Marks (Jeremy x Michael)

chapter five: in sync.

[TW: minor homophobia]

On this particular day, Jeremy had a good bunch of study halls. And the one during third period, just before lunch, happened to be shared with a certain Filipino boy.

The brunet walked into class, his limp having gotten worse. The noise of the room hit him instantly. There were groups of friends making carefree chatter that mainly contributed to the noise, but that was the normal shit for the people who took school seriously to put up with. Limping towards an empty desk, he noticed Michael looking up at him from a desk next to his desired seat. The new kid gave him a slight wave accompanied by a small smile. Jeremy sat down next to him and shot him a weary smile in return.

"Hey," he muttered, looking semi-exhausted. And really, in his situation, his exhaustion was justified. His entire body was aching and covered in hidden bruises, pretty much only running on Advil to numb the pain. But, of course, Michael couldn't see that, and simply made a joke.

"Tired already?" He asked, grinning at Jeremy. His pencil idly doodled curves and edges along the margins of his notebook paper. Jeremy shrugged in response.

"Had a long night," he excused as he folded his arms and laid his head down on the table. A nap sounded heavenly to him right about now. It's not like he had unfinished homework at this point in the day anyway.

"That'll happen," Michael replied with a short chuckle. "I just procrastinate on all my work."

Prime example, he was currently not doing work he probably should've done already. Or at least gotten close to finishing. One would think that on the second day to a new school, he would've taken the opportunity to do less work. But instead, he didn't do any.

Jeremy nodded into his arms as a response, closing his eyes and breathing out a small sigh. Maybe he could catch just a quick nap to get him through the day. And thanks to the unspoken oath to never disturb a resting student, Michael left him be.

Even though the general buzz of the room threw him off his game, Michael was still able to get at least a smidge of work done. But he knew lunch was right after study hall, thankfully, which meant break time.

Soon, but not soon enough, the bell rang out, causing Michael to collect his things and stand up. As he slung his backpack over a shoulder, he glanced at Jeremy. The brunet had slumbered peacefully through the entire class period. And seeing how the class was rapidly emptying, it seemed he slept a little bit past that too. Michael chuckled to himself and went over next to him, lightly putting a hand on Jeremy's shoulder and shaking it a tad.

"Jeremy, yo, class is over. It's lunchtime, dude," he commented as he did so. He earned a few groggy, indistinguishable murmurs from Jeremy as he woke up. The smaller boy blinked as he picked his head up. His hair had become messed up in his sleeping process.

"Hm..? Oh, right. Thanks," he replied. He went to rub his cheek and forgot about the bruises hidden on it, causing his face to momentarily contort in pain as he lowered his hand. Michael's casual expression shifted a little when he caught the change in Jeremy's features but he decided not to acknowledge it, instead continuing the conversation.

"Yeah, no problem. And uh..if I don't find an empty table today, is it cool if I hang out with you again?" He asked sheepishly, picking at some loose skin around his painted nails. "If not, that's fine. Totally up to you, man."

"Yeah, sure," Jeremy agreed with a slight smile, nodding. "But uh..heads up, my friend Christine's gonna be there. She wasn't there yesterday because she had a doctor's appointment."

"Oh okay, cool," Michael replied, casually grinning as he got all his school supplies together. Jeremy took this as a mental prompt to get up and get his own things packed, too. Then they started off. Even though Michael had originally intended on finding a different table, he thought he might as well stick with Jeremy. And this Christine girl.