Unsteady (Mavi AU)

5

A/N: Another installment for you all. Enjoy!

Avi can't get Mitch out of his head.

The conversation they both had over breakfast keeps replaying in his mind. The experiences that Mitch shared with him were humbling, to say the least. Avi can never imagine treating someone in that way. The thought made his stomach turn. No one deserves that.

Especially not Mitch.

It must have taken a tremendous amount of courage for him to talk about it, given that the experience is so fresh. Avi respected him enormously for that. That couldn't have been easy.

Mitch's willingness to divulge such a personal story to him, despite having just met, showcased an amount of unexpected trust that sparked a flutter of admiration and affection in Avi's chest.

It's that feeling that brought him back to the main reason he was sitting at work in a whirl in the first place.

Something sparked between them this morning. It was brief, but it was real.

Avi remembers staring into those alluring brown eyes and feeling a connection. There's an inexplicable attraction that he can't deny. Mitch had felt it too, of that he can be sure of.

His attraction to Mitch is nothing unusual. Avi knew since he was a teenager that he's bisexual, that's nothing new, it's just the timing and the circumstance that troubles him.

Mitch had a traumatic experience and Avi had been staving off his own personal battles. They're both emotionally compromised. They found a common ground with each other, an understanding. Something neither one has had with anyone else in ages. Of course they'd connect. It's only natural.

That doesn't mean it isn't fucking scary.

"Um, professor?" A young woman's voice calling for him snaps him out of his warring thoughts.

"Y-yes? I'm sorry, do you have a question?" Avi answers promptly, shaking himself out of his daze. The young woman nods.

"Yeah, I'm having trouble understanding this part. Can you go over it again with me real quick?"

"Sure, of course! I'll be right there."

Get yourself together. Avi reprimands himself. He's so caught up in his thoughts, he completely forgot that he's sitting in a room full of students. Everyone is working quietly on the assignment they were given and with nothing to do besides stand by if someone needs help, it leaves him with little to do but think.

Avi shoots a glance at the clock after helping his student. It's almost noon. Morning classes would be letting out soon and he'd be on lunch until afternoon classes rolled in.

Now's a better time than any.

Avi quickly scans the room of students. Satisfied that everything is in order, he quietly excuses himself.

Once in the hallway, he brings out his phone, goes into his favorites, taps the first contact number and waits.

"Hello?" A bright, cheerful voice greets him on the other line.

"Hey, woman." He greets back, a smile tugging at his lips. God, he's missed Esther.

"Hey, boy. It's been a long time since I've heard from you." Avi immediately feels a pang of guilt.

"Yeah, I know."

"You disappear and now all of a sudden you call me out of the blue. Something's definitely up." Esther sounds annoyed.

"I guess you could say that." There's a pause on the other end of the line.

"Is everything okay?" Avi hears a hint of concern color her voice. He sighs.