwing up his nose trying to get his face away. “Does one of your make-up products have sausage flavour?” Sven joked. “Haha, real funny!”

 

 

While all the floors had three apartments on it Sven’s floor only had his loft. It was a wide, spacious place with futuristic furniture. The giant room contained a huge sofa in front of a home cinema, a bed landscape on a stage that one needed stairs to get on and a luxurious kitchen. The loft had a huge balcony and at the end of the giant room there were multiple doors one of which led into Sven’s office, one into the guest room, two into bathrooms and one to a staircase that led up to the attic where the artist had his studio.

And while Benjamin who appeared to know the apartment had immediately declared that he’d take a shower, Sven had led Kario into the guest room presenting it to him. The room had a round, large bed that looked as though it came straight out of a science fiction movie, a large wardrobe and a smart-TV hanging on the wall opposite of the bed.

“That would be your room. There isn’t much in it but you can use everything else in the loft. It’s only for three days at max anyway.” The artist promised. “Take all the time you need to get yourself comfortable. If you want you can join me and Ben on the balcony later. I’ll order some pizza.” Sven invited the other before he left the man be and went over to the balcony where he ordered a large pizza.

He was rather astonished when Ben joined him soon thereafter. It never failed to amaze him just how quickly he could get rid of the tons and tons of make-up, the padding on his body, the fake nails and all the stuff his costume entailed.

His ex looked completely different now. Without the heels he was about as tall as Sven and seemed even thinner because the fake hourglass figure was gone.  The man had short, dyed black hair, had incredibly fair skin and was stuck in grey sweatpants he wore to sleep and a black shirt with a black and white photo of Freddie Mercury printed onto it.

With a deep sigh the man let himself fall onto the bench next to Sven and the steel grey eyes of the artist examined his ex’s features. He mused.

Benjamin tilted his head to the side. “What’s wrong?” he asked. “Nothing.” Answered Sven and let out a sigh as well before he ran his fingers through or rather over his buzzed ashen hair.

“Have you ever asked yourself how it would have been if we hadn’t parted ways back then? If we still were a couple?” Sven asked and Ben chuckled. “Forge....” Sven wanted to say about to turn his face away from his ex when the professional drag queen answered:”Oh yeah, most definitely! Many, many times.”

The man now got Sven’s undivided attention again. “Heck, you were the first man to ever actually accept me for who I really was. Before you I have only ever dated guys who made it very clear that they never wanted to see me in drag or who soon thought I wasn’t masculine enough and showed me how they felt about it. Or I somehow ended up with confused straight guys who believed that I was a transsexual woman –  I mean, come on people, why is it that difficult to understand the difference between being a woman and being a male actor playing a woman, dressing up like one, it’s not hard to get – and those, in addition with guys whose lifestyles just couldn’t be matched with my lifestyle and rhythm as a performance artist have been exactly my experiences after we have broken up. I have given up dating long ago, I would hook up with someone here and there but it didn’t give me anything so I stopped that too and focussed on my art, which helped my career a great deal.” Ben explained and took a deep breath.

“You have been the first man to love me for me and you have been the only one I have actually ever felt this honest and true love for, whom I could love completely.” Benjamin smiled melancholically. “And the fact that we didn’t break up because we had a fight, we were falling out of love or weren’t compatible didn’t make it easier. Don’t get me wrong it was the right decision considering that you wanted to join that artist commune at the Mediterranean sea after your arts degree and my drag career in London had just been starting off but it wasn’t really a break up as nothing broke apart. The bond and connection was never damaged or cut, it was just that it had to stretch out so far that it got so thin it was invisible but those feelings were always there.” Ben let Sven know.

“But it was like as soon as you left that commune you had already been taken and you were for 11 years then.” The drag queen’s eyes met those of the artist. “When I first saw that Niko guy I thought: This isn’t going to last for very long, they are too different in all regards, their lives won’t vibe together as Sven’s and mine and Hamburg is just great for a drag queen to live and work in... but it continued and continued. Taking the risk of sounding like a jerk, when I heard that you had split up because you finally figured out that you absolutely didn’t want the same things in your lives it was just as though the inevitable had happened.” The man babbled on and threw a gaze towards his ex to see how the other was taking it and whether he was starting to get mad at him.

But Sven grinned. “You always kind of seemed to have a seventh sense for that kind of stuff. Couldn’t you have told me back then, it would have saved me eleven years with this person that are now worth shit.” He asked. Benjamin laughed and loosely hit Sven’s shoulder with his flat hand. “Yeah right, I would have just seemed spiteful and jealous and seemed as though I would have wanted you back and the last part would have actually been very true.”

