Devil's House

A Belated Reunion

Mike and Chester weren't alone until well after dinner. The surprise of Mel's had been met with a tired smile, and Mike had been more restless than normal while everyone ate and then cleaned up. He wanted to tell Chester about the removal of Punk Rock Dicks from the YRS site, but he wanted to do it in private. He knew his husband was tired from work, and when Chester decided to take a shower alone, Mike let him after wrapping his cast. Mike had showered afterwards, and he was just now settling into bed for the night.

It didn't escape Mike's notice that Chester was in bed in pajamas again. He didn't say anything about that, or the television being on, when he pulled back the blankets and got into bed. He simply propped his pillows up on the headboard and leaned back, both of his hands under the blankets while he fidgeted with his wedding ring. "How's your arm?" he asked, rolling his head to look at Chester sitting up next to him.

Chester reflexively looked down at his pink cast. "It's okay. Sitting in meetings and trying not to bump into anyone was a bit of a pain in the ass, but it will be alright. Five more weeks to go," he added as he focused on the line art Mike had added to his cast over the weekend - little blocky cartoon characters of dogs and cats and skulls with big teeth that made them funny rather than scary. Mike had even printed Chester's name with flames inside the block letters. It was neat looking, and Chester appreciated that his artistic husband had taken the time to make the plain cast a little financier for him. "I told everyone I tripped and smashed it against the elevator door," he admitted with a frown. "I hate lying, but I don't want to get into what really happened."

"I wouldn't want to explain that, either," Mike said quietly. He reached over and traced one of his line drawings with his fingertip. "Five weeks sounds like a long time. Hopefully it goes by fast. I'm glad it wasn't worse." He inched a little closer to his husband. "I think we all had a tiring day. Julien was giving Ryan a run for his money when I got home. It was his idea to go get dinner," he added.

Chester looked over. "Oh yeah? Julien was being extra, huh? I hate to say it but I think that kid has a dramatic streak in him. Ry's so chill and cool all the time. I'm sure that will be the clash between them as Julien gets older."

Chester put his head back on the pillow as he listened to the low sound of the television in the background and Mike's breathing next to him. It was nice to be home and in bed - their bed - for the night after a long day. "How was your session?" he remembered to ask as he closed his eyes and sucked up the peaceful atmosphere that had his inner kittens calm and his mind quiet.

"Difficult," Mike answered truthfully. "I don't really want to talk about it, if that's okay for tonight." He turned onto his side and propped his head on his arm, twisting his free hand into the blanket. He couldn't stop fiddling with things. "I wanted to tell you something else Ryan and I talked about this afternoon."

Chester picked his head up to see Mike looking at him. He couldn't quite place the expression on his husband's face. He couldn't tell if he was anxious or nervous or both. "Okay," Chester said as he shifted a little to sit up more. "I'm sorry your session was difficult. I know how that goes. I'm always here to listen if you ever want to talk about it." He stopped and rolled his lips together to suck on his piercing for a second before he asked what Mike had talked to Ryan about.

"We took his car to get dinner, and we talked some about Julien's car seat fitting, and I mentioned how we'd probably have to take my car when the twins come. Somehow we started talking about your car, and money, and worrying together about you," Mike admitted, watching Chester suck on his lip ring. "I brought up you wanting to take your videos off the YRS site." Suddenly Chester's eyes met his, full of questions. "But because I'm not working full time we really can't yet. And then I said you'd mentioned wanting to take the one I watched down."