The Price of a Wish Part 1
Raphaël and Benjamin stood in front of their future house like two kids staring at a Christmas tree.
Hand in hand. Wide smiles. Completely happy.
Raphaël, in a white T-shirt, phone pressed to his ear, laughed while talking about the future bathroom tiles.
Benjamin had his arm around him — possessive, loving, unapologetic.
They had nothing to hide.
They loved each other. Period.
But not everyone on the construction site shared that joy.
A block of muscle. Thick beard. Forearms like wooden beams. The kind of guy who could hammer a nail with a glare alone.
He watched them from inside the wooden frame of the house, hammer still in hand.
At first, he said nothing.
But it boiled inside him.
Two guys holding each other.
Laughing.
Talking about pastel colors and curtains.
“Jesus…” he muttered.
“Guys like that… that’s supposed to be men?”
He drove the nail in hard. Violently.
“They should learn what being a real man is. Testosterone. Not scented candles.”
A wish thrown into the dust of the construction site.
A stupid sentence fueled by contempt.
But the land was not ordinary land.
Beneath the foundation. Beneath the disturbed soil.
Something that loved badly phrased wishes.
Raphaël stepped away to call the interior designer.
“Yes, we want something bright, modern—”
A metallic taste in his mouth.
A thick red cloud burst from his mouth like living smoke.
The smoke swirled around him — then forced its way into his chest.
His body reacted immediately.
His shoulders broadened.
His arms thickened under the fabric.
Veins rose along his forearms.
Benjamin.
Their apartment.
Their first kiss.
Another voice took over in his head.
Simpler.
Heavier.
Dumber.
Strength.
Tension.
Weight.
The foreman stepped outside.
But it wasn’t the same man.
The softness was gone.
In its place — something primitive.
“I’m the painter, right?”
Like they always had been.
The foreman felt something crawl up his spine.
He hadn’t asked for specifics.
Just for them to understand what a “real man” was.
The land had interpreted.