Sven looked up into the sky. “I immediately wanted to come to you after my break up. But I thought that you would take it the wrong way. And when I finally made myself travel to England after I had spend a lot of time in Tel Aviv I didn’t say anything because I didn’t think that you had any other feeling than friendship left for me anymore.” The man stated.

Benjamin snorted. “Yeah, because you’re a tone deaf idiot! You have always been! Heck, I was absolutely ready to bitch fight that guy Kario before I knew he wasn’t your new boyfriend.” He said when Sven was already leaning over, taking Ben’s face between his hands as he kissed him.





It was crazy early in the morning and when Sven had walked towards his SUV – the one Jens had given to him to piss off his ex Niko from the green party – morning dew and frost tracery had infested the windows. The artist hadn’t slept and he didn’t plan to sleep until night time came again, he always handled things like that to work against getting completely jet lacked.

 
The man was glowing happily and not even the heavy rain could damper his great mood. His best friend’s boyfriend was sitting on the passenger seat next to him and three of five dogs were secured on the backseats of the huge car.

Traffic was already awful as the first wave of early workers were trying to get to their destinations, thus it took them quite the while until they arrived at the animal shelter.

The shelter Sven had built was almost idyllic. It had no cages but warm rooms with cosy interior design and terraces for every room. Some of the dogs had roommates; some didn’t get along so well with other dogs and lived alone. Vivid, wide grassland with ponds and flowers that waited for winter to leave and spring to come back around surrounded the buildings of the shelter.

It wasn’t as though he was competing with the public shelter but the man had found the place so awful and cold, that he had wanted his to look different and to make it as nice for the animals as he possibly could and that included that he didn’t want cages that reminded a bit of a prison for animals.  Surely those creatures hadn’t done anything wrong and had been through enough.

The artist let the three dogs out of the car and turned his face towards Kario. “I’ll introduce you to some of your new colleagues. You will feel at home here in no time.” He promised the other with a smile figuring that he might be a little nervous.

His attention was grabbed by a blond, middle aged man with horn framed glasses, a blue V neck shirt and a laboratory coat getting out of his car. “That is Oleg.” He told Kario slamming the door of his own car shut. “He’s our vet.” Sven added.

“Oleg has fled Russia. He and his boyfriend were attacked by a group of homophobic people in Moscow when they’ve left a restaurant. They beat his boyfriend to death, he got unconscious and hospitalised. And when he woke up in the hospital he was arrested and imprisoned for displaying his homosexuality in public and provoking outrage merely by walking the street together with his boyfriend. When he got out of prison he fled. He couldn’t find a job as a vet here due to his language deficits so I hired him.” The man explained to Kario.

“Morning Oleg!” Sven chanted across the parking lot and the Russian man turned around to them and waved at them. “Good morning!” he greeted back. “That’s Kario, he’ll be the new intern here!” the artist yelled across the place. “Welcome!” Oleg said, nodding into the black haired male’s direction.

“Let’s introduce you to the others. They are nice too.” Sven ensured his guest and guided the way into the administration’s office. It was a large room full of computers, piles of papers, a city map on the wall, posters of their animal welfare organisation’s different projects, law books and phones and in the middle of all of that worked four people one of whom was Mona, Sven’s best female friend Kario had already seen the night prior.

“That is the administration. You can always turn here with questions concerning organisation and management. This is Mona, she coordinates our national and international projects, you have already seen her yesterday.  That is Anna...” he nodded towards a short, plumb woman with glasses in her fifties, “she is our secretary.” He introduced her. “This right there is Sebastian. He does all the public and media work.” He pointed at a bald, bearded man in his late thirties. “He’s the only straight guy in the village.” Mona remarked jokingly. “That is not true. There are other straight men working here.” Sebastian said confidently, seemed to think about it for a minute:”I guess...” he added and then shrugged.

“And this is Thomas, he manages and coordinates everything in the shelter.” Sven introduced the last one of the office personal. And since Thomas, a wiry blond man with blue eyes and freckles on his face was already standing and had his hands free he shook Kario’s hand. “Nice to meet you!” he said.

Sven just wanted to go and introduce Kario to the others when a tall woman in her mid thirties was rushing into the office. She had long hair dyed in pink and purple, cheek piercings, very pale skin and was wearing a black hoodie with the organisation’s logo and very tied, grey, batik effect jeans combined with black boots. 

She was beaming euphorically as she threw her handbag onto the office table. Her greyish-blue eyes were shining brightly like stars and she seemed to be so happy that one could have thought it was Yule and her birthday at the same time.

