Home Is // Scott x Mike // My Own Private Idaho

Chapter One

     "Mikey, I'm not leaving you this time. I'll be here when you wake up. I promise." Scott's voice was soft and promising in Mike's ears, and although Mike couldn't hear him, to Scott, it almost felt like he could from the way his nose twitched. Mike had had another narcoleptic attack as soon as he saw Scott from across the street, the memories of what was his best friend flooding back and hitting him like a bullet. 

     Scott fell back against the cold metal of the roof, the very one that him and Mike had spent many years own. He had already beaten himself up over leaving Mike the way he did. It wasn't until Pigeon's funeral that he truly, truly realized how big he had fucked up. He missed Mike, and he shouldn't have traded him for anything. Mike was a true friend, and Scott gave him up for a small fling. After he had broken up with Carmella, had officially returned to the streets, and realized his life had crumbled without Mike in it. So much for believing that two guys can't be in love. He could only hope that Mike still felt the way he had. 

     -A month earlier, after the funeral-

     "It's almost hard to believe that you hung around that crowd." Carmella's English had gotten better, as had Scott's Italian. Scott had truly felt something for Carmella, but he also knew that she always envied how Scott longed to have his best friend back. He could see it in her eyes, especially after they had returned to home from the funeral.

     "They were good people." Scott intended to leave it at that, but it didn't go the way he wanted. It started a heated argument, about how Scott was too good for a crowd like that. And so he left. He left because he was tired of living in this false version of him. He may have been in love, but being in love doesn't mean not being yourself. Right then and there, that was all Scott wanted. To be himself.

     -Present day-

     Mike stirred in his sleep, causing Scott to wake up. Scott looked down at Mike, admiring his sleeping figure. Mike always looked at peace when he was asleep, and Scott figured it was because Mike spent a lot of time asleep. But he also knew that not all sleep was pleasant, and so the thought of a night terror scared Scott, mostly because he didn't want Mike to have to go through that, as he was going through enough already.

     "Scott?" Mike asked softly, shaking Scott away from his thoughts. Scott smiled, brushing some of Mike's hair from his face.

     "Hey, Mikey." Scott replied, his voice as soft and tender as the small guy before him. Mike sat up, the plastic sheet above him shifting. Scott hated that Mike was homeless, and he wanted more than anything to give him shelter. He had pondered on the idea of just starting a life with Mike. That he would spend his inherited money that way. 

     "What are you doing here. Shouldn't - shouldn't you be out somewhere with.... with what's-her-face?" Mike's voice was groggy, and he rubbed his eyes, almost as if to make sure it was really Scott sitting there in front of him.

     "No, Mikey. I shouldn't. I should be here." Scott wasn't really sure if he was ready to tell Mike why he was back, but he knew Mike would pry later on. He almost wanted to lie, and blow it off as a language barrier that made them not work out. But he couldn't do that to Mike. He couldn't let to possibility of Mike still loving him dangle over his head, not while he was constantly falling for his best friend.

     "You left. You left and I thought I wouldn't see you again. And then, at the funeral, I almost wasn't sure it was you. I felt... alone, I guess." Mike sounded like he could choke up into tears, and he could. He missed Scott. He missed Scott a lot. He had fallen for someone who left him, and that hurt Mike more than anything could. When Mike came back to America, he wanted Scott to be there, to hug him and tell him everything would be fine. But he wasn't there. Well, he was there, but not in the way Mike wanted so desperately.