Kapitel 3: Sunlight, Hotpants and Nowhere to Be

The weekend started with sunlight on my desk and photos from the night before. It ended with one of those Sundays where almost nothing needed to happen. Somewhere in between, I thought a lot about closeness.

von Karl

Hotpants, long talks and salsa

What could be better than sitting at my desk in the morning, the sun coming in through the window, going through all the photos from the night before?
Looking back at everything that happened. Getting stuck on certain moments again. Trying to figure out which photo actually captures what the night felt like, not just what it looked like.

To be completely accurate, I'm sitting in almost exactly that situation while writing this.
Maybe that's becoming one of my favourite little routines here.

Going out, taking far too many photos, and then spending the next morning going through them while Barcelona slowly wakes up around me.

Later that morning, I met Mia at one of my favourite stores in Barcelona: Busy Pussy.

I genuinely love this shop.

It's colourful, queer, weird in exactly the right ways, and full of things that make me stop and look even when I have absolutely no intention of buying anything.

It's one of those places that just feels fun to be in.


So if you ever end up in Barcelona and like slightly chaotic, colourful little shops, go there.

https://busypussyvintage.com/

Busy Pussy Vintage

Somewhere in one of the small shops nearby, I found a pair of hotpants that I immediately loved. The artist who had made them happened to be working there himself, which made the whole thing much better.


Originally, they only had two colours. Obviously that wasn't enough.

While we were talking, he added turquoise and purple for me and tagged them himself afterwards. Somehow we even ended up speaking a little German.

By the time we left, they already felt less like something I'd bought and more like something that was actually mine.

And I absolutely love them <3.

From there, Mia and I walked through Parc de la Ciutadella towards the beach, and somewhere along the way we started talking about friendship, attraction and what happens when the line between the two isn't quite as clear as we'd like it to be.

The conversation followed us for most of the day. Through the park, to the beach, and later back to my place while we cooked and got ready to go dancing

Nowhere we needed to be

Sunday had a completely different pace.

I met Mateo and Dani and we started the afternoon at a photography exhibition. We spent a while walking through it, looking at the pictures, joking around and taking the whole thing exactly as seriously as we felt like.

Which, honestly, is probably my favourite way to visit an exhibition.

When we left, we just kept walking.

There wasn't really a plan for what should happen next, and I think that was part of what made the day so nice. Somewhere along the way, the conversation moved between Colombia, Germany and Barcelona. The things that feel normal depending on where you grew up, the things that suddenly look strange when you see them through someone else's eyes, and all the small differences you only really notice once someone points them out.

At some point, the photography exhibition apparently wasn't enough photography for us.

So we stopped and started taking pictures ourselves.

What began as a few photos turned into a little photoshoot with Dani, and somehow that felt like the most natural continuation of the afternoon.

After that, we kept wandering. We got ice cream, eventually ended up getting tacos, and spent the rest of the afternoon just walking, talking and enjoying each other's company.

Nothing particularly dramatic happened. There wasn't one conversation or moment I can point to and say, that was the important part.

It was just easy.

Being around Mateo and Dani feels like that surprisingly often. I never feel like I'm tagging along with a couple or trying to find my place between them. They make space for me without making a thing out of it.

I just feel included.

By around seven we headed home, and I left feeling like I'd had exactly the kind of day I needed.