Color

Twenty Two

Scott now sat with a towel around his waist, slouching a little as he sat on the edge of their bed.

Mitch was already changing into underwear, sliding jeans on over the top before he looked over at Scott. "Oh, honey..."

Scott glanced up. "I'm sorry, Mitchie. I'll never do that again, I promise."

"It's okay, baby." Mitch sat down beside him, putting a hand on Scott's bare back. "Can you do me a favor? Please?"

"Anything you want."

"Come out on a date with me tonight?"

"Absolutely, babe. Anywhere you wanna go, I'll get you anything you want."

"No, no... I wanna take you out. I already made reservations, and--"

"Mitchie, you're so sweet, but please.. You can't reward me like that after what I did."

"I'm not mad at you though, babe. Please? Let me take you out."

Scott seemed to crumble even more, as he leaned against Mitch's body. "I don't deserve you..."

"Yes you do, baby. Just because you made a mistake doesn't mean you're a bad person. You've done so many more good things to balance out what you did today."

Scott just shook his head. "Why would you want to take someone like me out on a date?"

"Because I love you? And... Because you're my whole world."

Scott couldn't help but kiss the side of Mitch's head, hoping to express what he was too embarrassed to say out loud. He knew there was no reason to be embarrassed, but... After what happened earlier, he was too afraid to let Mitch see how emotional he was.

Mitch just smiled and moved his hand to sit on Scott's leg, which was still covered in a towel. "You're being too hard on yourself, baby."

Scott hummed once. "Avi says that to me a lot too."

"Then maybe you should listen to us, honey. We seem to be onto something."

"But..." Scott pouted a little. "Fine."

"Good. Now... Get ready, okay? Semi-formal but not completely formal, alright? Is that okay?"

"Yes... But... Does that mean you're going to spend a lot of money? Because I'm not okay with that."

"No, babe. The money isn't important."

Scott nodded slowly. "Okay..." But he still sounded upset.

Mitch faced him completely, brushing the wet hair out of Scott's face before leaning in to kiss him once. "Take your time, okay? We have a few hours. And I'm driving because the location is a secret."

Scott nodded again. "Okay."

*

Scott stood in front of Mitch's large mirror, pouting at himself. He quickly pulled his phone out of his back pocket, and texted Kirstie that he needed help. 

She was down the hall within a single minute, peeking her head into the room. "Everything okay?"

Scott nodded but waved her in. "Come here a sec? And... Close the door?"

Kirstie obeyed quickly, phone in hand. "I assume you're nervous about your date..? Mitch has been talking about it for hours."

"Do you know--?"

"No idea where he's taking you, Scott. Sorry."

He frowned again, and looked back at the mirror in front of him. "Does this look dumb? He said semi-formal but... I'm not really good at that kinda stuff... When we go to classy events, Mitch has to dress me."

Kirstie giggled, stepping forward to get a closer look at him. "You look great. But... If I'm being totally honest... You should wear a different tie."

Scott looked down at himself, considering the black, button-up shirt that he'd tucked in to his grey, ripped jeans. And then he re-examined the white tie he'd chosen. "Yeah... Looks like shit, doesn't it?"

"No, no! I just mean... I'd just think you'd want some kind of color. Like... You should go with blue, to look good with your eyes. Or, you always seem to look good in pink, so."

"I.. I don't know if I own a pink tie."

"Blue?"

"I think... Mitch has one?"

Kirstie walked over to their closet, and went through their clothes. She grabbed a light blue and a dark blue, because of course Mitch would own a ton of options.

She then walked over to Scott holding both up to his shirt to see which looked better. Dark blue seemed to win, only because it went with how his eyes were complimented by the black shirt.

As she switched his tie out, she eyed him again. "And if you're going semi-formal, why would you choose jeans that have rips in them?"

"Because... Mitch likes to put his cold hands on my knees to freak me out."

"Ah, I see."

"Should I change..? Do they look like shit?"

"No, it's okay. I was just asking."

"What if I wore black jeans..? That don't have any rips in them?"

"It doesn't matter, Scott."

"But you said something about it. And... And I asked for your opinion, so... I wanna change, so I look better."

"Honey, I didn't mean that you look--"

"No, I know. I just... I need to look the best I can so I can be seen in public with someone as gorgeous as Mitch is."

Kirstie made a small 'awe' noise, and reached out to grab Scott's hand. "You're so sweet... And you're beautiful too, Scott. Don't think you're less than anyone else."

"I know, but... Mitch is... Mitch. He's on a whole different level than other people." Scott looked down at their hands, only briefly thinking about how bulky the cast on his arm made his wrist appear to be. "He's the most beautiful person I've ever seen."

She smiled at him and then sighed softly. "Well.. You look great, then. You did a good job on your own, by the way. No need to be so hard on yourself."

Scott looked down at himself, frowning. "Yeah, I guess... You're sure about the pants? Sure I shouldn't change?"

"No. You look great."

*

Mitch grinned widely as soon as Scott came out of their room. "Hot damn, look at you!"

Scott stopped walking at the sight of his boy, wearing black jeans with a light pink shirt. "Fucking Hell, you look good in pink."

Mitch glanced down as if he forgot what he was wearing. "Oh, thank you. Now come here, let me look at you."

Scott tried not to panic. This was gonna be the moment that Mitch told him to change those damn jeans. He walked forward slowly, trying to come up with an escape plan. 

Mitch gasped softly, and then laughed once. "I love those stupid jeans, get over here."

Scott walked a little faster, but he stopped about two feet from him. "I couldn't decide if I should change them or not..."

"No, no, don't change them. You look great!" Mitch glanced at his phone. "We have plenty of time to get there, too."

Scott took a small step forward. "Please tell me where we're going?" 

"Not a chance, silly. But it's gonna be okay." Mitch reached out to take his hand, giving him a reassuring smile. "Trust me."

**