He was sitting on the floor, almost done putting the large pieces of thick glass in a cardboard box when the front door opened. 

“Heidi, I’m home! I thought maybe we could go to Chipotle if you’re-” He froze as he spotted the disaster area that Mitch was currently sitting in.  “Oh my God, are you ok?” He hurried over to him, concern lining his brow. 

Mitch just nodded up at him, still unsure what he was going to say. “I’m perfectly fine, I promise.” 

Scott frowned, obviously not convinced. “What happened?” He knelt down next to Mitch and stared down at the wreckage. “What in the world, did you drop a bowling ball on it?!” 

“Nope, just a human body.” 

Scott’s face furrowed with concern and he reached out to lift his boyfriend’s chin. “Are you sure you’re not hurt?!” 

“Concern is definitely your color. It looks incredibly adorable on you, but don’t worry…. It wasn’t me. I'm not the one who fell through the coffee table.” He looked away for a moment. 

“What? Who was here?” 

Mitch wanted to lie. He wanted to protect Scott from that truth, from reliving all of the hurt Alex had put him through. He wanted to carry this burden for him, but he knew that he couldn’t. He couldn’t lie to him. 

“Can we move first? Maybe sit in the guest room to talk?” He got to his feet and watched as Scott did the same, expression wary and worried. He started towards the guest room but realized Scott wasn't moving. 

“What’s happening right now? You’re acting really weird … like you’re about to deliver really bad news.” 

Mitch licked his lips, wincing as the cut there stung a bit.

“Ok. Here goes. …” he sighed before continuing quietly, “Alex was here.” 

That wrinkled the blonde’s forehead. “What!? Please tell me I heard wrong” 

“I should have checked before I opened the door.” 

“What the hell did he want?”

“You, of course, what else” Mitch rolled his eyes. “Gave some sob story about how sorry he was.  He actually had the nerve to ask me to help him get you back.”

“Is he insane?!” 

“Pretty sure that is accurate. He kept saying he loves you and he needs you and he just needed you to listen. I told him to fu¢k off and that went about as well as you’d expect.” 

Scott took a few steps forward. “Did he hurt you?” 

Mitch hesitated, trying to figure a way around it, but Scott took his hesitation as confirmation and the anger was immediately twisting his features. “What did he do?” 

“Speedy, it’s ok. I’m fine. He just grabbed my arms … that’s it. I kicked him into the coffee table and he left. It’s over and I’m alright.” 

“Then what happened to your lip?” He reached up and ran the pad of his thumb gently over the soft broken skin. 

Mitch knew there was no way around it. He had to just get it all out. 

Take a deep breath and spit it out.

“Ok, but just please let me finish before you freak out, ok? Alright, in the interest of full disclosure…” he started from the beginning and gave him the full play by play of events, being sure not to leave anything out this time.

Scott had started pacing after about 2 words in, trying to reel in his own anger.  Mitch could always gauge just how much damage control would need to be done just by Scott’s motions. If he was kind of angry he’d pace like a mad man. The moment he became silent and still was the moment you needed to start worrying. You knew Scott was really angry when he stopped moving. That man had more energy than the Energizer bunny and when he wasn’t in motion that energy was building up for an explosion. It always creeped Mitch out when it happened. Scott just wasn’t meant to be silent storm Scott… it was just wrong.  

The pacing slowed as he explained how Alex grabbed his arms and held him against the wall.  

He watched the blonde warily as he kept going. Then he got to the ‘kiss’. 

Scott froze, face beginning to color, nostrils flaring. 

Mitch hurried to finish his recap and grabbed his hands.  “Look at me. I’m ok. I don’t think we have to worry about him anymore. He’s gone.” 

Scott was LIVID. He wasn’t about to let Alex waltz right back into his life and destroy it like he had before. There was NO way he was going to let him get away with hurting Mitch again. No chance in hell!

He pulled out his phone and started dialing as he headed for the door. Mitch knew exactly what he was doing and hurriedly ran around him to grab the phone from him. “No. Just, please don’t do anything. Just stay here with me and forget about him. We can go to Chipotle like you said and then come back here and relax. I don’t want to even waste another thought on him.” 

“I promised I’d never let him hurt you again, and he did.” He looked so sad as he slid his hand over his cheek. ”Mitch, I can’t just let him-”

“You can! I’m ok.” 

