Lights (Scomiche)

Panic

Being shot while wearing a bulletproof vest was kind of what he imagined being kicked by a mule was like. His back ached from the three shots which had left quite the stunning set of bruises, his head hurt from the gash on his forehead from his fall, but he was stitched and wrapped up now. He was perfectly fine compared to the sleeping man whose hand he held between both of his own.

He was alive, but that didn’t stop the guilt and the overwhelming sadness that threatened to completely dismantle him.

He’d done his part, endured and even though the flash grenade had come sooner than he’d anticipated, everything else went according to plan, at least as far as he and Mitch were concerned.  They were both alive. Now all he had to do was wait to see how truly damaged his best friend really was.

__

He couldn’t see anything. It was too bright. He could barely feel anything, besides that numb fuzziness you get when you’re on some serious pain medication. He blinked away the haze, turning his head to the side and setting eyes (well eye since his one eye was still super swollen) on the man he thought he’d never see again.

“Scott?”

Those blue eyes met his for barely a second and then they immediately disappeared as the blonde buried his face in the blankets at Mitch’s stomach as he full on broke down into sobs.

He felt his own tears as it all started to come back to him. He ran his fingers through blonde hair, “It’s ok, I’m right here.”

“I’m so sorry, Mitchie. I’m so sorry.”

“You saved me. Why are you apologizing.”

He felt his heart break as those eyes turned up to his once again, bloodshot and glistening with tears.  “I should have done better. I should have saved you before they-  I'm ... I'm so sorry.”

“Stop. Please. He lied. They didn’t rape me, no one did, I swear. They were punishing me, so they made me listen while they told you I was…that they were...   I tried to make a noise so you would know it was a lie, but I wasn’t strong enough. I’m ok, They didn’t… I swear to you.”

More tears.  Soooo many tears.

They were interrupted then by a couple of officers. They needed to ask Mitch some questions while everything was fresh in his mind.  They asked Scott to leave, but after they both became panicked at that request the officers acquiesced as long as Scott remained quiet.  

…

Tears, cops, nurses, doctors, questions, answers.

It was a repetitive mess for the next few days. Mitch wasn’t allowed many visitors as it had been determined that ‘Olivier’ had somehow gotten away and now both boys were under watch 24/7. His parents had come, of course. The rest of Pentatonix and Esther were on the list as were Alex and Jeremy, but Mitch felt awkward with everyone looking at him like this. He’d been made to feel weak through the entire ordeal and just laying here with everyone staring at him like that did not sit well, so visits were always brief, except for Scott who never left.

Scott was doing ok, at least physically. He refused to leave the boy's side and even when the many officers wanted statements they just had to deal with the extra figure sitting quietly in the room holding onto his hand.

Once he was physically able to Mitch was asked to watch the footage Scott had managed to get as the hostages were being released. He’d recognized him at once. He’d never forget those cruel brown eyes. Olivier had dressed as a hostage and simply walked out the front door and slipped away during the chaos. It must have been one of the other gunmen pretending to be him when Scott had gone in.