*beams* Thank you guys so much for all of the reviews. I feel so special. Oh, and mu5icBtcH- how wierd is it that you're the first person to comment on my first story, when you are, by far, one of my favorite authors on this site? I follow all of your storys- you're practically my slash idol. Thank you! And thank all of you guys so much! Well anyway, here's chapter 2!

As the time for the plan to go into action approached, Mike got more and more apprehensive about going through with it. Not just because he was afraid of Chester’s reaction- but because the plan required him to hurt himself. Well, not really. It required him to fake hurting himself. But still, Mike had a tendency to actually get hurt whenever he tried to pretend.

“Guys, we’re here!” Joe’s voice rang through the bus, causing Mike’s stomach to flip. ‘This is it,’ the little voice in his head chimed in again. ‘Hush, you,’ Mike retaliated.

Mike stood, grabbing his bags from the bunk above and waiting as the rest of the guys passed him by. ‘Okay, I gotta make sure I catch Chester’s attention. Let’s do this.’ He let out a shaky sigh and strode to the front of the bus.

Making sure everyone was already leaving, and most importantly, not looking at him- except for Dave, who was glancing back to make sure he wasn’t chickening out- Mike tossed his bag out the bus door, following it with an incredibly ungraceful leap.

“Aw, fuck!” Mike let out his best cry of pain as he landed beside his bag on the pavement, grabbing for his ankle, which is what he was supposed to hurt in stage one of the plan, and his shoulder, which he just hurt anyway. Apparently, he’s not the best at fake falling. However, he is good at fake yelling, because all five of the guys turned around to see what the cussing was about.

Brad was the first to reach him, but only bent over in laughter. “What the fuck did you do, Mike? Throw yourself out of the bus?” Mike laughed inwardly at the accuracy of Brad’s comment, but as he saw Chester approach, instead hissed in pain and grasped his ankle tighter.

“No, asshole, I didn’t throw myself out of the bus. I fell- goddamn it, stupid ankle!” Mike caught a glimpse of Dave smirking behind the other guys and had a sudden urge to throw him back onto the bus. This was his stupid idea, after all. But anyway, back to the plan.

“Well, do you think you can walk?” Rob asked, the only of the band members to show any concern thus far.

“I don’t know. I guess I could try,” Mike said with a wince, attempting to stand and immediately falling to the ground again with a cry of pain. “Aw shit, I don’t know, guys, it hurts like a mother-fucker.” Come on Dave, that’s your cue…

And right on beat, Dave chimed in: “Well, who’s rooming with him? Whoever’s staying with him should help him get to his room.”

“That’s me.” Chester’s voice rang into Mike’s eardrums like heaven. “I’ll help him up- but one of you has to carry my bag and his.” Chester dropped his bag to the ground and looked down at Mike with a sigh and a smirk. “You’d better not be heavy, Shinoda.”

Mike forced a laugh and prayed as stage two of Operation SHOHF began. Rob and Brad grabbed the two vocalists’ bags, and as they turned to leave, Chester approached Mike. “Alright, just put your arm around me, and you’ll kind of use me as a crutch, okay?”

Mike’s breath hitched as Chester reached down and wrapped his arms around the emcee’s waist to pull him from the ground. ‘Let’s start this plan off right, okay, Mike?’ He whispered to himself as he draped his arm around the smaller man’s shoulder.

This part of the plan, however, Mike was most unsure about. Dave had told him he was to, quote, “flaunt himself as much as possible- touching, suggesting sounds, and the like.” So basically, flirt with Chester while he was in this position on the way upstairs. Apparently, the flirting would lead to part three of the plan, which was not to take place until inside the hotel room. Stage two would also entice Chester, and, according to Dave, “help prepare a bit about what’s going to happen.”

Mike, however, had learned from experience that flirting was not his forte. To put it plainly- he sucked at it. Of course, if Chester really liked Mike as much as Dave claimed, the flirting wouldn’t be a problem. But Mike, being the insecure fellow that he is, didn’t put a lot of faith into Dave’s claims about Chester’s feelings. But oh well, back to the plan!

