They walked arm in arm through the quiet woods, keeping warm and close in the cold, Fall of Germany. Karl stared at Peter with a warm gaze, happy to be doing this with him and no one else. They walked awkwardly together, just getting used to their newfound closeness.

They watched the light on the trees brighten as the moon grew higher and higher. Small animals scurried about, but they paid them no mind as they trekked on. After a while, Karl noticed Peter’s face darken.

“What’s wrong?” He asked him softly.

Peter did not reply, he just cleared his expression and turned his head, smiling at Karl sadly. Karl decided to drop the topic. So they continued to walk, wrapped in the jackets they decided to bring.

They soon came to a small clearing and set up the large blanket on the ground. The soft, dewy grass dampened it, but they did not mind. After it was set up, Karl grabbed Peter’s hand and pulled him close to his chest. He slowly spun Peter and hummed a soft tune. They spun around and around as Karl sang. Once he came the the conclusion of the song, the toppled onto the blanket, with Karl on Peter’s chest. With red faces, they stared at each other passionately, then slowly pressed their lips together.

Peter tangled his fingers in Karl’s hair and pulled him closer, wanting to feel his heat as much as possible.They slowly moved together, closer than ever before.

“Wait,” Peter panted softly. “We shouldn’t do this.” He sighed and caressed Karls cheek.

“Not here, not like this..” He kissed Karl gently as he pressed their noses together. Karl nodded and settled down, burying his face in Peter’s neck. Wrapping the blanket around them, they slowly started to fall asleep.

“Gute nacht.” he whispered under his breath and laid his head down onto Peter’s shoulder, falling asleep quickly.

The next morning, Peter was the first to wake, since Karl was a heavy sleeper. He stood up and circled the trees in the small forest that they had settled down in. He wandered aimlessly for what felt like hours before sitting down at the base of a large oak tree.

In the tree across from him, he noticed that there was a mother bird sitting in a nest, watching him wearily. He wondered what it might be like to be a bird, being able to fly and live such a carefree life. He watched her for a while before finally succumbing to his thoughts.

What would life have been like for him without Karl in it? Why did everything have to turn out like this, and why couldn’t Karl just behave for a small amount of time?

He could feel himself getting angrier with every question he asked himself. Doubt of his love and loyalty for Karl was seeding its way into his gut, and for some reason, he didn’t care. His anger was festering and right now, there seemed to be no way to make it stop.

He saw distorted versions of Karl’s face in his head and pressed his hand to his temples. Peter yelled out in fear and tucked his head between his legs, starting to feel tears in his eyes as he realised just how guilty he was feeling for thinking that this was all Karl’s fault.

He heard a twig snap and his head shot up. Karl stood before him with a puzzled and caring expression, pushing all the bad visions out of Peter’s head.

“A-are you alright?” He said softly and knelt down in front of Peter. Peter gulped and nodded his head, feeling even worse about the whole thing. He licked his lips, sighed and stood up, walking back toward their little camp.

“I’m fine.” He smiled and at down on the blanket. “We have some crackers if you want to snack on some right now for a little breakfast.” Karl accepted them and sat next to Peter, being heedful of him. Once he had eaten a few and decided that Peter was calmed down enough, he wiped his hands and grabbed Peter's lonely one.

“You know that you can talk to me, right?” He requested and squeezed his hand. Peter nodded and stared out at the trees.

“We should get moving.” Peter stated, and Karl stood up, feeling disheartened. Peter mentally kicked himself when he saw Karl’s expression, but he stayed quiet.

They packed up their stuff and headed onwards through the woodland. Karl walked as Peter internally struggled with himself and wanted desperately to make him feel better. He sighed and kissed Peter gently before stopping him completely. “I love you, you know that right?” He said with an annoyed tone. Peter nodded. “If you don’t stop fighting with yourself about me, I am going to leave, I will walk the other way and figure this out myself, while you can go home.” He stated, and Peter was surprised that Karl knew what he was thinking.

“ I..I don’t want to part ways.” He squeaked out and stared down at Karl helplessly. “ I can’t leave you out here.” He said desperately. “I just need to think about stuff.. I need a little space.” he said softly and stepped back a bit. “Everything happened so suddenly, and my mom, and your family..” He felt the tears building up. “I’m not used to this.” Karl nodded and hugged him gently.

“I know Peter, I’m feeling the same way, but you know that there’s no way I can go back...not after I embarrassed my dad like that.” He sighed and pressed his face into Peter’s neck. “Just promise you won’t leave me.” His voice broke at the end. Peter nodded and stroked his hair gently.

“I promise.”