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Brooke was draped over his lap while he played Metroid Prime, fighting some mini-boss when she spoke up.
“Hey, sugarplum, what’s your favorite animal?” He paused the game, looking down at her in confusion.
“Why?” She just hummed, cleaning under her nails.
“I’m just curious!” He narrowed his eyes at her. He doubted that was the only reason, but he gave in when she pouted.
“Fine, it’s snakes. Snakes are like, super cool. I mean, have you seen those big yellow constrictor snakes? They’re so pretty and you get to have a big snake draped over you when you’re socializing them. It’s great-” She grinned up at him and he furrowed his brow. “What?”
“It’s just so cute how passionate you are about them!” she exclaimed, leaning further into his lap. “You care so much and it’s so wonderful to see you talk about those things, your eyes light up and you start moving your hands around as you talk which you only do when you’re too distracted to care about how people see you, plus you get this big smile that’s so pretty!” Well, now he was blushing a lot. She laughed and put a hand to his cheek. “You’re just so alive when you’re happy, and I’m so glad I get to see that, Micah. Now, did Jeremy do anything stupidly cute today?” He groaned, removing her hand to cover his face with his own as the controller fell onto her chest.
“Oh god, don’t get me started Cookie, it was literally hell.” She sighed in agreement.
“Same thing here today with Chloe. She told me I was a goddess, Michael! With this soft smile that she only uses when she’s being sincere and I wanted Satan to take my hand and lead me to the part of Hell filled with pretty lesbians right then and there, and! Christine asked me how I could tell I liked girls and I’m dying! She was so cute and nervous and fidgety when she asked and I’m suddenly convinced I have a chance with her and-” she groaned, and he made a noise of agreement.
“I get that. Jake and Rich both asked me to prom and like, they called me hot? Holy shit. The two hottest boys in school called me hot. What the fuck! I mean, I’m not interested in them romantically, but like, damn if I were, Brooke. Then Jeremy came up to me and grabbed my hand and we walked to class holding hands! He doesn’t even share 1st period with me, Brooke! He said it was just ‘cause he wanted to remind himself I was there but, like, I’m not sure that’s the whole truth, but he held my hand, Brooke! And then told me Jake and Rich were lucky to have scored such a great date for prom before he smiled and walked away! Like, holy shit, I couldn’t pay attention to CompSci because of it I was so shook.” Brooke patted his arm in sympathy.
“That’s relatable as shit, Mikey. Now, wanna rant about our stupid gay crushes while I cuddle the shit out of you and watch you play this game?” He looked at her with a grin.
“Fuck yeah I do. Let’s get started after I make you some hot chocolate because I know you like mine best.” She smiled warmly at him.
“Thanks, sweetie. You’re the literal best.”
The rest of the night proceeded in a similar fashion.
Brooke was sitting at the lunch table, hunched over her phone as he walked up. That was definitely weird, but he wasn’t about to call her out.
“Hey Brookie! You up for a run to Sev-Elev for some slushies and shitty pizza?” he called, and she jumped, shoving her phone into her pocket quickly before looking at him in shock.
“Michael! Sweetie! Hi!” Well that wasn’t suspicious. She smiled and latched onto his side. “Yes, I’m totally up for that let’s go!” He narrowed his eyes and she shook her head. He sighed.
“Was it bad, Brookie? Or just a secret or plan or surprise or something?” he asked as they walked towards the exit.
“Secret plan. I cannot speak of it,” she replied cryptically, and he let out a sigh of relief.
“Good, ‘cause if it was Chloe being mean to you was was planning on like, kicking her ass to Mars and back,” he answered easily and she started laughing.
“You know I could kick her ass on my own, right?” He hummed.
“I mean yeah, you could probably, I don’t know, like, kick Jake’s ass on your own, but it’s the offer of doing so that counts and is like, considered romantic or some shit,” he explained, causing her to laugh harder as she held onto his arm. “I mean, you know I’m doing that in a no romo way though, so it’s cool.” She started wheezing she was laughing so hard, and they had to stop so she wouldn’t pass out. She clutched his hoodie desperately.
“H-holy sh-shit, Micah!” she said after her laughter calmed some. She wiped at her eyes, leaning back with a huge smile on her face. “You, my dear, are hysterical.” He grinned back at her.