“He proposed to me!” she announced followed by a happy squeal that Mona joined before she hugged the pink haired lady. “That’s awesome! Great! I told you that he would and that you should stop worrying about it but you didn’t believe it.” The peroxide blond woman commented. “Well, it’s been my experience that men might want to casually date or hook-up with women like me but when it comes to serious relationships and marriage they usually dumb us after all.” She explained. “But I am so happy to have been wrong!” she rejoiced and went over to show the office people and then Sven and Kario, although she didn’t know him, her engagement ring.

“This is Ivy! She’s been a veterinary assistant and worked at a vet’s office before she was fired because.... the dude has been a massive arsehole and then she started to work here eight years ago.” Sven introduced her.  “I came out as a woman and he immediately fired me is what happened. I didn’t want to work for him after that anymore anyway. Fuck that guy!” she added and Mona who was typing on her computer remarked:”You should have kicked the bastard in the nuts.” Very grimly.

“As you can see this is a very lively bunch of people here and they all support each other.” Sven explained to Kario. “Ivy works here as an animal attendant and will actually be one of your training supervisors in case you’ll do well and get the dual education. The other training supervisor will be Georg. Where even is he?” Sven wanted to know. “He came in early today. He’s already cleaning the rooms in the cat house.” Ivy let the artist know. “You will absolutely love it here! I do! It’s a great place with great people. This is the best workplace I have ever had and now I am engaged, can it get even better.” She showed them her wedding ring another time.

“Does any of you know where the other apprentices are? I would like them to show Kario around here and involve him in the work they have to do today. I also want them to help him to find a dog for the ‘godparent’ project.” Sven asked. “They were going to prepare the food.” Anna informed Sven and the owner of the shelter nodded. “Thanks.” He said and left the office in favour of the storage they prepared the food in.

The room was cold as hell, it smelled like blood and meat and one could hear the sounds of the metal bowls and knifes and meat-hatchets cutting through flesh and bones.

“Hello there! Hello! It’s Sven! Can you stop for a moment and get over here please?” the man called for the four people working in the room and it didn’t take long and they were all gathering around their boss and the newbie.

“This is Kario, he’s my friend Devon’s boyfriend, he’s from America and he’ll make an internship here and might become your new co-worker and fellow apprentice afterwards. I’d like you to show him around, show him how everything works around here and find him the dog he’ll work most with.” He told them and they agreed to take Kario under their wings for that day.

“They are all apprentices, some are close to the exams and getting the degree, some are in their second and first year, they are your potential roommates and are all in their twenties about your age, except for Darius, he’s in his early thirties I think.” Sven let Kario know and a feminine man who was wearing the woman’s version of the organisation’s shirt under his fleece jacket, nail polish, make-up and long blond hair under a fashionable hat was snorting, his green eyes peering to Kario and Sven. “I wish. I’m in my mid thirties. I have originally been a make-up artist, I worked at run way shows, theatres, that’s where I know Sven from and for photo shoots and at one point I got a burn out. I couldn’t do anything anymore. I lost everything. I was completely down, couldn’t handle the stress and pressure and uncertainty anymore. Working here has really helped with my recovery and I actually started to do make-up again. Just as a hobby at the side, on youtube and instagram and I am doing a lot better now.” Darius openly said with a smile.

“Yes.” Sven nodded. “I’ll be on my way then. If anything is up, just give me a call, here is my number.” The artist handed Kario a card with his number before he left him with his new colleagues.

A short woman with sand coloured skin, long dark brown hair and dark eyes was stepping forward, reaching her hand out to the new person. “Hello Kario, I am Fatima.” She introduced herself to him. “I’m 24 years old, I have my exam in a few months. I’m a dance instructor in my free time and an atheist activist for a secular society. I came to Germany from Libanon with my family as a kid and lived in Frankfurt am Main for most of my life. That was until I noticed that I was a lesbian and got my first girlfriend Lena. When my Muslim family found out they threatened to kill me and my girlfriend for being a dishonour to the family and Allah and I had to flee the city and that’s how I landed in Hamburg. My girlfriend and her family got threatened and suffered a lot under this. She broke up with me later saying that she can’t take it anymore, that she’d never have gotten into a relationship with me had she known that and that this had destroyed her life and her entire plans. They moved from Frankfurt to Chemnitz after that because there are significantly less Muslim immigrants in Eastern Germany.” She told the new colleague a little about herself, hiding a great bunch of sadness under a wide glowing smile.  

The next one to introduce himself was the man to Fatima’s right. “Bonjour! Je m’appelle Marcel, J’ai 29 ans...” the jock with the short, caramel brown hair, the light green eyes and the big, visible, deep scars on both of his wrists began to talk before Fatima cut him off. “He’s American not French Marcel!” she scolded.  “They speak French in parts of Canada!” the French man countered. “When people say America they usually mean the US-American not French Canadian.” The woman said with a roll of her eyes.  “Excuse-moi!” Marcel apologised and Fatima rammed her elbow into his side.

