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t h i r t y - t h r e e

Sunlight coming through the window woke Evan up. He covered his eyes with his arm and moved, only to be stopped by another being.

"Good morning," Jonathan whispered, kissing Evan's hair. "How did you sleep?"

Memories of the night before flooded the Asian's mind and he moved his arm away from his face, smiling. "Good, I suppose. I definitely feel well rested considering our... activities from yesterday."

Jonathan laughed and pulled Evan closer to his body. "That's great because we have a long day ahead of us. I have a lot planned."

"Like what?"

"Now what kind of fun would it be if I told you? C'mon, let's get dressed."

It was quite warm in Berlin, so Evan decided to dress simple, especially since he had no idea what they were doing. He was tying the laces of his black Vans when Jonathan walked back into the room from the bathroom.

"I'm so glad you decided to keep wearing short shorts," he stated. "Reminds me of when we..."

Evan knew why his boyfriend trailed off. He was going to say it reminded him of when they went to Luke's party.

"We're in a different country," Evan said, harsher than intended, "and even a different continent. That was then and this is now." Both shoes were tied; Evan sat up on the bed. "I don't want to think about it."

Jonathan sat next to him on the bed and grabbed his hand, kissing the top of it. "I know, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to bring it up. I know the shorts are a reminder, which is why I'm proud of you for continuing to wear them. I won't let anything happen to you ever again."

Evan pulled his hand away and walked towards the bedroom window, crossing his arms. "That's impossible and you know it."

"Nothing's impossible."

"We'll see about that."

Jonathan frowned. What was that supposed to mean?

• · • · •

The drive to where they were going was awkward at first, but eventually the air released its tension. Evan moved on from their previous conversation and went back to being excited for the upcoming activity, which was utterly shocking.

"A two hour bus ride and an hour boat ride on the River Spree? That's an amazing start to this trip."

What made the whole thing even better was that it was all private. Just Evan, Jonathan, and their tour guide. They were gonna get to see all of Berlin and learn its long, intriguing history. The ultimate tourist thing to do.

"Seid ihr Touristen?" the tour guide, Blake, asked when they were all on the bus.

"Ja," Evan replied, taking a seat next to Jonathan. "Wir kommen aus die Vereinigten Staaten."

"Sprecht ihr beide Deutsch?"

"Ich kann, er kann nicht. Mein Verständnis ist okay, aber mein sprechen ist besser."

Blake smiled and nodded. "Well I think you're doing outstanding, if I do say so myself, especially for being American. Have you taken classes?"

"In high school. I just continued to teach myself after graduating. I love German... and Germany. Are you from here?"

"Yes and no." Blake shrugged. "I was born in England, but moved here when I was still quite young. Luckily I didn't develop a British accent or else my German would sound really weird... Let's start this tour, shall we?"

The two sights Evan most definitely wanted to see were the Brandenburg Gate and the remains of the Berlin Wall, mainly because he was a sucker for history. He was called a nerd for a reason, after all.

Jonathan, on the hand, wasn't too interested in history. He liked learning from the past, but that was about it. However, he couldn't help but enjoy the light in Evan's eyes when the tour guide talked about the Gate and the Wall. The sights themselves were somewhat bad points in Germany's history, yet that didn't seem to faze Evan one bit.

Now Jonathan was even more impatient for what he had planned for the end of the trip.