Josh's P.O.V.
I first met Mitch a year or two after Vikk had first started recording with him, when he and a couple of others came over to London for a convention. Before then I had never really thought about him that much, he was just another of Vikk's Minecraft friends that he occasionally commented on in my presence, and it definitely wasn't until I met him in person that I fell for him.
He and Jerome arrived late in the night, getting a taxi around to ours because Vikk had passed out sometime in the afternoon. I hadn't even realised they would be arriving actually and it was only by chance that I was still up, tidying up the kitchen a little bit before I headed off to bed. I was just going up the stairs when one of them knocked on the door and I opened it to two tired faces and a car pulling away.
"Oh! Hey guys, I didn't think you were arriving till tomorrow morning." I stepped back, opening the door wider. "Come in!"
They stepped into the warm air gratefully, Mitch shivering slightly, and kicked off their shoes. Both dragged in suitcases behind them and I took them from their hands, pulling them to the base of the stairs.
"I know you're probably tired so I'll get you settled upstairs, there's food in the fridge if you want anything. Sorry this is rushed but I'm kinda tired as well." Jerome nodded, pulling his friend by the arm up the stairs behind me.
"It's alright." He half slurred, yawning. "We're tired as well, just wanna go to bed."
They followed me upstairs and to the guest room, which was right next to Simon's. I was slightly concerned that no one had made it up for their visit but fortunately some of the crap that was normally stored up there had been moved, the single bed and the pull out bed from underneath it made up and ready for them. There was still crap everywhere, of course, but there was at least room to move.
"Sorry it's a bit crowded as well." I said as I dragged their suitcases over to the wall.
"It's fine." Mitch mumbled, leaning against Jerome. "Thanks Josh."
I gave them a nod and as I turned to leave Mitch gave me a shy smile, sparking the butterflies for the first time. Oh look, here we go.
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The first few days were mostly based around the convention and afterparty so I didn't have many opportunities to talk to Mitch. He and Jerome were catching up with Vikk and didn't seem to concerned about talking or even introducing themselves to the rest of the Sidemen, despite staying in the same house as 3 of us. I understood though, they hadn't seen Vikk in quite a while.
There also might have been a gap because I was deliberately keeping my distance from Mitch. After the butterflies, the telltale sign for me of a forming crush, I had elected to move myself away from them for several reasons. One, Mitch was Vikk's friend and if I confessed whether or not he rejected me, my friend and roommate would never see me the same way again. Two, he was younger than me, and by quite a few years. Six years (actual age gap is nearly three btw) may not seem like much to some people but given he was 21 and I was 27, it seemed like a lot. Three, I had no idea if he would be receptive to my advances. He had come here for a convention with his best friend to hang out with Vikk, not to be crushed on by someone he barely knew. I didn't want to ruin his visit for him.
On the fifth day, once the convention was over and we were all rested, there was more time to hang out together. I was nervous because Vikk had invited me, and Mitch and Jerome, out to a museum or something. It was meant for little kids, with a butterfly house and interactive science exhibits, but I didn't really care. It was interesting and stupid- but my crush was coming along.
"Come on Josh!" Vikk yelled up the stairs, startling me from my thoughts. "We're going!"
I grumbled but wandered down the stairs, ending up in the backseat of Vikk's car alongside Mitch. He spent most of the ride staring at his phone but I did notice that he looked up every now and again and when he did look up, he looked right at me. I avoided his eyes. I think he knew something was up then because the looks I got were curious, his head tilted to the side and his eyebrows furrowed. I continued to ignore him, not with any malicious intent of course, I just didn't want to ruin anything for him.
We arrived without any drama, having a great time. We ran around the exhibits laughing and playing with everything like the children we were, taking photos of each other with the butterflies too. Mitch even asked me to take one of him with a beautiful blue butterfly sitting inside the curve of his wrist, a jovial grin on his face. There were butterflies in my stomach as well as flying around me now- I couldn't stop myself from flushing bright red. He noticed as he took his phone back from me, going a little red himself.
And then, just as our hands touched, a huge black, white and yellow butterfly landed on both of our hands, making us pause. For a moment we stared at it, then raised our eyes to each other before Mitch's face split into a grin.
"Do you want it or should I take it?" He giggled, hand still touching mine. He moved a little closer to me, nudging the butterfly across to my hand. Just as the butterfly was moved onto me he snapped a photo of it- and me- while still smiling.
And, of course, there were still butterflies in my stomach, begging me to do something. Act on my feelings, tell him, because he seemed to be acting the same way in return.
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There was a knock on my door at about 10 o'clock that evening, startling me. Vikk was asleep, Simon was out and JJ wasn't even in the country so my mind immediately went to the other two candidate- it had to be either Mitch or Jerome and given our interaction earlier in the day, I was betting it was Mitch.
I was right. I opened the door to Mitch standing there nervously, wringing his hands, wearing only boxers and an oversized t-shirt. He opened his mouth to say something and then shut it again, flushing red.
"Ummm.. hi? What's up?" I asked him, opening my door wider so he could step inside. He was shivering a bit too. "Are you okay?"
"I- I just wanted to talk to you-" His teeth were chattering now, arms wrapped around himself. "-but I had to wait until Jerome was asleep cause he's super protective."
"Alright, come here, you're freezing." I said, pulling him into my chest and reaching behind me to pull a fluffy blanket off the bed and wrap it around him. He smiled gratefully but didn't back away from me, still buried in my chest. It took a couple of minutes until he stopped shivering but even then he didn't move. I hadn't noticed how much shorter than me he was until he was this close. "Can you explain to me why you're here?" He paused for a moment before answering, his grip tight on the blanket.
"I've noticed how you've been looking at me." He finally whispered, looking away. "And I wanted to talk to you about it before I go home."
"I don't think we need to talk." I said, one arm wrapping around his waist. "Because I can do something better than talk."
I leaned down and I kissed him. Cupping his face I pressed my lips to his and very soon, after a moment of surprise and hesitation, he kissed me back. The blanket dropped to the floor as he rested his hands on my waist and I pulled him close, kissing him even more roughly. He gasped into the kiss as my cold hand snuck under his shirt. I pulled back a bit, allowing both of us to take a moment to breathe.
"You're right." He choked. "This is so much better than talking."
"No wonder Jerome was protective of you when it came to me." I couldn't help but smile, feeling something like pride because even though I felt a little bad, Jerome was just trying to protect his best friend, I had got what I wanted and it seemed like Mitch wanted it to.
The butterflies were back as Mitch's hands snaked under my shirt as well, but I quickly pushed them away. I called the shots here and the look on his face made it clear he realised that. I kissed him again.
"This was exactly what I wanted." I breathed, playing with the waistband of his boxers.
Mitch didn't say anything more, he only kissed me back. The butterflies were gone, and I knew what we both wanted, and I was quite happy to give it.
