Devil's House

Battle Scars

Mike leaned his head back to rest on the chair that faced out the windows in Jason and Ryan's office sitting area. He was sipping coffee with Jason at his side, having been banished from the kitchen shortly after breakfast was over. It usually didn't bother him when Ryan was still hanging around the bar while Chester cleaned. Many times he and Jason would take their coffee and sit on the sofa, careful to stay out of the way as the dishes were washed and the countertops cleaned, and Ryan and Chester talked and bantered playfully with each other.

For some reason today he had followed Jason into the other wing of the house instead of the living room. It wasn't a space he'd been invited to before without Chester, but Mike wasn't thinking about the quiet intimacy of the space. He was pondering the last thing Jason had said to him just a few minutes earlier.

Ry told me about the other night in our bed.

Mike's eyebrows had lifted in surprise, then quickly twisted into a frown as he tried to figure out the look on Jason's face. It was almost a smirk, but there was something else to it that had Mike feeling terribly guilty. And hoping that Ryan hadn't told Chester before he'd had a chance to come clean.

He cleared his throat and rolled his head to look at Jason again. "I think we were both feeling a little lonely," he said cautiously, trying to feel things out before he said the wrong thing. "We were missing you guys a lot."

Jason wiggled his toes inside his socks. It was hard to capture the exact feeling that zipped through him when he thought about his husband and Mike making out. To Ryan's credit, he'd answered every one of Jason's questions about what had happened, and jealousy wasn't at the top of Jason's list of emotions. If anything, he was disappointed to have missed it. There was something terribly exciting about watching Ryan kiss Mike. "Chaz and I missed you both, too. But we weren't making out, you know." He reached across the space between them with his foot and nudged Mike's leg. "Admit it, you think my husband is hot." He grinned as Mike grew visibly flustered.

"What?" Mike asked, his head popping off the chair. He stared at Jason with his mouth open. It was true; Ryan was good looking, and he was a great kisser, and Mike had been turned on as he lay underneath Ryan and groped at his skin. But telling Jason that felt like a step too far. Especially when Chester had no idea yet that it had even happened.

He pressed a hand to his chest and tried to look innocent. "I don't even know how it started, Jay. We might have even been talking about you guys," he rushed to say as he tried to think back. "I don't even know who kissed who first."

It was amusing to watch Mike struggle to remember how it had all happened, and Jason let him think for a second before putting him out of his misery. "It was Ry," Jason admitted, laughing at the look of relief on Mike's face. "Unlike you and Chaz, Ry and I talk about everything."

"Ches and I talk," Mike mumbled right before he took a sip from his coffee cup. He saw the look Jason shot him, and decided to ignore it. He didn't need to get into a long, drawn out conversation with Jason about all the things he and Chester didn't talk about. It wasn't anyone's business but theirs, even though somehow Jason knew enough to call his bluff with one look. It frustrated Mike, who stuck his foot out to push at the other man's leg this time. "I mean, I haven't told him about this yet, but I will."

Jason nodded, tapping back at Mike's foot with his own. "You should. But maybe not all the details."

Mike felt his cheeks flush. He was embarrassed to know that Ryan had told Jason everything. Even though he and Jason had shared plenty of intimacy in the past, and even though Jason had witnessed him kissing Ryan, it felt different to know that he and Ryan had been alone at the time and Jason still knew all about it. He didn't want to get into all the details with Chester. "No, not all the details. I don't know why Ryan told you details, anyway."