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Jeremy was having an anxiety attack. He was sitting in his room blankly staring at nothing, his body felt numb from stress and panic, and he couldn’t seem to control his breath to save his life. Everything felt tense and overwhelming. Jeremy sat in his chair squeezing his hands finger by finger, hoping to get the stinging static feeling to go away. He was shaking and trembling, and it felt like he was almost out of his own body, unable to control his racing thoughts. Even the room felt foreign as if it wasn’t his room at all. As if he was in a completely new place where everything was cold and out to get him. As if it was the room’s fault that he was hyperventilating to the point of feeling nauseous.
The squip stood a few steps away, looking over its struggling host. It had made a few attempts to steady the boy’s breath "manually" — stimulating the diaphragm and trying to take control of the heartbeat, but Jeremy’s panic only got worse from that.
"S‑stop!" he said, his voice shaky from the unsteady supply of air. “Don't... Huh... Don't do that tele... Huh... Tekel‑l…"
"Telekinesis." The squip stopped him from trying to speak. "The word you're looking for is telekinesis."
“Y‑yeah! That... It's scary w‑when you... Huhh... Huh... Do stuff I can't see!..”
The squip paused for a moment and then nodded.
"Okay. Let's try something else then."
It took a couple steps closer, leaned down and cupped Jeremy’s face, looking him directly in the eyes.
"Hey. Look at me. You're going to be fine." The supercomputer said in a firm, yet somewhat calming manner. "I am going to do something. What I need from you is to concentrate on what you will be feeling. Got it?"
Without waiting for an answer, the squip put its lips over Jeremy’s. With latter's mouth being open to breathe, this instantly turned into something resembling a CPR. For a moment Jeremy stopped breathing completely, staring at his squip in shock. He felt even more lightheaded than before, unable to process the situation. Sensing the boy's confusion the squip pulled back and explained itself calmly.
"I would normally only do this if you were to drown, for example. Without the visuals, obviously." The squip stated, its expression unfazed. "You are not drowning right now, however I decided it would be the best course of action in your current condition, since you are refusing that I steady your breath internally."
Jeremy opened and closed his mouth a few times, not finding what to say. He could feel the blood vessels in his fingers constrict from how tight he clenched his hands, trying to ground himself enough to concentrate. His body was still shaking from stress and his eyes were darting in every direction. After what felt like an eternity he finally managed to nod with a shaky exhale. Speaking was insanely hard, since Jeremy couldn’t collect his thoughts. Unpleasant dryness in the mouth didn’t help either.
"Good. In that case, I shall continue." The squip said, putting its mouth back over its host’s.
Jeremy nervously closed his eyes and tried to focus on the feeling like the squip had instructed him earlier. He felt the air filling and leaving his mouth, throat and lungs. The rhythm was clashing with Jeremy's own ragged breathing, overtaking it and slowing its pace. Suddenly, he felt his chest tighten and he opened his eyes to see the squip sitting on his lap, embracing him in a hug. Jeremy blushed slightly and quickly closed his eyes back.
This was way too surreal. His own supercomputer visualising himself sitting so close to him, hugging him and more than that, Squip had his lips on Jeremy’s! How did that even come to this? Not that Jeremy was complaining. The closeness felt nice and comforting and somehow almost… warm? Maybe it was. After all, Squip could just make him think he feels some way or another. Physically, that is. The emotional mess that was Jeremy was Jeremy’s own fault. He was always a mess, but, boy, was he a big one now. His anxiety had subsided slightly, but the tsunami of other feelings only seemed to pick up. Without realising it, he pushed a little bit closer to Squip, pressing their lips even tighter together.
Up until that point this whole thing was indeed nothing but the breathing part of CPR, however now Jeremy wanted more. His body was still shaky, yet he felt a new sense of safety and it drove his mind to go to places he was scared to visit before. He began to think about how nice it felt, having Squip’s lips on his, being embraced like that, cared for, comforted, understood… As Jeremy felt the constant rhythm of air coming in and out of his mouth, he wondered how it would feel if he was to break it. If he was to just push even closer, if he was to put his arms around Squip too, if he was to really kiss hi‑…
"Jeremy."
He opened his eyes to find the squip, who had just pulled away, looking at him with an unreadable expression. The boy realised what had just happened and quickly darted his gaze away as he felt his face turn bright red, breath escaping him all over again.
"I‑I‑I... I... Um... Ah... I... "
"Kissing is not the point of this exercise." The squip's voice was deliberate, but not angry. "We are merely trying to calm you down and get you back your steady supply of air."
It looked Jeremy over, quickly analysing him and taking a moment to assess its host’s current state, which had just changed again, anxiety already picking back up. The squip sighed before finally continuing to speak.
"I see. It appears we had achieved the comfort level you needed. I apologise for embarrassing you and discarding all the progress. In that case, I suggest we continue our exercise in a way you desire, until you are calm once again."
Jeremy shot his eyes back at the squip, but didn't reply, frozen in place from being so thrown off. His mouth was a little open again, quiet shaky breaths escaping his lips. Instead of saying anything he slowly nodded like before, his gaze fixed on the squip as he leaned ever so slightly closer. The squip calmly did the same, although for a split moment, Jeremy could've sworn he saw it smirk.
With that, both pressed their lips together, closing their eyes. This time it was an actual kiss. Naturally, hugging had a calming effect on Jeremy's body while the gentle touch of their lips helped his mind get away from anxiety and focus on something else for a while.
The squip began kissing Jeremy with an unexpected passion. It leaned slightly on the boy, putting more weight onto his chest, or at least making him feel so. It knew exactly what its host wanted, and it was making sure everything felt just right. Jeremy now sat at an angle, pressed into the back of his chair as he finally moved his hands onto the squip’s back, hugging it in return and pressing their bodies even closer together. It was impressive what the squip could make him feel simply by stimulating all the right nerves and neurons.
Jeremy felt himself wanting more once again and stuck his tongue a little, gently sliding it along Squip's teeth. Why did he even feel them?.. Did the AI know what Jeremy was going to do in advance? Was that his quantum probability thing he talked about once?
Whatever the reason, it was clear that the squip understood what its host was craving, because it deepened the kiss, now using its tongue to carefully explore Jeremy’s mouth. The latter let out a little gasp and almost melted from this new feeling.
After a few minutes of making out they finally parted, Jeremy gasping for air. He felt a little dizzy, but much, much calmer than he was before.
"Oh... Huh... Erm... Thanks..." he uttered in‑between breaths, not looking directly at the squip from embarrassment. "I lik‑... It... It helped..."
The squip nodded in confirmation and let go of the hug. It stood back up and looked over its host.
"Of course. You are indeed feeling better now. It shouldn't take long for you to regain your composure, now that the anxiety has subsided. Go get a glass of water and lay down. We still have plenty to do today, but I couldn't possibly expect you to get right to it after what had just happened."
Jeremy sat for a few moments, listening to Squip's instructions and trying to get his face to stop blushing. That’s not fair. Why was HE so chill about it?
"Because I am a computer, Jeremy. I do not feel like you do. Now get up." It paused for a moment while Jeremy was slowly complying and continued once they were eye to eye again. "And don't think this will be my go‑to strategy for all of your next anxiety attacks. We will have to think of something better, because if it happens with other people around, you will look insanely weird for making out with air."
With that Jeremy felt the blush creep back onto his face. He smiled slightly and nodded in agreement. At least Squip didn't say he would never do that again. That felt strangely nice. Jeremy shook his head and sighed before heading to the kitchen to get some much‑needed water.