Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Requests Open!

Won’t Do:

-SQUIPshipping(anyone x SQUIP)

-Smut/18+ stuff

-Proships/Comships

-Unlikely to do Boyf Riends

Favorite Ships to write:

-Expensive Headphones (Rich/Michael)

-Spicy Bis (Rich/Jeremy)

-Stagedorks (Jeremy/Christine)

-Puppy Love (Jeremy/Brooke)

-Pinkberry (Brooke/Chloe)

-Brooke/Jenna

Favorite Characters to write:

-Rich

-Michael

Extra Info:

-Ships will be added to tags when written, each chapter title will start with the main ship, emojis will be used to differentiate between Angst, Fluff, and Hurt/Comfort

-Angst-🥀

-Fluff-☁️

-Hurt/Comfort-🫂

Pls leave requests in the comments!!!

Tags will be updated to fit future chapters

Chapters will (hopefully) be done within the week of the request

Chapter Text

Rich awoke with a groan. His head hurt like hell and he could believe it was the SQUIP punishing him. However, there was no voice yelling at him, there was no shock down his spine, he couldn’t feel any other pain than his usual burn induced aches and the massive migraine he had.

“Hello?” Rich asked the air. It was sure to get the SQUIP to respond, it hated when he thought out loud.

Silence. There wasn’t a sound in his head. He paused for a few minutes and there was still silence. He let out a small sob. He was free.

Rich turned his head to the right, getting ready to ask a nurse for some pain killers. Instead, he saw a person being wheeled in. Any questions he had died in his throat.

He peered a bit closer and realized the guy was familiar. It was Jeremy Heere, the one Rich told about the SQUIP. He felt his heart sink and thousands of apologies rushed into his head before he even realized that Jeremy was unconscious.

He turned back over to lay on his back. Sitting in silence, he thought. It was odd, not having a voice in his head telling him how he should be thinking but it was… nice.

He thought about how the SQUIP could possibly have been disabled.

(Had there been a different way to disable them? He hadn’t thought of it before.)

He thought about what would happen when he got back to school.

(Oh god, he was totally dead. He burned his best friend’s house to the ground! He ruined Jake’s life. He ruined everyone’s life. God, why couldn’t the fire have killed him? Why couldn’t he just go through with killing himself Freshman year?)

He thought about all the people he needed to apologize to.

(Jake, Jeremy, basically the entire school… Michael…)

Speak of the devil, a voice yelled on the other side of the wall. It was hard to make out what the person was saying but Rich managed.

“What do… can’t visit?!… best friend… please?” The voice broke at the end and Rich finally placed it. It was Michael Mell, antisocial headphones kid.

Rich heard footsteps coming towards the room and, before he could pretend to be asleep, the door opened.

Michael stomped into the room and towards where Jeremy was lying. A man was walking with him and Rich assumed it was Jeremy’s dad.

He didn’t want to intrude so he laid back and tried to fall asleep. After a few minutes, Rich finally slipped into sleep. He dreamed of nothing.

When he woke up, he noticed that Michael and Mr. Heere were still in the room, looking dead tired. Rich heard Michael say something that he couldn’t quite pick up on and Mr. Heere left the room.

It felt so awkward, laying there while the kids he bullied were silent on the other side of the room. He heard footsteps and looked up, assuming it was a nurse. It was Michael.

“Hi…?” Rich rasped hesitantly. His voice was dry from not being used and he winced, clearing his throat.

Michael stared at him silently. “So…” he finally started. “You have a-“ he tapped his head and Rich nodded uncertainly. “-okay.” Michael paused again, unsure. “What’s it saying right now?”

“It’s off…” Rich muttered.

“How? There’s no way you’re drunk.”

“No, it got disabled, I guess, like yesterday?” Rich thought back. He couldn’t really grasp time right now. He was eternally stuck in the same white room.

Michael got a calculating look on his face and mumbled to himself for around a minute. Rich just sat there, not able to do anything.

“The SQUIPs were linked, so shutting one of them off shut all of them off. I didn’t know that you and Jeremy synced.” Michael finally turned towards Rich.

The new information made Rich’s head spin. So that’s how his got shut off? Wait, someone took Mountain Dew Red? Was it Jeremy? All the SQUIPs were linked? Who else took a SQUIP? Rich wanted answers but he couldn’t muster up the courage to ask Michael.

