Noise in my Head

Jeremy felt his head ache painfully as he slowly straightened up in his bed with a groan. After a couple of minutes spent sitting, his back against the wall and slightly dissociating as he still held his blanket firmly, he finally tried to get out of his bed with a long sigh, still craving the comfort and warmth that he just left.

He made his way to his closet, his pace slow and tired. If he looked in the mirror right now, he probably would look more like one of the zombies from Apocalypse of The Damned than an actual breathing, living human being. He sighed again, grabbing random clothes that would probably look awful put together and throwing them on his bed as he sat back down next to them. Jeremy rubbed his eyes, taking the Green Lantern shirt he just threw and putting it on, along with a pair of regular blue jeans and socks. He did it all sitting down on his bed, not bothering to stand up to put on the jeans but instead just jiggling his way into it while laid down, it was better this way anyway.

After this is kind of a blur, standing up, taking his backpack, putting his shoes on and leaving after his dad asked him to take something to eat before he "hit the road", even if Jeremy wasn't hungry most of the time. Routine.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

It had been 4 months since the Squip was gone.
Well… At least deactivated. Because Jeremy could swear he could still hear it sometimes, or… feel it. But it wasn’t that big of a deal, just kind of painful from time to time.
Is that what girls live day to day during their periods? He really couldn’t know, and his head hurts, not his… uterus, or his back… obviously. But if it was a pain similar to this, he really, REALLY was sorry for them. and hey… At least he could say that he understood them better? No? Yeah, no. That sounded awful said like that actually. He tried not to think about it too much, trying not to seem like a creep to himself. ‘If he wasn’t already one.’

In High School, things didn’t really change, apart from the fact that the nerds and the geeks were a bit more accepted in the usual “popular group” of students, thanks to shared trauma. His relationship with Christine lasted 3 months, which… Isn't that bad? For a High School relationship. Jeremy needed to sort things out with his Squip related traumas because it was taking a toll on both of their mental health, and the relationship wasn’t holding up. which he kind of understood. Maybe going into a relationship right after a life changing trauma isn’t the best move he could've made.
Anyway, Michael and Jeremy could hang out with Rich, Jake or Brooke now and things would usually be fine.
Usually.

‘Everything was fine.’

Not today though. Today was rough. Not rough as in a “normal”, “usual” rough day, but as in a “painful, wanting to cry and throw up for 6 hours straight” rough day.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

He took the bus. Not having the energy required to walk to school. Thank god he hadn’t forgotten his headphones this time, the hubbub of the students would have killed him 15 minutes in. Why were his senses so much more sensible on days like this? It wasn’t helping his damn migraine either. He found himself looking through the window of the bus like the main character of a cliché drama movie, his chin resting on his hand as he looked at the houses from his neighbourhood passing by. Truly the only good way to enjoy Alex G’s music.

In the hallways he didn’t bother looking for familiar faces. He would prefer to vanish or…melt on the spot instead of talking to anyone today, so he just sat against the wall of the classroom he had class in - even if it started 20 minutes later - and hoped nobody would notice him. He really needed to breathe right no-

“JeeereeemmmAYyyy~”!!

His train of thoughts was cut by a familiar, excited voice ringing in his ear. ‘Great.’
Jeremy slowly raised his head while removing his headphones from his ears and putting them around his neck.

“Hi, Mik-”
“What’s with the headphones? You’re trying to steal my look or something?” Michael crouched in front of his best friend in an impressively smooth way, resting his head on his own hands, his warm smile making Jeremy feel at least a little better.
Jeremy forced a chuckle, “Yeah, exactly. Be careful or I might steal your skin color next.” He tried to joke. ‘even with little energy, he knew that… it wasn’t the best joke.’

Michael gasped dramatically, setting himself down next to Jeremy. “Woah, careful here, Mr Heere, that’s a bit problematic for you to say something like that.”

Jeremy just smiled at his best friend and whispered “Yeaahh. I realised after saying it…” looking at his hands fidgeting.

