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it isn’t a desirable fantasy to be woken up at 2:47 AM on a wednesday night, but that’s the kinda normal activity that happens when you’re jeremy heere. one moment he’s having a peaceful sleep dreaming about being in his favourite video game, and another moment his landline phone is ringing loudly across the room. in a sleepy panic, he rushes out of bed to grab his phone, thanking god silently that his dad let him get his own landline so the ringing doesn’t awaken him.
he answers, and hears some shuffling in the background, with a faint cough. “hello?” he speaks into the phone, ‘what kind of weirdo calls me at 2AM without saying anything?’ he thinks to himself. with a irritated sigh, he pulls the phone away from his ear about to hang up, till he hears an even fainter ‘jeremy? you there?.’ jeremy smiles, before realizing his friend on the other half can’t see, “yes michael mell, how can i assist you at-“ he stops and looks at his alarm clock sitting on his night table; “-3:02AM?? it’s not like i was sleeping or anything!” he says with a fake enthusiastic voice.
there’s more shuffling in the back before the line goes dead. leaving the teen confused and still tired, he rubs his eyes and shuffles back into his bed. although he’s worried for his bestfriend, this isn’t the first time michael has stayed up till abnormal hours, he figures that he’ll be fine.
until 15 minutes later, when he hears a rock thrown at his window, now even more half asleep than before; he continues to lay in bed. before hearing another rock hit his window, he’s now annoyed as he rolls out of bed once again and shoves the window open; looking down at a smiley michael mell, and once he sees the semi-dry blood on his face and jeans that’s when jeremy takes the situation seriously.
he gives his friend a stern look, almost like telling him to stay still, and slowly makes his way downstairs. he prays that his front door wouldn’t squeak at all; but of course he isn’t lucky and it somehow ends up squeaking extra loud ‘whatever..’ he thought again, right now wasn’t the time to be worrying over his squeaky front door.
there, michael stands with a shit-eating grin. he looks bruised up— badly, but yet somehow proud of whatever activities he’d accomplished at night. jeremy; now extremely concerned for his friend, pulls him by the arm and forces him inside the house. he doesn’t care about the fact that his dad is probably awake now — he just wants michael to be safe.
“what happened to you?” the tall teen asks, to which he just earns a nonchalant shrug. that makes him annoying, and he starts to pull michael more harshly. they make it up to jeremy’s room — as he pushes michael full force onto his bed. “why are you so bruised up? why are you not home? it’s 3:20 in the morning! and why.. michael, WHY are you high?”
the filipino stares at him, sheepishly shining a smile. the more he looks at jeremy’s concerned and upset face — the more he realizes what he’s done wrong. “so.. i was in some park smoking alone.. and a group came up to me asking if they could hit my bong. and you know how i get about sharing my bong with people, right? i mean, i share it with you but ot-“
“get to the topic at hand,” jeremy interrupts, sounding tired and uninterested.
“right right! so they ask to hit it, and i said no.. they didn’t like that answer. ‘fuckers ganged up and beat the shit out of me and they stole my bong! can you believe that, jere-bear?” he complains — totally not whining at the end of his sentence.
whilst in the middle of his story, jeremy had already taken out his homemade first-aid kit from the bottom on his closet, and had taken a seat on the bed next to michael. he opens an alcohol wipe and slowly reaches it up to michael’s face. without a warning, he begins to gently clean away at a specific wound on his cheek — it’s a small graze, most likely created from getting punched in the same spot, but it’s the smallest and easiest wound.. so jeremy starts there.
the pair sit there in silence — with the occasional whimpers and curses from michael. the process doesn’t take long, and the worst wound was a slightly busted lip.. but overall, michael was okay. once they were done, jeremy threw away all the used equipment, and began searching through his closet for something his best friend could wear. “you’re an absolute idiot, micah..” he mumbles, still sounding concerned. ‘kind of like a mom..’ michael thinks.
“you’re spending the night, and you better not object. who knows if the group is still out there? i don’t want you getting more hurt than you are.” the tall teen continues, rambling on until he finds an oversized pink hoodie, perfect for michael’s size. he walked over to the bed, and presents the fabric. “i don’t really have any clean pants.. i haven’t done laundry yet-“
“all good, jere! i can just sleep in my boxers, no biggie.” michael waved dismissively — already wearing said hoodie while crawling under the blankets. having michael sleep next to him.. in boxers, made jeremy flustered to no end. the tall teen faked a cough with a nod, turning off his light and climbing next to the figure in his bed.
michael already seemed to be comfortable, with his eyes closed and the blanket tucked perfectly into him. jeremy decided to hide his flustered expression was the best decision; as he didn't want to disrupt his best friend after having a rough beat up.
but he couldn't distract that fact that his best friend— scratch that, his absolute fat crush.. is laying next to him. in. boxers. jeremy's thoughts were quickly interrupted, due to michael and wrapping an arm around jeremy — cuddling him close.
"i know you're awake.." the filipino murmurs, eyes still closed himself. "you're- you're arm is.." jeremy stammers, holding still as a rock in an instinct. "do you want me to pull away?" michael asks, speaking more clearly.
jeremy debates silently for a few moments, then shakes his head in disagreement. "no, i.. like it. keep it there."
to which he earns a nod in reply; but no verbal agreement. and soon enough.. they both start to doze off again, the silence in the room helping to create a relaxed aura.
though, jeremy doesn't miss the oh so quiet 'love you, jere-bear,' come from michael's mouth. it sounded almost silent, almost like it blended im with the lack of sound in the room. jeremy smiles fondly, and moves closer to michael's chest; not missing the opportunity to speak back.
"love you too, micah."