Mundane Existence

—MY HUSBAND'S BEST FRIEND—

Saint stays indoors like what feels like eternity, crying his emotions out.

He doesn't know how long he was locked inside his room and he didn't bother checking the time on his phone. When he felt tired and sticky, he cried even more with the shower on, with his clothes on.

He's a mess.

He knows what he wants from Gabriel isn't just intimacy. He wants Gabriel to acknowledge him, treat him like he exists, not like he's invisible.

He knows he has feelings for Gabriel.

He knew after the first year of their marriage and he managed to keep his feelings hidden because the fear of rejection can also be the beginning of wisdom.

He knew he couldn't handle being rejected by Gabriel so he focused on something else, fantasizing the sheets tangled around his and Gabriel's body.

He desperately wants to get rid of this feeling but he has tried, the poor guy has really tried. He's visited clubs, more of gay clubs, wishing for someone to just come and sweep him off his feet but none of that ever happens, rather he goes home with a heavy heart, hoping to get better if Gabriel at least kisses him.

If Gabriel at least tells him what he does wrong then he would've tried to get rid of that part of himself, just for Gabriel, just to please Gabriel.

Nothing he does ever works, it's like it gets Gabriel even angrier when he sees Saint trying to make an effort to get closer to him.

It's just two years, two more years and Saint is free from him but Saint—ha, Saint doesn't want to be free from him.

Freedom—such an ambiguous word.

Okay, maybe when he finally gets what he really really wants from Gabriel, which is being intimate with the man of course, then maybe he can get over him. Maybe that'd quench the strong undeniable feelings he has for the man.

Just maybe.

He wants to experience—no, he doesn't want to experience, he wants to explore. Explore Gabriel's body, wanting to know how it'll feel to have Gabriel bottomed out inside him, stretching him open around his shaft. His thick, long, veiny cock spread him apart.

Funny, because Saint doesn't know what and how Gabriel's genitals are.

He wants to find out though but he's not a creep to go peeking at his husband while he's showering.

He has tried once though but Gabriel's bedroom door was locked.

Gabriel is really torturing him.

He just wants a taste and he promises after getting one tiny little taste—okay, a huge taste then he'd stop wanting more, he won't get greedy.

But how does he get his huge taste when the man in question won't even touch him?.

Saint finally graces his room with his presence after spending half an hour in the bathroom, crying and then proceeding to shower.

He doesn't bother wearing a bathrobe when he's just gonna be in his room, waiting for his husband to lessen his punishment and let him out of the room.

He wonders if the man actually took Oliver shopping. Bought him pretty clothes and listened to the man talk all day about his stupid spring collections and whatnot.

Saint puts on a black pair of briefs and goes back to lay lazily on his bed. He's not going to admit it but he still doesn't hate Gabriel. His eyes burn though, from all the crying and when he turns his phone on, he has to shut his eyes immediately due to the intense brightness.

He checks the time with a sad smile playing on his lips, it's almost six and he's still locked in his room.

Gabriel left him inside, locked and he couldn't even eat anything, yet he still wanted the man.

His door opens and he looks over his shoulder to see Caroline smiling sadly at him. He knows that look and he doesn't need to be told that Gabriel needs him downstairs.

"Gabriel needs you downstairs." Caroline tells him anyways and he nods, already up to get dressed.

"I'm fine." Saint says to Caroline before she has the chance to ask him.

"Okay. If you're hungry, just let me know and I'll whip up something for you."

"Okay, thank you."

Caroline steps out to give him the privacy to change even though she really didn't have to.

Saint slides his hands over the clothes in his wardrobe, looking for something suitable and his eyes fall on a new vest he hasn't worn.

It's attached to a white shirt and the vest is green, he grabs a white pair of pants to match because if Gabriel needs him, he definitely wants him to look pretty.

Saint gets changed quickly, pushing his curly hair back and leaving a few strands to fall on his face. He observes his eyes for a minute and nods in approval, they weren't swollen at least.

He applies his favorite lip gloss, he makes them though and smiles. A weak smile to embark on his journey, the night to pretend as usual as if he's in a perfect relationship with Gabriel.

He puts on white sneakers and starts heading out of his room, walking downstairs and sees two other men.

One is blonde. Dressed in white shorts and a loose black t-shirt. His big arms are on fleek and for some reason, he looks really familiar to Saint.

The other guy is talking to the blonde guy and he's in a green jumper, laughing at what the blonde guy is saying.

Gabriel joins them afterwards and when Saint finally comes closer to them, they all turn to him.

Saint doesn't look any of them in the face but he wants to. He has a thing for handsome men and he looks up, eyes connecting to the Blondie and it's—its Mason.

Wait, he knows Mason has black hair. He knows that for sure so who's the guy that has blonde hair that looks like him?

Mason doesn't have a twin, right?

Did Mason dye his hair blonde?

