Just Mike

"Ok, let's name the character Marie. Should I worry about when her birthday is?" *looks it up*

"Oh, ok. Birthdays did not matter. Namedays did."

*looks it up*

"wym Marie has had like 4 different name days? Can I just pick? Which one was used in medieval Bohemia????"

The dark hallway loomed in front of Hans.

"You alright?" he heard behind him. He turned to see concerned Henry.

"I should be," he replied.

"Should?"

"Should." He looked back at the narrow entrance. "And yet, here we fucking are again." He started laughing. "It's just fucking pathetic. Isn't it? It's just a stupid fucking hallway. I've gotten over it. The fear was gone. I was fine. I'm supposed to be fine. Instead, I'm just pathetic."

"It's not pathetic."

"Right," Hans scoffed, "because it is so brave and noble to feel like throwing up from regular fucking walls."

Henry's steps got louder as he slowly approached. "Better than my heart pounding out of my chest at the sound of a bell." He placed his hand on Hans's slouched back.

"What?" They stood side by side, eyes locked onto each other.

"Bells. Especially if they're nearby. The loud noise always puts me back. No matter what I'm doing, for a moment, in my mind, I'm at Trosky, worrying for your life."

Hans tried to remember any time they were together and the bells were ringing. In hindsight, he should have realized. Sometimes, Hans caught Henry stopping his work and looking at him instead. If they were closer, Henry touched him as the bells rang out, putting his leg against Hans's under the table, placing a hand on his back, kissing him if they were alone... Just to reassure himself. "I've never made the connection." He felt guilty for not noticing.

"It's better with you around. But it still happens almost every day, multiple times a day. Some days are easier, and it's just a brief moment of panic. Sometimes, it takes me a while to get out of it."

"Yesterday... I thought you just decided to work up until a certain hour. That's why you came with the bells."

"Yesterday was bad." He nodded.

"What if I wasn't just in the other room? What if it was equally bad and you couldn't come see me?"

"It happens," Henry admitted. "I just... Wait it out. Wash my face, pet Mutt, try to eat something. Find a way to calm myself down." His hand fell from the curled back to hold Hans's. "I've gotten better with time; sometimes I'm barely affected, but sometimes there are days like yesterday. These things come and go as they please. You can think you're free. 20 years from now, you might have forgotten all about that day, and then out of nowhere, you get sick walking by a cave."

"That doesn't make me look forward to the future."

"It might sound grim, but it's important to learn to live with this, instead of trying to make it go away altogether."

"And now?"

Got a question for international KCD fans/fic readers.

Would it be confusing to alternate between Czech and English names for Hansry?

I originally wrote 5k words only using the English names but then changed them all to the Czech versions cuz I like the variations on the names and how it says more about what they feel in the moment. (Like Jan - Janek - Honza is more interesting than just Hans all the time.)

However sometimes the English names fit the sentence better and I adore Henry being called Hal (especially in spicy moments).

Is it too confusing? Would non-czech readers have a hard time understanding who is who with so many different name variations?