Y'all know I write like 2 sentences and Lia writes the rest.  

Blame Satan  0:-)

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"Babe, can we stop by the apple store?"

Scott shrugged, sipping on his coffee as they walked. "New case?"

"No, I want to get him a phone." Mitch didn't even look up at him as he walked, fingers dancing over his own phone as he texted someone.

Scott wished he didn't know who he was referring to, but who else would it be? Mitch and Oz had been attached at the hip for the majority of the past few weeks and it stung a little when Mitch brought up Oz for probably the 10th time in the past half hour. It was bad enough he had to plan and almost beg for an outing alone with his best friend, somehow losing the priority he'd always had in Mitch's life. Someone else was slowly taking his place.

His heart wasn't sure how to hold on when the more he revealed his jealousy the more Mitch pulled away.

"Why does he need a phone? He never leaves your side anyway." He didn't even bother hiding his annoyance. He'd tried to be patient and even tried to talk to him about how he was feeling, but Mitch was always distracted and everything just felt like it was spiraling out of control.

That got him a look, albeit an irritated one, but those brown eyes were on him nonetheless. It was a rarity as of late, and though he knew it was ridiculous, a bit of tension left his shoulders when Mitch deemed him worthy of his focus.

"You and I both know that that Jefferson guy he's searching for does not exist. Esther can search until she's 100 but she won't find anything. Who knows what kind of bullshít those scientists spouted at him to get him to volunteer to be their guinea pig. We have to start accepting that he's here to stay. He needs a phone. It's weird not being able to talk to him."

Of course it is.

Scott wanted to argue, to cause a scene right in the middle of The Grove and tell Mitch he was an idiot, but he bit his tongue. They'd fought more in the short time that Oz had been in their lives than they ever had in the many years they'd known each other. He was just tired of it. He needed to distance himself, from Oz... from this new version of Mitch who no longer needed him... from all of it. He needed a distraction.

"Whatever, just text me when you're done." He didn't wait for a response and after rolling his eyes he took off towards Topman before he would say something he would regret later... leaving a very confused and stunned Mitch to stare after him and wonder what the hell just happened.

------_______-----

"Wait, can you start again? I'm kind of lost."

Mitch rolled his eyes, a gesture that Oz always found quite adorable - maybe because his Mitch used to do it a lot too - usually when he was saying something that was deemed less than brilliant. Mitch would groan and roll his eyes at him, maybe even hit him on the arm and call him an idiot, and the small frown would disappear only when his lips were captured in a stolen kiss.

Of course, he couldn't do that now - even if, he had to admit, the thought had crossed his mind more than once in the last few weeks. A lot of things were holding him back, and one of those things was the Scott-shaped elephant in the room - or, in that case, out somewhere in the world.

"So, obviously contacts is where you put your contacts in. Oh, maybe I should change Scott's contact name to asshat." Mitch just pointed at a square icon on the screen, tapping it to make the contacts list show up.

He was trying to follow, really, he was, but it was hard when he kept getting distracted by Mitch's anger/frustration.  He never liked when he was upset, he always felt like he had to do something about it. "Okay..well I guess I would probably need to call only you or Scott so I might just learn your numbers and that's it." He scrolled through the app list for a second before pointing at a random one. "Is this the..uh, what did you call it, tweak?"

Mitch just shook his head with a grin, his eyes dancing with amusement. "Not tweak, tweet. You know like birds tweet? The icon is a bird. So, no this one is the messenger app, to send texts." He frowned then, his eyebrows curving and his smile faltering. "Not that some people know how to respond to texts, but if you send me one I always will, promise."

He scrolled some more on his new phone, still not quite comfortable holding the large device. Using it didnt seem that hard, but he kept getting distracted and he wasn't really focusing on the lessons he was supposed to be paying attention to. He shifted his gaze to Mitch, but the boy wasn't looking at him - his eyes were on his own phone screen once again, probably checking if he had gotten any reply from Scott in the thirty seconds that had passed since he last checked. An eyeroll and a frustrated sigh told him that it wasn't the case.

"Uhm.. do you want to explain it to me later? It can wait you know. If you want to..I don't know..call Scott?" He said tentatively, feeling like he was talking to a caged lion.

Of course, it had been the wrong thing to say. Mitch raised his eyes suddenly, an angered expression all over his face. "ME? I tried texting him! HE is the one that needs to apologize! He's the one acting like a stubborn CHILD."

Oz raised his hands in surrender, not wanting to upset him even more. "Okay, okay, sorry. I'm just saying that..I don't know, maybe he's busy and he can't reply?" A ping from his phone resounded, and he lowered his eyes as a text from Mitch arrived - just an emoji. "Oh - that was super fast. Okay. Do I click here to reply?"

The tenor just grabbed the phone from his hands, showing him what to do, a hard edge still in his eyes. "He's not busy, he's still giving me the silent treatment like we're in middle school. He's supposed to be busy with me!"

"Come on Mitchy.." He said, opting for a soothing tone. "He wouldn't ignore you, you know it."

"He said maybe five words on the way home despite me trying to act like an adult and try to talk about whatever crawled up his ass and died. THEN he just drops me off here and bails on our dinner plans without a word."