Mason smiles at Saint who looks shockingly confused but he remembers his manners and greets them.

"Come here, baby."

There goes Gabriel and his acting. Saint goes to stand beside him anyways, at least once in a while, he gets to stand close to Gabriel like this.

"You've already met Mason and he's staying with us for a week."

So that's Mason then.

Saint gives him a small smile but that's not really what's going on in his head.

Mason is gorgeous even with blonde hair. He's seriously living up the fuck boy lifestyle with that hair and Saint keeps his eyes on him, eyeing him up and down.

"This is Elijah, he's having dinner with us. Help Caroline set the table?" Saint nods but what gets him frozen on the spot is when Gabriel's lips press on his cheeks.

Gabriel kissed his cheeks.

That's the only actual body contact Saint has ever had with his lips. He looks at Gabriel then back at his friends, mainly Mason who's no longer smiling and he walks away to help Caroline set the table.

Few more minutes and everything is set. A simple peck on his cheeks has him spiraling and excited. Maybe he should go for something more tonight, since it looks like Gabriel is feeling good.

They all gather around the table. Saint sitting beside Gabriel like he wanted and he's directly facing Mason.

Great, just great.

"Saint, my wife buys your cosmetics all the time and they do accentuate her beauty. I have you to thank for that."

Saint's smile widens at the praise. He's always loved being commented on his work.

"Thank you and remind me to give you free products for her. I'm working on something new and it'll feel great if an acquaintance of my husband tries them out and gives me honest feedback."

The man nods with a smile, gobbling down his chicken.

Saint's eyes fall on Mason who's sipping his glass of wine. The man is unbelievably fine especially with his blonde hair swept to the side. Saint wants to touch his hair, wants to know if it's soft or not although he already concluded in his head that it's definitely soft.

Gabriel grabs a tissue and tilts the side of Saint's face so Saint can face him and he wipes the sauce off the corners of Saint's mouth. Saint licks his lips to get rid of any remnants of the sauce because even though this is all an act, he's still incredibly shy that Gabriel is being unusually touchy tonight.

"The articles about you don't lie, Gabriel. You truly are a gentleman."

Of course Elijah had to ruin the moment.

Gabriel chuckles, light and breathy "It's not like I can help it."

Mason wants to snort, wants to mock Gabriel.

The dinner continues quietly, Saint throwing in comments when he's asked a question either by Gabriel or Elijah. Mason isn't saying a word to him and it bothers Saint.

He doesn't know why it bothers him but he expected Mason to say things to him, ask him questions and then he could answer all of them with a giddy smile.

"Honey, can you excuse us for a minute?. I have something to discuss with my friends."

Another endearing name, from Gabriel!.

Saint nods "Okay". He starts clearing his own plates and bends down to pick the spoon that fell off the table and when he sits back on the chair, his eyes flutter shut when he feels a feathery touch on the tip of his nose.

Did Gabriel just kiss his nose?. What is going on?.

Saint's blush spreads down his neck, the only way he could escape the embarrassment is gathering his plate quickly and excusing the three insanely beautiful men.

Gabriel's other friend finally bids them goodbye. Saint feels sad because now he has left, Gabriel won't even spare him a glance unless he decides to continue with the act in front of Mason.

At least Mason already knows Gabriel treats Saint like shit.

"Mason, I'll show you to the guest room." Gabriel says and beckons his friend to follow him. Mason tags along, fingers curled up at the handle of his leather Hermès bag.

He keeps looking around the house for Saint and concludes that he's still busy in the kitchen.

Gabriel pushes a door that's at the end of the hallways upstairs and leads Mason inside.

The walls are painted a nice shade of blue and on the left side of the wall, it's painted white with frames of probably old world leaders hanging on the walls.

"Good enough?" Gabriel asks and gets a hum from Mason who's more concerned about taking a shower.

"Okay. I'll be in my home office, come over there and if you can't locate it, ask Saint for help but it's the fourth door after Saint's room. We need to work on the project and we don't have much time left"

"No problem."

Gabriel leaves the room, Mason observes the room then opens the door and peeks outside, in search of Saint but he doesn't want to see the man when he might still be sweaty and even have a faint smell of his cigarette.

Mason takes a quick shower, pulls on a simple track pants and a tank top, arms on fleek and he fixes his hair quickly and leaves the room.

He leans over the rails and looks downstairs for Saint but he only sees the house keepers gossiping about something.

He makes eye contact with one of the house keepers and the young female blushes when Mason sends her a wink.

He drags himself away from the rails and makes his way to Gabriel's home office.

He knocks once and walks in. Gabriel is typing away in his laptop, then gets up to stand in front of his printer.

"Did you get Rowlings to sign the agreement papers?" Mason asks and plops down on the couch in the room.

"Man's still playing hard to get and we both know I'm not a very patient man."

"Figured. His wife bought him the company, he can't just sell it to us because he's going bankrupt." Mason reasons and he hears Gabriel snicker.