“I do try.” They continued their journey to the Seven-Eleven, and the rest of the day went smoothly, with Michael only mildly curious as to what the secret was, but he figured he’d find out soon enough.
He caught Brooke talking to Jeremy without seeming too vicious a few days later, which immediately set off the Something Is Horribly Wrong radar in his head, because since the SQUIP, Brooke hated Jeremy more than Jeremy hated Jeremy, which was an impressive feat. He handed her something which she put in her pocket before smiling at him and handing him a sheet of paper. He seemed confused but left, and she turned to see Michael, looking confused and concerned. She rushed over, waving her hands in front of her.
“Mikey, honey! I was just talking to Jeremy, trying to, uhm, get closer with him, ‘cuz of, you know, you two being best friends and all-” He raised an eyebrow and she sighed. “Ok, yeah, that was BS, but I just needed a favor from him! Nothing too big!” He gave her a look. “It’s part of the secret, sweetie! My secret plan? So I can’t tell you anything!” She mimed zipping her lips and he sighed, chuckling as he shook his head.
“Alright, but it you need moral support or to vent or anything, I’m here for you, Brookie.” She grinned and nodded before latching onto his side.
“I know. Thanks, Michael.” He smiled at her, draping an arm over her shoulders.
“Gotcha, Brooke. Well, shall we head to my place for a marathon of the show you want me to get into, Ladybug?” She beamed at him before dragging on him some.
“Yeah! Come on, let’s go!” He laughed and went along, happy things were settling into place.
He woke up in the middle of the night to awkward shuffling and whispering. He groaned and it silenced.
“Who’s there, ‘s like, fuckin’ o’fuck thirty in the morning,” he slurred, and the silence continued. He fumbled for his glasses and his phone. The shuffling turned into loud footsteps before there was a thunk, then pressure on his blanket. “If you’re tryin’ ‘a kill me, my zuchinni’s gonna have a problem with that-” he started, but then some light cut him off. “‘S this like, Jeremy, doin’ some weird kink thing again?” There was a squeak before a shitty text-to-speech app started playing.
“This is a pot induced dream. Pay it no mind,” the robot man read off and Michael snorted.
“I didn’t even smoke today, disembodied voice,” he retorted.
“Fuck.” There was some quiet tapping. “This is part of a secret plan. Brooke hired me. You are to not know what I am doing until she calls you in the morning. Enjoy your rest, sir.” The pressure on the blankets vanished, and the sound of someone running out of the room rang out. Michael sighed and readjusted his blankets.
“I jus’ wanna sleep, so I’m jus’ gonna ignore the person who broke into my house,” he mumbled to himself as he curled around the giant lion plushie Brooke had gotten him after the play.
He woke up the second time when his phone rang. He reached blindly for it, grabbing it and answering.
“Who’s callin’ ‘cause I was-”
“Hiya Micah! I’m outside with a gift!” He groaned.
“Cookie, babe, I love you, but it’s like, too early.” She hummed. “Yeah, yeah, ‘m comin’, just give me a sec to get some pants on. And a shirt. Not plannin’ on flashin’ the neighborhood so they can all see these bara man titties.” She laughed into the phone.
“Okay honey, I’m outside.” He hummed and hung up before stumbling out of bed and over to his dresser, slipping on a loose shirt that had some emo band logo on it and his sweatpants. He managed to get into the hall before the doorbell rang. He chuckled and staggered to the door, pulling it open. Brooke looked up at him with a grin, carrying three big bags. He looked at her, raising an eyebrow. She laughed again and pushed her way in.
“Okay, so are you gonna tell me what’s in those bags?” She walked into the kitchen and he followed. She set one of the three on the table.
“That’s breakfast! I made pancakes, but I wasn’t sure what flavor you’d like best so I, uhm, made too many. So there’s that. The whipped cream is also in there! And powdered sugar. There are also cookies. But I’m gonna go to your room for now. Don’t peak!” She then rushed back down the hall, turned at the perfect moment, and slid into the alcove by the basement like a pro. Honestly, he was proud as shit of her for doing that, but he was also concerned.
