The next morning was just as calm as the evening. Neither of them said anything. Lui's mom noticed the silence because the two usually talked a lot when she was around, she also knew that Free was Lui's soul mate and that her son had difficulties getting along with Free. "How was meeting Gabe and the others yesterday?" "Okay" "Free?" "Was quite good" And again it was quiet. Terra sighed. "Tonight your father is coming back" "Today already?" "Yes, he is there for the weekend and will fly again on Monday" "Nice for him"
Lui never had a good relationship with his father. It was often stressful with him and his father didn't like anyone...really nobody. He didn't accept that Lui had contact with "normal" young people and not with those who also had wealthy parents like him. Before Lui switched schools at the age of 12, he went to a private school that he didn't feel comfortable at. Uniforms, strict daily routine, no fun and Luinor was given a collar and put in a side room during class. It was his father's wish that Lui go to this school, but by the age of 12 he had rebelled. At this school, manners were extremely important, so Lui had started to be who he was. He had no respect for the teachers, had taken off Luinor's collar, even let him sleep in the classroom and had opposed the teachers more and more. At some point it was too much for them and they called Lui's father to school. Knowing his son, he didn't believe that his son had bad manners and defied rules. Despite this, Lui was dismissed from school, which meant consequences for her school. Since it was important to Lui's father that his son continue his education and he had to take entrance exams for private schools during the summer holidays, his father allowed him to choose a normal school. Since Lui always had good grades, he was allowed to continue going to this school. Nevertheless, his father was not enthusiastic about it, his son's education was more important to him than his social contacts.
"He wants you to be home these days and not at Gabe's like last time." "Never mind. Free is here anyway so I can stay here too. And yes, Free is staying here whether Dad likes it or not "I guess I can't say anything else" Lui got up and put his dishes in the kitchen. "I'm going to my room...Free, are you coming with me?" "Sure" Free also cleared away his dishes and the two then went into Lui's room. "That didn't sound like you were looking forward to your father..." "Neither am I. My father is exhausting" "Hm, yes I know that" "You are, yes?" "Yes, after all, my father is the chief of the tribe and I, as his son, have always had a lot of responsibility. It was very important to my father that I make a good impression on the villagers. It was difficult for me to always do what he wanted...I'd rather do what I enjoy, which my father often didn't like, he was often strict and wanted me to know about all the customs and traditions of our tribe" "Ha, our fathers must be similar. My father is CEO of his own company" "CEO?" "Something like a chief of the tribe...or something" "And should you also be the new chief?" "Yes, I had to learn a lot from an early age too" "And you probably want to do what you want too, don't you?" "Yes" "Well then, let's do it" Lui looked at Free. "What do you think?" "It's still early days, so why not do what we want? I think Fafnir and Luinor could use a trip. No accident this time, so what do you say? You, me and our spirit animals" Lui blushed slightly. "There would be a few places I want to see again." Free took Lui's hand. "Perfect" The blonde pulled the smaller one out into the garden with him. "Fafnir! Luinor! We're flying!" The dragons jumped up and ran towards their master. Free climbed onto Fafnir's back and Lui also climbed onto his dragon's back. "Let's go" Fafnir flew up. "Okay Luinor. Up" Lui still felt uncomfortable flying on his kite but it wasn't as bad as the first time. "Where should we fly first?" Lui looked around. He didn't really know where to go first. "Uhm...How about...uhm..." "Then let's just fly. Fafnir, go" Lui was overwhelmed when Fafnir took off. "Luinor" Luinor followed the golden dragon. "Do you know where you want to go?" "No, but that's the great thing" "But, how do we find our way back?" "Soul Animals always find their way home" "And how do you know that?" "I'm just guessing, after all, Fafnir has never left my side." "So you don't have any guarantees?" "Yes" Lui got a little uncomfortable.
But Free didn't care. He loved this freedom of not being tied to one place and enjoying life. He lay on Fafnir's back and enjoyed the sight of the clouds that passed him. "Today is such a beautiful day" Free didn't live in worry, why should he? Life was too short to worry. He enjoyed life, especially since he was free. "Can I ask you something?" Free opened his eyes and sat up. "Sure" "How do you manage to be like that? So carefree? Without any stress?" "I don't know...that's how I grew up. There was never a reason for me to rush and I don't understand why you have to stress yourself. I think life is too short not to live it to the fullest enjoy" "And you are not afraid of the future?" "No, as long as I do what makes me happy, everything will be fine" "But do you think you can survive in the modern world with that mindset?" "Like I said, as long as I'm doing what makes me happy, my life will be perfect. I won't change for anything or anyone in this world. I have to adapt and get used to all of this, but even here, I want to live my life the way I want it"
Lui lowered his head. To live his life the way he wanted...It had always been his wish, but he was the perfect heir to his father. In the end, though, Lui didn't care what his father thought of him, but if he didn't live his life the way his father had imagined, he would disappoint his mother too, and he couldn't do that. His mother always told him that it was about making the best of life and that his father knew best. He had learned that when his mother was happy, he had done everything right. Although his mother wasn't as strict as his father, his childhood was very manipulative...He was almost formed into the perfect son.
