#had to watch a video. but i remember i liked jake and was kinda pissed at aria for using him for a rebound lmao

[unnecessarilygrandiose]

RYAN GUZMAN WAS ON PRETTY LITTLE LIARS??!!!!

[eggsistential-breakdown]

An AU where the squip is a cat

Jeremy Heere had always wanted a cat. For as long as he could remember, he had always wanted one; however, his mother was staunchly against cats, seeing as how she was allergic. That didn’t stop him from putting a Powerpoint together when he was twelve to try to convince his parents to get him a cat. Of course, his efforts were in vain.

Luckily, now Jeremy was sixteen, and his mother had recently divorced his father and moved out. And while that did come with some downsides, Jeremy thought of his pantsless father with some distaste, it did mean that he could now get a cat. It only took a couple weeks to brush up on his research, and only a couple more to adopt a cat. He ended up choosing one from the local animal shelter, an adult tomcat with sleek black fur and piercing, intelligent blue eyes. The lady working at the shelter had told Jeremy that this cat, Squip, had lived for a few weeks on his own after his previous owners died under unusual circumstances. Undeterred, Jeremy decided to adopt Squip anyway.

Jeremy slipped through the front door, cat crate in hand.

“Dad?” he called out. “I’m home! With the cat!”

The only answer was a grunt from the couch. Jeremy scowled. His dad was always like this, so much less of a person since his mom left.

“Oookay then”, Jeremy mumbled under his breath. He set the cat crate down and looked inside, only to see the crate sans cat, door swinging open. Jeremy started, taken aback. He panicked for a moment, wondering if he had lost his cat already. Then, he heard a yowl from in the kitchen. Jeremy bolted inside, and there was Squip, safe and sound, sitting beside the bag of cat food he had bought prior, meowing incessantly. Jeremy chuckled.

“You sure are a smart one, aren’t you?”

The next day, Jeremy came home from school with the letters “BOYF” scrawled on his backpack in permanent marker. He stormed into his room, threw his vandalized backpack on the ground, and slammed the door shut. He squeezed his eyes shut, trying hard not to cry, and whispered, “I hate this school. I really, really hate this school”.

To his surprise, Jeremy heard a soft mew come from his bed. He opened his eyes and saw Squip sitting upright on his bed, keen blue eyes watching him.

“Oh! You’re here!”

He made his way to his bed, plopped down, and started stroking Squip, who climbed into his lap. Squip purred, staring at Jeremy intensely. For some reason, Jeremy got the feeling that Squip would really understand him, that he could tell Squip anything the way he could with Michael. He gathered himself and cleared his throat awkwardly.

“School’s just really hard, y’know? I just don’t know how to be cool or anything. I barely have any friends; Michael’s pretty much my only friend, really, and just today, Rich Goranski wrote ‘BOYF RIENDS’ on our backpacks. I really hate Rich. He’s always such an ass to me. Sometimes, I wish he would just burn in hell. I just can’t take him anymore -- hey!” Suddenly, Jeremy let out a yelp as Squip leapt off of him, ran over to the door, and pawed at it.

“Oh, you want out?” Jeremy slid off the bed and opened the door. When it was just barely ajar, Squip nosed his way through the crack and slipped out. Huh, Jeremy thought, bewildered.

It was fairly late in the evening when Jeremy finally saw Squip again, long enough to worry him. He fixed some dinner for Squip, then went to spend the rest of his night on homework and go to bed. At around 3AM, Jeremy awoke with a start. He sat upright, brain muddled and confused for a few moments before he heard what woke him up. His phone was chirping incessantly, signifying that he was receiving lots of texts. Jeremy was even more confused at this point, since he never received this many texts, especially not this late. He rolled over and turned on his phone, wincing at the bright light, and squinted blearily at the screen.

From what he could make out, most of the texts were from Michael, but there were quite a few from people he never spoke with. They varied in length and eloquence, but they all shared a few things in common: they all shouted “FIRE” and “RICH” at him.

“What the hell?” Jeremy muttered to himself. At this point, the harsh light was really starting to hurt his eyes, and his sleep-muddled brain couldn’t care about anything other than going back to sleep. Jeremy turned his phone to Do Not Disturb, rolled over, and went back to sleep.

By the time later morning came around, Jeremy was convinced that what had happened was a dream. He went about his morning… business as usual and walked to school. There, he was immediately accosted by Michael.

“Dude, you didn’t reply to any of my texts!! Did you read them? Do you even know what happened??” Michael practically yelled into Jeremy’s ear.

“Huh - what?” Jeremy fished around in his pocket, fumbled for his phone, and turned it off.

“Oh, I had it on Do Not Disturb. Oh… holy shit… that wasn’t a dream!” Jeremy scrolled through his dozens of messages. “Holy shit.”

Michael exclaimed, “I know right? I mean, I’ve never liked the dude, but this… I never thought this would happen. It’s a tragedy, but I can’t help but feel weirdly relieved, right?”

Michael continued to ramble, but Jeremy had tuned him out. It was yesterday, just yesterday, that Rich had been alive and well, tormenting him as usual, hell, he had proof of that on his back. It was impossible to imagine, and Jeremy could barely comprehend it now. Rich, in the ICU, having suffered severe burns, in critical condition, his house burnt nearly to the ground in a freak fire that no one could find the cause for.

Jeremy went through the rest of the day in a trance, faintly annoyed at the gossip that was going around. Sure, he never liked Rich, but even he didn’t deserve the disrespect going around in the rumors. Rumors about how he had set the fire, it was a suicide attempt, Rich was dead, those sorts. Ones Jeremy didn’t want to believe, no matter how awful Rich was to him.

Michael had to go home early that day for a doctor’s appointment, so Jeremy’s only hope for someone to talk to was Christine in after school play rehearsal. But, of course, Christine was preoccupied talking to Jake, crying in his shoulder. It was more than enough to sour his mood significantly.

When Jeremy got home, he went straight up to his room, and sure enough, Squip was waiting for him on his bed again.

“Hey, Squip.” Jeremy said listlessly. Upon hearing his tone of voice, Squip hopped off of the bed and intertwined himself with Jeremy’s legs, purring. Jeremy stiffened, and said flatly, “I have homework. Lots of homework.” His voice cracked while he said it, and he scowled. Squip scrambled out of his way. Jeremy dragged his backpack up to his desk, rifled through it for his math homework, and pulled it out.

