Untouchable

Good Mood Mike

Mike looked around the empty band hall. He and Rob had spent the final day of their contract without students, working on summer repair, instrument inventory, and cleaning. It was a Mike Shinoda rule: summer didn't start until the band hall was spotless, and even the promise of Chester Bennington this year didn't make him leave his work unfinished.

Rob was laid back in his chair, his feet propped up on the counter by the phone. Every square inch of countertop in the office was clean, all of the papers that accumulated over the last month of trips and contests now in the garbage or the shredding boxes in the teachers' lounge. Mike was locking away his stapler and the dry erase markers he'd had to purchase with his own money so they didn't disappear over the summer break. Things had been known to walk away when the custodians cleaned their room.

"Bourdie. We're finally done," he said, dropping into his crooked chair to get a moment's rest before they locked up and left for the summer.

Rob didn't even crack his eyes. "I've been finished for two hours," he mentioned casually. "You've been over there moving all your crap and locking things up, and humming to yourself. It's Good Mood Mike. I didn't want to interrupt."

"Whatever," Mike grumbled, even though he was smiling. "I'm always Good Mood Mike."

That comment brought Rob's eyes open and he rolled his head on the back of the chair to stare Mike down. "I'm going to go with... no. No, you are not always Good Mood Mike." He laced his fingers together over his stomach and grinned. "So, what's this good mood all about? Now that school is over, are you throwing caution to the wind tonight? Going out on the town with your boy toy?"

"Boy toy?" Mike echoed, his fingertips tingling at the thought of Chester. "There's no toying over here. This is serious stuff, Bourdie. Not like you with Lacey and Vanessa." He watched as Rob at least had the decency to blush. "I mean, that's not serious, is it?"

"You never know how that could end up," Rob said cheekily. "Did you see that picture of us in the bar on my Instagram story?"

"I did," Mike answered with an eye roll. "Every straight guys' dream. A blonde with an apple martini on each arm."

"Now that was a great night." Rob crossed his ankles and then his arms behind his head and grinned. "I should take them camping."

Mike shook his head with a laugh. "Neither of those women look like the camping type," he said drily before he picked up his phone and looked at the time. "And, me and Ches, we aren't going out tonight. He's got the girls this weekend. But tomorrow we're going to Painting with a Twist, all four of us."

Rob looked at the mixture of fear and excitement on Mike's face and thoughts of getting Lacey and Vanessa out under the stars somewhere vanished. He turned in his chair, sitting up straight. "You've got nothing to be nervous about, Mike. Lila adores you. They're going to get to see the fun side of you, which you do have, believe it or not. When you're not in here piloting the plane, you're a hell of a lot of fun."

"Piloting the plane is stressful. You can't blame me for not being fun when there's so much work to do. Some days I feel like I'm piloting the plane while it's in the sky, and you're still building it while I'm flying it." Mike looked around the barren office. "It's so crazy how there's so much to do, constantly, and then all of a sudden, it's over. It takes me at least a week to wind down."

"That's why you should come out in nature with me," Rob said, closing his eyes with a smile. "The minute you get up on the rocks or out on the water, you forget about this place."

Mike wasn't sure that band would ever be far from his mind, no matter how great nature was. "Maybe," he answered vaguely as Jason popped his head into the office.