POV: Leo
There was an uncomfortable silence. The stares were piercing until Leo interrupted them. "We don't have time for your staring now." His voice quivered, but he had to pull the two of them, Oliver and Christopher, away from each other before Christopher actually noticed something else. He seemed to be questioning the whole situation a little with a raised eyebrow, Leo didn't need to cheer that on again. "Get breakfast and get dressed," Leo said curtly, his heart still racing like crazy as he sat Oliver down in his raised chair, avoiding Christopher's gaze. Christopher sat down opposite Oliver in the chair at the dining table, leaning his elbows on the tabletop and continuing to stare at Oliver. Meanwhile, Leo was making sandwiches in the kitchen.
"You don't really look like your father," Christopher said. Leo's heart slipped. "People often tell me that," Oliver replied quietly, his hands tapping lightly on the tabletop until Leo put his food down for him. One of Oliver's eyebrows went up. "Dad, you put butter on my bread, I don't like butter," Oliver pouted. "Oh. I'm sorry, sweetheart," Leo gave Oliver a kiss on the forehead. "You're a completely different person with your son, it makes me jealous," Christopher said skeptically. "I just love my son, what's wrong with that?" Leo hissed back. "Do you think you can love me like that?" Leo shook his head, his heart beating faster "What the?" Leo gave Christopher an irritated look, but he seemed to be lost in his thoughts. - Surely he hadn't just meant that statement seriously? - "What did you say?" Leo now asked, Christopher was startled and looked at Leo: "What? I didn't say anything."
"Okay...?" Leo's heart stopped, it felt uncomfortable. I wonder if that was the side effect of the compatibility scores being so high? He preferred not to think about it any further and took Oliver's bread and put it in his mouth while he went into the kitchen and made Oliver a new sandwich, without butter. Christopher irritated him, so much so that he had buttered Oliver's bread, even though he knew that Oliver didn't like butter.
"Don't worry about it, I don't like butter either, I understand." How similar could the two of them be? Annoyed, Leo put a new slice of bread in front of Oliver. - I'm his father too, so why isn't he like me? They're almost identical, even when it comes to things like this. - Leo sighed, but Oliver's eyes sparkled. He knew Christopher was his father, that could be dangerous. Especially since he'd been told all his life that he wasn't much like Leo, so things like this had to make him all the happier.
"Eat up, please. We're already late," Leo interrupted the conversation. Oliver ate quickly and then got dressed straight away. Meanwhile, the two adults talked for a while and Leo tidied up on the side. "He's really not much like you. Does he take after his mother?" Leo swallowed. An awkward question, but at least it meant he didn't know it was his son. "Yes, you could say that," Leo replied curtly. "And where's his mother?" Leo was turned away from him and bit his own lower lip. "Dead," Leo had no intention of broaching the subject.
"Oh...That must be bad for you." Christopher tried to sound sympathetic, but Leo could immediately tell in his voice that he was happy that Leo and Oliver didn't have another person in their lives.
"It works. Being a single parent is always a bad thing, but it's not Oliver's fault, Oliver is a really good and very clever child, the problem is more the parents of the other children. The other children often ostracized him because his parents forbade them to play with Oliver because he only has one father." 'And what's wrong with that?" "You know, we lived in a small town where there were a lot of conservative families who assumed that a child needed at least two parents, if not a mother and a father, to raise it properly." "Bullshit. The fact that Oliver is so well-behaved and intelligent proves that you're doing at least as good a job on your own as any other parent with two." Leo laughed. "Thanks for the compliment." Leo was already putting on his shoes and jacket, and Oliver came out of his room and followed Leo's example. Leo just had to help him tie his shoelaces and then took him in his arms.
"And what are you planning now? We're leaving now. You're not going to stay in MY apartment, are you?" "I thought I'd come with you and drive you." Leo reacted quickly and therefore unusually bitchy to Christopher's suggestion: "Certainly not." "Why not?" Christopher responded, slightly annoyed by the bitchy answer. "Yes, why not?" Oliver intervened, his eyes begging Christopher to come along.
Leo took a deep breath: "Oliver, you know Christopher was on TV. He's really famous and it wouldn't be good if people saw him and us together, he could get into a lot of trouble, you know?" "Why would he get in trouble if they saw us with him?" Oliver didn't understand. "People are evil. There are a lot of people who divide other people into groups. They think that some people are better than others, higher up. And Christopher is one of those people who people think is better than everyone else. He comes from a traditional family, a very famous and rich one, and he has achieved a lot himself, set a record and holds a high office in the military. I am just an unknown former soldier, a single parent with one child and no other parent. There would be many people who would give us, and especially Christopher, problems if they saw us together, thinking we were a bad influence and not good enough for him. And we wouldn't want Christopher to get into trouble, would we?" Oliver nodded, tears gathering in his eyes.
"So am I a bad person?" Oliver asked sadly. "No, my darling," Leo hugged him, "some people are just stupid, you can't classify people by that. Only according to whether they do something bad or good, okay? So you're a good boy." Oliver sniffled: "Okay." Christopher cleared his throat: "When it comes to me, what people say about me, I really don't give a fuck what the fuckers say about me and if they get too close to you, I'll kill them, simple as that." "One." Leo flicked Christopher against the forehead. "You don't use swear words around kids or I'll kill you. Second." Leo stood on tiptoe and whispered something in Christopher's ear so Oliver couldn't hear, "If anyone, anyone, gets too close to Oliver, I'll kill them, got it?" Leo smiled coldly and stepped away from Christopher. It was also a threat to him. This was Leo as Christopher knew him. Christopher couldn't hold back his grin, which in turn annoyed Leo, as it came across as if he wasn't taking him seriously, but as he didn't have the time or inclination for a discussion, he just sighed: "If you've understood that, then go home now."
