Scent of Love - Spin-off one shots

Spin-off 3: Glass walls

A/N

Filth warning. Proceed at your own risk ;)

Josh was an attractive boy. He was the sort of person you wanted to be around at all times, if only to laugh at his never-ending jokes and look into his crinkled eyes. He had lovely eyes, brown in color, with a little hint of amber. When he smiled, they smiled too. Just like Mitch's.

Maybe that was part of the reason why Mitch was so much into him, or perhaps there was something else entirely that made him seem so interested in Josh, so attracted to him that he couldn't take his eyes off him. And attracted he was, if the amount of time he would devote to hanging out with him was anything to go by. To Scott, it was pretty obvious. He was losing Mitch. He was slipping right through his fingers and all Scott could do was watch the distance between them grow with every passing day.

He had been in denial at first. After all, Josh was someone Mitch worked with, so it was a given that they'd spend a lot of time together and get closer in the process. Scott would sometimes hang out with his own colleagues, too, even if Mitch didn't feel like joining them, and it was perfectly fine. They trusted each other. Or so Scott thought.

***

He was over the moon when Mitch told him he had gotten a tiny part in the new commercial. It might not have been the kind of acting he wanted to do for a living but you've got to start somewhere, and Scott thought cable television commercials were just as good a place to start as any.

When Mitch first stayed longer at a shooting location than he had originally been scheduled to, and came back home in the middle of the night, Scott didn't think much of it. He didn't exactly know how it all worked but had figured the whole crew had been forced to stay until the director was satisfied with the final result. He didn't ask Mitch any questions upon his return, welcoming his tiny frame in his arms instead. With a contented sigh, he buried his face in the crook of Mitch's neck and inhaled deeply, a vague scent of his cologne still lingering on his skin. It didn't matter that he was late as long as they were still falling asleep wrapped up in each other's warmth.

It shook him up a little, though, when the next day Mitch showed him the pictures he had taken with his fellow actors and some other members of the crew. Everyone was holding beers and wearing wide, toothy smiles. Everyone was evidently having a good time. But only one of them had an arm draped over Mitch's shoulders.

"This is Josh," Mitch said excitedly, pointing at the brunette man with a perfect smile who was sitting right next to him at a huge table in what seemed like a bar. One glimpse at Mitch's phone screen was enough for Scott to decide he didn't like the guy. "He's a camera man. Well, more like an assistant camera man still, but he's getting there! Oh man, he's hilarious, you'd love him."

Scott briefly thought Mitch couldn't be more wrong. "I thought you were working late," he said somewhat reproachfully.

"Oh, no, we actually wrapped up the first day of shooting really quickly, so we all decided to get a beer together in a bar nearby," Mitch explained. "You know, for bonding purposes. We're gonna spend some time together until the whole thing is completed, after all."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"What?" Mitch frowned, looking quite disoriented.

"That you were going to the bar," Scott specified. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I was going to," Mitch leaned in, reaching up to cup Scott's cheek. "But I kinda lost track of time. Sorry?"

And then his lips were on Scott's, warm and soft, and so welcoming Scott couldn't even find it in himself to be angry.