"Babe, I'm home!" Raphael said as usual when he entered his apartment, which he shared with Simon, dropping his keys on the hall furniture. As no answer came, he called, "Honey?"
He searched the house, finally getting to their room, and worriedly opened the door. He cringed away for a moment when he saw Simon in their bed, topping another person on top of the covers. Raphael swallowed, frowning, and left hastily, unable to watch for another second.
"Raphael?" a voice rose from the bedroom.
The real estate agent repressed a sob and got to the window that had a view on the streets of New York. He clenched his jaw, willing to erase this burning vision from his mind.
He heard the noise of clothes being put back on and of loud steps towards the kitchen. Raphael did not turn around. He could not look at Simon. He was too proud—or too hurt.
"Hey, I can explain, honey, I—"
Raphael let a fake laugh out. Really? The "I can explain" excuse?
A thin creature appeared in Simon's shadow. It was a beautiful Asian woman, who seemed to be the Devil's daughter, and she smiled plainly to Raphael.
"Hello," she hailed. Turning back to her lover—Raphael's boyfriend—she continued, "Why don't you just tell him?"
"Tell me what?" It was the first time Raphael spoke since he had discovered them together. "Simon?"
"Baby...," Simon moaned in shame. "She—It was not supposed to happen..."
"What was not supposed to happen?" Even if Raphael knew what had actually happened, he wanted to let a chance for Simon to redeem himself. But it was too hard. "You cheating on me? Or you about to lie to me about cheating on me?" Raphael got away from the window, and stood in front of the both of them. "Come on. What is your excuse?" He narrowed his eyes and got closer to Simon—which caused him great pain at the moment. Hatefully, he asked, "Did you feel lonely? Were you unsatisfied? Are you getting tired of me?"
"No, it's none of this! She just—" Simon was getting nervous, and looked like he had no words left. "She caught me by surprise! She literally assaulted me!"
Camille laughed, and caressed Simon's cheek. Raphael did all he could not to pounce on them, and clenched his jaw.
"So that's your excuse, Simon? She assaulted you?"
"Babe, come on, you know I'd never do that to you on purpose! I love you! I thought you knew that."
"And I thought you knew better."
Camille made a few steps towards the other man and smiled to him. "All jealous now, are you, Raphael?"
"How do you know my name?" Raphael murmured in suspicion.
"Oh, I know you better than you think. We've met. In a way. We had something in common. Just like we have right now."
"And what is that common point?"
"A boyfriend."
Raphael raised his eyebrows. Had he ever shared a boyfriend?
"I don't remember ever sharing any man with anyone."
"Oh. But don't you remember how you tried to steal Magnus from me?"
"Magnus—You were his girlfriend?"
"Yes, Raphael, that was me. And now you exactly know how it feels to lose your lover for someone who doesn't give a dime for them."
"Hey!" Simon interfered. "What does that even mean?"
"Come on, nerdy, did you really think I could ever be interested in such an annoying person as you?"
The brown-haired boy opened his mouth but then looked down, profoundly hurt. Raphael growled and nearly shouted, "You impertinent twit don't get to talk to him like that. He's my boy." But he stood quiet.
The Asian girl rolled her eyes. "Alright, I am sorry. But I got what I wanted. Seeing you two breaking apart is such a delicious desire to fulfill."
The men looked at each other. In this moment of shared pain, of questioning and of need for sympathy.
"Who said we were breaking apart?"
Simon suddenly raised his head. "We're not?"
"You're not?" Camille asked in horror, at the same time.
"What did you think?" Raphael said in a smirk. "I love Simon. Nobody's ever gonna take that from me. Not even you."
Camille successively looked at Simon, then at Raphael. The younger boy seemed as surprised as her. The smallest of them two smiled warmly and whispered with emotion, "Look, I don't care if you cheated on me. What's important is that you regret it. And I'm ready to forgive you, to take this as far as we can. I don't want to make the same mistakes again and again. Not when I've found the one love I needed."
As Simon was walking in his direction to hug him, Camille stopped them in their intimacy, and hurled, "What is wrong with you? You're supposed to lose the love of your life, and I'm supposed to get avenged!"
"Well. Don't you know by now that true love wins?"
She growled, as a tigress would have, and ran away in furor. The two men looked at each other in incomprehension, then shrugged in a smile. Simon got closer and finally hugged his boyfriend. Raphael took a deep breath to smell the taller's scent, and sighed in happiness.
"I'm so sorry," Simon said again. "It won't happen again, I promise."
"Shh. Let's not mention that again, please. I don't want to think we could have broken up because of a woman."
Simon smiled to him and kissed the tip of his nose. After taking his hand, he said in a wink, "So? Have you had a nice day at work?"
"Kind of. But the best part of the day is coming home knowing you'll be there."
"And I'll always be."
"You'd better be," Raphael whispered, sensually kissing the back of Simon's hand. "Look I'm tired... Why wouldn't we just go to bed, lie for a sec?"
"If you need make-up sex, you can just ask me, y'know."
"Hum," his boyfriend mumbled in a blush. "Alright."
Simon rolled his eyes and dragged him to their bedroom, a vicious smile on his face, and Camille totally forgotten.
