Chapter Text
"Fucking hell!" Jeremy sat back in defeat, sighing as the Apocalypse of the Damned loading screen froze once again.
"It's not gonna work Micheal." Micheal had been silent for a while, sitting behind Jeremy on his beanbag. It took a second for him to speak up. "Life fucking sucks."
Jeremy laughed. "I mean, I know, but it's just a game dude, we can play something else. Or we could-"
He stopped mid sentence as he turned to see Micheal shaking slightly, his head in his hands, and froze. Micheal hardly ever cried. He could usually just laugh and brush things off, and when something really got to him he'd get high and rant until there was nothing left in the world to rant about.
Of course, Jeremy knew what else Micheal used to do when he was upset - but that had stopped now. Micheal had promised it had stopped, and the scars were fading slightly. But now he was sobbing into the oversized sleeves of his hoodie, quiet, convulsing sobs that shook his entire body and twisted his voice into a choked whisper. "I hate life. I hate school and me and this goddamn video game."
Snapping out of his trance, Jeremy scrambled up from the floor and sat down next to Micheal, who immediately buried his head in the crook of his arm. Taking a deep breath, Jeremy could practically feel his heart break as his best friend held onto him like he was a raft in a stormy sea. He opened his mouth but no words of comfort came out.
Micheal sat up, words tumbling from his mouth as fast as the tears were pouring down his cheeks. "I tried to be myself, you know? I decided 'fuck it, I know I'm a loser, might as well own it' so I did, I tried, but it's fucking hard to be true when everyone fucking hates you."
Okay. That Jeremy could answer. "Hey!" He looked Micheal straight in the eye with an almost angry glint in his own. When had Micheal's black eye got so dark and violent? "I don't care what people say, okay?"
(He actually did, very, very much)
"I tell you over and over you're my favourite person. Ever. Because you're my best friend and you're fricking awesome and anyone who doesn't think so deserves to... to be turned into a zombie and get killed immediately because Micheal Mell is the best at zombie apocalypse games and won't let any zombie get in his way!"
(He wasn't sure what happened to that metaphor but he just rolled with it)
"And if you're ever struggling with those zombies, just tell me dude. It's a two player game, remember? I've got your back."
(This was actually very, very true.)
There was a pause as Micheal wiped his eyes and the sobs died down to a slight sniffle. A small - but visible nonetheless - lopsided smile on his face, he turned to Jeremy.
"You're such a geek, do you know that?"
Relief and happiness flooding him, Jeremy shoved Micheal playfully, then pulled him back into a hug. He was just glad he could cheer Micheal up.
He honestly didn't know what to do when his player two was down.