The last thing he expects when he wakes up in the morning is for Scott to come barreling into the room, boxers low on his hips, cheeks flushed and eyes wide. Mitch sits up quickly, looking back at Scott with his own wide, concerned eyes.

The second to last thing he expects is for Scott to grab all of his clothes off the usual spotless floor and toss them at his face.

"Get dressed."

Mitch just lets the clothes fall into his lap, watching in confusion as Scott opens his closet doors to pull out a clean shirt. "What-"

"My mom's here." Scott says, tone hushed. "Just get dressed."

Despite Mitch's brow furrowing in confusion, he obeys. "What's she doing here?"

Scott sighs, "I don't know. You know what she's like. Likes to pop in unannounced sometimes..."

Mitch nods, pulling his own clothes on from the night before. "Does she know I'm here?" he asks hesitantly, watching Scott change his pants through his eyelashes. He doesn't know if he actually wants to see Scott's face when he answers or not.

"I told her you crashed in the guest room." He replies nonchalantly.

Mitch's heart clenches and his stomach twists painfully. He'd like to say he doesn't know why, but he does- and it's that even after all this time, after being friends for years first then being a.. a thing for over nine months now, Scott still can't tell anyone about them. Scott's still in denial.

"Hurry up okay? She wants to see you." Scott says, walking back towards the door. He stops in the doorway, leans against the frame and cocks his head to the side. "I think she's more excited to see you than her own son."

Mitch lets out a small laugh as Scott disappears before letting a breath out of his lungs he didn't even realize he'd been holding. He breathes out then sits back on the edge of the bed, leaning forward to rest his elbows on his legs and bury his face in his hands. His heart is racing, banging hard against his ribcage. He feels sick to his stomach.

He doesn't think he can do this anymore, doesn't think he can go on pretending that he isn't completely and irrevocably in love with Scott. He thinks he's done a good job so far, keeping the true nature of their relationship quiet from everyone- including family and friends- but the longer this lie goes on, the harder it is to sell it. The harder it gets for Mitch to not stare at him lovingly, or want to kiss him, or curl in next to him on the couch while the band is arranging. And the harder it gets, the more frustrated Mitch gets because he just wants Scott to admit it.

He takes a deep breath, grabs his bag and stuffs his phone into it, puts on his boots and walks out to join Scott and his mom in the living room.

"Mitch dear! It's so nice to see you!" she squeals, patting his back as they share a hug.

"It's nice to see you too Connie." he murmurs, glancing over her shoulder to where Scott has busied himself in the kitchen making coffee and grabbing three mugs.

Connie laughs and pulls back to grab Mitch's face in her hands. "You're just like my son you know that? He never calls."

"I do too!" Scott calls out.

"Don't let his bad habits rub off on you love. I hope you call your mother more than Scott calls me."

"Mo-om." Scott groans, rolling his eyes.

"What?" Connie asks innocently, letting go of Mitch's face to look at Scott. "It's true."

"At least I call before flying to another state for an impromptu visit." Scott teases, pouring coffee into two cups.

Mitch stops him before getting to the third cup. "Actually Scott, I'm gonna head out so don't-"

"What?" Connie asks, looking up at him. "No you're not."

Scott blinks at him. "Why? Where're you going?"

Mitch shrugs. "Figure it's safe to go back to my apartment now that Jake's boyfriend is gone. He'll be lonely so I should go there and help him." It wasn't a total lie. Jake did get lonely when his boyfriend wasn't there, but the whole 'I have to leave my apartment to give Jake and his boyfriend alone time' isn't so much of an excuse since he's always at Scott's apartment anyway. But Connie isn't suppose to know that, so he can use that one now.

Scott frowns, "Jake's a big boy, he can take care of himself."

"Yeah but... it's my apartment too. Mitch replies, looking directly into Scott's eyes. "Thanks for letting me crash in your guest room, buddy."

Scott flinches and looks down at the mugs.

"Right, well then," Connie says, standing on her toes to give Mitch a quick kiss on the cheek, "Have a good day love. Hope to see you around soon. I'm only here for a couple days you know."

Mitch nods, tearing his gaze away from where Scott's avoiding his. He smiles down at the woman who's always been a second mother to him. "I'll be sure to drop by."

"I'll walk you out." Scott mutters, following Mitch to the door.

"I can show myself out."

"Shut up Mitch." Scott scoffs, loud enough for Mitch to hear it, but quiet enough to where his mother doesn't.

Mitch feels like it's getting harder to breathe the longer he stays in the apartment so he quickens his pace once he gets into the hallway to get as far away as quickly as he can. He ignores the fact that Scott has followed after him, calling his name down the hallway. That is, until a hand curls around his wrist and forces him to stop by pushing him up against the wall next to the elevator. Mitch decides it's best to look everywhere except into those baby blues that held so much concern and confusion.

"What's... are you... is everything okay?" Scott finally asks. "Actually, forget that because I know it's not. What's wrong?"

Mitch rolls his eyes. "Nothing Scott, everything's peachy."

"Bullshit. You never pass up a chance to hang out with my mom so what's-"

"You want to know what's wrong?" Mitch asks glaring up at Scott. "You are."

"W-what?" Scott furrows his brows together.

Mitch tries to stay angry, thinking it would be easier to just be angry at him so he can yell and scream. But he's more sad than he is angry. And he's more hurt than he is sad. He sighs, feeling tears prick at his eyes. "Why can't you tell her?"

Scott draws in a sharp breath and closes his eyes. "Mitch-"

"Just why, Scott? I mean, I get why you don't want to tell everyone, and that's fine, honestly, I get it... but she's your mother, Scott." Mitch whispers. "She loves you more than anything in this world and she adores me and... I just don't understand why you can't tell her."

"I just can't" Scott mutters.

"Why?"

"I don't know, I-"

"What are you so afraid of?"

"I just-"

"Are you ashamed of me? Are you... I mean, am I-"

"No! Mitch, no, of course not.-"

"Then what is it Scott? Why can't you tell her?"

"Because I'm not even sure what this is!" Scott shouts, pushing away from Mitch and running his hands through his hair.

Mitch blinks, staring at Scott with wide eyes and a broken heart. He can feel the broken pieces beating in his ears, feels the way his stomach churns like he's going to throw up. Scott's breathless 'I love you's' echo in his ears, crowd his thoughts and make him dizzy.

Scott's eyes widen as he reaches out for Mitch, who moves to walk away. "T-that's not what I meant," he says, following Mitch into the elevator. It begins to move after the doors close, but the last thing on his mind is where it's taking them. "Mitch that isn't what... I just mean that I don't know what I feel, not that-"

"That's even worse!" Mitch cries, his voice thick with unshed tears. "That's... you're-"

"Mitch, please just-"

Mitch shakes his head as the elevator door opens and he pushes himself away from Scott to stand in the doorway. "That's not even closes to what you kept saying last night, Scott." Mitch spits out, blinking back tears. "Apparently I don't know what this is either."

Scott falters, flinches like he's just been slapped. He licks his lips, tilting his head to the side as Mitch takes a step back to let the door close between them.

-------

You can blame Lia for this. The only way I'd get my Seeing Through epilogue was if I wrote something so... :)