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Michael stepped into the school and looked around for Jeremy.
“Jeremy!” He called seeing the back of his head. Jeremy whipped his head around, slightly startled.
“Oh! Michael!” Jeremy said. “Hey!” Jeremy walked over to him. Michael looked at the way Jeremy fidgeted his hands as they walked next to each other. Michael watched for a moment. He had no idea what Jeremy was doing, but he noticed that he was uncomfortable, so Michael reached over and grabbed Jeremy’s hand to stop it. Jeremy’s eyes widened and then softened. His shoulders slumped and he seemed over all more at ease. ‘You’ve done it again, Michael Mell,’ Michael thought to himself.
“Is everything alright, Jer?” Michael asked.
“Wha-? Yeah everything’s fine!” Jeremy said, and there was no underlying tone of something that said otherwise. Jeremy actually seemed completely fine. Michael shrugged it off as being some sort of a tick or habit, but he just couldn’t get over the way that everything about Jeremy physically relaxed.
The cafeteria at lunch was completely crowded and it was hard to hear anything. Jeremy walked in a few minutes after Michael as he usually did and sat down in his usual seat next to him and across from Rich. Jeremy took his phone out and started to scroll through it. Jeremy looked at Michael. He had his headphones on and he was smiling softly and gently nodding his head to the beat of whatever reggae song was playing. Jeremy smiled. Dammit, Jeremy was so god damn lucky. He reached for Michael’s sleeve, but stopped short. Michael was enjoying his music and Jeremy didn’t want to interrupt it. Michael didn’t see Jeremy’s movements, but Rich and Jake did. Jeremy missed how they exchanged knowing looks.
“Hey, Jeremy,” Rich said. Jeremy looked up in acknowledgment. “You know Michael wants you to like... hold his hand and shit, right?” Jeremy’s face reddened.
“What? I don’t...” Jeremy said, fishing for words that didn’t exist.
“Yeah, dude. It’s fine. You don’t have to be nervous about this,” Jake said. “He’s your boyfriend.” Jeremy looked at them and then to Michael who was completely oblivious to the conversation. Jake usually gave (surprisingly) good advice. But Jeremy wasn’t really sure about this whole thing. He’d known Michael for years. He didn’t really know how to go about this whole thing.
The end of lunch came and the bell rang. Michael did eventually lose the headphones and join some conversations once Christine, Brooke, Jenna, and Chloe had gotten there. The group walked through the big cafeteria doors and Jake dropped back to where Michael was walking.
“Hey, Mikey,” Jake said nonchalantly.
“Hey, Jake,” Michael said. “Something up?”
“Well, yeah?” Jake said looking around. “It’s about Jeremy.” Jake saw fear creep into Michael’s face immediately.
“What’s wrong with Jeremy? Is it the SQUIP? I knew he was acting weird earlier, but I-“ Jake cut him off.
“Relax, Michael. He’s fine. Well... no wait yeah he’s fine. It’s just... I think he’s nervous.”
“Nervous? About what?” Michael asked.
“You?” Michael just looked at Jake blankly. “I think he’s nervous about doing couple stuff with you? He was fidgeting during lunch like he wanted to hold your hand or lean on you.”
“Oh...” Michael looked at Jake. “I didn’t know. It’s probably my fault.” Michael groaned and rubbed his forehead. “I’ll talk to him.”
“Yeah. And please do it soon. He looked kind of pathetic looking at you with these puppy eyes and probably praying for you to notice and hug him or something,” Jake said laughing.
To Jeremy: Let’s hang out after school
From Jeremy: Yeah sure. Mine or yours
To Jeremy: Mine if that’s cool
From Jeremy: Yeah. See ya then
Michael put his phone back in his pocket and took out his books for his last class. He really needed to talk to Jeremy. He was almost certain that Jeremy’s shyness was his fault. Michael wanted to be romantic with Jeremy, but Jeremy never initiated anything, so Michael just assumed Jeremy didn’t want to do anything. But now that he knew Jeremy was just shy about it, he felt like a whole moron.
Michael heard a knock on his front door and he ran down the stairs to get it.
“Hey, Jer!” Michael said. Jeremy picked up his hand in a small wave.
“Hey!” Jeremy barely had time to say anything before Michael grabbed his hand and pulled him inside. “What the-?” Michael pulled him through the house and to the basement, never letting go of his hand. They flopped down on the bean bag chairs in front of the TV and laughed. “Dude, what the fuck was that?” Jeremy asked through laughter. Michael didn’t even answer the question.
“Oh my god, you should’ve seen yourself, it was fucking hilarious!” Michael laughed. Jeremy rolled his eyes. Michael looked at where their hands were still intertwined and then he yanked Jeremy’s arm and pulled him over. Jeremy yelped and Michael pulled him close.
“Michael, what the hell?” Jeremy shrieked.
“I wanted a hug!” Michael said through laughter. Jeremy shook his head. “So...” Michael started, trailing off. “Jake told me something. About you...” Jeremy looked up at Michael, confusion coloring his expression.
“Oh yeah? What?” Jeremy asked.
“He said you looked nervous. Around me...” Michael said. He realized he phrased it horribly the second he looked at Jeremy.
“What? No! We’ve been friends for almost thirteen years, I’m most comfortable around you!” Jeremy squawked, brows furrowing.
“Wait, that’s not what I meant. Jake said that you seemed nervous about being a couple? Like you wanted to hold my hand and stuff, but you weren’t,” Michael said, waving his hands around while he spoke. Jeremy looked away.
“Well, I guess. I can never tell if it’s okay and I don’t want this to be weird. We’ve been friends for too long...” Jeremy said, keeping his gaze off of Michael.
“It’s fine, Jer. I’m your boyfriend, boyfriends hold hands and cuddle with their boyfriends. And if you’re not sure, just ask me, okay?” Michael said putting his hand on Jeremy’s back. Jeremy nodded. Jeremy climbed closer to Michael and put his head on his chest. “And I though you didn’t want to be romantic...” Michael said.
“Sorry,” Jeremy sighed. He shifted and started to move away.
“Wait, Jeremy, no come-“ Jeremy cut Michael off my lunging at his and grabbing his stomach. “Fu-!” Michael began cursing, but was cut off by loud laughter erupting from his chest. Jeremy pulled Michael in closer and held him down against his own will. “J-Jeremy stop it!” Michael yelled through laughter. Jeremy put his hands under Michael’s shirt and his hands ran along the sensitive skin of Michael’s stomach. Between Michael’s shrieks and Jeremy’s maniacal laughter, someone could’ve made the conclusion that he was being stabbed. But in reality it was just Jeremy tickling his (adorable) asshole of a boyfriend. “I am so-“ he yelped, “so gonna get b-back at you!” Michael said around hysterical laughter. Jeremy laughed at him.
“We’ll see.”