A Reunion of Lips

XVIII

Mitch spun around sharply on his heel. There were a solid five seconds where no one in the room breathed, when Mitch's world shrunk down two the blue eyes staring blankly back into his own.

He didn't remember crossing the room, but between one heartbeat and the next, he had his face buried in Scott's chest, arms squeezing their bodies as tight together as they could get, tears soaking into Scott's suit shirt and similarly into Mitch's jacket shoulder.

There were both a million thoughts running through his head and absolutely none—just an overwhelming relief of being whole again, of being home at last—and Mitch couldn't get enough of it. Of him.

Scott pulled back swiftly, leaving Mitch clinging to his arms for balance at the sudden movement. His hands moved from where they were gripping Mitch's shoulders up to cup his face and Mitch could see the wild look in his eyes, still welled with tears, as he looked between Mitch's eyes. Mitch's hands curled into fists in Scott's shirt.

As quickly as Scott had pulled away, he pushed in and pressed his lips to Mitch's. A loud inhale and a surprised squeak from behind him had Mitch suddenly pulled back to the present, and he regretfully leaned back before the kiss could become anything more than a brief reunion of lips.

"Sorry it took me so long to get home," Mitch grinned up at Scott while Scott's thumbs brushed the tear tracks off his face. "I took some detours and found some new friends."

Scott shook his head. "You're awful, you know that?" He choked out a laugh.

Mitch nodded. "I'm really sorry to cut this short, but you need to get the gang together. We have information for you, and you're gonna love it." He couldn't help the frustrated sarcasm from slipping out.

"Uh, yeah. Yeah, okay. Rain check on the crying—"

"Oh my GOD—"

Mitch barely turned in time to see Avi's face barreling towards him before he was tackled with a bear hug and almost knocked to the ground. Mitch was laughing along with Scott lightly.

"I heard someone saying they saw you and I literally ran out of the kitchen to find out if it was true—I knew you were still out there somewhere!" Avi was beaming and Mitch was doing his best not to start crying again.

Then Esther popped up in the door with an, "Is Avi already—HOLY SHIT!", and Mitch was being tackled with another hug.