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awsten was lying on his back on the floor of michaels living room. michael sat cross legged on the couch above him, hunched over a notepad.
“were filming in two days dude” michael said, tapping his pen. “we need to figure what to do with the end”
“yeah i know” awsten said, throwing a baseball in the air and catching it. michael had no idea where hed gotten it from.
michaels hand stopped moving as he pondered for a moment. “we could do the old walking away at the end thing” he suggested, tapping his pen “or something like that. you know, all the build up and then nothing comes of it. tragic stuff.”
awsten hummed noncommittally. he kept throwing the baseball. michael doodled stars on his notepad. they were silent in their brainstorming for a while, letting whatever record michael had put on earlier play in the background. michael sang the words softly under his breath and watched awsten throw the baseball methodically.
he and awsten had become fast friends during the actual writing process of the song but he still kinda shocked that awsten had gone along with this fanfic premise. it was a bit strange that they were practically writing fic of themselves, but awsten had been excited for it. michael really shouldnt have been surprised since awsten had a whole podcast dedicated to reading fic, and it wasnt like they were gonna kiss on the mouth or anything
“i think we should kiss” awsten said suddenly, catching his baseball. “on the mouth”
michael stared at him. “what.”
“in the video dipshit” awsten replied, rolling his eyes
“oh thank god” michael put a hand over his chest in faux relief. and some real relief. and a bit of disappointment as well but hed never tell anyone that, least of all himself “i thought youd been harboring some huge gay crush on me”
“maybe i am” awsten said shooting michael a mischievous grin and wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.
michael stuck his tongue out “like id ever want to kiss you. youre too weird.”
“well the feeling is mutual” awsten huffed in mock offense.
“you literally just suggested we kiss”
“for the plot!” awsten said, exasperated. “everyone loves a good enemies to lovers, the fans would eat it up” awsten flipped onto his stomach so he could kick his feet and stare up at michael with big puppydog eyes.
“fine.” michael wrote down the idea. he stared at it for a bit, tapping his pen against his lips. “its not a bad idea actually.” he looked over at awsten who was grinning like a madman. “wed probably break twitter”
“let it break baby. now come down here so we can practice” awsten said, making kissy faces and grabby hands at michael from his spot on the floor.
michael threw his pen at him. “i hate you” he said, getting up. he pretended to step on awstens head as he made his way towards the kitchen and awsten grabbed his foot and tried to take a bite of it. michael shook him off
“freak” he tried to sound disgusted but his voice came out disgustingly sappy instead. “you want pizza?”
awsten scrambled up from the living room floor “fuck yes i want pizza. when do i ever not want pizza?”
michael laughed under his breath
half an hour later their pizza was secured and they were safely back on the couch, awsten leaning against one armrest with his feet in michaels lap while they ate
“we should probably be seen together in public” awsten suggested “or like make an instagram post or something. just so the collab isnt totally out of the blue”
michael nodded in agreement, “i have some pics of you from yesterday that you could post” he said wiping grease on awstens pant leg and picking up his phone. awsten retaliated by attempting to stick his (thankfully socked) toes in michaels slice of pizza. michael snatched his plate away and shot awsten a glare. awsten beamed innocently and made a show of using a napkin to wipe his hands before picking up his phone
“tight” awsten said as michael sent over the pictures. he perused them for a moment before his eyes lit up. michael groaned
“do not make that face” he said “what stupid fucking idea do you have now?”
awsten pretended to be offended “stupid? my ideas are never stupid, you just lack the brainpower to see their brilliance”
michael just gave him a look.
“fine” awsten said. “we should do one of those whos most likely to videos. you know, the one with the audio thats like ‘who cleans more’ ‘whos the better cook’ something like that. we could take some pics then too”
“thats actually not that bad” michael said. “i was expecting much worse”
awstens grin only widened “oh it gets worse” he said
michael sighed. of course it did. ”how so?”
