Protection ~ Expensive Headphones ~ Be More Chill Fanfic

Chapter 9

//tryna base it off of the picture//

Rich yawned and stretched, waking up in Michael's arms. He carefully reached over for Michael's phone, not wanting to wake him. He checked the time.

'3:00'

He sighed.

"Why are you on my phone?" Michael asked. Rich jumped, looking up to Michael who was looking down at him.

"I-I wath jutht checking the time." He said. Michael smiled.

"I know. I was just teasing." Rich smiled and looked around.

"Tho...what should we do?" Michael shrugged and grabbed his phone from Rich's hands. He sat up, picking up Rich with him.

"Wanna listen to some music?" Rich nodded.

"Thure." Michael took him to his room and threw him on the bed, earning a yelp from Rich. Michael looked through his drawer and found his headphones. They were earbuds so that him and Rich could share an earpiece. He plugged the cord into his phone and handed one of the buds to Rich. They laid on the bed next to each other. Michael turned on Bob Marley (of course). Rich listened closely.

"Who ith thith?" Michael faked a gasp.

"You've never heard Bob Marley?" Rich laughed and shook his head.

"It thoundth good, though." He said, nodding his head to the beat.

"Of course it does. It's Bob fucking Marley." Rich hummed to the tune, missing a few notes. Michael didn't care, though. In fact, he wasn't paying attention to Rich's hums. He was too busy taking in Rich's features. His small burn marks, the streak in his hair, his hazel eyes. Rich looked over to Michael, smiling.

"You're thtaring at me." Michael chuckled.

"Of course I am. I'm wondering how you ever allowed me to be your boyfriend." Rich shrugged.

"I wonder that everyday, too." Michael shoved him. Rich chuckled, letting out a small sigh." He intertwined his fingers with Michael's, holding his hand softly. He looked back up to the ceiling, closing his eyes. Michael kept staring at him. He leaned forward and planted a small kiss on Rich's cheek. Rich giggled.

"Thtop that." He said, shoving Michael's face. Michael laughed.

"I can't help it. You're too cute." Rich smile and turned over, hugging Michael. His earbud fell out, but he didn't mind. Michael lifted Rich's chin so that he looked up to him.

"You have the cutest freckles." He said. Rich pouted.

"I'm already leth thcary enough with my lithp."

"Why do you want to be scary?"

"Tho that no one methes with me." Michael frowned.

"No one's gonna mess with you. Not when I'm around." He said. Rich rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, but I wanna be able to protect mythelf. I don't want to rely on you at all timth." He said.

"I'm joking. I know you're strong. You could take down anyone." Rich cuddled closer to Michael.

"That'th what I thought." Michael laughed. He paused the music and set his phone down.

"You wanna go out and do something?" He asked, "We have school tomorrow, so we better spend the time the best we can."

"Thure. What do you want to do?"

"We...could go to the arcade and eat chili fries." Michael suggested. Rich nodded.

"Thoundth fun."

"Alright. Lets go." Michael took Rich's hands, pulling him up. They went downstairs and outside to Michael's PT cruiser. Rich hopped in on the passenger side. Michael hopped into the driver seat and started the car.

"You ever been to the arcade?"

"A few timth ath a kid, but not rethently." Rich said, shrugging. He watched the road, leaning against the window.

In a few minutes, Michael made it to the arcade. Rich and him got out of the car, walking inside the arcade. He handed Rich a ten and pointed to the coin machine.

"You can go and get quarters for the arcade games. I'll go grab snacks." He said. Rich nodded and walked over to the coin machine. He slipped the ten in and grabbed one of the small styrofoam cups set out. He filled the cup up with coins and walked over to the bar where Michael was ordering. Michael finished and turned to Rich.

"Alright. Let's go play some games. Then, we can come back to eat." He led rich over to the pac-man machine and slipped a coin in. The game started up.

"You wanna go first?" Rich shook his head.

"No. I wanna watch you play." Michael began playing the game while Rich watched. Rich looked up to Michael and snickered. Michael looked almost angry since he was so focused on the game.

"Honethly, I don't know how I didn't ethpect you to go to pac-man firtht. It'th literally on your hoodie." He pointed to the small pac-man figure on Michael's hoodie. Michael chuckled, not looking away from the screen. Rich glanced to the arcade door from the game. He watched as Jake, Brooke, Chloe, and Jenna walked in. He tensed up and hid behind Michael. Michael's eyes still glued to the screen he asked,

"What's wrong?"

"Jake, Brooke, Chloe, and Jenna juth came in here." He said. Michael shrugged.

"So? Damn..." He cussed, jerking at the game.

"I don't want them to make fun of me." Michael leaned down and kissed Rich's head, not taking his eyes from the screen.

"Aw, don't worry. You'll be fine." Rich looked over and saw Brooke stop dead in her tracks, looking at Rich. She leaned to Chloe and whispered something, pointing to them. Chloe smirked and whispered something to Jenna and Jake. They all had their eyes on the two. Rich shoved Michael away, covering his face.

"What? I thought you loved it when I kissed--"

"Not right now. They're looking."

"So? Why does there opinion matter to you."

"I'm thorry that I don't like being made fun of." Rich mumbled, looking down. Michael sighed. He died again. He finally turned towards Rich.

"You wanna go get our food? It should be ready by now."

"They're by the bar--"

"Oh hush." Michael grabbed Rich's hand and walked him over to the bar. Michael sat right next to Jenna and Rich sat on the other side, trying to hide behind Michael. The chili fries were set down in front of them. Michael instantly started stuffing his face. He looked to Rich.

"Want some?" Rich looked down to the three kids from his school. They were laughing.

"N-No, I'm good." Michael wiped his hands off on a napkin and cupped Rich's cheeks.

"Babe, just focus on me. Don't let them bring you down, okay?" Rich nodded. Michael smiled and picked one of the chili fries up again. He handed it to Rich. Rich took it and shoved it into his mouth. He practically melted.

"Oh...my...god! I haven't had thethe in tho long!" Michael laughed.

"Good right?"

"Yeah!"

"HEY FIRE BOY!" Jake yelled from across the bar. Rich froze.

//TO BE CONTINUED//