Work Text:
Jeremy, it is imperative that you leave Jake's house imme - S.Q.U.I.P. temporarily disabled due to alcohol consumption.
Jeremy sighs with relief as he slams his empty red solo cup down onto the table, next to the bowl of spiked fruit punch. Finally, he can hear himself think. He takes a deep breath and massages his temples, easing away the mild headache that always comes paired with his S.Q.U.I.P.'s instructions.
Jeremy knows he should find Brooke and appolagize to her, but how exactly to do so is the more complex issue.
Hey, Brooke, sorry I pretended to sleep with your best friend when you were my date to this Halloween party, I have a tiny supercomputer in my brain that's a real buzzkill and wouldn't let me stand up or leave the room.
Yeah, that would be a great conversation.
Jeremy leans back against the snack table, puffing up his cheeks and blowing air out through his mouth as he surveys the crowd of partygoers and eavesdrops on a nearby conversation.
"Will you show me where the bathroom is?" One girl with a cloak and fake sword attached to her hip asks another dressed as a bunny.
The bunny girl nods her head, and her fluffy ears bob up and down with the movement. "Sure, but you want to use the one on the second floor. The first floor bathroom has a sticky lock." The girl with the cloak nods, and the two disappear into the crowd.
At this exact moment, someone grabs Jeremy's shoulders from behind and spins him around to face them. For a few seconds Jermey stares into open air, before angling his gaze downwards at a boy with partially-died red hair, who is currently leaning across the other side of the snack table. Rich.
"Tall-ath! Do you - do you know where I could find thome Mountain Dew Red? It'th important." Jermey blinks. Since when did Rich have a lisp? Upon closer inspection, the eyes that refuse to meet his own seem red and puffy. Has Rich been crying? Or is he high? His hands tighten painfully on Jeremy's shoulder, and the taller boy remembers that Rich had asked him a question.
"Mountain Dew Red? Wasn't that discontinued in the 90s?"
Rich makes a scarily frustrated sound and withdraws his hands from Jeremy's shoulders. He violently kicks the leg of the snack table, and Jeremy takes a step back as spiked punch sloshes over the edge of the bowl and spills onto the ground at his feet. When he looks up again to ask what Rich's problem is, the shorter boy is gone.
Why was he getting so ticked off about some discontinued Mountain Dew? Thinking about the 90s makes Jeremy recall his last conversation with Michael, and he cringes as it replays in his head. He called Michael a loser, when in reality he's anything but. In the heat of the moment, it seemed like Michael was out to ruin Jeremy's chance at being popular, but looking back he can tell Michael was just trying to help. He wonders if his S.Q.U.I.P. is capable of impairing his thinking and decision-making skills.
Speaking of, he should drink some more punch in order to ensure that the annoying neighbor of his brain won't be back anytime soon.
Jeremy turns back to the punch bowl and scoops himself another cup. He then brings said cup up to his mouth, but pauses after a single sip as he takes notice of a strange scent hanging in the air. Is that - smoke? Jeremy looks around and notices people's dancing slowing as they start to realize the same thing.
"Fire!" Someone shouts, and that's when the chaos begins. A massive stampede of party-goers start bolting for the exits, just as a thin grey cloud begins to seep into the room.
The red solo cup slips from Jeremy's fingers, dropping into the punch bowl with a splash. His head pivotes wildly as he wonders what to do.
Hang on - was this why his S.Q.U.I.P. told him to leave?
Not the time, he thinks as he reminds himself of the situation at hand. He quickly joins the throng of people running for the front door, and in less than a minute he's outside, standing among a frightened-looking crowd of teenagers on the street in front of Jake's house. From this distance, a definite billow of black is seeping upwards from the back of the building, but no flames are yet visible.
Jeremy asks a boy dressed as a zombie if people have already called the fire department.
"Yeah," is the boy's concerned response, "but it's on the other side of town, so we don't know how long until they get here."
Jeremy worriedly scans the party-goers around him as the last few appear in Jake's front door and run, coughing, into the street. He sees Brooke biting her nails alongside Chloe and Jenna, and Jake pacing back and forth by himself, an unreadable expression on his face. Jeremy anxiously fiddles with the hem of his shirt, unsure of what to do. A red hoodie catches his eye amongst the crowd, but when the wearer turns around Jeremy's shoulders slump. Where's Michael? He should be out by no-
Realization hits Jeremy like an electric shock to the back, and he stumbles, his hands instinctively coming up to cover his mouth.
Michael is in the bathroom still.
The one with the sticky lock.
The world tilts and sways around Jeremy, and he staggers towards Jake's front lawn, about to break into a dead sprint for the door. The teenagers around him seem to sense what he is about to do, and a multitude of hands grab him and hold him back.
