Enemies with Benefits

Part Five

Wai could not control the shiver of nervous energy that skittered across his skin as he and Korn walked up to Pat and Pran's table in the courtyard. He was loathe to admit that the hand Korn had on the small of his back was the only point of contact which he felt was anchoring him to the ground. He felt that he would break apart at any moment if Pran didn't accept Korn or Pat didn't accept him. Neither boy were quite expecting the sight that greeted them as they reach Pat's favorite noodle shop. Their friends, who both Korn and Wai previously believed to be mortal enemies, were bickering back and forth in what could only be described as down right flirting.

    Korn and Wai stood silently and watched as Pat boldly stole a wonton from Pran's bowl and drew it towards his open mouth only to stop at the last minute and pop it into Pran's mouth instead. The blush on Pran's face was unmistakable even from their distance.

    "Oi, Pat," Pran whined plaintively, "why do you have to tease?"

    With a mischievous smirk on his handsome face, Pat leaned forward and rubbed their noses together, "Pran, darling," He grinned flirtatiously.

    "Who told you this was cute?" Pran asked in exasperation.

    "His mother," Korn said flatly. "That's how he begs for extra pocket money."

    Pat and Pran fly apart immediately their eyes wide and terrified.

    "Oi," Wai cut in, "Why do you look so scared?"

    Pran and Pat's eyes met and looked away sheepishly. "We thought you were our parents."

    Korn looked at them skeptically as he made his way around the table with Wai before taking the opposite seats. "Why would your parents care? Are they homophobic?"

    Pran shakes his head almost miserably, "No, they don't care. I could date literally anyone else on the planet as long as it's not Pat and they wouldn't care at all."

    "Fuck," Korn spat, "Why do your parents hate him so much? Have they even met Pat?"

    "Our families have been next door neighbors since before we were even born, and they've hated each other just as long," Pat explains.

    "Why?" Korn and Wai ask simultaneously.

    "As far as we know it's because of business dealings," Pran says as he absently pushes the last wonton around in his bowl. "They made us complete through primary school all the way into high school. Then my mother found we were friends in my tenth grade year and pulled me out to send me to boarding school."

    Wai's head perked up at that. He and Pran became friends in boarding school and he remembered how Pran and cried himself to sleep for months in the bed right next to his. It had honestly broken his heart a little bit. Back then, Wai thought that the other boy was just a homesick rich kid who missed his servants and fancy house, when what he missed was the boy he loved. Yes, Wai was sure the months of weeping through the night weren't just tears shed for a school friend, those were the tears of a broken hearted boy that felt all alone.

    "That's why you were so depressed in school, wasn't?" Wai finally asked, his voice raspy and almost raw with emotion.

    Pran's eyes welled up a little and he slid his hand into Pat's linking their fingers together and squeezing, "I was young and I didn't think—" Pran paused and glanced shyly at Pat, "I didn't think I would see the boy I loved ever again."

Pat leaned in, eyeing their friends sternly before pressing a soft kiss to Pran's cheek.

     Continuing on, Pran took a fortifying breath and looked back to Wai, "I had just managed to put my feelings into words for him and while I was standing on the stage playing the song we wrote together, my Mom showed up. She didn't say a single thing to me about being a good musician or how we sounded, she just ripped my life apart with one look and thirty minutes in the head mistress' office."

    Not willing to let Pran bear the brunt of the story and express only his feelings, Pat spoke up, "Watching his mom drag him away was the worst day of my life."

    Pran glanced at him sharply in surprise.

    "Pran was my best friend, he knew me more than any other person and he understood me in ways no one else could because he had the same life I had. No one could understand what it was like to live under such oppressive pressure like Pran could and then he was gone. I was so fucking lonely and I couldn't tell anyone why."

    Korn looked almost stricken, "And we made it worse with all the fighting when you found each other again, didn't we?"

    Pran paled, "You didn't know any better. But, if we don't have to fight anyone that would be nice."

    Pat changed tacts quickly looking between Wai and Korn, "There shouldn't be any need for fighting anymore, should there though. Given that we are both dating architecture boys, I think we can call a truce, right, Korn?"

    Korn turned to look at Wai with a wide smile on his face. "Yes, I think I can call a truce."

    Wai nodded.

    "Wait just a minute," Pran interjected, "Just how exactly to did you starting dating my friend anyway?"

    Wai and Korn blushed furiously. "Well, you remember the night I dropped you off at your dorm and Pat started a fight with me?"

    Pran's cheeks pinked up and he nodded.

    Wai filled that little instance away for further questions later and pressed on, "Well, when I got home I bumped into Korn who was a little tipsy and one thing led to another—and—well lets just say that I didn't know that I swung his way—but I really—really do."

    Korn blushed scarlet, "Yeah—uh—what he said—I really, really do too."

    Pat and Pran giggled almost conspiratorially before Pat leans forward across the table and whispers to Korn, but loud enough to be heard by the others, "So you're saying the sex is that good, huh?"

    Pran and Wai choked on their drinks at the same time before wheezing and coughing at the daring turn of their conversation.   

    Korn smirks wickedly, "So damn good."