"[Y/N] open the door!" Michael yelled as he hammered on your door. You sniffled and wiped your eyes with your quilt.
"No! Go away!" You croaked back. You had barely left your room in the past week and you weren't ready to leave yet.
He sighed frustratedly and stopped knocking, but you knew he was still there.
"[Y/N], please..." He whispered quietly. You could hear the desperation in his voice. All he wanted to do was help. You pushed the quilt off of yourself and dragged your body out of bed and to the door. You caught a glimpse of yourself in the mirror as you did so and shuddered. You looked like shit. It had taken all your effort just to shower and brush your teeth this morning, so you hadn't bothered to do anything to your hair or change into anything other than pyjamas. On top of that, your puffy red eyes stood out noticeably from your sickly white skin. Great.  However, that was the perk of having Michael as your best friend: he wouldn't care how awful you looked.
You slowly unlocked the door, allowing Michael to push it open. He immediately wrapped his arms around you and forcefully hugged you, catching you off guard. You lost your balance and fell backwards, managing to stay upright until you collapsed onto the bed, taking Michael down with you.
"Sorry babe," he laughed awkwardly, shuffling off of you to lay beside you.
A faint smile played on your lips, but, try as you might, you couldn't make it stay.
Mike's smile creased into a frown, his green eyes filled with concern. You turned to face him properly, nudging closer into him. You just wanted to be held. He wrapped his arm around you and pulled you into him fully. This was the first time you had felt a little better all week.
"Babe, he doesn't deserve you." He whispered into your hair. You gulped down the knot in your throat and attempted to speak.
"He cheated on me Mike. He did just break up with me like I said, he cheated on me too." You told him, tears pricking at the backs of you eyes. Michael's entire body tensed and for a few minutes he was silent.
"He did what?" Michael said calmly, his voice monotonous.
"With Jessie Smith as well! How on earth am I supposed to compete with her, she's beautiful!" You wailed into his chest.
"You are so much better than her [Y/N]," Michael said quietly. You could hear the anger in his voice still, but you didn't question him on it.
"I'm not! She's so skinny and her skin is literally flawless and her hair is just perfect and and and..." You cried, sitting up in frustration. Michael's hand was over your mouth before you could say another word, and his eyes were staring deeply into your own.
"[Y/N], I don't know what he was thinking. He's an idiot. I don't know why he wanted her when he already had you, I don't know how he could have wanted anyone else when he had you. You are literally perfect, okay? He's insane for risking losing you, and I bet you he regrets it majorly." Michael said sternly. Even after Michael removed his hand from your mouth you remained silent; you were completely overwhelmed by his words. In the end you just pulled him in for a hug and cried a little on his shoulder.
"Okay, I'm gonna go home and get ready, I'll be back here at 8. I'm taking you to dinner and to see a movie. Be ready!" He told you, leaving before you had the chance to object.

---

The cool breeze whipped your hair behind your shoulders as you waited outside your parents house for Michael. They were on a business trip at the moment - they wouldn't be home for another week yet.
"Sorry I'm late!" He shouted, jogging towards you with a grin plastered over his face. You smiled properly for what felt like the first time in months. He was wearing the Green Day shirt you bought him for his 18th birthday with black ripped skinny jeans and black Ray-Ban sunglasses. He looked good.
"Is that a new dress?" He asked, smirking.
"Uh, yeah, does it look okay?" You glanced down at the black dress, and adjusted one of the spaghetti straps. It wasn't anything special, it was just black with a faint pattern and it fell to the middle of your thigh.
"You look sexy babe," he said with a wink, eliciting a giggle from you. He took your hand and tried his best to stop himself from wincing. Your face creased in confusion and you looked down at his hand. His knuckles were swollen and greying over with bruises, and a small cut split the skin on his middle finger.
"What the hell did you do to your hand?!" You exclaimed, gently brushing your thumb over it.
"N-nothing, I just punched a wall," he lied.
"You're lying."
"I am not!"
You decided not to press him further - you would get it out of him some way or another later on.

---

"Oh come on! You have to remember!" You laughed as you walked toward the cinema. 
"I swear I never did that!" He whined, his eyes wide.
"You did! We were four years old and there was this kid in the park with us who kept saying you were weird for liking chocolate milk..."
"Right, but I never pinned him down and poured his juice on his trousers so that it looked like he pissed himself!"
"Yes you did! He was a year older than us so he thought it would be fine to pick on you, so you wanted to teach him a lesson!"
"I seriously don't remember this..."
"This is when we first became friends! I can't believe you!" You laughed at him.
"I remember we met at the park and you gave me your juice..."
"Yeah, you had pinned the kid down but all you had was chocolate milk and you refused to waste it so you asked me if you could have my juice! I asked what you were doing and you said you were gonna pour it on his face because he was a bully and I told you it would be a lot funnier..."
"If I made him look like he had wet himself." Michael interrupted, realisation covering his face.
"You remember!"
"I don't know how I forgot that."
"We were partners in crime from such a young age," you grinned, pulling your jacket sleeve down to reveal your 'partners in crime' wristband that Michael had the matching one of. He pulled his to the top of his wrist and jangled it in front of your face.

