Seven Levels Below

XV

They're at the palace again. It's not the first time they've hung out there instead of Mitch's apartment during the week, but this time Scott is actually stuck doing paperwork, courtesy of the coronation being next week already, and not just doing his best to show off his understanding of the palace layout to Mitch. Seriously, they've agreed that Mitch can never walk around on his own because he will get lost and possibly lock himself in the dungeons. Which Mitch had immediately forced Scott to show him to prove their existence the second he got the chance. Mitch was also somewhat disappointed to discover that no, he could not spend the night in the dungeons, because they were very old and were no longer used as actual holding cells. Instead, they were used as extra storage for the kitchens, which was how Mitch met Avi.

Avi had taken one look at Mitch and decided that he would become his new taste-tester. Mitch had no complaints with the random snacks and desserts finding their ways into his hands every time he visited (because damn, that boy can cook), although Scott kept whining and teasing that Mitch was going to replace him with someone who could actually feed him. Which is absolutely ridiculous, but Mitch didn't want to be too sappy about their friendship in front of Avi, and he sure as hell wasn't going to tell Scott about the crush, in the vain hope that it still might go away eventually.

Today, they were in a massive dining room with (you guessed it) massive marble pillars lining the long wooden table. Mitch and Scott had laughed about the size of it and decided to eat lunch on opposite ends. The seating and exaggerated yelling to the distant opposite ends of the table had them doubled over laughing after Matt had stuck his head in the door to check that no one was being murdered.

Mitch eventually scooted down so he was seated at the right hand of Scott so he could finish his gorgeous, fresh salad (with lettuce actually grown from sunlight in a real garden!) without choking from the laughter.

Scott had already scarfed down his meal and was busy frowning down at the documents that had resulted in the two at the palace instead of Mitch's home. The documents were considered "confidential information" and therefore couldn't leave the palace like some of the other papers he could bring along to Mitch's to review. Mitch had asked Scott if they should just skip hanging out that day, since confidential meant that Mitch really shouldn't be near them, but Scott had shut him down.

"Are you planning on memorizing a bunch of formal documents and sharing them with the public, possibly for financial or other malicious purposes?" Scott had asked.

"Well, no..." Mitch trailed off.

"Then you're fine. I trust you. Here," Scott had tapped him on both shoulders with his hand, "Now you're an Official Confidential-Document-Induced Boredom Supervisor for me."

"What the hell does that mean?" Mitch had swatted at him.

"It means you're supposed to entertain me when I have to look through boring old stuff."

"Can I be paid in food from Avi?"

Scott had scowled at him. "Fine, but only if you share."

Mitch was jolted back to the present by Scott waving his hand in front of Mitch's face.

"Hellooo? Anybody home?"

Mitch chased the hand back to its own side of the table with his fork. "Sorry, I was busy thinking about how great Avi's food is. Seriously, I think I might have actually eaten my school lunches if they were like this. You lucky duck always got this stuff, we got mystery meat and stale bags of chips," he laughed.

Scott snorted at him, then gasped and sat up quickly.

"What?" Mitch studied Scott's face. "Do I have something on my face?"