After about half an hour of working through trigonometric functions, Jeremy was frustrated to no end. He groaned and rested his head on the desk. He heard Squip leap softly onto his desk and nose his head aside. Jeremy picked his head up. Squip was looking intensely at the papers on his desk, eyes moving back and forth. It almost looked like he was reading them… no, he was reading them. Jeremy stared in amazement. Squip then gently pulled out Jeremy’s notes sheet from his stack of papers with his teeth and put his nose to an equation and then to an unfinished problem. It was exactly the right equation he needed! With Squip’s help, the rest of Jeremy’s homework went by like a breeze.

Since Jeremy had finished all of his homework early, Jeremy decided to call Michael. They discussed Michael’s doctor’s appointment, Rich’s fire, and video games for a while. Then, Jeremy brought up Christine.

“I really like her.”

“I know. Like you don’t practically sing about her all the time.”

“But I really, really like her. But she doesn’t notice me. At all.”

“You’ve talked to her a few times, haven’t you?”

“Yeah, but she talks to basically everyone like that!”

“I don’t think so, Jeremy.”

“Do you think she likes me back?”

“Well, no, but - “

“See? That’s just the thing! Maybe she’d talk to me more often if she wasn’t dating Jake. Yeah, I’m sure that if Jake wasn’t around, she might even like me. No, that’s impossible.” Jeremy shifted as Squip brushed past him and slipped out his door.

“Can we please not talk about Christine, Jeremy? I’m getting kinda sick of you talking about her all the time. Just wait things out, and I’m sure she’ll see how great you are. Let’s get back to Apocalypse of the Damned.”

The next day, many of the students, especially the cool kids, were out of school. Something about coping with what happened to Rich, but Jeremy knew that was all bullshit. Classes were all quiet, since the gossipers were gone. Jeremy watched around school carefully, and noticed that Jake was among the popular kids who had skipped, but he did notice that Christine was present. He realized that this meant that he would be able to talk to her in play rehearsal for once, and was filled with eager anticipation the whole day.

When rehearsal started, Jeremy immediately sat down in the seat next to Christine. “Hey”, he said, “Is Jake not here today?”

Christine glared at him. It was only now that he saw that her eyes were red and bloodshot.

“He’s at the hospital. He fell out of a window last night and broke both his legs. The doctors are saying that they might never heal right.” She promptly got up and moved to a different seat. Jeremy sank lower in his seat, disappointed with himself.

Later that day, right after school, in his room, Jeremy called Michael again, Squip in his lap.

“Michael?”

“Yeah?”

“I think I fucked up.”

“What did you do this time?”

“Christine’s really pissed at me. I just asked where Jake was, and apparently he’s in the hospital? Fell out of a window or some shit.”

“Holy crap. And what did you do to piss her off? Did you insult him or something?”

“I don’t know! I didn’t do anything. I just asked her where he was and she told and and just left!”

“Girls, am I right? Really, things would be so much easier if you were gay. Take it from me.”

“I want Christine.”

“Yeah, I got that.”

“It just seems so impossible. I swear, I’d give anything to have her.”

“Anything?”

“Yeah. I just want to get Christine, y’know? She’s all I want right now. Hang on, my cat wants out.” Jeremy stood up to let Squip, who had ran over to the door, out.

Michael gasped in a mock offended way. “All you want? What happened to me being your favorite person?”

Jeremy chuckled. “You still are my favorite person, and you’ll always be.”

Michael made kissing noises over the phone to him.

“Oh, shut up”, Jeremy said. “Anyway, I’ve got to start my homework and memorize some lines. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

At around five, Jeremy heard a crash outside his house. He dismissed it as one of his neighbors’ kids messing around. He went downstairs for a drink, and heard a scratching at his front door. Then, a series of thuds, as though something was hitting it repetitively. Jeremy went over to his front door and peered out the window. The first thing he saw was Squip, outside, even though he had never let him out. Then, a mess of red behind him. Jeremy fumbled with the lock, opened the door, and stepped outside.

Jeremy’s immediate reaction was to scream, a girlish shriek that pierced the relative silence. “HOLY FUCK!!!! WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS???” There, right in front of him, lay a ragged, bloodied body, still dressed in shredded wounds. A trail of blood led right to it, though it was hard to tell if the blood was from the initial injury or being dragged on the rough sidewalk. Jeremy gagged, but knelt down to inspect closer. “Holy shit… is… is that… Christine???” And indeed it was, Christine, still dressed in the clothes she had been wearing at play rehearsal. Mustering up his courage, Jeremy tentatively put two fingers to her neck, searching for a pulse. “Oh my God… is… is she dead?? Hooooly shit what do I do???”

At this moment, Squip butted his head between Jeremy’s head and the body, purring. He tilted his head up to look at Jeremy, and Jeremy could see that around his mouth and paws, the cat’s fur was soaked in blood. Jeremy stumbled backwards, then scrambled to get up. All the while, Squip was staring at him happily, almost proudly, purring. Jeremy was finally starting to connect the dots. Rich getting burned... Jake falling out the window... now Christine...“You… did you do this?” Squip purred harder, then rubbed his head on Jeremy’s leg. “Gah!! Get off of me!” Jeremy jerked his leg out, punting the cat over his neighbor’s fence, then ran inside to call the cops and animal control.

[askguyslikeus]

((thank you to guest writer @hurricanesunny !!!))

Michael backspaces on the seventh text he’s typed out since getting here twenty minutes ago. That, of course, doesn’t include the panicked phone call in the parking lot that he ended on the second ring or the three blurry Snaps of the sidewalk that he deleted, but who’s really counting?

See, Michael doesn’t want to text Jeremy. That’s important to understand here. He had already made a pretty big deal out of being cool with the whole thing  when they had both received their orientation packets a while back. So Jeremy and Jake ended up having theirs together last week. Michael, on the the other hand, got stuck in the M-Z group by himself. No biggie. This is life just helping a bro out. He can totally handle it.

