thanks to my bsf alli @Locally_Gay for giving me some of this idea!! (the base of it not all)

****

During Jake's annual Christmas party, Rich had gotten drunk. When I say drunk, I don't mean a soft buzz. I mean drunker than Cooter-Brown, ready to hop on a chandelier and swing on it like one of those boat rides at the amusement park drunk. He'd snatched the White Elephant gifts from under the tree, put them in a bed sheet he found in Jake's laundry room, and ran out of the house in a muscle-style Santa Suit.

"Okay!" Jake put up his drink and let out a loud whoop, "Who's ready for White Elephant?"

A few scattered cheers came from the crowd and people gathered round in Jake's living room. When Jake went to grab the presents, there were none. The brunette's eyes widened as he suddenly realized how screwed he was. Jake wheeled around the room he was in, searching everywhere he could for the presents. After looking for a good two minutes, Jake groaned. Then he realized something: Rich was gone.

In a moment of panic, Jake got his phone off of the nightstand in the room and dialed his short friend. His fingers tapped on his wheelchair, eyes staring blankly at the wall as he waited in anticipation for his short friend to pick up.

"Hello?" Rich slurred, picking up, "What are you doin--" Rich laughed, "Why are you calling?"

"Did you take our White Elephant presents?" Jake asked.

"Yeah, so?" Rich snorted

"We need those for the, uh, I don't know, White Elephant present opening?"

"Those suckers already have enough stuff. A White Eleplant won't help. Besides, I found a bottle of bleach in one of the gift bags."

Jake rolled his eyes, "Where are you?"

"Walking around looking badass!" Rich laughed again, coughing afterwards, "I'm dying, wow."

Jake laughed, "I'm coming to get you."

"Noooo!" Rich whined, "Don't come!"

A 'That's what she said' Came to Jake's mind, but he didn't let the words be muttered out of his mouth.

"I'm on my way." The brunette said, the blonde groaning after that.

****

"Where did Jake go?" Michael glanced at Jeremy, a brow raised.

The SQUIP had caused Jeremy to get a bit more out of his shell (and since he built relationships with the already-popular kids, went to more parties), hence him dragging Michael out so that Michael wasn't the 'anti-social headphones kid' for one night of the year (in the school's eyes).

"I don't know. . ." Jeremy cocked his head and looked back in the direction where Jake went, to only see the shadow of his wheelchair (and him in it) on the floor stretching out of his room, "I'll go get him." The brunette slowly got up, his itchy Hanukkah sweater irritating his skin as it shuffled with his movements.

The brunette grimaced and tugged the sweater down as he walked towards the shadow on the floor. He popped his head into the room to see Jake on the phone with a genuine smile stretched across his face.

"I'm on my way." Jake said into the phone, laughing softly before taking it away from his ear. A groan echoed from the phone before Jake hit the red end button on his phone.

When Jake ended the call and turned his phone off, he looked up at Jeremy. He blinked, body flinching slightly. Jake's startled expression turned into a soft one after a moment as he wheeled over to Jeremy.

"Hey, bro! Why are you standing in the doorway like that?" He asked, a slightly confused expression on his face.

"Oh. . . People were just wondering where you were--" Jeremy started

"Because he wanted to get some blood flowing without his hand." Chloe said as she walked past with Jenna and Brooke at her sides.

The three girls laughed (Chloe especially) as they walked off, Chloe giving Jake a wave and a wink as she passed. Jake shuddered slightly as his eyes followed her off. Once the trio of girls was out of sight, Jake fixed his attention back on Jeremy, eyes having a certain look in them that Jeremy hadn't seen before (granted, a lot of things about Jake were things he hadn't seen before. He wasn't as great of friends with Jake as he was Christine or Michael or Rich or someone else).

(okay listening to loser geek or whatever and i havent actually really listened to it, like paid much attention to it but now that i am what a bop wtf will roland take more solo songs pls and also i'm breaking out a bit rn i wish songs had the ability to clear my acne anyways bye and am i the only one that thinks a phrase in loser geek sounds a bit like Norman from TPG w joe and george it's a riff somewhere in the song)

(Also more random thoughts i feel bad bc i think my cat may be feeling left out since we've been catsitting my sisters bsfs cat for like,, the last month and since my grandparents are here they brought their dog and she hates them so she sits upstairs and the irony is that her name is christmas and we keep saying the word christmas since yknow it was yesterday lol i need to go to bed but i LOVE HER and am giving her love and she knows i love her. And we all know i love making run on sentences lol bye)

"Rich got drunk and took all the White Elephant gifts. Want to help me find him?" Jake asked, "I need help getting my wheelchair into the backseat and drive anyways. Do you know how much it sucks to steer a wheelchair in the snow? In New Jersey?! It sucks, bro."

Jeremy blinked, "I can imagine. . ." He paused and nodded, "I'll come. Can I bring someone?"

Jake nodded, "Sure. Lets get on our way." He wheeled past Jeremy and entered the crowd of people, "Hey, everyone!" He proclaimed, interrupting the side conversations people were having in the living room.

Eyes traveled across the room all the way to Jake. One thing Jeremy envied about Jake (along with many other things) was the way Jake could capture the attention of a room in seconds and captivate an audience so quickly that barely anyone saw it coming. It astonished Jeremy to say the least.

