Michael shifted around, becoming even more entangled in his bed sheets. He felt mortified that he had forgotten to take out that stupid letter. He had only just gotten Jeremy back, he couldn't stomach the thought of something as trivial as his dumb crush putting another divide between them.

His mind raced and he started to panic, he felt his throat tighten as the familiar empty tingling feelings of dread took over his chest, spreading all the way down his arms to the tips of his fingers. Should he text Jeremy about it more? Or would that be suspicious? What if Jeremy does translate it, there's nothing he could say to excuse the things he wrote on that paper. No amount of 'No Homos' could save him from this one.

God, he hates emotions.

Michael feels himself start to blink harder than necessary, he feels his breathing become ragged and choppy, and he began involuntarily scrunching up his nose every time time one of the too hard blinks happened. They were tics that he knew he tended to display when he was feeling overwhelmed or too anxious. He takes a deep breath as he pulls off his glasses and tosses them aside carelessly as he squeezes his eyes shut and runs his hands over his face. He rubs at his eyes and nose, trying to rid them of the persistent itchy tickle that came from the facial tics. He hates when this happens, it's like when you become aware of your blinking or breathing, like he was suddenly hyper aware every movement his face made.

Michael squeezes his eyes shut, scrunches up his nose as hard as he could, and takes in a deep breath before holding it. He held it for a couple seconds before relaxing his face, breathing out heavily. He's being ridiculous, getting so worked up over this. It was just Jeremy. His Jeremy. He wasn't being controlled by that god awful computer anymore, he was back to being the same clumsy dork that Michael was best friends with. The same boy that happily told him that he was his favourite person, the boy who would never ever leave him. The boy that Michael had fallen irrevocably in love with.

He sighs deeply again, feeling some of the tension drain from his body. He would be fine, he was just going to not worry about it unless it becomes an issue. Let things run their course, go with the flow, y'know? Michael forced the thought out of his mind, compartmentalization was a wonderful thing, and he felt his anxieties wash away smoothly, leaving nothing but the familiar feeling of obliviousness wash over him. He was fine.

-

It wasn't until many hours later that something actually happened. Michael had been woken up by the feeling of his phone vibrations with notifications under him. He must've accidentally fallen asleep at some point, he thinks, considering he had no idea where his glasses were and his phone had been stuck between his body and the bed, rather than shoved under his pillow and plugged into the charger.

His hand scrambles around, blindly digging in the covers tangled around him in search of the offending cellular device. He clicked it on, squinting at the sudden brightness, eyes immediately landing on the time. Ugh, he had been asleep for five hours, and it was now well into the night. His eyes drifted down to the notifications which he woken him. It was two texts, both from Jeremy.

Michael unlocks his phone, rolling over onto his stomach so that he could prop himself up on his elbows. As he read the messages, Michael felt an icy spike shoot through him, making the tips of his fingers tingle and his palms itch.

J: 'so,, I just finished translating that letter.'

J: 'the fine print says ur gay'

shit.

M: 'aaaaaaagghhh'

M: ' I was trying to get you to not read thattg'

M: 'aaaahhh'

Michael groaned and flopped down to press his face into his pillow.

Great, now what was gonna happen between them? Just his luck, already about to make things between them awkward, immediately after he finally got him back. His phone buzzed in his hand again and he reluctantly lifted his face from his pillow.

J: 'it's ok tho, bc, like,, it turns out the fine print says I'm pretty gay 2'

Michael froze, blinking rapidly as if he had simply imagined the words he was reading.

J: 'I mean,, if u iguana, we could try to date'

What the fuck. What the Fuck?

M: 'uh,, yeah, that sounds great, sure, lets do that then'

There's no way this is actually happening. Like, there's just actually physically no way that it could be this simple? One text and now suddenly Michael is dating his best friend, who he just so happens to have had a crush on for the better part of five years.

Michael knows he should be ecstatic, he somehow had just managed to become the boyfriend of Jeremy Heere, something he's wanted for so long. He should be shouting or screaming or crying out of happiness or something. But he doesn't. In that moment, as it was starting to sink in, all Michael felt was an overwhelming feeling of contentment. He felt his face slip into a big, dopey grin, as his cheeks heated and his chest felt warm.

It was a really lame way to get together, through stupid bumbling texts and dumb puns, but somehow Michael felt that it was fitting. It was them. Because no matter what, they were still best friends before anything else. Michael knew that even if this whole dating thing didn't work out In the end, they would still be there for each other. Michael decides to be happy about it some other time, because for now, he was just going to be content.

He felt calm and cool and chill as he continues exchanging dumb texts with Jeremy just like the usually did.

-

Michael is brought back to the present by the feeling of something bouncing off of his cheek. He whips his head to look at Jeremy, eyes narrowing in accusation. He made eye contact with his boyfriend for a second, before he had to rip his gaze back to the road ahead of them.

Jeremy was failing to suppress the smile that was pulling at his lips as he looked at Michael. He had been staring at Michael for the past two minutes, watching how his face would twitch in response to whatever he had been thinking so hard about.