“its a couples version” awsten said gleefully
“christ” michael said “sure. why not. i already have to kiss you why not make it seem like we’re in love too?”
“you dont have to, you get to. im an excellent kisser” awsten squirmed over to michael and made obnoxious kissing noises at him “you remember that deuxmoi post?”
“whatever” michael pushed his face away
awsten fell back to his side of the couch with a laugh “wanna watch a movie?”
“sure” michael said with a fond smile “but i get to pick and you have to go microwave the popcorn”
awsten huffed in annoyance but got up anyway. when he came back he snuggled himself right up against michaels side, perhaps in retaliation for having to make the popcorn. michael sighed. once awsten decided he wanted to cuddle there was no detaching him, so michael just put his arm around awstens shoulders and started the movie.
he woke up to awsten poking him in the stomach
“fuck off” he groaned, swatting halfheartedly at awstens hand
“dude you fell asleep during the movie that you wanted to watch”
“no shit sherlock” michael replied rubbing his eyes “now let me sleep”
“youre a terrible host” awsten said with a grin “what am i supposed to do while you sleep?”
“maybe also sleep?” michael suggested “its like 2am, how are you even alive right now”
“fine. im taking your bed then” awsten got up from the couch and darted to the stairs. michael briefly lamented the loss of awstens warmth against his side before grabbing a pillow from the couch and racing after him, tiredness forgotten for the moment.
“you motherfucker!” he yelled up the stairs. michael tried to stay annoyed but it was impossible when he heard awstens laugh filtering down from above
he reached the door to his bedroom and met awsten with a pillow to the face.
“fuck you!” awsten yelled, tackling him to the bed and reaching around for his own pillow that he used to smack the ever loving shit out of michael. michael hit him back and they tussled for a while before awsten managed to grab grab his wrists and push him down to the bed. he was surprisingly strong for his twink physique.
“how about this” awsten panted, his chain hanging distractingly in front of michaels face “we share”
and with that he flopped down directly on top of michael, attaching himself with all four limbs. michael squawked in indignation and tried to push awsten off but he didnt budge.
“i literally hate you so much” he said, out of breath from their fight
awsten gave him a big wet kiss on the cheek “you love me”
“no i dont” michael replied (he did). “scoot over, i wanna be the big spoon”
that was the magic word that made awsten detach himself and roll over. michael settled himself behind him, throwing an arm over awstens midriff.
awsten turned his head “also fair warning i snore. like a lot.”
michael resisted the urge to strangle him. barely. instead he pushed his forehead into the back of awstens neck. his exhaustion was returning in full force. awsten hummed in contentment.
michael woke up to his alarm beeping and a face full of mint hair.
awsten was still off in snork mimimi land and he was right, he really did snore. quite loudly in fact. michael carefully disentangled himself from awsten and went for a shower.
when he got back, hair dripping, he woke awsten up by smothering him with a pillow.
“fuck you” awsten said when michael lifted the pillow, laughing. his voice was scratchy with sleep in a way that made michael want to hear it every morning. he quickly buried the thought
“get out of my house weirdo” michael said. “we actually have things to do today”
“noooo” awsten groaned “let me stay and be a parasite”
“i have to meet with the music video people early to tell them our idea for the end” michael explained. “do you wanna kiss me or not?”
awstens eyes shot open at that.
“oh you know i do baby” he said with a grin.
michael hit him one more time with the pillow before turning to head downstairs.
“you can take a shower but then you really gotta go” he called to awsten.
awsten tripped down the stairs 15 minutes later in michaels clothes.