Michael chuckled but his smile then slightly faltered, “Hum, Jer? Are you okay? No offence, but you kind of look like you haven’t eaten for the whole week or something…”

“Hm? What?” Jeremy raised his head to look at his friend, an automatic smile still displayed on his face.
Michael sighed, losing his smile. “I said : Are you okay?” He positioned himself so that he was more in front of Jeremy, he wanted to put his hands on Jeremy’s to sooth him but he restrained himself. He instead stared into his eyes, making sure he had his attention. “Listen, I know the whole…” He had a bad taste in his mouth trying to say the word and gulped “...Squip... thing messed you up, more than anyone else here…” Jeremy’s eyes drifted in the distance, his smile slowly leaving his face. “...But that’s the reason you have to talk to me if anything happens or you feel sad or…”

“yes.” Jeremy looked back at his friend, his smile reappearing on his face.

“what?” Michael asked, confused and worried.

“Yes, I’m okay. It’s fine. Mikah, really. Thanks for worrying though.” He felt like if he talked again once in the next 15 minutes he would immediately throw up.

Michael stared at him, skeptical. “Are you really sure?” Of course he wasn’t okay. Michael wanted to take him by the shoulders and shake him until he understood how much he needed that, he needed to talk to him.

“Hmhm” Jeremy nodded.

Michael was frustrated, but he didn't push it. He knew that if his best friend was not feeling well, he didn't want to make it worse by forcing him to talk or anything. He just wished Jeremy would trust him enough to tell him what was wrong.
“Fine.” He stood up, trying not to let his frustration show through. He gave the other boy a genuine smile, this time filled with worry “Don't be too harsh on yourself today, eh?”, he finished, pushing up his glasses on his nose before going the other way to join his own class.

Jeremy breathed finally, resting his head against the wall behind him. He felt kind of bad for Michael, he knew he wanted to help, he wanted him to help, but not right now. Not here. Not so early in the day. ‘He would’ve started to have something stupid like a panic attack and it would've simply ruined the rest of his day. He just couldn't risk it.’ Jeremy brought the sleeves of his jacket over his hands, suddenly feeling cold. ‘He was right, his clothes did not match at all’, and he began to regret not having thought about it further. ‘What if people started to notice his neglected look? Then they would start to ask questions, or feel pity for him,’ and then it would make even more people talk to him, and he didn't want that. Oh god no.

The bell suddenly rang, soon enough a group of students formed all around him in front of the classroom and he figured he should stand up before accidentally getting stepped on by uncareful teenagers that didn't see him. ‘(Yeah, it happened before.)’

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Blur again, Jeremy left the classroom 55 minutes later, having learned nothing. His head was fuzzy for the whole hour and his headache still wasn’t getting better. As he walked to his next class, he looked at his feet walking on the floor in a rhythm. The action of walking is kind of weird when you think about it, the way your feet move, it doesn't look natural but yet, it feels so… familiar? ‘Of course Jeremy. It's not like you've been doing that for almost 17 years. Idiot.’
As he kept his eyes stuck to the floor, it slowly started to shift. The floor was…moving?
No. He was.
He was moving. …Was he?
Wait. Did he stop?
As he raised his head to look around him the walls suddenly moved violently to the sides, multiplying and shifting, merging with the ceiling and themselves.
“W-what?”
He had stopped moving, he can't remember when, though.
The headache worsened horribly and a piercing sound started to fill Jeremy's ears as he held his head firmly and shut his eyes, trying to prevent it from getting worse, ‘not that it really did anything at all.’
He didn't know how long he stayed in this position, stuck. His eyes were shut so hard it started to hurt and if he had done it a little while longer he could have convinced himself to go blind, the thought weirdly comforted him. He felt his body move. He guesses he might have crouched, or sat, in the middle of the corridor. The sounds around him were muffled by his hands but the ringing kept getting louder.
Strangely, as Jeremy was getting used to the uncomfortable ringing, it started gaining a…pace, a rhythm, as if the high note shifted into a melody. His fast heartbeat that resonated against his hands as it went through his ears now sounded like drums.
‘It was stupid,’ but it calmed him, in a way. His breathing stabilised slightly.
Then, the melody changed again. No. It got replaced, with a louder, more familiar ringing that he couldn't seem to recognize.
He tried to move his hands away from his ears, his eyes still shut.

Then the ringing hit. It was the bell. The school bell. Shit. ‘How long had he spend crouched down on the floor, whining like a fucking idiot?’ He stood up and opened his eyes, the strong light of the ceiling burning Jeremy’s eyes as he blinked rapidly multiple times to get used to it faster. “Fuuck…” He rubbed his eyes. What was 10 minutes ago an empty hallway was now filled with students walking in different directions to their different classes, some of them throwing weird glances at Jeremy, most of them not acknowledging him. Wait, was it 10 minutes? Now he was just confused. He straightened up and stumbled slightly until he reached a wall. His knees were weak. What the fuck was happening? Was it the Squip?
The simple thought of the Squip made his head ache again, even stronger than before, if it was even possible to do worse.

