“Goodnight guys, see you all tomorrow. Thanks for coming,” Chester called as Joe, Brad, Rob, Phoenix and Mike left Chester’s house. They all hugged in Chester’s driveway, and said their ‘goodbyes’ and ‘see you tomorrows’ and made their way to their cars. Engines started and the musicians pulled away and off home into the night.

Chester closed the front door and went over to begin clearing the pizza boxes and glasses. Meanwhile, outside, Mike turned the key in the ignition of his car, and nothing happened. He tried again, but still nothing.

“Fuckit” he exclaimed. He looked at his watch, 11.40pm. “Dammit” he puffed out under his breath. He took his keys out of the ignition and walked back up the path towards Chester’s front door. He rang the doorbell, and inside Chester jumped at the sound, wondering who it could be. He peeked out of the window, seeing it was Mike, and opened up the door.

“back so soon?” he laughed.

“car won’t fuckin’ start!” can I come in and phone for recovery to come and fix it?

“Mike, it’s almost midnight. Why don’t you just stay here tonight and sort the car out tomorrow. We’ve got our meeting tomorrow morning, so I can drive us both there, then you can sort out your car after the meeting.”

“Ah man, that’d be great. I don’t feel like waiting around half the night for someone to come and sort it for me! Are you sure you don’t mind me staying?”

“Course not. It’s no bother. I’ll just go and sort out a bed for you.”

Chester disappeared upstairs, leaving Mike in the living room. Mike picked up the rest of the glasses, taking them into the kitchen, and returning to put away the chips, dips and snacks that were left on the coffee table. He started the taps in the sink, squirting in some washing up liquid and began washing the glasses. Chester appeared in the doorway.

“You don’t have to do that man!!” Chester smiled as he opened the fridge door, taking out two bottles of beer. “Come on, let’s sit down in there”, he nodded his head towards the living room and motioned for Mike to follow him.

Mike set the glass he was washing down on the draining board, wiped his hands on the cloth hanging from the kitchen cupboard and followed Chester into the living room.

Chester sat down on the big armchair, putting his feet up on the foot stool, opened a bottle of beer and handed it over to Mike. Mike stretched his arms up above his head as he yawned, his t-shirt riding up, showing the slightest hint of his belly, before sitting down on the couch and taking a swig from his bottle.

“Cheers Chester!”

Chester had caught the exposure of skin that Mike had just revealed. ‘yum’ he thought to himself as he saw the trail of dark hair creep down from Mike’s navel below the waistband of his black jeans.

“So, it’s 11.30 at the studio tomorrow isn’t it?” Chester asked as he took a mouthful of beer.

“Mmm, yeah” replied Mike. “Actually we shouldn’t be too long in the meeting as we talked about a lot of stuff tonight didn’t we? Maybe we could work on finishing the lyrics to that one we started last week?”

“Yeah, that sounds like a plan”

Chester finished his beer, and yawned.

“I think I’m gonna head up to bed. You can stay down here and watch TV if you want.”

“Nah, I’ll come up too. I’m pretty beat”

Chester took Mike’s empty bottle and put it on the draining board in the kitchen. “Do you want anything? Glass of water?” Chester shouted from the kitchen.

“No, I’m fine thanks” Mike replied.

Chester turned off the light, locked the front door and headed upstairs, as Mike followed behind him. Chester nodded in the direction of the spare room.

“I’ve set you up a bed in there. Clean sheets and everything!”

“Thanks man, I appreciate it. Clean sheets! What an honour!”

“So, do you want a t-shirt or something to sleep in?” Chester asked.

“Yes please, that’d be great” Mike replied, following Chester into his bedroom.

Whilst Chester was looking for a shirt in the closet, Mike looked around Chester’s bedroom. Although he spent a lot of time with Chester and in his house, he’d never really been in Chester’s bedroom before, and he was taking the opportunity to have a good nose around while he had the chance! He walked over to the window and looked out.