“You’re NOT ok. He hurt you… AGAIN. He put his hands on you…and forced his mouth on you.” He practically spit/snarled out the last words. "That is NOT ok."

“Babe... “ He didn’t know how to bring him down from this. He’d never really seen him this angry before, at least not since his dad ended up in the hospital after being hit by some woman in a truck who, of course, fled the scene. That same fire was in his eyes and it honestly scared him a bit. He put Scott’s phone in his back pocket and ran his hands up and down the angry man's arms trying to calm him.  “It’s over now. You going after him isn’t going to fix it or change it.”

“Mitch, please. I can’t keep doing this! If I don’t do something now he won’t stop.”

“You’re better than him. You are the bigger man. Just take the high road and if something happens again we’ll call the cops or something. We’re just getting PTX back up and running. You getting into a fist fight would not be a good way to start promo.” 

Scott swallowed, taking a few deep breaths.  “Can I see your arms?” 

“I don’t think that would be very wise right now, Rocket.” 

“Mitch.” 

For some reason this felt worse than when Alex had been assaulting him. He felt like so much more of a victim because Scott was treating him like one. 

He really didn’t want to, but he grabbed the hem of his sweatshirt and pulled it over his head and off. He couldn’t look down, didn’t want to see anything that marked him as the helpless victim Scott seemed to think he was. He could only hope that maybe Alex's tight grip hadn’t left any marks.  

That hope was dashed as he saw Scott’s face crumble and he turned to face the wall, bracing himself with one palm against it. 

Mitch closed his eyes, trying to hold back the tears, but looked up to the ceiling as they began to fall. He couldn’t stop them, and the more he tried the more seemed to come.  He tugged his shirt back over his head, feeling so incredibly vulnerable without it. 

Scott didn’t notice until he heard a sniffle and turned back to him. He immediately softened as he took in the smaller man hugging himself, tears falling like rain. 

“Mitch, I didn’t-” He cut off as Mitch jerked away from the hand he’d reached out. 

“Don’t touch me!” He backed up. 

Scott felt like he’d been punched in the chest. 

“I AM NOT WEAK. I AM NOT HELPLESS. I DIDN'T STAND THERE AND JUST LET HIM DO IT! I FOUGHT BACK! I'M NOT SOME SAD LITTLE VICTIM SO STOP TREATING ME LIKE ONE!!!" He hated the look on Scott's face, knew that he probably shouldn't be yelling at him, but he just couldn't stop himself. "I don’t need to be fixed and I don’t need to be avenged because I took care of it myself!!!!!!”

Scott felt horrible again. Things had been going so well for him lately…  probably too well. Maybe he should have been expecting everything to cave in around him. “I know that. I just want to protect you.” He held up a hand when Mitch began to protest. “I know you don’t need me to, but I love you. I failed you once-”

“You can’t keep punishing yourself for that. It’s over! Done!” 

“HOW is it done when Alex won’t just let us be!! I CAN’T KEEP LETTING HIM HURT YOU!” 

“IT’S NOT YOUR FAULT!”  He really hated that they were arguing. He hated confrontation in general, but he rarely fought with Scott and it never sat well when he did.  This entire day had been mentally draining.

“IT’S ALWAYS MY FAULT!” 

“STOP MAKING YOURSELF THE SCAPEGOAT!”  They both just stood there, Scott feeling like shi† and Mitch trying to get his brain to slow down and actually think before spitting out words. “Look, you can’t be with me every second of every day. I don't need you to be. I need you to leave Alex in the past and just exist here.. with me. I need you to kiss me and hold me and tell me you love me." He took a couple of steps closer. “Then I need you to feed me because this girl could not be more hungry.” He pouted, sliding his arms around Scott’s waist.  

Scott ran his fingertips over Mitch’s back, scratching gently along his spine like he knew the boy liked. He sighed a bit as Mitch laid his head on his chest. 

He tried to stay calm, but he was still so angry. He wanted to call Alex and rip into him. He wanted to find out where he was and then go and bash his stupid pretty face in. He really wanted to, but how could he when Mitch was asking him not to? He’d already upset him quite enough and the last thing he wanted to do was put him through even more. But… how could he be expected to just let it go?

“I didn’t defend you before. It’s the biggest regret of my life. How can I just do it again and be okay with that?” 

