GAY AS A MEATBALL (Scomiche)

Rules

[a/n] HAPPY THANKSGIVING CUTIES <3

Mitch's POV

Starting to date your roommate feels a lot like a reality show. Like, one of those 'Married at First Sight' deals. Except obviously less horrendous, because you do actually choose each other and know ahead of time that there's chemistry and attraction and stuff. But still, you decide to make a commitment to someone, and suddenly there's no escape. Not that I'd necessarily want an escape from Scott... but that's just it—I don't know.

He's laid down some firm ground rules. They're probably for the best, and I'm not sure I would have had the forethought to put them in place myself, but they're also super annoying. Scott's obsessed with making this relationship as "normal" as possible. What's with that? I think it might be because it's the first queer relationship he's been in, and that's about as much different as he can handle... But he insists that everything will be easier if we keep our dating relationship and roommate relationship as separate as possible. Which is, in short, impossible.

It's a lot of rules, and I've spent my entire life bending and breaking rules for sport, so it doesn't exactly rub me the right way. I've always been more of a "live fast, die young, bad girls do it well" type of gal, and everything Scott does is premeditated and methodical. I like him, though, and I trust him, so I'm willing to give this a try, even if it makes everything feel so serious.

The first rule makes sense, even if it's a pain in my ass: no sleeping together. I agree that Scott and I being in the same bed might result in rushing into some physical things that we decided to go slow on. I respect his need for 'slow,' even if I don't really feel the same need. So that rule is fine by me.

What's a little more extreme, though, is rule #2: no kissing in our room. When he originally put this one forth, I was bewildered. Where the fuck am I supposed to kiss my own boyfriend, if not in my room? Hmm. Were we boyfriends? I guess we hadn't discussed it specifically. I'd file that one away for later. After stating this second rule, he saw my wide eyes and hastily explained himself. He reasons that "normal" couples who are just starting to date wouldn't get unlimited time in a room to themselves to kiss and have things progress. He went on to say some flattering things about not being able to help himself if I was around all the time and he was allowed to kiss me whenever he wanted... something about him never getting any work done. He's cute.

Rule #3 is that we aren't supposed to tell anyone. He claims it's because he doesn't want us to get in trouble with our RA, or for us to get harassed by the other guys on our floor. I suspect it has a little more to do with him not being ready to come out, but I'll keep that notion to myself for the time being. This rule is probably my least favorite, although a sneaky romance does sound kind of fun. I was happy, really happy, with Scott, and I wanted to be able to show the world. I wanted to overanalyze everything with Kirstie, I wanted Avi to incessantly tease us, I wanted Kevin to jokingly intimidate Scott into treating me like a princess. I didn't want a repeat of when I'd dated Travis in high school, and it had been lovely but reached an inevitable end because of his refusal to leave the warm, cozy closet in which he'd made his home.

I'd pointed out that our options for showing affection were severely limited if it was prohibited in public by rule #3, and prohibited in private by rule #2. He acknowledged the truth in my argument, and said that every rule had a big 'YET' tagged onto the end of it. The rules were temporary, and once we were more solid about being together, we could change them or be rid of them altogether. He said that, for now, affection would have to be reserved for dates. I wanted to snap at him that maybe our dates needed a chaperone, too, since all the rest of his understanding of dating seemed to hail from the 1950s. I bit down on that urge, however, and once more my respect for his need to go slow won out. But this boy will be the death of me, I swear.