Page 59 of The Wolf and the Monarch

“Mostly guys there. And the ladies there were more cougars.”

“Not your style?” He joked.

“No, not really.”

Benji nodded but declined to say anything. He just looked down at his hands and twiddled his thumbs.

“There were a couple guys around there that were okay-ish though,” Sawyer pressed, which seemed to get Benji’s attention more. “They weren’t necessarily my type either, but I preferred them over the women.” He paused and shrugged, “Beggars can’t be choosers, I guess.”

“Right, yeah. Of course.”

“What about you?”

Benji’s cheeks flushed a soft pink from the question and he was clearly surprised that the question was reciprocated but if Benji wanted to fish, Sawyer did too. “No, no. No uh…significant other.”

“I’ve never had a significant other,” Sawyer admitted. “Since I never really left, it was hard to date. And I didn’t want to date someone there. That would just…be weird. And awkward.”

“Have you been on a date?”

He nodded. “Yeah, I have. A few. Cole would drive me to the place and pick me up. But it just…never really worked out. Seemed too hard to swing. Plus, I’d have to hide a whole part of myself to whoever I was dating and that just seemed wrong.”

“Yeah, I get that. That’s probably the biggest reason why I never really have a partner.”

“You have though? In the past?”

“I’ve had three. They didn’t last more than a month though,” Benji shrugged.

Another moment of silence passed by them but it wasn’t an uncomfortable silence. It was just them ruminating on what was said, really. But Sawyer decided he wasn’t done. “Are you…bisexual then?”

Benji released a puff of air and shook his head. “No, I’m gay. Came out when I was like…thirteen or something,” he glanced at Sawyer, “But you are …?”

“Pansexual, I think is the term. But I never really think much about that kind of stuff.”

He nodded. “Cool.”

Sawyer smiled a rather wide one. “Cool.”

Their eyes connected for the first time in a while and Sawyer had the overwhelming urge to comment on how cute Benji’s pink cheeks were, but he managed to keep that to himself. He was glad they were able to talk about that with each other. It had clearly been on Benji’s mind and it would be a lie to say that he hadn’t been wondering about it either. Benji’s gaze shifted over Sawyer’s face for a moment before he released a breath and sat up in the bed. “I’m going to get dressed and make some breakfast.”

Sawyer cleared his throat and sat up as well before he threw his legs over the side of the bed. “Yeah, right. Sounds good.”

“Then we can…find a good place to try and sanitize for your surgery.”

He nodded. “That’s a good idea.” Sawyer threw a quick smile towards Benji before he exited the bedroom so he could get dressed for the day as well.

There was a knock on the front door which Benji went to answer after looking through the peephole and within a moment, Lindsey was stepping inside with a medical cooler and her bag of medical supplies. “Good morning, boys.”

“Good morning,” Sawyer smiled. “Thanks for coming out here again.”

“Not a problem at all. I have the skin graft here. Usually we take it from you but considering your situation, I don’t think that is going to be technically feasible. So, the plan is really for me to just…patch the holes, more or less, so at least it won’t just be a festering hole in your hand anymore.”

“That’s an awful way to phrase that…” Sawyer mumbled. “Sorry, but it’s true. When things are less this,” she waved her hand around the area, “Then you can schedule a full surgery with me to really take care of the issue. But for right now, this will have to do.”

He nodded. “I understand. Thank you.”

Lindsey just nodded and began to get to work on re-sanitizing the kitchen, which Benji and Sawyer had spent the last twenty minutes doing, and setting up her work station to be as sterile as she possibly could. He watched her set up her tools meticulously and as nervous as he was about it, he felt like he was going to be in good hands. He really wasn’t sure how he could ever repay Benji for everything he had done for him. He got him out of that bunker and into a safe environment. He was able to get him medical care… It was just a lot for Sawyer. People usually didn’t care enough about him to do all of that. But Benji was different, clearly. After everything he had endured by the hands of his uncle, he didn’t have to treat Sawyer as well as he had been and it would have made sense. But he didn’t seem to care about that and just wanted them both safe.

“Alright. I’m all set here. Sawyer, take a seat. Benji, you don’t have to be here if you don’t want to be.”