"Maybe he just forgot and got busy and can't read the texts? You should try call him. I'm sure he would answer that. Come on, it's Scott. He would never ignore you."

He didn't even know why he was trying to save Scott's ass from Mitch's anger, but all he knew was that the two of them fighting was wrong - very, very wrong. It was something that he couldn't accept.

Mitch rolled his eyes again, but there was a tiny smile on his lips, and he knew he had made a point. They went back to his phone, Mitch slowly going over each app that he thought was important - spending almost two minutes showing him how Snapchat worked, how to take pictures and how to send and see others'.

Time passed and he had almost forgotten about the whole Scott ordeal until they heard the front door open and then close, the sound of keys being tossed into their bowl. The air was suddenly charged with tension, and he didn't have to look at him to notice Mitch's shoulders straightening up next to him.

"Well look who finally decided to grace us with his presence."

He sighed. So much for forgetting about it. "Mitch.."

Scott walked inside the living room slowly, an anxious edge in his eyes that he couldn't help but notice. "Hey," he simply said, walking towards the table as he started to take off his jacket, before he paused when his eyes spotted the takeout containers on it. He turned around then, eyes narrowing as he looked at Mitch. "I thought we were supposed to have dinner?"

That ignited the explosion. "We WERE! OVER THREE HOURS AGO!" The younger man stood up from the couch then, walking quickly towards the blond, eyes wide and full of disbelief. "Where the hell were you!?"

If Oz could have hidden behind the couch like a scared dog, he probably would have. "Mitch please..don't yell at him."

The two men ignored him as Scott's eyes widened. He started to shrug off his jacket, probably to give himself something to do. "You could have CALLED me at least to let me know?! I would have grabbed something on the way here!"

"Me? Honey, this isn't MY fault! YOU bailed on ME! And don't act like I didn't TELL you, I texted you like 20 times! What-" he stopped then altogether as his eyes lowered to watch Scott's now bare arm, wrapped in a thin layer of shrink-wrap. "What the HELL is that?"

Scott took a step back, almost like the shorter boy scared him - and honestly, right then Oz couldn't blame him. "I- it's a tattoo, obviously."

If you had asked Oz, he would have said that being a smartass about something like that wasn't the smartest idea. But in that moment he was as shocked as Mitch looked, his eyes focused on his lookalikes arm, trying to discern the inked design on his pale skin.

Mitch was hurt, there was no other word to describe the mixture of feelings that he was feeling, and he was sure it was showing on his face. His volume dropped, as well as the tension in his face. "You ditched me to go get your tattoo?! Without me? Without even telling me?"

"Oh my god, you got a tattoo. That's..amazing," was the only thing that left Oz's mouth, still unable to look away, even if the scene in front of him was quickly becoming a trainwreck. Still, he couldn't help it. Tattoos were not a big hit in his universe, where most of the people struggled to even pay for healthy food - injecting ink under your skin had quickly become just another stigma that most were afraid of.

Scott scoffed at Mitch's words. "I didn't ditch you. I just..I.. whatever. You didn't tell me you were gonna dye your hair either, remember?!"

"Excuse me, what? You didn't ditch me?! Scott you dropped me off at home without a word then took off for hours! You forgot the plans we'd made. Plus dying my hair is not the same as this and you fücking know it!" 

"Well FORGIVE ME for not wanting to spend the entire afternoon hearing you talk all about HIM. I didn't think you would care anyway. It's not like you're giving me a lot of thought these days."

Oz didn't like to see them fight, he truly didn't. It had never even occurred to him that it could be a possibility, the idea that Scott and Mitch could do anything but be completely enamoured with each other, but the last few weeks had proved him completely wrong. Despite what the both of them had told him when he had first stepped foot in their world, they had fights. Lots of them. He just wasn't sure if those fights had ever happened before he had showed up.

That thought was always enough to make a nagging feeling of guilt spread in his chest. Rationally, he knew it wasn't his fault, knew that he couldn't do much about it, but still. It had started to become some kind of habit to try to intervene and stop them before they got too snappy - especially because he didn't like the hint of sadness that always showed on Mitch's face. "Come on Scott, you know that's not true. And Mitch, he just wanted some space, yeah? Space is good sometimes guys.."

Mitch just gave him the briefest of looks before crossing his arms over his chest and turning back to look at Scott, completely dismissing his words. "He sounds like he's just pissed I'm spending time with you.. Which is stupid."

But it hurts him. "It's not stupid Mitch, you guys were used to spending way more time together.. I.." He shifted his gaze between the two of them, biting his lip as he wondered if maybe he had to leave the room. He felt like he was intruding and making things worse instead of helping. "Should I..go somewhere else?"

It was like Scott had been trying to force down his frustration, because he exploded, a finger pointed accusingly towards him. "Oh NOW don't play the victim! And you," he snarled, turning back to Mitch, "before calling me stupid, what would YOU do if you were in my place? Have you thought about how you would feel?"

"Don't yell at him!" The volume, the anger, the pinched expression ... it was all back with a vengeance.

"What are you, his fücking mom?!"

