Devil's Fate

Missed

Chester smiled into the bathroom mirror. His hair looked good, his chocolate brown curls behaving as they sat close to his scalp. Over the past few months he'd debated shaving them off a few times, simply to be done with their upkeep, but he knew his boyfriend liked them. So for now, they could stay. And Forrest agrees. He says they make me look youthful. Whatever. I'm a grown ass man now.

Chester was far from his younger, eighteen-year-old self who had been bridled and bent and made to suffer under Mark Wakefield's vision for younger models paired with more mature looking boys. It was one of the reasons Chester had been partnered with Ryan. Ryan never looked like the barely eighteen type. Between his natural build and his dark scruff that always put a few years on him, he'd always looked his age.

And now I get to, too. I'm not a fucking twink anymore. I'm way past that barely legal crap. I'm twenty-three. I'll be twenty-four in just a few months. He shoved his hand over his head and then down his face. He didn't miss the lines around his eyes, and how they were becoming more prominent. Especially when he smiled. His eyes were deeper, like some of the light had been drained from him. The light of youth and hope and excitement. Life had worn him down, and that fact wasn't lost on Chester. The thoughts that followed - worry over how long he could last being a model, what was he going to do once he was no longer of use to Score and Forrest Mullan, and did Mike still think he was sexy, even though he was getting older - all dropped from the forefront as his phone vibrated on the countertop of the vanity.

Ryan: Are you really wearing a tie? It's a Christmas party. Ties sound way formal.

Chester grinned at Ryan's message and then pulled his thin, red tie between his fingers. He'd picked out his outfit for the Score company Christmas party two weeks ago. Other than his red tie, he was head to toe in white - his pants, his belt, his tucked-in short sleeve dress shirt, even his socks and shoes were the color of snow. Everything but the tie. And my panties. He smirked at the mirror before he texted Ryan back.

Chester: It's a little formal, but I want to match Sexy Boy. He's wearing all black with a red tie and I'm all white with a red tie. We're going for cute. Please tell me you're wearing red and green XD

He left his phone on the counter as he turned and tried to see as much as he could in the awful diamond shaped mirror. He put his hands on his buttcheeks, trying to see if his pants did his ass justice, and he decided quickly they did.

Ryan: No green. Or red. Mostly black. I won't look like Mike though.

Ryan: I can't believe Forrest is going to give us an award. What did he call it?

Chester snatched his phone up to type. The week before when they'd been called into Forrest's office to be told they were going to get to stand up at the Christmas party for some special acknowledgement, it had made going to the office on a night-off perfectly okay to the two of them.

Chester: Something about us being the newest members of the team and that our ads have really boosted sales. I can't remember what he called it. Recognition? Special Recognition.

Ryan: That was it. Wow. Crazy, isn't it? Team Shuckington. We rock, Chazzy :)

Chester busted into laughter the moment he read Team Shuckington. "He's so funny," he mumbled, and that was quickly followed by a sigh of relief. Even though Ryan had failed to show up to poker at Amir's, claiming that something had suddenly come up, he seemed to be excited for tonight and Chester couldn't wait. He was going to get to walk around the office all evening with Mike on his arm, and when the time came he would get to stand up with Ryan to be recognized for all their hard work and effort. Their value to the company.