A/N: Panic attack CW! Also, shout out to FlameTornado and Ezilra for inspiring the second scene :)
It only took one hour for the shock and elation Mitch felt from Blake confessing his love for him to fade away.
As it faded, a new feeling overtook Mitch instead: self doubt.
They were still watching the movie when it happened. Mitch had been engrossed in the film and was suddenly pulled out of his stupor by the feeling of Blake reaching over and taking his hand.
Mitch had looked over at Blake right away. For some reason, the sight of him and the sweet smile on his face made his stomach churn.
And then suddenly a million different questions were racing through his mind.
Did he really love Blake? Or did he just want to feel that way because he wanted to be loved?
Because he had sure never even thought of the idea of being in love with Blake until that night.
And did it even matter? Surely if Blake was as great as Mitch thought he was, then he would end up falling in love with him eventually, if he wasn't already.
But then he thought about Scott.
His sweet, loyal best friend Scott.
If Scott really hated him that much, then Mitch wasn't sure he could even make it to 'eventually' with Blake.
Especially not with Blake seriously suggesting he distance himself from Scott. Something like that should have been a dealbreaker, and most likely would have been if Blake hadn't immediately made up for it with the 'I love you.'
He hated the thought of breaking up with him – whether he truly did love him or not – but it was now really starting to sink in just how much Scott couldn't stand Blake. And if being with Blake was hurting him in any way, then it just wasn't worth it.
Especially not after Mitch had spent almost an entire year in misery because of Scott dating Lucas. It wasn't the same situation, but regardless, Mitch would never forgive himself if he put Scott through anything even remotely similar.
Mitch was incredibly quiet and out of it for the rest of the date, even despite how sweet Blake was being towards him. He felt incredibly guilty when he turned down Blake's offer to get ice cream after the movie was over, and even worse when he turned down Blake's second offer for him to stay the night at his apartment.
He just needed some time to think things through by himself. Which was why he ended up taking a page out of Scott's book; lying to Blake by telling him that he was sick just so he would take him straight home.
"I'm really sorry that you're feeling so crappy, babe. It sucks that our night was cut short," Blake said sweetly as they stood outside of the door to Mitch and Scott's room. "I hope you feel better soon."
Mitch forced a small smile. He had already been feeling horrible enough about all of the self doubts he was having, and now he just felt even worse for lying to Blake. "I know," he agreed. "Thank you. I'm sorry again."
"Don't be," Blake replied simply. He leaned down and gave Mitch a kiss. "I love you," he hummed.
Mitch really wished that he felt as elated as he had been the first time Blake had said those words. "You too," he breathed out. "I'll see you tomorrow."
With that, he disappeared into his and Scott's room. He let out a deep sigh as soon as the door was shut.
"You alright?"
Even though Mitch knew that Scott was home, he still ended up flinching at the sudden sound of his voice. He spun around to look at him, opening his mouth to say yes.
But the second his eyes landed on Scott's face he ended up changing his mind. "Not really," he admitted.
Scott of course frowned right away at the news. "What's wrong?" he asked, sitting up on his bed.
Mitch didn't know where to start. But eventually he ended up blurting something out. "Do you think that two months is too early to be in love with someone?"
Mitch could tell that Scott wasn't expecting that question at all. "Why? Are you in love with Blake?"
"Blake is in love with me," Mitch told him. "And I said it back, but I'm not sure if that's actually how I feel."
Scott nodded his head slowly. "Well. It is possible. I fell in love with Lucas pretty quickly – probably within about two months."
"And it didn't turn out very well, did it," Mitch pointed out.
"No," Scott agreed. He paused, and then spoke up again. "Have you ever been in love before?"
Mitch stared at Scott silently for a long moment as he debated whether he wanted to answer that question truthfully or not. After a while, he finally gave him his answer. "Yeah," he admitted softly, "I have been."
Scott took a visible deep breath. "Does the way you feel about Blake compare to how you felt about that guy?" he asked.
Mitch shook his head. "Not at all."
There was no comparison. Blake had never come close to making Mitch feel the way that he felt for Scott.
"Then it's probably not love yet," Scott concluded, confirming what Mitch unfortunately was already beginning to suspect himself. "But it's still early, if he's really special to you then those feelings will come in time. You just have to wait."
Mitch bit his lip. "That's the thing, though. I don't know if I should wait," he told him.
Scott seemed surprised by Mitch's words. "Why not?"