Give it up for Michael’s big, fat mouth. It’s okay, though! It totally is, because Michael has a plan. He’s already circled the classes he wants. The paperwork in his lap is a little wrinkled from him gripping it too tightly, but it’s completely filled out. The inevitable pow-wow with his guidance counselor is gonna be smooth sailing. Michael’s also memorized the campus map so he doesn’t have to ask anyone for directions if he gets lost on the tour, but he also downloaded the PDF on his phone and stuck an extra copy from the help desk in his back pocket just in case. During the drive up here, he only listened to the slowest of jams. A mix, specifically, that Jeremy had awkwardly handed him last night in hopes that it would maybe make up for his absence. When Michael got here, he immediately took the corner seat, back row. Hood up, headphones on, music off. Classic stoner diversion. All day he’ll just tail behind, make no eye contact, and get into the classes he’s been banking on since his early acceptance.

But then Michael looks up from the day’s itinerary to see that his plan’s about to be dragged out back, shot twice, then set on fire just for good measure.

“Dude, this freakin’ blows.”

Someone, a girl Michael’s never seen before, flops down next to him. She drops her knapsack, worn and littered with keychains, on the floor and gives it one swift kick under her chair. Her eyes briefly leave Michael’s to look up and blow a strand of hair out of her face. He continues to stare as she starts rummaging through her sweater pockets. With an entire conference room of empty seats to choose from, this girl decides to go ahead and take the one right next to him.

Life’s definitely not on his side today.

Michael flinches as a plastic baggy is shoved in his face. He blinks, trying to focus on it. The girl shakes the bag a little, causing the colorful contents inside to dance.

“Gummy bear?”

As if to demonstrate, she rips one in half between her teeth. Her eye contact doesn’t waver, which makes Michael vaguely feel like he’s the gummy bear in this particular situation. He swallows hard, reluctantly pushing his headphones down around his neck. Not like he was listening to anything anyway. The girl tilts her head. C’mon, Mell. Use your big boy words.

“My, uh, mom told me not to take candy from strangers,” he eventually chokes out. Smooth. The girl snorts. Whatever panic Michael just puked up on the floor must’ve been buried beneath what sounds like a pretty chill comeback. Still, he wouldn’t be surprised if she decided to cut her losses now and move on. It’s what people do, and it’s only going to get uglier from here. But right on societal cue, the girl shoots her other hand out to remedy the situation.

“PJ. You?”

Michael considers himself a pretty observant guy, at least when he’s able to hit the brakes on his runaway thoughts long enough to put the talent to good use. So whenever he starts to get a little too freaked by situations like this, he tries to identify things about the other person that remind him of his friends. It helps thinking of them anyway, like he’s not actually braving the social storm alone, but it also reminds him that not every interaction is necessarily unknown territory.

Take this girl, for example.

As Michael glances from her hand to her face, she wiggles her fingers and snorts again. It’s loud. Unapologetic. Her scrunched up nose, freckles and all, screams Christine. And Christine isn’t scary, right?

Right.

“Michael,” he answers slowly, wiping his palm on the front of his jeans before giving her hand one short shake. Her hand is small in his, but her grip is deadly. He’s almost afraid she won’t let go. “What's it stand for?”

“Whuzzat?” She’s already shoving another handful of gummy bears into her mouth, seemingly forgetting her earlier offer. It’s cool, though. Michael doesn’t think he could keep anything down right now.

“PJ. Like… are those your initials or something? First and last?” Michael makes a face. “Shit, no, you would’ve been in the other group then.“ His high school teachers were totally right. His 3.96 GPA is doing him wonders in the real world. “So… it’s your first two?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know,” PJ hums. She lifts the bag over her head and tilts it to catch the last few bears in her mouth. “Maybe I did miss last week. Maybe it’s my middle initial. Mayhaps,” she wiggles her eyebrows, “I don’t have a last name at all.”

“So you’re named PJ. Just… PJ.”

“Alright, alright.” PJ waves her hand dismissively as she crumples the bag up and shoves it in her pocket. “If you ever get pissed at me, feel free to go full parental and use my full name.”

“Okay? What is it?” PJ can barely keep a straight face.

“Pajamas.”

As Michael holds back a groan, PJ’s got a shit-eating grin that’s missing a gap in the teeth and a few more expletives coming out of it. Rich would totally get a kick out of this girl. Michael almost works himself up to testing her banter game, because this girl is definitely fucking with him at this point, but the opportunity quickly passes and he clams right back up.

“Oh!” PJ gasps, perking up. She leans in super close. “I like your patches.” She starts to trace the careful stitching around each one. First the flag of the Philippines, then all the way down his shoulder to the trans pride flag. “Did you sew them on yourself?” After no response, she looks up and frowns.

Green eyes study his face for a moment, analyzing. Michael’s warm under the collar and he can feel himself freezing up, but he remembers to think. He’s seen the same colors in Chloe’s eyes a hundred times, watching him amongst the chatter before sending a quick ‘You okay?’ text from under the lunch table. This girl must make the same sort of conclusion, because she silently scoots herself out of Michael’s personal bubble and God he can breathe again.

“Yeah, yeah, um.” Words, Michael. “I learned when I was a kid. Mom.” Michael points to the heart on his chest. “This is the first one I did. The stitching’s a little wonky so you can probably tell.” He points to the one near his right pocket. “This was a gift from a teacher in middle school. Got Philippines and Ecuador a little bit after.” Michael finally points to the last two. “Got these back when I, uh, came out.”

PJ lights up.

“Holy fuck, you should totally join Trans Alliance with me.” Michael almost laughs. He doesn’t do clubs. He would say that he only really does Jeremy nowadays, but fuck if that isn’t true either. Oh, God, did he really just think that? He did, he really did.

“Clubs aren’t… really my thing.”

“Oh, c’mon,” she whines. “I don’t want to go by myself and you seem like a pretty chill dude.”

“Being chill isn’t really my thing either,” Michael mumbles, all cryptic and shit. PJ raises one eyebrow and Michael prays to every deity under the sun that he doesn’t have to explain that today. PJ opens her mouth, presumably to push him further, but Michael beats her to the chase.

“Did you know that baby koalas can’t eat eucalyptus leaves yet?” he blurts out. “So, um,” because the stupid words have already come out of your mouth, great job Mell, “they eat a special kind of their mother’s poop called ‘pap’ so they can learn to digest them.”

Jesus fuck, out of all the useless junk in his head he went with that?

“Shit, dude, really?” PJ asks, unfazed. She then laughs to herself. “Heh. Shit.”

