Hold My Heart (Scomiche AU)

3: AM

 Scott and Mitch were both in tears. They'd been laughing for what felt like forever, and both could barely remember what had set them off in the first place. "Wait, wait wait," Mitch said, attempting to calm his uncontrollable laughter, holding both hands up in a 'stop' gesture, "Are you seriously telling me that you got thrown out of the airport for threatening a security guard with a plastic spork?"

Scott nodded sheepishly, a deep blush spreading across his cheeks, but couldn't help the ear-splitting grin that covered his face as he watched Mitch collapse into another round of laughter. It was nearly 4 AM, and the pizza was long gone, but he and Mitch were still wide awake, asking questions, sharing stories, and getting to know one another. Scott felt almost as if he had been cheated out of an entire year of quality time he could've spent with the incredible man sitting beside him. He was positive that, had he met Mitch a year ago, they would be best friends by now.

"Okay, okay, okay," Mitch said, wiping the tears from beneath his eyes dramatically and taking a deep breath in an effort to calm himself. "So, you were right. Your airport experience was a hundred times worse than mine."

"Told you so," Scott said childishly, sticking his tongue out at Mitch playfully.

"Yeah, yeah," Mitch said dismissively, rolling his eyes at Scott's antics. "Now, explain something to me. If you're not allowed to fly out of this airport anymore, how do you travel? I bet you've got lots of out-of-state conferences about exciting statistics stuff." There was a note of teasing in his voice, making Scott pout slightly.

"I'll have you know that I do in fact go to lots of out-of-state conferences about exciting statistics stuff," he said indignantly, before his expression morphed into a somewhat sheepish one. "But I have to drive down to San Bernardino to fly out every time."

Mitch let a little giggle slip past his lips, but remained otherwise impressively composed. "And I'm sure they're just as exciting as you claim they are. What kind of rowdy things do stats professors do when they get together?"

"You know, a little bit of data compilation, a little bit of statistical analysis. Fun things like that," Scott said with a laugh, his chest swelling with pride at the loud laugh that flew through Mitch's lips at his words. "Nah, it's really just a bunch of professors hanging out and whining about how horrible their students are, with some presentations on research in between. Nothing too exciting. I've actually got a conference in Chicago in a couple weeks that I've been preparing for, and I'm almost positive that my presentation is boring enough to put me to sleep."

"I doubt that. Is that why you're up so late? Working on your presentation?" Mitch questioned, his head cocked slightly to the right. "You look like the type who's early to bed."

Scott rolled his eyes. "No, I wasn't working on the presentation. And I wouldn't say early. I usually go to bed at 11-ish, but I had to finish grading midterms today, and then I had to do some wedding planning."

Mitch's eyebrows flew up. "You're getting married?" he asked, looking shocked.

"No, no," Scott clarified quickly, "Not my wedding. My best friends are getting married and I'm in charge of the plans."

Scott watched curiously as Mitch's expression relaxed back into a calm smile. His response hadn't quite been the same message of congratulations that he'd gotten from numerous equally confused florists, jewelers, and pastry chefs. "Oh, that's nice," Mitch said. "Can't imagine how stressful it must be, though. When's the wedding? Are you almost finished?" Mitch's enthusiasm brought an endearing smile onto Scott's face. "What?" Mitch asked, noting Scott's silence after a few moments and looking up to find Scott staring at him with a look on his face that Mitch couldn't quite place.