"Wait, you know Doll?" Mike asks. Doll squeals again and hugs Jeremy tighter.

"Of course he does! Don't cha Jerebear?" Doll asks. Jeremy doesn't say anything. He only knew one girl, but Jeremy hasn't seen her since sixth grade.

"...P-Peaches? Is...is that y-you?" Jeremy asks, readying himself for disappointment. Doll's face lights up.

"Yes! It's Peaches!" She shouts and kisses his cheeks. Jeremy stares in shock before cracking a smile. He hugs her tight and shoots up. Doll giggles and allows Jeremy to lift her up and spin in a circle. After fifth spin, Jeremy puts Doll down and stares at her again. They giggle and hug each other one more time. Doll holds Jeremy's hands and pulls him to the living room without any resistance. They plop down on the couch and squeeze each other's hands tighter. Doll rips her attention away from her friend for a second to glance at Mike, who stood by the couch next to theirs.

"Jerebear, how do you know Mike? I don't think you two would've gone to the same high school." Doll asks. Jeremy nods.

"I went to g-get a job, which was a-actually pretty weird experience, and u-um the guy who g-got me the j-job let me stay with him. Well M-Mike, him and his boyfriend kn-know each other and apparently he w-works the night shift at my work pl-place too." Jeremy explains. Doll nods and stands.

"You still like tea right? How about I make us some?" She asks. The two male nods. Doll smiles and walks to the kitchen. Jeremy and Mike glance at each other. Mike sits on the other couch and pats his lap. A beagle comes running around the corner, nails clacking against the hardwood floor. It jumps up into Mike's lap and licks his face, making him chuckle. Doll comes back in balancing three plates of pound cake and three full cups of tea. She distributes the cake and tea then sits next to her boyfriend. Doll quickly looks back over to Jeremy.

"So Jere, since you have a job and all, how's your life going? Did your um dad get you in the mood to move out or what?" She asks and takes a bite of pound cake.

"M-my life is the s-same as it was, ups and downs, u-ups and downs. U-um, my grades in school have been pr-pretty good, but it did kinda droop for a l-little while a-after you left. I got my job th-through a friend and I'll tell you a-about that in a sec. O-Oh, uh, my dad got a new girlfriend recently." Jeremy says with a happy tone. Doll, who was about to drink her tea, halts and glances at him. She focuses back on her drink and sips before talking.

"So...you are still around him then?" Doll asks. Jeremy shrugs.

"Well I-I just moved out. I-into Vincent's house." Jeremy says and begins eating his pound cake. She smiles.

"Good. As for me, I met Mikey here at school through tutoring a few years ago and we had a baby." Doll says as she lifts her dog into the air. Jeremy smiles and bows his head.

"Nants ingonyama bagithi Baba!" Jeremy chants. Doll giggles at the Lion King quote and puts down her terrified dog. Mike pets it to calm it down.

"So how do you two know each other?" Mike asks. They pause and look at each other, neither one answering.

"...Tutoring too!" Doll says. Jeremy looks down to his tea and nods. He quickly sucks down the rest and motions Doll for more. She takes it and leaves the room. Jeremy barely moves his gaze. Mike looks to the dog in his lap. It climbs on to the arm of the couch and walks onto Jeremy's couch. The teen allows it to walk onto his lap and licks his face. He smiles and pets it. The dog licks Jeremy's neck, making him burst out laughing. The dog stops and lays down in Jeremy's lap. Doll returns with a smile on her face and hands Jeremy his tea. He smiles and takes it, letting the curious dog sniff it.

Mike's phone rings, grabbing everyone's attention. He looks at his phone and ignores the call with a scowl. He announces he wants to get to work early. Doll gives Mike a kiss before he leaves the room. She sits next to Jeremy and grabs his hands again.

"Sooooo how did you get your job hmmmmm?" Doll asks with amusement. Jeremy chuckles.

Jeremy recounted the odd experience of meeting Vincent, meeting Scott, getting his job and moving into his new home. He told about Fritz and how he really wanted the three of them to hang someday. He also told of what he had overheard a few days ago, which surprisingly hurt the teen. He mentioned the bland years of middle school and the untimely death of his mother, who had fallen down the stairs while lightheaded from blood loss and illness. Not much had changed so he didn't take much time updating Doll.