“Yeah… it happened at school, like, the day after he got the SQUIP..?” Rich wasn’t really sure of the timeline but he hoped he was right.

“That makes sense, it was the day he started ignoring me so…” Michael trailed off. Rich felt absolutely horrible. He had caused that. He’d caused all of this.

Rich took in a breath. “You said that all the SQUIPs were linked.” Michael looked up. “Who else got a SQUIP?”

“Everyone in the play. Someone put a bunch of SQUIPs and Mountain Dew in the prop beaker and everyone took a sip of it.” Michael admitted. Rich felt his stomach drop. “It was crazy! First, Jake showed up and threw away his crutches, saying he didn’t need them because the SQUIP blocked his pain receptors. Then-“

“Jake’s in crutches?”

“Yeah…” Michael got a weird look on his face, like he was pitying Rich. Rich didn’t like it. “He broke his legs trying to get out of the house on Halloween.” The room devolved into silence again.

“What else happened?” Rich asked softly.

“I asked Jake if he could hold down Jeremy while I forced him to drink Mountain Dew Red. That actually happened before the crutch thing, but anyways-“ Rich cut him off again.

“You got Mountain Dew Red?”

“Yeah. It was really hard to find anywhere because there were only a few cases sold ever. I managed but I did cost me a few hundred dollars.” He paused, contemplating. “Anyways, Jake poured out most of the bottle. Then, Brooke and Chloe showed up and started telling Jeremy about how they weren’t mad at him anymore. I don’t really know what it was about. Anyways, they started complimenting each other and then Jeremy and I fought them off to get to the bottle because there was still a bit left.

“I got it but then I was grabbed by Jenna and Mr. Reyes. I tossed Jeremy the bottle but just as he was about to drink it, Christine showed up.” Michael took a small breath. “She started saying that she was into Jeremy and I could tell he was close to giving up. He managed to snap out of it for long enough to give Christine the Mountain Dew Red which then shut off all the SQUIPs.”

Rich huffed. “Wow.”

“Yep.”

Awkward silence filled the room again.

“Uh…” Rich started. He really hated the silence but he wasn’t sure what to talk about. What topic could he even bring up after that?

“I’m really sorry.” He said. Michael looked at him, shocked. “I’ve been a dick to you for the past 2 years and you, like, saved my life so I’m really sorry.” Michael was still looking at him but it was with a weirder more indecipherable emotion.

“You…” Michael paused again, biting his lip. A strange thought entered Rich’s mind that he immediately pushed down. “You have a lisp?”

Rich was so caught up in talking he forgot about it. He covered his mouth like it would take back his words.

“Don’t talk about it! It’s stupid!” Rich tried to put as much emphasis on the “s” as possible.

“It’s not stupid!” Michael said. Rich knew it was only because he didn’t want to say something mean about his bully. Even when said bully was in a hospital bed. “It’s cute!”

Rich’s face flushed and Michael seemed to realize how it sounded, cheeks turning red.

Oh no, he’s hot, Rich thought. Well, that was new.

“Th-thanks…” Rich smiled softly. Michael smiled in a strained way.

“No problem,” Michael’s voice sounded tight.

The silence was suffocating again. Luckily, the door opened and Mr. Heere stepped in. Michael turned back towards Jeremy’s bed. He waved slightly at Rich, who returned the gesture.

Michael visited nearly every day. He talked to Rich most days he was there. They talked about a lot of stuff. Video games, TV, school, hobbies. It started pretty awkwardly. They would pause every few sentences and just sit in silence for a few minutes until one of them spoke up again. The more they talked, the less awkward it was. The pauses became shorter and they started teasing each other.

The conversations made Rich feel more normal. They made him feel like he wasn’t in a hospital bed because an evil supercomputer made him want to kill himself. Michael made him feel human.

Unfortunately, this came with a realization.

They were talking about video games. Apparently, there was this really retro video game that Michael somehow got his hands on.

“Me and Jeremy play it all the time but we haven’t been able to make it past level 9!” Michael kept rambling. The sun from the only window in the room hit him from behind. It surrounded his head with a halo of light. Rich thought he looked ethereal.

Rich kinda started tuning out of the conversation, focusing so much on looking at Michael that he didn’t notice that Michael had stopped talking.

“Hey,” Michael made a move like he was about to tap Rich on the shoulder but stopped. “Are you okay?”