“I’m Marcel. 29 years old. I’m technically in my third year and would take my exam together with her but I can’t because I failed my German language classes. If you don’t already speak the language you’ll have to learn it as well, just like me by the way, good luck with that, it’s difficult as fuck.” The athletic guy spoke and Fatima raised her voice again. “If one doesn’t attend the classes and generally hates to learn foreign languages maybe. Don’t let him discourage you. He’s just lazy!” she said.

Marcel yawned. “I have been a professional football player. I trained all my life for that but when I had finally reached the point my life had become a prison. I was forbidden to let anyone know that I was gay because it would have been the immediate end of my career, I even had to get a girlfriend for the media. I attempted suicide at age 22. It almost worked. They managed to save me, was very disappointing. I went from the hospital to the psychiatric ward, from there to rehabilitation, I was hunted by the media because I never gave any statement, they wouldn’t leave me alone, I left France at 23. I lived at different places, did different kinds of work and stranded in Hamburg. One day I found a stray cat and wanted to bring it here for them to find its owner, the cat is long gone and I am still here. That’s basically what’s happened. I like having a purpose and helping the animals, makes me hate my life less.” The man spoke dryly and with a shrug.

Now it was the last one’s turn to tell Kario who he was. The last one was a nerdy guy with a brown curly undercut, round glasses, buttons on his hoodie that said “Fridays for Future” and “Safe the Planet”  and hazel eyes. “Hi Kario, it’s nice to meet you. I’m Konrad, I’m 21 years old. I went to university when I was 18, got a Bachelors degree in Information Technology, realised that this wasn’t what I was passionate about and actually wanted to do. That I wanted to do something that mattered, that made the world a better place so I started the dual education here. I’m in my first year now. What else is interesting about me?”the youngest in the group mused. “I’m vegan, I’m an environmental activist, I’m pansexual...” Marcel interrupted him. “That’s just a fancy word for bisexual. He means to say he’s bisexual!” the French man explained. “No. I’m not bisexual. I don’t care about gender, it’s not anything that matters to me when I fall in love with someone or am attracted to someone.” Konrad explained. “Yeah, that’s what bisexual is.” Marcel gave the other finger guns. “No, bisexual means being attracted to men and women often with a preference for one over the other. Pansexual means being attracted to people regardless of gender, gender doesn’t matter.” Konrad repeated and Marcel made a farting noise. Konrad sighed in annoyance before he continued with his introduction. “I’m also passionate about reducing waste and my C0² footprint, I go everywhere by bike or use public transportation and don’t want a car...” Marcel made a farting noise again. “Would you mind not doing that? It’s very rude and you’re behaving incredibly toxic and it makes the work environment quite a bit hostile and I am sure that it makes Kario uncomfortable too.” Konrad objected to Marcel’s behaviour and Marcel went on to make another farting noise, leading Konrad to pout and Fatima to chuckle whilst shaking her head about them.

“That’s enough about us. Why don’t you tell us something about yourself Kario, while we feed the dogs and show you the shelter?” Darius suggested.

[Sathenus]

Dark eyes stared out of the taxi window, the city lights and buildings just blurs to him as he wasn't really seeing any of it. Kario's mind was far too distracted to take note of anything that the taxi happened to roll past on its way to its destination. Not much of what Sven had said or the words they had exchanged had managed to penetrate into the thoughts and worries that were occupying the space there. There wasn't any surprise hearing Sven say that he'd be staying with him for a day or two, dark gaze finally managing to pull away from the window as the other man continued to explain. 

His social life and skills were still severely lacking after the brothel. Kario had made some good progress in a lot of aspects, but still found quite a bit of anxiety and discomfort in social situations. All the same, he knew there was no way around it. At the end of the day Kario wouldn't really feel comfortable in either situation, living with Sven even for a day or two just made him feel like a burden. It was one thing to go from living with his boyfriend -literally from day one- to living with his boyfriend's best friend, even for a day. It was bound to be a bit awkward. Kario didn't even care that Sven said he lived a lot differently than Devon does. His boyfriend definitely didn't spare any expense when it came to his home. “I can't blame you there. Devon is the only person I know who wants to live so lavishly.” Kario admitted to Sven. While he enjoyed his boyfriend's home very much, it was a lot for him, even after all this time. Finding that he was still often feeling out of place and really only spent time in five of the rooms of the mansion, their bedroom, the bathroom they both used, the living room and kitchen. Really only seeing or using other rooms or features only when Devon was home and wanted to use them.