Doll had tons and tons of stories and updates to tell Jeremy. She had many new friends now and thankfully Doll sketched a face with a name and personality for Jeremy to help remember them all. Doll now helps out in a shelter for battered women and children and even wanted to have a career as a social went on and on about her many manga ideas that she wanted to accomplish with Jeremy's help. He's more than happy and promises to help her out tomorrow night. Doll squeals with delight and gives Jeremy a bear hug. Jeremy returns the bear hug and chuckles as they squeeze the life out of each other, just like they used to. They continue, trying to get the other to surrender and start pushing against each other to try to crush each other even more. Doll accidentally pushes too hard against Jeremy's left side, making him twist and tug her away from the couch. Jeremy quickly covers the back of his friend's head before they landed on the floor. Doll grunts when she makes contact with the floor and again when Jeremy lands on her. She wiggles out from under him and pushes him back onto the couch with her foot. After they catch their breaths, they start giggling at each other.

Doll picks up one of the couch pillows and hits Jeremy with it.

"You jerk! You let me fall!" She laughs. Jeremy snickers and grabs the other one, ready to start another fight.

"Y-you made me let you f-fall! At least I tried c-catching you!" Jeremy replies and whacks Doll's side. She giggles and puts the pillow back on the couch. Jeremy puts his down too. He suddenly remembers the last time they bear hugged. IT was the day before Doll left and they were watching an anime. Fate/Zero...Jeremy smirks.

"Hey Peaches," Jeremy says. Doll looks over to him.

"...Sakura had to stay in the worm pit..." Jeremy says with the evil smirk still on his face. Doll gives him a questioning look.

"Lancer didn't have to die either." Jeremy adds. Doll then realizes what he referenced and clutches her chest, whimpering about the feels. Doll couldn't stand the torture story of Sakura or the death of a character she fell in love with. Doll then remembers Jeremy had a fondness of Caster.

"Caster's master killed all those kids for no reason in the end!" Doll shoots back. Jeremy gasps and cried out about his feels. Caster's master killed many children in the search of the beautiful red art hidden inside his own body. Jeremy chuckles and starts another conversation about the anime. Mostly just about what would Sakura be like when she grew up and what would the Holy Grail do to accomplish anyone's wish. They speculate about how they can wish for world peace without the destruction of humanity, how their own wishes would be fulfilled, what exactly limited the Grail's power on a wish and if it were possible to find loop holes in the Grail's wish granting or the Master's wording. They fully explore each angle and try to think of another way to go.

After it felt like a while and they finished up their topic of how to place loop holes and how to work the work the Holy Grail if you could, Jeremy decides to check the time. He gasps. It had been three hours. Jeremy gulps and imagines Vincent's disappointed face.

"...I-I-I uh have t-to go now. I-I'll talk to you tomorrow." Jeremy says and quickly stands. Doll grabs Jeremy's phone before he could leave the room and unlocks his phone. She quickly adds her phone number in his contacts and gives it back. He smiles and hugs his friend one last time before leaving. Doll giggles and hugs back. Jeremy waves before leaving the house with a surprising pain in his chest. He really didn't want to leave his childhood friend yet, but Vincent would be furious if he stayed out any longer. Jeremy's slow walk quickly turns into a run using all his energy.

When he reaches his home's door, Jeremy's a panting, sweating mess. He didn't take any breaks during his run, fearing it would only waste time. His aching legs, pounding heart, and overworked lungs make him regret that decision. Jeremy takes deep and calm breaths before entering the house. Like before, the lights were all out. Jeremy quietly closes the door and slowly walks to the living room, head down in shame. He continued until he was in the middle of the room, facing Vincent, who was sitting in the chair, just like last time. The silence is very uncomfortable and only makes Jeremy more nervous. After a few more moments, Jeremy slowly looked up from Vincent's feet. Vincent fell asleep. Jeremy smiles and blushes at the fact that Vincent kept waiting for him. Jeremy tiptoes up to the sleeping man and gently shakes his arm. Vincent groans and slowly opens his tired eyes. He closes them and pulls Jeremy into a hug. The boy smiles and shakes Vincent again.

"V-Vince, it's really late. You should g-go upstairs to sleep. Y-you look uncomfortable." Jeremy whispers. Vincent groggily nods and stands up after Jeremy does. The boy helps the exhausted man up the stairs and to his room. Vincent hugs Jeremy and whispers.

"We're having a talk in the morning," Vincent yawns and lets go. He ruffles Jeremy's fluffy hair and enters his room. Jeremy sighs and walk into his own room. After kicking off his shoes, Jeremy flops onto the bed and falls asleep almost instantly.