Worried: A Scomiche Short Story

Part 10: Care

Scott took a deep breath, rolled his shoulders, and felt the muscles pop in his neck and shoulders from pushing down on Mitch's own shoulders for so long. It didn't take much in the way of verbal communication between the two to know when he could drop his hands, and he would never ask no matter how much his muscles strained. For now, it was obvious that Mitch just needed time and silence in order to rejoin the world and begin the process of moving on with his day. Thus, Scott simply waited for him to make the next move when he was ready. While he waited, he took a moment to shoot Kirstin a quick, "He's ok, I got him," text because he knew she'd be worried sick. She always was.

Eventually, Mitch's hoarse voice broke through the silence. "How long?" He paused to clear his throat. "Others are probably waiting."

Scott couldn't help but snort. He was just so overwhelmed with anxiety that he was about to pass out, and this is what he worried about?

"Relax," Scott chided gently. "If Avi and Kevin get impatient, you know Kirstie will set them straight. They love you and prefer you were healthy and happy even if it means we don't finish this arrangement today. It's okay to take your time." He glanced at his phone again and added, "It's one thirty. You only left the room about 20 minutes ago."

Mitch hummed and nodded in acknowledgement, at which point Scott stood from the bench, grabbed the box of Kleenex from the back of the piano, and pulled a swivel chair out of the line in the back of the room. When he was seated again, this time facing Mitch, he offered the box to Mitch, who begrudgingly pulled a tissue from the box and wiped his damp eyes and nose.

"I don't..." He trailed off. Scott waited. "I can't go back in there," he mumbled, eyes down cast and cheeks tinged red.

" Why not?"

"Tired," tried Mitch, rather unconvincingly. He doesn't even have to look up to know the look Scott has on his face is doubtful.

"And? There's something else, Mitch. I know you too well."

"And what if they judge me?" Mitch's head suddenly snapped up and his eyes pleaded with Scott's. "I practically sprinted out of there and held up our entire rehearsal. I don't want to go back! Please don't make me go back there right now!"

Scott could practically see the progress they'd made slipping away and tried to draw his friend's attention away from the group and back to just the two of them. "Mitch. Mitch look at me. I'm not going to make you do anything you don't want to, you know that. You don't have to go back in there right now if you don't want to. This is about you and what you need."

"I need..." He bit his lip in uncertainty.

"Just tell me, Mitchy. I'll do whatever you need. I want to help."

Mitch tried to sort through the conflicting voices in the head: the shameful one that was telling him to never leave this room again and shut everyone out, the strong sassy one telling him toughen up buttercup, you've got work to do, and lastly the quiet one in the very back corner whispering to him to just let Scott take over. He didn't know which one to listen to so finally, he just shut them all out.

"Just take care of me?" he blurted. He was just too defeated by the events that had transpired throughout the day to really put up a fight. "I really need to shut down for a few hours but I can't do that if I'm drowning in responsibility and expectations."

He looked like he was on the verge of tears at the admission and it just about broke Scott's heart all over again. "If that's what you want, then sure. Just to be clear, you want me to take control, make decisions, and deal with people so you can go on autopilot without crashing, yes?"

It was rare for Mitch to want to be coddled and cared for like this, so Scott just needed to double check, however his body language after Scott agreed spoke volumes. The last little bit of worried smoothed from his brow, his eyes fluttered close, and he let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. "Yes, exactly. Please."

"Alright, I can do that." Scott straightened his posture up a little bit and spoke with more confidence in his voice. "I'll go talk them into breaking for an hour or two for lunch so we can get you out of here for a while and just take a step back from everything. Get some fresh air, stretch our legs a bit, get away from people for a while, yeah? Do you want me to come grab you when I'm done or come with me?"

Mitch weighed his options a bit before responding. "Come with. Don't wanna be alone," he decided.

"Understandable. You ready?" Scott stood and offered his hands out. Mitch nodded and took them gratefully. As Scott pulled him up carefully, he appraised him cautiously to make sure Mitch was steady back on his feet before turning towards the door. A soft tug on his hand and meek "Wait!" stopped him in his tracks however. He looked back, worry written all over his face.

"Hold me?" came Mitch's small voice.

"Always." And before Mitch knew what was happening he was swept up into Scott's waiting arms. He inhaled the familiar scent and settled against the warm body, smiling slightly when he felt the arms around him tighten just a fraction. This was the Scott he loved. Affectionate. Compassionate. Steady. Strong. Protective. This was his Scott.

A/N: Thoughts? Dialogue is hard, but this was good practice. Minimal editing, my apologies. Also, if I wrote a oneshot here and there, or published some non-Scomiche type stuff like Moments, would y'all be interested?