Schatzi

30

He stood up and collected more leaflets off the desk in the corner of the room, bringing them over and dumping them on the floor.
"If I wanted to," he said, holding up one of their leaflets, "I could leave all this behind and I would likely live until the end of the war and face no discrimination or persecution at all because I can lie and say I am like everyone else. I could go back home to my family and hope whatever is left after the war is enough to live on. But you two...you cannot escape this, just like so many Germans, and Poles, and Romani, and all the people this text mentions. If I lived that quiet life, I'd feel like I'd been a traitor to my people and my friends. So as long as our organisation lasts, I will be here."

The room was silent after Billy's little speech as they both just stared at him until Eli smiled and clapped.

"Bravo, my friend," he said in English with a chuckle, gathering up all the leaflets from the floor, old and new, and getting up to hide them away again. "And nice French. But I'm still very upset that you are both not attempting Yiddish."

"It's too difficult," Tig groaned, flopping into Eli's lap dramatically.

Eli rolled his eyes and repeated what Tig said in a squeaky mocking voice before smiling and leaning back against the wall like he had been before, running his fingers through Tig's hair.

They sat in silence again for a while, listening to the sounds from outside, of cars and people and the sounds of footsteps, women's heels clicking against the cobbles, the heavy work boots of labourers returning home for dinner thumping on the pavement. Billy lit another cigarette.

"ikh bin tsufridn ir nito do," Eli whispered with a smile, breaking the trance like state of daydreams they'd all entered. Tig narrowed his eyes and looked up at him, puzzled. "See, if you listened to what I said instead of ignoring what I taught you, you'd understand what I said," Eli added, tapping the end of Tig's nose playfully.

Tig sat up with a sigh and swivelled around so he was facing Eli.
"Okay, I get your point, you've made it clear. I like both you and your language a lot. So, the first bit is like to the German," he said in English, recognising by Eli's expression that he understood him. "I am happy? 'Ich bin froh.' The rest I do not understand."

"Similar to," Billy corrected quietly. He was sitting opposite them, looking quite awkward with Eli and Tig being so couple-y in front of him. "Not like to."

Tig glanced around him and nodded before returning to Eli, looking up at him from his lap, running his fingertips against his forearm.
"Tell me what it means. You're happy..."

"Je suis content que tu sois là," Eli said softly.

"I'm happy you're here," Tig repeated back to him in German. "I'm happy you're here too. I don't know what I'd do here without you. I'd be scared shitless if you weren't running the pink order. I don't think I could do it. That meeting I was at before I met you, I was only there because Evelin forced me to go, said it was important that I take a stand. But I was scared. I'm scared of everything to be honest, but I was really really scared of going to that meeting and getting caught. I would have never come back if I hadn't met you."

Eli had nothing else to say so he just smiled softly and bent over to kiss him gently and slowly, cupping his cheek with his palm. His lips brushed Tig's ear as he whispered something to him in Yiddish. Several sentences, none of which Tig understood, but he could detect the break in Eli's voice and how his eyes filled with tears. He sighed and straightened up, speaking in German again. "I don't want to disappoint you."

"What?" Tig said, sitting up again. "What did you say? You're not going to disappoint me, whatever it is you're talking about."

Eli smiled sadly and shrugged. After a pause he answered, clearly lying. "I was just talking about the group. How I don't want to disappoint you as a leader." He sighed deeply and got to his feet. He stretched widely. "I'm gonna make coffee, you guys want anything?"

"No thanks," Tig mumbled, looking at him curiously as he left. He wanted to know what Eli had said. As soon as he left the room, he turned to Billy. "What did he say? He wasn't talking about the group, that's for sure. You learnt German so quickly when you came here, surely you understand some of what he said. Please tell me. I need to know."

Billy smiled and shook his head. "I hardly understood it. He speaks too fast. And even if I did know, I wouldn't tell you. He wants to keep it a secret, clearly, or he would have told you himself."

"Urgh, you're no use," Tig groaned, standing up and chuckling. "I want to know what he said."

"He'll tell you eventually, I'm sure," Billy said. "Now go tell your boyfriend to bring some food in with his coffee. I'm starving."

An: shorter chapter than usual but here's a break from all the bad things happening, especially in Peter's chapters.