Chester began to try and boost Mike along, clutching his left hand around Mike’s waist, and using the other against his chest. Mike wavered slightly from having the older man’s hand on his chest, but concentrated enough to stick to the operation.

‘Okay, let’s do this…’ Mike turned his head towards the right, so his mouth was almost directly on Chester’s ear, closed his eyes, and let out a small groan of pain- but made the sound as sensual as possible. Directly after, he dropped his head onto Chester’s shoulder and emitted a small whimper. ‘Please, God, let this be helping,’ he pleaded, purposefully letting his warm breath hit the neck of the smaller man. Mike opened his eyes to find two very heavy-lidded brown orbs staring directly back at him.

Upon seeing Mike’s eyes upon, Chester cleared his throat quickly. “Um- you doing okay, Mike?” He asked, and Mike was pleased to note his voice was uncharacteristically low and husky.

Mike responded by rolling his head back on his shoulders and closing his eyes again, exposing all of the skin of his neck to the vocalist. “Yeah, I think so. It just hurts.” With those few words, Mike gave Chester’s shoulder a small squeeze and slid his hand sensually down the vocalist’s arm, then back up. He added a bit more by pressing his chest into Chester’s hand, causing the smaller man’s hand to drift totally onto one of his pecs.

Chester cleared his throat again. Twice. Note to self: Chester clears his throat when he’s uncomfortable. “Well, we’re almost to the elevator,” he said, propping the door of the hotel open with his foot as he lead Mike in. “So just keep walking.”

‘Here comes the best part- or worst, depending on how you look at it,’ Mike practically whimpered to himself. The two men remained silent as they approached the elevator, but once they reached the door and stopped to wait for it to open, Mike slid his hand down to Chester’s waist and gave a tight squeeze, emitting a small groan of pain at the same time. Chester let out a small gasp at the squeeze- wait, Chester let out a small gasp? Did Mike imagine that? This is going better than planned!

However, any glory Mike was going to revel in was cut short as the ding of the elevator sounded and the doors opened. Here goes, here’s the big part. Mike hobbled into the elevator with Chester on his hip, and as soon as they were totally into the elevator, and the doors had begun to close…now!

Mike conveniently lost his footing, gasping as he hooked both arms around Chester’s neck, and inadvertently slammed the older man into the wall of the elevator. There. Mike had Chester pinned against the wall of an elevator, his face dipped down into the smaller man’s neck, arms draped around his shoulders, chests, stomachs, and everything below pressed together. It was like one of Mike’s hotel fantasies come true.

Mike hesitated to look up, afraid to see the expression on Chester’s face, and for a few seconds, just breathed heavily into the neck of his friend. Finally, he lifted his head and was more than turned on with the sight he beheld.

Chester’s head was pressed against the back of the elevator wall, his eyes closed, his mouth slightly parted, and his cheeks tinted pink. Mike just stared for a second, mesmerized by the sensual expression covering the older man’s face. ‘Maybe I won’t even need stage three,’ mused Mike, but was snapped back to his senses as Chester emitted a shaky sigh and lifted his head from the wall. He opened his eyes, and they immediately widened as they caught the gaze of Mike.

Chester cleared his throat for the fourth time, and grunted out with that same husky voice, “Um- are you okay, Mike? Do you think you can make it the rest of the way to the room?” He cleared his throat again.

Mike grinned inwardly. The plan was working. “Yeah, I think so. Sorry about that, Ches, I guess I just lost my balance for a second.” Mike used his grip on Chester’s shoulders to pull himself into a full standing position, purposefully not pulling his body back yet.

“It’s okay- although you are pretty heavy,” Chester let out an uncomfortable laugh as he, too, tried to straighten himself out. The elevator bell signaled again, allowing the two men to find their original positions and limp the rest of the way to the room.

‘Alright,’ Mike sighed to himself. ‘Part two- completed.’

Yes, I know, it's kind of an odd story line- but like I said, it's my first story. Review if you like! Thanks for reading!