TWO CHAPTERS BEING POSTED BC I CANT BELIVE I FORGOT TO KEEP UPDATING HERE IM SOORY OOF
The butterflies in Jeremy's stomach exploded into fireworks. He melted into the kiss, letting Michael take the lead. His eyes initially flitted between Michael's eyes and lips, before settling closed. Jeremy's hands quickly found their way into Michael's hair, pulling him closer. Michael pulled away briefly to catch his breath before tilting his head a little and leaning in for another kiss.
Honestly? Michael had no clue what he was doing. He had impulsively kissed Jeremy back to try to make it clear that yes, he liked him back. After breaking away breathless he looked at Jeremy. He was in utter bliss, which out of all things happening made Michael blush.
Oh boy, the SQUIP did not like this. Jeremy froze as the SQUIP locked down his body. He desperately fought against it despite the pain. Unlike the fight where he had no clue what to do, he knew in this instance that him kissing Michael was in the right. This love wasn't wrong. Gritting his teeth, he tried to move to no avail. Jeremy squinted through his tears. Michael had disappeared, he couldn't have just vanished within seconds from his lips. What was going on?
Michael felt Jeremy tense and pulled away
Was the kissing too much? Michael immediately recognized what was happening. Jeremy's SQUIP was on full blast, shutting Jeremy's body down. Michael glanced about. Where the hell was the Mountain Dew Red? He spotted it half rolled under Jer's bed. He scrambled up and snatched it out of there. He held it out to Jeremy but he was frozen.
"Jeremy?"
Jeremy managed to glance about. What was he looking for? Then it clicked; his optic nerve blocking was on. Michael felt sick in his stomach. Jeremy couldn't see him. Great; he was going to have to do this the hard way.
Jeremy felt a force pin him down. He was getting more and more panicked. He wanted this to stop. He couldn't move and was terrified. Jeremy was vulnerable. He wanted this to
Stop
Stop it
STOP!
For a split second he could see Michael on top of him, one hand holding him down, the other with a bottle of Mountain Dew Red. Then he disappeared. Was...the SQUIP hiding him from his vision? He began to calm down slightly.
Jeremy writhed under Michael's weight as he held him down. Oof, this didn't feel fun as he pushed down his uncomfy emotions. Michael waited for a moment when Jeremy was more still, and trickled some of the soda into his mouth. Jeremy immediately started to thrash more violently as the deactivation began. Michael hugged him close, not letting go even when Jeremy stopped moving.
Jeremy was hit with a wave of pain and let himself be dragged into a memory, trusting Michael to look after his body.
"This is not what I wanted," Jeremy growled. He glared at a semi translucent … Keanu Reeves? He recognised this as his SQUIP fully activated. His SQUIP sneered at him.
"It's the only way to achieve what you want."
"I'll fight back," Jeremy ran a hand through his hair, trying to formulate a plan quickly, "Alcohol messes you up, right? I'll get drunk."
"And I'll be back when you're sober," they chuckled, "Unless, you plan on staying wasted forever?"
Damn he was right, and the alcohol would probably mess up his body more than the SQUIP would. What could he do to get rid of the damn thing.
"You're a computer. There has to be a way to turn you off."
For a second Jeremy swore he could see fear flash through the SQUIP's eyes.
"I would stop there. You don't want to end up like Rich."
"Rich? What did he-"
Another memory intersected with this one. Rich ran around frantically in the halloween party, hair a mess and visibly in some sort of pain. He legged it around the party yelling "I need Mountain Dew Red!"
Jeremy's eyes widened in realisation. That's it!
"Green Mountain Dew activates you, Red shuts you off!"
"Why do you think we had it discontinued? To get rid of me now, you'd need a time machine to the 1990s."
"Or a friend who's so old school he buys 90s soft drinks from the back room at Spencer's Gifts!"
Michael was a gift from God, even if his dated drink preferences were questionable, he desperately needed him right now.
"Too bad you don't have one of those anymore."
Damn it. The SQUIP had thought through everything. Michael! He had to call Michael!
"I'm going to improve your life, Jeremy. If I have to take over the entire student body to do it."
Waves of electrocution pulsed though Jeremy as he fell to his knees, convulsing. He was in a losing battle against the SQUIP. He couldn't let everyone get squipped. But he couldn't stop it. His SQUIP was far to powerful now, and he wasn't strong enough to protect who he cared about. Suddenly, the nearby door slammed open, a familiar figure silhouetted in the flood of light.
"Michael makes an entrance!"
"Michael!"
Jeremy promptly sat up, turnt towards the boy in the bright doorway, and was thrown out of his memory, jolting forward...into Michael's forehead. He cried out as he recoiled back in pain. Michael's reaction in contrast was laughter? Jeremy looked up at Michael. He held his forehead in his hand, pushing up his fringe, and laughed. How was he finding the situation funny? He had just got hijacked by his SQUIP in the middle of a passionate moment.