His hand was resting on the wall, stabilising him as he tried to breathe. Finally, he managed to take his phone out of his pocket and looked at the time.

*9:45 Am*

Wait…what?

He blinked

*10:06 Am*

“What the fuck?” He said out loud. When he looked around him, everyone was gone.

Yeah. Girls’ periods probably weren’t like…that. Actually.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Jeremy managed to walk to his other class, having already missed one and being late to the one he was going to. Usually he would’ve skipped the whole day after something like that happened, ‘but he really didn't want his dad to be pissed at him today. That wasn’t gonna help. Really not.’
He stepped in the classroom, and apologized to the teacher before sitting down at his desk, which didn't spare him the usual glances he gets from most of his classmates when he’s late.
“Yo, dude what the hell?”
A voice whispered-yelled him from behind.
Jeremy slowly turned around with a sigh, facing Rich.
“What's-” Rich's face switched immediately from his usual quirky expression to one of worry ; which also almost surprised Jeremy.
“...Holy shit man.”
-“What.” Jeremy's voice cracked.
-“Uh. Dude, you look like… literal hell.” Rich breathed out.
-“Yeah. I know.” Jeremy huffed, now he was scared to look in the mirror if his face could even worry the Rich Goranski.

Anndd…
Now Rich was just staring.
‘What even was the point of this conversation? Small talk?’ He hated small talk.
As Jeremy started to turn back in front of his desk, Rich called him again.
-“Wait !”
-“What.” Jeremy responded, exhausted.
“Uuhh…” Rich laughed nervously. “...Nevermind. Forget it.” He made a small embarrassed hand movement as a sign that he could turn around again.

What was wrong with people today?

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

The 4 next hours went through as a blur, again. At this point Jeremy just felt like half of today was a blur. He vaguely remembers talking with Michael again…Maybe? Or was it this morning? He couldn’t recall. Time was fucking weird today.
He just walked out of his last period, leaving school to take his bus. Honestly if anyone had asked him what he remembered from today’s classes, he wouldn’t have a clue. It’s like… He wasn’t even in his own body. It felt like he stared down at himself, just like a third person video game.

And then it clicked. It was familiar, because he already experienced it before. Not as harsh as today but… with…
His breath hitched. Fuck.
‘No. No. Don’t think about it. Don’t think about it, you're going to cry. And you can’t. not right now.’
“SHUT UP !”
Did he said that out loud? Wait, where was he again?
Jeremy looked around. Bus. Good. Wait… ‘no. Not good, now people were staring at him for having yelled at nothing.’
...
It was getting harder to breathe. He was almost there. He was home. He can’t break down now. ‘Just wait.’
He grinded his teeth, giving small hits on his head at each word. “Get. out. Of. My Head.” He breathed out, his voice low.

The bus stopped. Jeremy got out. He still wanted to cry and throw up at the same time, these goddamn feelings. Same feelings than 7 hours ago, except this time there was something else. Shit. shit. shit. ‘shit.’ As he stepped through the door of his house, he was glad to find out his dad wasn’t there. At least he wouldn’t have to worry about his ‘apparently’ awful, hell looking physique. He would’ve done him a… drug talk or something.
He rushed to his room, throwing his bag down as he laid on his bed, tossing his blanket around himself, exhausted.

Okay. Okay. He’s fine. What was he supposed to do now? No, no. He was probably just sick. That’s it ! Just sick it couldn’t. It wouldn’t… It’s gonna be okay. It’s gonna be okay. ‘It’s gonna-’
No.
‘-Be okay.’
No.
“Who the fu-”
‘You know who I am, Jeremy.’
“No ! NO ! Shut up ! Shut up !” Jeremy yelled, rolling around on his bed, automatically putting himself on his side, in a fetal position, his arms around his knees.
Noises he couldn’t seem to stop started to get out of his mouth as tiny whines then soon enough changed into full on cries. He desperately tried to stop them by biting on the knuckles of his left hand until it hurt. It wasn’t so that people couldn’t hear him, nobody was home. It was so he couldn’t.
He was fine. He told himself he was fine. Everything was back to normal so why did he have to feel so… powerless? So empty? So… alone?
Fuck. And here comes the depressing thoughts again.

