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When SQUIP came crawling back to Jeremy in a newly designed physical form his sophomore year of college, Jeremy swore in and out that he’d never leave their side again, having deeply missed their presence for the last three years. He was grown now, and he knew not to use the AI like an idiot. Not that he really could, considering that SQUIP seemed to be more than just a teacher or helper this time around, but more of a… robot companion. HIS robot companion.
That remained true up until the summer after his senior year of college. He finally graduated, which meant he could finally get the hell out of Jersey as soon as possible, leaving behind shitty memories and shitty people. SQUIP always knew that they were shitty for what they did to Jeremy, but they could’ve sworn that they would’ve been exempt from his abandonment.
“Jeremy. Come back.” SQUIP whined into the phone receiver the moment that Jeremy had picked up. SQUIP was currently sitting on the floor of the apartment Jeremy had owned for two years and kept SQUIP almost entirely hidden in besides a few friend meetups and grocery store trips. Surprisingly, SQUIP worried more about public interaction than Jeremy did. They knew little about their creators and their intents, so why would they risk Jeremy getting hurt?
Jeremy sighed to SQUIP on the other line. “I already apologized a thousand times, Squip. I’ll be back in like- two weeks. I literally offered for you to come with me!”
SQUIP… may be a bit dramatic. Although Jeremy was only going to be gone for two weeks visiting his mother in New York State, SQUIP felt as if they were experiencing the same amount of emotional turmoil as the average human has losing someone for good. This was the first time Jeremy was actually going to be gone for an extended period of time, and they didn’t quite know how to cope besides complaining. And eating lots of ice cream. They should probably tell Jeremy to deliver them more ice cream or the apartment might be ripped up by the time he gets back.
“Can’t.” SQUIP says, moving to lie on the floor flat on their back while leaving the phone on speaker a couple inches away.
“I know. And I know this sucks, but just, please, try to have some fun without me. Play those stupid iMessage games with Michael that you love so much.” Jeremy offered, a bit sarcastic but mostly endearing.
“He does not want to play them anymore. He does not like it that I keep winning.”
“Then stop winning?” Jeremy let out a small laugh.
SQUIP turned their head from the ceiling to their phone screen and scoffed, an action they recently re-learned from annoying Jeremy one too many times. Jeremy told them that they used to do it all the time, but it’s not like they remember a lot from that period of time. It’s fine, though, because most people block out their high school experiences anyway as well. They fit right in.
“Or invite him and Rich over! I’m sure they’d be fine keeping you company.” SQUIP could tell that Jeremy was pacing as he spoke, not entirely feeling the best about leaving them home alone. However, SQUIP hated the idea of having Jeremy’s friends over with no Jeremy. It would make them feel more lonely. Lonelier than they were laying alone on the couch later that night. They couldn’t lay in Jeremy’s bed without Jeremy there, too.
At first, sleeping alone was miserable. SQUIP had only ever done it 3 times before, and that was the two days before they found Jeremy after being “born” in their new body and the one day that they slept on the couch before asking Jeremy if they were welcome in his bed. However, after the first night alone, they found that sleep was the only thing that they were able to take comfort in without Jeremy. Tucked into Jeremy’s hoodie, it was almost like he was there with SQUIP, wrapping his long arms around them again.
SQUIP truly tried their hardest to be productive without Jeremy there, but the only motivation they had to get up was to get the groceries that Jeremy had delivered to them (ice cream) and to take care of the catmint plant sitting in the window in the kitchen. On the 3rd day, SQUIP found themself stuck on the couch to rot the entirety of the morning rewatching a show them and Jeremy had watched prior. They called Jeremy earlier and he had asked them to get up, shower, and eat something besides ice cream, but SQUIP didn’t see the point in it. They were comfortable.
They didn’t know when they fell back asleep that afternoon, but they woke up feeling disoriented and sweaty at around 6PM to a knock on the door. Because their system was still working on booting up, they were entirely confused, but they hesitantly stood up anyway to see who was there.
Looking through the peephole, SQUIP furrowed their brows when they saw Michael standing in-front of the door, plastic bag in hand. They sighed and opened the door, a tired, confused expression on their face. Michael seemed just as hesitant as SQUIP was a couple seconds ago. His shoulders were tense and he cleared his throat before speaking. “Hey, man…. uh… Jeremy asked for me to check up on you.”
SQUIP rolled their eyes. They told Jeremy they were doing… fine earlier, why did he have to send over reinforcements? Michael noticed that SQUIP wasn’t too pleased. He opened the plastic bag in his hands to give SQUIP a look of what he had. “Ice cream?”
