Chapter 1 - Memories

“Morning love.” Chester greeted his friend with a broad smile as Mike slowly made his way from the bathroom to the counter. His eyes half open.

“Mornin’.” He replied and yawned. He was really tired.

The blonde man placed a steaming mug of coffee in front of his friend who now had taken a seat on one of the bar stools. “Thanks.” The half-Japanese smiled softly.

“You’re welcome. Tough night?” Chester asked while taking the pan with the scrambled eggs from the stove. It had become a routine that he made breakfast for his two friends after his night shift at the grocery store and before he went to bed.

Mike yawned again. “It took me hours to adapt that original of my customer.” He rubbed his eyes. He loved his job as a graphic designer, but this assignment was stressing him out.

Suddenly the door to their apartment opened. Both turned their heads as their third roommate entered the room.

“Morning guys.” The man with the curly brown hair greeted them. “Wow, it smells fantastic in here. It really was a good idea to let you move in with us Chaz.” He smiled.

“Hi Brad.” Both said in return.

“I thought you were still sleeping in your room?” Chester looked at him questioning, dividing the eggs from the pan on two different plates.

“Well, I did something similar to sleeping but not in my room.” Brad answered with a smirk.

“Good for you Delson.” The blonde man replied with a grin. “Here is some protein for you. Guess you need it.” He placed one of the plates on the kitchen isle near the other one and the second plate in front of Mike.

Brad laughed out loud. “Thank you. But I need to take a shower first.” At the bathroom door he turned around again, looking at Mike. “Oh, and love” He said with a grin, teasing the other one as Chester usually was the only one using that nickname for the half-Japanese. “There’s a package for you at the post office. I just took a note out of the mailbox.” After returning the gesture of Mike, sticking out his tongue, he went into the bathroom.

The blonde one giggled. “He’s just jealous.” He winked at the other one, making him giggle as well before his face became serious again. “Who’s sending me a package?”

“Well, did you order something?” Chester looked at him questioning while putting some scrambled eggs from Mike’s plate in his mouth.

The other one thought for a second. He didn’t remember ordering anything.

“Nope.” He answered, taking a sip of his coffee.

“Whatever it is, keep my posted.” The blonde man smiled, handing his friend the fork he ate with before. “I’ll go to bed now.” As he made his way towards his room, he already started to undress himself by taking of his shirt and muscle shirt. Mike couldn’t help but to watch his friend closely. ’Gosh, he’s really hot.’ He thought before shaking his head slightly. ’He’s your friend Mike. If you’re that desperate you should take care of yourself more often.’ He couldn’t help but to smirk. He really was stressed and a little horny right know. Therefore, jerking off would help with both. He gulped down his coffee, ate the rest of the scrambled eggs and made his way into his room. Brad should be finished anytime soon, and he would be there, waiting in front of the bathroom door, fresh clothes in his hands and ready to take a soothing shower and care of himself.

After the shower and another hour of work at his desk as his job could be done in home office, he went to the post office to get the mysterious parcel.

Back at the apartment Brad and Chester greeted him as he entered. Both sat on the large brown leather sofa. The brown-haired one played a video game and the other one was next to him, watching.

“Shouldn’t you be sleeping?” Mike asked, after he had slipped out of his shoes and made his way over to his roommates.

“Yeah, but something woke me up and I couldn’t fall back asleep.” Chester replied, eyes almost closed, making some room for the half-Japanese to sit down between the two men.

“Is that the package?” The blonde one asked while covering himself a little more with the beige blanket which normally was just for decoration purposes. He looked really sleepy.

“Yep. My mom sent me some stuff from my old room. Guess she wants to use it as an office or something like that.” Mike replied. He had sneaked a peak already.

Carefully he opened it again. On the top was a photo album and some loose pictures.

“Aw, is that you?” Chester suddenly asked, reaching into the box and taking out a few pictures.

Mike looked at the photos and blushed. Most of them showed him as a toddler and a teenager.

“Even as you were able to choose your outfit yourself you sucked at it.” Brad stated laughing, referring to one picture where his friend had red hair and too lose clothes, before he focused back on his video game.

“Don’t listen to him. I think you looked cute.” The blonde one smiled, pointing to one photo were the other one was about five years old. “But thankfully you’ve chosen to wear different pants now.” He continued and started laughing, now looking at a picture were Mike was a teenager and really into baggy clothes. The half-Japanese blushed.

“You don’t have to be embarrassed love. We all have made some weird fashion choices.” Chester replied with a grin as he noticed the redness in the other one’s face. Mike smiled softly at his friend and looked further into the box. His mother had sent him some report cards and other documents from school. Suddenly he spotted some vinyl. His heart started to beat faster. In a hurry he took a closer look and started to smile broadly. He has been looking for those records for a while now and thought he had lost them. Even though he had no record player anymore he was happy that his favorite pieces were back in his possession.

“Who’s that?” Chester’s voice tore him out of his thoughts. He turned to face the man next to him who was showing him a picture of four people standing next to a snowman.

The half-Japanese smiled sadly. “That’s me, my brother, Brad and my father.” He replied.

Brad paused his game to look at the picture as well. “Oh yeah, I remember this.” The brown-haired man smiled softly. He and Mike used to be neighbors growing up.

“I didn’t know that you have a brother.” The blonde one looked at his friend, feeling that the mood had changed suddenly.

“Had.” The half-Japanese replied. “My father and my brother died in a car accident a few days after this photo was taken.” Brad squeezed the shoulder of his friend before continuing his game. Even though it had happened many years ago he knew that his friend was still hurt.

“Oh, love, I’m sorry to hear that.” Chester answered, snuggling up against the right arm of his friend.

“Thank you but it’s alright. Guess we all have been through some stuff in the past.” The half-Japanese said with a soft smile.

“Yeah.” The blonde one stated, a hint of sadness in his voice as he put the pictures on the coffee table. Mike looked to his side. As his friend was leaning against him, he couldn’t see his face. But it felt like the other one knew what it meant to lose someone.

“Can we order some Chinese food today?” Brad asked after a few minutes. He didn’t like the silence after such a heavy topic.

The half-Japanese carefully put everything back into the box. “Sure, but only if you promise me to ask Rob and Dave about the band today.” He smiled, slowly leaning against the back rest of the sofa. The body of the petite man automatically moved with him.

“Even if I wanted to forget about it I couldn’t as you’re reminding me about it almost every hour.” The other one replied with a grin. “I’ll text them later. I promise.” His features softened. He knew that this was really important to his friend. Since they were kids Mike was always talking about making music, showing him the newest tracks from his favorite musicians and trying to convince him to learn an instrument.

“Thank you.” The man next to him answered with a soft smile.

As Brad focused back on the TV again, Mike carefully pulled out his right arm from under the blonde one. Chester now leaned against his upper body. He watched his friend closely as he didn’t move at all and he could only hear him breathing quietly. ’Seems like he has fallen asleep.’ He thought with a smile. He slowly covered him with the blanket a little more and laid his arm on him, pressing him carefully more against himself. ’If I move, he’ll probably wake up, but he really needs to rest after his night shift.’ As he knew that it wouldn’t be a problem if he'd continue his work a little bit later, he stayed on the couch, watching his friend play his video game and serving as a pillow for the other one.