"No. At least I'll drive you. I won't get out of the car either, I promise. Your car has tinted windows, I know that."
"How do you know that?"
"I know you, okay? The rest is...never mind now." Christopher held back and tried not to use any more swear words. "Why do you insist on spending time with us?" Leo asked, annoyed, grabbing his keys and opening the front door.
"Get out of here. Get out of here first."
Leo shooed Christopher out of the apartment and locked the door behind him. "I only found you again yesterday, why should I let you go now?" Leo sighed at Christopher's reply. "You're so afraid of loss, you really should go to therapy. But I'm not going to get rid of you for now anyway, but I'm warning you: never get out of the car, understand?" "Understood."
The three of them got into the car, Christopher in the driver's seat, Leo in the passenger seat and Oliver in the back in his child seat. Leo just stared out of the window while Oliver started to thaw out and pepper Christopher with questions. These were normal questions for children, but Leo knew that Oliver would never ask such questions, he wasn't usually interested in other people, he just listened, he was curious but not particularly talkative due to all the rejection he had experienced. Oliver probably just wanted to know about his real father, who was so much like him. Thankfully, Oliver didn't swear all the time like Christopher did - Leo laughed and shook his head as he imagined little Oliver swearing. Please don't, at least let him be more like me in character, he thought to himself.
The questions related to basic things, such as Christopher's favorite food and his favorite color. The conversation seemed informal. This actually put Leo at ease, but he didn't contribute anything to the conversation until they arrived at the kindergarten. It was directly opposite the government building, Leo's new workplace, as the kindergarten had actually been created for these very government officials and their children. When they pulled up on the side of the road, Leo got out of the car and opened the side door to lift Oliver out of the car. "Please drive my car into the underground parking garage of the government building across the street and leave it there. The bill you need is in the glove compartment. Then please go home, I don't have time to deal with you any more," Leo said dryly. It may sound mean, but Leo didn't need to be seen with him, either in public or at work. Leo slammed the car door behind Oliver before Christopher could answer and entered the kindergarten without looking back.
"Good afternoon, you're probably Mr. Neumann and that handsome little man in your arms must be Oliver, right?" A young, slim lady with brown hair came towards Leo, wearing a blue apron stained with paint. "I'm Nadine, Nadine Auer." Oliver clung to Leo. He couldn't be as open with everyone as he was with Christopher. "Oliver, my darling, I know it's not easy to get started. But I'm sure you'll make new friends here, we're in a big city and the kids won't be as mean as they are in a small town." Nadine looked at the two of them. "Because I'm a single parent, the parents where we lived before had a few problems when their children had contact with Oliver." Nadine smiled gently and held out her hand to Oliver. "We have two other children from single parents here, so you're not alone." Oliver nodded and let go of his father, who then sat him down on the floor. Oliver took Nadine's hand and Leo stroked his hair again.
"I'll see you later, sweetheart. I'm working across the street, so if there's anything, you can tell Nadine any time and she'll call me, okay?" Oliver nodded. "I love you." "I love you too, Dad." "You know everything you need to know, don't you? I'm sure he was told everything you need to know about Oliver in advance." "Yes, you have everything too? Schedule, phone numbers and stuff?" "Yes." Nodded Leo. "Just make sure you let me know if anything comes up, okay? And definitely don't let any strangers pick him up, okay? Just me." "Yeah, all right. We're used to that here anyway, not even giving the kids to the grandparents." "Very well, goodbye then." Leo waved to Oliver as he left and left the kindergarten. His soul felt heavy. He didn't like being separated from his son.
POV Oliver
Oliver looked after his father for a few more seconds. "You and your dad love each other very much, don't you Oliver?" "Yes. We love each other incredibly, after all, it was always just the two of us." "Are you sad that it's just you and your dad?" Oliver shook his head. "No, my dad always gave me everything I needed." "Oh, so that's good then. So you don't miss your mom at all?" Oliver stopped and pulled Nadine by the hand. "What are you trying to tell me?" Nadine looked at Oliver, perplexed, because she wouldn't have expected such an answer from a child.
She laughed sheepishly: "You know, I thought your dad was quite handsome and well, I think it was a bit awkward of me, but I wanted to ask your permission to ask your dad out." Oliver just stared at her and then replied dryly, "No. You're not his type either." "What do you mean?" "You have breasts and no penis." His voice was cold. Nadine's face suddenly turned red. "What...?!" She stuttered, but quickly calmed down again. "Oh, your dad likes men?" Oliver nodded. "I think so." Oliver knew who both his parents were and he also knew that his father was different with Christopher than with other people. They were close.
"So your mom is also a male omega?" Oliver briefly considered answering the question, but Nadine misinterpreted it, "Oh, what am I asking a child," she laughed falsely again, but Oliver answered with a, "Yes, my mom is a male omega." It was the truth and not wrong to answer it that way as his father claimed to be an alpha when he wasn't, so Oliver could answer yes. Nadine looked at him again, irritated. "You're pretty clever for your age, you even know what an Omega is." Oliver shrugged his shoulders. "Thank you. I get that a lot."
