Color

Hundred Twenty Four

 As Avi and Mitch walked back home, Mitch was grinning the whole time. 

Avi had his hands shoved in his pockets again, and he started the conversation. "Hey... I know we started out as like... Friends by default. But I'm really happy that I've got a friend, y'know." He smirked. "As nerdy as you."

Mitch huffed at him. "That was almost so sweet of you. But I'm grateful anyway, so."

Avi just smiled, looking the other way. 

It was Mitch's turn to smirk. "Damn... Avi, you better look at this. I've never seen something so sexy in all my life."

Avi was almost scared to look. "If it's Scott with his shirt off, I'll pass."

"Your loss. Guess I'll hit on him myself then." He paused. "I can't believe you think it's more likely for Scott to be on a run right now, than Alex."

Avi immediately turned his head, as Alex turned the corner to jog toward them. 

Alex smiled, and waved at them, pulling one of his headphones out. 

Avi couldn't speak to him, he was too entranced with Alex's appearance. 

Mitch spoke instead. "Hey, babe. How was Scottie when you left?"

"He was watching one of those police shows when I walked out."

Avi nodded, finally gaining his speech again. "Don't be gone long, Lex. It's getting pretty dark already."

Alex nodded quickly. "I know, I'm almost done." He giggled, a little breathlessly. "I knew you'd say that."

Mitch stepped aside to gesture him to pass. "Better get on it, then. Don't want to upset your man."

Alex giggled and put his headphone back into his ear, before jogging away. 

Avi turned to watch him go, smiling fondly. 

Mitch shoved his shoulder. "Don't be gross."

"Hold on, I'm almost done." Avi continued to stare, and then he faced Mitch. "Okay. Sorry, what were you saying?"

Mitch rolled his eyes. "You amaze me sometimes, how quickly you switch personalities like that."

"Like what? Can't I be grateful for what I have?"

Mitch challenged him, beginning to walk home without looking back. "Are you grateful for his heart or his ass?"

"Can't I be grateful for both?"

"Stop answering my questions with questions. I know we all love making Alex uncomfortable by telling him how fucking cute he is, but I'm just checking that it isn't the only thing we're noticing about him."

Avi walked quickly to catch up with him. "You know damn well it's not. I love absolutely everything about him, Mitch, you know that. He's just... So fuckin' attractive, dude, I'm just a man. What do you want from me?"

"I just want you to show him some respect, that's all."

Avi scoffed loudly, grabbing Mitch by the arm to turn him around. "Hey, that's not fair."

Mitch just raised an eyebrow and glanced down at his arm. 

Avi immediately pulled away. "Shit, sorry. But Mitch, seriously... I know I have my rough moments, but I really try my best to be the man he deserves. I love who he is, and part of that is what he looks like. Why are you upset with me for loving what he looks like?"

"I'm not upset with you for that. I just... I noticed what was going on earlier. That you got angry, and somehow that makes you feel entitled to treat him however necessary so that you can feel better. And that's shitty."

Avi exhaled softly, looking at the ground. "I know. I know it's shitty. I just can't help it... I'm really sorry... I'm open to suggestions though..? If you have advice for anger management?"

Mitch turned to continue walking toward their home, pondering it a little. "Well... What used to help Scott was exercise. Alex seems to think you used to take cold showers to calm you down, if that helped in the past, I'd keep trying it."

Avi looked down at the ground. "Fuck... I'm an idiot, aren't I? He deserves so much better than a boyfriend he has to babysit."

"There's nothing wrong with finding areas to improve, honey. Scott was the same way, and I continued to support him through it because I love him."

Avi stared at his feet. "Not our fault you and Alex are so fuckin' perfect. Scott and I are just two normal dudes in way too far over our heads."

*

Mitch didn't hesitate, upon walking in the house he headed directly to the couch to sit himself on Scott's lap.

Scott smiled at him. "Hi, baby."

Mitch didn't even speak, he just grabbed Scott's face in both hands to kiss him. 

Scott's hands found Mitch's waist, until he pulled away with a smile. "My, my, what did I ever do to deserve such a greeting?"

Mitch giggled, sliding a hand around to the back of Scott's neck. "I just love you, that's all. And... I'm so proud of the person you've become."

Scott couldn't help but smile back. "Aw.. Thank you, baby. I love you too."

Mitch enjoyed the moment for a few seconds, and then he turned to see what Scott was watching. "This one again?" 

"Oh sorry, we can change it. I know you hate this shit... I wasn't really watching it. Was thinking about some shit."

Mitch turned his head to look down at him again, still comfortably sitting across Scott's thighs. "Wanna talk about any of it..? You're probably burned out from all the talking we did earlier." 

"Yeah a little... Let me sleep on it, and then I'll get back to you."

Mitch pressed a kiss to Scott's forehead. "Deal."

**