(A/N: if you don't ship Merome then gtfo. Lol jk. But seriously Merome.)

~Mitch's POV~

I look at my best friend's sleeping figure. Whenever I looked at him, my heart skipped a beat and I so badly wanted to come right out and say how I felt, but it could never be. I go downstairs and find Carlea and Jason in the kitchen making themselves a midnight snack.
"Hey." Carlea smiles. I wave back and grab a soda. I look at those two smiling at each other.
"Hey can I ask you guys something?" I ask.
"You just did." Carlea giggles. I smile and roll my eyes.
"Okay can I ask you two questions?" I redo. She nods.
"So say you like someone, and you want to tell them...but you aren't sure how it will effect those around you. What would you do?" I look at Carlea and something clicks in her head.
"Go for it. Brittany and I would fangirl so hard if you two got together! Like omfg I wanna roll around on the ground and squeal just thinking about it!" Carlea bounces up and down. Jason looks at her.
"What do you know that I don't?" He questions.
"Only that this ship is the biggest in TeamCrafted and omg I'm dyyyyiiiiinnnnngggg. Mitch, you gotta do it." She spazzes out. I nod slowly. The fact that she already knows what I'm talking about gives me an idea. I go back upstairs and lay in my bed, my plan forming in my head. I close my eyes, and drift to sleep with a smile on my face.

~~~*The Next Morning*~~~

I wake up and go into Jerome's room. He is already awake and getting dressed.
"Hey biggums. Let's do a video today, just you and me." I suggest.
"Sure buddy." He says and I go to my computer. He logs onto his and we start playing. About halfway through, I take a deep breath, and close my eyes.
"Hey biggums. There's something I gotta say." I say into the mic.
"What is it?" He asks.
"Jerome, I'm in love with you." I mutter.
"What? I couldn't understand." He says.
"I'm in love with you." I tell him louder. There is silence. I bite my lip and blink back tears.
"Mitch.....I'm in love with you too." I finally hear, but not through my headphones.
I look behind me and see Jerome standing there. I take off my headphones, get up, and dart over to him. We embrace just standing there, and I do what I've been longing to do for some time. I kiss him and we stay like that for a good five minutes.
"Jerome." I say when we finally pull away. He looks at me.
"Will you be my boyfriend?" I whisper. He nods and kisses me.
"We should probably go tell everyone." Jerome says.
"Don't worry, Carlea already knows and we will be okay." I tell him. We hold hands and walk downstairs, where everyone was gathered. Brittany and Carlea see our hands clasp and they squeal and run over.
"OMG OMG MITCH, JEROME OMG!!!" They yell. I blush as there are whoops and hollers.
"Took you guys long enough." Adam jokes. My face probably turns even more red and Carlea and Brittany keep squealing.
"I told you it would be okay Mitch." Carlea teases. She goes over to Jason and kisses him. I look over at Ian and see his sadness, but also happiness, now that Carlea and Jason were back to being themselves. I look over at Jerome and he was looking at me too. I kiss him, and the squealing starts again. Jerome and I sit on the couch with Ian.
"We should go out and celebrate!" Preston says. We all agree, and start thinking of ideas. Carlea was only eighteen so that limits our choices a little.
"You guys can go without me. I don't mind." Carlea says, and I shake my head.
"This wouldn't have happened without you kid. You're coming to celebrate with us, and were celebrating the fact that you and Jason are back to being yourselves." I tell her.
"I'm not a kid!" She cries and we all laugh. We decide to go to a fancy restaurant, to give us a reason to wear suits. Carlea complained a little due to her hatred of wearing dresses, but we convinced her. Jerome and I head up to our room to get ready. We realize we left our computers running and recording. We finish off the video real quick, and set them up to be edited. Jerome start putting on his suit and I go over to him and hug him. How did I get so lucky to have a best friend and boyfriend in one awesome guy. He kisses me and we finish getting ready.
"I love you biggums." I say.
"I love you too buddy." He murmurs. We go downstairs and everyone piles into our cars, and we head out. We get to the restaurant and run into Tiffany, Robert, and Noah. When Carlea sees them, she stiffens and clenches her fists.
"What's wrong Carlea?" I ask. She shakes her head.
"It's not important. Let's just celebrate all the good stuff that's been happening." She tells me. I nod and we all have a nice night. Later on Tiffany comes over.
"Carlea, Brittany, have you two thought about our offer?" She asks. Carlea glares at her.
"No means no. Leave us alone." Carlea tells her.
"Your skills are being wasted with them." Tiffany gestures to us.
"Tiffany you can say whatever you want. My answer is no. I belong with those I love. These doofuses are my family, and nothing will take me from them." Carlea takes Jason's hand and looks at Tiffany. Tiffany narrows her eyes, but says nothing more and storms off. We all applaud Carlea and Jason kisses her cheek. She blushes and we continue with no other interruptions. When we all head home, I notice Carlea was really quiet. She was like my little sister, so it worried me. I've seen scars on her arms. When we go inside, I shoo Jason and Jerome away and take her off to the side.
"Is everything okay?" I ask her. She shakes her head.
"Ever since I came back....I've tried to be happy, but I just can't. I've always had depression, but when my life is finally perfect, something always goes wrong. And i remember what Jake and Jordan did to me....I don't want to live in fear anymore...." She starts crying and I hug her.
"Every single one of us is here for you. You have Brittany, Jason, Ian and me and Jerome. We all care about you." I say. She nods and I kiss her forehead then let her go upstairs. I sigh and go sit in the kitchen. Jerome walks in a moment later and sits with me.
"What's wrong?" He asks.
"I'm worried about Carlea. She's becoming....unstable." I explain.
"We should keep an eye on her..." He whispers. I nod and we go upstairs and lay in our bed. We kiss for a long time, then try to sleep. Quentin bursts into our room a moment later.
"Carlea is missing." He says.
God dammit.