When he had first moved in with his boyfriend, Kario had been more than eager to explore the mansion and discover everything that was hiding within it's many rooms and corridors. After the first week or so he had grown bored with doing that, having resigned himself to the fact that there were just far too many rooms. Even when Sven had come to visit, he had still been finding rooms he hadn't seen before. Usually such findings happening when he was tiredly wandering the halls and not paying attention to where he was going.

It was the mention of having an animal that he would be assigned to that he'd dedicate a lot of his time to that actually seemed to ease his mind and get him to relax a little. The love he felt for animals definitely dwarfed his interest in most things very easily. Animals didn't judge you or treat you differently based on past choices. Not to mention, he didn't have to worry about any of these animals betraying him. Deep down he knew he'd miss Barney, the lovable dog that Devon had adopted right before he had moved in. Not that he wouldn't miss Devon despite what had happened. He was far too used to not having his boyfriend around. One would think that'd make his decision to leave with Sven and take this opportunity a rather easy and obvious decision, but that just wasn't true. At least when he was home and Devon wasn't around, he knew the man was in the same city and could be home any minute, any day. That just wasn't true here. His boyfriend wouldn't walk through the front door or climb into bed beside him, and that was more depressing than he truly wanted to admit.

Despite everything that had happened and the betrayal he felt about it, Kario didn't like the idea of not being able to see his boyfriend. Sure, video calls were a thing, but it wasn't the same as having the blonde man physically in front of him. Kario hadn't even noticed he had become distracted and in his thoughts again.

This new chapter, it was supposed to be an adventure, exciting. But he felt anything but excited for what awaited him here. It was too different, too far away from what he knew. Even being bought from the brothel and practically handed to Devon had been more comfortable and easier to accept than the feelings he had towards what faced him here. 

This… this was more than Kario felt he could handle, too much was changing too fast. Even his first few days in the brothel felt easier than this, and from what he remembered that hadn't been easier at all. He knew Devon would probably be happy that he had left with Sven, since it meant he was no longer left in the mansion all the time. That made a small huff escape him, thinking about how his boyfriend wouldn't have to worry about the lack of time he spent at home anymore. All the while, Kario was already missing him more than he felt he should after everything that had happened and questioning if he had made the right decision after all.

Arriving at their destination, Kario followed Sven and gathered their bags. It was with a lot of hesitance that Kario had followed Sven into the building, and if he had thought that he could gauge just how crowded the place would be from the outside, he would have been wrong. The amount of people present gave him some instant anxiety. He couldn't ever recall seeing so many people in such a crowded space, and it did nothing to help with the anxiety he felt at already being in a foreign place. He stuck close to Sven as they made their way closer to the stage, something that was no easy feat with all the people present.

The younger man hadn't been sure what he had been expecting of this show, but he had to admit it was impressive, and he definitely could see how it had made this place so packed with people. Turning back to Sven as he was told that they'd wait for him backstage, he nodded and followed him, more than happy to get away from the crowd even if it had dispersed a bit after the show. There were still far more people than he felt comfortable with present in what felt like a very small space, even if that probably wasn't the case at all.

The dressing room was definitely a nice change, it allowed him to breathe easier. His eyes moved around the room out of general interest when they had first entered before he was glancing towards Sven who was quick to make himself comfortable. He shook his head, not having an appetite, turning his gaze towards the TV when he noticed Sven was looking up at it. The sigh that escaped him was probably louder than it should have been, it just made his heart ache and his mind race again. While Benjamin's performance and the crowded bar had seemed to distract him for a bit, even if it was at the cost of much more anxiety, it had only been a temporary distraction it seemed.

Still the sight of his boyfriend on the screen made his heart flutter and pound, despite everything that had happened the blonde politician never seemed to stop making him feel like a love struck puppy. As his boyfriend spoke it reminded him of a conversation they had and though he had thought such a conversation hadn't ended well and had ended up being more of another argument or disagreement. It seemed it had made an impact on his boyfriend anyway. The genuine emotion that the governor showed made Kario prouder to call this man his boyfriend, despite everything that had happened. Because he knew that this speech was something Devon was giving from his heart and not something written for him. Even if he did like Valentina, he was happy to see the older man taking the initiative in this situation and not just doing what was probably expected of him at this point.

What really surprised him more than anything else was when Devon actually admitted that he thought his father was an instigator in the event and not defend the other man. After everything his boyfriend's father had done and all he knew his boyfriend had put up with to this point, it was a big step for Devon. Becoming more independent and less of his father's pawn to actually voice that Andrew Ashfield was definitely part of this problem. It really did show how much the older man had changed, and undoubtedly for the better.