“Huh?” Rich asked eloquently.

“You kinda zoned out on me, man.”

“Oh, sorry. I was just…” Rich hesitated, “thinking.”

“Wow, shocker.”

“Shut up!” Rich laughed. Michael put his hands up, also chuckling.

Rich felt his face flush again.

Shit. I’m totally bi.

The next few days were a bit of a blur. Rich and Michael still talked like usual except it was back to being semi-awkward in the wake of Rich’s discovery.

Then, Jeremy woke up. Michael had just left the room with Mr. Heere to get some food so Rich was left in the room alone.

“Hello?” Jeremy asked thin air. Rich had been there.

“Feels like you’re missing a part of yourself, doesn’t it?” He empathized. He had felt as if one of his lungs were taken out when he first woke up but it was a welcome feeling if it meant no SQUIP.

“Rich?”

“Hurts like a mother fucker too.” Rich whined. He paused before asking the question he was too scared to ask Michael, “Be honest, what are they saying about me at school?” The look on Jeremy’s face told him everything. “That bad, huh? Figures.”

“Sorry…”

“Sorry? What do you have to be sorry about? I’m finally free from that happy little hivemind! When I get out of here, the ladies are gonna learn to love the real Rich Goranski.” He paused, contemplating continuing. “And the dudes… Oh my god, I am totally bi!”

“Your SQUIP is gone, how?” Jeremy asked.

“Ask your friend, Anti social headphones kid.” Rich knew his name, of course he did. He wasn’t really feeling like trying to explain something he wasn’t there for. “He’s been by, like, a ton by the way. What is he, your boyfriend?” Jeremy shook his head fast. Rich was pretty glad. “Then, is he single?” He was going to shoot his shot. He saw Jeremy glance behind him but didn’t think much of it. “Totally bi now!”

Michael cleared his throat from behind Rich. Just his luck. “Hi, Rich.”

“Hey~”

Michael then walked past him and towards Jeremy. He looked at Rich one last time before shutting the curtains between the cots.

Rich heard Michael explaining what happened to Jeremy before Mr. Heere walked back into the room.

They started giving him advice on how to ask out Christine. Rich was willing to admit that he eavesdropped a bit.

“You’ve gotta buy her a rose, compliment her on her clothes.” Mr. Heere said.

“Say you appreciate that she’s smart!” Michael advised.

“Nah, man, you tell her that she excites you sexually!” Rich butt in. Michael opened the curtain again to give Rich an exasperated look.

The next day, Jeremy was discharged from the hospital. Rich thought that he would be alone again. It wasn’t like any of his “friends” visited him and now the only reason that Michael had even came to the hospital was leaving.

Just 2 days after Jeremy left the door to his room opened again. It was Michael. He pulled up a chair and started talking to Rich like normal.

“Why are you visiting me?” Rich asked in the middle of one of Michael’s rants about bad graphics in games.

“Because you’re my friend?” Michael sounded confused. “Haven’t your friends visited you?”

Rich laughed bitterly. “Nope. Not even a text.”

Michael paused again. “They seem pretty worried about you at school.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, they said that they didn’t think you’d wanna see them especially after…”

Rich’s heartbeat sped up. “After what?”

“Well, Jenna, Chloe, and Brooke spread a few rumors about why you set the fire and what happened during the fire.” Michael put his hands up before saying quickly, “They feel super bad about it especially now that they know they aren’t true!”

Rich felt his heartbeat go back to normal. That was it? They spread some rumors about him? Yeah, he was definitely pissed but he had set Jake’s house on fire! That was so much worse than anything they could say about him.

“I thought that they hated me.”

“Why?”

“Why?” Rich asked, surprised. “I burned down Jake’s house! People got hurt! Jake got hurt!”

“I think he’s more worried about you.” Michael said. “You’re the one who was caught in the fire.”

“I wasn’t.” Rich admitted softly.

“What?!” Michael yelled. “Someone else got stuck?”

“No.” Michael sighed in relief. “I wasn’t stuck.”

“Then… then how did you-“ he cut himself off, eyes widening in understanding. His eyes softened. “Rich…”

“It’s fine. I just needed that… thing… gone.” Rich shivered. Michael kept looking at him like he was on the verge of jumping. Rich felt like screaming.

