X-Squipped (A Spicy Bis/Be More Chill fic)

Chapter 3: An invitation

Rich POV, a month later

Rich was released from the hospital a week or so ago, where Jeremy had frequently visited him. When Jeremy found out he'd be out soon, he'd impulsively invited him over. For a sleepover, no less. Rich didn't know what he did to earn so much... affection? Friendliness? He was never invited over to anywhere before he got a Squip, and even then, it was only to parties. Not only that, but Rich had trouble even imagining Jeremy inviting anyone over that antisocial headphone slushy kid... what was his name? Michael? Yeah, Michael. Jeremy and him were so close, Rich had almost assumed they were dating. Jeremy never told him why, but things were definitely different...

But Jeremy invited him over, not Michael, and for some reason, that scared him. So, Rich, fresh off getting pardoned from the hospital, accepted the invitation and went over to Jeremy's place. "Uhm, hey, Rich! I uh, didn't think you'd actually come.." Jeremy greeted him at the door, his greeting slowly turning into mumbles. They both stared at each other, as if they were just waiting for instructions... No. He thought. Don't take me back there. He then looked at Jeremy, and remembered that he didn't need instructions from a computer. He could just be him, and for Jeremy, that might even be enough. "Of course I would come, tallass! I'm not a dick anymore! Besides, first sleepover, can't miss it." Rich blurted out. Jeremy laughed, and smiled as Rich declared he wanted to be here. Jeremy guided him inside. Jeremy looked at a controller, like he was considering asking Rich to play a video game with him, but he didn't say anything. "So. Uhm. What do you wanna do? ..." Jeremy asked, fumbling over his words. He always did that. Well, when Jeremy was himself, anyway. Rich found that oddly endearing. "Whatever you want, tallass, as long as there ain't any fire. I will say, not my proudest moment." Rich tried to chuckle, but Jeremy just looked concerned for him, and Rich himself wasn't the best at laughing things off. "Uhhhh, alright. Well, we have sodas, if you want some." Jeremy said, already leading Rich to the kitchen. Jeremy opened the fridge. "Uh. We have milk, water (boring), orange juice, Mountain Dew..." He stopped, and both of them shuddered, and felt chills crawl down their spines. "Uh, we have Canadian root beer!" Jeremy said, trying to ignore the fact that neither of them ever wanted to see or hear about Mountian Dew (or tic tacs, for that matter) ever again. "Canadian root beer? How do your parents even have that?" Rich asked, mildly amused. "I dunno, guess God gave it to us. After all, anything is legal on New Jersey." Jeremy and Rich laughed a shit ton at this, before Rich, through amused laughter, asked "God's Canadian?" To which Jeremy replied with a "I guess so!" After they got their Canadian root beer (it's just AnW root beer instead of Mug root beer), they went back to the living room, a bit unsure what to do. Jeremy, panicking and wanting to do something to pass the time, asked to play a video game. Rich figured this couldn't be that bad, so he said sure, and Jeremy passed a controller to Rich. Before he knew it, they were playing a game Rich had never heard of before. "Apocalypse Of The Damned". Yeah, they didn't get five minutes into it before Jeremy went from normal amounts of nervous wreck to not normal amounts of nervous wreck (Rich was not creative). "You alright?" Rich asked, which Jeremy responded with a "uhm" and a shit ton of sweat. Rich didn't know how bad it was but he'd guessed it was the guilty kind. He knew from experience. Rich turned the game off worriedly, and then asked Jeremy where his kitchen was. Rich immediately went to Jeremy's kitchen, getting a wet paper towel and some water for his friend. ... Friend. Rich had a real friend. And it was the one person he knew he'd wanted to be friends with. The one person who really cared so long ago. So, after Jeremy was able to come to his senses, he said a lot of thanks and apologies, before proceeding to do this weird thing where Jeremy wrapped his arms around him. Rich had never experienced this before, and didn't realise what it was, but he felt like he needed it. "Tallass, uh... what the hell is this?" Rich asked, not sounding annoyed, and clearly not wanting it to end, but definitely confused. "Do... do you now know what a hug is..?" Jeremy asked, a hint of sadness to his voice, as his face twisted into a frown. "No? Should I? Have I been excluded from a private club or something, tallass?" Jeremy's frown deepened as he heard Rich say that. "Yeah, you probably should know what they are by now... they're like, the thing that I'm doing. Y'know someone who cares about you and who you care about just kinda gives you them to show they love you, unless they know you don't like them..? H- have you really never been hugged before?" Jeremy asked, to which Rich responded by recriprocating the gesture. It felt nice, knowing that someone cared about him enough to give him one. "Thanks, Jeremy." Rich said, and smiled. Jeremy smiled, too, and blushed at Rich calling him by his name. "Uh... dunno what those are or why people do them, but, uh... give me more of those, sometime..? ... Please?" Rich requested. "Hugs. They're called hugs, Rich. But I will." Jeremy replied, clearly happy. "Thank you, tallass." Rich said, gratefully, but still with a pant of sadness to his voice, and Jeremy could hear it breaking a little. The two had fun conversations, played video games that weren't Apocalypse Of The Damned, and kept themselves entertained the whole day. Hell, they'd even had an epic pillow fight! (Rich was confused at first, until he remembered one of his childhood movies and realized it was a friend thing.) After all was said and done, this was probably the best day of Rich's life. He had a friend! A real friend! Better than anything he'd ever had with Jake, or Brooke, or Chloe! But, Rich felt a weird kind of exhaustion. Probably the kind that normal people get after having days so fun but tiring that you wanna sleep but also never want to because then the fun would end? Well, the feeling was weird to him, at least. But, Rich got to sleep pretty easy that night. If only he could say so for the dream itself...