Just as Kario was starting to think that he couldn't feel more relieved to call this man his boyfriend, Devon said something else that Kario had never thought would come out of his boyfriend's mouth. He was sure the shock was clear on his own face, though a small smirk appeared upon seeing how police commander Mahler responded to hearing the news. Never in his life had he thought his boyfriend would actually divert funding from the police force and introduce a massive reform with extensive social and community programs. That pain he had felt at the betrayal he had learned at the party seemed to almost vanish completely, replaced with genuine pride for whom the blonde was now. How he was finally addressing and showing interest in an entire group of people that until this point his boyfriend had ignored completely.

He was drawn from his thoughts when he heard Sven, and he had to admit the older man was right. This change in his boyfriend wasn't just because Devon was sick of his father and saw that things needed to change. It was him. His family and difference in views that had shown Devon that there was more to his city and to his state than those he had been representing. With a soft sigh, Kario opened his mouth to speak, though he didn't have a chance to say anything since the door to the room opened.

 

Kario only recognized the man that had walked into the room, since they had just watched his performance. Not having met him before. It was easy to say first impressions here were not very positive, especially with the critical way he was judged just for being present with Sven. Kario didn't even think Sven was interested in him in that way, regardless of being Devon's boyfriend. It seemed like a rather large leap to just assume that any guy that happened to be here with Sven was automatically his next 'fling' as Benjamin seemed to like to call it.

How the man's attitude seemed to completely change, suddenly becoming much friendlier, didn't sit well with Kario. He was still on the fence and not really fond of the man after the initial way he was regarded by him. Still, he behaved himself and took the outstretched hand and shook it politely. “Kario Teschu. It's nice to meet you too.” He politely responded, even if he didn't feel that fond of the man. He remembered how Devon had responded to his behavior when Mei had come over late that night so many months ago, and how the man hadn't liked his behavior. It was their conversation after that, not to mention how Stuart had loved to treat him and talk about him, that had made it so Kario would swallow any ill feelings he had towards someone and act nice and polite. Even if he wanted to do anything else.

While Ben hadn't made a good first impression on him, he didn't want to appear as rude. Though it seemed the other man had absolutely no shame in doing that himself. When he spoke about his boyfriend in a manner that Kario was sure had caused his face to show just how unfond of this man he really was. Not finding being with his boyfriend as a punishment of any kind, and not liking how he talked about the other. It didn't matter that he knew Ben had met Devon before. Kario's patience was very quickly tested, he had to remind himself once more not to let it get to him, though he was sure it was clear that it already had.

"I don't see being with Devon as any sort of punishment. Quite the contrary, actually." Kario replied, his voice was friendlier than he expected it to be, considering his current feelings. The mention of Devon and the elephant had Kario sigh. "I know he is, and I know he did. Devon didn't hide that from me, and I didn't hide my love of animals from him. I'm not going to condemn someone for something that happened before I even knew them. He knows I don't approve of what he did." The younger man added, his voice no less friendly. At no point did his tone become rude or did he lose his patience. He just said exactly what he thought and what he knew. At no point did Devon hide from him that he was a trophy hunter or that he had shot an elephant and been fined. Kario hadn't remotely hidden his distaste at the actions and had voiced how he didn't approve. That hadn't stopped him from wanting to see the hunting lodge in Alaska, or stop him from wanting to be with the older man.

Every couple had differences, and while Kario would never approve of Devon hunting any animal for sport, it wouldn't stop him from loving the other man. It would definitely upset him to find out that the older man continued to do so despite knowing how he felt about it. It wouldn't be enough to make him hate him or get him to stop loving him. Kario felt rather lucky that Devon had even fallen for him and that he had managed to find someone who treated him really well despite everything. There were positives and negatives in regard to everyone, but it didn't mean that they weren't just as deserving of love as someone else. The younger man truly felt -especially knowing how he was raised- that Devon certainly deserved love and to be happy.

 

The walk from the bar to Sven's place allowed Kario to be with his thoughts, even if Ben never seemed to stop talking the whole way. Kario didn't  mind all that much, figuring that if Ben was always this talkative that at least it meant he wouldn't really have to contribute to the conversation. His mind wandered and so did his eyes, making the half an hour walk pass relatively quickly to him. Dark eyes moved from the building to Sven when he said that he lived here. The building started to raise even more questions in his head, he shook them aside and followed the other two inside.

Not having realized he had zoned out on Sven and Ben again until there was suddenly a lot of motion, he blinked. Looking at the older man who had been swarmed by the group of dogs that had come rushing out of another apartment. It was sweet really, seeing that rather heartwarming greeting, it was clear that they had missed their owner tremendously and Kario could only imagine how it had impacted them. Little things like this were always what crossed his mind when he thought of animals and owners being separated for any reason. That got his own mind to go back to Devon and the horse he had left behind when coming here with Sven. Man... he was going to miss that horse way more than he wanted to admit. He had spent a lot of time down in the stable and learning to ride while Devon was away working and busy.

