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“Just stay calm, okay? You can do it, okay, I know you can. We went over this like ten times today. Just walk up to her and say-”
“I know, I know, tell her that I like her and want to date her, and then take it from there. I know all this, but I’m just having second thoughts on this, I don’t know if I can do it.”
Michael sighed. There was nothing more painful than trying to set up the person you were madly in love with with someone else. For Jeremy’s sake, he put on a supportive smile. “You’ve got this, bro!” Jeremy looked unconvinced. “I can even go with you, if you want. For moral support.”
Jeremy’s face lit up. “Really? Thanks, dude! That would definitely help,” he beamed, throwing his arms around Michael in a grateful hug.
Michael tensed, before forcing himself to relax and hug Jeremy back. “Sure thing, bro. Happy to help,” he forced a smile. He pulled away, only semi-reluctantly.
“… And then, I said that I would go with him to confess his feelings for Christine! How am I supposed to do that? I’m an idiot.”
“No arguments here,” Rich broke off laughing as Michael shoved him off the bed where he was currently flopped across dramatically.
“This is serious, Rich,” Michael groaned. “I don’t know how I’ve gotten through him telling me all the time how much he loves Christine. How am I going to be able to handle them dating?”
“Look, I wouldn’t worry about it, okay? Jake said that Christine doesn’t even… Never mind. The point is-”
“Wait,” Michael cut him off. “Christine doesn’t what?”
Rich shook his head at him teasingly. “Sorry, buddy. Boyfriend code. Jake tells me all his secrets, and I keep them for him. Also the sex is really great-” Michael started screaming into the pillow. “-But you don’t need to hear about that.” Michael looked up warily. “Seriously, though, Michael, I don’t think you can fully understand the power of that ass.”
He went down again as Michael threw the pillow at him.
“Okay, okay, okay. I can do this. I can do this. Hey, Christine. No. Heyyyyy, how you doing? No, that’s even worse! Michael, I can’t do this!”
Yes, good. Let’s go back home. “Sure you can!” No. Don’t. “I have total faith in you.” I love you. “You’re my best friend.” Don’t leave me. “You’ve got this!”
Jeremy smiled in relief. “Yeah. I can do this. Thanks, Michael. You always make me feel better when I’m like this.”
“It’s my superpower,” Michael joked. Yeah, the power of the GAYS. “Shut. Up.” He growled.
Jeremy blinked at him. “Uh, what?”
Shit. “Ha! Nothing. Moving on…” Michael felt his whole face go red.
“Oh, okay.” Jeremy’s face cleared of confusion immediately, quickly going back to the anxiousness he had been feeling a minute ago.
Michael sighed in relief. It was amazing how much you missed when you were in love. “Look, there’s Christine.” He dragged Jeremy over to her, ignoring the frantic protests Jeremy was giving. “Hey, Christine! Jeremy has something to say to you!”
Jeremy’s face had gone white. It was obvious that everything he had planned to say had drained from his head. Michael watched in amazement as he stammered out a few fragments of sentences, each less intelligible than the last. Eventually, he took pity on him and rolled his eyes. “My best friend’s in love with you!” He shouted, shoving Jeremy in her direction and running away.
He had almost made it around the corner before he burst into sobs. Through the haze of his tears, he thought he saw Christine looking at him with pity.
When he had finally calmed down enough to stop crying, he peered around the corner only to see the two of them still talking. Jeremy was smiling helplessly at her, like he always did, with that stupid smile. That stupid smile that always made his heart melt. Stupid smile. Stupid Jeremy. Stupid Christine.
No, that wasn’t fair. It wasn’t Christine’s fault that Jeremy was in love with her, even though Michael had loved him for years. She had always been a good friend and he loved her for it. He wouldn’t sacrifice their friendship for anything. It just sucked sometimes.
He looked over at the two of them, jolting with shock when Christine took Jeremy’s hand, pointed at Michael, and began walking over to him. He debated running, but decided there was no point, especially if Christine had already seen him. Oh, God. She had seen him crying. Had she told Jeremy? Did Jeremy know that he loved him?
He blinked, and all of a sudden, they were right there in front of him. “Oh, hey guys. How goes it with the lovebirds? Do I hear wedding bells in the future?” He forced a smile.
Christine grinned. “Maybe,” She said slyly, looking significantly at Jeremy, to Michael, and back at Jeremy.
Jeremy’s whole face flushed red. God, it was really cute when he did that. Stupid cute. Stupid face. Stupid Jeremy. Stupid Michael. Pay attention, damnit! “I- uh- no- wha-?” He stared pointedly at the ground, refusing to look Michael in the eye. Shit. He knows. That must be why he wasn’t looking at Michael, because he knew how Michael felt and was freaked out about it, and their friendship would be ruined forever, and then he really would be alone… He stared at the pavement, choking back tears.
