Work Text:
Rich is spending the afternoon dicking around at the mall, putting off going home when he gets a frantic series of texts from Jeremy asking him to come over.
Rich if you're not busy I need you
To come to my house
Like now
I really need advice
Already heading there as he replies, he types back, I'm otw, is it serious ?? Not squip shit right
A quick response. Jeremy must've kept his phone in hand.
Oh, not that
Sorry
But kind of serious
Not life threatening serious
Rich sighs and puts his phone away. This was getting him nothing.
When Rich gets there only a short while later Jeremy answers the door and starts wringing his hands.
"Jer, you look like an anime schoolgirl. What is going on?" He pokes his pointer fingers together and flutters his eyelashes in an attempt to make him laugh, but he just frowns even more.
Rich shoulders his way into the house and collapses onto the couch.
"Not here." His voice is hushed. Seriously, what the fuck is going on? "Come to my room."
"Shame on you Jeremy, I am a taken man." Even as he says this he's chuckling and toeing his shoes off, following him down the hall. He flops down again, this time on Jeremy's bed.
Jeremy shuts his door. Faces Rich. Takes a deep breath. Turns back to the door and locks it. Takes another deep breath.
"Dude."
"I don't know how to talk about this!" He says at an explosive volume. "I don't--"
He just sits there, eyeing him, until he finally speaks. He's back to speaking quietly, but his voice wavers. "So. You and Jake."
"Go on..."
"You're together. Now. But you were best friends before."
Rich is slowly getting a look akin to the cat that got the cream. "Mhmmm." He's really putting a valiant effort into not grinning. He swears. He's trying his best.
He's failing. He thinks he knows where this is going.
Jeremy starts pacing, hands running through his hair and tugging at it. "I don't know what happened! It was all fine, but now it's different and bad but also amazing and I'm a mess!"
He rolls his eyes. "When are you going to start making sense, bud? Now that I know you're not in danger this is getting overly dramatic."
"I have feelings for Michael!" Jeremy finally, finally admits, slapping a hand over his mouth right after.
Rich scoots forward gleefully, dropping the bored pretense. "You realized?"
"W--you're--why aren't you surprised? Or upset! Stop that!"
It takes all of his willpower not to roll his eyes again. This boy. What a mess. "Everyone knows you two are soulmates and in ooey gooey love with each other. It's not news. Not even Jenna would bother talking about it." He ignores Jeremy's sputtering. "What brought this on?"
"Michael was dropping me home today, like always. But then he got out of the car and walked with me to the door. And then we get there and he gets like, weirdly intense? And he gives me this giant hug, and he's so soft and huggable and smells nice, and he says really quietly that he's so happy we're friends again. And that he missed me. When he said that he like, pulled me closer. And I just...my brain kinda went fuck."
He sinks down beside Rich, his shoulders hunched. "What do I do?" He sounds positively miserable. A caricature of a tortured soul.
"Go fuck him."
Jeremy's face immediately adopted a scandalized look. Rich should really not be the trusted go-to for advice. Why did Jeremy choose him if his response was such a shock to his system? That was always his response. He should know by now.
"Rich I am being serious here."
"So am I! It's how Jake and I got together. I sucked his dick." He was very proud of that fact. "It was my way of saying thank you for saving me. We ended up as we are now, so I'd say my method is pretty great."
He made a face, and Rich tsked. He was far too much of a virginal flower for someone that watched porn all the time. "It's--it's not the same!"
"Dude, you and Michael live out of each other's pockets. He lets you get away with so much shit. He let you wear his sacred hoodie the other day. You both banned me from playing Apocalypse of the Damned because it's 'your thing'." He did finger quotes.
"That's friend stuff--"
"Not for you anymore, right?" He didn't wait for a reply. "You're each other's lockscreen and homescreen. You hang out every second you're both free. He literally said the other day at lunch that 'best friend' isn't a big enough term to describe what you two have." He looks over at Jeremy pointedly. Jeremy squints, but it looks like he's seeing what he means.
"He'd only be like that if he loved you. Hell, you two share drinks sometimes. Jake and I don't even do that, and he's had his tongue in my ass."
Jeremy paled a little. "Way too much information, Rich, god. Learn to quit while you're ahead."
He shrugged. He didn't look very contrite. "You see my point, though?"
He looked very pouty. It was a little cute. "I guess." He mumbled.
Rich patted him on the head. "Good. Now go get him to sit on your face. Or the other way around...? You do you, bro."
Jeremy didn't chastise him for his crude remark this time. He was fiddling with the hem of his shirt. "I'm...scared. I'm fuckin' terrified, Rich." He breathed out, looking Rich in the eye. "I've already come so close to breaking our friendship for good. What if this is what seals the deal? We're just now getting back to something familiar."
Rich clapped his hands onto Jeremy's shoulders. "Come on. Think about it. Think about your friendship, and the kazillion years it's lasted, and all the shit you've gone through. You really think Michael would end all that over you liking him? It's just your brain getting caught up in all the worrying."
Jeremy sighed. He leaned his head onto Rich's arm, knocking it into him softly. It was a better alternative than knocking it on the wall like he wanted. "I think I love him. He's just so good. What the fuck. I don't deserve him."
Rich gave him a small hug, ruffling his hair. "Alright, that's enough emo for now you sad sop. No self deprecation on my watch. Let's go watch Kill la Kill, I'm staying with you until you're feeling better. But Jeremy?"
"Yeah?"
He looked serious, but still comforting. "You need to tell him."