Devil's Effect

In the Closet

Mike pressed send on the text message to Chester and stood outside the door to Amir's apartment. He was impressed with the building and the area, and decided that Amir must be good with his money to afford a place like this on his own. Well, we were getting paid pretty well at YRS. And he jumped right into Carnal Delights. He didn't go without a paycheck like we did. He probably wasn't trying to pay off debts and everything else. God, Ches and I have been through a lot. A lot more than I've ever stopped long enough to think about. He waited, idly wondering who Chester was referring to when he'd mentioned that "people" were over.

The door opened quietly and he saw Chester's brown eyes first, peeking through a crack in the door. Mike's heart took a little leap and there was a smile on his face instantly. "Hey," he whispered. "You wanna let me in?"

Chester stayed behind the door, looking Mike up and down as he kept him at bay out in the hallway. Mike's hair was a mess, and Chester couldn't say much about his choice of sweatpants and hoodie mix, but it was Mike, and he felt a zip of excitement across his stomach. "Hey," he whispered back. "I'll let you in, if you promise to be good." He wiggled his eyebrows, hoping it wasn't too soon for jokes.

"I swear," Mike answered, pressing his free hand to his chest. "I'll keep my hands in my pockets if that's what you want." He waited, and Chester stepped back to let him inside. It was dark, and Mike could hear Chester's breathing. It was comforting, like they were sleeping next to each other in bed. "Hands in pockets. I'm ready," he declared in a whisper.

"Okay, come on," Chester said, motioning for Mike to follow him. It was a short trip, just past the table, and into the bedroom, where the lights were on. He shut the door behind him. "Okay, we can talk now," he said in his normal voice. "Amir and Noah are upstairs, but they can't hear us in here."

Mike blinked. "Noah? Noah is here?"

Chester put his hands out in front of him. "Oh, Sexy Boy, let me tell you how wild it is," he said, before he felt his cheeks flush. It was the second time he'd called Mike by his old pet name in the same night, and he looked away quickly. I've gotta stop that. We're broken up. "Anyway," he said, trying to shrug it off. "Yeah. They're...I'm not sure what they are," he decided as he pointed up to the ceiling. "In my professional opinion, I'd say they're dating, but I don't think Amir's ready to admit that yet, and Noah, you know him..he'll take any title he can get."

"Wow. That's... Noah is the last person I thought Amir would end up with." Mike looked around the bedroom. It wasn't anything amazing, but it was a nice size, with nice furniture, even though the blanket on the bed was awful. He opened his mouth to say something and then decided not to. The reason Chester had an awful silver and pink blanket was because his had been replaced with the red and black one at the loft, and he'd left that behind for Mike. He didn't want to bring that up right now. "So." He used his hand in his hoodie pocket and motioned toward the open closet. "Is this the amazing walk-in closet?"

A smile bounced off of Chester's face. "God, yes. Come on." He turned and headed into the closet. "Look! We're both walking in!" He knew he sounded giddy, but it was a walk-in, and it had been the highlight of Chester's life over the last three days. "There's plenty of room in here for my stuff, and probably someone else's. I wouldn't even have to be a closet hog. I'm still working on my shoes." He pointed to an open box on the floor before he looked at Mike, who had stepped in behind him.

"You are a closet hog," Mike teased lightly, forcing himself not to think about the empty closet at the loft. "You could just live in here. Sleep among your clothes and shoes. I can totally see it now." He looked around at the amount of space and how neatly Chester had already started to organize his things. Chester was making himself at home, and that dimmed the smile on Mike's face a little. He's not coming back. He loves this closet. He's already hanging things up and putting his shoes in order. He's not coming back. Mike cleared his throat and looked at Chester. "It's great, Ches. You'll have it all organized in no time."