"Lui!" Shirosagi looked up when he heard the blonde's voice. "Are you listening to me or are you still mentally absent?" "I'm listening. What's going on?" "Is everything well?" "Yes, everything is fine" "Hm...Okay...I wanted to ask if we're going to land down there?" Lui looked among them. "Yes, we can do that" "Well then, Fafnir" Fafnir flew down. "Luinor" Luinor followed the golden dragon and they landed at a river. The two boys dismounted and their kites charged into the water. "Are you hungry?" Free was about to take off his boots. "What you up to?" "I'm catching fish for dinner. You can gather branches, birch bark and other material for a fire in the meantime." De La Hoya removed his shirt and overskirt. He rolled up his pants and then followed the dragons into the water. Lui looked after the blonde. Catching fish from such a river was difficult, but Shirosagi let the bigger one do it. He himself collected branches from the ground from nearby trees, what Free meant by birch bark he didn't know, so he collected all the bark and leaves before taking them back to the shore.
Free was still in the water, poking around in the water with a branch. Shirosagi sat down on the meadow and watched the blond. There was something interesting about Free anyway. He himself would never think of just going into a river and catching fish there. De La Hoya romped around with the dragons before coming out of the river. A few fish hung on the long branch. "Ah, Lui, you're back" Lui nodded. "I found everything but birch bark" De La Hoya saw over Lui's exploitation. "Not bad, I'll just take what's there. Hold this for a second." The blue-haired teen looked at the branch that Free held out to him and on which the dead fish were hanging. Shirosagi knew that if he wanted food he would have to pick it up as he definitely couldn't start a fire. A little disgusted, he took the branch and held it as far away from himself as possible. Meanwhile, Free started a small campfire. In his pocket, where he carried everything with him, he had a flint that made it easy to start a fire. Lui watched every step De La Hoya made and soon a fire was lit. Free had left some branches. "Pass me the fishes please" Lui held the fish in Free's direction and the blonde picked one down and impaled it on one of the shorter branches. He placed the branch over the fire and repeated the process a second time. While the fish were frying, the taller one stuck the long branch in the ground and washed his hands. Then he sat back down by the fire, to Lui.
"It looked very easy for you, but let me guess, it took practice" "Yes, it wasn't that easy at first. My father took me fishing at an early age and taught me what I could and needed to know. My Mom taught me how to cook. It took me forever to start a fire but now I can do all the essentials" Free put his shirt back on. "I can cook, too, but our chef has cooked for me for as long as I can remember. We usually have workers for other household tasks too, be it cleaning ladies, maids or something else." "Now that you've already told me a few things about yourself and your life, I realize how different we grew up, even though we grow up at the same time" "If my parents weren't so rich, I probably wouldn't have grown up the way I did...although I'll soon be old enough to live on my own live, I can't do much more than cook" "Didn't you ask anyone if they could teach you something?" "Our employees are paid to do everything themselves, so it's quite difficult to learn anything from them." "I don't know if it'll do you any good if I teach you what I know...After all, I grew up differently than you and I don't think that's very helpful in this day and age" Free flipped the fish over to the other side. "I appreciate it but yeah I don't think it would fit into today's timetable" "But as long as I can get by with it, it's all good" Lui said nothing and just watched the two dragons play with each other. "Are you hoping that your soulmate will take over?" "Once I'm on my own I want to do everything myself and who knows, maybe I can learn something from him or her." "Yeah, it would be really great to have someone to teach you new things and teach them what yourself can" Lui looked slightly at Free. If he only knew...
"Here but be careful, it's still hot." Lui took the branch with the fish. Free took the other one and used his pocket knife to extract the fish. Lui watched and was surprised that the blonde could do something like that. Free put a piece of edible in his mouth and handed the knife to Lui. "Uhm...I don't know whhat to do" "Oh, I'll do that for you. Here you have mine" The two traded and Free started picking up the other fish. Lui looked at the thing in his hands and took something Free had cut out between two fingers. It was wobbly but it wasn't the first time Lui had eaten fish. Still, Shirosagi was slightly disgusted with the stuff. He looked at the blonde who was eating pieces of his fish. The blue-haired slowly put the piece in the direction of his mouth and ate it. It tasted fishy but also smoky. "Does it taste good?" "I've never eaten fish like this before but yeah, it doesn't taste bad" Free smiled. "Glad to hear" Free speared more fish and they ate it all.
