Scott blinks, stunned. Faintly, he can hear the small whimpers of pain coming from inside, but they don't seem to register as what they are until there's a sound of flesh against flesh and Mitch yelps loudly. Scott's eyes fill with tears, but he forces himself away, following Mitch's directions and knocking on the door two doors down to his left.
A minute or two passes, which is understandable, considering that it's midnight, but eventually the door opens by a tall dark-skinned man with tired brown eyes. "Are you K-K-Kevin?" Scott stammers, flinching as a loud thud sounds from John's room. The man seems more alert when he focuses on Scott, and he nods. "Yeah. I'm assuming you're Scott? Is everything okay?" he asks kindly, seemingly oblivious to the horrible noises coming from the room two doors to the right. Scott closes his eyes against his tears and shakes his head, wrapping his arms around himself. "John has Mitch again," he whispers, and Kevin frowns, moving aside. "Come in. I was just studying," he murmurs, watching as Scott nervously edges inside.
"Do you want anything? Tea? Coffee? I'm assuming you want to wait until Mitch comes back, so make yourself at home," Kevin says, closing the door after Scott. The man himself looks around and shakily sinks to sit down on the floor, his legs crisscrossed and his hands neatly in his lap. "I'm okay. Thank you, though," he says quietly, slowly bringing his knees to his chest and resting his head on them. Kevin smiles kindly at him and sits back down at his desk, starting to read the book he had there once more. Scott doesn't know how he manages to ignore the various pained sounds and thuds coming from John's room, and he can't imagine how bad the room next door must be. But Kevin keeps studying as though nothing is happening, even when the first man that was nice to Scott is getting used and he's doing nothing to stop it.
+++
*three a.m. (three hours later)*
Scott looks up as he hears someone fiddling with the door and quickly gets up, tripping over his own feet in his haste to get to the door. He opens it as soon as he's close enough, and he and Mitch stare at each other for a few moments before Mitch smiles weakly and wraps his arms around his stomach. "Hi," he says softly, meeting Scott's eyes for only a second before breaking his gaze. Scott frowns. "Are you okay?" he asks gently, and Mitch smiles without humor, shaking his head. "Just peachy." Scott frowns more, taking in Mitch's appearance. "Where's your shirt?" he asks softly, frowning at Mitch's battered body. Mitch laughs bitterly, hugging himself tighter. "John thought it would look better as a rope," he mutters, and Scott's eyes widen. "He tied you up?"
Mitch looks up at Scott, subconsciously massaging his wrists. "Yeah."
"Were you okay with it?"
Mitch smiles sadly and shakes his head. "No. Not really. But since when did John care about whether I was comfortable or not?"
Scott stares at Mitch for a second, too horrified to form words. But Mitch pays this no mind, standing on his tiptoes in an effort to see behind Scott. "Is Kevin awake?" he asks, and Scott shakes his head, finding his voice. "No. He went to sleep after about an hour." Mitch nods, removing one arm to tiredly run his fingers through his hair. "Alright, I'll thank him in the morning. Come on." Mitch starts to lead Scott through the winding hallways, taking him to where Scott is assuming he was kept. However, Mitch takes one look at the small, sad room and shakes his head, leading Scott away again. Scott frowns confusedly, but still follows him obediently. "Where are we going? Wasn't that my room before?" he asks nervously, and Mitch dismisses it with a wave of his hand. "You're not sleeping in there," he says simply, and doesn't elaborate.
As they walk, Scott finds himself staring at Mitch's back. The amount of older scars and newer cuts that litter his skin scare him because he knows his weakness is what caused most of them.
Mitch finally opens the door to another room, and it's a moment before Scott realizes that it's the door next to John's. "This is my room." Of course. So you're close whenever John needs you. "You can sleep on the bed, I'll take the floor," Mitch continues, already starting to grab a spare pillow and place it down. Scott frowns, shaking his head. "No, Mitch, you were the one that got used twice today. You take it." Mitch hesitates, glancing up at Scott. "I'm okay. I promise," he says, smiling crookedly to prove his point. Now it's Scott's turn to hesitate, his gaze flickering to all the bruises littering Mitch's skin. Mitch notices and presses his lips together, but doesn't say anything, slowly laying down on the floor and trying to make himself comfortable. Scott watches him nervously before making a decision. "We can both take the bed if you want..." he trails off awkwardly, suddenly becoming very interested in his fingers. Mitch looks up, biting his lip. "Are you sure you're comfortable with that?" he asks quietly, and Scott nods almost immediately. "Yeah."
Mitch hesitates again before carefully getting up and laying down on the bed, Scott following suit on the other side. "Next time wake me up, okay?" Mitch says quietly, looking over at Scott. Scott hesitates himself before nodding. "Okay." Mitch smiles weakly and curls in a ball facing away from Scott. "Goodnight," he says over his shoulder.
It's a moment before the blonde responds, staring at Mitch's back worriedly. "Can I lay on you again?" he asks eventually, his voice small and scared. Mitch looks back at him and stares at him for a while before finally nodding and laying back on his back, opening his arms to Scott. Scott timidly crawls over and pathetically tucks himself into Mitch's neck, draping one arm over his bare torso. Mitch wraps his arms around Scott as well as he can, closing his eyes and leaning his head against Scott's. Scott glances up at him and smiles slightly, snuggling closer to him. "Goodnight, Mitch," he whispers into the darkness.
It takes so long for Mitch to reply that Scott is already asleep when he finally speaks.
"Goodnight, my love."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
it's short because I'm lazyyyyy
I have ideas for a fourth part but I don't want to write it unless you want me to so tell me I guess
