Jerome's P.O.V.
I had known Mitch since we were six years old, and since I had met him, he had had a stutter. It had never been particularly bad, stumbling over a few set words that he had always struggled to pronounce, but he had always been self conscious about those words which led to him avoiding saying them like the plague. It made it very difficult because his stutter over those words got worse, and it made him stop using them more.
But the more he ignored it, the worse it got. When Mitch was little the words he stumbled over were difficult words, words not in common use, and so it was easy to hide. As such he never received treatment for his stutter and as we got into high school his stutter began to shift.
By 16 his stutter had worsened- by a mile- and the words he stumbled over became more commonplace, words like want and go. But on top of that, he began to get blocks. Before it had only been repetitions and even then it had been subtle, not too noticeable, but now there were blocks. Blocks were when he stopped in the middle of his sentence, unable to get his words out.
Mitch always got upset when he stuttered, his face visibly falling when he stuttered and he often just stopped talking, even in the middle of a story. There were so many times he turned to me to finish what he was saying because he couldn't continue, and I did it despite knowing that it would make his stutter worse. I hated seeing him embarrassed.
And when YouTube kicked off.... it all hit the fan. Let's just say there was a reason he didn't record with others very often and why he didn't live stream, because it gave us the ability to cut out any sections in which he stuttered. He had improved, but it still he was self conscious about it, avoided words he knew he would stutter over and relied on me to help him when he need it.
Of course I helped him, he was best friend- and now boyfriend. I did what I could.
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Mitch was silent for most of the conversation while the other boys chattering, biting his tongue when someone asked him a question. He had hardly spoken all day and when he did it was full of stutters and blocks and repetitions, it had just been a bad day. He had essentially shut down, our shoulders barely touching.
The other boys were the other members of the Pack, all visiting us down in Florida after almost a year of being apart. We hadn't been in one group since Preston's wedding and even in that short time Mitch's stutter had worsened. They didn't really know. They had to have realised he had a slight stutter when he spoke but none of them had mentioned it, at least to our faces, but they didn't know the full extent- that was how much he avoided speaking when he knew he would stutter.
"Jerome?" Rob drew my attention and I looked up. He was leaning up against the wall with Lachlan pretty much sitting on his feet, playing on his phone.
"Yeah?"
"Mitch is asleep." He stated, and I looked over at him. He indeed was asleep, leaning on one knee which he had pulled up to his chest and just as I watched his head slipped sideways onto shoulder. I smiled myself.
"I guess he is."
"Was he upset? He's been pretty quiet all day."
He really had been, but it wasn't because he was upset. I wasn't surprised the others had noticed because he had barely spoken a word in the morning we had spent together, the lunch we had out and the afternoon we had back at our place. His stuttering did become exasperated when he was tired, but that was only part of the reason.
"No, I think he's just tired." I said, adjusting my position so it was more comfortable for him. "He might be more talkative later."
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He really wasn't more talkative the next morning, he continued to say barely anything. Even after two cups of coffee and the other boys- specifically Lachlan- kept pestering him with questions he still only gave one words answers and stayed silent when he was actually required to talk more than that. I pulled him aside mid-morning.
"Is everything okay?" I asked, one hand resting lightly on his hip. He shrugged.
"It's bad-ba-bad today." He mumbled, biting down on his lip. "I ju-just don't w-w-want... to talk."
"Alright." I brushed some of his fringe out of his eyes. "I'll keep the other boys off your back and just try and look busy, play on your phone. Was it the same yesterday?"
He nodded silently, pushing his head into my touch. I continued to run and gentle hand through his hair.
"You'll have to tell them eventually."
"I know."
"Or they'll find out." I continued.
"I know." He mumbled, scowling. I pulled him closer, letting him rest his head on my shoulder for a moment. "I-I-I just feel li...like a li-little kid. I'm worried they-they'll correct m-m-me like everyone else... else did."
"Mitch you know they're accepting, tell them that you don't want to be corrected. They'll understand." I gently kissed his forehead. "But I'm not going to push you. You tell them when you're ready and when you do, I'll be there."
He smiled and I left it at that, leading him back into the living room where the others were still chattering mindlessly. They looked up as we came in but mostly ignored our re-entrance, continuing their conversation. Mitch gave me another smile.
It was okay.
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In the end it was an accident that the others discovered Mitch's stutter, not long after we had our conversation. It was early in the morning and everyone was tired, but almost everyone had had coffee and was able to comprehend what was going on- when Mitch stumbled down the stairs. As before his stutter was exacerbated when he was tired, and he was tired. Really tired, barely standing up, stumbling when he walked tired.
"Mornin' Mitch." I greeted him as he bumbled through the door, making a beeline for me. He practically face planted against my back, grumbling quietly. He hadn't seemed to have noticed the others looking at him from just out of his view, all sitting in the living room but well within ear shot.
"Mor-morning." He stuttered, already glowering.
"Coffee?"
"Ye... yeah, plea-please."
I spent a couple of minutes preparing a cup for him while he refused to let go of me, his head still resting on my back. He continued to stutter when he spoke, still oblivious to the other boys watching him.
"Thanks.... bi-biggums." I gave him a smile and, making sure the others couldn't see me, pressed a kiss to his cheek.
"You're welcome babe." I whispered, earning a soft smile. Once the coffee hit he started talking a little more, making his stutter even more obvious.
"What... are w-w-we going to.... to do to-today?" He asked, his eyes turning to me.
"I'm not sure." I mused, my hands wrapped around my mug. "Record, edit, maybe stream later if there's time, hang out with the boys. Not much."
"Maybe so-so-some Hunger... Hunger Games?"
"If you want to." I said with a smile.
I wandered into the living room after I finished my coffee, leaving Mitch at the bench. Rob stood up as I came in.
"Was that Mitch?" He asked quietly, his eyes wide. I nodded. "Is that... normal?"
It took me a moment to understand what he was talking about and in that time Mitch came up behind me. Rob went a little pale.
"Mitch! I- uhhhh..." He was trying to avoid the imminent awkwardness that quickly followed.
"It-it's fine." He mumbled. "I know... know I st-st-stutter. I should have... should have told you a lo-long time ago."
Mitch and I shared a look and I knew to continue for him, he wouldn't be able to get through any more without breaking down from nerves.
"It's worse than normal right now." I added. "Nerves and tiredness make it worse. He's had it since we were little kids but he's never really told anyone about it."
The other boys nodded confirmation but, so, so thankfully, they kind of just turned back to their own conversation. I smiled at Mitch.
"See? They don't mind." I whispered, smiling. "I told you."
"Yeah." He mumbled. "I guess you did tell me so."