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"You okay over there, Jere?"
Jeremy adjusts against the beanbag - why does this feel bad when he lays down? Is that okay? Is that normal? - "Yeah, I'm good."
Michael nods and turns back to the game.
Jeremy rolls his shoulders and goes back to the game as well.
Jeremy forgets for about another hour before he stretches his back and, for a brief moment, something feels bad.
His hand reflexively goes down to it - poking at his ribs just to be sure it wasn't anything serious.
Michael skips past the pleasantries, "How long have you been wearing that?"
"Not too long, about..." he looks at the time, "Ah."
"Ah?" Michael repeats, leaning forward with a Jeremy I swear if you hurt yourself doing this I will not be angry but I will be disappointed look.
"Just... eight... hours."
Michael sighs, "Take it off."
Jeremy is about to protest before he realizes how that sounds and feels his cheeks grow warm.
He hears Michael laugh, and he tries to defend himself, "Listen, I just-"
Then he hears him moving, and feels Michael pulling at his shirt, "Come on, let's do this,"
Jeremy's heart almost stops.
Michael's in front of him, nearly in his lap, leaning in close, and trying to pull Jeremy's shirt over his head.
He can feel the air on his stomach and Michael's looking at his chest with his binder being nearly the only covering it has.
He should really be feeling embarrassed or dysphoric.
But Michael's close to him and he's warm and he's really cute and his hands are on his shirt and Jeremy's fucking flustered.
Michael must catch his look because he pulls back, dropping his shirt immediately, "Shit, sorry."
Michael's looking aside and about to apologize again when Jeremy breathlessly says, "It's fine."
"Nah, it's-"
"I was just surprised, it was fine. I-" he gulps, half from nerves and half to give himself time to think of anything but I liked it, "I didn't mind."
Michael nods, "Sorry, again."
Jeremy nods and decides not to tell him it's okay again; Michael understands.
Jeremy swings his backpack around to the corner with him and yells to Michael to not turn around unless he wants to be murdered. Michael laughs and covers his eyes with his hands.
"Fucking hell," Jeremy mumbles, trying to wiggle out of the binder.
"You okay?" Michael asks, his hands still over his eyes.
Jeremy succeeds and sighs, then makes Michael laugh with his shout of "Freedom!"
Jeremy grabs the sports bra from his backpack and glares at it. There it is, half of why he was so hesitant to get changed in the first place.
He just puts it on and refuses to look down to adjust it. He still gets glimpses when he grabs his shirt, but he's used to it at this point.
He sees BOYF on his bag while he zips it back up and smiles. BOY. It's, oddly enough, a source of constant validation for him.
He thinks of Michael's bag with RIENDS written on it and he gulps. That's not what they are, they're just friends, but the idea makes him happy. Which makes him wish it were true.
He throws his bag back to its spot from before and plops onto the beanbag, tugging his shirt away from himself.
He laughs when he sees Michael smiling with his hands still covering his eyes.
Jeremy leans over to him and pulls at his arms. Michael lets him and they end up with their faces being very close.
(Well, not that close, but it's close for Jeremy. It's close when you have a crush on your best friend and you're suddenly looking right into his eyes. Not to mention the fact he has no experience with anything like this.)
Michael just laughs. Jeremy can feel his breath on his face and he tries to laugh along but it's a struggle when all he can think is he's so cute.
Michael opens his eyes again, letting them make full contact with Jeremy's, and oh god I want to kiss him.
This isn't the first time Jeremy has thought that. He isn't even sure he wants it to be the last.
They spend several long moments staring at each other in silence before Michael starts to speak, and one word in it hits Jeremy that he's been staring right into Michael's eyes while holding onto his arms.
He lets go of his arms and pulls back, trying to calm his heartbeat, "Sorry."
"It's fine."
Jeremy falls back into his own bean bag and they go back to trying to beat the next boss.
They don't have any more moments like that (although they do have fun and manage to beat 3 levels) and Jeremy forgets about the way his shirt lays on his chest.
He does still think of kissing of Michael that night.
He doesn't do it, though. He just thinks about it.