Suddenly you stopped dead. Directly ahead of you was your ex, Jamie. With Jessie.
"[Y/N]?" Michael asked, following the path of your gaze and exhaling deeply.
"Oh great, that fucker is here." He said lowly.
"He's with her," you whispered, forcing the tears not to fall. Mikey looked pissed. All of a sudden, his arm was tightly around your waist and pulling you close to him.
You glanced up at him, confusion deeply set into your eyes. "What are you doing?"
"Act like we're together together. If he can move on that quickly than so can you." He explained. You gulped.
All you had to do was walk towards him and into the cinema, then it would be fine. You could do this.
You walked with Michael, the two of you acting like you were completely in love.
"[Y/N]?" Jamie called. You didn't take your eyes away from Mike and acted as if you hadn't heard him.
"[Y/N]?" He shouted again, this time a little louder. This time you looked at him.
"Oh, hey!" You smiled. You hoped you were being convincing. What on earth had happened to his nose? It looked broken and very very sore.
"Um, hi?" He said. He sounded very confused.
"What's wrong with your face?" You asked him bluntly. Jamie glanced at Michael briefly, but quickly averted his eyes to the floor.
"I- um- I walked into a wall. You know me, I'm pretty clumsy." He lied.
"But how come you're here with him?" Jamie spat, gesturing towards Mike.
"He's my boyfriend, why wouldn't I be here with him?"
"You're bullshitting. I bet this is just some crappy attempt to make me jealous or something, pfft." He snorted obnoxiously.
"You think that our break up was hard on me? I've wanted to be with Michael since we were like 13 years old. I've never had feelings for anyone but him. Anyone else has just been my way of distracting myself from that. You were just a distraction, Jamie." You told him, keeping your voice completely steady. Anger flashed through his eyes.
"Oh yeah? Prove it."
And just like that you were kissing Michael. His arms wound themselves around your waist, pulling you closer into him while your hands instinctively found their way into his hair. Your lips moved perfectly together; it was mind blowing. You missed his lips the second you pulled back.
"You convinced yet, asswipe?" Michael spat at him. Jamie was speechless. He quickly pulled Jessie into the cinema without saying another word.
You turned to Mike, a huge smile covering your face.
"That was great! We did it!" You smiled.
There was something a little off about Mike. He was smiling, but not like he was actually happy. He seemed a little distant.
"What's wrong?"
"Hmm? Oh, nothing. Do you wanna give the film a miss and go back to the park where we first met?" He asked in reply. You nodded. What was wrong with him? You hoped he hadn't taken everything that you had said too seriously. You meant every single word, but that was your secret. You didn't want to freak him out by making him think you were in love with him, even though you knew you were.

---

"So what did you do to Jamie's nose?" You asked Mike. His cheeks flushed pink. He clearly thought you had let that slide.
"I just thought it was a bit too straight for his face," he mumbled. You laughed. You had a feeling he had done it.
"Do you remember when we were little and we came here and I beat you at wrestling?" You smirked at him.
"You couldn't do that now though babe," he replied, smirking back.
"Wanna bet?" You laughed, launching yourself at him before he had a chance to think. He toppled over onto the grass and you pinned his arms down.
"I told you I could."
He spun you over quickly and pinned your arms to the grass.
"What were you saying?" He smirked, sitting on top of you proudly. You wriggled beneath him, trying your hardest to knock him off you. Eventually you managed to make him free your arms so he could keep his balance, and you took the opportunity to tickle his sides.
He fell forward onto you in fits of giggles. His face was right next to yours. His lips were so close, it was all you could do not to kiss him.
He somehow managed to pin your arms back down, but he kept his face millimetres away from yours.
"So what was that you were saying to Jamie?" His gravely voice said lowly.
You gulped. You had thought he had let that slide.
"Just... Stuff." You answered briefly.
"You kissed me."
"Yeah. Sorry if I took you by surprise."
"N-no, I liked it."
"You did?"
He nodded. What on earth were you supposed to say to that?
"Why?"
He was silent for a second, as if he needed to properly think about his words.
"Because I like you."
"You like me?"
"I really like you, [Y/N]."
Just like that you were kissing again. Somehow it felt even better than the first time, his lips pressing into yours as you tried to press your body into his... It was intense.
"Finally," he mumbled into the kiss. Finally.