"Because I know how much you hate him," Mitch answered. "You don't have to lie about it, Scott. It's fine," he added in quickly, knowing he was going to try to protest. "You obviously can't stand him. And I don't want to stick around long enough for me to really fall in love with him if it would make you unhappy."
"Mitch. You can't let me dictate what you do with your love life. That's not fair to you at all," Scott told him. "You're right, I don't like Blake very much. But he makes you happy and that's all that matters."
Mitch bit his lip again. "But there must be a reason that you hate him so much," he brought up. "Is it worthy of me breaking up with him?"
Scott almost looked like he was in pain as he answered. "No," he admitted. "There's nothing that you don't know about. I just get a bad feeling whenever I'm around him, that's all."
"Are you sure?" Mitch asked. "I really don't want to make you unhappy, Scott."
"I'm sure, Mitch," Scott confirmed. "It's okay. I promise. Like I said when you first started texting him, I'm happy as long as you are."
Mitch instantly felt comforted by his words. Scott's hatred for Blake really must not be as intense as Blake was trying to make it seem.
He could continue to date him without guilt.
"Okay," Mitch replied softly. "Thanks, Scott. You mean the world to me, I hope you now that."
Scott smiled. "You mean the world to me too, Mitchy."
Mitch smiled a little back at him. Both of his major questions were answered so he was definitely pleased with the result of that conversation. Even if he did have to deal with the guilt of pretending to love Blake for a while now.
After a moment Mitch turned around to get changed into his pajamas. He was just about to climb into his bed when Scott spoke up again. "It's fine if you don't want to, I'd get it since you have a boyfriend. But do you wanna come cuddle with me tonight?" he suggested hesitantly. "I miss my Mitchy cuddles."
Mitch's face instantly went soft at the request. He turned around and found himself instantly crossing the room over to Scott's bed despite his better judgement.
Blake probably wouldn't be extremely happy about it, but it was just cuddling. Best friends were allowed to cuddle with each other.
"Of course," he answered as he climbed into bed with him. "I miss my Scotty cuddles, too."
Scott wrapped his arms around Mitch the second he joined him in bed, the two of them assuming their usual cuddling position.
As Mitch got himself comfortable nestled into Scott's side, he felt even more validated in thinking that he wasn't in love with Blake yet.
Cuddling with Scott just felt right. Mitch's whole entire body was warm and it was like all of his worries had gone away the second Scott wrapped his arms around him.
Being around Blake was nice, but he never made him feel like this.
Mitch just had to hope that it would happen in time like Scott said it would. He really didn't want to live an unfulfilled life knowing that he could never be with the one person who did make him feel this good.
—
"Thank you guys for making this last rehearsal count. I think we're in a really good place going into semifinals," Lucas said. "We just have a few minor things we need to keep in mind going into soundcheck on Sunday, but I'm not too worried."
Mitch resisted the urge to snort. Lucas not being worried was definitely a new one.
CalTones had just reached the end of their very last rehearsals before semifinals. And honestly, it wasn't actually that much of a surprise that Lucas wasn't worried. Because it had gone extremely well.
At this point, Mitch really did feel like they had a good chance of winning.
"Scott, you especially have been killing it. If you keep that up then I have no doubts that we'll place high," Lucas added.
Mitch did his best to ignore any negative feelings that rose inside him. He smiled instead, turning to look at Scott to see his reaction.
Scott of course beamed wide. "Thanks, Luke," he replied.
"Just don't forget that note in The Only Exception again because I might have to kill you," Lucas told him. His voice was actually light and somewhat playful; it was certainly an odd thing to hear.
Scott laughed and saluted him. "Yes, sir," he joked right back.
Mitch was pretty sure he caught a hint of a smile on Lucas' face as he turned to look back at him, but it was gone quickly. "You guys are free to go now. I'll see you all at our party tomorrow night," Lucas concluded.
Mitch didn't hesitate to begin heading towards the door, taking Blake's hand in his own. But before he could leave he was interrupted by the sound of someone calling his name.
"Mitch? Can you come help me clean up?" Lucas requested.
Mitch furrowed his eyebrows together in confusion. Lucas usually had Jasmine help him out, or Scott if she wasn't available. He pretty much never asked someone else, and Mitch definitely had assumed that he'd be one of Lucas' last choices.