It was times like this, when Michael was a million miles away, that Jeremy liked to let his eyes roam across the other boys face, to really admire and appreciate the person in front of him.

Jeremy ripped off another piece of the napkin he had found in the floorboard and rolled it up, smirking impishly as he flicked it at Michael, hitting him in the temple lightly.

Michael huffed as he felt the second projectile bounce off of his temple.

"Stop it, you egg. What do you want? I'm kinda busy here." Michael says, casting another sideways glance at Jeremy before gluing his eyes to the road once more. Jeremy snorted as he unbuckled his seatbelt.

"Just making sure you're alive, dude. Pretty sure you haven't blinked in, like, five minutes." Jeremy states as he twists around in his seat, half crawling into the back so that he could grab Michaels backpack.

Michael hummed in response, shifting in his seat uncomfortably. Jeremy settles back into his original position as he pulls Michaels backpack into his lap. He unzips it swiftly,shuffling through the contents in search of something.

"The fuck are you looking for?" Michael inquires as Jeremy removed the various snacks that they had brought, throwing loose bags of chips and candy bars into the back seat with Michael's headphones.

Jeremy hums as he sifts through the assorted clutter, eyebrows furrowed in concentration.

"I bought a bangin' new CD to listen too, and I know I slipped it in here before we left but you have so much random shit in this thing-"

"Hey, I'll have you know that one day you're gonna appreciate all of that random shit when the world ends and we have to survive in the post apocalyptic lands." Michael proclaimed assuredly. Jeremy snorted out a laugh, before exclaiming in excitement.

"Ah! I found it, yes! Check this out, Dude." Michael flicked his eyes over to Jeremy quickly, immediately locking on the small CD case that he was presenting to him proudly.

"Oh my fucking God." Michael choked in surprise, "Jeremy, is that-"

"Brittney's Greatest Hits!" Jeremy yelled, his voice cracking slightly on the 'hits' out of excitement. "Hell yeah!"

Michael laughed loudly at how excited his boyfriend was over a goddamn Brittney Spears CD. "You absolute dork." he muttered fondly.

"Dude, look, we may be boyfriends, but you better believe that I am, 100%, Brittney's bitch." Jeremy replied confidently as he snapped open the plastic case.

Michael scoffed and shook his head, a wide grin plastered across his face. He didn't stop the lanky boy from inserting the disk into the player.

Michael was, by no means, a Brittney Spears fan. He only knew about two songs by her and he didn't particularly care for them, but he was willing to sit through a couple subpar songs if it meant he got to see Jeremy as happy as he was.

"I hope you're ready to be serenaded, bitch," Jeremy stated determinedly, "because I'm about to turn the FUCK up, dog."

Michael barked out another laugh at that, already knowing what was coming. Whenever Jeremy especially liked a song, he tended to put his whole soul into belting it out, and usually directly into Michael's face. Which was, actually, not at all as unpleasant as one would expect. Despite his tendency to stutter and how often his voice cracks, Jeremy had an amazing singing voice. Michael often thought to himself that he could listen to Jeremy sing all day and it would never get old.

The electronic best started up, and Jeremy angled his body in his seat so that he was facing more towards Michael as he seamlessly joined in with Brittney's voice.

"Mmm~ Baby, can't you see," Jeremy rasped lowly, bobbing his head to the beat.

"I'm fallin~

A guy like you,

Should wear a warnin~"

He began putting his whole body into it, adoptive a seductive expression with hooded eyes and his head tilted up slightly, as he leaned towards Michael, reaching over to lightly run his hand down the half Filipinos jaw as he continued.

"It Dangerous-,

I'm Fallin~" Jeremy's hand ghosted down Michael's neck stopping to rest lightly on his swallows thickly and starts to sweat, his heart rate increasing

" There's no escape,

I can't wait,

I need a hit

Baby, give me it~

You're dangerous

I'm lovin' it," Jeremy pulled back, leaning back in his seat as he began moving his body to the beat.

"Too high

Can't come down

Losing my head

Spinning 'round and 'round

Do you feel me now?"

Michael couldn't help but stop to wonder how Jeremy could physically manage to pull off those high ass notes.

"With a taste of your lips I'm on a ride

You're toxic, I'm slipping under," Jeremy belted passionately, leaning towards Michael again.

With a taste of a poison paradise

I'm addicted to you

Don't you know that you're toxic-"

Jeremy lowered his volume as he moved his face closer to Michael's until he was only about 6 inches away. Michael feels the blush blooming across his cheeks and his breathing hitches.

"And I love what you do

Don't you know that you're toxic-"

Jeremy swooped in and kissed Michael's cheek quickly, before pulling back completely and resuming the song as if he had never even moved.

Fuck. Michael takes a deep breath, exhaling slowly in an attempt to calm his racing heart and put out the fire in his face.

Goddamnit.

This was gonna be a long drive. Michael ponders the probability of then getting into a car crash if things kept going the way they were currently.

He concludes that the odds are roughly 75/25 in favour of them dying before the day ends.