“Can we talk about something else?” Rich asked softly.

Michael took a deep breath. “Okay…”

The conversation continued on but the earlier confession dampened the mood.

Just as Michael was about to leave, he asked, “How much longer until you get out?”

“About a week.”

“Cool…” Michael took a sticky note out of his backpack and wrote something on it. He put it on the table next to Rich’s hospital bed.

Rich looked at him, questioning.

“It’s uh…” Michael paused, cheeks turning red. “It’s my number. For when you get out of here. I like hanging out with you.”

Rich felt himself blush. “Thanks… I like hanging out with you too.”

They stared at each other for longer than was necessary before Michael’s phone started ringing.

“Sorry, I have to go. Bye!” Michael said, face still red.

“Yeah, bye!” Rich yelled when Michael finally reached the door.

Michael gave one last wave before he answered his phone.

Rich spent the next 3 days talking with his friends that finally visited him. He suspected it was because Michael told them about their talk but he couldn’t confirm it.

He and Jake ended up crying and talking until the sun set and Jake was forced to leave the room. Rich talked to Brooke and Chloe the day after. Even if they weren’t that close, it was nice to learn more about the people he never truly got to know. Jenna visited him alone the next day, apologizing for starting almost every rumor about him that was now all over twitter. Rich reluctantly forgave her. He hoped that he’d be able to talk to them normally once he was back in school.

The last 3 days of his stay were spent alone. He was being kept under strict watch and mental evaluation. The last day included a lot of tests and getting most of his bandages off. He was pretty happy about that, they were so itchy! Then he remembered he actually had to go home and he dreaded it.

He packed up all of his stuff, including his phone which he must’ve accidentally handed to someone while he was drunk enough to start asking about Mountain Dew Red. He remembered the sticky note just as he was about to leave.

He snatched it and put it in his pocket. He thought about texting Michael and telling him that he was finally out of the hospital but didn’t want to overstep. Then again, Michael did give him his number and Rich promised himself that he would try.

So, Rich grabbed his phone from his bag and took the note out of his pocket. He typed in the number and texted a quick “Hey, this is Rich”. The reply came only a minute later.

hey, rich. r u finally out of the hospital?

Yep. I’m heading home rn

do u need a ride?

Rich thought for a few moments. He didn’t have a ride. His dad wouldn’t be too keen to pick up the kid that was racking up medical bills and his brother was at university. He didn’t want to be alone with any of his other friends right then. Plus, he would get some alone time with Michael.

Yeah

where r u?

Rich sent him the address.

On my way!

sry, autocorrect

I get it

He was waiting for only 5 minutes before a beat up PT Cruiser pulled up in front of him.

“Hey, Rich!” Michael said.

“Hi.” Rich started walking towards the car. “Nice ride.”

“Am I hearing sarcasm?”

Rich smiled and shrugged his shoulders, making Michael laugh.

“Thanks.”

Michael smiled. “No problem.” They sat there, staring at each other softly. “So… where’s your house?”

The rest of the ride was spent talking about school. Rich was cleared to go the next day and he was dreading it. He had told Michael about his worries about being behind and the whispers of their peers. Michael had consoled him, saying that he’d be there for him. It warmed Rich’s heart.

They made it to his street.

“Can you drop me off here?” Rich asked. He’d rather not have his dad questioning who dropped him off, he also wanted to put off going to his house for as long as possible.

Michael looked at him strangely but agreed and pulled over.

“Bye, see you.” Rich waved.

“See you at school.” Michael smiled, waving back.

Rich walked down the street and glanced back to see Michael leaving. Yeah, school was going to be fine.

The next day he woke up a bit late. He had forgotten to turn on his alarm and his dad didn’t bother to wake him so he had only 10 minutes to get ready before he would have to run to school.

He put on a tank top and a pair of stonewash jeans. He looked himself over in the mirror and decided to put on a hoodie as well. It was just because it was starting to get cold out, it was December, after all. No other reason. He brushed his teeth and looked at the now faded streak of red in his hair.

He glanced at his phone and noted that the time was 7:32. Shit, now he had less than 5 minutes to eat. He ended up discarding the idea of eating to instead pack his bag and run out of the house.

He made it to school with less than 2 minutes before his first period started. He was so lucky that his first class was near the entrance to the school.

He was also lucky that everyone was too busy walking to their first period to take note of him.