Sure enough, the mint ice cream was just enough for SQUIP to cave and invite him in. Damn, did Jeremy know them well. They would’ve refused and send him away if the ice cream wasn’t a brand that they *really* liked that Jeremy couldn’t deliver through one of the many delivery apps out there (and yes, SQUIP checked).
“You did not have to come here. I’m sure that you are aware that Jeremy is dramatic a lot of the time.” SQUIP stated as they walked into the kitchen, intending to dig into the ice cream ASAP.
“I know, I know, but he was really convincing. Plus, y’know, it sounded kinda pathetic, you being in here alone.” He shrugged and took the ice cream out of the bag for SQUIP and onto the kitchen counter. SQUIP immediately took the lid off of the container, picked the container and a spoon up, and walked back into the living room. Michael followed after them. “Well- not to say that you’re… you’re pathetic or anything. Just saying, it’s sad.”
“I understand, Michael.” SQUIP responded, obviously a tad bit annoyed and sat down on the couch, placing their spoon into the partly melted ice cream container in their lap. Their focus was obviously *not* on Michael.
“Sorry.” Michael mumbled and sat down next to SQUIP, trying not to stare, but taking his time to analyze their disheveled appearance. “…Are you okay?”
“Do you truly believe that I want to talk to you in this moment?” They said, not completely aware of how rude it’d sound until they said it. They took a bite of the ice cream, visibly relaxed, and thought that *maybe they shouldn’t be rude to the man who just brought them ice cream*…
“…I am fine. I have just… never been away from Jeremy for this long, nor has he ever been this far.” SQUIP stared into the container of ice cream, avoiding eye contact with the boy next to them. They wondered if Michael remembered that they liked mint, or if Jeremy told him.
“Is it like bluetooth? Can you not text him through your mind now or what?” Michael tilted his head at SQUIP and couldn’t resist a small laugh.
“I was never able to ‘text him through my mind’, Michael.” SQUIP was entirely serious, furrowing his brows. In return, Michael leaned back onto the couch and crossed his arms. SQUIP continued to eat the ice cream.
“I’m kidding, dude.” He said a bit softer, worried about frustrating the SQUIP. From what Jeremy has told him, SQUIP is very scary when mad. “You’ve called him though, right?”
“Yes. It does not help… I just want him to be here.”
Michael nodded, giving the SQUIP a sympathetic look. “Yeah…”
Michael noticed just how dejected SQUIP seemed, which was extremely weird. Michael had *never* seen them act anything like this, and he took it as a sign to go before making things awkward due to his lack of ability to comfort people. However, when he stood up, SQUIP reached out and latched onto the sleeve of Michael’s hoodie. “Where are you going?”
When Michael looked back at the SQUIP, they seemed almost… scared. Michael stuttered for a moment, trying to find his words. “You said you were fine, right…?” Michael didn’t believe that they were when they said it earlier, but he wasn’t going to argue with them about it. Their systems seemed all too complicated to attempt to understand.
“Do you hate me, Michael?”
“Sam, I…” Michael laughed at the oddity of the situation, but immediately went back to being serious when he realized that he was further upsetting the AI that was still grabbing onto him. “N- no, I don’t. What gave you that impression?”
“You act odd around me. You watch me as if I am going to act out at any given moment, and- and now you’re leaving…” SQUIP was clearly spiraling by the way that their voice cracked at the end of their sentence, and they gripped tighter onto Michael. Michael, in an effort to calm them down, sat back down and said: “Sam, I don’t hate you.”
Michael took a deep breath, trying to prompt SQUIP to take one too to relax them (if that’s how their nervous system even worked; Michael wasn’t completely sure). “I just… I just care about Jeremy, okay? And Jeremy told me that you don’t even really remember what happened back then, but I do. You can’t blame me for being a little skeptical.”
SQUIP’s hand loosened from Michael and they turned back to the ice cream container in their lap, which continued to melt. They sighed and rubbed their eyes to try and remove the gross layer of tears that had formed. “I know.”
“…I really don’t think you have bad intentions, though. If I did, I wouldn’t be here.” Michael shrugged, trying to be honest. SQUIP has picked through his lies before.
“Really?” They gave an intrigued look to Michael, seeming to warm up to his presence.
“Yeah. I mean, I wouldnt’ve bought you ice cream if I thought you had an attack plan against me.” Michael tried another joke and was incredibly relieved when, this time, it didn’t end in SQUIP getting more upset. Rather, they chuckled and leaned their head against Michael’s shoulder.
“Thank you for being a good friend to me and Jeremy, friend.” SQUIP said softly, displaying just how out of it they really were. Michael laughed in return and wrapped his arm around them. “I’d say that trusting you to not take over the world is a low bar, but any time, friend.”