“I don’t need defending, I defended myself. Trust me. I won. He’s the one that’s sad, alone and miserable and I get to be happy with the man I love.” He shifted to look up at him. “I get you, my gorgeous boyfriend, who is so sweet and thoughtful he’s going to take me for some amazing food. Isn't that right?” 

Scott kissed his forehead and then held him close. “I hate him. I hate that he put you through that.” 

“I hate that it makes you so upset and worried.” He leaned up to kiss his lips and felt himself really relax for the first time since Alex had pushed through his door.  

“I hate that he hurt you because he knows it hurts me.” 

Mitch shook his head. "He hurts me because he knows I have what he wants. He’s angry because you’re closer to me than you ever were to him. Always have been. It’s not to hurt you, it’s because he’s jealous of what we have. I’m not going to let him take that away from me.” 

Scott chuckled at the thought. The only person that could ever get him to leave Mitch would be Mitch himself. Not even Queen Beyoncé could turn him away from his best friend. 

He really wanted to let this go... to just move on, for Mitch’s sake, but he just couldn’t seem to. Every time he thought about it, imagined it, it made him want to hulk out all over again. Maybe he needed a distraction. “Why don’t we clean up this murder scene and then go get some food. We can go shopping for a new coffee table when we’re done. I know you love to shop for furniture”

Mitch sighed dramatically. “Alright, fine, but we better speed it up or I may just eat Wyatt out of desperation.” 

They laughed, the tension finally easing ever so slightly. Scott changed out of his nice clothes and then helped Mitch clean up the glass and dispose of it and the rest of the coffee table remains before heading out to eat.

After their yummy dinner they ended up finding a nice wooden coffee table at a cute little shop in LA, along with a few other things, and thankfully they offered to deliver it to the apartment later that day. They shopped around a little more until some of Scott’s fans recognized him and that was the end of that shopping trip. 

As they drove home Scott’s head was definitely elsewhere. He knew this was just another tally on the count of things he’d put Mitch through. “How can you still want me, knowing I always put you through so much drama. How can you even want to stay friends with me.” 

Mitch had been singing along with the radio and Scott’s statement had kind of thrown him for a loop. He sighed as he realized the nice outing was done and they were about to rehash this again. “How many times do I have to tell you that it wasn’t you. I know you want to take responsibility for everyone’s actions, but you can’t. Besides, I have put you through loads of drama before. Remember the great bathroom rescue?” 

Scott made a face. “I was ready to murder that guy!” 

“You left in the middle of your own date to drive across town and rescue me from mine.”

“I still can’t believe Anthony tried to set you up with that jαckαss.” 

“The point is you weren’t mad at me because he was an angry drunk. You didn’t blame me.”

“Why would I blame you? He was the psycho.” 

“Exactly. Alex is the lunatic. Not you.”  

He sighed as they pulled into their parking lot. He slid the back of his fingers over his boyfriend’s cheek after he put the car in park. “I just- “ he shook his head and undid his seatbelt. “Nevermind.” 

“No, tell me.” Mitch reached out to stop him.

Blue fixed on the perfectly groomed fingernails attached to the lithe fingers that Mitch had resting on his wrist. 

“It’s nothing. I was about to get really sappy and sickly sweet. I know you hate that.” 

Mitch’s smile grew just a bit. “It’s ok sometimes.” 

“You’re the most important thing to me. If anything happened to you… You mean everything to me.” 

“You mean everything to me too.” 

“I know you don’t want me to be angry, but it’s really hard not to be.” 

“You can be angry, hell, I’m angry, but I just want you to take the higher road, to not make the situation worse by going after him.” 

“What if it were me. What if he had done exactly the same thing he did to you, but to me. How would you feel?” 

He was quiet for a bit, thinking about it. Finally he sighed. “I see your point, but you would be saying the same thing I am. Forget him and his stupid face. Let’s just go upstairs and be happy together. That is honestly going to hurt him more than anything else.” 

Scott knew he was right. It was just so hard to let it go, but he would try for Mitch’s sake.  “I’ll try to stop worrying so much.” 

“Please do. You are way too young and wayyyy too sexy for wrinkles. I need my man to stay fresh and fine to reel in the fans for PTX. You’re like live bait.” 

Scott couldn’t help it and started laughing and Mitch grinned.

“That’s what I want to see. C’mon, handsome, I see the delivery truck. I hope they’re hot.” He smirked as he got out of the car, leaving Scott to shake his head.

Damn, he loved that boy.