“Uh, yeah, I, uh, watch a lot of documentaries in my free time. I like learning weird shit like that,

,” Michael offers weakly, scratching the back of his neck. A terrible segue, but a successful one. He’s a little afraid to look up, because he’s seen enough faces turn sour when he reveals just how completely uncool he is (and it’s fine, because Michael likes himself enough to make up for it but boy does it still sting a little every time,) but when he finally meets PJ’s eyes they’re burning bright like a wildfire.

“That’s so cool. What else are you into?”

“Oh, y’know… stuff.”

“Liiike?” She gently punches his arm. “I wouldn’t ask if I didn’t wanna know.”

“Well, I’m kinda into music, I guess.” He glances down at the papers in his lap. “I was thinking of Theory and Comp as my major, but I dunno. It might be dumb.”

“Oh shit, Liberal arts re-pruh-seeent,” PJ grins, pointing two thumbs to her chest. “Gotchu a Fine Arts girl right here.” She wiggles her eyebrows. “A pretty Fine Girl too, if I do say so myself.” Michael can’t help but chuckle. He feels the tension in his shoulders start to melt away as he pushes up his sleeves. An unsteady hand works its way through his hair.

“I’ve read about the program here, God, probably a dozen times now online and it sounds rad as hell. I don’t think I’ll have any trouble declaring, but I’m trying not to worry about it. It’d be nice to finally get some formal guidance. I’ve been coasting on YouTube videos and underfunded music classes for years.” PJ nods along, encouraging him to continue, but her eyes flick down to the inside of his left arm and she freezes in place. A finger jabs Michael’s tattoo. PJ looks at him.

“Video games.”

“Video games,” Michael repeats. “...Do you play?” PJ stares at him a moment before slowly pulling away. Her fingers curl into her sweater sleeves. Michael feels a familiar twinge in his chest as he sees PJ almost shrink into herself, looking anywhere but at him.

“I guess you could call me a fake gamer girl.”

“Fake?” There’s a bad taste in Michael’s mouth as he says it.

“I, uh, own the viddy games. I love the viddy games. I am… not good at the viddy games.” PJ laughs nervously. Jake’s always been great at laughing at himself too, but anyone who listens closely can tell that he’s had more practice learning to laugh at things that have hurt him. Michael hears that same pain in PJ’s voice. “Plus I’ve only really played, like, Minecraft and Mario Party, so… I wouldn’t call myself a real fan or anything.”

“Are you kidding? Mario Party’s the shit. And I spent most of sixth grade locked in my basement trying to recreate Middle Earth in Minecraft. Only a damn fool and a liar would shake their head at anyone who digs that game.”

“Really?”

“Fuck yeah. I consider myself an expert at most things. You name it, I’ve played it. Atari 2600, N64, Dreamcast, the busted claw machine in the arcade back home,” Michael says, counting on his fingers. “So if I say that you’re a certified fan of video games, you gotta take my word for it.”

“Wow, ya nerd,” PJ mumbles, but her smile is back. “You better go easy on me.”

Michael laughs. “Not a chance.”

“So that means you’ll play with me sometime?” PJ suddenly asks. Her tone is innocent, but it reminds Michael of Brooke’s sugar sweet smiles and clever words that always rope you in.

“Uh--” Michael is interrupted by a few notes of Space Invaders playing from his pocket. He gestures apologetically as he fishes his phone out and checks his notifications.

From that gross heere kid 💕: Hey, I just wanted to check that you got to campus alright. It blows that we didn’t get to go together.

Michael quickly turns his phone on silent as another message pops up. From that gross heere kid 💕: We’re still hanging tonight, though, right? There’s gonna be Doritos galore and a packed bowl for ya when you finally get your ass back in town. From that gross heere kid 💕: When exactly is that going to be again? From that gross heere kid 💕: Anyway! Have fun, talk to strangers, make me proud. See you soon, buddy. “Who’s that?” Michael nearly jumps out of his skin. PJ’s leaning over in her chair, trying to take a peek at the screen again. “I saw heart emojis.” “It’s my friend. Uh, Jeremy.” Michael holds the phone to his chest, much to her dismay. “Jeremy,” PJ repeats, trying the name out on her tongue. There’s something about the way she says it that makes Michael wonder if he’s that obvious. “Yeah. He’s asking me how things are going.”

“And how are they going?”

“Good. I think.”

“You gonna tell him that?”

“Maybe. Once I know for sure. I usually put things off when it comes to him.” “Oo, there’s a story there. I’m intrigued.” “Easy there, Jen,” Michael quickly says, gently pushing her back. PJ falls back into her chair, squinting as he shoves his phone back into his pocket.

“Wha? Who’s Jen?”

“Huh? Oh, fuck, I mea--” Michael’s cut off by the orientation coordinator at the front of the room. Clipboard in hand, she calls for everyone to group into pairs for the campus tour. Michael blinks. How long had they been talking? When he had arrived, he had definitely been the only one in the room. Now, at least a few dozen other freshmen are pushing past each other, loud and way too excited for a Monday morning. One by one, potential partners are picked off.

Understanding the urgency of the situation, Michael then turns to PJ, because this is the longest conversation he’s had with someone outside of the squad that wasn’t the 7/11 attendant back home. And him and Darlene are acquaintances at best.

“Uh, duh.” PJ rolls her eyes. She hops out of her seat, scooping up her knapsack by the Beanie Baby keychain and flinging it over her back. “So, who’s Jen? Is she pretty, too?”

“Just one of my other friends.” Michael stands up, carefully sliding his papers into his own backpack before slinging it over one shoulder. “You kinda remind me of all of them. My friends, I mean.”

“Oh. Well you can tell me all about ‘em at Trans Alliance, right?” She looks over her shoulder to make sure Michael is still following her. He is. “Maybe I can give you the scoop on some original Peej content too.”

Michael bites his bottom lip, thinks about it, then decides that maybe he should just roll with things every once in a while. See what happens. “Yeah, uh, yeah. I can. That’d be cool.”

“Great.” PJ grins. She falls a step behind. “Now, let’s go check out the cafeteria food. You think anything’s growing in there?”

“Oh, definitely. I’ve seen enough D-List movies in my time to know there’s a horror movie in there just waiting for us to star in.”

PJ suddenly pushes Michael forward. Such strength for a tiny girl. “Well, c’mon, then! It’s your time to shine!”

Michael laughs, digging his heels into the floor. PJ huffs behind him.

Okay, maybe life’s got his back after all.