"I could care less if his dead grandparents left the company in his hands. I want it and I'll get it. I increased the offer by a few thousand dollars and he still refuses to sell the damn company. He's going broke and he hasn't even paid his workers."

Mason sighs, sliding down on the couch. "What do you need the company for though? You never really told me."

Gabriel takes the printed copies of papers and hands one to Mason who takes it immediately to scan over the content.

"I want to demolish the company and build a hotel. We both know it's going to make more profits. He's practically wasting land over a two story building."

Mason's lips tug upwards in a small smirk. He's always known how impatient Gabriel is and they've been friends for four years.

"A hotel, you already have two of those."

"That doesn't mean that I don't want more if I can get more and we're partnering up, remember?. What are you? Like the sexiest bachelor out there like those articles label you and you have potential obviously and people want to use the things that you're using. I've told you, you'd make it big if you end up an influencer."

"Don't fuck around, Gabriel. You're the one being labeled a gentleman in those articles and besides, the ladies love me."

"The guys do love you too. They all want a taste of you and the hotel is a perfect idea. We both build the hotel and it'll obviously be in our names and then, it goes big. Whatever has your name on it is basically a money making machine."

Mason laughs. "so, you're using me then?"

"Well, if you put it that way then 'yes'?. But, it's obviously going to be beneficial to both of us. What do you say?"

"Rowlings doesn't want to sell the land though, we've tried and I'm not going to end up broke trying to convince a man like him to sell his company."

"Then let's demolish it."

"Gabriel, it's a private property. We can't just wake up and have people bring the whole thing to the ground."

"True. But, it's either we play nice or we play the bad guys and we've played the nice guys for way too long. We both know we're not nice men."

Mason nods in agreement, his hands pushing into his pockets while he man-spreads. "What do you suggest then?"

"Dig up something on Rowlings, use it against him and he gives the company up and we pocket our money back."

"What are we, gangsters?"

Both men laugh and it gets cut when there's a knock on the door.

Saint peeks his head in, eyes falling on both men but staying on Mason whose legs are spread apart and his hands in the pockets of his pants.

His eyes revert back to his husband, his eyebrows raised, staring at Saint like his life is mundane.

Saint swallows. "Sorry if I'm interrupting but I wanted to tell you that I'm done with what you asked me to do and I'm going to bed." His words are directed at Gabriel who nods and waves him away.

Saint steals a glance at Mason who's looking back at him before he leaves both men.

Mason is itching to say something but he waits for Gabriel to bring it up because he knows the man will.

"Sorry about that. He has a tendency of walking in when he's not needed."

Brutal.

Mason's expression darkens at Gabriel's words and he turns back to the door, hoping Saint didn't stand there to listen in on their conversation thereby hearing what Gabriel just said.

Saint did stand close to the door, he knew he'd become a topic after walking in on the two men talking. Yet even back then, behind the smiles, was great trepidation. He walked away from the door, slower than usual.

"Why do I feel that you pretend to stand the sight of your husband in front of other people?"

Gabriel's eyes flicker away from the papers he's been gawking at, he's looking at Mason, playing back his friend's question.

"What do you mean 'pretend'?"

"You can fool others into thinking you're on good terms with your husband but you can't fool me. Did he do something wrong?"

"My married life has nothing to do with you or our friendship."

"True. But, how do you sleep at night knowing that the things you say to him leaves him hurt?"

"Mason, let's get back to the initial reason why you're in my house and save me the lectures. I'll handle my marriage however I see fit."

Mason shrugs, he doesn't want to give up but he swallows his questions anyways.

But. "Do you think he'll continue to put up with the way you mistreat him?"

Gabriel sighs and throws the papers he's been holding on his desk.

"He doesn't have a choice but to put up with it, to put up with me."

"So you agree that you mistreat him, why?"

"Mason—"

"Gabriel. Did he do something to you?"

"He didn't."

"Then why do you make him feel like he's not worthy of attention and love?"

"How do you know he feels that way?"

'That's because he told me'.

"I can see it, the way he acts sometimes around you and I've seen you both together three times and you made him cry, in a fucking restaurant."

"I only wanted to do something nice for him and then he said he doesn't want me acting nice."

"Did you ask yourself why he said that?"

Silence.

Gabriel groans and turns away, the conversation is giving him a headache and maybe making him realize how much of a shitty person he is, not like he didn't know already.

"I'll give Rowlings a call tomorrow and we'll fix a meeting with him on Monday." Gabriel says conclusively, shutting down any other thing Mason has to say.

"I need alcohol in my system, got any?"

"Ask Caroline to get you some in my mini bar, she's the lady who looks older than the other house keepers." Gabriel answers without looking at his friend, his gaze trained on his laptop.

Mason doesn't say anything else, he's just standing and his cold gaze lingering on Gabriel's back before he leaves the room, muttering things to himself.