The two of them entered the group room. Nadine cleared her throat and then spoke loudly into the room. "Children, it's time for the morning circle. I'll introduce you to your new group member." The children stared at Oliver for a moment, then began to tidy up and take a chair, arranging them in a circle at the edge of the room. Oliver also took a chair and sat down next to Nadine.
"So, my dears. This here next to me is Oliver. He's just moved here with his dad, and of course his dad now works with your parents, so be kind to him, just as your parents will be kind to his dad, yes? Is there anything else you want to say, Oliver?" She looked at Oliver. He nodded: "Hello, I'm Oliver, I'm four years old. I come from a small town and I've never had many friends, so please be considerate of me. Thank you very much." Oliver bowed slightly. Nadine was again amazed at the maturity of a child, which was obvious. "All right," Nadine laughed, stood up, took a book from the desk and sat back down in the circle of chairs. "I promised you I'd tell you a story today." She turned back to Oliver. "There was a very special person on TV the last few days who fascinated the children. Maybe you've seen him on TV too, Oliver. His name is Christopher Wollseif and he's in the military. His unusual purple eyes are particularly striking and the children asked me why he has this eye color. And there is actually a very interesting legend about this. I promised to read this story to the children."
She opened the book.
"All right, then. Once upon a time, several thousand years ago, at a time when dragons still existed. The world was ruled by the King of Dragons, who had snow-white hair and yellow eyes that were passed down from family to family. Under him served 7 dragon generals, today they are only distinguished by their distinctive colors. The black dragon, the yellow dragon, the green dragon, the red dragon, the blue dragon, the brown dragon and the orange dragon. The black dragon was the strongest among them and the most loyal to the royal house. He organized and led the dragon generals in the name of the king, settled disputes between them and gave them orders to protect the world. Now it was the case that every 100 years the rule was passed on to the prince or princess in turn and married to one of the dragon generals to produce a new king or queen. In Jun, it was the yellow dragon's turn to marry into the royal family.
However, the yellow dragon's family had other plans. They didn't just want to marry into the royal family, they wanted to take over the reigns. They waited until everything had calmed down after the wedding and the wedding night and then, on the day when the gender of the new offspring was announced, the child of the royal family and the yellow dragon, a terrible event happened. The yellow dragons and the associated dragon general killed everyone who was present that day. The royal house was completely wiped out and so were some dragon families, namely those who had not betrayed the royal house with the yellow dragons. Not only the yellow dragons wanted a change, the houses of the brown, orange and red dragons followed the example of the yellow dragon house and helped it. The blue dragon remained neutral and stayed out of it. Only the green and black dragons remained loyal and they secretly managed to get the princess, who was pregnant with the prince, out of the castle and hide her. Unfortunately, the enemy was outnumbered. Despite the fact that the black dragon was the most powerful after the princess, who unfortunately could not use her powers due to her pregnancy, the enemies were outnumbered and so after a few months they found the princess and her two protectors.
The princess wanted to put an end to it all and sacrificed herself and the child in her womb for the survival of the black and green dragons, commanding them to live and flee. The yellow dragon thought he had achieved his goal, but there was one thing he did not know. With the final death of the royal house, all the dragons were completely stripped of their powers and were just normal humans with normal powers and abilities. The only thing they had left was a physical trait from being dragons, like the Wollseifs. They come from the black dragon family and have retained their violet eyes over the millennia. Even today, it is said that the families of the green dragon and the black dragon mourn the loss of their princess.
Each of the original dragon families still holds a high position in the various countries due to the fact that their origins are still valued today. After the plan to overthrow the royal house failed, they scattered across the planet and the traitors vowed to mend their ways. Whether they have really changed, I don't know. There is still a dispute between certain families today, they can't forgive each other...," Nadine closed the book.
"I hope I've answered your questions about the purple eyes." The children became restless and amazed, while Oliver became thoughtful. I'm a member of the black dragon family? How cool! I'm glad it's the black dragon and not the yellow one - he thought to himself and he couldn't hold back a cheerful smile.
"Let's play dragons!" shouted a little girl, jumping up from her chair. "I want to be the princess!" she added enthusiastically. "I want to be the black dragon general!" shouted a boy with brown hair and green eyes. "No! You're much better suited to the green dragon!" argued the little girl. "Then I want to play the black dragon!" shouted two other boys in confusion. The girl just shook her head and pointed at Oliver. "He should play the black dragon! He has pitch-black hair! That fits much better." Oliver had to smile, stood up, put his chair to one side and then went to the other children.
The girl shook his hand. "I am Mina. I'm playing the princess! So make sure you save me, will you?" Oliver giggled slightly: "Thanks for letting me play." "No problem." The boy with the brown hair also shook his hand. "I'm Jonathan. My dad's a single parent too, I know what that's like. Only my mom is still alive." The children had probably overheard the conversation with Nadine. Mina hit Jonathan once on the back of the head. "That was really mean of you, Jonathan. You don't say things like that."
"Ouch... I'm sorry...," Jonathan said meekly. "It's all right, it's no big deal. I don't even know my mother," Oliver lied. "I have two moms," Mina interjected. "You can come and visit me sometime and play with me, then I can give you one of my moms for the time being." Oliver laughed, for the first time in a long time. He liked it here. "Yes, thank you. I will gratefully accept the offer." Oliver bowed, in keeping with his role. "My princess."