"Let go of me!" He shrieks, struggling to get free, but more and more people grab hold of him and he is unable to shake them off. They don't understand! Jeremy's breaths come faster as his anxiety rises at a dangerous pace. "Michael is still in there!" Tears begin to stream down his face, just as three firetrucks turn onto the street and pull up in front of Jake's lawn.
The hands gripping his shoulders and arms finally let go, and Jeremy sprints towards a fireman who is just hopping out of the truck.
"Someone - my friend is still in there!" Jeremy points a shaky finger and talks thickly through his tears. "First floor bathroom - sticky lock-"
The man nods, and motions for the other firemen to follow as he runs to Jake's front door, throws it open, and runs inside.
Oh no. Jeremy realizes with a sickening feeling that all he can do now is wait. How is he supposed to just stand here when his favorite person in the entire world is in danger? The tears flow faster, and a sob escapes the back of Jeremy's throat.
Jake walks toward him, having just spoken with one of the other fireman, and he's already crying as he pulls Jeremy into an uncharacteristic hug. Jeremy could count on one hand the amount of times he's spoken to Jake, but the taller boy hugs him as if they've been best friends for years.
"Rich is still inside too." Jake's voice breaks, and he struggles to keep it even. "So I understand how you feel, with the - the person you're in love with being in danger and - and all." He hiccups, and Jeremy has a moment of realization as they sob into each other's shoulders.
He is in love with Michael Mell.
There's no other explanation for it - this feeling in the pit of his stomach that tells him Michael is his favorite person on earth, and the fact that his life is in danger terrifies Jeremy to no end. He loves everything about Michael - his sense of humor and how he always laughs at his own jokes. The way his hair is ruffled after he's been wearing his headphones for a long time. The concentrated expression he makes whenever they're close to beating a level on their favorite video game.
Thinking about all of these things almost makes Jeremy feel better, until he remembers the possibility that none of them could ever happen again.
He sobs harder.
Jake continues to hug Jeremy for a few more seconds, but pulls away at the sound of his house's front door being slammed open. Jeremy's head whips around to see a stream of firemen emerge, two of them with bodies slung over their shoulders. The clothes are hard to make out due to all the soot and ash covering them, but it is clear that one body wears a blue tank top, and the other a red sweatshirt.
Rich and Michael.
The fireman place each boy on a gourney and run them to an ambulance that just pulled in. Jeremy and Jake look at eachother for only a moment before running as fast as they possibly can towards the ambulance. They hop into the back of the vehicle, and the paramedics barely acknowledge them as they are too busy strapping breathing masks to the two boys. One EMT closes the ambulance doors, and the vehicle starts moving. Jeremy and Jake sit down on either side of Rich and Michael, and Jeremy puts his head in his hands at the sight of Michael lying down like that, with a breathing mask over his nose and mouth. It's through his tears that Jeremy realizes the fireman who he had previously spoken to is also in the compartment with them.
"Are they going to be okay?" Jeremy croaks.
The fireman sits next to him and places a steady hand on his shoulder.
"This young man right here" -he gestures to Michael- "was lucky enough that the bathroom he was stuck in was as far away from the fire as possible. He should have minimal smoke inhilation." He pauses. "You're other friend, however, was where the flames were the largest - most likely where the fire originated." Another pause. "He should live, but he will have burn scars for the rest of his life."
Jeremy swallows. He notices Michael looking up at him from the gourney, and grabs his best friend's hand to squeeze reassuringly. The EMTs seem mostly focused on Rich, and the fireman stands up to walk over to Jake. After a minute or so of looking from Jeremy's face to their laced fingers, Michael slowly sits up and pulls the breathing mask off of his face.
"Michael, you need to lie back do-"
Michael cuts Jeremy off with a wave of his hand. "I'm fine, dude. Minimal smoke inhalation, remember?"
"Michael, no, I seriously think-"
Michael leans forward and presses his lips to Jeremy's, and the rest of Jeremy's sentence is muffled by Michael's mouth. The kiss is salty, due to Jeremy's tears, and he only has the chance to kiss back for a moment before Michael pulls away.
Michael's always bouncing leg stills, a symbol for the realization of what he just did. "I - I'm sorry," he laughs nervously, scratching the back of his neck as his cheeks and ears become closer to the color of his hoodie. "While I was stuck in the bathroom, I just kept thinking about all the things I wanted to do but may never have the chance to. And that, um. That was one of them." He finger-guns awkwardly, refusing to meet Jeremy's eyes.
"I've always wanted to do that too." The words leave Jeremy's mouth before he even realizes the truth to them, and before Michael has a chance to react, Jeremy grabs the front of his hoodie and pulls him in for another kiss.