He pulled his hood up and hoped that his burns weren’t too noticeable. Who was he kidding? They took up almost half of his face and his hands certainly had their fair share of damage. He was glad that his legs and most of his arms were completely covered by fabric.

He took a seat in the back for all of his classes. There was no point in drawing extra attention to himself especially when all of his teachers felt a need to point him out in front of his classmates.

That is to say, his day was mostly shit. The only time that it wasn’t was during lunch. He had walked in and avoided the lunch line like the plague. He’d had it once and it was disgusting, it tasted like plastic. He looked around the cafeteria for an empty table or one that had a lot of free space for him to ignore everyone there.

Then, he saw Brooke wave him over. “Rich!” She called happily.

He was kinda expecting worse when he got back. He knew that they’d all talked in the hospital but it was a hospital, they had probably just felt bad for him!

He walked up reluctantly. “Hi.”

“C’mon! Sit down!” Brooke continued.

He took a seat between Michael and Jake. The table had gotten kind of quiet when he sat down but then Brooke continued talking with Chloe and the rest of the table followed suit.

Michael tapped his arm and cocked his head towards where Jeremy and Christine were sitting. It seemed that they finally got their shit together and started going out. When Michael put his hand back down, it was touching Rich’s hand.

Jake had then started asking for Rich’s opinion on if he should do this or that activity. Rich wasn’t really paying attention, his mind was stuck on the small bit of contact that he and Michael were holding.

“So which one should I do?” Jake asked, snapping Rich out of his daze.

“Which one do you think would be better for you?”

“I don’t know! That’s why I’m asking you!”

“I’m not really an expert at making decisions.” Rich joked. From the looks the others were sending him… “Too soon?”

Michael huffed out a laugh, hand still next to Rich’s. Rich could see Jeremy send them a look. He wondered what it meant.

The rest of the week continued on like it did before the whole incident. It was better, though. He wasn’t hurting people purely because they were of a lower social standing, he had real friends, and there was Michael. They sat next to each other every lunch and almost always ended up with at least one point of contact, usually almost holding hands.

Rich had tried to give Michael as many hints as he could about liking the other but Michael just wasn’t getting it! They hung out a lot, though, so Rich wasn’t complaining. He really hoped that the reason Michael wasn’t bringing up the flirting wasn’t because he didn’t like Rich. That would suck.

He had almost given up when he overheard a conversation between Michael and Jeremy.

“Just ask him out! He’s obviously into you!” Jeremy yelled.

“There’s no way!” Michael replied. Rich felt both hope and jealousy mixing in his gut. “He doesn’t like me!”

“Are you forgetting what happened at the hospital?” Okay, so they were probably talking about Rich, hopefully.

“That- that was just a joke!” Michael said, voice rising by a few notes. “He was probably just saying it because he had just come out.”

“And why could he have not been saying it because he likes you?” Jeremy’s tone became more demanding.

This seemed to stump Michael. “Because… because there’s no way that Rich could like me back.” Rich’s heart soared. “If he does, then why hasn’t he told me? He should at least be giving some hints!”

Rich heard Jeremy face-palm. “Ow.” He complained. “Are you being serious?”

“Yeah..? Why wouldn’t I be?”

“Rich has been flirting with you since he’s come back to school!”

Michael paused. “Oh my god. How am I so stupid?”

“I’m glad I could help. Now, go and talk to Rich. Call him if you have to. I don’t care, just please end my suffering of watching you dance around each other. It’s gotten old.”

Rich heard footsteps heading his way and sped towards a place that was far away enough to make it seem like he wasn’t eavesdropping.

He leaned against some lockers and waited a few seconds before starting to walk where he had been.

Rich knocked into Michael in a way he hoped was natural and not like he was expecting to see Michael.

“Hey.” Rich said, blushing.

Michael’s cheeks turned red. “Hi.”

They paused. Rich was about to ask him out when Michael blurted, “Do you wanna go out with me?”

“Yeah.” Rich smiled softly.

“Cool.” Michael hesitated, unsure of what to do.

“Do you wanna get some coffee on Saturday?” Rich asked. He wasn’t going to screw this up.

“Sure.” Michael agreed. “What time?”

“Does noon sound good?”

“Yeah. I’ll pick you up?”

“See you then!”

“Yeah. See you!”

Things were going to turn out alright.