Notes:

So I've had a pretty hectic week, I've been performing in a production. But I've managed to get this chapter up, sorry its a bit late but I hope that you enjoy. -

Michael beamed as Rich opened the door. As usual he held up his two slushies in each hand.

"Hey Rich!" He yelled very excitedly, and wore a huge cheesy grin while looking Rich in the eyes.

"Well, doesn't someone seem perky today?" Rich chuckled and raised an eyebrow.

"Why wouldn't I be? I get to spend the day with my awesome friend!"

Rich felt a small piece of his heart curl up and die. Did Michael seriously just say the 'F' word? No matter, maybe he was just overreacting. Michael probably didn't mean anything by it.

But today had to be perfect. He wasn't expecting a beautiful, blossoming relationship, but he knew that they had grown pretty close, so if Michaeldid reject him then surely understand, and it won't tear them apart.

Well that's what Rich would've liked to think really. Anyhow, that wasn't important now. An hour of video games would calm him down.

Rich took the blue slushie from Michael's hand. "I trust, you know where to go?"

Michael nodded. He knew better than to touch anything. He knew that if he were to even a finger on something he'd somehow break it.

Rich picked up two controllers and handed one to Michael, who graciously took it.

"I'm not going to lie. I've been looking forward to this all week." Rich said shyly.

"Me too, buddy." Michael beamed back!

And there it was. Another shot through the heart. This time, he used the 'B' word. At this point, he didn't know weather to just give up, or step back and realize that he was probably overreacting. This was all he wanted for months, he had every right to overreact. He watched as Michael nearly slip away from him. This was the day it stopped.

For weeks now, Michael had been helping him with his 'problem'. Rich had put on a big show about his 'crush' on Jake and how he's 'straight', thus he'd never like him back. He felt a little bad that he was technically leading Michael onand using Jake to get what he wanted.

Michael was happy to help, he thought that it would be nice for him to help someone else, he could forget about his own life. It made him feel useful, worthwhile, it was kind of hard to explain. Well, he knew what he meant.

He was sure he didn't like Rich in anyway, other than a friend. It had been swarming in his head for weeks. He knew that he couldn't fall in love with Rich, because he liked Jake. And one thing was for sure, he didn't want to start a love triangle.

"So, before we start playing, I'd like to talk about Jake." Rich put his controller on the floor.

"Oh sure, what is it?" Michael asked. "Are you going to ask him out?"

Well...N-no." Rich stammered.

"Ok, so what is it?"

"well...you know that feeling when you've been lying...well not lying as such, like exaggerating...actually-"

Michael shot Rich a confused look. "Rich, I don't quite know what you're taking about."

"Hang on, let me rephrase that." Rich felt his heartbeat raise with every second.

"Go on." Michael said patiently.

"Well, see, I kind of have a confession to make."

"Yes?"

"I never had a crush on Jake." Rich blurted.

"I don't understand. Why would you tell me that you have a crush on Jake when you don't mean it?"

"Isn't it obvious?"

"No, should it be?"

Rich knew that what he was about to do could go one of two ways; Either, Michael will fall head over heals in love with him, they'd get married, adopt kids, live in a house on a hill. Or, he'd be completely weirded out by Rich's sudden actions and avoid him for the rest of his life. Rich was into risk taking, but this felt...Well there was no turning back now. He knew that this was what he needed to do.

"S-see Michael, when I was under the influence of the squip, I was told to keep my feelings to myself which led to all my relationships falling apart."

"All of them?" Michael said in disbelief.

"Yes, all of them, and it all ended with the same thing. All of the girls told me how I wasn't making an effort in the relationship, which Iwas, just not very well." Rich rubbed the back of his neck, nervously. He was pretty sure he was just stalling and needed to just say it.

"I need to just dive in." He thought to himself, which was a kinda cheesy metaphor. "It's like swimming, you just have to jump in and get it over with. It's better to do that, than to faff about. It's like with most things, ya know...Okay, so it isn't like heart surgery, you don't just grab a scalpel and have a bash. I guess itis more like swimming, jump in, get used to the waters before you move on..." And in that moment, Rich knew he needed to stop.