"Scott I tried to spend time with you, but you LEFT! Just fücking walked away from me."

"It doesn't count if all you talk about is HIM. What was even the point of me being there?! Why didn't you just go out with him?"

Their voices were becoming louder and louder, their eyes narrowed as they glanced at each other in frustration. His pleas to calm down were being ignored.

"Are you fücking kidding me right now?!" Mitch asked, disbelief clear in his eyes as he raised his hands in the air. "I mentioned him like twice - you know he needed a phone!"

"Twice in ten minutes. How about we count every other time?! Whatever. It's fine. You obviously don't get it."

It was true though, Mitch didn't get it. It was impossible for him to understand how Scott could feel so left out, so unwanted. So replaceable. He had never needed to fight to get any of their attention, he always had it. He had no idea.

"What I don't get is why you're being such an ass to me!"

"OF COURSE YOU DON'T GET IT!" Scott yelled, clenching his hands into fists, a painful expression in his eyes, making them go from a clear sapphire to a stormy blue. "You have no idea! Good thing the other Mitch is dead so you'll never know what it feels like to be replaced, huh?!"

A heavy silence fell on them as soon as the words stopped echoing in the room. It was obvious that Scott regretted the words as soon as they'd left his mouth, a look of shame taking over his features. It did nothing to wash away the pain that had taken over Oz's whole body, freezing him on the spot.

It took him a couple of seconds to wake up from his trance, a feeling of disdain starting to surface. "Fück you!" He yelled, clenching his fists in order to not tackle him and punch him in the face.

"Fuck no, I'm sorry. I swear I didn't mean - I'm sorry."

Mitch just shook his head, his lips pursed almost like he couldn't believe the words that were coming off his mouth. "I can't with you right now.. That's taking douchebaggery to a new level."

"I said I'm sorry! I didn't mean it!"

"What is going on with you, Scott? I tried to spend time with you and you just left me, then refused to talk to me. THEN you just dump me at the house and then disappear. You stood me up. You're not acting like you and I don't know what to do."

Scott just sighed, raising his hands to rub at his face, looking like he was exhausted.

"Do I ever constantly talk about someone else when we are together?! NO, I don't, you don't even have to answer that. Lately it seems like I don't even exist. You talk to me as if I'm Oz all the fücking time, you talk about him all the time..hell, you even call him Scott all the time. Seriously do you even realize it? What am I even doing here if you already have Oz that apparently gives you everything you need?! It's not like you fücking miss me!"

He had said it all in one breath, and it was obvious it was something that had bubbled up during the last few weeks, and not something that had suddenly popped in his mind.

"Oh are you forgetting when you dated he who shall not be named? He's all you talked about - you were always with him! If I didn't miss you I wouldn't be so fücking mad, Scott! But you have got to get over this. He's not going anywhere. He's here, ok?"

"You..I can't believe you. First of all, I was DATING him. So unless I missed a few important announcements, this is not the same thing. Second, you know fückingwell that it's not true. We were still spending all our time together, which is why I fought with him all the fücking time, but you obviously forgot that!"

"So I'm not allowed to have friends?" Mitch asked, crossing his arms on his chest with a pout. Even to Oz, who was currently not the biggest Scott fan, it was obvious that the boy was totally missing the point.

Scott shook his head with a small sigh, obviously feeling defeated. "You don't get it. You have no idea what I'm talking about and.. and of course you don't. I would NEVER make you feel replaced. Maybe that was my first mistake."

He seemed to deflate, his face falling in sadness as his eyes searched Mitch's face for something that none of them could quite grasp. He must not have found what he was looking for, because he turned around to grab the jacket that he had taken off and started putting it on again. "I need some air and to find dinner."

"You.. you're just gonna leave?! Again?!"

"Yes, I am. I need to eat, and to drink, and possibly find someone that won't make me feel like I'm not NEEDED. You two were busy anyway - you wouldn't care about me if I was here."

They watched as Scott walked to the front door to grab his keys and shoes, keeping his back to Mitch, who followed him after a couple of seconds of stunned silence.

"Don't"

"What?" He turned around, probably not able to deal with how small the tenor sounded. "Tell me Mitch, what? Why should I stay here?! You're still gonna be busy teaching Oz whatever you were doing, am I right?!"

"What do you want me to say?!"

"Nothing. That's exactly the answer I was expecting." Both Mitch and Oz watched helplessly as Scott finished putting his shoes on, then grabbed the door handle before looking at them one last time. "Don't wait up for me, in case you were thinking about it."

"Please don't.."

The baritone was obviously torn between his own feelings and not wanting to disappoint Mitch. But then he glanced at Oz, blue eyes meeting blue eyes, and it seemed like that was all he needed to make up his mind. "I'm sorry. I'll see you tomorrow."

And with that he was out of the house, leaving a distraught Mitch in front of the now closed door, a hand colliding with the wood in frustration before his forehead landed against it, shoulders sagging as he fought to figure out what just happened and how the hell he was going to fix it. 

A few feet away a stunned Oz stood frozen, unsure of how to provide the comfort he was sure the boy needed. It was gonna be a long night.