Devil's House

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Mike Shinoda sat on the couch in the apartment he shared with his new husband and sighed. He was moody and restless, and even though he knew exactly why, he was trying to ignore it. He hadn't been able to stop himself from looking at the real estate listing of the house he'd been thinking about for days - ever since Jason and Ryan had stayed over with him and Chester and they'd talked about living together briefly. It was on Mike's mind and Chester didn't want to talk about it at all.

With a sigh he let his head drop to the back of the couch as he squeezed the phone in his hands. It was pointless to try to stop thinking about the house, or their friends. Mike knew Chester was thinking about all of it, too. His husband had been quiet since the emotional goodbye at LAX, and Mike hadn't pushed for an explanation. There was no need. Missing Ryan and Jason and tiny Julien was at the front of both of their minds, even with school and work in the mix. The idea of being closer again had been appealing to all of them, but Mike hadn't been able to get Chester to talk about it since the Shuck family left for Seattle.

He gave up on trying to ignore the house, and opened his eyes. It only took two taps on his phone to pull up the listing and start clicking through pictures again. With all that had happened between the four of them recently, would it really be a bad thing if they were all under one roof again? Mike stared at the blue pool and the backyard before swiping over to the kitchen. It was easy to imagine Chester making meals in the large space, and with those thoughts he glanced up to look at his husband.

Chester was mindlessly folding laundry on the other side of the couch, with Cheese at his feet. The two of them were quiet, though the little terrier had her eyes trained on Chester's every movement. Without baby noises and dog snores, the apartment was eerily silent, except for the sound of the light rain falling outside. It hardly ever rained in Southern California, but today the universe seemed to be matching the weather to their moods.

Mike glanced down at the picture of the designer kitchen on his phone again before he pressed the side button and sent his phone to darkness with a sigh. If Chester didn't want to talk about kitchens, there wasn't much Mike would be able to do to entice him. He dropped the phone onto the couch cushion and bit his lip for a second before he asked, "did you want any help with that, babe?"

Chester looked over to see his husband's big brown eyes watching him. "No, I got it," Chester answered easily before putting his attention back on his work. "I'm almost done," he added in as he plucked a pair of Mike's boxers from the basket and neatly folded them.

Silence swooped back over them, until the light drizzle outside turned into more. The pitter-patter against the windows was now louder and it made Chester shiver. Fortunately they had an apartment above them, which kept them rather sheltered from things like lightning and downpours that would happen now and again.

But the interruption had Chester standing up from the couch and looking out the patio doors when the last piece of clothing was folded. He wrapped his arms around himself as he watched not just the rain, but the runoff from the deck above their patio. It was a small waterfall, and Chester frowned a little deeper. "This rain is going to make it muddy outside. We'll need to wipe Cheesy Girl's feet every time she comes in from outside."

"Okay," Mike answered easily before he stood up to follow Chster over to the door. He snuggled right up behind his husband and kissed the back of his neck softly. "At least it's not storming bad. And it will probably be over soon." He hooked his chin over Chester's shoulder and looked outside. It would be unusual if the rain lasted too long. Chester's body was warm against his front and Mike tightened the hold he had around Chester's waist in a quick hug. "You feel good," he mumbled.

"You do, too," Chester answered quietly. "And I hope you're right about it not lasting long. It's not like we live in fucking Seattle," he complained before he let out a long sigh. Ryan, Jason, and Julien had only been gone a few days, but Chester missed them just the same. His insides felt sad. Heavy. And he wasn't sure how long it was going to take for them to go back to normal this time.