Bück Dich [Revising]

Chapter 7: Was willst du?

FLAKE'S POV

Till said anything. I have every right to ask for whatever I want. I hesitate before responding.

There.

"Anything?" I innocently ask. I know exactly what I want. I want revenge for what this man did to me. He nods, not understanding the consequences of his actions. I smile and shake my head slowly.

"Flake...what are you planning?" His eyes widen a bit, and his face grows more serious. I turn away and chuckle a bit.

"How about...we perform another explicit live stunt...during a Rammstein show?"

"What do you mean by 'explicit live stunt,' Flake?" His voice trails away as he finishes that sentence.

"New song similar to Bück dich's performance, but...I'm top this time." His face loses all hope as his mouth slowly drops open.

"F-Flake, n-no!" Till's face goes pale as I request such a thing.

"You said anything, Till. This is what I want."

"Oh Gott, Schatz. Why...can't it be something else?" I smile at his begging.

"Well...there is one more thing I would choose over that..."

"Well, say it already."

"You submit to me, on 20 different occasions." His face says it all. Not a big man after all, huh?

"You really want to see me suffer, don't you? I deserve it, okay? Fine then. Second option it is." His voice loses hope as he chooses his final option. This man made me suffer emotionally. Now it's my turn to break any pride he clings on to.

"Thank you, Till." I reach up and kiss him on the cheek. He blushes a bit before turning his head and grumbling something unintelligible.

PAUL'S POV

I left Flake's house yelling at the both of them. I understood Flake's anger, but he was being more irrational than usual. Normally he's a man with a lot reason. Till got into my car and refused to answer any of my questions. He must deeply regret hurting Flake like that. As each minute passed, I grew more anxious and frustrated. Till hurt my closest friend. I made sure to hurry up my drive to Till's house. I wanted some time away from him. Yes, he's my friend, but he also hurt someone close in my life. I couldn't bring myself to yell at him though. Poor guy already had an earful from Lorenz. I decided to let it be instead of push on forward. Who knows what Till is capable of. I tried not to focus so much on the issue. Before I knew it, I was already at Till's house. I gave him a small wave as I dropped him off in front of his house. He couldn't even return the gesture. He lowered his head and stayed standing there. I pulled out of the area and left.

What to do now?

I decide to drive over to Richard's house. I feel the need to inform him on what I had just witnessed. Even though I promised Till I would keep quiet, I just can't. This mess needs to be cleared immediately. I can't have them upset with each other. The entire situation was all brand new to me. I was not expecting Till to do such a thing. Hopefully Richard will know what to do.

RICHARD'S HOUSE

I pull up into his driveway and turn my car off. I take a deep breath before exiting my vehicle. To my surprise, Richard is outside...smoking a cigarette. Nothing new for him to do. I open my door and rush over to him.

"Landers?" His raspy voice is soft and calm. I find it rather soothing. I blush a bit and smile awkwardly. He always has that effect on me.

"Hallo, Richie." His confused gaze slowly forms into a warm smile. My heart rate increases a bit at the sight of that.

"What brings you here?" My feelings soon fade away as I remember what brought me here.

"I have a lot to explain. May we go inside? It's a...private...issue." I hesitate with my word choice. Knowing Richard, with one wrong word, it could end a man's career.

"Okay. Let's go...inside." He inhales a bit of his cigarette before opening the front door to his house. He allows me to pass first which leads to a part of me to panic. His soft side had shifted to a more concerned and worried side. I take a deep breath and release my hands from their "fist" state. I turn to face him and half-smile. He reciprocates my gesture, only a little more affectionately.

"Where do I even start?" I place one hand to my neck and look around cautiously.

"The beginning." Richard laughs at his own remark before inhaling more from his cigarette. I let out a deep sigh before fidgeting with my fingers.

"Till...um...he..." I hesitate for a moment. Richard leans forward a bit, now a bit agitated in anticipation. I continue with, "Till raped Flake." Richard's pink and vivacious color immediately drained away as I finished my sentence.

"He...he what? Are you sure? You can't be serious, Paul. Till is better than this! He would never! Are you 100% sure about this? Who even told you? Oh, Gott." The more Richard went on, the more I realize telling him was a stupid idea on my part. I frown and look to my left. I did not dare to look him in the eyes.

"Flake said it himself, and Till basically admitted to it." Richard's face began to grow more distressed by the minute. I did not know how to help.

"Oh, Gott...why? Why would he do such a thing?" His hand covers his opened mouth.

"I'm not too sure when this even happened. We'll have to talk to the two of them...but separately since Flake refuses to speak to Till."

"I would much rather not get involved in this. This is...this is too much! We, as a band, still have other priorities! Oh, why, Till? This was so unnecessarily hurtful!" Richard appears to care more for Till than Flake. That small detail hurt me greatly. Both men matter in this situation, especially Flake. He's the victim here in this distorted and horrible turn of events. I lose all hope for this situation. I believe it will not get better. What Till did was beyond terrible. He out of anyone should know not to hurt others like that.

"What should we do?" I ask. I had no idea how to approach a situation like this. Nothing to this degree has happened to us band members.

"Well...we could wait it out. I'm sure you finding out was an accident, right?" I nod my head in response. In return, he scrunches his eyebrows a bit. "We could see where this goes." I immediately shot Richard a look of disappointment and disgust. "Not like that, Paul. I mean...if they wanted us to know...they would have told us something, ya know?" I understand where he's going now. He wants us to wait until they tell us. I did not like the idea too much but what choice did we have? I'm sure Flake didn't want to tell Kruspe. I wouldn't put it past him either. Richard loves to overreact and be a drama queen about any situation. He surprisingly took this well though. The decision boils down to the two though. I did what I possibly could. Now it's their turn to fix things and say what needs to be said.

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Originally written: November 12, 2018