Jeremy took heavy breaths as he calmed down from the SQUIP and his headbutt. So many things have happened at once. Accidentally coming out to Michael? Kissing him? The SQUIP'S attack? A new memory? Holy crap, that was a lot to process. Michael liked him? Like-liked him? The thought made the butterflies in his stomach flutter. He wasn't sure he'd ever have requited for a long time. To have his best friend to return his love? It was so damn unlikely, but yet it was happening.
"You OK dude?" Michael chuckled.
"Hooooo yeah I think so," Jeremy smiled, "Got another memory back, it feels… important? You were there. Does uh 'Michael makes an entrance' ring any bells?"
Michael's brow furrowed slightly in thought.
"That would be during the play? I realized that everyone had been SQUIPed and…"
Jeremy frowned.
"And what?"
Michael grimaced. He wasn't proud of his behavior during the Play. Yes, he was valid in wanting an apology from Jeremy, but he didn't feel good about how that whole scene went down. He didn't want to lie to Jeremy right now, but he wasn't comfortable yet explaining it.
"And came round the back to get you some Mountain Dew Red to try to get rid of that damn SQUIP."
Jeremy could see Michael was hiding something. Not lying, but still avoiding elaborating. He decided not to push it. No need to make this conversation uncomfortable when he was happy learning things step by step, memory by memory.
Both the boys thoughts were interrupted by Michael's mobile ringing. It was Rich? Michael put him on speaker phone.
"Yo Michael!" Rich's voice chimed out from the mobile that Michael placed on the carpet between them. He signed to Jeremy to be quiet so Rich wouldn't clock onto the fact that everyone in the room could hear him.
"What's up Rich?"
"Jake and I are headed to the broadwalk, you wanna come hang? You could bring Jeremy~"
You could hear the suggestive eyebrow wiggle. Jeremy choked down a laugh. Did Rich...ship them? Had Michael told Rich he had a crush on him? He looked at him. Michael was bashfully blushing. He nodded to Michael.
"Sure dude," Michael chuckled, "Arcade? Leisurely stroll? Swimming?"
"You wanna see your crush shirtless that badly?"
Michael went bright red and stumbled over his words. The look on his face said 'he's not wrong'. Jeremy snorted, not catching it in time, and his eyes widened. There was a moment of silence.
"Am...I on speaker phone? Are you aT JEREMY'S? MICHAEL?"
Both the boys burst out laughing. I guess the gig was up. Michael shrugged.
"Uh, oof yeah man."
"Jeremy yoU'RE NOT FREAKING OUT?!"
Jeremy thought about it. He was still recovering from the kiss, but he wouldn't say that he was freaking out anymore.
"No? Well, I mean ..."
"Oh my God you two are dating."
I mean, neither had asked each other out, but with one look they both broke into a big grin. Yeah, they were both up to dating each other. Rich's voice got quieter as he spoke away from the phone.
"JAKE YOU OWE ME $50 THEY'RE DATING!"
Jeremy's eyebrows raised. He bet $50 on them getting together?!
"what? who?" Jake responded.
"JEREMY AND MICHAEL! BY THE WAY THey're gonna come hang with us."
Rich went back to the phone.
"Meet us by the pizza place? Jake's paying; my winnings should cover it. Bye!"
He hung up.
So. They were officially an item now. Knowing Rich and Jake, word will get to Jenna by the evening, and by tomorrow everyone would know. Michael wasn't sure how comfortable he was with that, but he couldn't exactly stop it from happening.
"So... we're... official?"
Michael laughed and shrugged.
"I guess, because /someone/ couldn't suppress a laugh."
He playfully jabbed at Jeremy's side.
"Hey, I have bad self confidence so /escUSE ME/ for finding the idea of anyone wanting to see me shirtless as funny."
He dramatically posed, led across the ground.
"Woe is me I have noodle arms how could anyone love my pasta appendages."
Michael keeled over from laughter, setting Jeremy off as well. Pasta appendages?! Hoo boy, Michael couldn't breathe. He missed this; Jeremy's choice wording, and his dumbass humor, causing laughing fits. Even with a loss of memory, this was definitely still the boy he fell in love with in first grade.
Jeremy could barely hold his sides together. Everything that spewed from his mouth was so stupid but so damn good. As Jeremy began to ease out of his laughter, Michael got another wave of giggles and set jeremy off again. Man, by the time they were gonna leave they'd be out of energy and breath. Curse this spell of giggles.
Hey! Linc/Rhaps here! This fic was last updated on AO3 in late July, and I've barely written any since. But don't worry! Updates will be coming! I'm working on one right now! I'm also gonna be beta-ing my old writing and fixing some inconsistencies so keep an eye out for that!
