It had been only a few months after everything with the Squip occurred. The school year had seemed to end very quickly after it all happened. After the play everyone had started acting different. Trying very hard to make it seem like it was normal. Like they didn't almost have their lives and minds corrupted that night.

There was this weird thought Jeremy had that this whole thing would somehow bring them closer together, but it only seemed to make them more distant from each other. 

Jeremy couldn't shake off the feeling that he was to blame for all of this. All of this was mostly his fault anyway. The guilty feeling in the pit of his stomach that occurred whenever reality would hit him again was almost unbearable. This really was his fault.

He almost destroyed half the whole school. Maybe all of humanity. For a girl.

Was it worth it? Nothing really happened between him and Christine when they went for lunch. It was mostly just awkward small talk and uncomfortable tension. It should have gone better than that. They should have fallen in love. But that didn't happen.

She forgave him. That's what she said at least. But Jeremy couldn't help but feel as though that were a lie. It was the easy thing to say. And everyone wants to do what's easiest. She probably just felt pity for him. And something about that was what really hurt in the end. It was incredibly selfish, too. That all he could do was think about himself, but he couldn't help it. The pestering thought wouldn't leave his mind.

"Hey, you okay, son?"

Jeremy suddenly snapped back to reality and out of his dwelling thoughts. He looked down to see his barley touched cereal filled with that milk had turned brown to match his now soggy chocolate cocoa puffs. 

"I'm fine." He replied to his concerned looking dad. Shit. He didn't even think about what his dad had been going through. Thinking back on how he acted towards his dad while squipped made him cringe and feel even worse than he already did.

"You kinda zoned out there." Mr. Heere said, taking a spoonful of his cheerios. 

"Sorry." Jeremy mumbled, taking his bowl to the sink and dumping out his uneaten breakfast.

"You know, I think you and I should do something. What do you think?" Mr. Heere suggested, but the way he phrased it seemed as though he wasn't going to accept no for answer.

But "no" was all Jeremy wanted to say. He realized however that his dad deserved to have something nice, the least he could do was spend some time with him. Jeremy sighed before muttering "I guess..."

Mr. Heere accepted that as genuine enough not to argue, and began listing things that they could do together. Movies, bowling, board games...

All of this stuff made them sound like a normal family. It made them sound like they weren't a dysfunctional half of a family with no mom, a dad who could barley take care of himself and a traumatized anxious kid.

"That's it!" Mr. Heere exclaimed, breaking Jeremy's train of thought. "We can go to an arcade. You love arcades. And bring Michael, too. You guys used to go there all the time, remember?"

 Another realization hit Jeremy. He had never apologized to Michael. Or really explained it all. But Michael still came through and helped Jeremy. The guilt came flooding in like waves. Even without an AI in it, his brain still wouldn't shut up.

"Uh, yeah, I'll go ask him..." Jeremy responded blankly. He went up to his bedroom and snatched the phone lying on his bed. He sent a quick text to Michael (who's last text was sent three weeks ago and left on Read. Ouch.) without spellchecking it and stuffed the phone in his pant pocket before returning downstairs.

He heard a muffled ding and was greeted with a simple "sure."

                                                                                     ***

The car ride was awkward to say the least. Awkward when your dad and best friend are having a conversation about oldies music and you're sitting quietly not even knowing what to say. That's exactly what Jeremy's situation was. 

Michael greeted Jeremy with a quick "hey" before engaging in a conversation with his dad instead. Even though Michael and Jeremy were technically on good terms after the squip incident, it didn't feel like it.

Was Michael still mad at him? Was it Jeremy's fault for not reaching out? Was it really so obviously silent between the two that Jeremy's dad had to interfere? 

Maybe Jeremy was just looking too deeply into all of this and it really wasn't anything to worry about. Hopefully that was the case.

For a place that was only 10 minutes away at most, this ride seemed to be lasting at least 20.

                                                                                    ***

"So...what first?" Jeremy asked.

Michael shrugged. "Whatever you feel like, man."

"What about Laser Tag?" Mr. Heere suggested. "That's always fun. Especially with friends."

"Sure." Michael agreed, smiling slightly. He looked towards Jeremy, who looked away. Michael didn't seem uncomfortable or angry.
So this whole idea that Michael was mad at him was definitely just Jeremy's imagination. Right?

 During Laser Tag, Michael and Mr. Heere got sorted onto the same team, Jeremy was on the opposing team with several little children. The game began and they all scrambled into the dark neon lit room. Jeremy could hear some intense background instrumental that was playing over the speakers, but it was mostly drowned out by kids screaming and yelling. 

The last time Jeremy played Laser Tag was when he was thirteen. It was also with Michael, but they fought to be placed on the same team when they were set against each other. Their team won, all thanks to them. Guess all that gaming really paid off.

"WATCH IT!" Some kid yelled as he ran past Jeremy, who didn't even notice he was tagged...several times. Shit. He was already losing and the game barley started.

Despite not listening to the explanation of how to play and what to press, Jeremy remembered what to do pretty quickly. He firmly placed his right hand under the gun and held the trigger down with his left hand. Being tall, he was easy to spot, especially cause most of the other players were around ten or eleven years old. 

Jeremy dodged behind a wall with a hole poking through it, and carefully aimed his gun through the hole attempted to hit the kid who had just tagged him. 

Beep!

Jeremy looked down at his gun's stats to see that player "DopeyHedgehog"  had just tagged him. He couldn't help but chuckle at the dumb name, wondering who it was. Probably his dad.

Jeremy got hit a few more times and managed to rank up a small amount of 40 points total. He left the room with his dad and Michael, all three glanced up at the scoreboard. Player "DopeyHedgehog" ranked number 1 with a total of 42000 points. 

Michael smirked, and coolly said "That was me."

"Of course it was." Jeremy responded, not at all surprised that Michael's score began with 420.

The three got ice cream afterwards (Jeremy got vanilla, Michael got mint chocolate chip and Mr. Heere got strawberry) at a small local ice cream parlor that had just opened on their way home.

Mr. Heere insisted that Michael come back with them to the house and stay over, seeing as it was pretty late and he didn't want to wake his moms who were probably sleeping, Michael agreed and the house suddenly felt a lot more lively with him there.

Jeremy stayed quiet most of the night and his dad nor Michael seemed to question it. They played some board games (Clue, Ticket to Ride, Monopoly) until they realized it was almost two in the morning. 

"Alright boys, I think it's time for bed." Mr. Heere declared. Both boys nodded and yawned. 
Michael went to lay down on the couch but Mr. Heere decided it would be better for him to sleep in Jeremy's room instead, as they used to back when they had sleepovers. 

Not wanting to put up a fight with his dad or give a reasoning for declining, Jeremy didn't argue and instead made his way upstairs with Michael following behind.

Back when they had sleepovers, they'd always sleep at Michael's house, due to him having an extra blow up bed. Jeremy, however, did not. And the last time they slept in his bed was when they were little kids and it wasn't considered weird.

But one small bed would just have to work. Seeing as both boys (despite yawning and eager to lay down) were not actually tired, Jeremy could tell it was going to be a long night.

(A/N: so what do you guys think so far? :O This is my first fic in,,,, a while. and my first bmc fic ever :,)"