He and Blake both turned around to look at him. "Um. Yeah, sure," Mitch agreed reluctantly. He could think of a lot of other things he'd rather be doing with his time but it wasn't like he actually had a choice. "You can just wait for me in the car, babe," he told Blake. "I'll be out in a few minutes."
Blake seemed to be just as confused as he was. "Okay," he agreed hesitantly. He leaned down and gave him a kiss. "Love you."
Mitch tensed up a little. Blake had said those words to him quite a few times over the past few days and it never failed to make him feel guilty. "You too," he agreed.
Once Blake was gone Mitch silently began to pick up the empty water bottles that were scattered all over the room, fully planning on getting out of there was quickly as possible without saying a word to Lucas.
Lucas had other ideas, however. "I really can't believe that you'd date someone like him," he brought up bluntly.
Mitch froze. "Excuse me?"
"Blake," Lucas clarified. "I can't believe you'd date someone like him."
Mitch assumed it was meant to be an insult, and so his first instinct was to insult him right back.
"I can't believe that Scott dated someone like you," Mitch shot back immediately.
He regretted the words the second they left his mouth, but to his surprise Lucas didn't seem all that bothered. "Touché," he replied simply with a shrug.
Mitch was really glad that Lucas seemed to be having a good day today.
"I'm not trying to be a dick, Mitch. I'm serious," Lucas added after a pause. "He hates Scott, if you haven't noticed."
Mitch frowned a little. The last thing he expected was for Lucas to get involved in that situation. "Blake doesn't hate Scott. It's just Scott who hates Blake," he corrected him. "Sorry, by the way. I didn't mean what I said about you and Scott," he added sheepishly.
"Sure," Lucas replied sarcastically. "And the hatred between them is mutual, trust me. I'm only bringing this up in the first place because I just watched Blake roll his eyes and scoff when I complimented Scott."
Mitch wanted to believe that Lucas was lying. But there was no motive for him to make something like that up. Despite how much Mitch had always disliked Lucas, Lucas had never hinted towards feeling the same way.
Besides, he doubted that Lucas would risk ruining their performance at semifinals by causing drama between three of the soloists just for the hell of it.
So he must be telling the truth.
It was possible, too. Mitch had been so focused on both Scott and Lucas during that conversation that he didn't once look over at Blake.
"Oh," Mitch mumbled. "I didn't notice."
"Look. I know you and I aren't friends and I doubt you care about my opinion on your love life. Which is fair, because I don't really care about your love life," Lucas began. "But I do care about Scott. He never shuts up about you and I don't want you to hurt him."
Mitch was definitely caught off guard by his words. "I would never hurt him," he replied right away. "I'll have you know that Scott and I have already talked about this. He doesn't mind me dating Blake, he said he's happy as long as I am."
Lucas snorted. "It didn't occur to you that he could possibly be lying just to make you happy?"
Mitch suddenly felt sick. "Of course it did," he answered. But it hadn't, really. He'd been so relieved to get the response from Scott that he wanted to hear that he didn't even question it. "I know when Scott is lying to me. I've known him for a lot longer than you have, Lucas," he reminded him.
He'd said it more to convince himself than he had to convince Lucas, though.
"I'm aware. You don't need to get so defensive," Lucas replied dryly. "That's all I wanted to say. You can leave now, if you want."
Mitch didn't hesitate to leave the second he was given permission, his mind racing.
He was definitely worried now. He'd been so relieved when Scott reassured him a few days ago, but now he was questioning the whole conversation. Maybe Scott really had been lying and he hadn't noticed for once.
That wasn't the only thing he was questioning, though. He was starting to question his whole entire relationship with Blake now.
Scott hated him. Kirstie had seemed suspicious of him after their short, fifteen minute conversation. And now even Lucas was trying to warn Mitch against him.
Mitch had assumed all this time that it was everyone else who wasn't seeing the real Blake, but maybe he was the blind one.
"Hey, babe," Blake greeted Mitch when he made it over to the car. "You look tense. What the hell did Lucas say to you? Do I need to go back in there and deck him for you?"
Mitch shook his head as he got into the passenger seat. "No, it's fine," he assured him softly. "He was just talking to me about Scott."
Blake pursed his lips at that. "I shouldn't have left you two alone. Lucas is a douche," he mumbled. He reached over and grabbed Mitch's hand across the center console as he always did, beginning to drive.
Mitch looked down at their intertwined fingers, suddenly feeling sad at the sight.
