When it comes to hooking up in Kinshasa, public spaces are often the only option for young Kinois.
Employment is difficult to come by, meaning few have the means to rent their own private living spaces, so most teenagers are still living with their parents and siblings in cramped houses. Public areas are one of the few choices.
At Kinshasa's Botanical Gardens, young couples show up at 5pm every day and bribe the security guards for license to kiss in the bushes.
At this time of day, you can also spot couples on the leafy bank of the Congo River behind President Joseph Kabila's residence under the apathetic watch of his military guards.
These semi-concealed displays of affection have mostly been accepted by local Kinois. At most, they may rile church pastors. I once heard a preacher raise his voice to a bellow during a sermon, as he proclaimed: "You should never have sexual relations outside of marriage. Never!" The (mostly young) congregation sat silent, their guilt palpable.
Nevertheless, the relatively free pass given to Kinshasa's half-hidden kissers does not extend to everyone. For those whose sexual orientation is seen to be "immoral", being spotted displaying affection in public spaces bears more serious risks than mild embarrassment.
Dangerous dates
I sat with five gay Kinshasa residents as they exchanged anecdotes about being caught in the act with their same-sex partners. Their stories, though jokingly told, were poignant and involved hostile and unpredictable encounters with the police.
Daniel, 26, for example, recalled how he had agreed to finally meet a young man with whom he'd been exchanging messages online.
They met at a bar, hit it off, and decided to find a private place to take things further. Since Daniel lived with his mother, his home was not an option. That's when they decided on his local university amphitheatre, a favourite spot for couples on campus.
"Of course, we got carried away, and before we realised it, we were surrounded by two campus guards", he recounted. "'Damn!' I thought, and ran into the darkness to hide behind a group of trees. My companion, being shorter and stockier than me, wasn't so lucky.
He was caught and detained by the officers, who marched him to the police station. He was quite embarrassed, but his parents, well-known senior civil servants, faced the biggest shame of all when they came to pick up their gay son to the scorn of whoever happened to be in the police station that night.
"We shared a laugh about it on our second date", added Daniel.
Abdou, a 26 year-old Cameroonian student at the University of Kinshasa, told a similar story of when he was fogging up a car with another man on a quiet night in Yaoundé.
Their activities were cut short by two policemen standing over the car pounding at the window, shouting: "Where do you sickos think you are, a hotel?" They were both asked to exit the car slowly, and lie on the ground. The policemen started kicking them. Abdou didn't know when the beating would stop, or whether they'd also be imprisoned, but the police eventually dismissed them with an indignant warning. He counts himself lucky.
A right to PDA?
In front of Kinshasa's Gombe Provincial Police Station, I asked a pair of policemen about their thoughts on public decency, particularly concerning same-sex couples. Very quickly, a crowd of four or five other officers joined us. The mere mention of homosexuality launched them into a fierce discussion.
"We catch them at night, these men who want to embrace each other", said Officer Mpiana, shaking his head. "It's not right, it's fine at home or in a hotel, and only if they're both of age, of course."
Another officer provided an (incorrect) legal justification, saying, "The Congolese law prohibits it [same-sex relations] and you can get up to five years of prison and a fine for it".
In actual fact, Congolese law does not forbid same-sex consensual relations. It came close in 2010, when Bishop Evariste Ejiba Yamapiale put forward a bill that would have punished homosexuality, likening it to bestiality and necrophilia.
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However, the National Assembly, which first admitted its draft, has not yet voted for the bill. As for public decency, it is legally-speaking a vague territory that depends on the discretion of the authority figure. Since showing affection, especially in public, is not necessarily a "hard" civil or human right, it is difficult to advocate for or defend it.
Nevertheless, same-sex couples who join their peers in Kinshasa's parks or campuses clearly run the risk of criminalisation and abuse, leaving LGBT people living in apprehension and uncertainty.
Understandably therefore, there is fear of being caught and in not knowing what kind of punishment could be exacted on them if they are.
But at the same time, there is solidarity - young men and women protect each other by lending rooms in apartments, providing alibis, and helping keep secrets from family and other authority figures, small but meaningful acts that make the lives of Congolese LGBT teenagers that bit easier.