POV Leo
Leo checked three more times before entering the building that the sound on his cell phone was on. He knew the experiences Oliver had had with other children, how he had been ostracized, and the feeling of discomfort was correspondingly lingering. Sighing, he got into the elevator and rode to the floor he had been told to go to. An older man with gray hair was already waiting for him there and held out his hand. "I'm the boss here, my name is Jason Segel, and I'm going to introduce you and show you around. Nice to meet you, Mr. Neumann." Leo squeezed his hand firmly and then followed the man through the office. "We took a closer look at your CV and realized that you have no experience of office work. Accordingly, we've decided on our own authority that you won't be working in the office." Leo raised an eyebrow.
"Don't worry, you'll still have normal working hours, you'll just spend them differently. We would like to employ you as a trainer for our new recruits for the practice. After all, you have a lot of experience in that field. You won't have to do anything other than accompany the practical exercises, house-to-house combat, open field, monster simulation, shooting exercises and sniper training. We've already announced that you'll be a veteran extraordinaire with a one hundred percent positive mission outcome rate. Even older recruits should appreciate you for that." Leo nodded.
He liked his new job better than the one he had actually been promised in the office and if the working hours didn't change, he was quite happy with it anyway. "So this office isn't your new workplace, but I'll still introduce you first so that people can turn to you, or vice versa if you need help." The older gentleman cleared his throat. "Ladies and gentlemen, your attention, please. This here is your new colleague Leonard Neumann. He will be training the new recruits for field operations, as he has immense combat experience. Please respect him as much as the others. Thank you for your attention." The people looked up briefly from their desks, followed their superior's words and went back to work without further ado.
"I'll show you to your workstation now, we just have to go down the stairs through the corridor into the hall." Leo didn't say anything, he nodded. At least the whole thing distracted him from his thoughts. When he arrived in the hall, a man about his age, with brown hair and green eyes, came straight towards him. "Benjamin, this is your new instructor, Leonard Neumann. Please introduce him to the team and hand him the documents on each individual so that he can get to know them. Mr. Neumann is also, like you, a single father and has a son who also goes to the kindergarten across the street. I therefore hope that you will welcome him here with a lot of understanding."
Benjamin smiled at Leo and shook his hand. "Benjamin Haze. It's a pleasure to meet you. I know how hard it can be to be a single parent. My ex-wife... or rather ex-husband, as you might call it today, left us a year ago and things have been going haywire ever since. I hope that our sons - my son is called Jonathan, by the way - will get on as well as we do. Because I've already heard a lot about you." Leo became skeptical. "From me?" "Yes, from you. You are a legend in our field and received an award at a young age for your exceptional achievements during your missions." "That's correct. But I didn't know it had become public knowledge." Benjamin put his hand on Leo's shoulder. "Well, publicized is relative. Your name is only known in our area, don't worry."
Leo wanted to slap Benjamin's hand off his shoulder, but he took a breath. He couldn't make enemies on his first day, so he let it happen. "I see you understand each other. I'll leave you in peace with that. You'll take care of the rest, yes, Benjamin?" "Of course, sir." Benjamin let go of Leo and went ahead, Leo followed him. He explained a few more things about the institution, the training and the current members. "By the way, you smell nice. What kind of shower gel do you use? It smells like lemongrass." Leo smelled himself. That's right, he smelled funny. But it wasn't his shower gel. It was his pheromones, which for some reason had been coming out for a long time. Was it the reunion with Christopher? What a load of bullshit.
"Ah, yes. That's my shower gel, lemongrass. I like it, do you mind?" "No, absolutely not, I think it smells good." "Well then." I have to think of something, not that the smell is getting worse, that means I have to pay Jasper a visit again for a long time - Leo sighed inwardly - But it doesn't seem to be that strong, so it will probably still have time, I have other things to do first. Until then, I'll just pass it off as my shower gel. Just to be on the safe side, I'll write Jasper a message -
After Leo had finished work, the first thing he did was to get his car out of the underground garage. Christopher seemed to have carried out his order and at least he wasn't still waiting for him in the car, which Leo would have thought Christopher was capable of. He then picked Oliver up from kindergarten. He hadn't seen his son look so radiant for a long time and he had also made friends, as he said goodbye to them before getting into the car to see his father. "You look happy, my darling. How was your first day of kindergarten? I see you've made some friends, that makes me happy." "Dad, dad, dad. I'm so glad we moved, the children are much nicer here than in Schönstadt (the small town they lived in before). Jonathan and Mina especially! They're totally cool." Leo smiled. He had never seen his son so excited. "You've made friends with Jonathan? I met his father at work today. He seems like a really nice guy." "Yes, he's lovely! And very honest." Oliver giggled. Leo felt his son had changed.
"Nadine thought you were pretty, by the way. But I told her you weren't interested in her." Leo swallowed. "What?" He coughed. "What did you tell her?" "That you like men. Isn't that right?" Leo coughed two more times. "What makes you think that?" "Well, I can see how you treat Uncle Christopher and how you treat others. You like him more than the others, don't you?" Perplexed, Leo looked at the road. His son was pretty good at observing other people. "Well, you're not entirely wrong. He's special to me, after all, he's your father." Leo noticed Oliver staring at him from the side as he turned into the last street in the car.