“Brookie, I’m totally all for shit tons of food,” he started, pulling the food out of the bag- Holy shit that was a lot of fuckin’ pancakes- “But this is looking like stress baking, are you good?” There was a soft thud in the basement. “Brookie?”
“I’m fine! We’re good! And I was just in a mood and also was nervous about my surprise! That’s all!” she answered, voice muffled. He looked at the 3 gallon size ziplock contains in front of him filled to the brim with pancakes and labeled with little cute stickers, and the extra two containers of the same size filled with whipped cream.
“You sure?” He heard happy humming and shuffling.
“Yep!” He looked towards the basement, face contorted in concern, but gave in, settling for the container of peaches and cream as he put 4 on a plate and coated them in what was probably too much whipped cream and powdered sugar. He sat down beside the door to the basement alcove.
“Alright- holy shit, Brookie, these pancakes-” He was pretty sure he had just ascended to heaven. He didn’t even know peaches could be that good what the fuck. She laughed.
“Which ones?”
“Peaches and cream, what the actual fuck, I didn’t know peaches could be good? I’ve been proven fucking wrong, jesus.” He heard more shuffling- oh, like the one last night. “Question, Brookie, did you hire someone to break into my house last night and do something weird?” She was silent. “Brookie?”
“N-no!” she answered a solid 30 seconds later. He looked disbelievingly at the alcove.
“Brookie, that sounds like a big lie.” She sighed.
“Well, I mean, no. I didn’t hire someone.” He raised an eyebrow.
“Okay, then what the fuck were they doing and who were they?” he asked, very confused. She was silent. He sighed and took another bite of his pancakes, thinking of Jeremy-
“I’ll tell you in a minute?” she answered cryptically, and Michael just sighed deeply. “Also, what’s your opinion on me having pre-paid for tattoos for the both of us. Because I might have done that too. Maybe. Well, definitely, at Suzanne’s, for tomorrow.” Michael almost choked on the bite of pancake he was chewing.
“Suzanne’s?!” He winced at the voice crack. “Brookie, babe, that is the most expensive tattoo parlour in town!” He heard a muffled whine from the basement.
“I mean, yeah, but I want the best for you!” she called back. He groaned.
“Brooke, you- you know my birthday is in like, 9 months, and Christmas is in 5. Why all the presents, especially expensive ones, honey?” Brooke made a grunting noise before making a raspberry sound.
“Look, if I’m gonna crush on an unattainable girl, I’m allowed to be a sugar momma to my QP!” Michael actually started choking on a peach at that. After managing the get the fruit down and catch his breath, he called back weakly.
“I’m sorry, what now?”
“You heard me, future Mr. Heere! You heard me!” Michael started choking again. “Sorry! Well, no, I’m not, you really need to confess. We’re pathetic at this point. Also-” There was a clicking noise, and Brooke let out a victorious whoop. “Yes! -also, you can come down!” Michael set the plate, which was now entirely clear- huh. He didn’t remember doing that. Oh well. He walked down the stairs, covering his eyes at the bright light, letting out a groan.
“River, why the fuck did you move the blinds. You’re gonna kill me. I’m a vampire. Look, I’m melting as we speak!” He imitated melting into the floor as best he could, and she snorted.
“That’s a lie and we know it. If anyone’s a vampire in Middleborough, it’s Madeline. She almost glows in the dark, she’s so pale.” Michael laughed at that, squinting his eyes open to see Brooke leaning over him, her hair tied up messily so it wouldn’t fall in her face.
“So, what’s the surprise besides stupidly expensive tattoos?” He held out a hand to her, and she pulled him up off the floor easily. God, she was stupidly strong. She motioned to the south corner of his room and- oh my god-
“Oh my god. Is that- Oh my god. You didn’t. No! Brooke, babe, oh my god!” He stared in awe, shock, and delight at the glass tank seated atop a new bedside table, inside which was a little white and yellow snake, looking at him with a cocked head and red eyes. Brooke walked next to the tank, grinning.
“Yep, I did! You get to name him! He’s an albino corn snake! He’s a big sweetheart!” Michael let out a high pitched noise, rushing over to the tank to stare into the little snake’s eyes. Brooke giggled beside him as he babbled incoherently at the new friend.