‘I can help.’
“Shut up, you're not real. Shut up, you're not real. Shut up, you're not real.” Jeremy tried to soothe himself, balancing himself in his bed and repeating the same words again and again.
He didn't know for how long he did, but soon enough the words didn’t mean anything at all anymore.
He just spat meaningless sounds into the meaningless of nothing.

‘If it was just hallucinations, he would look very stupid right now.’

...

Suddenly, Jeremy rose up, wiped his - still falling - tears off his face and rushed to his backpack, still incredibly slow and weak. “Michael,” he whimpered as he looked for his phone.
When he found it, he went back under his blanket, and as the powerful light of the screen lit on his face, he looked through his contacts, his hands trembling as his finger pressed the call button.
Jeremy sniffed, the silence was too loud.

“Yy-ello ?”

Jeremy let out a long sigh, realising he had been holding his breath the whole time. The voice of his best friend was enough to already calm him.

“Jer ?”

Jeremy let the words sink. It was weird hearing another voice than his. Even if it had been only a couple of hours, it felt like it has been years since he heard anyone’s voice.

“Jeremy ? Are you alright?”

Jeremy sniffed. “Micah.” Fuck. It sounded way worse than he planned it to. Why did he sound so desperate?

Michael sighed softly, he knew what this was about.
“Hey, hey… I’m here, Jere. I’m here. Do you want me to talk, or listen?”

Jeremy whined, choking on his breath.
“I… I…”

Michael waited, it always was horrible for him to hear his best friend like this, but being here to comfort him was the best thing he could do. He loved him way too much for both of their own good.
“okay. We’re gonna breathe now, alright? Are you with me?”

Jeremy shaked his head and made a little noise. Michael couldn’t - obviously - see his movement but the sound of the fabric shifting and the noise his friend made were enough information.
“Good. Breathe in…
1,
2,
3,
Breathe out.
1,
2,
Breathe in…
1,
2,
3,
Breathe out.
Again.
1,
2,
Breathe in…
1,
2,
3,
Breathe out. Good.
Are you alright?”

“T-thanks.” goddamn stutter. He sniffed.

Michael's smile could be heard through the phone. “Do you need anything?”

“I just…” Jeremy started.
“...I had a bad day.”

-”yeah bud, you really weren’t looking your best back there.
I'm… sorry for not sticking around. I knew you weren’t okay. Even if you said you were.”

Jeremy sniffed, oh god, here comes the tears again.
“I don’t know what's happening… I’ve been… I don't know… Lately I felt like… I wasn't living. And I know it’s pathetic, and stupid, because… it's over. I should be happy... I should be fucking happy dammit ! W- why? Why am I like this?” Tears rolled down his cheeks as his voice trembled again.

-”First of all : it's not stupid, NOR pathetic, it's you. And I love you. That's that.
Second of all : healing takes time. You went through really…serious traumatic experiences, it's normal that you need time to adapt again. It’s okay to dissociate. It's not a bad thing. We're not in a Hollywood movie where the main character solves the plot, and ends with a happy dance or some bullshit. In real life, the trauma you experience doesn't leave when you solve the main problem, it takes its own time, and you learn to live with it.”
Michael made regular pauses to let Jeremy talk if he wanted to.

Jeremy chuckled slightly through his tears “Dude… How do you know so much?”
Michael smiled through his voice again : “hey ! You know I want to be a psychiatrist, Jerm. I guess I'm just getting ahead on my future studies.”

Jeremy sighed : “I guess.”

There was a silence between the two, but a comfortable one.

“Micah?”

-”Yeah?”

-”I want a hug.” Jeremy's voice cracked again as he shuffled quietly in his bed, holding tightly his blanket.

-”I know.” Michael sighed. He knew Jeremy way too well to know when he needed one, even through his voice only.
“I can maybe convince my moms to hang out at your place? Do you think your dad will be okay with that?”

Jeremy huffed “I don't know, he's not home, and I don't know when he's c-coming back.” His stuttering has gotten really worse lately.
“I'll text him.”
…
Jeremy waited for a response.
“Michael?”

Michael's voice grew closer through the phone speaker.
-”yep ! Yep, I'm here ! Sorry, I'll be here soon !”