He really did like Blake, and he wanted to make things work with him so badly.
But he wasn't sure how much longer this could last.
—
It was the day of the pre-semifinals party and Mitch stood in his and Scott's dorm room getting ready, holding several shirts in front of himself as he tried to figure out what to wear.
He was struggling to concentrate on his outfit choices, however, when all he could think about was Blake.
Ever since his conversation with Lucas yesterday, he'd gone from feeling sick every time Blake said he loved him to feeling sick every time he thought about Blake just in general.
And it sucked. Because he liked Blake.
But being with him was no longer the happy distraction from his feelings for Scott that it used to be. Now his relationship with Blake made him feel guilty and unsure of himself.
In just an hour Blake was due to pick Mitch up so he could take him to the party, and Mitch should have been looking forward to the opportunity to let loose and spend time with his friends. But instead he was just dreading it.
The dread was starting to consume him. His chest was tight and his palms were sweaty – he knew he needed to distract himself now before it got any worse.
His best option was to talk to someone. Neither Scott nor Kirstie were good choices for obvious reasons, and so there was only one person left he could think of.
He put both of his shirts down and moved to sit on his bed, grabbing his phone and dialing the number.
"Hi, Son!"
The familiar and comforting voice answered after just a few seconds. Mitch instantly felt relieved at the sound. "Hi, Dad."
"It's been awhile since we talked! How are you?"
Mitch chatted with his dad absentmindedly for a while, allowing the random small talk to distract him. It was nice, talking to his dad – he was way too busy to catch up with his family most the time and he missed them a lot.
"Now, how's it going with your boyfriend? Blake, is that right?"
Mitch resisted the urge to sigh at the new topic. He should've known it was going to come up eventually. "Yeah. His name is Blake," he confirmed. "Um. I don't really know, actually. It's complicated."
Mike paused for a moment. "Well that's not good, is it," he said. "Two months in is a little early for things to be getting complicated."
Mitch let out a small, sad laugh at that. "You're right," he admitted. "I really like him, Dad," he added after a moment. "And he feels the same way about me. But there's just... things getting in the way. And it's exhausting."
He'd been perfectly composed at the start of his reply, but by the end of it he was getting choked up.
"Well, is this relationship worth dealing with those things? Or do you think it's time to call it quits?"
Mitch sniffled. "That's what I'm trying to figure out."
"I don't know anything about this guy or the situation, so my advice probably won't be very helpful," Mike began. "But I think you should talk it out with your boyfriend if you haven't already and just take your time to figure out what decision is best. You're a smart young man and I know that you'll figure it out eventually."
Mitch definitely didn't feel like he'd been very smart lately. But he still found himself smiling a little at his dad's words. It was was always nice to have his dad support him and try to help out. "Thanks," Mitch replied. "You're right. I'll talk to him about it tonight."
It needed to be done sooner rather than later, so he might as well talk to him before the party. He'd tell Blake everything – about Scott, about Kirstie, about Lucas. And hopefully their conversation would give him some insight.
"Good luck," Mike replied warmly. "Now, back to something more positive. You've got that a cappella competition coming up soon, right?"
Mitch couldn't be more relieved at the change in subject. "Yeah. ICCA semifinals," he reminded him. He didn't blame his dad for not remembering, Mitch had probably only mentioned it to him once about a month ago.
"Right! I'm so proud of you. I can't wait to see videos," Mike hummed in response. "I'd say good luck for that as well but you don't need it, you always kill your performances."
Mitch laughed just a little. "Thanks," he said again. "Love you, Dad."
"Love you too, Mitch."
—
"Superfruit," Scott giggled. "That's me."
Mitch furrowed his eyebrows together in confusion at Scott's gibberish. His eyes seemed to be fixated on the drink Mitch was holding, so he followed his gaze.
Sure enough, it was labelled Pomegranate Superfruit. Mitch giggled as well. "Oh my god, me," he agreed. "Superfruit. That would be a really good band name."
"Or like, an underground, secret rap group or something."
Mitch let out a loud laugh at that. "Yes. Let's do it, my Nicki Minaj impression is fucking great."
"Or a Youtube show maybe. That would be cute."
"That would be cute," Mitch agreed. He then paused, realizing that he'd gotten entirely off track. "Have you seen Blake around? I lost him and I need... to talk to him. It's really important."
Mitch's plan had been to have a serious discussion with Blake when he came over to pick him up for the party. But as soon as he arrived he lost all of the courage he'd been building up.
