Laughter. "Ah! Right there! Right there!"

"Here?"

Whining. "No, no, before... Do what you were doing before..!"

"Mmm... Like this?"

Complaining. "No, no, it was lower.... To the left.. Shit!"

"Here?"

Screaming. "Yes! There! Right there!"

"What hell are they doing?"

Dave appears from his hotel room and makes his way down the hall to Chester, who stands outside of the room Rob and Joe share. He glances at Chester with a cocked eyebrow, who, in turn, shrugs.

"Sounds like they're fucking."

"So you're just standing outside of the door listening to them having sex?"

He smiles, doesn't respond, because Dave's got his ear pressed against the door, too.

"Is he laughing?" Chester nods his head. Phoenix laughs. "Rob's got a feather dick?"

Chester clutches his stomach, doubles over with laughter. Because he's imagining that image right now and he thinks it's funny.

"I think Joe's just enjoying it too much," he giggles, wiping the tears from his eyes. "Or maybe Rob is one of those compassionate lovers who just wants to see their significant other happy?"

"Jealous?" Dave asks, and Chester knows he's talking about Mike. "I heard hysterical laughter is good for the abs. Mr. Hahn is gonna be a hunk by the time he gets out of there."

Chester doesn't hear Dave because he's wondering what Mike would do to him to make him laugh like that.

Chester would feel fine if Mike just kissed him nowadays. He would be more than fine. He'd be ecstatic.

"Earth to Chaz?" Dave waves a hand in front of his eyes and Chester blinks a few times.

"What do you think they're doing in there?" he asks and Dave is a little taken aback.

"Attempting sex?" he tries. Chester makes a face so Dave huffs, tries again. "I don't know, maybe they aren't sure what to do and Rob's trying to stick it to Joe's belly button.

They both shiver at the image.

"Who's playing Call of Duty out here?" Brad groans, throwing open his door across the hall. He looks exhausted, but he's completely dressed, so he's obviously been out.

"Rob and Joe," Dave says. Then he smiles. "But I don't think that's the correct game."

Brad pauses, stays silent, listens for a bit, then grimaces. "That's disgusting."

"No it's not!" Chester protests. "You don't think I'm disgusting."

"That's because I've had to deal with you and Mike fucking like rabbits for the past three years. I'm much used to that. But this-" he points to the door where Joe is still shouting obscenities, "This is still new and much grosser."

"Aww, they don't make such a bad couple. Besides," Dave throws his arms around Brad's waist and pulls him closer, "You and I are the only ones left. Whaddaya say? Wanna spend the night with Phoenix?"

Brad scrunches up his nose. "Why don't you go ask Mark? You could reminisce about the good ole days with Snax and make love by the fire."

Then Dave smiles. "It's not all about sex, Brad." Then they both look to Chester at the same time, who appears startled and starts twiddling his thumbs.

"It's not just about sex," Chester mumbles and looks down.

"It's not. It's about love," Brad says softly.

"Of course," Chester says. "Mike loves me."

"Do you still have bruises on your stomach?"

Chester frowns. "They've stopped."

There's silence. They all look toward the door to find that, yes, Rob and Joe have stopped... whatever it was they were doing.

"Dare you to knock," Dave says, still holding onto Brad, finding him very comfortable. Brad rolls his eyes, but looks to Chester, because he's a little busy keeping Dave's hands out of his shirt.

Chester balls his hand into a fist, tentatively raises it, and raps on the hard wood.

There's a pause.

"Uhm, yeah?" It's Rob's voice.

Brad giggles, Chester holds back a giggle, and Dave calls out, "Are you two done in there, yet?"

There's another pause.

Then the door swings open to reveal a red Rob and a wide-eyed Joe. "How long have you been standing out there?" Joe demands.

"I just got here," Brad shrugs, rests his elbows on Dave's shoulders. Chester watches them in silence, watches Dave's hands caress Brad's lower back and Brad's hands tangle themselves in Dave's hair.

"What were you two doing in there?" Dave asks, noticing that the two are completely dressed.

Rob blushes and smiles, reaches his arms around Joe and digs his fingers into his side. "Tickle fight!" he says in a high-pitched voice and Joe jumps and immediately bursts out laughing, grabbing Rob by the wrists and pulling his hands from his stomach.

"No, Rob, please," he chuckles. "My stomach's gonna be covered in bruises tomorrow."

The smile fades from Rob's mouth as he utters a meek, "Sorry."

Everyone stays silent. Chester bites his lip, wondering if Mike ever apologized for hurting him. Nope, he never has. But Chester never says anything about it, so why should he apologize?

"Where's Mike?" he asks and everyone looks away, Brad shrugs. "I'll go find him."

Chester heads down the hall to the elevator and Joe asks what Brad and Dave are doing. Brad realizes Dave's still got him in a bear hug and he's got both of his hands resting on either side of Dave's head and blushes.

"Embracing, like lovers should," Dave says and Rob asks how long they've been together.

"Were not together!" Brad shouts, pushes himself away from Dave and hides in his hotel room.

Dave laughs but Joe and Rob aren't sure why.

The next day, Joe will have bruises covering his stomach. People will ask where they came from and he'll laugh and say, "Rob."

Chester will have bruises on his stomach, too, but people won't ask where they come from because they already know.

Later that day, Chester will want to ask Dave to switch hotel rooms with him so he can share a room with someone else, but then he'll see Dave wrap his arms around Brad's middle and kiss his neck and then he'll see Brad smile and not pull away and decide not to ask.

Right now, though, he's cringing with each heavy blow to his body and wondering if Mike will apologize for this later.

Chester thinks Mike just needs some sort of reminder that Chester's a living thing and not a sex doll, but when Mike's fist connects with the side of Chester's head, all Chester knows is that he's going to black out.

And he's too ignorant to think anything else.

-e.n.d-