[i-just-love-writing-crap]

Bad Day

Warnings: Swearing (obviously, this is me here), badly written angst Word Count: About a lot, idc rn Summary: Michael is having a bad day and remembers the Squip incident when Jeremy starts acting weird for some reason. You try comforting him and he snaps at you. Hey, look, its a masterlist

"Okay,” Jeremy said to his girlfriend and friends in a hushed voice, “So I was thinking I could throw (y/n) and Michael a happy dating anniversary this weekend. Since they have been dating for a year this Saturday and it’d kinda be a way of thanking her for taking care of Michael while I was being a jerk.”

Christine smiled at her boyfriend, “That’s a sweet idea, Jeremy.”

“Yeah, I have to agree with you, Christine. That’s a totally rad idea, Jeremy,” Brooke said.

Rich nodded and agreed, “Hell yesh, dude! Do this for them! We’ll help too. I owe that headphone-wearing geek for getting rid of my Squip.”

“Yeah! We all owe Michael for even having that shit,” said Jake.

“So you guys wouldn’t mind coming over later so we can plan this out, would you?” asked Jeremy.

Shaking their heads, they all agreed, “Of course we can, Jeremy.”

Just as Jeremy was about to thank them, you and Michael walked up, holding hands. He whispered something to them and they all scattered, all except Christine. The taller geek waved at you two and said, “Michael! (Y/n)! How was your weekend?”

You laughed, “Well, I spent the weekend over at Michael’s and we only played video games and got stoned in his basement. What did you and Chrissie do?”

“We went to the movies,” Christine answered your question.

Michael smiled as he asked, “And what did you two go see?”

“It was a terrible movie, I don’t want to talk about it,” Jeremy and Christine said in unison.

“I can understand that. Sometimes a movie is just that bad.”

Jeremy looked around, like he was trying to get away from you and Michael, and sure enough you and your boyfriend noticed this. “A-anyways, Christine and I need to go to class.” He said that and then skittered off with Christine following after him.

“Well, that was weird, huh, Michael?” you asked your boyfriend, looking up at him.

A somewhat worried look crossed Michael’s face. Jeremy never did that, the only time he had was last year when he was Squipped. Oh no, is the Squip coming back? he thought to himself. He was completely lost in his thought that he didn’t hear your words.

“Michael?” you asked, waving your hand in his face.

Shaking his head, he blinked at you. “Yeah, babe?” he spoke.

“You okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine…” he said. “Let’s go to class.”

After a few classes, Jeremy is in the hallway with Rich and Jake, conversing with them about where they were going to have it. “So, do either one of you know where we could have this at?” He asked.

“We could have it at the park, at night. The one on the edge of town,” said Jake.

Rich nodded and continued to explain why, “Because that park is the furthest from the light pollution of this fucking place. It’s a really romantic place and I know (y/n) loves starry nights.”

Jeremy nodded, “Good, good.”

“Here comes Michael,” Rich whispered.

Michael comes bounding up to the three, saying, “Jeremy, my buddy, what were you, Jake and Rich talking about?”

Jeremy’s eyes skittered around, looking at Jake and Rich. He hesitated when he said, “Sorry, Michael, I can’t talk right now, I’m doing something with them. Come on, guys.”

The two seniors shrugged and followed Jeremy as he walked away. “Sorry, Michael. Maybe some other time.”

Okay, now Michael was getting pissed. He was beginning to suspect something was up. “Are you kidding me?” he grumbled and walked off to his next class. A class with you.

It was after you and Michael’s shared class, you noticed that Michael had seemed a bit pissed off. Like, he didn’t even kiss you on the forehead before he bolted off to his next class. Which had you worried. As you walked, lonely, to your next class, you spot Jeremy talking with Christine and Brooke. “Jeremy!” you exclaimed, walking up to him. “Hey, do you know why Michael seems so pissy?”

Turning to face you, Jeremy couldn’t look you in the eye. He seemed to shrug and say, “I dunno, (y/n). Maybe one of his classes pissed him off. Anyways, me and Chloe are doing a project for biology so I’ve got to go. Bye.”

“Oh… oooookay…?” you said as you watched him walk away. Now you were getting worried to. Turning to Christine, you asked, “Chrissie, what the fuck is going on?”

Brooke shrugged and walked off, saying she needed to go talk to Jake. Leaving you and Christine alone. The small dork laughed nervously, “N-nothing is going on, (y/n/n)! I-I, uh, gotta go talk to my math teacher!”

“The fuck is going on with our friends?” you mumbled to yourself as you walked to your next class.

Throughout the remainder of the day, Jeremy made excuses to run away from you and Michael—it had you two worried that his Squip had returned and that thought really set Michael off. He was brooding all day because of Jeremy, and you wanted to talk to him about it but Michael seemed too upset to talk about it. You were determined to talk about it after school though, on the way to his house.

When the bell rang to dismiss school, you bolted to Michael’s last class. Michael walked out of the classroom and ignored your smiling face. “Hey, Michael, how was class?” you asked.

“It was boring,” came his hardened answer. He was walking rather quickly to his PT Cruiser, you followed after him on his heels. Unlocking his car, he grumbled, “Get in the car, (y/n).”

“Okay, okay. I’m coming, Michael,” you said, throwing your backpack in the back of his PT Cruiser.

Turning on his car, Michael started the trek to his house.

The ride was utterly silent—neither you nor Michael spoke the whole ride. Michael was getting more and more angry the longer he thought about what Jeremy was doing that whole day. You noticed your boyfriend’s anger and you reached over and touched his shoulder, to which he angrily shoved your hand off. That was unusual for him, usually if he was upset, he would want you to comfort him. That was how it had been for the past year you two had been dating.

Once you and Michael reached his house, you two went to his room and he was still brooding and simmering in anger. You touched his shoulder again and this time said, “Michael, do you want to talk about it?”

“What is there to talk about, (y/n)?” growled Michael.

Your face softened as you said, “There’s a lot to talk about, Michael. Jeremy was making excuses to get away from us. I know you’re thinking that maybe his Squip somehow got reactivated, because I’m worrying the same thing. Please, just talk to me.”

“You don’t know what I’ve been through! You don’t understand what happened!” Michael finally snapped.

