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"Drink this."
A shriek of "NO!" Came from the squip as Jeremy watched Christine nod and take a sip of the Mountain Dew Red. Almost immediately after, the bottle dropped to the ground as Christine let out a bloodcurdling scream, grabbing her head and stumbling away from Jeremy. Her legs wobbled and almost fell backwards as the rest of the cast joined in. Jeremy slapped his hands over his ears as the sound of screaming kids became so loud it sounded like they were all being murdered at once.
Suddenly a pain so great it felt like someone had taken a great weight and dropped it at every angle of his head attacked him, taking him by surprise and making him drop to his knees. A wail ripped out of his throat as hot tears fell out of his eyes. All around him, the thumps of students all falling to the ground unconscious echoed in his head. Jeremy's body went limp, falling down directly onto his side.
His conscience drifted from almost unconscious to fully awake, hardly registering that someone had but his head in their lap. The pain dissipated into a dull ache. He looked up, eyes blurry. Michael's face stared back, tears rolling down his face too. Jeremy feebly raised a hand to his face, his fingers lightly brushing against his lower cheek.
"Michael..." he whispered softly. Michael let out a choked sob, wiping away tears from his cheek. The faint voice of the squip called out, sounding glitched... like Jeremy was underwater, the supercomputer above.
"J-j-jereeeEEEe-e-my-y..."
His eyes fluttered shut, fully prepared for unconsciousness to take him into its arms until, as clear as day he heard in a monotone, robotic voice;
"Shutdown malfunction: error 089, squip resistance. Entering emergency termination."
And pain exploded in Jeremy's mind. He let out a wail, his body going tense. His legs stared spasming and twitching. Michael let out a shriek, jumping back and letting Jeremy's head smack into the floor. "Jeremy!" He screeched, pulling at his hair as he watched his best friend cry and wail in agony, legs going nuts, shivering and shaking, open mouthed and drooling everywhere. In a rushed panic, Michael grabbed under Jeremy's arms and hoisted him up, letting Jeremy grab onto his trademark red sweater, crying and shivering as his legs shook more than a newborn deers. Jeremy's feet could barely hold him stable as he literally gasped for air.
Jeremy's head head was pushed away from Michael's chest, Michael's arm again his lower back, his free hand tilting his head up to look at his face properly. Jeremy's mouth was open, painting, tongue out, spit drooling out. He wanted to talk to Michael, say so many things, but he couldn't even close his jaw. His eyes were puffy from crying, glossy and and half lidded, his cheeks red and tear stained. He didn't realize it, but his nose was bleeding pretty heavily.
Michael looked at him in worried awe, his own tears landing on Jeremy's face. There was another pitiful son from Jeremy, then a shriek as his legs and now arms, began to twitch and shake even worse than before. Another scream erupted from him as his legs went limp. Michael, still holding onto Jeremy sat down, turning him around, wrapping his arms around him, pining his arms against his body. Jeremy shrieked again, his arms almost breaking free this time, until they went limp too.
A moment of silence passed between the two, until Jeremy's hands grasped onto Michael's arms, ripping them away from him with a yell, falling forward. He landed on his forearms, and began to frantically scramble away. Michael dived forwards, until Jeremy's legs kicked him off with more strength than he could have imagined the thin, weak-looking boy could have.
Michael landed on his ass, sliding across the floor. He wheezed for a quick sec as Jeremy rolled onto his back, pulling his knees up, twitching, his arms pushed against his chest, as he cried out;
"MICHAEL!"
Michael jumped back into action, scooting to the side of Jeremy.
"Jeremy! You're gonna hurt yourself!"
There wasn't a reply from Jeremy, As he just let out a gross sniff, and a small shriek of pain as he slid his hands down to his stomach. Michael's brain suddenly froze. What did Jeremy want him to do? Gently, he put his hand on his shoulder, as Jeremy whimpered, curling into a smaller ball, knees pressed into his chest.
Michael had to bite back tears, watching his best friend and crush sob and whimper, screaming and yelling in pain. There was a pause in the spasms, Jeremy huffing, until he softly whispered out to Michael.
"Please... can you hold me?"
