Author's Note: Thanks for the reviews, they really do make my day.
The tv is on in front of them, and Paige is lying with her head in Mike's lap. He runs his fingers through her hair, staring straight ahead but not focusing on the tv.
The second they walked into the bar earlier, he could feel all the men staring at Paige. He couldn't get her out of there quick enough. The rational side of his brain realized that Paige was perfectly capable of turning down men's advances on her own, but the other side of him felt it was his job to protect her. The idea of her being left alone with one of those creeps just pissed him off. He's never been thrilled with the idea of Paige dating, but recently the thought of other men touching her fills him with an inordinate amount of rage.
Hours later at home, he's trying to shake the feelings of jealousy and anger that still have a hold on him. He tries to be reasonable. He knows he shouldn't feel this way. She wasn't his. Besides, he'd won the face off with that pompous ass at the bar. She was safe here on the couch with him, not off having anonymous sex with some pretty boy douche.
He needs to stop feeling so possessive and protective of her. She wasn't his to protect. The world wasn't full of rapists. But at this moment it wasn't rape that concerned him. Paige seemed actually interested in that overcologned dickwad. She might have gone home with him willingly and then… Mike shuts his eyes, trying to erase the picture in his head of Paige getting fucked by another man. He tells himself it didn't matter because she didn't go home with him, she went home with Mike. All this thought does though is replaces the anonymous man in his imagination with Mike.
It's not like they couldn't do it… they were all alone in the house. It would be easy. Probably easier than all the energy Mike is using trying to keep it from happening. He could just let his hand slip down to her breast. It would effortlessly slip below the low cut blouse she was wearing and he could pinch the nipples he knew lay just below the silky fabric. She would gasp and arch against his hand. Then he would lean down and press his mouth to hers to still her writhing body.
He could remove both of their clothes in less than a minute. Then all he had to do was reposition them on the couch. No, not the couch. He would lift her up and take her to bed. He wanted to make love to her on a bed the first time they were together. He wanted to take his time and make her cum for him a hundred times before they left it.
His hands rake through her hair, his fingers twitching with need to follow the forbidden path he's laid out in his mind, and he looks at her face. She's facing away from him, relaxed, watching the tv. She looks so trusting and innocent. He can't take advantage of that trust. He stops petting her hair and forces his clenched fist to rest on the arm of the couch. He trains his eyes ahead on the tv, trying to focus on the show and clear his mind of any fantasies of Paige.
"Mike?" Paige's voice breaks the silence. Apparently she was thinking about things other than the tv as well.
"Yeah?" Mike looks down at her as she turns her head to look up at him from his lap. He tries to look normal. Calm. Like he's just been watching tv for the past hour and not fantasizing about her.
"Why did you tell me?"
"Tell you what?"
"When you were sent to Graceland to investigate Briggs. Why did you tell me?" Paige asks. She's uncomfortable bringing up the subject because she still feels bad about how she reacted to his confession, especially knowing what she knows now.
"I just needed to tell someone. I felt so stressed all the time with the weight of it. You all accepted me into your lives and I was spying on you. It was so stressful to always be on guard, worried someone would find out. Lying to everyone." Mike answers honestly, his mind switching tracks now that he knows what she's referring to.
"Yeah, I get all that… but why did you tell me? Why not Johnny or Charlie, someone back home, or even Jakes?"
Mike thinks about her question for a moment, and then says simply, "Because you're my best friend."
"What?!" Paige was not sure what answer she was expecting, but it wasn't that. She sits up quickly, too surprised by this information to continue sleepily resting her head in his lap. "You've only known me for a few months. You have to have friends you've known longer…"
"I have friends back home, but none of them know anything about my life now. There wasn't anyone I could call and talk to about this." Mike explains. He doesn't want to make her feel pressured or guilty, he's just stating a fact. He's aware Paige is more social than him, and probably has far more friends than him, but she asked and he wants to be truthful. "It's ok, I don't have to be yours or anything but, currently at least, you are my best friend."
She sits and gapes at him, looking like she's unable to process these words. Mike starts to feel uncomfortable. He didn't mean for it to be a big deal. He just accepted it as a fact, like saying the ocean was blue or that he liked orange juice. He honestly assumed she knew.
"I mean for a while you had some tough competition with Bello for first place but, given all that's happened, I think it's safe to say your spot is safe." Mike jokes, trying to alleviate the seriousness of the moment.
"I thought Johnny was your best…" Paige begins to say, but Mike cuts her off.
"Look I like everyone in the house, don't get me wrong. But if we're going to play favorites…" Mike looks down at his lap awkwardly for a moment. He knows these words are true, but it feels strange saying them aloud, "...you're mine."
He really doesn't want to get into a conversation as to why his other roommates don't stack up compared to her, because he really doesn't have any solid reason he can put into words. From the moment he met her, he's just wanted to be around her as much as possible because he genuinely enjoys her company even when she's being a pain in his ass. He's aware that close friendships between men and women are unconventional, but he just wants her to accept it and move on.
When Paige still doesn't respond, Mike continues, "So yeah, if I was going to tell someone in this house, it was always going to be you."
Paige sits and thinks about this new information for a while. She has never thought of Mike as her best friend before, and not just because the term 'best friend' made her think of thirteen year old girls at summer camp.
When she thought of best friends, Mike just did not immediately come to mind. Her best friend was her brother, followed closely by Alicia Thompson who had been her best friend since kindergarten, and even though they hadn't seen each other in years, still retained the title in her mind. When she thought of just people in the house, despite Mike being the newest one here, she realized she felt closest to Mike. Yet somehow the term best friend felt weird in relation to him.
"You're my favorite too." She finally whispered. "Don't tell Johnny."
"I won't." Mike grinned, pulling her closer on the couch into a hug. "It can be our secret."