Jake cleared his throat to catch the attention of the last talking partygoers, "I'm going to go find Rich. He's taken the White Elephant gifts, so I'm gonna go find Broinski with Beere. . ." Jake paused and licked his teeth in disgust, "'Beere' doesn't roll off the tongue." He glanced at Jeremy, the other brunette nodding in agreement before Jake looked back at the crowd, "Anyways, Madeline! You're in charge of the party while we're gone. Bye, bros! Lets go, Heere." Jake waved Jeremy off and started wheeling in the opposite direction.

Jeremy blinked, grabbed Michael by the hand and then darted out the door in attempt to catch up to Jake (who was already in the garage unlocking the car). The brunette blinked.

"Are you drunk, Jake?" Jeremy asked, eyes scanning over Jake's features to search for any physical indications of intoxication

"No." Jake laughed, "Someone brought 40 proof. I'm not THAT MUCH of a lightweight."

"Well maybe I should drive--"

Jake gave him a look, "Yeah. How do you expect me to drive? I can't use my legs! I can't even jerk it!"

Jeremy blinked, cheeks flushing with an embarrassed look spreading across his face, "Uh, cool."

"Well I could jerk it--"

"Michael!" Jeremy whipped his head around to Michael, Jake letting out a gutbusting laugh. Eventually, the brunette just groaned and swiped the keys out of Jake's hand, "Lets go. I'm driving."

****

After about 10 minutes of driving, Jake's eyes widened and he pointed out at someone (and hit his hand on the window. Ouch). He tapped the window before rolling it down and letting a bunch of cold air (and snow) inside the heated car.

"Rich!" He exclaimed, "Rich! Over here!"

The blonde they'd been searching for looked in their direction, Jake's moms bed sheet draped over his shoulder with a big sack of random stuff dragging the sheet down. Jake's face flashed with a certain emotion of nostalgia and an unexplainable feeling as he realized whose bed sheet Rich was holding, but he brushed it off quickly. It was the holiday season! No time to be sad.

Rich's eyes widened as he realized who was there calling for him. He darted off, feet slipping out from under him every once in a while. Jeremy shot out of the car and Michael wrestled Jake's wheelchair in the backseat to get out of the car as well.

"You're in charge! Make sure the car doesn't go anywhere!" Jeremy told Jake before chasing after the short blonde (who could run pretty fast for having short legs lol sorry gerard if you're reading this you're lowkey barely taller than me).

Jake nodded, then Jeremy ran off. Michael followed shortly behind after he'd won the battle against Jake's wheelchair. Right as they got close to Rich, Michael tripped on his shoelace and tumbled forward. He plowed into Jeremy and toppled the brunette over.Jeremy caught Michael's fall (thanks man - michael 2018 haha 20 gAYTEEN), letting out a grunt as the Filipino fell on him.

"Michael, we need to get Rich back! I spend a whole $11 dollars on a White Elephant -- more than the requirement by $1!" Jeremy struggled to get up, but Michael was stuck looking up above them.

When Jeremy realized Michael wasn't moving, he tugged on the Filipino's shirt a couple times, "Michael! Dude, get off of me. Why are you just laying there and looking up?!"

Once Michael looked down, he had a blank expression on his face, "Look up." He told Jeremy.

As Michael told him to do, Jeremy looked up and noticed they were under a porchlight and right by the doorway of a small business or apartment complex. The only other thing that was there was a wreath, and a mistletoe hanging above them. Jeremy gulped and then made his eyes drift over to Michael (who was looking at him at this point).

Jeremy couldn't be the weirdo, the wuss or the underdog. He couldn't be a wuss! Besides, it was Michael! He could trust Michael and he didn't know why being in this position with Michael made him feel all weird and clammy and bunchy.

'Don't be a wuss, Jeremy!' kept swirling around his head over and over again. The voice in his head kept getting louder and louder, but the good thing was that that voice was his and his only (but damn was it annoying). Jeremy gulped. Don't be a wuss!

To silence the thoughts in his head, he pulled Michael's neck down and forced their faces to be close together. They made eye contact before Jeremy squeezed his eyes shut and closed the distance between the two of them. The thing that made the moment so much 1. Weirder, and 2. Cooler, was that Michael was kissing back. Michael supported his body weight by planting his arms down on the ground around Jeremy's head, but kept their kiss close and warm.

Once the two pulled apart, Michael let out a couple breaths that were visible due to the coldness of the world around them. Snow was falling from the sky. It looked like something from a Hallmark movie honestly, but it wasn't straight lol. Michael smiled softly at Jeremy, causing the brunette to mirror the same expression. They were caught in their own little word until they heard a pounding that snapped them out of the trance the two of them were in.

There Jake was, pounding his hand on the outside of his car door with his window rolled down, hollering at the two entranced males. His brows were furrowed.

"Hey!" Jake proclaimed, "Nice moment, but can you get Rich? He's probably far off by now! Run, dude!"

The two popped up and scrambled off quickly, a giddy grin on both of their faces. The boys didn't dare to mention anything about it to each other, but things definitely weren't the same as they were before, and neither said that they didn't like it the change, and what changed it.