Michael pulled his and away from his shoulder, looking across Jeremy's body, looking for an easy way to take the smaller boy into his arms. He decided to wedge his hands under his knees, and under his back, lifting him up and placing him in his lap, as Jeremy let out another scream. As Michael placed him down, he winced and shivered. Michael immediately felt guilty for causing him discomfort. Jeremy's hand that was wedged between his and Michael's body clutched his belly, his free arm squeezing onto Michael's sweaters. He let out a wail in pain, as his legs instinctively kicked and thrashed around as an unbearable pain shot through his spine and ending in his calves.
They stayed like this for a while, Michael letting out the occasional sob, while Jeremy screeched and twitched and shook in pain. It was almost 10 minutes after it first started until Jeremy let go of his best friends sweater, letting it go limp, watching it drop to the floor through half closed eyes. He sat there panting in silence.
"Jeremy? How are you feeling?"
"Mmm. Tired." Jeremy responded, eyes fluttering for a moment, slowly letting his head roll back.
Michael's breath caught in his throat. "Hey, no, you can't fall asleep here, I need you to stay awake. Think you can do that Jere-Bear?" Michael called him his affectionate name for him, only used for moments when Jeremy needed comfort.
Jeremy hummed in response. "... maybe."
Michael placed his head down to Jeremy's chest, listening for a heartbeat. It was there, just very faint and slow. Michael tried to not let his panic show. "Hey, no sleeping, Jere-Bear, okay? Do it for me, okay?" He couldn't help it when his voice cracked on the "okay."
Jeremy's eyes slowly closed, as Michael panicked and gently shook him. "No- Jeremy, cmon-"
"Hey Michael?" Micheal bit his lip, letting a few tears drip down his cheeks, humming a curious "hm?" To him, not trusting his voice to break.
"I'm dying, aren't I?"
Michael's damn broke. Tears fell, one after the other. "Yeah, Jeremy..." he sniffed some snot back up. "...yeah." He answered.
"Oh."
Oh? Michael just confirmed that he was dying, and all he had to say was OH??
Michael dug his nails into Jeremy's side, sobbing openly over him.
"Michael." Jeremy softly called out.
Michael lifted his head up." y-yeah Jere-bear?" He asked, hiccuping after.
"I guess... there no better time to tell you. Michael, ever since grade, what was it? Eight? I think so... well, since then, I've basically been head over heels in love with you, and I guess there's now better time than now to confess... isn't it pathetic? I can only summon the courage to confess my gay love for you when I'm dying? Huh... sad."
If Michael thought what he was crying before, well, that was nothing now. He wailed, pulling Jeremy closer to him.
"I figured, no, you wouldn't have like me like that... me, Jeremiah Heere, porn watching loser with no other friends, and I especially don't expect you to like me like that, especially after I basically left you behind for popularity and sent you into a panic attack in a bathroom, after completely ignoring your dependency issues... god, aren't I a..." Jeremy trailed off, his breathing becoming very faint.
Michael screeched, and frantically shook Jeremy awake. "No-NO! Don't... don't die..."
Jeremy let out a shallow exhale. "M... Michael..."
"Jeremy I have also been head-" he hiccuped. "-Head over heels in love with you since, like, grade seven." Michael sniffed, letting out a gross, sharp exhale. ",and to have you right here saying that, well, it's really unfortunate timing but god damm, if it isn't the best thing I've heard all day..."
Michael let out a strained laugh, as Jeremy let out a breathy exhale in which he assumed was a laugh. There was a moment of silence, the only sound being the occasional sniffle or sob, and Jeremy's soft breaths.
"Hey, Michael...? I-I'm... I'm scared. I don't wanna die..."
Michael's nails dug into where he was cradling Jeremy so hard, he was worried for a flash he might draw blood, another load of tears spilling down his face. It was hard to tell through his tears, but Jeremy was crying too.
"I know this... sounds weird but, c-can you sing... o-or hum for me?"
Michael let out a barely audible "okay..."
He began to hum out a familiar tune, watching Jeremy's faint smile grow on his face, as he let his body relax. It was soothing to him.
"Hmm... two-player game..."
It was dead silent, the only sound being the humming of Michael. He paused for a moment. The room was silent.
"Jeremy...?"
No response.
"... I love you."
It was still silent. Michael put his ear to Jeremy's heart. There wasn't a heartbeat.
And for the first time in his life after meeting Jeremy, he was really, truly, alone.