Love Bites // Be More Chill // .:Boyf Riends:.

Malt Shakes and Melancholy

TW: Nightmares, panic attacks

Edit: Art belongs to me

[Michael POV]

"NO!" Michael woke to Jeremy yelling. He ran out into the living room to see Jeremy curled up on the couch in his blanket, shaking.

"Jeremy?" Carefully, Michael touched his shoulder. "You ok?" Jeremy jumped slightly at his touch. He looked at Michael with tears in his eyes.

"Mi- Michael..." His breathing was shaky and uneven. He buried his face in Michael's chest and began sobbing. Michael wrapped his arms around Jeremy. Jeremy has had bad dreams before, but they were never as bad as this.

"Shhhhh Jere.. I'm right here.." Michael whispered. "I'm not leaving."

After a while, Jeremy calmed down. They sat there for a while, just holding each other. Jeremy's breathing finally returned to normal.

"Are you gonna be ok?" Michael asked. Jeremy nodded, still wiping tears from his face. He checked the clock. 2 am. "Is there anything I can do to help you feel better?"

"Well, after... after stuff like this, my mom would always take me to get thos- those, uh, malt shake things... you don't have to though..." Jeremy mumbled. Michael grabbed Jeremy's hand and helped him stand up.

"C'mon, there's a diner that sells those. They're open 24/7." He helped Jeremy to the door.

"Oh, no you don't have to-"

"Hey, you're feeling bad and I want to help you to feel better, so we're gonna go get malt shakes."

"But, you're still in your pajamas..." Jeremy said, grabbing his beanie and mask. Jeremy was still fully clothed, as he fell asleep as soon as they got home last night. Michael on the other hand, had on his creeps shirt and some sweatpants.

"Pfff. It's fine," Michael chuckled a little and waved his hand. "People go there in their PJs all the time. Plus another friend of mine works the night shift, she's used to it." The city streets were lit up with shop signs, ads, and car lights. The night sky was a dark blue hue with stars scattered across it. Jeremy held onto Michael's shirt sleeve as he shuffled behind him. Soon, they were at a retro-themed diner. A flickery neon sign hung in the window. It read Dusk to Dawn Diner.

"Hey Brooke!" Michael called as they stepped in mostly empty diner. Only a few people were there. Some business men working late and tired families coming back from an early flight. A girl with shoulder length, blonde hair peeked out from the kitchen.

"Hey Michael! Haven't seen you here this early in a while," The girl wore a 50s themed waitress outfit. She spotted Jeremy. "Ooo! A new costumer! Who's this, Michael?" Jeremy rubbed his eyes with one hand, still holding on to Michael's sleeve with the other.

"This is Jeremy, Jeremy this is Brooke." Jeremy waved a small wave. Brooke smiled.

"Nice to meet you Jeremy, what can I get for ya?" Brooke pointed up to a menu hanging above the counter. Michael scanned the menu and ordered a chocolate shake. Jeremy got a strawberry one. "Right! Those'll be out soon." They sat down in the nearest booth. Jeremy stared blankly out the window, picking at the edge of his sleeve. He seemed preoccupied. Michael reached out and held Jeremy's hand.

"You ok, Jere? Do you want to talk about your nightmare?" He asked. Michael moved so he was sitting next Jeremy. Brooke came over. She set down their shakes. He thanked her and turned back to Jeremy, who was leaning Michael's shoulder now. "It's ok if you don't want to talk about i-"

"It was like the nightmare I had a few weeks ago."

"The one with the hunter?"

"Yea... but.." He hesitated. "You were there too." Jeremy's grip on Michael's hand tightened. He began shaking slightly. Michael pulled Jeremy into a hug.

"Hey, it's ok... you don't have to talk about it if you don't want to."

Time skip brought to you by tomato juice, which will be much needed here soon.

[Jeremy POV]

They had finished their shakes and were just sitting there, talking. Jeremy checked the clock on the diner's wall. It was almost 3 am. Right now, Jeremy just wanted to go back to sleep. Reality faded in and out. Something was wrong. It was happening again.

"Micha..." He whispered, grabbing onto Michael's sleeve again. He tried everything in his power to keep his eyes open. Michael immediately knew what was happening. Michael was saying something about "told me sooner" and "getting you home"

"Stay here, I'll go pay for our shakes. Whatever you do, don't fall asleep." Jeremy's vision was hazy and blurry. Tears ran down his face.

"Please don't go..." But Michael had already gone to the counter. His hands shook as he tried to grab onto something, anything, to remind him that he was still in this world. It became harder to breathe. Sounds were blurring together.

Please come back

[Michael POV]

"Ok, here's your change. Is everything ok?" Brooke asked, glancing over to Jeremy. Jeremy was curled up in the corner of the booth, his hands trembling.

"Don't worry, I have it under control," Jeremy was getting worse by the second. "We have to go, see you later Brooke." He ran over to Jeremy, who was quietly sobbing at this point. "Jere, its just me. Come on, let's go home." Michael grabbed Jeremy's hand and helped him get up. He almost immediately fell over. At this point Brooke had walked over. No one else was in the diner.

"You need to tell me what's happening, I'm getting worried, Michael!"

[Brooke POV]

She watched from a distance as Michael ran over to Jeremy. He looked up, his mask still over his mouth. Why did he wear that thing inside? He muttered something. Jeremy tried stand and almost immediately collapsed into Michael's arms.

Got this under control, my ass

She made her way over to them.

"You need to tell me what's happening, I'm getting worried , Michael!" When she said this, Jeremy's eyes flew open and began tearing up. Behind his mask, she heard a muffled whimper.

"...no..no..no she can't... she..can't... she can't know.... no no no...." Jeremy mumbled and stumbled closer to Michael.

"Michael, what's-" But Michael and Jeremy were already running out of the front doors. She watched as they ran across the street and in the direction of Michael's house.

Something wasn't right with this Jeremy kid.

[Jeremy POV]

Reality was flashing in and out. Footsteps echoed loudly in Jeremy's ears. Michael held Jeremy's hand tight as they ran through the streets.

"Michael...." He was too focused on getting him home to hear Jeremy. It was all a blur. Bright lights. A door opening. Confused shouting.

"Watch it!"

"Hey!"

They were at Michael's apartment. Jeremy practically fell onto the couch. He heard Michael running to grab something. He came back with some canned tomato juice.

"Jeremy stay with me please..."

[Unedited so sorry if there are any spelling/grammar errors]

A/N

Thanks for reading, I promise things will get better in the future of this book. Also big thank you to two friends on Discord for coming up with the name of the diner. They both sent it at the same time so it seemed like it was meant to be. Another huge thank you to H0n3yK1tt3n for being there so I could screech all my ideas to them.

See you guys later!

~Space Boy