"Hey dude, you alright? You've been acting spacey." Michael snapped his fingers, which bought Rich back.

"Oh right, sorry."

"You were saying?"

"O-oh yes, so you know that feeling when, you want to say something, but the words just won't come out right?"

"I suppose so. If you can recall, I was never much of a speaker." Michael giggled.

"Maybe, I can show you?" Rich smiled shakily. He couldn't believe what he was about to do.

He shifted on to his knees, looking Michael in his large brown eyes. He felt his heart jump into his throat. He took one more deep breath and leaned in.

Michael quickly caught on to what Rich was doing. Using all the courage he could muster, he took Rich's face in his hands and pressed a small kiss on his lips.

Michael didn't quite know how to kiss properly. He'd never kissed anyone before, but he expected it to be just as it was in the movies, like, smooth, long and beautiful.

There was a small problem, Michael had no idea what he was doing, which wasn't at all surprising. He smiled slightly in the kiss.

Rich opened his mouth a little bit and took Michael's bottom lip a small, toothless bite, which Michael tried to copy.

"you alright?" Asked Rich arching his eyebrows.

"Yeah, sorry, I was just trying to copy you."

"Maybe, just leave the more expert stuff to me."

Michael hummed in response.

Rich playfully rolled his eyes, before dipping Michael's cheek.

"Wait." Michael placed a hand on Rich's chest to stop him.

"What?"

"Does this make us boyfriends now?"

Oh yeah! After the kiss, he'd forgotten everything.

"Yeah, I think so."

Michael nodded, with a slight smirk on his face. "Cool." Was all that he could manage to say.

"Cool." Rich replied.

"We're boyfriends now."

"Yup." Rich grinned. "Hang on can I just um-" Rich awkwardly jumped to his feet.

"Ok, I'll see you later."

"I'll be back in a minute."

Rich promptly walked out of the room. He shut the door behind him, he made his way up the stairs and Into the bathroom.

He looked himself in the mirror, took a deep breath in and screamed on the top of his lungs. He was so happy! His fingertips touched his lips, the tingle of Michael's kiss lingered there.

Rich had kissed loads of girls, many times. But Michael's kiss felt different, he felt right around him. He smiled at his reflection, God! He felt like a winner!

He also needed to calm down, baring in mind, this was his first proper relationship, one that didn't involve the squip telling him what to do all day.

And this was it, this was the one he couldn't mess up. He couldn't make a wrong move.

Oh! He almost forgot. He needed to call Jake and tell him how everything went.

"Hello?" Came Jake's voice from the other end of the phone.

"Jakey D! It's Rich."

"Richie! What's up? How's it going with Michael?"

"We'll, that's exactly what I wanted to talk about."

"Oh?" Jake sounded rather concerned.

"It's nothing too bad-"

"Please don't tell me you did something stupid." Jake interrupted.

Rich went silent.

"well not 'stupid' stupid, but just-" Rich stopped to think about to say. "Stupid?"

"For God's sakes, Richard Goranski. You have to be the most idiotic person I've ever met!"

"Jake-"

"Seriously Rich, you've worked so hard on this and now you've fucked it all up!"

"The thing is-"

"I can't believe you would do something so stupid!"

"Jake, Michael and I are dating!"

Silence.

"What?"

"Michael and I are dating."

Jake breathed a sigh of relief.

"Jesus Rich, don't scare me like that!"

"Sorry." Rich chuckled. "You know I should head off."

"Don't want to keep your boyfriend waiting."

"No."

"We'll see ya."

"Bye."

Rich smiled once more, before darting down the stairs to find Michael.

Notes:

Right, I'm terrible at writing kiss scenes so I looked up some other fanfictions to get some ideas. But anyway, things are starting to come together, I have about five or six more chapters to go.

Also, I'm taking a small break for about a week or so, I'm spending the week in my hometown.

I think that's about it and yeah, I'll see you in the next update.

X