Chapter Text
It was no secret that Jeremiah Heere wasn't exactly what most people would call cool. He was geeky, shy and awkward, and much of Middleborough High School suspected he was harbouring a crush on his longtime best friend, Michael Mell. (To be fair, they weren't entirely wrong.)
But despite all that, he was still surprised that he was doing this. I mean, most people wouldn't even consider buying a supercomputer to tell you what to do in order to simply improve their social status. But Jeremy was tired of being at the bottom of the metaphorical high school food chain. He'd been there so damn long, hanging on a thread that threatened to snap any second. So when Rich Goranski, popular kid and his bully since tenth grade approached him with the idea of a pill that would help you be cooler? He latched on immediately. Screw the repercussions, he was getting this "SQUIP" thing.
Micheal was nervous about it.
Jeremy tried to ignore his best friend's clever judgment. He didn't need to second guess himself now.
-*-*-*-
Frankly, Jeremy didn't understand why Rich hadn't just told him that the SQUIP was cheaper and came in two parts. The original information he'd gotten from the shorter boy was that it was "a 600$, grey, oblong pill". What he received at the back of the Payless shoe store was a grey pill like Rich had described, along with a lavender pill of the same size. Oddly enough, it had only cost 400$.
Well, 401$. Michael bought him a Mountain Dew to activate the thing.
His mouth tasted fainly of cotton cotton candy and wintergreen mints afterwards.
Nothing happened. Jeremy brushed it off.
It was stupid of him to fall for such a dumb hoax.
-*-*-*-
Well, something happened. Just... at a different time than he'd initially anticipated.
Just a regular night at home. His books about the history of gaming, Legend of Zelda, and his father wandering around the house without pants. (The last one was something he wished wasn't normal.) A controller in his hands, Jeremy methodically fiddled with the buttons, exploring the game the way he'd done a million times before. Link jumped across the screen, experience and memory taking over as the pale boy zoned out, thoughts drifting. As per the usual. What wasn't part of his usual, nightly routine was the way Jeremy felt his body begin to tingle, the soft buzzing sensation creeping down through his limbs and making him shiver, seemingly deciding to rest ominously in his fingertips and the ends of his toes. Anxious at the odd feeling, the teenager paused Zelda, eyebrows furrowed as he glared down at his pale, pinkened skin.
A sharp jolt of pain, followed by a searing feeling that crept out along his skin, starting from his spine, caused Jeremy to shriek, as though his nerve endings were all set ablaze.
Then the world went blurry, the shock still working through his system.
And Jeremy collapsed to the ground, sliding down his beanbag chair as his almost unhealthily thin body convulsed with the stabs of electricity.
-*-*-*-
Jeremy woke up a while later (time had seemed to disappear), bleary and painfully groggy, rubbing at his pulsing forehead, only to jolt back and slam his head sharply on the floor at the sight of two robot-like figures staring down at him, their fluorescent eyes seeming to pierce his soul. One seemed cold, its glowing, aqua eyes boring into him in a judging manner, in a way that made him want to do nothing more than curl up and cower. The other appeared sweeter, the pale pink rings that seemed to be its eyes flickering over his gaunt form, a tiny smile on its metallic face. This wasn't right...
Oh god. He wasn't supposed to take two pills, was he?
Why, oh why, didn't Rich give more specific directions?