Devil's Drop

A Friendly Favor

Chester shut his eyes and shook his head, trying to send away the image. "So why don't you and Jason go out? Somewhere other than YRS."

"We've tried that before," Ryan replied dryly. "Last time, Mark started asking questions. The wrong kind of questions," he said, his tone dropping. "Chaz, if he ever finds out about us, like, if he finds out before we're ready to get out of there, God, I don't even want to think about it. But I hate not being able to spend real time with Jay. I'd love for us to actually be able to go out on a date. A real date. . .dinner and movie. You know, something cheesy. Something cliche. Is that so much to ask for?"

Chester's eyes drifted up toward the lofted bedroom as the coffee percolated behind him, sending the glorious aroma of the dark nectar through Chester's senses. "No, I don't think that's too much to ask for. And it's not cheesy. What if you guys go somewhere outside the city?"

"Jay won't," Ryan answered immediately. "He's scared to death that anywhere we go, somehow Mark will find out. He's paranoid, and I can't say I blame him. It just really sucks. There's nowhere safe for us to go."

"What about here?" Chester offered without too much thought. "You guys could come here and have like an at-home date. I'll cook," he decided quickly as his mind raced forward. He spun around, opening his cabinets and scanning the shelves. "I can make us a big meal and we'll watch a movie. We can even go for a walk on the beach after it gets dark. Come on, Ry, you don't get much more cliche than that."

"What, you mean like a double date? With you and Mike?"

Mike.

Crap.

Chester looked up toward his bedroom again. He knew his boyfriend wasn't the biggest fan of Ryan, but this was different. This would be Ryan and Jason both, and somewhere in Chester's head he justified it. Not only was he helping out his friend, but Mike had brought his friends over to the loft - Anna and Dave - and that had been okay, so he figured this should be okay too.

"Yeah," he finally said. "It will be like a double date."

"You sure Mike will be okay with that? He gives me the evil eye sometimes."

Chester waved his hand through the air. "He'll be fine. Don't even worry. I'll talk him into being cool with it. How about tonight?" he offered next as the idea of throwing a little dinner party and hosting his friends - Jason wasn't really a friend, but he'd count for this - really started to excite him. He'd have to go shopping to get supplies, and then he and Mike could spend the day getting everything ready.

He glanced over the loft. They had been steadily working on finding a place for all of Mike's things, and Chester was rather proud of the progress they'd made. The dresser was upstairs, and was packed to the gills with Mike's clothes, and everything that wouldn't fit, they'd squeezed into the linen closet in the bathroom. They had rearranged the living room a little bit, and had made a space in the far corner for all of Mike's art supplies - his crates full of paint cans, his extra canvases, his works in progress and they had even gone out and bought a sleek, modern looking desk so Mike could sit and draw, and have a place for his jars of paintbrushes and stash of markers, pencils, and pens to sit. His boyfriend loved the space, and Chester had even grown to enjoy watching him utilize it in his spare time. Even Mike's piles of music books and compositions were tucked away inside the desk drawers, and so the loft was back to looking clean and organized. Breathable.

"Thanks, Chaz," Ryan said, his down voice picking up into something hopeful, even excited. "I'll call Jay and see if he can get away tonight. I'll text you if we can come. Thanks again," he offered before they both said their goodbyes.

Chester stared at his phone for a minute before he looked up. Now I just gotta get Sexy Boy on board.

Upstairs, Mike was slowly becoming aware that his arms were not around his boyfriend. Without opening his eyes, he reached over, his hand fumbling across the sheets in search of Chester's back, his arm, his side, anything. He cracked his eyes open to gauge just how far away Chester was so he could get a hand on him and bring them back together, but his blurry gaze landed on the empty bed. Mike shot upright, his hand groping at the night stand for his phone. "Ches?" he called out, his voice raspy from hours of non-use as he grabbed his phone. "Ches? Where are you?"