It just ended up reminding him how many things were changing in his life again and bummed him out. So much so that he wasn't really listening or aware of the interaction between Sven and the two women. It wasn't until he was handed the West Highland White Terrier that he came from his thoughts again, eyes going down to the small dog that didn't seem to mind being put into a stranger's arms. Following Sven and Ben as well as the remaining dogs up the last flight of stairs and finally making their way into the other man's home. Kario bent down and gently set the dog he was carrying back on its feet once they had walked into the other's home.

His eyes taking in the way it looked before his attention was once more caught by Sven, he followed the man to the room he'd be staying in for a few days. "Okay. Thanks, Sven." Kario said, finally bringing himself to thank the other man, both for letting him stay here even if it was only for a day or two, as well as bringing him here to begin with. Knowing he really hadn't said much to the other man since the dinner party, not wanting the other to think that he was always like this or that he'd continue to behave this way.

Watching Sven leave the room, the first thing Kario found himself doing was sitting on the edge of the bed and looking at his hands in his lap. For a while he just sat there like that, not moving an inch, his mind seemed blank not really seeing his hands or lap either. Blinking, he finally managed to get himself up, putting some clothes away in the large dresser. Deciding against unpacking fully, not wanting to have to turn around and pack everything again when he moved to his more permanent home while here. Just a couple outfits to make it easier to get ready for the days ahead.

Despite the invitation, Kario never did bring himself to joining Sven and Ben out on the balcony that night or eat anything. Very little sleep came to him despite his best attempts. Finding that the thought of sleeping in a bed where there was no chance of his boyfriend slipping in beside him made sleep even more impossible than he had ever thought possible. The next morning, Kario was definitely not very bright-eyed or excited. He did his best to freshen himself up and get some sort of life back into him for what he was sure would end up being a longer day than he originally anticipated.

 

The heavy rain that they had that morning actually seemed to suit how he felt really well. Truly seeming to have fallen into a bit of depression since the dinner party, only seeming to get a bit worse with every hour that passed. His eyes were once more out on the scenery, he tried his best to be more lively today and not show how depressed he felt inside, knowing this should be exciting for him. It wasn't. Ever since the original offer had been made, there had been an excitement to follow his dream and work with animals and do this right. Right now, he just felt like any joy and excitement he had was destroyed and snuffed out.

The drive had taken quite awhile, longer than Kario had expected it to take. While he didn't really mind since it gave him a chance to get himself ready to meet who knew how many people and do who knew what, he also wanted this day just to start already. Hoping that it'd help distract his mind and get him out of the depressive slump he was falling deeper and deeper into.

Looking at the building as he stepped out of the vehicle while Sven was letting the dogs out of the back seat, he took in a deep, shaky breath. Trying to calm the sudden bout of nerves that was suddenly overtaking him. Dark eyes once more moving to Sven when he spoke, he found himself nodding and hoping that he was right. 

His attention was quickly drawn to another man when Sven pointed him out and told him a little about him. Instantly he felt his heart ache at the story, not really understanding how people could treat and hurt others like that. Dark eyes moved back to Sven before following him into the building, eyes taking in the large room that they entered and feeling more nervous at the sight of the four others in the room. Shifting a bit nervously even if he may have technically met the night before even if he had been way too stuck in his thoughts to really recall much if any of that interaction.

Doing his best to make little mental notes of everyone's names, he knew it'd most likely take him awhile to get it all down, but he'd do his best. Keeping his mind as focused on what was happening around him as he could. Since Thomas seemed to already be on his feet with his hands free, they shook hands. "It's nice to meet you too. All of you." Kario replied, offering a friendly smile. No matter what he felt on the inside, he'd do his best to be friendly and excited on the outside.

Sven hadn't even had the chance to say or do anything else before the doors were opening up and Kario turned to see another woman enter the office. She definitely seemed rather excited and euphoric as she tossed her purse onto the office table. The younger man watched her as she rather excitedly announced that she had gotten engaged to the group. His dark eyes landed on the ring as she showed it to him despite not knowing him, it did cause a small smile to reappear, happy for her even if he didn't know her. Knowing that marriage was something many people wanted and dreamed of.

Agreeing that it really was a lively bunch, his eyes moved back to Sven. As welcoming as this initial greeting was, it still caused him anxiety. While Kario knew that he'd settle in and feel more at home here, it didn't stop the fact that right now he felt far from at home. If anything he just felt even more like an outsider knowing that all of these people clearly loved working with each other and had been doing so for quite some time already. Hearing he'd be meeting even more people made his stomach flip uncomfortably, but he followed Sven away from the others and into another room.

