Devil's Drop

Upstairs Ultimatum

The sun was just far enough over the horizon that Mike didn't have to squint into it as Chester drove them back to YRS on Friday morning. It's too early for this. I don't know why we have to be earlier than usual today, just because Toby and Josh both got fired. That's got nothing to do with us. Thank God.

Mike cast a long sideways glance at his boyfriend, who was driving along with no troubles showing on his face. Nothing seems to phase him at all. And I can't figure out for the life of me how Josh ends up with herpes and Caleb is fine. None of this makes any sense. And when we talked about it he just shrugged. Shrugged! He looked back out at the road ahead of them and scowled. He gets upset with me when I don't understand but then he doesn't tell me stuff. And I'm not holding any of this against him or anything, but it can still bother me. That's not holding it against him, right? I guess Mark will partner Devon with Caleb. Is that how that works? They just move on to the next person?

He shifted in his seat as he flipped through the roster of boys in his mind, thinking about the potential partners Chester had in his past that he hadn't spoken about. None of which mattered, because deep down, despite his general lack of understanding about how things at YRS worked, Mike knew that Chester loved him. It showed in the little things Chester did to make him happy... the way he made his favorite things for dinner, or rubbed his socked feet on the couch at night, or gazed at him through sleepy eyes in the morning. He knew what they had was more meaningful than any relationship either of them had been in previously, and he had been trusting of Chester when he said, even before they were together, that work didn't mean anything. Still, it was going to be hard to walk back into the big house knowing what he knew now. Knowing that Chester had been with everyone there, one way or another.

Chester looked over, catching the scowl on his boyfriend's face. "You okay?" he asked, his sincerity showing. They had already talked about how returning to YRS might be a little awkward the first day, but Mike didn't look anxious. He looked pissed.

"I just... I'm not ready to go back," Mike grumbled, keeping his eyes away from Chester. "A lot has happened. I guess I still haven't processed it all. And I don't know why we have to be there two hours earlier than normal. Our last few hours on Friday mornings... those are important to me, Ches." He sighed, the anger fading a little as he looked down at his open flannel shirt, picking at the buttons with his right hand. "I feel like something's been taken from me. Everything was rushed this morning."

Chester rolled his lips together, squishing his piercing as he thought. "Well," he started before he let out a sigh and took a right at the stop sign. "Ryan said that Jason said that Mark wants us all there early to, you know, talk about things." He glanced over, hoping not to get Mike's usual glare whenever he mentioned Ryan's name.

"Talk about things. Like... why do we need to be there? It's just you and me, Ches. We're not partnering with anyone else. We're fine. Safe. The tests were clean." Mike looked over at Chester, his eyebrows furrowed in thought. "We could have stayed in bed together this morning."

Chester shrugged. There was no use in trying to argue with Mike when he was in a mood like this. Nothing would get through. "That would have been nice, but we have to work." He kept his eyes on the road, and it was almost a sigh of relief to see the YRS property in the distance. Now we can get this over with. Get through today and things should get back to normal. It's going to be kinda weird without Toby being around. . .or Josh. Damn. I know Devon's pissed.

Mike didn't know what else to say, so he didn't say anything. He looked out the side window and wished for the millionth time he could get Chester away from YRS. He could feel his teeth clench as Chester parked the car and they both moved to get out. Despite his mood, he reached for Chester's hand and held it possessively. It was important to present a united front when it came to Mark, at least in Mike's mind.