"Speaking of father. Did you know that Uncle Christopher is descended from the black dragon?" Leo parked the car. "Yes, I heard about that story when I was little." "That means I'm a dragon too, right? I have purple eyes too." "Yes, you're his son, so judging by the story, you'd be a dragon too." Oliver stared at the floor. "I'm glad I'm descended from the black dragon and not the yellow one. Why were the yellows so stupid, Dad?" Leo took his and Oliver's things and got out of the car. "Do you remember what I told you this morning? Some people are just evil and think they're better than everyone else. That's exactly the case with the yellow dragons. They're just real assholes." Short pause. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to swear, especially after I told Christopher off for it this morning." "It's okay, Dad." Leo took Oliver in his arms and carried him up to the apartment.
"But Dad. Do you know the yellow dragon's family? You were so angry, as if you knew them personally. Are they really still as bad as they were in the story?" "Yes," Leo unlocked the apartment and looked around to make sure no one else was there. "I know the yellow dragon family and I'll tell you one thing: if you ever come across a person with yellow eyes, run away, call for help or anything else. They're bad people and they'll never, ever do you any good, understand?" Oliver nodded. "Okay, got it, Dad."
Leo knew the yellow dragon's family, or the Farahs. After the death of his parents, this family adopted Leo from the orphanage, because the head of the family had been Leo's dead father's best friend. However, what at first seemed like a heartfelt action was only a pretense. They only adopted him because he was an Omega and he was only mistreated by them. They told the son of the family from the beginning that Leo was his, that Leo was born to carry his child. They treated him like cattle, locked him in a closet and only gave him enough food to survive. When he first came into his heat, puberty, he was regularly sexually abused by the son until he finally managed to escape and sought shelter in the military. The yellow dragon's family was still looking for him, which is why he made the deal with the government to hide from them.
No, he hadn't had a good experience with them and if they found out where he was and that he had a son, his life, such as it was, would be over. Leo gritted his teeth as the memories came flooding back to him. He would never let anything happen to Oliver, no matter what means he had to use. Oliver noticed his father's grim expression and took him in his arms. "Dad, it's all right. Christopher will protect us too." Christopher certainly would, but Leo didn't want him involved. He had nothing to do with it and nobody needed another war between the yellow and the black dragon. Leo sighed and put Oliver down. "It's all right. I can protect us all by myself. I'm very strong, you know." "Yes, Papa, you are strong and my Papa. My dad is the coolest of them all, even cooler than the black dragon," Oliver tried to cheer him up. "Thanks Oliver." Leo stroked his hair.
"Shall we cook together today?" "Uh yeah," Oliver was happy that he finally had time with his father again. So they sat down in the kitchen and started cooking. Meanwhile, the front door opened and someone sneaked into the kitchen with them.
"Hi." Leo was startled and turned around with the knife in his hand. The stranger grabbed his wrist and stopped Leo's movement. "Aiaiaiai, are you really going to kill me?" Leo stared into violet eyes. "Oh God, Christopher. What are you doing here?" Christopher grinned at him and pulled Leo close to him. "I've decided I'm living here now." Leo dropped the knife from his hand onto the floor. Oliver turned around, beaming with joy: "Really?" Oliver's words echoed throughout the apartment. "No!" Leo replied in horror and picked the knife up from the floor again. "Oh, why not?" Christopher breathed into his ear.
Leo pushed Christopher away from him and hit him on the head with his fist. "Where did you come up with such bullshit?" "Don't know, thought it was funny." "Absolutely not. Don't put a flea in the kid's ear. Besides, just because we were on a mission together doesn't mean you know me. And Oliver doesn't know you either." Even though Leo knew Oliver was dying to get to know his father better.
"For months. And we had sex," Christopher added, Leo suddenly put his hand to his lips and his face turned bright red. "Another reason not to. You can't even express yourself properly in front of a child." Christopher pulled Leo's hand away from his lips. "What? Don't you want him to know about our relationship?"
"What kind of relationship?" Oliver looked at the whole thing with glittering eyes. "Do I really have a second dad now? Really now?! This is the best day of my life!" shouted the usually calm and reserved boy. "Look what you've done! He still believes you..." "Because he wishes he did," Christopher finished his sentence. "Bringing up a child on your own must be exhausting. I can really help you with that. Leo held his head and walked away from the two of them and sat down on the couch. He took a deep breath.
"What makes you think we're in a relationship? And why, answer me this honestly, are you so obsessed with me? We haven't seen each other for years and yet you've been frantically trying to interfere in my life since the first day we met again. What's wrong with you?" Christopher's grin disappeared from his face.
"To be honest, I don't know either. Ever since I woke up after my operation, I've had a craving to see you and be with you. It's not something I can control. I've had this smell in my nose ever since you helped me. I didn't even really know your smell, but I knew immediately that it was yours. And the only thing that calms that craving, no matter what I try, is you alone. I tried fucking drugs, fucking other men and women, but none of it helped. All I could think about was you. You've been the drug I couldn't get off ever since. That's all I can tell you about it..."
Leo listened to his words. So he had slept with others in that time? That was the only thing he had understood at first, and his insides tightened. He shook his head.
Wait a minute, what was that saying? Back then Leo had stabilized him with his ability, probably that's how Leo's pheromones got stuck on Christopher, but for him to have aftereffects from it? Was it because of the high compatibility values? Were they fated partners, so to speak? But the reaction was a little too blatant. Leo's thoughts got a little mixed up. It wasn't as if he hadn't thought about Christopher over the years or even had the desire to see him again or sleep with him again. But it wasn't as strong as it had been with Christopher.
