Hold My Heart (Scomiche AU)

10: Anniversary

 It took a few minutes before Scott and Mitch fully pulled away from each other, ear-splitting grins on both their faces. It was silent for a moment as they basked in the afterglow of their first (and second, and third) kiss. "So..." Mitch awkwardly began, breaking the silence. His voice trailed off, however, unsure of what he was supposed to say next.

"Mitchy," Scott breathed, unable to say anything else as he attempted to calm his whirlwind of thoughts. "Mitchy." Mitch bit his lip, looking up at Scott through those long, dark eyelashes, and any progress Scott made in collecting his thoughts flew out the window once again. "God, you're gorgeous," he babbled uselessly, feeling his cheeks turn pink with embarrassment at how completely wrecked his own voice sounded from just a kiss.

Mitch seemed to like it, though, if the hitch in his breath and the appearance of his dimple were any indication. "Not as gorgeous as you," he countered shyly, his expression somewhere between a timid smile and a smirk--an expression so completely Mitch that Scott couldn't stop himself from pulling Mitch into him again, giving him one more bruising kiss.

He pulled away slowly, and the two were once again standing in a semi-comfortable silence, staring at one another. It was almost ten full minutes later when Scott finally got up the courage to speak again, his brain and his mouth finally back to working in sync. "Mitch," he said softly, tenderly, looking directly into the other boy's eyes. "Is this what you want? Us?"

Mitch bit his lip again, his hands withdrawing from their position on Scott's chest to wring together anxiously. Slowly, timidly, he nodded, looking down to avoid Scott's eyes. Scott lifted his chin gently with a finger, a smile slowly spreading across his face. "Yeah?" he questioned.

"Yeah," Mitch said softly, his smile matching that of the blonde as they continued to stand wrapped in a tender embrace. He can hear his own brain--the little sliver of it that's not completely consumed by everything that is Scott--protesting, making a valiant effort to remind him of the promise he made himself to stay away from boys, but he can't do anything to stop himself from leaning up to place a gentle kiss at the corner of Scott's mouth.

The remainder of the day--it had been a productive morning for the two of them, beginning a new relationship before the clock even struck 9:30 AM--was a blur of side-splitting laughter (as was always the case when the two were together) and tentative kisses in between long periods of gruelling work on the anniversary party and the term papers. At some point around lunch time, Kirstie, Jeremy, Kevin, and Scott's sister, Lauren, stopped in to check on the progress, and the two boys stepped out of their romantic bubble for a few hours, neither quite ready to make public the new relationship so soon. The guests were gone by 4 PM, though, and the boys were back to cuddling and talking and making eyes at each other.

By 10 PM, the two were exhausted, their eyes drooping as they both basked in the warmth of their embrace. "I should go," Mitch finally sighed, gently pulling himself from Scott's grip. "You have to be up early tomorrow for the anniversary lunch and I have a shit ton of work to get done this week that I should probably get started on."

"Nooooooo," Scott whined, grabbing at Mitch's wrist as the smaller boy stood. "Stay."

"I really shouldn't, Scotty," Mitch said with an apologetic smile. "But I'll see you soon."

Scott furrowed his eyebrows, frowning slightly. "Come to the anniversary party with me," he said.

Mitch's eyebrows flew up. "You want me to come to your parents' anniversary party with you?" he questioned. "Are you sure, Scott? We're literally brand new, isn't a little too early to meet the parents?"

Scott shook his head earnestly. "No, seriously. Come with! It'll be fun, and you were so much help in planning it that it'd honestly be rude not to ask you to be there. We don't even have to tell anyone we're together if you don't want; I can just introduce you as a friend for now. Come on, Mitchy. Please? It'll make the party so much more bearable if you're there."