Michael woke up in a cold sweat.

Today marked the start of Hanukkah. Michael didn't celebrate it, but he was still going to give Jeremy the gift, as much as it broke Michael's heart.

"I was supposed to give it to him when he was mine," Michael's eyes watered as he spoke to himself.

He blinked away his tears and texted Jeremy.

Michael: Can I come over today?

It didn't take too long for Jeremy to reply, but for some reason the short anticipation was killing Michael.

Player 2: I have family stuff later, so just be quick.

Michael: It won't take long, I'll be there in 20

Michael was starting to panic. Dozens of 'what-ifs' emerged from his mind, causing Michael to slightly prolong getting ready.

"He'll probably think the gift is stupid and cheesy, why am I doing this?"

Michael did the best he could to ignore his negative thoughts as he made his way to Jeremy's house.

He wanted to walk there, but he would end up being late which would add on to his nerves.

So, Michael drove. He was slightly shaking in the duration of the trip, but he really didn't know why he was so nervous.

Everything would be okay.

-

Jeremy woke up to a message from Michael, smiling as he read it.

He responded to the message, playing it off as casual. He regretted this decision instantly, thinking it was way too casual for Michael, especially since Jeremy was so in love with the boy.

Of course the two couldn't be happy in a relationship. Of course someone had gotten in the way.

Jeremy shot up out of bed and frantically searched his closet for a clean outfit. Eventually he found one, so he finished getting ready and raced down to the basement.

He looked in front of him and a thought crossed his mind briefly.

"Wait.. Michael might think I'm weird for keeping these flowers y'know, since they're dead!"

Jeremy reached for the vase, almost knocking it off the table. He went upstairs to the kitchen, dumping it into the trash can.

He noticed a shiny object lying on top of the flowers he threw away. He picked the object up and examined it. All of a sudden, realization struck him.

"Shit," Jeremy muttered before dropping the item on the ground and crushing it with his foot.

His stomach drooped as he fully processed the fact that it was a wire, highly nervous with the knowledge that someone has been spying on him.

The only people who have been in his house in the past few weeks were Sadie and Michael.

As dense as Jeremy was, he knew that Michael would never do such a thing.

Of course it was Sadie. Jeremy should never have even remotely trusted her, but here he was.

With the whole Christine thing, Jeremy was pretty surprised that he didn't have trust issues by now.

He kind of wished that he did, because he never would've let Sadie inside of his house if he did.

Jeremy regretted a lot of things in his life, but before he could remember all of them and cringe, the doorbell rang.

Jeremy swiftly walked to the door, opening it to see his best friend.

Simply 'best friend' wasn't enough for either of them, but they didn't admit it aloud.

Michael looked at Jeremy who seemed a bit shaken up and paler than usual- which was saying something considering how pale Jeremy was.

"Hey uh, are you okay?"

Jeremy was caught by surprise when he heard that, remembering what he found moments before. "Not really, I need to show you something."

Michael walked inside, shutting the door behind him as he followed Jeremy into the kitchen.

Jeremy bent over and picked the crushed object off of the floor where he left it.

"I-I found this hidden in the vase where I put flowers you gave me," he said, holding the object in front of Michael.

Michael took the object, holding it up into the light and examining it.

"Is that," Michael couldn't put his thoughts into words, considering the name was on the tip of his tongue.

"It's a bug," Jeremy finished for Michael.

"Holy shit!" Michael was in awe.

"I'm thinking Sadie probably did it, considering she was the only one in my house besides you."

"I didn't think she was that crazy! No wonder she was glaring at us. That also might explain her punching me yesterd-"

Now, Jeremy was swarmed with a mixture of anger and disbelief. "She what?"

"I forgot to tell you, it's no big deal." Before Jeremy could go on an upset rampage, Michael continued. "Anyways, that's not why I'm here."

"Right." Jeremy calmed down. "To the basement?"

Michael nodded, nerves taking over him again.

As they sat down on the couch, Michael spoke. "Okay, first off. Happy Hanukkah!"

Jeremy smiled, thankful that Michael had remembered.

"So, I got you this when we were still together-" Jeremy's heart ached at these words, he couldn't help it.

"-But I still wanted to give it to you." He handed Jeremy the small box, wrapped in red paper.

Jeremy unwrapped it as Michael continued rambling.

"It's fine if you don't like it, you can return it if you want. It's super cheesy and I thought you'd like it bu-"

Jeremy's eyes watered as he looked at the beautiful promise ring in the box.

"T-thank you, Michael."

Jeremy couldn't help himself. Soon, his lips were on Michael's, and neither of them pulled away.