"So please, let me stay with you until we've worked out what's behind this. I don't want to keep torturing myself like I have for the last few years. You know me well enough to have seen for yourself how shitty my condition has been over the last few years. I'm sure you've seen the press reports. You've seen me." Leo tried to recall the reports about Christopher over the last few years. It was true, he looked dull, had dark circles under his eyes, just as Leo remembered.
"Dad..." Oliver listened to all this, his joy had died down a little, but he sat down on the sofa with Leo and took him in his arms. "Dad, can't we give it a try? I'd be really happy, then we wouldn't be so alone...then you wouldn't have to do it all by yourself..." "Honey, please let me think about it."
Well, I'd also like you to try it out," a fourth voice joined in. Everyone turned to the front door in irritation. "Uncle Jasper!" Oliver jumped up from the couch and ran towards Jasper. "Long time no see, little monster." Jasper stroked Oliver's hair. Christopher's expression turned grim. "And you are?" He gritted his teeth. "An old friend of Leo's." Christopher reared up in front of Jasper, he was barely a head taller than Jasper. "Don't worry, we never hooked up. Not my type, not interested." Jasper pushed past Christopher.
Leo gave him an annoyed look. "And how did YOU get in here now?" "I'm your best friend, of course I know your door code is Oliver's birthday, idiot." "Do you all always have to break into my apartment without permission?" hissed Leo, who was still sitting on the couch. "Don't get off the subject, Leo."
"How much of the conversation did you hear?" "I'd say from the point when Mr. Christopher Wollfseif suggested we move in here."
"So everything?"
"Yup."
"And you think that's a good idea?"
"You know me. I'm very interested in his condition. I'd also keep an eye on you. It doesn't have to be forever." Christopher looked a little confused.
"Jasper is a doctor and a researcher," Leo explained.
"First and foremost a researcher!" Jasper added. "Leo's always been a bit of a special case, but to have another one like this run into my eyes..."
- The other part of my specialty. It was clear that Jasper was interested. The other part to the highest values, who was apparently still suffering from the effects, perfect fodder for Jasper - Leo thought to himself and sighed loudly.
"You guys are exhausting... fine by me. But Christopher, you get your own room, you don't sleep with me and please respect my and Oliver's privacy. Jasper, you take responsibility for this lousy idea." Jasper grinned. "Of course my lord." Jasper turned to Christopher. "We'll exchange phone numbers, you come to me regularly and update me on your condition." Christopher's expression loosened slightly. "Okay." Oliver cried out: "Yay! Really the best day of my life." He now ran towards Christopher and snuggled up to his leg.
"Monster, you're in a strange mood. You're usually so distant," Jasper said. "I'm just having a great day," Oliver sulked. "Leo, we need to talk again. The two of us." Leo nodded. It was about his medication and dealing with Christopher. He got up from the couch.
"Christopher, will you play with Oliver for a while? We still have something to do. You can pick up your things afterwards, if you like. Don't you think your father will have problems with you moving in here?" Christopher shrugged his shoulders.
"I don't care what the old man says. He's got nothing more to say to me." Christopher knelt down and took Oliver in his arms. "Let's play some more, shall we, kid?" Oliver nodded. "But don't get any ideas about going out with him or taking him to your parents' house, you're known like a sore thumb and it would only cause Oliver problems." "I'm not stupid." "I'm just saying." Leo sighed and put his shoes and jacket back on. "We're off for now then." Jasper and Leo left the apartment, they couldn't talk about it in front of them after all. Christopher wasn't allowed to hear the content of the conversation.
Christopher looked after the two of them with a gloomy expression, but then went into his room with Oliver. "And what are we going to do now, Oliver?" "Let's paint something together and talk." Oliver sat down on the floor and took two sheets of paper and a lot of pens from his desk. Then they went back into the living room together and started drawing. "What do you want me to draw?" Christopher asked calmly. "A black dragon!" Olivier said with motivation. "A black dragon? Why a black dragon...?" "You are a black dragon, aren't you? Then surely you know what they look like!" Christopher grinned. "Where did you hear that?" "Nadine read us the story of the world, the story of the dragons, in kindergarten today. Your family, the black dragons, that's so cool!" Oliver enthused, continuing to draw on his piece of paper.
"My family isn't that cool." "No?" Oliver looked up from his sheet of paper. "My parents are very strict, very fucking controlling, very racist and very sexist." Oliver didn't ask any more questions. "You've used another swear word. Dad would spank you if he heard that." The two of them laughed a little. "That's true. But your dad is a great person." "Yes, that's true." "Do you have any more family, or is it just you?" Oliver shook his head. "Just us." "What about your mother's family?" Oliver shook his head and repeated: "Just us. It was always just the two of us." "So you don't know your mother at all?" Oliver continued to shake his head. He needed to get off the subject quickly, because he didn't want to lie to Christopher. "Jasper was still there, he was even there when I was born." "Is that so?" Christopher paused his drawing. "Does your dad like Jasper?" "Yes, he does..." Christopher cracked his jaw. "You don't have to be jealous." Oliver stared into Christopher's eyes.
Surprised, he replied: "Why do you think that?" "Dad likes you more than him. It's just the way he treats you." "Do you think so? I don't have the feeling that he likes me and, above all, I'm so...pushy." "If Dad really didn't want that, he would have said so, he could have easily kicked you out and changed the password, but he didn't." Short pause. "Oliver, you're pretty observant, you know that? You know your dad pretty well." "I know, I'm often told."