“His name is Fork, and I love him.” Brooke burst out in heavy laughter, and Michael gently opened the lid of the tank, reaching down to touch Fork, who slid easily into his hand, curling around his wrist. Michael put his free hand to his chest, feeling tears welling in his eyes. “He-he likes me, Brookie, oh my god-” He turned to face her, and a grin was practically splitting her face open as she bounced on her heels and flapped her hands.
“I’m so glad you like him!” Fork licked his arm and he let out a high pitched squeal. Brooke looked at him excitedly, and expectantly. Oh, right.
“Holy shit, Brookie, thank you so much!” She brightened even more, spinning around in a quick circle. He raised Fork to his eye level, and he kissed the snake’s head. Fork shied away, and Michael let him slither back into his tank before grabbing Brooke and pulling her into a tight hug as she squealed. He pulled back after a minutes, beaming. She laughed again, resting her head on his chest.
“I’m glad. Can we, uh, sit down, though? Lots of sensory stuff right now. It’s all good sensory, don’t worry, but it’s still a lot!” He hummed, leading her to his bed, where the both let themselves fall backwards. Brooke let out a happy sigh, searching blindly for Michael’s hand before intertwining their fingers when she eventually found it.
“So,” Michael started, looking up at Delphinus on the ceiling, “Who lowkey broke into my house last night?” Brooke stopped vibrating next to him.
“Jeremy.” That was… odd.
“How? Also, I thought you hated him?”
“I do! It’s just- I wanted to surprise you, and he was the only one with a key to your house that I wouldn’t have to steal!” Michael snorted. “Heck off! I did it to be a good fake girlfriend to you, not because I like Jeremy!” Michael made a confused noise.
“Wait, did you like, bribe him to do that? He mentioned you paying him, plus I saw you give him something the other day.” Brooke squeaked.
“Uhm- uh, well, you see- uhm- …. Yes. I bribed him.” He turned his head to look at her, raising an eyebrow. She groaned, covering her eyes with her hands. “Okay, I know, you’re waiting for me to tell you what I used to bribe him, but it- uhg, it’s embarrassing, Mikey!” She made a whining noise.
“Cookie. I’m not gonna like, disown you as my fake girlfriend because you think it’s embarrassing.” She let out another whine.
“Mikey! You know I can’t hide anything from you when you call me Cookie! Uhg!” She moved her hands to cover her entire face, muffling her voice some. “I… I gave him some candids of you that Jenna took, and also a list of how exactly he hurt you so he could best apologize! There! You happy?!” Michael blinked. Not what he was expecting.
“I mean, yeah, but, that’s… Really nice.” He suddenly processed the first part of the payment. “Wait, why the fuck did he want candids of me?” He wished Brooke didn’t know how embarrassed he was just from his voice, but he also knew how she got when talking about girls, so at least he had that on her.
“I don’t know, actually? I think he mentioned saying something about missing your face after the SQUIP but feeling too guilty to spend a lot of time with you before he could apologize again.” Well, if he hadn’t been blushing before, he sure as hell was now. He groaned, covering his own face.
“Oh my god. Brookie, I’m so fuckin’ gay for this boy,” he whined, and she laughed again, patting his shoulder in sympathy.
“Sorry, can’t help you on that front until you two talk more and he tells you what actually happened,” she explained, voice dropping from light to serious shockingly fast. “And before you ask me what, he knows. He knows what it is, and he needs to be the one to tell you.” He just dropped his hands from his face, staring up at the two constellations on his ceiling.
“Alright.”
“Anyways!” Brooke cut in again, voice back to something upbeat and bubbly. “What tattoos should we get? It’s your choice, unless you don’t want to pick, at which point I’ll start listing off options.” The shitty stars on the ceiling called to him quietly, and he turned to face her again. “I mean, if you want it to commemorate Fork, we can get, like, matching forks- Ooo! Or Draco! Like, the constellation, not the Harry Potter character.” Michael tapped her nose, pointing to the ceiling. She gasped, delighted. “Oh! Delphinus! That’s awesome!” She sat up, and he followed. Brooke grabbed him for another hug before pulling back, beaming.
“This is gonna be great, Mikey!” He beamed right back.
“It absolutely is.”