“Oh, for the love of…” Christine threw her hands up in the air, and shoved Jeremy so hard, he would have crashed into the ground if Michael hadn’t caught him, staggering under his weight. “Your best friend is in love with you!” She called over her shoulder as she turned and ran.
Michael stared after her for a moment, confused. Then the words processed in his mind, and he understood. Michael promptly dropped Jeremy.
“Ow!” Jeremy groaned as he hit the ground.
“Oh, fuck, sorry, are you okay?” Michael leaned down to help him up just as Jeremy started to push up off the ground. Their heads collided, and Jeremy sank back to the ground, defeated, holding his head in both hands. “Um, you know what, I’m just going to…” He sat down gently next to Jeremy, keeping a careful distance between the two of them.
“Oh, hey, man, are you okay? I saw you fall…” Jake trailed off as he registered the scene in front of him. “You know what? Never mind. Looks like you two have it handled. Keep it up. I’m gonna go.” He grinned, walking backwards before turning around in a full sprint over to the group that was rapidly forming a short distance away.
Michael looked over at them, squinting at Chloe, who seemed to be mouthing something at him that he couldn’t read, but assumed was offensive, especially when Brooke smacked her. She turned back to Michael and gave him a bright smile and a thumbs up. He sarcastically gave her one back, and turned back to Jeremy, who seemed to have recovered enough that he could sit up and talk, which was good enough for Michael.
“So, how’d it go with Christine?” was the first thing that came out of his mouth, which was met with an incredulous look from Jeremy. “…Not good?”
“She’s asexual,” Jeremy sighed. “Which, I mean, that doesn’t mean that she’ll never date or anything, but right now she’s focused on finding herself, which is fine, because-”
“Oh, really? That sucks man, I’m so sorry,” Michael looked down at his hands. That must have been what Rich was trying to tell him. Whether Jeremy is in love with her or not, it doesn’t matter because she doesn’t want to date him. He felt a sharp feeling of guilt rush through him for everything he had thought about the two of them. “Are you gonna be okay?”
“What? No, dude, I’m fine, she and I talked and I never actually got around to asking her out, because we were talking about how I actually-”
“Are you sure? You don’t have to pretend with me, Jer. I’m here for you no matter what. I know how much she meant to you.”
“Michael,” Jeremy shouted, “I’m in love with you!” Oh.
Silence. Then, in the distance, “Gay!” was heard, followed by, “Ow! Christine, stop hitting me, I’m sorry!” Michael turned around and glared at Rich, who shrugged and smiled innocently.
He turned back to Jeremy, who was looking at the ground again, avoiding eye contact. “Look, I’m sorry if it makes this weird, us being friends. I don’t want to make you uncomfortable or anything. I am trying to get over it, but-”
“How long?” Michael interrupted.
Jeremy looked confused. “How long have I liked you?” Michael nodded, not trusting himself to speak. “I guess, a couple months, maybe more? I know how bad that sounds, okay, with me sleeping in your house and hanging out with you all the time, but I wasn’t like taking advantage of you or anything, I swear.”
Michael beamed at him, and leaned closer. Jeremy flushed a little, turning his head away. “You’ve got some catching up to do.” He jerked his head back to Michael’s, startled. He grinned. “Jeremy, I’ve been in love with you for five years. I’ve just been quietly pining for so long, I didn’t think anything would ever come of it, so, uh,” he coughed awkwardly, “Get on my level, bitch.” He smirked.
Jeremy let out a bark of surprised laughter. Then Michael’s words seemed to catch up with him, and he blushed again, his whole face going red. “Um.” He looked down.
“Can I kiss you?” Michael interrupted.
“Hell yes!” Jeremy’s voice squeaked. He blushed, embarrassed. “Um, I mean-”
Michael cut him off by leaning forward and kissing him. Jeremy stopped stuttering and closed his eyes, leaning into it. They broke apart after a moment, although it felt like much longer, smiling helplessly at each other.
Michael heard loud cheering coming from the group. He looked over, where the six of them were laughing and hugging each other in giddy relief. “Finally!” Rich yelled over at them. “The sexual tension coming from you two was insane, I was going out of my mind- ow!” He glared at Christine, ducking out of the way to avoid being hit again.
Michael laughed, and looked over at Jeremy. “Will you be my boyfriend?” Jeremy asked, sounding the happiest he’d been in a long time.
“Hell yes,” Michael laughed, mimicking Jeremy from a moment earlier, ducking Jeremy’s arm as he shoved him playfully. He helped Jeremy up, properly this time, and kissed him again, before walking over to their friends. He would have a lifetime to kiss Jeremy now. That was all he really needed.