He didn't want to start an argument with him or anything – not right before a party where they were supposed to be having fun.
So instead he kept quiet, and downed quite a few drinks as soon as they got at the party to ease the guilt he felt.
It worked, thankfully. He managed to forget about his worries for a while, talking to Jasmine and Quinn as Blake stood across the room chatting with some friend of his.
He'd had quite a few more drinks by the time the conversation with both girls died off. And thanks to the alcohol consumption, Mitch found himself gaining the courage that he'd lost before the party started.
It was probably the worst idea in the world considering how drunk he was, but he didn't care. He was going to talk to Blake now and get their problems sorted once and for all.
But as Mitch looked across the room to find him he realized that Blake had disappeared. So naturally he went looking for him, and ran into Scott instead.
Just like last time.
Scott shook his head at Mitch's question. "Haven't seen him."
Mitch scoffed. "He's such an ass, always disappearing on me," he complained. "Next time I should be your date instead."
Scott hummed out in agreement. "Yes," he said simply. Mitch wasn't sure if it was in reply to the first or second statement, but he didn't have time to question him since they were both immediately distracted by the sound of Run the World by Beyoncé beginning to play.
"Oh my god," Scott gasped. His face lit up completely and Mitch couldn't help but smile fondly at the sight. Scott was really fucking adorable. "You have to come dance with me, right now," he insisted, already grabbing Mitch's hands. "We can dance together while you wait for your dumb boyfriend to come back."
If he were sober Mitch might take some offense to that, but instead he just giggled. "Okay," he agreed, gladly following his best friend onto the dance floor.
The two of them had a blast together, dancing to song after song. They ended up being there for quite a long time, occasionally taking breaks between songs so they could have shots.
Mitch was having so much fun that he didn't even remember that Blake was missing.
Eventually, however, it got late enough that the party started to clear out. The music was much softer now and the room was almost empty – the two of them both starting to get exhausted. But that didn't stop Mitch from continuing to dance, his arms wrapped around Scott's neck as he gently swayed back and forth with him.
"We should go home soon. 'Gonna end up falling asleep on the ground," Scott mumbled in Mitch's ear.
"Mmm. Yeah," Mitch agreed sleepily. As much fun as he was having, he wouldn't exactly mind going home and cuddling with Scott. However, he ended up frowning after a moment. "Can't, though. I have to wait for Blake."
"He still hasn't shown up?" Scott questioned. Clearly they'd both forgotten about him completely.
Mitch shook his head. "I have to wait," he repeated. "Leaving would be mean."
"He left you. He's the mean one," Scott grumbled. "Let's wait on the couch at least. 'M tired."
"Kay," Mitch hummed in agreement. He dropped his arms from Scott's neck and dragged his feet over to the couch across the room. As soon as they were both sitting he immediately cuddled into Scott's side.
Scott wrapped his arm around Mitch's shoulder, and in return Mitch nuzzled his face into Scott's neck.
Mitch was convinced that Blake was going to show up any minute now and then they'd be able to leave together, but his eyes were already getting droopy and he was finding it incredibly difficult to stay up to wait for him.
Before he knew it, he was drifting off to sleep on the couch in Scott's arms.
—
Mitch woke up the next morning in the exact same position he'd fallen asleep in. Usually he was in a great mood whenever he woke up in Scott's arms, but the pounding headache he now had definitely put a damper on things.
As did the sudden realization that Blake never showed up.
Mitch couldn't help but feel pissed off at him right away. Disappearing for a few hours at a party was one thing, but completely ditching him and leaving the party without him was such a douchey thing to do.
Mitch sat up and let out a groan, blinking a few times to adjust to the light in the room. After a moment he turned to Scott so he could wake him up and they could leave together, but he froze when he noticed something across the room.
Blake's jacket was still hung up on the wall. Maybe he hadn't left, after all – maybe he'd just passed out somewhere else in the house.
Mitch carefully slid out from Scott's grip and began to head upstairs to look for him. Most of the bedroom doors were already wide open and empty.
There was just one at the end of the hallway that was closed.
"Shit. Shit," Mitch heard a familiar voice muttering to himself.
Despite the voice being muffled through the closed door, Mitch could still recognize it as Blake's right away.
Relief settled over Mitch instantly as he headed over to the door and turned the handle. It was unlocked, so he didn't hesitate to swing it open.
