holiday spirit ✓

☃️ 030!

AFTER THEIR WAITER DISAPPEARS, Michael stares down at the floor for a little while, until Bryce finally looks up from texting the Plum Island groupchat to realise something's wrong.

"Hey, Mikey, you all good?"

He nods, but Bryce can tell straightaway that it's a blatant lie. Usually, he's so much more upbeat than this, especially now everything's gearing up for Christmas.

"Seriously. You know you can tell me anything!" Bryce nudges the younger boy lightly, and Michael exhales softly and looks up at him.

"Are you sure? Because..." Michael laughs a little and presses the heel of his hand into his eye socket. "Because I'm kind of scared about this, to be honest. And I haven't told anyone else, not even Luke, but I'm hoping it'll be OK, and you can sort of be the trial run–"

"Spit it out, then!" Bryce grins slightly, trying to catch Michael's line of sight by leaning down. "You were rambling."

With another deep breath, Michael looks up with a small smile; Bryce's mood drops a little when he sees the tears in his eyes.

"I-I-I think I'm bisexual."

There's a scary beat of silence where Bryce has no idea what to say, and Michael is waiting and trying to gauge Bryce's reaction. It seems to drag on for far too long, and Michael is about to try and break the tension with some ill-timed statement when Bryce pulls him into a hug.

"I'm so proud of you! Oh my god."

Michael laughs into the shoulder of Bryce's single Christmas sweater (worn specially for the occasion) and it feels like an absolute weight lifted off his chest. Finally, he can talk about how attractive Josh Dun is with Calum!

"Hello?" says a voice, and Bryce looks up to see their waiter stood with their food, a faintly amused smile on his face. "This for you two?"

Michael nods and jokes with him as Bryce sits and stares at the table for a few seconds, before snapping back to reality, ignoring the creeping feeling in his mind, and starting to finally eat.