“Pretty nice view you have from this room” he mused as he looked around. Chester opened the door to his closet and fingered through some clothing till he found a shirt, throwing it over to Mike.

Mike smiled as he saw Chester’s scented candle collection on the top of the dresser.

“you’re such a girl!” Mike exclaimed as he pointed at the candles, sniggering out loud.

“Whatever man, they smell awesome!” Chester laughed as he lit them. “They help me sleep”

“Well goodnight then, thanks again man. See you in the morning”

Mike walked towards the door, holding Chester’s t-shirt in his hand, and looked back over at Chester as he left the room. Chester had pulled off his t-shirt and had his back to Mike, exposing his dragon tattoos across his back. Mike smiled and made his way over to the spare room, thinking to himself how awesome Chester’s tattoo art looked. He wondered to himself what a tattoo would look like on himself, but quickly rejected the idea, as he hated anyone seeing his body. He pulled off his t-shirt and pulled on Chester’s shirt, thinking how it smelt of Chester as he pulled it over his head.

Chester was in the bathroom, in his pj pants, and no t-shirt, brushing his teeth. After he rinsed his mouth, he went into the closet and pulled out a clean towel for Mike. As he walked back along the landing, he knocked gently on the door and pushed it open.

“Thought you might want a towel” he said as he put the towel down on the chair behind the door. Mike was standing there in his boxers and Chester’s t-shirt.

“Wow, you look good in that shirt. You should keep it!” Chester smiled.

“Thanks man, it is a pretty cool shirt.”

“So have you got everything you need?” Chester asked, wanting to spend some more time with Mike, especially as he was just in his boxers. This was a rare sight, Mike was always fully clothed, never intentionally exposing skin, so to see him in his boxers was a very welcome sight for Chester.

“Yep, I think so”. Replied Mike, feeling a little exposed. He looked at Chester’s tattooed chest. His eye caught the dragon creeping over his shoulder.

“Chester, that tattoo on your shoulder...it’s cool. I like it. What do you think about me getting a tattoo?”

“You? Tattoo? No, Mike. I don’t think that’s a good idea” Chester said as he sat down on the end of the bed.

“Why not?”

“Well for starters, who is ever going to see it? And, secondly, I don’t think you could take the pain!” Chester creased up in fits of laughted, as Mike looked a bit hurt.

“Aw, you know I’m only joking!” Chester said, becoming more serious now. “So where were you thinking of getting it?”

“Oh I don’t know, it’s just that your tattoos look so amazing. No I think you’re right, it wouldn’t look good on me anyway.”

“I dunno about that, Mike. You could totally pull it off!”

“You think?”

“yeah, totally. Mike, I don’t know why you’re so insecure about your body. You’re totally hot!”

Mike rolled his eyes at Chester, tutting at him.

“I’m serious Mike. You are amazing!”

Mike smiled shyly. Chester’s tummy flipped. He loved Mike, not just ‘best friend love’ but he actually had grown to love Mike over the years. He loved how shy Mike could be, endeared by his little insecurities.

Mike sat down next to Chester on the bed.

“Thanks Chester, you’re pretty awesome yourself!” Mike looked at Chester, “can I have a closer look at your tattoos? I know I see them all the time, but I want to see the details.”

Chester shuffled round so Mike could see his back. Mike put his hands on Chester’s back as he studied the dragons. He spun Chester around and took hold of his hands as he examined the tattoos wrapped around his arms.

“They’re beautiful” Mike whispered as he looked up at Chester. He didn’t let go of Chester’s hands as he looked into Chester’s eyes. Chester stared back at Mike, his heart doing flip flops, as Mike’s warm hands stroked up his arms. Mike leaned forwards and caught Chester’s lips with his own, brushing lightly against them, feeling a spark of electricity as their lips met.

Chester’s eyes fluttered closed as he inhaled deeply, not believing what had just happened.

“M..Mike...”

*************************

Should I keep going with this??