Devil's Effect

A Night Apart

Mike left his folded pajamas on the arm of the couch and drifted over to sit down behind his keyboard to wait. Jason hadn't said anything the entire way home in Devon's backseat, and when they'd come inside the loft, he'd gathered his things and gone into the bathroom without a word. I know how he feels. When Ches and I argue, I just want to get away. But there's nowhere to go here except the bathroom.

Even though the four of them had been working on organizing things, the apartment was still a mess of Ryan and Jason's essentials, scattered in semi-neat piles all over the living space. With their bed in the corner, Mike's keyboard was wedged in a tiny space under the open staircase. It was already dark outside, so he knew there was no view out the windows behind him, no way to relax other than to sit down and start to play absently. The way his keyboard was facing now, all he could see in front of him was the loft wall, but his eyes weren't focused on anything while he played. After all his years of lessons, training, and practice, it was easy to sit down and fill the loft with music and distract himself at the same time.

Mike played some of his favorite pieces while he thought things over. Chester had gone after Ryan, and Mike still wasn't sure what had made him suggest fixing whatever the problem was between their friends instead of finishing what they'd started in the bathroom. He really didn't know what had moved him to tell Chester to go after Ryan on his own. Jay was right when he said I have to trust Ches a little bit. YRS is over, and Mark is gone. There's no reason to be so overbearing. It only leads me to bad things anyway, and I don't want to argue with Ches. I want things between us to be the way they were in the beginning, before I knew. We can go back to that. I think.

He was still practicing when he heard the bathroom door open, and he stopped, turning to look over his shoulder at Jason. If he was going to bed, Mike was ready to stop and take his own shower, and he wasn't going to bother him. Jason was standing between the bed and the couch, watching Mike with his head tilted to the side. Mike knew he slept naked, just like Chester and Ryan, but right now he had on solid dark blue pajama bottoms and a lighter gray t-shirt, his hair damp and messy on his forehead. He looked a little lost with both arms crossed over his chest, his hands rubbing up and down his biceps like he was cold. "Jay? You going to bed?" Mike asked, moving to stand up and push his chair in behind the keyboard.

"I don't think I can. Not yet, anyway." Jason's hands stopped their rubbing and he clutched his arms instead. "What were you playing? Just now?"

"Oh, that was Debussy," Mike said, dismissing the complicated classical suite as if it were commonplace and easily performed. "You want some water?" he asked, stepping over boxes and piles to get to the cabinet in the kitchen.

"Sure. I... you don't have to stop. It was nice, that you were playing... I could hear it when I got out of the shower." Jason followed Mike, walking between boxes to lean on the bar and watch as he got two glasses down and filled them.

"Thanks." Mike glanced over at Jason's sad face, but he wasn't entirely sure what to say to make anything better. He didn't even know what the fight with Ryan had been about. "I'm done for now. I need to shower myself. I was just messing around, anyway. Not really paying attention." Mike handed off one glass over the bar and leaned against the sink to drink his. He noticed Jason barely took a sip, then just held the glass, looking down at it.

"Well... don't let me being down here stop you, if you want to play. I love listening to it." Jason looked up, his dark eyes meeting with Mike's in the dim glow of the overhead kitchen lights.

It was apparent that Jason didn't want to be left alone, and Mike read the cue easily. "I don't know if I'll play anymore tonight... but if you're still awake when I get out of the shower, and you want to talk, I can be a pretty good listener." Mike's lips dropped into a frown as soon as he uttered the words. "At least, I used to be. I might be a little out of practice these days. But I'm here, and we'll be waiting for Ches and Ryan to get home anyway. No sense in the two of us laying in bed alone, you know?"