“thats my shirt” michael protested vaguely around a mouthful of cold pizza
awsten gave him a look of mock disbelief “really? i hadnt noticed when i took it from your closet!” he said before his voice turned serious, or as serious as the goofiest man alive could get “im not wearing my dirty ass clothes from yesterday again, so its this or i go get otto and geoff from the airport naked”
michael considered it for a moment “i mean. gotta give the people what they want right?” he said jokingly
awsten gave him a seductive look on his way to the door “yeah youd love that” he said, licking his lips before practically dying of laughter
michael shoved him out the door “be at the studio by ten tomorrow!” he shouted after awsten, who was still doubled over in laughter
the actual filming of the music video went incredibly smoothly. sara was a joy to work with, as were geoff and otto. everything was great. even the kiss. michael thought it might have been a little weird or awkward but it hadnt been at all. and it didnt hurt that awsten (and deuxmoi) hadnt been lying, awsten was a good kisser.
in fact the kiss might have gone even better than great, because after filming finished otto approached michael and asked plainly
“are you and awsten in love?”
michael choked on the water he was drinking. “what?” he spluttered
otto repeated his question. “cuz it really seems like youre in love” he added
michael glanced back over to the set where awsten was joking around with geoff, who was watching michael and ottos conversation with a peculiar look. it almost felt like an intervention. michael turned back to ottos expectant face
“no” he coughed “no, we’re just friends”
otto gave him a skeptical look but didnt push it further. someone called michael back to set to look at one last thing and he left otto with a weird feeling in his chest.
the video had successfully been dropped and michaels phone had already started to blow up with notifications regarding it. and awsten. and the kiss, oh god, so many about the kiss. otto and geoff had already caught their flight out of la so it was just michael and awsten left. this time they were at awstens place, playing mario kart
“everyone thinks we’re in love” awsten said out of the blue
“yeah” michael agreed “even otto did”
awsten eyes flickered to michael in surprise before settling back on his kart “really?”
“yeah. geoff too probably. they didnt tell you?” michael turned his attention fully to awsten. he was losing anyways.
awsten frowned slightly “no”
“huh” michael said “weird”
they kept playing in silence for a while. michael hit awsten with with a blue shell but awsten hardly seemed to notice, not even when it knocked him back several places.
awsten kept staring at the tv after the round ended, a contemplative look on his face.
“you look like youre about to have your very first thought” michael joked but it didnt quite land.
“are we?” awsten asked suddenly
michael set his controller down on the coffee table “are we what?”
“in love” awsten said, turning to look at michael.
michael froze “um.”
awsten quickly backtracked “i mean its not like- its just- i mean the fans are one thing but otto and geoff are-” he cut himself off and grabbed his glass of water off the table, attempting a hasty escape to the kitchen
michael grabbed his wrist and turned him around but awsten beat him to talking
“nope” he said “i changed my mind, i dont wanna talk about it”
“o-okay” michael said, dropping awstens arm
awsten proceeded his journey to the kitchen “are you staying here tonight?” he called from the other room
michael checked his phone. it was pretty late. “uh yeah i was thinking i would” he said “but if you dont want me to-“
“of course i want you to” awsten said, cutting him off. “who else am i gonna cuddle?”
michael sighed in relief mentally. thank god. he wouldve spent the whole night thinking about this if he were home alone. arguably he still would at awstens place but at least hed have someone with him
michael really didnt get why everyone thought they were together. i mean sure the kiss, but that was for a video. the fans would honestly believe anything if it meant they got emo boys kissing though. but otto and geoff- those were people who had known awsten for years. were he and michael really that sappy with each other? like yeah they got along well but not romantically well, right? right?? oh who the fuck was he kidding.
he turned to awsten who was pressed up against his side and said “i think we are”
michael felt awstens whole body instantly relax.
“oh thank god” he said “i didnt wanna say it cuz i didnt wanna make it weird but it was SO obvious once everyone pointed it out-“
“no i get it” michael agreed “we’re disgustingly in love, i dont know how we didnt notice”
awsten was silent for a second. “what do we do about it?” he asked
michael shrugged. “i dont know” he said “same thing weve been doing if that convinced everyone already. preferably i get to kiss you now though”
awsten laughed “i like that idea”