-”What? B-but Michael w-wait…”
Jeremy shivered, for some reasons.

-”Shush. I don't care, I'm coming. Stay on the phone. I'm there in 5 minutes.” Jeremy heard noises from the other end of the phone, suggesting that Michael was leaving his house.
He sighed, relaxed.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

While he waited, Jeremy had time to think back to what he felt today. And it was really fucking weird. He definitely needed to talk about it more deeply with Michael, and he hoped that it was not the consequences of what he thought it might be, If that made sense…

The knock resonating from the front door made Jeremy jolt. He stood up rapidly, the blanket still wrapped around him and his muscles still numb, but he managed to make his way to the door fast enough. He opened the door, wiping the remaning tears on his face with his sleeve.
“Hi Mic…”
Michael ran inside and immediately took Jeremy in his arms.
The sudden pressure on his body got all of Jeremy’s air out of his lungs as he brought his arms around Michael too. The boys both squeezed themselves really hard as Michael sighed in relief.
After a couple of seconds, Michael forced himself to back away slightly from Jeremy, his hands resting on the other boy's shoulders as he stared into his eyes.
“Are you okay?” He breathed out, worry still showing on his face.

-“Hum… Actually, no?” Jeremy smiled, his voice weak. “...Thank you for being here.”
Michael hugged him again.
-"I'll always be here for you, Jerm.” He meant it. Throughout all time or space, he'll be there.

-”Can…we go to my room? I want to…talk to you about what really happened.” Jeremy's voice shivered.

-”Of course.” Michael responded with a worried smile as he followed him to his room.

-”oh… and by the way, I texted my dad. He's okay with you staying over, He's not gonna be back until very late anyway.”
Jeremy added, his voice low.

-”Sweet.”

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

They both sat on Jeremy's bed, next to each other against the wall. Michael was looking at Jeremy as he looked down, stimming with his hands. The situation felt familiar.

Except this time, Michael did put his hands on Jeremy's. As he did, Jeremy raised his head, his eyes meeting with Michael's.
“Take you time.” Michael's voice was sweet.

Jeremy took a big breath, bracing himself to prevent tears from falling down his face again. He couldn’t let himself cry a third time in the same 2 hours.

-”I… I think It's…back ?” His voice sounded weird, even if he tried to say it nonchalantly, the words got stuck in his throat and it got out strangled and unsure, almost as if he was asking a question.

Michael shuffled slightly.
-”What?” He said, low, almost like a whisper.

Jeremy shifted to face Michael.
-”I… I'm not sure ! But it… felt like… well, I mean. It feels like it's still here. I think it may have never really left. Just… went quiet. B-but I never heard it back since we deactivated it ! Or…I never noticed?? But I think I heard its voice earlier and, and-”
He was moving his hands a lot while talking when he was nervous, and his voice started to shiver.
-”hey, hey… Jerm, shh… slow down. Slow down.” Michael’s grip on Jeremy's hand hardened, while still being gentle.
He put his other hand on his cheek and rubbed his thumb to calm him down.
Jeremy stopped. He didn't want to cry.
“Just… try to tell me what happened today, kay?” He removed his hand from Jeremy's cheek to take his other hand. Could it be real? Was the Squip really back? How?? Maybe it was just hallucinations caused by his traumas? For once, Michael really hoped Jeremy was wrong. He couldn't deal with losing his best friend again.

Jeremy gulped. “I… never talked to you about it, and I don't know if you care enough to have noticed it, but It's been kind of hard mentally for me lately...” He looked down, avoiding Michael’s look.

Michael melted, his eyes watering and his voice high. “Jerm… Of course I noticed. W- what? You think I don't care about you?” He didn't know if he should have felt hurt or guilty.

-”I… I don't know…? I guess my thoughts haven't been really nice to me lately.” Jeremy's voice kept getting stuck in his throat.

-"I've been trying to talk to you ! But you kept saying you were fine, and even if I knew there was something wrong, I didn’t want to push you to open up when you didn't want to because…” Michael removed his hands from Jeremy's, looking away. “...Because I didn’t know if you trusted me enough to talk about it with me.”

There was silence, then Michael sighed.
“I’m sorry.” His voice cracked. His voice never did that. Now he was the one being vulnerable, and he hated it. That same goddamn feeling he felt on Halloween. He hates Halloween now.