After the meal they relaxed a little, Fafnir and Luinor had come out of the river and were lying with the two on the riverbank. "Lui?" "Yes?" "It's nice to have a friend like you...I didn't have any friends until the day we met...I thought it would be like this forever but now that you're here... Even if I left for a completely different reason, I'm glad we met." Lui didn't know what to say. "I would like to stay here forever but Fafnir and I have to move on soon" "Soon?" "Yeah...I don't want to depend on you and bother you forever. You'll have a lot to do, too, won't you?" "...Yes..." "If you want, I'll stay with you until your father's gone and then we'd travel on, but don't think I'll forget you. Maybe we'll see each other again sometime?" "Yeah, that would be great..." "But right now I don't want to talk about something that isn't already. Let's enjoy today" Free sat up. He took off his shirt. "The last one in the water doesn't get dinner" He ran, the two dragons after him. Free looked at Lui, who looked at him. "Come on Lui. Join us in the water" Lui blushed slightly. "I don't really know..." "Oh please. Just for a few minutes" Lui sighed and got up. He removed his shirt, boots and feather boa and rolled up his pants before joining the others in the water.
As he put his foot in the water, he noticed how cold the water was. "It gets warmer when you're inside longer" Lui hated cold water. "Come on" Free held out his hand to the blue-haired teen, hoping to persuade Lui to come into the water with him. Hesitantly, the smaller one took the hand that was offered to him and Free slowly pulled him into the water. A cold shudder ran down Lui's back. It was cold and gross when he felt fish swimming past his leg. "It's fine. They won't hurt you" "It still feels weird..." "Yes, you have to get used to it at first, but if you do it all your life, it's not too bad anymore" "You get used to it this cold too?" "No, it always stays there, but we can move around a bit" "I prefer to stay here...The stones on the ground must be pretty slippery too...Injuring yourself once like that is enough" "It won't get warmer if you stop. I'll hold you tight too." The blonde held out his other hand, which Lui took. He still wasn't entirely comfortable, but he trusted Free. Lui fixed the ground with every step, while Free walked backwards with ease. "Please be careful" "I am, don't worry" Lui clawed at the other's arms to give him a hold as well. It took a little while for Lui to feel reasonably warm. "I'm glad you dared to come into the water. If you want, you're welcome to get out." Free let go of Lui's hands and made his way to the two dragons.
"Free..." The blonde looked back. "I think...I have something to tell you..." Free now turned fully to the blue-haired tenn. Shirosagi took a deep breath. "I lie-" A ring of bells interrupted him. Lui immediately recognized the ringtone of his mobile phone, which he took out of his pocket. It was his mom. Sighing, he picked up the phone and put his phone to his ear.
"Hey Mom" "Lui, where are you?" "I'm traveling with Free" "Your father is already here! Come home immediately" "We'll hurry up" Lui hung up and turned back to Free. "My mom...my father is at home expecting me. We have to go back" "All right. Fafnir! Luinor!" The two dragons came out of the water and the two boys dressed again before heading to Lui's home. "Hey, what were you trying to tell me earlier?" Lui looked at Free, but immediately lowered his gaze. "I...forgot" "Oh, not bad. Maybe you'll remember later" "Yes...Maybe" The flight back took a while, which is why the two only arrived at sunset. "We're back" They took off their boots and Lui headed towards the stairs. Free followed him because he didn't want to interfere in the family affairs of the other.
