Bad news never lightened anybody's mood and when Mitch received them, he sure as hell wasn't happy about it.

He sat in his office and had stared at the same page all morning without so much as moving an inch, but on a silent agreement everybody, including Kirstie and excluding Avi, had decided to leave him alone for a while.

"What do you want?" Came Mitch's bitter question and it sounded angrier than he had initially wanted it to be, but it was better that way. He would get rid of Avi, who had managed to open the door too loudly, faster that way.

"I actually wanted to ask you out again," Avi admitted and scratched his beard before he continued to speak. "And I certainly won't stop that, but I thought maybe you would rather have a hug today?"

"Not this weekend," Mitch murmured before pushed his keyboard back and stood up from his chair, just so he could walk over to Avi. Mitch pressed his face against his chest and drew in a shaky breath before he continued speaking. "But I sure need that hug."

As if on cue Avi wrapped his arms around Mitch's slender body and pressed his cheek against the other man's forehead.

"Everything will be alright again," he murmured, but to Mitch, it sounded like a lie which, however, didn't stop Avi from whispering more sweet nothings in his ear. "I promise it will be okay."

Mitch wasn't so sure why Avi would say that and Mitch certainly didn't know when he would come around again, but when he opened his mouth his already crumbling dam broke. Hiccups and tears shook his body as he clawed at Avi's shirt, desperate for just a bit human warmth.

"Oh... Mitch," the other man tried again and let his hand wander over Mitch's back in a soothing motion over and over again.

Mitch didn't fight him, no, he was quite content with Avi's warmth and the weird friendship they had built so far.

"I miss him already," Mitch somehow managed to choke out  the words between sobs and he didn't even register it when Avi rested his chin on his head.

"I'm sorry. I'm just so sorry, Mitch," Avi repeated over and over again like a mantra and for some reason Mitch believed if he heard it often enough it might really help.

Avi pulled Mitch down with him as he sat on Mitch's chair and for what felt like an hour, they just stayed like this until Mitch finally calmed down. 

He would never admit it, but when Avi left, Mitch felt horribly lonely again and wanted the other man back.

Carefully, he patted down on himself, fixing his appearance and searching for his little notepad with the tally at the same time, but he couldn't find it. 

It didn't even matter by then, Mitch knew the number anyway. Three hundred and twenty-five, he told himself and was weirdly happy about it.

He smiled a rather sad smile to himself as he turned around back to his computer again, still amazed at Avi's persistence, but glad to finally have learned more about this bearded man.  

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