Do the Dew || Be More Chill

Day Three

Annnd it is Friday once more! And sooo the last chapter/day of this story goes up! Enjoy, my luvvies! <3

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DAY THREE.

In which they journey home, there are epic Jeremy-level freakouts from everyone, there's lots of fixing things, and we drag out (unintentional) love confessions.

Jeremy slowly came to.

For a while, he just lay there feeling numb. Empty.

Why was he feeling so bad?

Oh. Right. Michael. He loves Michael. And he can't have Michael.

And Jeremy had cried himself to sleep too, hadn't he? Wimp.

He lay there on his side in that hotel bed, turned away from his best friend, his love, staring blankly at the stained off-white wall until he heard the others beginning to shift and get up.

Jeremy closed his eyes. Still he didn't get up.

He didn't move until he heard Michael say with his own voice, "Jeremy? You awake?" Then there was a pause, and another, more cautious, "Jeremy? Are you okay?"

Jeremy sighed and slowly began to roll over. "I'm fine," he lied through his teeth (or, rather, through Michael's, he guessed). "I'm just tired." He winced at how scratchy his voice sounded.

Michael was suddenly all up in his face, feeling at his forehead. "Are you sick?" he asked, concerned. "Because I know that voice. That's the voice I get when I'm either sick or—" He cut himself off abruptly as a look of realization crossed his face. He lowered his voice. "Jere, are you okay?" he asked softly. (Jeremy had never seen his own blue eyes so concerned before. He wondered if that was how he looked when he fussed over Michael.)

Jeremy forced himself to nod. "I'm just...I'm tired of...all this." He gestured around lamely. "I-I mean, your body is great a-and awesome and all, but it would be nice to be back in my own skin. You know?"

Michael nodded and laughed slightly, seeming a bit relieved, yet also at the same time not entirely convinced at Jeremy's half-hearted lie. "Yeah, dude, I know. Believe me." He smiled warmly at Jeremy, who managed to put all of his inner turmoil aside for the moment just to smile back at Michael. Anything to keep Michael smiling.

The moment, whatever it was and whatever it could have been, was soon ruined by Jake-in-Rich's-body sitting up and announcing loudly to the world, "Do you always wake up with morning wood, Rich?"

"With a boyfriend like you in bed with me, of course!" Rich chirped back as he lay on his back, arms folded behind his head on his pillow. "Wanna make out? I wanna know what it feels like to kiss myself."

Gagging and desperately trying to escape the icky-ness that was Rich and Jake, Jeremy and Michael raced each other to the bathroom to get dressed and do their morning routine. For a moment, as they were there, in the bathroom, brushing their teeth and playfully nudging each other, it was like everything was normal.

Jeremy leaned down to spit out one last mouthful of toothpaste and rinse out his mouth. When he looked up once more, Michael was looking at him with a strange look on his face—a sort of combination of fondness, worry, and...something that he couldn't quite place, even on Jeremy's own face.

"Wh-what?" he stammered, feeling his face flush slightly.

"You got toothpaste on my chin, idiot," Michael said, leaning forward to wipe it off with his hand.