Jeremy has never seen Michael like that. Well… He did. Once. But it… They… He doesn’t want to think about it. That wasn’t him. He used to be the one to need comfort but now the roles were reversed and Jeremy was absolutely clueless on what to say to comfort another person, especially his best friend.
-“Shit.” ‘Nice choice of words, Jeremy.’
“Shut up !” Jeremy yelled into nothingness.

Michael’s eyes were full of tears as he looked at Jeremy with betrayal on his face, he whimpered, his voice still high pitched.
“What…?”
Jeremy’s face changed from frustration to guilt as he saw Michael’s eyes.
-”No ! no ! Not you, I swear, Michael !”
He got closer to his friend, trying to explain himself.
“... It- it’s this fucker of a S-”
Michael pushed Jeremy away.
-”Is it back?” His voice was a growl as he tried not to cry.

“Are you going to leave me again?”

Jeremy started to panic. “N- no. No ! Mikah, l-listen to me !”

-”Is it gonna be…” He did quotation marks with his hands.
“...”Michael in the bathroom by himself” all over again?”
He used the sleeve of his hoodie to wipe his running nose, too upset to care.

-”Michael… Please ! Will you just…” Jeremy was backing away.
“...Let me explain !”

Michael broke, all the tension from the last 4 months finally unravelling.
-”Explain what?” He stood up, pacing.
“...Explain how you left me? Why...? Explain how you…” He raised his voice.
“...STILL TO THIS DAY ! NEVER even FUCKING APOLOGIZED for what you’ve done??!” He had towered over Jeremy as he yelled, his finger in the air and tears rolling down his cheek.
“YOU WERE THE ONLY THING I HAD. YOU… you… were… Everything.”

Jeremy went quiet.
In the room was only silence and the respiration of a tired Michael trying to catch his breath.
“and you left me.” He plopped back down on the bed, too exhausted to even be angry anymore.

-”I’m… sorry. I’m so. So sorry Michael.” Now Jeremy didn’t even care about crying again anymore.
As he saw no movement from Michael, Jeremy brought himself closer to him and hugged him, his tears staining Michael’s hoodie as he stayed motionless.

“I never should’ve taken this… Fucking pill. I never should’ve listened to those goddamn voices in my head that told me how fucked up I was. I never should’ve tried to change who I am. Because I never saw you. And you were right - fucking - there. I felt so alone. And yet, you were there. I’m an idiot. I’m sorry Michael… You deserve so much… You deserve so much more. And I never saw how precious you were and how real you could be. Because, Brooke, Rich, Jenna… They never felt as real as you do. And you’re right there. And you’re right. And… I love you, Michael.

Jeremy felt the other boy’s body break, his muscles loosening as he started to tremble. Then, just like the start of a thunderstorm, Michael cried. It was strong, it was loud, and it was so…honest.
The boys both strengthened their arms around each other, it was the most meaningful hug they’ve even done and will probably ever do. It was stronger than any words they could have said, and yet, it said everything.
Everything.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

After minutes, Jeremy started to chuckle, then slowly break down the hug, but not moving away too much. Michael’s face was red, and his glasses were foggy, but he felt better than ever.
Jeremy had a big, dumb smile on his face.
“Dude. The Squip isn’t back. I’m just an idiot.”

Michael wiped his face with his hoodie again. (He really needed to wash it now)
-”What do you mean?” He sniffed.

-”I…think it really might just be my really, really low self-esteem speaking for itself. You know, that little stupid dumbass voice.”

-”Are you sure?”

-”Positive.”

-”Fuuck…B-but... What about... The very specific stuff it said?"

Jeremy thought for a bit. "hm, I think... I was so scared about it actually coming back than I kind of created it in my mind. And It went so far as to cause me actual... Physical and mental distress."

Jeremy sighed. "I don't think I could ever express how sorry I am Michael. Really, if there's anything I can-"

-"Don't bother, idiot." He poked Jeremy's forehead. "...I already forgave you."
"For now on we're a hundread percent honest with each other yeah? Like... no secrets?"
-"A hundred percent." Jeremy nodded.

-"You also still have to tell me what happened today, we're not finished." Michael gave him an authoritarian look, smirking.

-"Yeaahh... I guess." Jeremy groaned. "...And I need paracetamol."

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Stupid, little dumb dumb, little boys. <3