Page 12 of Geist Fleisch
“Nein,” Max said sharply, as if to head off a scene, or some kind of grisly party trick. “Ferdi,nein!”
Ferdi grinned, moving a hand closer to his eye as if to... Ew!
Callum felt Max’s hands close quickly around the sides of his face, hiding whatever Ferdi was about to do. The entire bar, with all its bright music, revelry and dancing disappeared beyond the fleshy cave that hid them from the world. Callum was sure he heard Ferdi laugh, and possibly say something, but it was hard to care. Max’s skin was too soft, his breath far too sweet for a man who’d spent hours drinking. In fact, Callum couldn’t smell the two or three beers he’d seen Max down at all. He smelled more like a queer mix of fresh cream and honey. When Max’s lips brushed his, he could no longer resist. They tasted as good as they smelled.
And the taste was entirely new. It was not as if Callum had never felt the touch of a man’s lips or tongue on his before. But it had never felt easy, nor right like this. The shame he’d felt in those moments seemed as far now from his mind as Berlin, or the chance to kiss a man this way in public had when he’d nursed beers at The Dancing Fox in Nottingham, stealing looks at the blokes still in factory kit, all caked in grime. Twice, such a man had caught him looking and not pretended otherwise. Both of those men had tasted of sweat, grease, pain, piss, and rage. They’d never kissed him, and he’d never have dared ask, not even once they’d spent themselves in his mouth. Get knob. Get off. Get out of my sight, yer fairy. No want, just convenience. The second one had thumped him just to make sure they were clear.
With the working boys he’d met during his short stay in Berlin, there had been want, for his body, and sometimes money he couldn’t spare. With Max, the want was pure and real. The want for Callum. He wasn’t sure how he recognised the difference, but it shone clear as bright hot summer to him now. That jolt that went far deeper than his skin, or even his prick.
“Schön?” he whispered.
“Sier schön,” his admirer answered, kissing him again, “for English.”
That made Callum laugh, though he didn’t know why. It normally pissed him off when the locals mocked him for not understanding either their language or customs. Even Anne annoyed him sometimes, pretending she knew it all. But nothing about Max’s tease had been unkind. The gentle squeeze of the man’s hands around Callum’s confirmed it.
Max suddenly appeared to notice his lack of a drink, turning to him with shame. “Bier? Kindl? Weiss?”
“Um…” Callum pointed to Max’s near empty glass. “Same?”
Ferdi waved a polite refusal.
Max grinned, getting up to go to the bar. Callum noticed there were no waiters in the place. Not even a boy collecting empty glasses. Yet, there were also no empty glasses. Well, he had to be imagining this now, hadn’t he? But the touch of Max’s skin? His sweet breath? Callum knew his imagination wasn’t that vivid.
“He’s sweet, yes?”
Callum hadn’t noticed Ferdi sidle up next to him. Hell, from the moment he’d been invited to sit at their table, he hadn’t seemed to notice much. “Uh, I suppose he is.”
“What’s wrong? You don’t like boys?”
“I like… men.”
“But they’re still new to you? You are afraid?”
“I’m not afraid. I…” Why not admit it? He was relatively new to this. “Berlin’s quite the place.”
Ferdi agreed with a warm nod. “It would be nice to see it again.”
The strange reply convinced Callum he’d misunderstood. “Where are you from?”
Ferdi grinned. “Here.”
“You’re a Berliner?”
The man shook his head. “Here is where I’m welcome. I was born in Bremen if that is what you mean. You know Bremen?”
“Like the animal musicians?”
“Yes,” Ferdi laughed. “Everyone knows the animals, like we know your Robin Hood.”
Callum flinched as Ferdi put a hand on his, though the man took care not to touch him with the same affection Max had. He also frowned.
“What is it?” Callum asked.
“You’re fortunate. Your scars are hidden, like Johann.”
“My what?”
Ferdi turned his head, allowing the light to shine off his glassy green eye and catch his ruined earlobe. “I’m not ungrateful. I’m fortunate too.”
