Archive of Our Own ^beta

The ringing of his phone awoke Jake from his sleep. As the obnoxious light of the screen blinded his eyes, he hastily looked for his glasses. After having found them, Jake answered the call.

'Yeah?' he asked, his voice all groggy and scratchy from sleep.

'Jakey D, my man! Come over and pick me up?!'

Jake pinched the bridge of his nose and groaned. 'You're drunk, aren't you?' he said.

Rich laughed. 'No way man. Fuck off, I just had some fun with Jeremy. We're totally bros now. Squip mates, you know?'

'Don't say that.'

'Squip mates,man,' Rich repeated. 'Squi-'

'Alright, fine. I'll come and get you!' Jake shout-whispered, already fed up with Rich's antics. Normally, he got along with him, hell, they were best bros. When Rich got drunk however, he got even more pumped up than usual. That, Jake couldn't stand. He especially couldn't stand it at times when he'd only slept for two hours.

20 minutes later, Jake was on his way to get Rich.

Jake's car was old and there always seemed to be something wrong with it and there was always the slight scent of gasoline lingering in the air. Nevertheless, he loved the car. He had bought it with his own money -without his parents' help- which made him enormously proud.

Another 15 minutes later, Jake arrived at Jeremy Heere's address. Rich was nowhere to be seen, so Jake had no choice but going inside.

After he'd parked his car, he went up the stairs and rang the doorbell.

No answer. He tried again. This time, he could hear the faint sound of someone talking on the other side of the door.

Jake put his hands in his pockets and waited impatiently. Why couldn't Rich hurry up and move his ass for once? It was cold outside and Jake was wearing nothing but a tank top and some sweatpants.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity - or five minutes, possibly even six minutes - Rich came stumbling outside, shouting, 'Bye, Heere!'

Then, he tripped over the doorstep, knocking over Jake in the process. They both fell to the ground. Jake's head hit the pavement while Rich landed safely on top of Jake.

'Are you nuts?' he groaned as he rubbed the back of his head and checked for blood.

Rich tried to get off of him, but lost his balance every time he tried to stand up straight. He gave up rather quickly. 'Not anymore, bro. Squipped anonymous. I'm a free dude now. Just drunk.'

Before he could try to stand up again, Jake softly pushed him off, got up and then offered him a hand. Rich hesitated for a moment

'Come on. I'm tired of this, let's go. It's late and I wanna go to bed,' Jake grumbled, but still grabbed Rich's hand and squeezed it once.

Rich stared at him, a wild expression on his face. 'Jakey D?'

'Don't do it.'

'U mad, bro?'

'That's it, Rich. Tomorrow, you're gonna pay. I don't want any outdated memes anywhere near me.'

A laugh escaped Rich's lips. 'Aww, stop it, you.'

Jake furrowed his eyebrows in confusion, but said nothing. With a big sigh and without a warning, he picked Rich up and threw him over his shoulder. 'We're going home, you asshole.'

Under much protest, he eventually managed to get him in the car. Throughout the ride, Rich wouldn't stop protesting, but Jake couldn't care less. He was tired and just wanted to go to bed.

After they'd arrived at home, Jake tried to make Rich go to bed. As expected, without any success.

'Come on ,dude. Cut it out.

'You can't make me!'

Rich struggled as Jake tried to force him in bed and threw some blankets over his head.

'Just go to bed!'

Suddenly, Rich grabbed Jake by the wrist and let himself flop onto the bed, pulling Jake with him, who yelped as he fell down, his fall softened by the sheets and Rich, who clung to him like a koala.

Jake sighed. 'You won't let go, am I right?'

'Yup.'

'Bro...'

'Yeah?'

'You know,' Jake began, but then stopped himself to look at the figure of his best friend. 'Rich, you still awake?' No answer. Exasperated, Jake sighed and then draped a blanket over Rich's sleeping form. 'Good night, Richard.'

In the morning, Rich awoke with a major headache, his breath reeking of alcohol and Jake sprawled out all across the bed.

'Dude, what the-' Rich whispered before trying to get out of bed without disturbing Jake. Of course – as expected – he didn't succeed. After his third try and a nasty bruise, he gave up and laid down again. Next to him, Jake was still snoring peacefully. Rich turned around to face him. This was a total bro thing to do, right? He was simply curious and Jake surely wouldn't mind, at least Rich hoped so. He wouldn't want his best bud to be mad at him.

For a few minutes he just sat there, propped up on his left arm, watching Jake and the way his chest rose and sank; a relaxing rhythm. Rich couldn't help himself but sigh. He didn't even know why he was sighing, but it just seemed appropriate at the moment.

Then, Jake awoke with a big, wide-mouthed yawn and startled Rich in the progress, who immediately fell off the bed, screeching in true hyena manière.

'You dick! Don't startle me like that!' he shouted as he attempted to climb back onto the bed.

'Not my fault,' grumbled Jake, his voice still gruff from sleep.

Rich looked at him and erupted in laughter. 'Your hair, it's – it's a dream!' he cackled and almost fell off the bed again, but was saved by Jake, who had grabbed him by the waist and pulled him back. Then, Rich turned around and faced Jake. For a rare moment, they were both silent.

Once again, they broke out in laughter. Jake was the first one to stop. He gazed at Rich's laughing form and smiled before turning away so he could leave the bed. Rich turned around and looked at him.

'You alright, man? You look kinda red in the face,' he started.

Jake shook his head. 'I'm alright. Should be the one asking you though, you were pretty fucked up yesterday.' He chuckled.

'Seriously, I can tell something's up. Spit it out.'

Truth be told, Jake was still confused and a bit shaken since he'd almost told Rich how he really felt yesterday. He didn't know what to do and seemed to be a bit overwhelmed. Jake just wasn't used to situations like these. Usually, he was the one asking out pretty girls, so why was he so confused when it was about Rich? Perhaps he knew him better than he'd known any of those girls, adored him much more than anyone else on this planet. Deep down, Jake was nothing but afraid of losing his best friend.

'Jakey D?'

Jake took a deep breath and faced Rich. He crossed his arms and tapped his foot. 'Yeah?' he asked.

'Is there something you aren't telling me? I mean I get it if you don't wanna talk to me about it. After all, you did befriend me while I was squipped, so I'd get it if you didn't want to be friends anymore, I mean-'

'I am in love with you!' Jake suddenly blurted out.

And Rich was left speechless. He blinked once. Blinked twice. The corners of his mouth twitched. Then, a single tear sneaked its way down his cheek and Rich quickly rubbed at his eyes, hoping Jake hadn't noticed. 'That's funny, ' he said, cleared his throat and then continued, 'because I-'

'It's fine if you don't feel the same, really. I just- I just really needed you to know, you get me, bro? Fuck, I hope this won't make shit awkward and annoying between us, I'm-'

Before he could continue, Rich pulled him back onto the bed and held him close, his arms around Jake's waist and his face buried somewhere near the crook of his neck.

'Man,' he said, 'you're so damn amazing. There's no way I couldn't love you back. It's like, impossible.'

Finally, Jake reciprocated Rich's embrace. Now, Rich could feel how fast Jake's heart was beating.

'Dude, you're about to have a heart attack.'

Jake laughed shakily. 'I can't help it.'

A moment later, he shot Rich a questioning look and the other boy grinned and nodded. After a moment of hesitation, he pressed a short, yet sweet but also clumsy kiss onto Rich's lips and then scrunched up his face.

'Jesus, man, go and brush your teeth, you reek of alcohol.'