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"I don't understand why he hates us so much."
"He doesn't need a reason to," Kat chuckles to himself, leaning against the wall of the trench. "He just does, and there is nothing we can do to stop it. We have to live with the fact that that man is not going to like us no matter what we do."
Paul smiles and quickly runs up to stand directly in front of Kat. "How do you think he will react to his first battle?" Paul was far too happy in this conversation. He was giggling like the schoolgirls Kropp and Muller would spend their time chasing around and blushing redder than the first time Kat turned and smiled at him. "Honestly, my money is on he'll wet himself by the time he hears the first gunshot."
"Paul!" Kat burst out laughing. "And what money do you have to bet? Because if you are truly serious," he removed himself from the wall, leaning in close so he was standing a few short centimetres away from Paul's face, completely able to take a full view of his grey-ish eyes whose pupils dilated as Kats wide grin turned into a soft smirk. "Then I am willing to go off back into the camp to find a man silly enough to disagree with your- our bet. I'd love to watch that man- if he can even call himself that- turn himself into a fool after completing what he was hired to train you for. Although I don't doubt he'll only need a man above him to tell him what to do, and then he'll calm himself. A man like Himmelstoss needs another to lead him somewhere." Kat begins to walk, Paul following. "That authority is his comfort, Paul. Never allow yourself to be like that. His superior is what he relied on. You need to find something else to rely on. If you don't, well," he stopped to look towards Paul and smile again. Paul felt something within himself. "Then I might as well shoot you dead right here because I'd quicker abandon my post and everything I have built with you than watch you become a man like that."
"You got very poetic very quickly, and I am no longer sure of how I am supposed to respond."
"That's alright Paul, you have no obligation to respond. You could go back to your juvenile ravings if you wish."
"I do wish! Why does he hate us? What have we done to him?"
"Men like him don't need reasons to hate, Paul, they just do."
"Perhaps he isn't too fond of queers. I'd think that would give him at least some reason to dislike at least the two of us."
Kat halted with an aggressive stop. He thought for a small moment then turned to Paul. "Paul, what are you suggesting?"
"I- well, I uh, Kat?"
"I am not a homosexual. I have a wife Paul." He sounded only slightly defensive though it could be summed up to his surprise rather than true aggression. "Paul, are you a-"
"You are not?"
kat decided not to acknowledge the apparent sadness and despair he heard in Paul's voice. There was a sense of disappointment and partial regret coming from those three short words. So, he decided to respond in three words to keep the conversation short. "I've a wife."
"That doesn't mean that you can't be."
"Well, I'm not."
Paul looked down and said shamefully, "I may have assumed because of, I don't know."
Kat nodded and continued walking. "Alright, that's alright, Paul. Don't think too much of it."
"Have you a problem?"
"Of course not, Paul. But some people here do. Perhaps Himmelstoss does, and because I am your friend and nothing more, I should advise you to not say much more about it. "
"May I walk next to you?" Paul choked back tears, still fearing that Kat could say something harsh to him with no regret and that their friendship could have died right then.
"You will never not have the right to do so Paul."