Blake stood there half naked, rushing to pull his clothes on. He clearly hadn't noticed Mitch's entrance, his back turned to him and instead facing the bed.
On the bed laid a guy who Mitch had never seen in his entire life. He was completely naked and seemed to be just waking up.
Mitch stared silently for a long moment at the scene in front of him, at a loss for words.
"Will you get up and get dressed already?" Blake snapped at the guy on the bed. "We need to hurry, or else my boyfriend–"
"What about your boyfriend?" Mitch interrupted.
He watched as Blake's whole entire body tensed up. After a moment he slowly turned around to look at him, a horrified expression coming to his face as soon as they made eye contact. "Mitch," he began. "Fuck."
"You cheated on me," was Mitch's only response, his voice flat. He was too shocked to even show any emotions.
"No, babe. It's not what it looks like," Blake promised. He grabbed his shirt off the ground and pulled it on over his head before rushing over to Mitch. "I just– "
"You cheated on me," Mitch repeated. "You– you just told me that you love me. And then you cheated."
Adrenaline had risen inside of him and now his shock was replaced with pure rage, his voice reflecting that.
"Mitch. Sweetheart," Blake began again. His voice was gentle and full of guilt. "I didn't– fuck. Okay. It was a mistake," he relented. He must've noticed by Mitch's expression that he had no chance of successfully lying to him. He cupped Mitch's face in his hands. "I was so drunk and it was the worst mistake I ever could've made. I do love you and I'm so fucking sorry, babe."
Mitch tore Blake's hands away from him. "No you don't. You don't fucking love me," he spat. He was shaking with anger now, tears gathered in his eyes. "You never meant that, did you? You just said that because you didn't want to lose me."
Mitch had been so in denial for so long. He'd been so desperate to finally have love that he had ignored every bit of Blake's bad behavior.
But now Blake's real self was staring Mitch straight in the face, and there was no way of explaining this away.
Scott was right all along. Blake had cheated on him, and he doubted that this was the first time.
"That's not–"
"Well guess what?" Mitch spoke over him. He wasn't going to be weak and back down like he usually would. He felt angry, and betrayed, and there was no way he was going to let Blake try to use his charms to talk himself out of this. "I never fucking loved you, either," he told him coldly.
For the first time in the six months Mitch had known him, Blake had nothing to say.
"We're done, Blake," made sure to add. With that he spun around and bounded back down the stairs, blinking his tears away as he headed for the door as quickly as possible.
He ignored Blake's repeated calls of his name, refusing to even look back at him. By some miracle he'd managed to keep himself together that whole time, but he knew it wasn't going to last much longer and he wasn't going to give Blake the satisfaction of seeing him break down.
"Mitch?"
This time it wasn't Blake. It was Scott – sounding sleepy and confused.
Mitch passed right by him as well, heading straight out the door.
He couldn't stop for anyone. He needed to be home. Now.
The walk from the CalTones house to his and Scott's dorm usually took about fifteen minutes but Mitch managed to get there in ten on adrenaline alone, keeping his mind entirely focused on just getting himself home.
It wasn't until he was safely inside his room with the door closed that he allowed himself to really acknowledge what happened.
Blake had actually cheated on him.
He'd thought that Blake loved him. He'd thought that he finally found someone who thought he was good enough.
But he'd been wrong. He wasn't good enough for Blake, he wasn't good enough for anyone.
Any kind of composure Mitch had was gone now. The familiar chest tightening sensation that occurred whenever he was feeling anxious had come back, only this time so much worse than usual. He felt like the wind had completely been knocked out of him.
His shaking had intensified and his throat was closing up. He was light-headed and he could barely breathe.
Normally Mitch was really good at preventing panic attacks before they happened. But this had come on so quick that he had absolutely no chance this time.
He collapsed down onto the ground in front of his bed and rested his head in his knees, letting out a shaky, gasping sob.
Mitch didn't know how much time had passed but eventually he was startled by the feeling of a pair of arms wrapping around him.
"You're okay," Scott's voice soothed him. "Everything's gonna be fine, Mitchy. I promise."
As the realization of who it was hit him Mitch lifted his head up from his knees and buried his face into Scott's chest instead, gripping onto him tightly as he sobbed into him.
"You're okay," Scott repeated softly. Mitch was just barely conscious enough to notice the feeling of Scott's lips being pressed to the top of his head. "I love you so much. It's okay."