Cast Out (Book 1 Done; Book 2 In-Progress)

Book 2 Chapter 2

In a certain 2-story house, there were two people busy arguing with each other. Tensions were running high, and the only thing that stopped them from having a full-on brawl was the fact that these two men, who were both almost 40 years old, had known each other for a long time. They were more than just friends.

They considered each other as brothers in all but blood.

....but this actually made the whole situation even worse. Because as anyone with actual siblings might tell you, there are times when you will just flat-out hate the other person even if, no, especially if they say they have your best interests in mind.

A man in a white doctor's coat was currently...advising, the other man, whose brown eyes were glaring back in absolute, stubborn determination. The brown-eyed man wore a black t-shirt over a pair of brown corduroys, and wasn't listening to a single thing the man in the doctor's coat was saying; sound went in one ear and then went straight out the other.

"Raes? Raes!" The man in the white doctor's coat snapped at the brown-eyed man, as he tried to get the other man to pay attention to what he was saying. "Are you even listening to me?"

Raes arched an eyebrow, a glare of defiance in his eyes, his black hair gleaming in the light. "Really? REALLY?! You're still not done talking yet, Caesar?"

Caesar threw his hands up in the air in frustration and turned around so that Raes wouldn't see the expression on his face at that moment. His left eye twitched, a scowl half-way formed before he finally let out a sigh. 'I knew he'd be stubborn about it, but I didn't think it'd be THIS bad.'

The black-haired man in the doctor's coat turned back around to face his best friend. For the first time in a long time, Caesar felt like an old man. If he looked in a mirror and saw gray hair, he honestly wouldn't be surprised at this point. In the years since he'd last seen Raes, he'd forgotten how stubborn his friend could be once he made up his mind.

Still, he owed it to him to at least try one last time.

"Look, Raes," Caesar said, an exhausted expression on his face. "I honestly think you shouldn't keep playing this game." Seeing that twitch in his friend's eye that always clued him in on when Raes was about to jump in, he quickly held up a hand to stop his friend from interrupting. "Just let me say my part, and if you still want to keep doing all of this.... I won't stop you."

He took a breath, before he continued. "I can get you a job," Caesar said, his blue eyes staring into Raes' brown ones. "If you stop playing the game, you can still make money. The game's making you d*mn freaking miserable! You don't have to keep doing useless stuff like this. Why bother doing something that gets you nowhere at all?!"

'Please, just please take the d*mn offer Raes!' He prayed for it in his head. 'You don't know it now, but I'm just trying to look out for you. You DON'T want to be part of this!'

Raes took in his friend's serious attitude. Caesar's weird, worried gaze and stiff body language told him that Caesar wasn't playing around. He honestly wanted him to quit, but Raes just couldn't figure out why.

It was just a game, right? Why bother getting so serious over it?

But even if he felt that it was completely ridiculous to be so serious over a game, the black-shirted man paused anyway and really reflected on his friend's words. If it wasn't the fact that it was Caesar saying all of this, Raes would never have even bothered to take something like this seriously.

His mind worked furiously, and Caesar clearly saw every second of it. Raes' eyes shone with a keen intellect that few had ever actually attributed to him.