"You usually greet people you haven't seen for a few months" Lui stopped and so did Free. Standing in the dining room door was a man in a suit, dark blue hair like Lui's, and purple eyes. Lui wrinkled his nose a little. "Hello father. Bye father" Lui walked on and the blonde followed him. "Where are you going, young man?" "Far from you" "Who is the boy with you?" "None of your business" "It's my business. This is still my house" "He's a friend of mine, is that enough?" "And what is he doing here?" "He'll be here for the next few days" "You know school's back next week. You'd better get ready than meet-"
Lui had let the door fall shut and locked it. He didn't have a nerve to listen to his father. He settled into his bed. "You really don't want to talk to your father?" "No, first he asks a few things and then he just bitches. It's always the same. I'm tired of hearing that! Instead of being happy about what I've achieved, he just talks about what I didn't accomplish and what was the reason for my miserable work" Lui rolled his eyes and collapsed into his bed. "As long as I don't see him, he can't talk to me and if he does, you're still there too. My father doesn't talk about family matters in front of strangers." "It sounds like you're taking advantage of the fact that I'm there" "I would never take advantage of you, believe me. It was just a coincidence that he came back today. He's usually gone for months" "Isn't it hard not to see your father for so long?" "Hm...no, I'm actually glad I hardly ever see him" "You must know. Hey, I'm hungry, would it be ok if I got some? I can bring you some, too , if you want" "Hm, yes...although, I could order something too" "Order?" "You call restaurants and they prepare the food. After a few minutes, they deliver the food to your home. So you don't have to cook anything." "I've never done it, but it sounds good" Lui took his cell phone. "Come here, let's find something to eat"
When the doorbell rang, Free went to pick up the food. Lui had given him the money and everything went smoothly. "Young Man" Free was about to go upstairs when Lui's father's voice stopped him. "Good evening sir" "Who are you and where did my son meet you?" "My name is Free and I met Lui at school" Lui had guessed that his father would ask Free out along the way, so he had made up a few lies so as not to make his father even more skeptical. "How long have you known Lui?" "For a few months, I just moved here recently" "My son doesn't make friends very easily" "Yes, it was difficult at first but he and I both have dragon spirit animals and through them both Lui and I had a conversation and at some point it happened..." Mister Shirosagi eyed the boy. "If you'll excuse me, I have to get up or the food will get cold." Free walked on and disappeared into Lui's room. "You spoke to my father?" "Yes...he has a really strong presence" "Yeah, he's good at intimidating people" "I'm trying to stay strong" "You don't have to talk to him. It's none of his business who you are and what you do" "If you say so" Lui smiled. "Trust me" "I do" "Fine, now come here. Let's eat" "Yes"
The two sat on the floor watching TV. They had ordered pasta, spring rolls and chia seed pudding. While Lui ate with the chopsticks with no problem, Free didn't really know what to do with them. "How you do that?" Lui looked at Free. "Wait, I'll show you." Shirosagi put his noodle box down and scooted over to the blond. "Look here" Lui showed the older one how to hold the chopsticks in order to be able to eat with them. Free tried but it was harder than he thought. Again and again the noodles slipped out of the handle and then a single one or none remained. "Why is that so difficult?!" Lui laughed a little. It reminded him a little of himself when he first ate with chopsticks. "Wait, the spring rolls come with a fork, you can handle that." Lui handed the fork to the blonde. "No! I want to manage to eat a portion with it!" "You really don't have to do this" "Yes!" Free really tried and managed to get a good amount of noodles between the chopsticks after a few minutes. "Ah! I did it! Look Lui!" Shirosagi had to laugh a little when the blonde was happy like a child. "Wait, I'll take a picture of it" Lui took his phone and snapped a picture of Free's success. "And now in your mouth" De La Hoya guided the chopsticks with the noodles towards his mouth. "You have to keep the box underneath" But before Free could do this, the noodles fell out of the stick and luckily were caught by Lui's box. "Oh come on" Lui laughed a little. "But you managed to hold them with the chopstick" "Yes, success..." "You really wanted to eat with chopsticks, didn't you?" "Yes" Lui thought for a moment and then put his box on the table. "Give me your chopsticks" Free handed his chopsticks to the smaller one, who took noodles from Free's box. "Open your mouth" Free opened his mouth and Lui fed him the noodles. "Now it's a success" Red-cheeked, De La Hoya nodded. "Yes, that's what I call success..." Lui smiled, knowing full well what he had just done. "Now use the fork" "Mhm" Free took the cutlery and they continued to eat.
Inwardly, Lui already knew. He was in love with Free. Slowly his heart had accepted his fate and yet his mind seemed to intervene. For better or for worse, Lui was a person who listened more to his mind than to his heart or stomach. It was complicated and yet it was so simple. There was really no reason to ditch Free anymore, only his mind had to accept it and thus push his ego aside, because that was the only thing that didn't want to adapt to Free.
Free had been in love with the blue-haired for a while, although he knew it couldn't be him since they weren't soul mates. Nevertheless, his heart had chosen Shirosagi and he would like to give up his fate and choose Lui, but he knew that he could not and also that Lui himself was looking for his soul mate. He couldn't bring himself to hurt Lui that much...he was his only friend.
It was just for the best if he moved on soon and didn't delve further into his feelings for De La Hoya...It would be hopeless anyway and he would only hurt himself. It wasn't fair...why did he have to live in a world like this where he couldn't choose who to love? Why did he have to accept that his feelings didn't stand a chance? That he couldn't love Lui? He wanted it so badly and yet he wasn't able to resist.
It hurted...It hurted so damn.