Despite the very clear temperature difference in this room, Kario wasn't affected very much. He didn't shiver or pause as he followed Sven, stopping beside him as Sven called the four people in the room over. His stomach seeming to flip and churn even more since the attention was clearly on them once more. This anxiety got even worse when he realized all too quickly that he was going to be left with these four. Not that he had expected to stay glued to Sven all day, since he knew the other man had his own work to do and probably a decent amount to get caught up on. Taking the business card from Sven, he looked down at it trying to keep his anxiety in check enough to not make his hand shake as Sven left him with the strangers to go about his own day.

Dark eyes nervously moved towards the group as he shifted and slipped the business card into his pocket. His heart was pounding uncomfortably in his chest, he was glad that no one else could hear it but him. His eyes moved to the short woman as she stepped forward and reached her hand out, taking her hand and shaking it as she introduced herself. It was a lot of information to take in, he tried his best to retain as much of the information as he could. 

The next one to speak and introduce himself grasped Kario for a completely different reason. While he understood absolutely no French, he was able to recognize it easily. Still finding it a rather attractive language and when Fatima interrupted him to explain that he didn't speak French the accent that was very clear easily held his attention. Kario could admire the accent and the language easily, it was definitely pleasant to listen to. Hearing about how he'd have to take a German language class, Kario felt himself inwardly cringe. Learning foreign languages was something that he wanted to do, but he also knew that it wasn't exactly easy to do either, he had some serious doubts about how well he'd retain a second language. Remembering that he had spoken with Devon about learning foreign languages when they had first discusses traveling and things he wanted to do. Kario was very interested in still learning Asian languages and figured if he put the interest and determination into learning those languages into German that he might be able to pull it off. Hopefully.

Thankfully, those thoughts and fears were very easily dwarfed when Marcel continued to introduce himself and tell him about himself. He was finding some odd similarities in Marcel to Devon, mainly hiding the fact that they were gay for the sake of their career. Ah, well... at least he was honest, though Kario wasn't really sure what to do with most of that information. Still, he could agree and see how helping animals could help someone in such a manner. It probably was therapeutic in many ways, he only hoped it'd continue to help the other man hate his life less.

Dark eyes moved to the final man as he moved to introduce himself as well. The bickering between Marcel and Konrad was a little amusing, though he could see why it wasn't for Konrad who was now pouting. "It's nice to meet you guys." Kario finally said in greeting since it seemed that they were done introducing themselves and since he really hadn't wanted to interrupt anyone. What he wasn't expecting was for Darius to suggest that he tell them about himself while they fed the dogs and they showed him the shelter. "Yeah, sure." He replied, more than willing to help them out and see how things worked here. The thought of telling them about him definitely made him blush a little and nervous, not really sure how much he wanted to share with these guys.

Everyone had been rather open in their introductions, Kario found himself struggling to do the same. Telling everyone he had worked in an upper class brothel wasn't really the first thing he wanted to do. But... what else could he really say? Everyone else here seemed to have far better ways of introducing themselves, even if some were more tragic than he had ever hoped to hear in his life. Such things happened though, it would be foolish to think that they didn't.

"Well... I'm 22 and as Sven said I'm from the US." Kario started to tell them a little about himself. Since Sven had already said that he was dating his friend Devon he felt no need to once more mention it since it definitely seemed irrelevant right now. But what else should he say? What was there to say about himself? As far as he was concerned, there wasn't much to say about himself. He wasn't some interesting person after all, and his life aside from the brothel and Devon was certainly nothing to talk about. After a moment he found himself sighing and just honestly telling them about himself a little more while trying to remain vague on many details. "I met my boyfriend probably 7 or 8 months ago and under some... unusual circumstances moved in with him probably a few weeks after we met. I met Sven through him and after a rather disastrous dinner party that his father was throwing things went to hell and that night I was on his private jet here with Sven. We arrived last night." He told the others. "Before I met him... well... let's just I lost 4 years of my life to some rather unsavory circumstances after struggling with homelessness and jobs since leaving high school."

There was a huge part of him that was hoping the whole brothel scandal wasn't known to people outside the US. It'd definitely save him from some embarrassment if they didn't know, it meant he could hide it for as long as he felt like, or even forever. This wasn't something he wanted to go around advertising to people. While Devon had been certain that there were people who wouldn't care about that part of his life he still wasn't so sure. When it came to making friends, he wasn't sure how well people would take that bit of knowledge about another. While he knew he was probably overreacting and worrying about nothing, it did little to ease his concerns about it.