Lifeline (Scomiche)

One

Mitch quietly unlocked the apartment door and was pleased to find the small space dimly illuminated rather than dark. He saw Scott's figure sitting on the couch and nearly shrieked in excitement to tell him his good news before he realized that he was asleep. He was sitting upright on the couch right under the floorlamp but his head was rolled to the side and the book that he'd most likely been up reading was laying open next to his lap.

Mitch shut and locked the squeaky door behind him and toed his shoes off, lingering in the doorway for a moment. Just as he began wondering whether he should wake Scott up to get him into bed or turn off the lamp and let him keep sleeping there, the blond twitched a little. He took a short breath and fluttered his eyelids open, searching for the source of the noise that had woken him and relieved when he was met with a very, very happy looking Mitch standing at the door.

Scott stretched his arms over his head, trying his hardest to suppress a yawn that was slowly making its way up his throat. He smiled sleepily at Mitch, who still hadn't made his way across the room. "Hi, baby. Sorry for falling asleep. Come to me." He curled one finger towards himself and Mitch had to practically force himself not to skip over to him and wake up the downstairs neighbors. He padded across the room as quietly as he could and set his backpack down between Scott and the arm of the couch before crawling into the blond's lap, straddling his thighs as he leaned in to hug him.

He buried his face in Scott's neck and breathed in, trying to relax. It was 3am and he was practically vibrating from excitement and needed to calm himself down before he made a scene like last time. It shouldn't have been hard with Scott's familiar and comforting scent flooding his lungs and cleansing him of that sterile-smelling hospital air, the strong arms wrapped around him feeling so much like home. Scott must have taken a shower a few hours ago because Mitch couldn't smell a single trace of work on him, just subtle traces of soap and shampoo and his cologne, and Mitch smiled knowing he must have sprayed some on just for him. Scott's loose sweatpants and old pullover felt so comfortable underneath and around him that he wanted to strip out of his stiff scrubs and just drown in him. All that warmth and comfort and he still couldn't calm himself down. Not until he got this good news off his chest. It was impossible.

"Wow, baby, look at that smile." He nudged Mitch by the shoulder until the boy pulled his face away from Scott's neck, finally visible to him again. Scott felt bad for falling asleep, he really did. He'd tried so hard to stay awake until the end of Mitch's shift at the hospital knowing that he'd be coming home with his much awaited results, but he was so exhausted that he couldn't help knocking out a little past midnight. He ran his fingers through Mitch's dark hair, watching him closely and trying to burn the image of his happy boy into his mind. He swore he hadn't seen Mitch smile this hard all week, his eyes practically sparkling with joy. Scott's heart was absolutely bursting for him and he couldn't help but mirror Mitch's grin. "I knew it. I knew you could do it. What'd you get, baby?"

"An A+, Scott! I got a ninety six percent! Ninety six!" He was smiling so hard that his cheeks hurt and he pulled his arms away from Scott for a second to unzip his backpack, digging through a dark green folder before slipping a half-page out. He held the sheet out for Scott, pointing at the number circled in red pen on top of the scantron sheet. "Look! See, ninety six percent! Oh my god, I can't believe it!"

Scott stared at the number, his smile growing even wider. He felt his heart swell with pride. Mitch had worn himself out for days waiting for his exam to be graded, had stressed himself to tears and all for what? A ninety six percent? He beamed up at Mitch in adoration. "Wow, that's even better than last time! Five percent better!"

"I know! This test was so hard, Scott, even harder than the first one! I can't believe I did so well!" He was bouncing in Scott's lap, unable to contain himself, and Scott let him. It was cute and harmless compared to when he'd brought home his first test grade this semester so excited that the neighbors had shown up at their door with a complaint. Mitch deserved a good flip out moment for doing so well on his impossibly hard exams in his last semester of nursing school and if that involved some screaming then Scott was all for it, but this option probably suited the neighbors much  better.