Striped Sleeves | Book Two 💓💔💕💖💗

Chapter 2

Going out to eat tonight, wish me luck...

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3rd person pov

Michael opened his eyes excruciatingly slow, feeling as if they were made of cement. Sunlight shone through his window covered by an LGBTQ flag, making his room bright and contrasting deeply to Michael's grim expression. Yesterday was a disaster, Michael screwed up again, now Jeremy was furious at him.

The Filipino boy rested his head in his hands, thinking to himself that it was too early to cry and too early to leave the bed, so he laid back down, stuffing his head into his pillows and wishing the world to disappear.  He spared a glance at his packman tattoo, remembering the day that he and Jeremy first got it.

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Jeremy looked at his left forearm, dreading what his father would say about it. But regardless, he was happy that he and Michael had gotten matching tattoos. It sounded pretty gay, but it's not if you say 'no homo', which Jeremy had said several times on the way to the tattoo parlour.

Michael smiled down at his Pac-Man tat, looking over to see Jeremy looking back. "Isn't this amazing? We finally got them!" Michael cheered, pumping his fist in the air. Jeremy chuckled, watching his best buddy gush over the tattoo.

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Michael clenched the pillow closer, trying to wrench the memories out of his head, but they rushed back, right to the day they met.

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Michael sat on the playground, holding his bloody nose in his hands. A bunch of older jerks had come and punched him, shoving him off the play structure. "Loser!" They had called over their shoulders as they stalked away.  Suddenly, a pair of brown eyes peeked out from behind the green slide, their gaze glued to the Filipino.

"Come out! I'm not afraid of you!" Michael yelled, pushing himself to his feet and walking over. The brunet boy treaded nervously out from behind the slide, rubbing the back of his neck. "Are you okey?" He asked, revealing his missing front teeth. "Where are your teeth?" Michael inquired, pointing slightly.

"One came out a month ago. I losst my other ...Ssomewhere..."

"What? You lost your tooth?!"

"Y-yeah..."

Michael gawked at the boy, before taking a moment to think. He came up with an idea.

"How about...I help you find your tooth?" The brunet seemed hesitant but nodded. The two children began to search the park for his tooth, and after a half-hour of digging in the sand and wood chips, Michael pulled up a bloody baby tooth. "Found it!" He called to the brown-haired boy across the park, who turned to him with a bright expression.

The boy raced over, examining the tooth. "Yep, thiss iss mine." He lisped, smiling a toothy-as toothy as a grin can be without your front teeth- grin. He wrapped Michael in a tight hug, before saying the words that warmed his heart twelve years ago...

"You're my favowite person!"

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Tears came to my eyes, so much for not crying, he thought, sniffling as tears began falling down his face, before bursting into a coughing fit.

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Jeremy sat in bed, his fingers hovering over the 'call' button on his phone. Should he call Michael? The brunet sighed and set his phone face-down on his bedside table. He ran his hands through his hair, trying not to shout in frustration.