Devil's Fate

The First Time... Again

The sun was blaring when Chester made it out of parenting class. He traded his reading glasses for his sunglasses immediately as Jordan walked with him. "I'm glad we don't have a ton of homework for that class," Chester mentioned as he walked with his backpack over one shoulder and one hand on his belly. "Marketing is kicking my ass all over the place."

"I don't envy you. I took a marketing class my first year and thought I would drown," Jordan offered. He was slower to find his sunglasses amongst everything in his black backpack with patches sewn all over it. Everything from The Clash to Rage Against The Machine, and Muse. It was as eclectic as Jordan himself, and he liked it that way. No labels. He was a mix of everything.

He glanced over to see Chester rubbing his baby bump, and he smiled. It had only taken a few days of seeing his classmate with the bulging belly for him to get used to it, and if he was being honest, he had to admit that seeing Chester in the black and white maternity looking shirt was endearing. Attractive. "You feeling okay, Chaz?" he asked, one hand going lightly to Chester's bicep as they walked slow. Before Chester was saddled with the thirty pound weight to his stomach, they would zip around the campus to make it to their next classes, or for Chester to make it to work or to let Cheese out. But not anymore. Now they walked half the speed, and Jordan was okay to keep pace with his friend.

"Yeah, I'm okay," Chester assured him between yawns. "I just didn't sleep well last night. She was kicking me and waking me up," he whined as he looked down at his stomach. He rubbed his hand over the soft material of the maternity top. Even though the original plan was to only wear the pregnancy shirts at home, where he would be out of sight of everyone but Mike, it really hadn't worked out that way. The longer he was pregnant, the less he cared what people had to say about it. It wasn't like he'd really gotten knocked up. It was an assignment that would be over in a few weeks. Until then, it was too hot to wear hoodies constantly, and all his regular t-shirts were uncomfortable.

Jordan gave Chester's arm a squeeze before he let him go. "I'm sorry, man. That sucks. Maybe she's practicing for the football team," he teased, and a second later he was reaching over to give Chester's belly a small caress.

"You're funny," Chester chuckled with a roll of his eyes. "More like she's practicing to be a kickboxer."

"Kickboxing is cool," Jordan was quick to say as they headed for a larger group of students that were coming out of the library, like the building had spilled everyone out at once. "Jeez, fucking crowds," he grumbled under his breath as they started to weave through the lines of bodies. He stuck close to Chester's side, helping to guide them.

Matt and Dan were leaving the library in the group of students Jordan and Chester were trying to make their way through. The two of them had spent the last two hours researching a graduate project, and Matt was tired of everything related to technology in the music business. "Fuck, Dan-o, I don't want to see another report today. And I have all these theory papers to grade. I don't remember being so helpless in undergrad theory." All of the students in front of them were slowing progress, and Matt was impatient. "Although, if we were stupid, we wouldn't be in grad school."

Helpless undergraduates were a topic they ruminated on frequently, and Matt could tell Dan was about to answer him with some witty remark. But he stuck his hand out to shush his friend when his eyes landed on Mike Shinoda's boyfriend. He knew Chester was a student, but he hadn't seen him much around campus. The last time he'd seen him, Chester was with the same curly headed guy. "Look," he hissed quietly, "it's Chester."

Dan adjusted his thick black framed glasses as he followed Matt's headnod. It only took him a second to spot Chester Bennington. "What the hell is he wearing?" he mumbled as he looked Chester over from head to toe. The few times he'd seen Mike's boyfriend, he'd been impressed with his wardrobe. Chester was a professional model, afterall. But the oddly proportioned black and white shirt Chester was wearing today didn't fit the bill. Dan liked his tight jeans, but the dainty looking top was a turn off. "And who's that guy?" he asked next before Matt could answer. "Oh, that's the guy you said Chester took home," he decided, twisting to smack Matt on the arm. "Right? Now he's with him again."