Hold My Heart (Scomiche AU)

6: Brunch

 It was Friday, four days after his so-called hangout with Scott, the next time Mitch was up at the same time as the sun. He hadn't had much of anything to do for work that required him to leave his apartment, and so his nights were spent either doing work on his laptop or watching the trashiest show he could find on Netflix, and his days were spent in deep sleep. He knew that he had to stop being a hermit at some point, but it had been so easy to lose himself in his own little world of nothing but music and Netflix. In fact, it wasn't until Avi called him at 3 AM on Thursday morning insisting that Mitch join him for brunch on Friday that Mitch had actually made contact with another human being.

Now, he was frantically trying to get his shit together in the ten minutes he had before he had to leave his apartment to make it to the restaurant on time. Avi was always extremely punctual, if nothing else, and Mitch was unwilling to make him wait once again, especially considering the fact that he'd been a full hour late to their last lunch the month before. He was determined to make it on time to this brunch, which gave him exactly seven minutes and forty seconds to fix his hair and finish getting dressed.

It takes him more than the allotted seven minutes and forty seconds; in fact, he isn't out of his apartment until almost eleven minutes later, by which point he's cursing loudly with no shame and frantically attempting to lock his door, which appears to be fundamentally opposed to being locked on this particular morning. "F*ck you in the f*cking a**, you stupid a** piece of sh*t," he mumbled, his face scrunching in frustration.

"Good morning to you, too." Mitch's head shot to the left, groaning when he caught sight of Scott's amused expression. "Not your day, huh?"

Mitch scowled. "Running late," he muttered, turning back to his door and letting a relieved sigh escape his lips when he finally managed to turn his key in the lock properly. "Finally." Dropping his keys in the black tote he had slung over his shoulder, Mitch turned back to Scott, a slight blush and somewhat sheepish expression on his face. "Sorry that you had to witness that. I don't usually yell curses at inanimate objects, promise."

Scott just laughed, his eyes crinkling by the corners and his lips stretched into a wide grin. "You always seem to be running late for something," he commented, amusement dancing in his eyes. "Do you ever actually make it to any of these meetings you're supposed to be at?"

Mitch narrowed his eyes at the taller boy, who was still laughing silently at his misery, shoulders shaking and eyes still crinkled in that adorable way that Mitch truly wished he could hate. It was unfortunate enough that Scott was right, but it was even more so that Mitch couldn't even get himself to be irritated about it. Scott was just too cute. "A queen is never late," Mitch finally said, in a mock-haughty tone. "Everyone else is simply early."

With that, Scott found himself bent over in another round of laughter. "I cannot believe you're standing here and quoting Princess Diaries to me when you're already late for your meeting," he said, panting between streams of laughter.

"Oh sh*t," Mitch muttered, checking the time on his phone and groaning. "I'm going to be so beyond late. I'll see you around, Scotty." With that, Mitch took off down the hallway, pushing at the elevator button impatiently as Scott watched from down the hall, a small smile on his lips and affectionate light in his eyes.

Mitch was ten minutes and twenty-four seconds late for his brunch with Avi, a fact that he knew Avi would not let slide. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'll buy you brunch and I'll buy you the next meal we eat together, too. Please don't kill me," he pleaded as soon as he sat down at the table across from a very unamused Avi.

"You're buying the next three," Avi said with a scowl, but Mitch could see a hint of a smile in his eyes. "How've you been, kiddo?"

"You're only a year older than me, Av," Mitch said, rolling his eyes. "I'm the same as always, how about you?"