Devil's House

Distance

Chester sat behind Talinda's desk, his phone out in front of him as he waited for the FaceTime call to go through. He rocked back and forth in the swivel chair with the weird shaped back as he scraped his fingers up and down the side of his face, his lips turned down.

Three rings later, Ryan's bright blue eyes filled the screen, and Chester jumped out of his chair. "Hey!" he called, his heart lifted. "I was hoping you'd be able to talk."

"I always have time to talk to you, Chazzy," Ryan answered with a soft smile as he watched his friend sit back down. "I'm guessing you're at Score?" He couldn't see much around Chester's head, but what he could see didn't look like home. "How's your first day back?"

"Yeah, I'm here," Chester confirmed. "I'm in T's office while she's at lunch. Figured it was a good time to sneak away from the madness." He sighed as he leaned forward, his elbows resting on Talinda's large desk calendar that had scribbles all over it - a mix of her and Chester's handwriting with a few notes from Forrest sprinkled in. "And it's been okay being back. I miss being home with the girls," Chester whined with honesty, his bottom lip sticking out for a second - an unknown habit he'd picked up from Mike. "I knew I was going to miss them, but this sucks."

Ryan nodded. "I know Jay went through that when Julien was first born and he couldn't always be home with us. I feel for you, buddy."

"Yeah. So, how's Seattle?" Chester asked with a choke in his voice. "Are you ready to come home yet?"

Ryan smiled softly. "I miss you, too, Chazzy," he said, since he knew that's what his friend was getting at. "There's a serious lack of Chester here, and believe me, I feel it."

That made Chester smile. "I'm glad you miss me, at least a little. How's the munchkin liking the Seattle gloom?"

Ryan looked away from Chester's honey-colored eyes to across the room. Jason was on his laptop and Julien was babbling to himself as he played with big foamy puzzle pieces on the floor by the fireplace. The light drizzle outside was a constant backdrop. "It's been good," Ryan said as he put his attention back on the phone. "He had trouble sleeping the first couple of nights, but he's been doing better. We took him out to the market this morning and then we went to the coffee shop so he could meet Pete and Patrick. My old bosses," he filled in, and he watched Chester nod in acknowledgement. "Tomorrow we're taking him on the ferry. We're hoping he'll get to see some whales or at least some of the big sea birds that are always hanging around."

Chester could hear the excitement in Ryan's voice. He didn't have to say it. Ryan was enjoying his time away - enjoying his family vacation - and even though Chester knew that was a good thing, it still hurt a little. He knew that was the selfish side of him, but he couldn't help it. "That's great, Ry. I'm glad he's liking it and you guys are having fun."

Ryan frowned. "Chazzy, what's wrong?" Even though he already knew the answer, he wanted to give Chester the space to talk. Just like yesterday and the day before and the day before that. "How's Mike doing?" he asked, glancing over at Jason, but his husband was on his computer, planning their ferry trip for the next day and whatever else Jason decided would fit into the schedule Ryan knew Jason would print out - an itinerary for their family day out tomorrow.

"He's okay. I've been on the phone with him twice today already. He's at the house alone with the girls for the first time." Chester rolled his lips together. "But I know he can handle it. When T gets back from lunch, I'm going to go home and give him a short break while I gobble up a sandwich or something."

"That's good. Thank god we bought a house close to Score, right?"

"Yes," Chester agreed immediately. "That's the blessing that keeps on giving." He let out a sigh as he stared into Ryan's comforting eyes. "It's been weird at the house without you guys. Mike's been...down and moody. Not moody," he decided. "Just down. Like he's depressed."