Hold My Heart (Scomiche AU)

5: Hangout

 They are thirty-eight minutes and twenty seconds into Lilo and Stitch when Mitch realizes that Scott is perfect. He's not sure why it hits him right then. Scott isn't doing anything particularly incredible--he's just chewing on a mouthful of Thai food, his blue eyes glued to the TV screen--but Mitch is suddenly struck unbelievably hard with the realization, causing him to choke on the forkful of Pad Thai he just tried to swallow.

"Holy shit, Mitch, are you okay?" Scott quickly dropped his take-out carton on the table in front of them, reaching over to pat Mitch gently on the back as he coughed violently.

Mitch finally regained his breath, sighing and taking a gulp of wine in an attempt to calm himself from whatever sort of crazy attack he'd just experienced. "Yeah, I'm fine. My noodle went down the wrong pipe," he said, waving Scott off and gesturing back to the TV. Scott stared at him skeptically for a moment before finally convincing himself that Mitch was, indeed, fine, and turned back to the TV, picking up his box of food and once again immersing himself in the movie.

Mitch let out a soft breath, internally scolding himself. There was no way that he was into Scott. No way. He'd always been the type to fall quickly, but this? This was ridiculous. It had barely been three weeks since Hunter broke it off with him, and he'd promised himself that he was going to keep himself single for a long, long time. Yet, here he was, not even a month later, staring at the energetic blonde boy next door, frantically searching for a way to keep his heart from skipping a beat.

"Are you okay today, Mitchy?" Mitch was torn from his thoughts by Scott's voice, and he was startled to see that Scott had not only finished all of his food, but also paused the movie and moved almost a foot closer to Mitch on the couch, all without the notice of Mitch himself. "You've been spacing out all night."

"I'm good, sorry," Mitch said, allowing an easy smile to spread across his face and forcing his thoughts to the back of his mind for the moment. He could think about his complete wreck of a love life later. Right now, he was there to have fun with the man who was quickly becoming one of his best friends. He stood, stretching out his limbs a little. "Just thinking a little too hard. Play the movie, babe. I'm gonna grab some water for you. You're almost done with that bottle of wine and I think you mentioned a class tomorrow at 8 AM?"

Scott groaned, pouting dramatically and throwing himself face-down onto the couch, taking up the space that Mitch had just vacated. "Don't remind me. That class is a nightmare, I swear. I mean, I realize that statistics isn't for everyone, but they could at least pretend to be a little bit interested in what I have to say. They all just nap their lives away in my class.."

Mitch laughed, the tinkling sound carrying out from the kitchen and bringing a fond smile to Scott's lips. "Maybe it has something to do with the fact that your class is at the a**crack of dawn. Nobody's awake that early."

"I'm awake that early," Scott said, sticking his tongue out at the other man defiantly.

"Really?" Mitch questioned, a smirk on his lips as he walked back over to the couch, "Because I seem to remember you standing out in the hallway at 8:30 with only one shoe on the last time you were supposed to be in class at 8."

Scott gasped, mock-offended, and placed a hand over his heart dramatically. "How dare you?" he asked, as if he had been horribly insulted. "I can't believe you would say that to me! I'll have you know that I have never been late to a lecture in my life."

"So you skipped last week, huh?"

Scott scowled, narrowing his eyes at Mitch, who was now holding a water bottle in his left hand and standing beside the couch that Scott had sprawled over with his large frame, a teasing smirk on his face. His smirk faded slightly, however, when a Cheshire Cat-like grin began to spread across Scott's face, an idea forming in his mind. Mitch began to back away from the couch, but he was just a second too late as Scott lunged at him, pinning Mitch's small body to the ground beneath him. Mitch's eyes widened for a moment before they slammed shut, a disgruntled shriek escaping his lips as Scott's fingers danced lightly across his sides.

Scott's grin widened, a mischievous twinkle in his blue eyes. "Ticklish, huh?" he asked, finally taking pity on Mitch as the boy's eyes began to water and his breathing became labored. "I'll keep that in mind."

Mitch pouted, pushing Scott off him gently and scrambling onto his feet again. "That was mean," he whined, blushing when Scott chuckled at his childish tone. "You'll be sorry you did that, buttface. I'm gonna tell my mommy on you."

Scott's soft chuckle quickly morphed into all-out laughter as he stood up from the ground and threw himself back onto the couch, his eyes still glued to Mitch. Mitch stood warily beside the couch, unwilling to sit down and subject himself once again to the possibility of being tickled by Scott. Despite the discomfort of being tickled, though, Mitch couldn't help but think that this was one of those moments that he wouldn't mind being stuck in forever. He missed the feeling of hanging out with a friend, of laughing and talking and just having fun. Sure, he had friends. Avi (the florist he'd recommended to Scott) had been a good friend of his for years, and he was good about keeping up contact and forcing Mitch out of his apartment every once in a while. Avi's sister, Esther, and her roommate, Candice, were also close friends of Mitch's, but they'd all been too busy recently to really spend any time together. Spending the entire evening just relaxing with Scott brought back the same happy feelings (and maybe a few more, as well) that he experienced when he had the chance to get together with his all-too-busy friends.

The two sat around, talking and joking together, for another two hours before Scott stood with a deep sigh and stretched his arms up, his expression some mixture between exhausted and content. "I guess I'd better go," he said apologetically, "I have to be up at 6 tomorrow and I get grumpy when I don't get my 8 hours. I had fun, Mitchy." And he had. In fact, this whole night had turned out to be one of those that Scott wouldn't mind being stuck in forever. He missed the feeling of hanging out with a friend, of laughing and talking and just having fun. Kirstie and Jeremy had both been way too swamped to plan their own wedding, let alone hang out with Scott. Kevin had been in an out of town, and Lauren had been busy with her own wedding plans and was now on her honeymoon. Scott had always been a people person--he loved socializing and, sometimes, he needed it. The complete lack of contact with his friends recently was leaving him feeling a bit lonely and more than a little bored. Spending the entire evening just relaxing with Mitch was not only made his heart beat faster and his stomach erupt with a feeling that he was very sure was not even remotely platonic anymore, but also helped ease the feeling of loneliness that had put him in a funk recently.

Mitch pouted as he watched Scott stand in preparation of leaving, but a small smirk appeared on his face as he threw one last poke Scott's way. "Okay, Grandpa," he said in a teasing tone. "Sorry I kept you up past your bedtime."

Scott rolled his eyes at Mitch's childish teasing, but couldn't help the fond smile that spread across his face. "Goodnight, Mitchy," he said, heading for the door. Mitch followed, padding behind him cutely and stood in the doorway of his apartment as Scott exited, moving into the hallway, only to turn and stare back at Mitch in silence. The two stood quietly for a moment, simply looking at each other, before Scott, in a moment of bold confidence, leaned forward and placed a soft kiss on Mitch's cheek. With that, he spun on his heel and quickly entered his own apartment, leaving Mitch staring blankly into the empty hallway, a dazed expression on his face.