"This is going to be the best weekend ever!" Miles cheered, throwing his pillow to the side and flopping on his bed. Bose smiled, shaking his head, as he unpacked his belongings. "You say that every time I sleepover and all we do is play video games and overdose on food," He reminded Miles. They stopped to look at each other, "Which is what makes it the best weekend ever!" They cheered in unison. Miles pulled his phone out to quickly check the weather when he was reminded of something, "Check it, I was thinking we could-"

As Miles was talking, they heard Mika struggling from across the hall, "This is highly unnecessary!" Miles and Bose left Miles's room to see what the hassle was about. There was yellow police tape stuck around Mika's doorway reading 'DO NOT CROSS'. On one side of the door, Mika stood inside her room, crossing her arms with a book in her hand. On the other side was her Father, proudly applying more tape at the entrance of her room.

"What's going on here?" Miles asked, nudging Bose and he tried to stop the sly smile that appeared on his face.

"He's what's going on! " Herm pointed at Bose sharply, "He's sleeping over,".

Bose wiped the smirk off his face, "What did I do?" he threw his hands up offended. " Bose has slept over plenty of times before," Mika said from the other side. Now Miles smirked then placed a condescending look on his face along with the voice. "He's never slept over while you two were...exclusive,". "Exactly son!" Their Dad exclaimed. Mika and Bose looked at each other with bored expressions, then at Miles and Herm. "You're being ridiculous Dad! Besides he's staying with Miles," Mika insisted.

"Yeah! And I can assure you, I'm a good kid," Bose defended himself, " I mean not to brag but I've never had to move my name to red in grade school,".

Herm looked slightly impressed until Miles spoke. "It never hurts to take extra precautions old man, teenagers are sneaky," Miles roughly patted his Father's back.

"You know what Miles, you're such an in-stoy-gator!" Bose amplified. Everyone but Mika looked at him confused.

"Babe, I think you mean, instigator," Mika corrected. "What she said," Bose nudged his head towards. Mika started going back and forth with her Dad and brother as Bose stayed quiet, hoping his silence was enough to back her up. Their Dad scared him a little.

"Time for dinner!" Mrs. Macklin was calling as she came downstairs from the attic to see the scene in the hallway. "Herm, get this tacky decor out of my house and for goodness, leave that boy alone!" Angela pulled him by the ear and down the other set of stairs.

"I made meatloaf!" Angela informed me.

The three teenagers cheered in excitement. Mika tried to bolt downstairs with the boys, but she got caught in the yellow tape and fell over. Bose immediately turned back around to help her.

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Mika and Bose had recently started dating. She's always liked him, but she also wasn't sure how things would turn out. She loved having Bose in her life and she would never forgive herself if getting into a relationship with him could risk their friendship.

That was until Bose stopped trying to go after her, he still liked her of course, but once she voiced her concerns about them being together, he backed off. He realized it wasn't fair for him to keep insisting even though he knew she wanted him; just as much he wanted her, when Mika's reasoning was completely valid. He was also apprehensive of what this could mean for them but he didn't have a doubt they couldn't make it work.

During the short couple of weeks where Bose no longer asked her to go to these romantic places (which she always said yes), or held her hand while they were studying (when it would replay in her head all day), nor did chivalry acts that were meant to show her that he was 'boyfriend worthy'; like he told Chapa. All though he was still very sweet to her. When Mika started to feel the lack of effort after she told him how she felt about the situation, she felt guilty for missing it. It was also unfair for her to expect him to keep doing those things when she wouldn't be able to fully reciprocate her feelings. The whole thing was ironically, simply complicated.

Then when Chapa had brought up the idea of seeing other people. Mika felt as if she was kicked in her throat, chest, and stomach. The thought of her being with someone that wasn't Bose made her miserable but it made her even more on edge when she thought about him ending up with someone else. She would surely lose her mind and it would all be her fault. She really didn't wanna be that woman who runs into his wedding and yells 'stop the ceremony!' to confess her feelings when she had years beforehand. Mika cringed with second-hand embarrassment at the thought.

So, she caved. Mika showed up at his doorsteps in the middle of the night and before he could talk, she kissed him. He was half asleep so didn't know whether he was hallucinating, however, an uncontrollable smile appeared on his face and he laughed sleeplessly.

Mika started to chuckle along with him when realized how cliche their whole relationship was.

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2:00 a.m

Everyone in the Macklin household was sound asleep, well, everyone except two people. Bose looked up from his sleeping bag to see if Miles was still asleep. It was kind of freaking him out because Miles insisted on sitting in the middle of his bed with his legs crossed in a yoga position and an eye mask that was designed to look like his eyes were open.

He shrugged it off and went back to texting Mika.

B: I know it's hard for you to fall asleep without me, i'm such a menace to your mind

Mika on the other side the phone was under her covers trying her best to hold back her laughter before replying.

M: A real gentleman would fix that.

Bose looked at the message suspiciously.

M: My doors unlocked...

Bose smirked,then bit his lip, her Dad would murder him.

B: But there's still so many things I wanna do before I die.

Honestly, this was really thrilling to Mika. I mean, how was she just supposed to fall asleep when Bose was right in the next room.

B: At least I'll die happy….. on my way

Mika squealed, quietly got up from her bed, and made her way to the door. Bose put his phone in his pajama pants before sneaking out of Miles's room, almost stepping on a rubber duck; a classic. Bose smiled at Mika from the other end of the dimmed hall and silently shut Miles's door. Mika waved him to hurry up and he tried his best to quickly get there. Once he reached the inside of her room, their kiddie giggles were faint, she quickly shut the door and made sure to lock it.

Now that he was here, Bose was stumped. What exactly was the plan? Mika took Bose's hand and he happily went along with it. They comfortably got in her bed, Bose fluffed the pillow he had while Mika reached for a small night light on her nightstand, then reached over again for the covers, and put it over them.

She turned on the tiny golden light and beamed when Bose's face came back to life. "Hi," Bose whispered. Mika shuffled a little closer to him, "Hi,". This was new to them. Mika hadn't ever remembered a time she was this comfortable in her own bed. That was just what Bose did to her, they were each other's safe space.

Mika bit her lower lip to stop a dorky grin from curving her lips when Bose wrapped his arm around her waist, making them even closer; if that was even possible. The moment was so still, they could almost hear the peaceful wind from outside. Mika closed her eyes and placed her forehead on his. Bose, however, kept his eyes open. Admiring how beautiful she truly is something he could never pass up.

"Hey, Bose?" Mika dreamily questioned. He hummed a reply.

"How do you think people see you?" She asked. The question was without rearrangement. Mika found that you can learn a lot about someone by knowing this. She wanted to be able to relate to Bose, to understand him on a deeper level where no one ever had. How did people see him? Bose always paid attention to other people, how they reacted to certain places, to certain people, to certain words...

For most of his life, he kind of felt like an outsider. Now that Mika had asked him that, it made him wonder from an insider's point of view, what was he like? What did he have to offer?

Mika's breathing was soft and timed. She brought her hand up, started gently stroking his hair and a little piece of his ear. It relaxed him. Bose lifted his chin so that his lips were closer to hers. He closed his eyes now they became in sync. The intimacy was real.

"Well, I can't be that bad if you're lying here with me," he lightheartedly chuckled and Mika kindly smiled.

She would need a serious answer later. For now, they were tired but at the same time wanted to stay awake, like this, for as long as they could.