Pretenders

Mr. Big Pants

"I'm sorry if I do that," Chester apologized, putting the stapler back, and motioning for them to keep going. "Next time I do that, fucking call me on it," he insisted.

"That's why I try to be neutral about her," Ryan said as they made it around the corner and down a line of storage containers. He watched as Chester ran his hand over almost everything, but didn't pick anything up. "What time are you going to Mike's?"

"A couple of hours. I want to pick up gummy bears while we're here too," he remembered as he turned and playfully smacked the arm of Ryan's leather jacket. "Don't let me forget. They're Mike's favorite." He stopped, his head tilting a little as the emcee's face popped into his mind, and a smile followed. "Thank God for date nights," he said, before they rounded the next corner and the electronics section was now in sight. Chester waved for them to head that way. "We're going to watch The Princess Bride and order food. I'm so fucking excited. We've been talking about it all week."

Ryan listened as they walked, and weaved their way around rows and rows of movies - a section, sadly, that was poorly organized. "How come we don't have date nights?" he asked as he picked up a copy of American Graffiti, glancing over the back cover before putting it down.

Chester looked over, his face twisting. "Why would we have date nights? It's a me and Mike thing."

Ryan glanced over at Chester before he scooted closer, elbowing him lightly. "Do you finally have something going with him? Isn't he still married?"

Chester almost gasped as he took a step back. "Fuck no," he said, glaring at Ryan before he stepped around him to get back to his search for The Princess Bride. "Of course I don't. Mike's...he's not like us," he said, with a shrug and a sigh. "He's married and happy. Mostly. I mean, I think they have a good marriage," he said, pointing at his chest. "But then again, what the fuck do I know about healthy marriages? Mine sucked and my parents got divorced." He turned away from the section they were looking through to go to another. He really didn't want to talk about how straight Mike Shinoda was, or how he'd accidentally admitted to Ryan once when he was high that he thought Mike would be a great life partner for him - a sexy, talented man who could make him laugh. It was a moment of weakness and honesty, and seconds later he was swearing Ryan to absolute secrecy. They hadn't really talked about it since. Until now.

Ryan stayed where he was, giving Chester a little room to calm down before he went over and joined him, scanning the hundreds of movies for the classic they were looking for. "Sorry, Chester," he mentioned from the side of his mouth. "I don't mean to be fucking nosey like that. I just figured, you know, date nights and all and you're always so happy about them and -"

"I found it!" Chester announced, cutting Ryan off as he swung around, the prized copy of The Princess Bride in his hand. "Hot damn! I wasn't sure we'd find one, but here it is!"

Ryan smiled as he nodded. Chester Bennington could get tunnel vision sometimes, and it seemed to happen a lot when it came to Mike Shinoda. Ryan had to wonder if that was a one-sided factor of the duo's relationship, if it was only Chester who held the other one in such high regard.

Either way, Ryan wasn't a part of that, even though these days he was spending a lot of time with Chester while they wrote songs and worked on what was really starting to look like an album. Maybe. If he could get Chester to take a step away from Linkin Park long enough to turn it into something great.

But that was a conversation for another day. A day when Chester wasn't beaming over the idea of watching a movie from the 80's with Mike Shinoda. "You did. You found it. Come on," he said, slinging an arm around Chester's shoulders as he pulled him along. "Let's go find those gummy bears. I don't want you to be late for your date night with Mike."