"You can't keep doing this, Arthur," Alfred mumbled to his old roommate. "It has to stop eventually."
"It can keep up for as long as I want it to," Arthur said. "She was my sunlight. If I can't have her, then nobody can."
"Perpetual rain hardly seems like a logical solution. Don't you think you're being a little overdramatic?"
Arthur shifted listlessly on the couch. "No."
"Arthur—"
"Three years, Alfred!" Arthur cried. "Three years she threw me around and used me like some… some plaything. Even after I moved in with her, after I thought things could get serious and we could start something… Why am I even talking to you about this?" He grimaced and closed his bloodshot eyes. He hadn't slept in days. "You don't know what it's like to live with someone for years, being helplessly in love, only to get stepped on and used over and over and over."
Alfred wanted to interrupt and say yes, that was exactly what he felt every single day he'd lived with Arthur. He wanted to say that that was how he was feeling right now, but he decided now wasn't the best time to bring that up. "I know you loved her, but this isn't the answer. You'll find someone else."
"I won't."
"You will."
"When?" Arthur asked. "Who? If you know everything, then go ahead and tell me when. I'll stop the rain if you tell me."
Now, Alfred thought. Right now. And me. You could find me. But he couldn't say that. Obviously.
"I don't know," he said instead.
"Then the rain stays," Arthur said.
Alfred sighed, thinking Arthur was being incredibly selfish. Why did everyone else have to suffer the rain just because Arthur was upset? The world didn't revolve around him.
And yet, Alfred thought that maybe he was a little selfish, too. Selfish and protective of his position as Arthur's best friend, he would never confess. He would never take that step and tell Arthur that the rain would never have to fall again. They could be more. They could be closer. They could be lovers.
Except they couldn't. Arthur only dated girls. Instead, Alfred sat on the couch next to Arthur and held him awkwardly, not saying anything, playing the part of a caring, comforting friend.
This was how it was. This was how it would always be.
The rain continued to fall outside.