Husband With Benefits

Cai and Rafe clinked their glasses together, the sound sharp in the relative quiet of the room. Both men nursed their drinks, the warmth of the whiskey settling between them as they sat in silence for a while.

After they’d drained their first round, Cai finally broke the quiet, turning to Rafe with a raised eyebrow. "So," he began, leaning back in his seat, "are we wallowing in sadness over your breakup today, or are we cheering because you dodged a disaster at the last minute?"

Rafe shot Cai a sardonic look, his lips curling in a brief smirk before he shrugged. "Can’t you just be a regular guy and not talk about your feelings?" he muttered. "Real men don’t need to dissect every little thing."

Cai leaned back, a smug grin spreading across his face. "Well, it’s too bad for you that you’ve befriended a Frost," he said, swirling his glass. "We Frost men don’t just talk about our feelings. We work them out, too, if need be. But hey, if you’re too chicken to handle that, feel free to sit there quietly and feel all... suppressed." He glanced over at Rafe, raising his eyebrows mockingly. "You know, see what it’s like to live in a pressure cooker with no way to let off steam."

Rafe rolled his eyes, letting out a long sigh. "Wow, Cai," he muttered dryly, "what an amazing metaphor. Truly inspirational. And for that matter, I never did befriend you. How did we turn into friends from business partners?"

Cai just shrugged and poured another round, the whiskey sloshing smoothly into their glasses. "You were too lonely and in need of a brother. So, you gravitated towards me. I am the Universal Big brother." Rage glanced at him then and shighed before turning his attention back to his drink.

They sat in silence for a few moments, the weight of unspoken thoughts filling the space between them. Cai didn’t push—he didn’t need to. He knew human behavious well enough. Rafe would talk when he was ready to and not a minute sooner.

Finally, Rafe let out a deeper, more resigned sigh. He stared into his glass for a second before saying quietly, "I think she was my white moonlight."

Cai looked at him, the teasing grin fading slightly as he heard the heaviness in Rafe’s voice. "White moonlight, huh?"

Rafe nodded slowly. "You know... that one person who’s always in the back of your mind. The one that no matter how much time passes, no matter how hard you try to forget, they stay there. Even when it’s over, you can’t shake the feeling that... that maybe it wasn’t supposed to end."

"I know what white moonlight means, Rafe. But was she really the one who got away? Or was she always on your mind because of your guilt towards her?"

"Now that I know what she is like and what I just dodged, I think it might be more of guilt. I’d always known that I didn’t love her but everytime I looked back to the foolish things I had done in the past, and that she had been the one to suffer consequences, I kind of convinced myself that maybe I was in love with her and that is why...foolish."