“I may not know what exactly you were going through, but Michael, I was there to help you through it! I know the effect Jeremy ignoring you had on you! Don’t tell I don’t know that! I just want you to talk to me about today! Because I’m worried about Jeremy, too, just li—”

Michael hissed, cutting you off, “You don’t understand how much I care about Jeremy, (y/n)! I care more about him than you could ever!”

You recoiled, tears swelling in your eyes. “Where the fuck did this come from, Michael! Of course I don’t care about Jeremy more than you, I just got close to him when we started dating! Don’t be an asshole, I just want to help you through this, because as I said earlier, I’m also worried that his Squip came back. Is it so difficult for you to talk about it? I know you’re probably having flashbacks to what happened last year but who was there to listen to you? Me! So let me do it again! Tell me what’s on your mind, Michael. Please!”

“You want to know what’s on my mind!” He shouted at you. You nodded your head, waiting for him to tell you. “Why don’t you stick your nose in someone else’s business?!” he finally shouted loudly.

You stared at him, tearing slipping from the corners of your eyes. Standing up, you bawled your fists up. Your voice wavered as you shouted back, “Fine! Fuck you, Michael!! Asshole!” After that you turned on your heels, you walked out of his room, down the stairs and grabbing your backpack you walked out of his front door. You slammed it shut in frustration and anger. “ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!” you screamed into the air.

Taking your phone out of your pocket, you take out some headphones and plug them into your phone. You listened to All Time Low, a band you listened to when you were angry, sad or just wanted to jam out. Tears fell onto the ground as you walked home. You kicked at the ground angrily as you walked.

A sudden depression washed over you, you and Michael had never really fought like that before. Sure you two had some minor scuffles about a date night, but they never ended in screaming like this one did. Usually they ended shortly after the conflict started, in a compromise with makeup cuddles and kisses, and definitely sushi and slushies. But this time was different, and it wasn’t going to get better today, much to your dismay.

Michael plopped onto his bed, still angry with Jeremy and you for prodding him. If you knew what he was so mad about, why were you trying to get him to talk about it? The only reason he had opened up about Jeremy last year was because you caught him in a vulnerable position, after he had a panic attack. Not that he regretted opening up to you, because it lead him to getting you as his girlfriend. But since Jeremy’s Squip was deactivated, Michael had pushed the incident to the back of his mind, where he wanted it to stay.

Now, he did admit to himself that he was a bit harsh to you. He screamed at you and that wasn’t right. But holy crap, you kept bugging him to talk to you about what was wrong, when you knew full well what was wrong. It was redundant to him and he just overcome by anger for Jeremy. So he let it out, and he could have cared less if you got hurt; he just wanted to scream at something, anything or anyone.

He put his headphones on and listened to Bob Marley as he went to get high in his basement. Once he was down in his basement, he got high and proceeded to play The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time on the N64. Michael still had on his headphones and as he listened to Marley, his anger melted away.

Several times he smiled and looked over at the empty beanbag chair where you usually sat. When he realized you weren’t there, his smile faded and he felt guilt creep up on him. “Oh… right,” he said under his breath, “(y/n) isn’t here… she left… because of me…”

Michael sat there and stared at the television screen, at the video game he was playing. He would always play that game for you at some point, because he knew how much you loved the Zelda series. A heavy feeling weighed on his heart, it felt empty without you near. What have I done? What if she doesn’t want me anymore? No, I know she loves me, she should understand why I was so mad… and why I yelled… he thought to himself.

“Maybe I should call her and apologize for yelling,” he said to himself, taking out his phone. He called you. He needed you to know that he was sorry for snapping, that he was sorry for hurting you with his words, that he loved you.

Unfortunately, you ignored his call and sent him to voicemail. Michael took a shaky breath, knowing he really messed up, and said to the voicemail, “Hey, (y/n), I just called to tell you that I’m really sorry I snapped at you. It wasn’t right of me to say the things I did. You know how much you mean to me, and that I would never mean to hurt you or your feelings. I just…” he sighed, “I just had a really bad day as you know. But, I’m sure Jeremy talked to you so you have that on me… anyways, please call me back. Please. I-I love you, (y/n).”

He hung up after that. “Shit… she didn’t even pick up. She usually always picks up…” An idea hit him and he smiled. “I can get her her favorite roll of sushi and a blue raspberry slushy! She loves those things!”

So Michael had a plan. He would surprise you with the things tomorrow when he picked you up from your house. His plan was foolproof, until he looked down at his phone and his heart sank. It was a message from you and it almost broke his heart.

From: Lover don’t come get me tomorrow, mom will take me to school and i’ll ask rich to give me a ride home

Now it was painfully clear just how much you didn’t want anything to do with Michael for now. “Oh God, no…” he muttered to himself. “I have to tell her I’m sorry… like pronto.”

Michael jumped out of his seat and ran upstairs. He put on his shoes and grabbed his keys—he was going to tell you how sorry he was, if need be he would show it. “Shit, shit, shit, I messed up,” he said to himself as he ran out the door.

You were laying on the couch, watery eyes focused on the ceiling. Of course you were still crying and upset. Your boyfriend, who was usually very loving and talkative, just snapped at you. Yes, you understood why he felt the way he felt, but you were upset with the way he snapped at you. It hurt your heart to have Michael snap at you, so you just sat there, sprawled out on the couch and crying.

He had called you and you just let it ring, not ready to talk to him. Once he left the voicemail, you did listen to it, and you almost caved and called him back. But, no, Michael needed to learn a lesson. That he can’t yell at you like he did just because you were just trying to help.

“Fuck him… that sexy, dumb nerd…” you whimpered to yourself as you rubbed your eyes. “He’s such a dork…” you sniffled.

Michael was in the store, buying the biggest bouquet of blooming roses, the cuddlest medium-sized teddy bear and the sweetest chocolate he could get. He didn’t care how much it cost, you were worth every penny. The caramel-skinned stoner wanted you to know how sorry he was for snapping so rudely at you. And that he loved you with everything in him. Having payed for everything, he grabbed the bags and ran to his car—he was ready to apologize to you.

When he got into his car, he set the stuff he bought you in the passenger seat and started the car. He was ready to fucking go to your house. And it was there he went.

Luckily your house wasn’t more than 15 minutes away from the store, so he got there rather quickly. He pulled into your driveway and turned off his car. Jumping out of his car, he grabbed everything out of the bag and bounded up to your front door. Michael still felt really guilty for snapping at you as he stared at your front door. Shifting everything into one arm, he reached out and rang your doorbell.

