A Reunion of Lips

III

Mitch seriously couldn't believe Scott sometimes. He actually proposed to Mitch so that he wouldn't have to go back outside the bunker. He could've just walked fast—Scott had said there was nothing to worry about, so the perimeter breach was probably just a wayward citizen whose dog ran off.

Mitch couldn't stop staring at his finger. The copper wire Scott had formed a ring out of was nowhere near the giant diamond he had fantasized about getting one day, but now that there was actually a ring there, he literally couldn't care less what it looked like.

If Scott tries to take it back later when they tell them it was a false alarm or something, Mitch was gonna tease him about it for years. He could hear the awkward conversation already. Scott was gonna tell him about how he had these big, fancy plans to make it the most epic proposal ever and probably try to convince him with offers of blowjobs galore to let him try again. Then Mitch would pretend to consider it for a while and go back and forth on it to see Scott squirm, before inevitably agreeing to pretend it didn't happen to save Scott from Kirstie's wrath. (Because if Scott said that he was already planning a proposal, it means that Kirstie was mostly planning the proposal by trying to help Scott sort through his good and bad ideas, and she was not going to be happy she missed it.)

Scott was leaning against one of the shelves, sitting sideways on the bench with Mitch resting with his back to Scott's chest, wrapped up in Scott's protective arms. They must have been down here for an hour at this point, because Mitch could feel himself starting to doze off. The quiet murmur of politicians chatting was an oddly peaceful sound. It's weird, he knows. Mitch blames it entirely on Scott for talking to himself while he works late and Mitch is sleeping at the palace.

He actually has to fight to open his eyes all the way when the president walks over to them.

"Scott, sorry to disturb you, but may I speak to you in private? It's about the perimeter breach."

Scott slid out from behind Mitch gently. "Sorry, I'll be right back."

Mitch didn't like the sound of that. The way the president had phrased it didn't make it sound like a false alarm, but he was still holding out hope for it being a runaway dog or a lost tourist group. The way that Scott's face fell at whatever whispered words Mario relayed to him wasn't reassuring either. When he sat back down next to Mitch and rubbed at his face with his hands, Mitch felt some of the anxiety he was trying to ignore spring up.

"Is everything okay?"

Scott dropped his hands and turned towards Mitch. He didn't like how exhausted his eyes looked. "Not... quite. I'll explain later once we get back with the rest of the group. They've cleared the perimeter and they're just doing some last sweeps of the grounds before they lift the lockdown."

"Can I do anything?"

Scott dropped his head onto Mitch's shoulder. "Can you just... talk for a while?"

Mitch draped his arm around Scott's shoulders and did his best to keep their minds off of whatever just happened.