"Uh. It doesn't have to be right now. Or at all if you don't want to."

"...I just don't really like anal that much as, like, a thing? I've done it before, it's not that fun." 

"It's just-- I really liked having you in my mouth because you were inside me, and anal seems like it would be like that except I could also kiss and touch and hold you at the same time? It's like-- as close as it is possible to be."

"...I guess," he says, a little skeptical. "But when I've done it, it's mostly just been uncomfortable." 

"I'd be happy to be uncomfortable to be close to you."

"...maybe at some point but I don't think right now?" 

"Okay." Kiss.

Maybe they should take their clothes off and grind on each other. 

Maybe they should. 

A few days pass and Kaleva is so so happy.

He can have sex with Sasha and it feels better than anything he has ever felt in his entire life. He can cuddle Sasha and it feels warm and safe and good. He can talk to Sasha and Sasha doesn't think he's stupid or boring or that he should shut up. He can just read a book with his head on Sasha's shoulder and everything in the world is okay.

He is aware that he has... meetings, and obligations, and things he was supposed to research for Ben. But he is so happy and those things would make him so miserable and he ignores them. 

A few days pass and Sasha is so so happy. 

He can have sex with Kaleva, and Kaleva gets better at having sex with him. He can talk to Kaleva, and Kaleva doesn't ignore him when he speaks or make the 'moving on now' face before changing the subject or laugh at him or talk right over him as if he hadn't said anything at all; he considers the things Sasha says, acts like they matter. He can cuddle Kaleva and it feels warm and soft and good. He sleeps better than he has since he arrived in Auradon, with Kaleva there. 

He doesn't get his homework done, and he doesn't go downstairs as often. But it's alright. He doesn't have to. 

A few days pass and Kaleva doesn't come back when classes start again on Monday and Chen is so so worried. 

He sends Kaleva maybe a dozen texts, are you okay where are you are you alright what's going on, and Kaleva doesn't answer them — if it were anyone else he would think Kaleva was just skipping school but Kaleva doesn't do that — 

Eventually Kaleva untangles from Sasha enough to notice his phone and--

This shouldn't make him happy. He shouldn't be happy that Chen noticed or cared. He has a Sasha, that should be enough.

(He hadn't expected Chen to notice at all.)

I'm fine

are you sure? 

seriously kaleva you never skip school, what's going on 

He drafts a message that says "I'm in New Orleans" and then a message that says "I don't want to talk to you and eventually settles on:

I'm sure

okay 

He doesn't send: 

please be telling the truth 

or 

I'm really worried about you

See, it's fine. Chen was worried about him because he's a good person, and then Kaleva reassured him that he's fine, and now Chen is going to stop talking to him because he doesn't really want to talk to Kaleva. 

He spends the next six hours doing math and only answers Sasha's questions with monosyllables.

Sasha's not really sure what happened but after a couple or hours or so he kisses Kaleva's cheek and goes and tries out the bathhouse again, more out of curiosity than anything else. 

He still gets in the bathhouse for free.

There's a door from the front room into a locker room. A sign announces: 

Towels ONLY at the bathhouse outside the play area.

Various men are stripping naked and either wrapping towels around their waists or going naked. A few are dressed in leather and one in a cop outfit, presumably for the play area.

...gosh. 

(The ones in leather look almost like they could be from home.) 

He strips naked and puts his clothes in a locker and goes in. 

The sign outside the door of the locker room will direct him towards MASSAGES or SAUNA or POOLS or PLAY AREA or CUBICLES.

He isn't super clear on what a sauna is but how about he tries the water first. 

There's a big Olympic-size swimming pool and a bunch of hot tubs. Men are splashing around naked or talking. They touch each other more than men in Auradon usually do-- holding hands or an arm wrapped around a shoulder or a brush of thigh against thigh. A few couples are kissing. One guy is sucking another guy off right on the deck.

One determined guy is swimming laps.

The sign helpfully informs him NO BODILY FLUIDS IN THE POOL.

He does not actually know how to swim but hopefully that won't be a problem.

He tries the pool; the water feels soft in a way that showers don't. It's a good temperature, although he doesn't really know what temperature water you're submerged in is supposed to be. 

Probably this is more fun if you have people to talk to, but when he considers going up to a group of guys he remembers the conversation going silent as soon as he got within five feet of it and — doesn't. 

Some of the guys floating in the pool are glancing at him and looking him up and down.