He definitely heard you roll off the couch and plop onto the floor, mainly because he heard you yelp out, “GOD, FUCKing SHIT!” Michael bit his lower lip as a way to stop himself from laughing. Hearing you stumble to the door, his heart fluttered as he heard the door unlock. “Who’s there?” he heard you say in a obvious post-crying voice. You opened the door and when your eyes landed on him, you went to slam the door. “Go away, Mell!” you shouted.

Michael stood there as you slammed the door in his face. It hurt him that you would do that, but he also knew he deserved it. Sighing deeply, he said, “Babe… just please listen to me… I’m really sorry that I snapped at you. Just… open the door and I promise I’ll make it all up to you.”

“I don’t want you to make it up to me, Michael. I want you to understand that it was uncalled for you to say the things you did,” you answered through the door.

“(Y/n), I am really sorry I said the things I did. They were uncalled for and I know how much they hurt you. So, please let me in so I can make up for my mistake… please. I brought a really cuddly stuffed bear, some chocolate and the ultimate flower of love. A lot of those flowers, actually,” his laugh was faintly tainted with nervousness, “to show you just how much I love you. So, will you please open the door?”

You sighed through the door, and soon, you opened the door. “Fine. You have five minutes, then I’m kicking you out. I’m still really pissed off at you,” you said, crossing your arms.

Michael stepped into your home and almost immediately, he set all of what he bought you down and grabbed you by the hand. “C’mere, babe,” he said and sat down on the couch.

“Four minutes left, Mell,” you said, rolling your eyes. You gasped in surprise as Michael pulled you down into his lap. “MICHAEL?” you exclaimed in surprise.

Wrapping his arms around your waist, he placed a kiss on your forehead. “(Y/n), I’m really sorry that I snapped at you. I said some really hurtful things and yes while I deserve you being mad at me and not talking to me for a while, I can’t live without you talking to me. You’re my girlfriend and I can’t even convey how sorry I am. I was thinking I could take you out tonight for dinner, as a means to apologize further.”

You huffed and listened to him. “I don’t think you deserve to be forgiven that easily…”

“I’m not saying that, babe. It’s easy to just say I’m sorry, but I want to show you that I’m sorry,” he said, nuzzling his face into your neck. “Because you mean the world to me and it kills me that I hurt you with my words.”

You sighed, “Oh for the love of God. You’re a fucking dork, you know that?”

He smiled at you as he answered, “Yeah, I might be, but at least I’m your dork!”

Giggling, you smiled, finally, “Good thing too, yeah? Look, I understand that you were upset about Jeremy ignoring us today, believe me, I was too. Hey, and even if his Squip does come back, we can always deactivate it again with more Mountain Dew Red. Remember, we—”

“Both stocked up on it incase something like that happened again,” laughed Michael. “How could I forget?”

“That is a good question. How could you forget, but I could also ask how you could forget to talk to me earlier, jerk!” you exclaimed, pinching Michael’s cheek.

“Ow, ow, ow!! Babe, I’m sorry,” he said, “Please let go of my cheek!”

“Only if you take me out for sushi out later. And we go to the buffet and you’re paying,” you said with a mischievous grin.

 Michael laughed, “I will take that! Soooooo, am I forgiven?”

Rolling your eyes, you said, “Yeah, you’re forgiven. You’re lucky I love you so damn much!”

UGH!! THIS TOOK FOREVER TO WRITE!! Sis gave me ideas, she’s gonna be helping me from now on! We have this collaboration going on, but I ain’t sayin her name. I’ll make a second part to this. Because I just needed to post something because I felt like I was cheating y’all outta my writing before it is taking me a bit to write because I have a job now so here’s a badly written angst! I can’t stay mad at Michael long enough to make this actually heartbreaking, sooooo, here!! Hopefully I’ll have Catching Murphy, Part 8 out tonight or tomorrow, currently stumped atm, but I’ll get through it! OKAY, LOVE YOU GUYS!! KEEP BEING AWESOME!!

[pacman-tattoo]

I would really appreciate it if you did head canons if Jeremy was your older siblings! Thanks! >3

omg this is a cute idea aaa

aLSO THIS IS GONNA BE LONG BC I RAMBLE

alright u know what this is going under a readmore because this is basically me inserting reader into bmc as jeremy’s younger sibling plus some headcanons sprinkled in

(as i near the end of the musical all i can say is i aaaaaam sorry. there’s so much but i got carried away with rambling about you getting pissed over the SQUIP and just wanting your brother back in the end)

(i pROMISE IF ANYONE ELSE SENDS A “hey what if michael was ur big brother” OR ANYTHING IT WONT BE THIS LONG)

(y’all this got to the point where i might as well write this and i might if anyone requests it. it might not be soon since i got other requests i should be paying attention to but i’ll do it)

so i imagine ur like, a year younger than jeremy so ur a sophomore for this

good times except not, school sucks

you two def play video games a lot like it just comes with jeremy in general

im gonna go ahead and get it out of the way: jeremy and you are extremely close, especially after your mom left….

sometimes you would wander to his room and you two would just end up talking for a bit

“jer?” “yeah?”

“i’m… worried about dad.”

as you two got older these talks became less frequent

that’s all im gonna say because i’m not really the best person for the topic but you two are really close.

you kinda worry about jeremy a lot??? like, you asked him about going out with his friends and he kinda shut up and then mentioned michael was coming over and you kinda realized jeremy doesn’t really… have friends…..

but honestly??? the two of you are supportive of each other no matter what

you complain about school together. it’s a good thing to bond over.

especially because jeremy had some of the same teachers as you did so he just knows what you’re going through when it comes to really specific things

sometimes you eat lunch with him!!! like you have your own friends but you’re like ‘cmon he’s my big brother n he only ever sits with michael, i should at least talk to him some’

they kinda get it since ur brother is a neeeerd

plus you don’t always eat lunch with him so it’s not like you’re constantly abandoning them or something

“you’re signing up for the play?” “yeah, why?” “is it because of christiiiiine?” “shut up”

you 100% know about his crush on christine and honestly, can you blame him? she’s an angel

you end up tagging along with him and michael to the mall for the… squick??? whatever, dude.

