Seven Levels Below

XXIII

Mitch was pouting. He'd given up trying to pretend he wasn't after Avi had so quickly pointed it out. He was sitting in the kitchen watching said chef prepare the beginnings of lunch on Thursday morning, face smushed into one hand as he leaned on a counter.

"You can't keep looking like that, Mitch. You're going to make everyone think I'm boring."

Mitch huffed and sat up straight, glaring at Avi.

"Literally everyone knows you're not."

"I know, but everyone's watching you right now, so I would appreciate it if you could make it look like my incredibly entertaining company was enough for you."

He rolled his eyes, but he knew it was true. Apparently, gossip spreads around the palace staff like a plague when the prince has a shouting match with the king, resulting in both the king and the queen shutting themselves in their quarters and cutting off all contact with the rest of the palace. Thankfully, no one seemed to know the exact details of the fight, (except for Scott's group of trusted people who were watching Mitch and Kirstie), but they clearly knew enough about Mitch being an important factor in the whole affair and possibly one of the causes. He'd heard whispers behind his back and caught at least a dozen people staring at him when they thought he wasn't looking in the last two days.

Of which, he'd spent mostly without Scott. Not that it was the cause of his pouting or anything. He was content letting Avi think he was just grumpy about Kirstie shooing him out of her guest room (where he'd spent the last two days lounging around and wishing Scott could just finish his paperwork already) so he could go bother someone else.

He had been aware that he was being a bit clingy and mopey, so it wasn't a huge surprise when she decided he could go talk to someone else. But what could he say? He had kinda been hoping for a chance to set up one of those "Oh, no! I guess we'll just have to share the bed!" scenarios with Scott on Tuesday, but then he'd retreated to Kirstie's room and ended up staying there instead.

With the whole drama and concern about Scott's upcoming rule, Scott had decided that he really needed to sit down and go through all of the contracts and documents he and his father would have to sign to legally pass control of each system to Scott. He couldn't know if something had been altered without him double checking all of them, so he was suddenly swamped with even more last minute work than before. And Scott had also admitted that he had lied about just needing to finish the last details of his speech. Scott had, in fact, not started it, and was slightly stressed about getting it done in time before he had to present it to the entire country on live television.

So, with a massive amount of work to finish in not nearly enough time, Scott had apologetically left a few minutes after he had woken up. Mitch had lounged around his room for hours, waiting hopefully for Scott to come back, before realizing that he was being ridiculous and should go find something better to do.

Upon finding Kirstie, he had managed to convince her (because he had promised Scott not to leave the palace) to go back to his apartment and pick up some of his clothes so he could have more than just the spare outfit he had left at Kirstie's, and the unfinished pieces of her dress so he could finish it. Between filling Kirstie in on the details of everything that had occurred in the last two days and frantically trying to finish the dress with the few materials Kirstie had been able to bring back for him, he had sort of become a nuisance.

This wasn't even the first time she'd kicked him out. He'd already been sent into Matt's care, who had attempted to explain the layout of the palace (with maps!) to him better so he wouldn't get lost, Nicole's studio, where she had given him a makeover and a gentle shoulder rub to soothe his still-aching muscles, Esther's office, where he had basically been sat down and put to work sorting junk mail out from official business letters, and even to a gym with Kevin, who hadn't forced him to work out, but instead had some of his specialized guards, two girls named Nina and Cora, teach him some self-defense.

It's not like he didn't want to hang out with Avi now, it's just that he wanted to check on Scott. He wanted to be there for him, offer his shoulder again or try to help cheer him up. But he couldn't be a distraction right now. So he was sitting in the kitchen watching Avi prepare a fancy marinade for some chicken. And possibly trying to figure out how to volunteer himself as the person to bring Scott his food. That wouldn't be a distraction, right? Scott needed to eat.

Besides, as much as Mitch wanted to see Scott because he knew he was safe with Scott, Scott was still his best friend. He knew that Scott was overworking himself trying to finish everything and make it the best product that he possibly could. Scott would need a break at some point, and Mitch wanted to be there for him. The safety of being with him was just an additional benefit.

Mitch had actually managed to process the events of Monday night, but wasn't very pleased with the jumpiness and random stabs of anxiety that had come with it. The constantly changing presence of all these people he knew, but who weren't Scott, was not exactly helping his mood either.

"You're making me look boring again."

Mitch jolted upright from his uncomfortable slouch.

"Sorry, Avi," he muttered. "Are you almost done with that?"

Avi fixed him a knowing look. "No. I'm just getting started."

Mitch slunk back down into his slouch.

"Mitch, you should go find something more entertaining to do. You aren't going to magically start having fun watching me mix spices."

"But Kirstie said to shoo."

"Have you finished her dress yet? There's other places you can work on it than her room."

Mitch perked up slightly at the mention of the dress. "Yeah, actually. All I want to do with it yet is have her try it on to make sure it fits right."

"Well then why aren't you doing that right now? You know she's almost as excited about it as you are. She wouldn't 'shoo' you out if you told her it was ready."

"But what if she doesn't like it? And she was pretty eager to make me leave."

Avi snickered. "Please. You have everyone on the edge of their seats waiting to see the dress. She'll like it, I guarantee." Avi glanced over at him with a smirk. "Have you ever noticed that she always makes you leave when the guards rotate?"

Mitch tilted his chin. "Uh... no. Why does that matter?"

"Because she has a total of three guards watching her door that switch out every couple of hours. Kevin decided he wanted Ryan, Matt, and Ben to keep an eye on you two."

"...So?"

"Oh my god," Avi turned back to his array of spices. "You'll figure it out eventually."

Mitch shrugged. Sure he would, but that can be later. When he doesn't have priorities. "How long do you think that's gonna take yet?"

"A while."

"Have you ever heard of the number system?"

If Avi's gonna be sassy, Mitch is gonna be sassy right back. Deal with it, buddy.

"Mitch, this isn't even Scott's dinner."

He blinked in surprise. He hadn't said anything about his sneaky plans. "Uh—"

Avi fixed him with another exasperated stare. "Look, I promise you will see him after dinner, okay? Go finish the dress. That way he'll know where to find you."

That... actually made sense. Go back to Kirstie's room so Scott knows where he is. Because then Scott can find him when he's done, rather than Mitch barging in on him while he's busy. Damn, Avi's a genius. Or maybe Mitch is just a bit sleep deprived from waiting until Kirstie fell asleep the past few nights to work on the dress so it would stay as much of a surprise as possible...

"Okay. Bye then!"

Mitch leaped up from his uncomfortable perch and scurried across the kitchen, ignoring the laughs from Avi as he took off.

Thank you Matt for teaching him how to get around the palace. Sure, he was technically supposed to wait until Ryan, Matt, or Ben came to escort him back, but with the king and queen basically quarantining themselves in their quarters, he figured he was safe enough to walk between the kitchens and the guest rooms. Maybe I should knock on wood, just in case, he thought to himself. A quick tap in passing on a weird sculpture thingy made him snicker. Better to be safe than sorry, he reasoned.