Christopher was just about to say something else when his phone suddenly rang. His expression was grim as he read the name on the phone. "What do you want?" He answered the phone with these words. "I've been trying to reach you the whole time, where are you?" The other voice bellowed so that Oliver could hear it. "None of your business," Christopher replied, annoyed, "I guess it is my business! You live here! And besides, you missed your appointment with your fiancée! You know how important it is for us to be on good terms with the yellow dragon's family if we want to finally put our differences aside after thousands of years!" "I'm not interested in marrying the family's daughter, I've told you that before!" "You're so selfish. Think about the future of our family! You're old enough. You have to produce offspring." "That's my business, I'll marry whoever I want and certainly not anyone from the yellow dragon's family, forget it." Christopher hung up the phone.
Oliver listened carefully to the call. He got up and walked over to Christopher, who had stood up in excitement and tugged at his trouser leg. "You...don't you want to marry my dad? You like him a lot, don't you?" "Yes, if I could, I'd marry him in a heartbeat. Like I said earlier, I'm addicted to him." "Why does your dad want you to marry another woman?" "How do you know that was my father?" "I guessed...But why one of the yellow dragon family?" Oliver shivered slightly as he remembered his father's words warning him about the yellow dragon family.
"What's wrong, Oliver?" Christopher had calmed down and sat on the floor with Oliver. "Why are you shaking?" "My dad told me something earlier that scared me a bit. He said that the yellow family is very bad. They must have done bad things to my dad. And I should just stay away from them." "Your father knows the Farah family? Do you know what he had to do with them?" Oliver shook his head and sat down on Christopher's lap. For whatever reason, Christopher felt a connection with the boy and Oliver felt the same, only he knew why. "No, I don't know. But he was serious and he really doesn't like her."
The front door opened again and Leo greeted them both with a surprised, "You two got close quickly, didn't you?" he laughed lightly. "Did you manage to sort everything out?" grumbled Christopher. He still wasn't convinced by Jasper. "Yes, it's all sorted out. I brought your medicine too, Oliver." Oliver nodded. "What does Oliver need medicine for? Is he ill?" "Yes, sort of. He has something like chronic eye inflammation and needs eye drops every day." "Oh, so nothing serious?" "Are you worried about my child?" Leo laughed. Christopher looked at Oliver. "Possibly..." "I wasn't expecting that answer." Leo's face became a little more serious, but his features softened. "Well, I don't know either. Somehow I feel connected to him, maybe because he's your child. I know he's not my kid, but I'd like to treat him that way." "Interesting approach," Leo's heart raced a little.
At that moment, he almost felt sorry for having to keep lying to Christopher, but it was safer that way, for Oliver and himself, who knew how long this false obsession with him would go on. Leo sighed. "Oliver, you need to go to bed now. Eat a snack and then we'll get you ready for bed. Christopher, go and get your things now. I won't repeat myself again, if it's not you now, I might change my mind." "All right," Christopher grumbled and lifted Oliver off his lap.
"I'm going now then. See you later." He stroked Oliver's hair. "Sleep well, I'll see you in the morning." "See you tomorrow," Oliver said and yawned.
With that, the door slammed shut and Oliver and Leo were alone. "Dad, I like Dad Christopher...can't he stay forever?" Leo's heart skipped a beat. "I don't know, Oliver my darling, I don't know." "But you like him too and he likes you too, don't you?" "Oliver." Leo sat Oliver down in his chair. "Unfortunately, it's not that simple." Oliver pouted, a few tears gathering in his eyes, but he swallowed his sadness. "I'm sorry, son, I can't promise you anything as far as that's concerned." Leo stroked his hair. They didn't talk much as they ate, Oliver was tired, it was a lot for one day, while Leo was completely preoccupied with his thoughts. Afterwards, Leo and Oliver brushed their teeth, changed their clothes and Leo put Oliver to bed.
"Are you still waiting for Christopher for me?" Oliver asked tiredly, Leo nodded. "I can do that. But you're going to sleep now, okay?" "Mhm," Leo gave Oliver another kiss on the forehead. "I love you." "I love you too, Dad." "Good night, sweetheart." With those words, Leo left Oliver's room and sat down on the couch in the living room to watch some TV while he waited for Christopher. Two hours passed and Christopher still hadn't returned. Getting the most important things shouldn't take that long, should it? He knew that Christopher's family also lived in this town, so he hadn't gone far either. Had he changed his mind after all? Slowly, he had to admit to himself, he was getting a little worried. Either he had lied to him and hadn't meant it, or something had happened. Leo tapped his foot on the floor.
"Dad?" Oliver came out of his room sleepily. "Where's Christopher?" "Why are you awake?" "I'm kind of nervous," Oliver said, sitting down next to Leo on the couch and leaning against him. "Why is that?" "I don't know, something doesn't feel right about Christopher not being here yet... you know, he was on the phone with his dad earlier, they were shouting at each other. Something about his dad trying to force him to marry him off to a yellow dragon and that he should have kids..." Leo stroked Oliver's hair.
"What are you saying?" He tried to remain calm, but he understood Oliver's uneasy feeling now. "Yeah...he doesn't want this though...Isn't it enough that he has me?" Oliver looked Leo straight in the eye. A purple hue began to shine through the blue color of his eyes. "He doesn't know he has you and his father certainly doesn't." "But why shouldn't he know? If they all know he has a child, he won't have to marry them..."
