Devil's Effect

Cut in Pieces

Ryan took a step back, and he waited as Chester nodded, and took the next shirt from the closet. "Baby steps, Chaz. We got this." He smiled before he decided maybe changing the subject would help. The less they talked about Mike, the better. "So how's it going over at Amir's?" he asked, as he decided to stay at the closet and help. It was packed to the brim, and Chester's progress was slow. "And I mean how it really is, not just the nice answer you gave me in front of him the other day."

"It's okay," Chester answered, his voice already pulling up out of the doldrums. "I can't wait to hang up all my clothes in the closet. Actually, I think all of my stuff could probably fit in that closet."

It was the first time Ryan had seen Chester really smile in days. "I bet you could. It's huge!"

"I know. I love it. I just leave the closet doors open and lay on the bed and stare at it. It's like my happy place." Chester looked over at Ryan, at the way he was pulling the next shirt off and carefully folding it. His dark hair kept falling over his eyes, and brushing against the dark scruff on his jawline. He's so handsome...and I know he doesn't know it. Chester reached over, touching the sleeve of Ryan's dark shirt. "Ry?" he called softly, and the moment he saw Ryan's piercing blue eyes look his way, he felt his insides lift. "Thanks for doing this with me."

"You don't have to thank me, Chaz, I want to be here." He leaned forward, and pecked a soft kiss to Chester's closed lips. "Now, finish spilling the dirt about Amir's," he said playfully as they both turned back to the job at hand.

"Noah's been there every single day," Chester told him. "Having coffee and eating dinner with us. Amir says it's only because I'm there, and Noah's trying to help, or whatever...but I don't know."

"They have gotten really friendly," Ryan agreed as he pulled down the last shirt. "I never would have thought someone like Noah would get to Amir. He's usually all over the exotic looking guys. Bad boys and people who don't want anything other than a good bang."

"I used to be like that. We both were," Chester reminded him as he dropped to his knees and started pulling his shoes out from the bottom of the closet. "My name was Charlie Bang afterall."

"I know," Ryan said with an eye roll. "I don't ever want to be like that again. Looking back now, fuck, we were reckless."

Chester nodded as Ryan crouched down with him. "I owe that to Mike, pulling me out of that pattern. He was so...starry-eyed, you know?" He turned and met Ryan's eyes for a minute. "I wasn't looking for anything other than a hot date, and he had us going on picnics and feeding ducks and holding hands, but not actually having sex." Chester stopped, the memory of his first time being intimate with Mike popping into his head. It wasn't just their first time, but Mike's very first time. "It was really good for awhile," Chester mumbled as he and Ryan placed the pairs of shoes into a box they'd brought upstairs with them. "He started to change after YRS."

"It changed all of us," Ryan mumbled. "And Mike was lucky to have you as his first. I hope he knows that."

Chester shrugged. "It doesn't matter now. He lied to me, Ry." He paused for a minute, trying to stay calm as he smoothed his fingers over the bright green shoelaces that were laced through a pair of his sneakers. "That night that I had that really bad nightmare, he told me that if something happened, and I never wanted to have sex again, that he'd love me anyway. That it wouldn't matter because he loves me...but that wasn't true. Six weeks, Ryan, it only took six weeks for him to hold it against me and start accusing me of sleeping around with other people."

Ryan dropped the last pair of shoes in the box before he leaned over it to kiss the side of Chester's fuzzy scalp. "It's over now, Chaz. He's not worth torturing yourself over. You didn't do anything wrong. And I didn't either." He waited till he saw Chester nod, and then they stood up together, their knees aching from the hardwood floor. Ryan scanned the room. "Anything else? You want the blankets?"