“alright, jer, but hear me out: do you really need some pill to be cool? you’re cool enough as is” “ur… literally just saying that bc ur my younger sibling” “shut up dude ur the coolest big brother”

no point in fighting him since he’s gonna do it anyway. michael’s going to spencers??? there’s a gamestop nearby so yolo might as well walk with him

(also yes i 100% found the website for that mall and looked up a map so get an idea of how this whole scene goes???)

u leave gamestop, maybe after buying some merch because video games??? expensive. too expensive.

maybe one day.

where the fuck is jeremy.

michael has to go so either you gotta go with him or go find jeremy and you ultimately go looking for jeremy since he’s ur brother, what else are you gonna do?

jeremy is… weird.

you don’t question it at first bc he’s probably upset but whatever

at some point during school michael approaches you… alone???

“dude where’s jeremy”

“that’s… what i came to ask you about???”

you’ll beat up jeremy later like what the fuck, michael might as well be ur brother-in-law because they might as well be married

you end up going home alone

i like to imagine ur also friends with michael because of jeremy and sometimes he texts you when he can’t get ahold of jeremy so you can go tell jeremy to stop doing whatever and talk to his friend about whatever

so you just get a text from michael like ‘what the fuck is up with your brother’

squipped!jeremy kinda starts ignoring you and telling you off??? what the fuck jeremy???

“jeremy if being cool means you’re going to be an asshole, then maybe you shouldn’t be cool”

you two fight??? and like, the two of you rarely have a serious fight but it ends in you slamming your bedroom door and your dad gets worried and tries to talk to you but you kinda end up shutting him out as well

you feel bad about it but you just want to be alone

fast forward to halloween eve (which you’ve kinda abandoned your friends for sitting with michael?? they’re pissed and they aren’t talking to you but you couldn’t care less, michael needs someone)

jeremy comes downstairs and ur sitting on the couch, alone for once

“halloween party?”

he’s… kinda caught off guard?

like you two don’t really talk after you fight until one apologizes.

“be careful.”

he just stares at you.

“hey, uh, [y/n],” and he just kinda stares at you before he jerks slightly, as if… someone shocked him? “don’t wait up.”

you nearly get pissed before deciding fuck it, discount halloween candy awaits you after halloween-

… jeremy and you always get discount halloween candy. the two of you always would go to the store and roam around the aisles finding the Good Shit and then you two would go home and eat until you were sick but it was great because, yeah, you feel like shit afterwards but sibling bonding, man.

it isn’t the same. it just isn’t the same by yourself.

you end up staying up late anyway. jeremy might be an asshole now, but he’s still you’re brother. you might as well stay up and make sure he at least makes it inside.

you fall asleep watching a movie before you know he’s home.

but you do wake up when your phone keeps buzzing

it’s michael. he’s asking about jeremy and before you can even respond he’s calling you and jake dillinger’s house burned down??

jeremy is fine, physically at least, but now he’s just straight up ignoring you.

can i mention your dad is getting worried? you two were close.

hey, remember rich? the guy who recommended the SQUIP to jeremy? you talked to him. he’s genuinely upset by the way.

you also learn a lot. about the SQUIP, at least.

its the night of the play and your sitting and talking to your dad and basically rambling about jeremy without giving details

and then there’s jeremy.

you take your dad’s side for once, and jeremy fucking yells at you about it.

“you were supposed to support me, i’m your brother! we’re family-”

“not anymore, jeremy - you’re not my brother because my brother wouldn’t treat his friends and family like shit!”

he gets pissed at you and your dad tries to defend you and then he says shit to your dad

you straight up punch jeremy for that shit. you hit harder than he’d think.

after the play you basically live at the hospital waiting for jeremy to wake up

the moment he wakes up your at his side like “is it gone?? please tell me it’s gone, jeremy, fuck, please tell me i have my brother back.”

(you kinda freeze because you forgot rich was there???)

he… kinda sees how much he hurt you for the first time. it’s a really shitty moment. michael pops in and you just kinda excuse yourself for a few minutes and wander away for a few minutes

there’s still a lot of strain on ur relationship??? like, you aren’t just happy siblings anymore who fight over little shit and scream at the other when they cheat at video games or complain about homework and teachers. 

he and christine eventually date a little??? you’re happy for him but at the same time it just kinda… bothers you. sometimes he gushes about her and how she’s so sweet but it just kinda makes you sick because of all the shit that everyone just went through…

heck, jeremy notices that you’re… really, really off. he misses being able to sit back and laugh with his little sibling??? he misses being able to just be a complete dork around you.

one day you’re having a really shitty day and you’re sitting at the kitchen table burying yourself in homework and you just hear the rustling of a wrapper and he sets down ur fave candy in front of you

“look, i know i was an asshole and the worst big brother, but just… i’m sorry.”

it’s not enough, but it’s a start.

one night you wake up from a nightmare that everyone??? was squipped again??? you go downstairs and there’s jeremy, standing in front of the fridge, just staring

you wander over and peek in and he’s just… staring at a bottle of mtn dew red. at least, he was until you stepped behind him. he quickly shuts the fridge and immediately asks why you’re awake because??? it’s 3 am????

for the first time in a while you two confide in each other. 

“i… really did a lot of shit, didn’t i?” “yeah. i mean, it’s not all your fault - rich said the SQUIP made him do a lot of shit too.” “yeah but still, i did it-”

it takes a while but eventually you two get to be back to the sibling bond you two had - even if there is a little bit of strain

alright that’s a lot of shit of just reliving the musical so i’ll throw in some headcanons rly quick:

there’s always a constant bicker over small shit. “JEREMY ATE ALL THE CHIPS” “[Y/N] FINISHED THE LEFTOVERS” “kids please stop yelling” “JEREMY STARTED IT”

y’know how siblings can be embarrassing? never a problem with you two. the reason? both of you have plenty of embarrassing stories about each other and no one else will ever hear them

the closest it’s ever come is when you kinda just popped into jeremy’s room while he was playing video games with michael and nearly spilled a story about jeremy before u got a quick jab in the side

“nO NO [Y/N] GO ON” “[y/n] i swear i will tell him about the time-” “michael i value my life so…”

michael still wants to know about the time at the amusement park.

he’ll never get to know. not from you, at least.

BTW THE TWO OF YOU??? POKEMON GO

YOU HUNT.

YOU  G O 

michael joins but sometimes it’s just “no sibling bonding time we gotta”

alright i’m done sorry if shit is ooc i spent over 3 hours on this