Y O U T H (scomiche)

you're so gay

a/n: this one's for thelenajackson

I woke up before Scott and snuck out of his hold, only gone for a minute to brush my teeth, drink some water, put on his t-shirt, and climb back into bed. I woke back up about an hour later while he was trying to sneak out of bed (an impossible thing to do if you're a giant). He dug through his suitcase for a fresh pair of clothes and hair product.

"Do you wanna go to iHop later?" I shouted to him.

"Yeah, I'm starving."

"What else is new."

"Pffft." He responded. I rolled my eyes and scrolled through my twitter feed, sending my mom a "Good morning" text to assure her I wasn't dead. I hopped out of bed and walked towards Scott to stand by him while he brushed his teeth.

"Y'know what I just realized! Well, I didn't just realize it, I already knew about it, but it just clicked, I guess."

"Hm?" He responded with a mouthful of toothbrush.

"I'm not a virgin anymore!" I crossed my arms and leaned on the sink with a smirk on my face.

"Mmhm." He gave me a look like I just hold him two plus two equals four.

"And neither are you!" I said in a mischievous tone.

"Mmhm."

"You've got my virginity." I said with a tease, I kicked his leg, playfully.

"Mmhm." I could tell Scott wanted to laugh, but couldn't with a mouth full of toothpaste.

"Give it back." I joked. He was smiling so big, completely unable to hold back at least a little laugh.

"Mm-mm." He made the "no" sound.

"So, you really haven't had sex before, right?" He spit out the toothpaste into the sink.

"Mitch, I've had a crush on you before I even knew what sex was."

"That's cute." He took the other glass and rinsed. He put his toothbrush back into the purple carrier, and put his hands on my shoulder.

"You're my first."

"So that means I have yours!" He laughed.

"Yep!" Scott shouted from near his suitcase.

"Nice." I went around the bed and grabbed my suitcase, searching for an outfit.

You know how a building starts to sound once a group of students, no matter what age, walk in? That eruptious sound of yelling over each other to hear conversations, and always make the waitresses fight over who gets the group? The group of iHop that day just so happened to be a bunch of fresh graduates from Arlington, Texas.

I saw them first because my seat was facing the front door. When I let go of Scotts hand, he took the hint and knew it was our classmates. They were seated at a large, round table in our section of the restaurant, making more noise as half of a group in an iHop than the whole group did on a cramped airplane. Scotts eyes moved to Arthur, who got up from his seat and started walking towards us.

"Hey guys, mind if I sit with you a sec?" He said.

"Um, go for it." Scott said, I nodded. He took a seat at the edge of Scotts side to face us both.

"Alright, look, I just want you to know that we all know about you guys."

"Wait, what?" I said.

"Your relationship was always one of those presumed things in Arlington. Like, Quiznos goes by Dollar Tree, band kids sit at their own lunch table, and Scott and Mitch are dating but not telling anyone because the whole damn town would set them on fire if they found out."

"Oh my god, seriously?" Scott said.

"Yeah. Rumors kinda started floating around in freshman year."

"Which is exactly when we started dating." I said to Scott.

"Um, how exactly did rumors get started?" Scott asked.

"I mean, you know how rumors start in high school." Arthur said, not fooling anybody with his cover up. Scott gave him a look that said "don't fuck with me" (which is good, because my look right about now said "you could pour soup in my lap and I'd apologize to you"). Arthur, finally, spilled the beans.

"Okay, a couple kids saw you making out behind the bleachers homecoming week freshman year. They told, like, half the school. It was all the gossip." My jaw nearly hit the floor I was in such shock. I hit Scott on the arm, lightly.

"I told you someone would see us!"

"Well, doesn't matter now." He defended. I rolled my eyes.

"Alright, I'm gonna get back to my group. Please don't feel like you have to hide. It's a big city and people are accepting, so just have a fun time. And I promise you, none of us are gonna set you on fire."

"I would sure hope so." I added.

"Thank you, Arthur." Scott said. He smiled at us and walked back to his seat. Our waiter finally arrived at the table to get our drink orders.

"Hey guys, I'm Russel, I'll be your waiter today." I immediately shot my head up from the familiar name and voice, just to check.

"You're kidding, Russel! Oh my god!" I said, excited.

"Um?"

"Mitch! From last summer?"

"Oh my god, Mitch! Ah!" His face completely changed, and he looked like I just gave him five hundred dollars.

"Can I hug you?" I asked.

"Absolutely!" I scooted out of the awkward booth and gave him a big hug.

"I didn't even recognize you. You look so different and it's been so long." He said, pulling away from the hug. I sat back down.

"Yeah, you look great!" By " great" I meant "happier".

"Have you and Patrick been keeping in touch?" I said.

"Yeah! He's going to Bellarmine this year, and I'm going to the Art Institute next year, so I get to see him through my senior year AND college. How cool is that?"

"I'm so happy for you guys." I smiled and looked over at Scott, who gave me a confused look.

"Oh, by the way, this is Scott, my boyfriend." It felt cool to say out loud to another human being. They both smiled.

"Oh, the famous Scott. I'm Russel." He reached a hand out for a handshake, and Scott happily obliged,

"Nice to meet you!" Scott said with a warm smile.

"You too. So, uh, can I get you guys drinks?"

"I'll just have a water." I told him.

"Me too." Russel nodded his head and disappeared into the kitchen. Scott looked at me with a tilted head, like a confused puppy, and waited for an explanation.

"Roommate at gay camp." I said, quietly.

"Oh! He seems nice."

"Yeah. He and Patrick, another roommate, got pretty close over the week - they exchanged numbers under-the-radar. Patricks parents sent him there every single  year."

"Oh my god, you practically had PTSD from just one week."

"Yeah, I can't even imagine."

Russel reappeared with our drinks and took our food orders. Scott got an omelette with sausage, and I got scrambled eggs and red potatoes. I peeked my head over to look at our group of classmates, turned back to Scott, and grabbed his hand.

"Flourishing." Scott said, waving his fingers in the air, referencing our earlier conversation about being happy together.

"You're so gay."

"Oh my god, you're so gay. It's almost like we're in a gay relationship."

"I know, I still can't believe it."