Shelter
Frankie shoves his head into Mikey’s bunk one evening. Ray and Bob are on a Halo marathon and Gerard is drawing.
“So,” he says, “I heard you and Toro backstage last night.”
Mikey doesn’t even look up from his sidekick. Alicia is teaching Bunny a new trick and giving him a blow by blow account. It’s almost entertaining, almost displacing the memory of the noises- Ray’s noises- doing circuits in his mind. “Oh?”
Frank nods. “He’s loud.”
“I know,” says Mikey. There’s no point in denying anything. He’s been in the band far too long; living in the pockets of his best friends too many years to even try to keep secrets.
“How long’s it been going on?” Frank asks. He’s shifting his whole body into the bunk now, taking up Mikey’s personal space and Mikey doesn’t even mind because in all honesty he’s always loved how Frank has zero awareness when it comes to things like this. He turns, bends his legs, lifts them so they’re resting over Frank’s knees and sits up a little. He shrugs. He feels like a teenage girl discussing the cute boy at school, the way his cheeks heat up and his heart twists a little in his chest when he thinks about Ray.
“A couple weeks,” he admits. “He, um. I walked in on him in the shower. He was, uh-“
Frank snorts quietly, meets Mikey’s cautious eyes with his laughing ones. “I know, man. We all fucking know.”
Mikey freezes. He opens and closes his mouth a few times, cringing inwardly for his bandmate. It’s a good thing he can’t find any words- it turns out he doesn’t need them. “Like I said,” Frank states, “he’s fucking loud.”
~
Mikey nuzzles at Ray’s jaw, breathing heavily and ignoring his shaking legs threatening to buckle from post-coital exhaustion. He tries not to find it sad that they’re reduced to this- fucking in a tech cupboard- , he honestly does, but sometimes he can’t help it. Ray pets his hair, unused to quite this level of affection afterwards.
“What’s-“ he begins, voice low and tired but still caring, still concerned, still Ray.
Mikey cuts him off. “They know,” he says.
“Oh,” says Ray.
“Frankie wants in,” Mikey adds, quietly- quieter than usual. Ray can tell he’s still touching himself.
He tries not to get hard again. He really does.