"Oliver," Leo now said seriously. "He and especially his father mustn't know. That would put us all in danger. I can't tell you everything, but I can tell you that none of them would be happy about it. I'm not the right person to bring a dragon's child into the world. They would want to kill us, Oliver. Please understand and remember that. This is important."
Tears ran silently down Oliver's cheeks. "I just want a normal family, like everyone else...with my daddies..." Leo kissed Oliver on the head several times. "I know Oliver, I know. I'm sorry..." Oliver sniffled. A brief silence.
"So they want him to marry the daughter of the yellow dragon's family?" "Yup, but he doesn't want to. He hates the yellow dragons, he said. But his father wants to force him into it to make peace. He shouldn't be so selfish and do it for the family, I think he said at the end," the tears were still rolling down his cheeks. "Not that they're going to lock him up against his will now to force him to...," Leo murmured quietly. "What?" Oliver startled. "Shit, I said that out loud..." "Dad, don't swear. You told Christopher not to do that too!" "Sorry." Leo reached for his cell phone and searched through his list, only to discover that he didn't have Christopher's phone number. "Fu..." he almost cursed again.
He dialed Jasper's phone number instead. "What's going on at this time of night? I'm already in bed." "Lie. Jasper, you're probably in a bar right now, hitting on anything that isn't necessary and nail-proof." "Gotcha, so what's going on?" "Did you exchange phone numbers with Christopher or not?" "Hm, yes, I did. We met in front of the house just before he left to get his things. He gave me a lift a few meters away, why?"
"Oliver and I have a really bad feeling about this. Can you give me his number?" "Hm, I guess that's called family instinct, isn't it? But sure, I can do that." "Did he say anything else to you? That he's not coming back and that he lied or something?" "Leo, you're paranoid. The guy loves you, he's been obsessed with you for years and has spared no effort to find you. Why shouldn't he come back? Did you see the way he was staring at me? He thought I was a threat." Leo swallowed.
"Sorry, you're right. Then there's probably something really wrong... " "Trust your gut feeling, but I'm off for now, the ladies are asking for me. I wish you the best of luck." "Thanks..." Jasper hung up and Leo immediately saved Christopher's number, which he had received via a notification from Jasper, and dialed it directly. It rang for a few seconds, but then someone answered the phone.
"What's taking you so long? Oliver and I are worried, but the main thing is that you can still answer the phone..." Leo was worried on the one hand, but annoyed on the other. Apparently he could answer the phone, they were worrying too much. His body was still shaking. An unfamiliar voice could be heard on the other end.
"Hello? Who are you? And who is Oliver? Were you the one who put such a strange flea in my son's ear that he could do whatever he wanted?" It was a female voice, apparently Christopher's mother. "Where is Christopher?" His trembling increased and he sat up straight. "In a place where neither you nor this Oliver can reach him. He will fulfill his duty as the new head of the family whether he likes it or not. There's nothing you can do about it. I'm hanging up now and don't you dare do anything or turn up here. Otherwise there will be consequences for you!" With those words, she hung up the phone.
"Dad, what should we do now? They're keeping Papa Christopher away from us against his will! We can't leave him with them. He said he doesn't like his family and the yellow dragons!" Oliver suddenly seemed fully awake. He jumped up and was already putting his jacket on over his pyjamas. "Oliver... I don't know if there's anything we can do about it. They're a very influential family...." "But Dad...you said you were very strong! Can't you save him?" Oliver sniffled again, tears streaming down his cheeks. "He's my dad too, he said he'd stay with us! I don't care if he knows he's my dad, as long as he's here and I can spend time with him. Please dad, save him!" Leo sighed, he too was close to tears by now. He never really wanted to see Christopher again, and now that he had, no matter how much he resisted, he didn't want to let him go either.
"Shit...fuck...shit...," he cursed under his breath. He had to think of a way to get Christopher out without revealing his identity. As he paced up and down the apartment, his eyes fell on the gun cabinet. The scales fell from his eyes. "Of course, I'm a sniper." He went to the gun cabinet and unlocked it with a key he always had with him from his trouser pocket. He took out his gun and the necessary ammunition. "Lea, my dear, after a long time we're spending some quality time together again." He stroked the metal of his sniper rifle.
"Oliver." He turned to his son. "You hide in your room until I get back. I'll get him back. For you. For me." Oliver stared at his father, irritated and slightly shocked. He knew that his father had a gun, but not that he was so good at using it that he could save people with it. But he just nodded. "You can do it, Dad, because you're a hero. You're the strongest." Oliver disappeared into his room and Leo put his rifle in his gun bag so as not to attract too much attention.
He had no intention of shooting anyone, but his skills should be enough to scare them as a supposed hitman. However, his feelings were extremely torn.
He didn't actually want to get involved in any positive feelings, he wanted to keep his distance, even though he couldn't. He must have seemed quite bipolar in what he did and said. He didn't know what was right and what was wrong at the moment. Whether he should believe his head, which told him to keep his distance, or his heart, which told him that he wanted to spend more time together with Christopher and Oliver as a family.
He felt torn and like everything he was doing was wrong, but he had promised Oliver.
He didn't want Oliver to have to leave even more behind that he was just beginning to feel attached to.
He was willing to do anything for Oliver, and that included getting Christopher out of there, and it was what Leo wanted too. Leo gave in to this feeling and made his way to the Wollseif estate.