Chapter Text
“Move it.”
“Or you’ll what?”
“Get out of my way. Loser”
He shouldered Michael, walking into the dim lights of the party and slamming the door behind him. Michael reached his hand out at the closed door, frozen by the other boy's words. He felt his throat tighten and cheeks get hot as tears began streaming down his face. The elements of the room started to blur together, becoming blocks of color as he sank to the floor, roughly removing his glasses and wiping away tears. The sound of the frames hitting the tile with a clink. The fluorescent lights felt too bright and the tile too cold as that word kept repeating in his mind. Loser
’This was so stupid. Why did I think this would be a good idea?’ He pulled at his hair, covering his ears. The loud music from outside pounding in his ears, being so close and so loud yet so distant. After all those years of friendship, all those nights staying up playing video games, all those sleepovers laughing at how dumb the popular kids seemed, that one promise he made. The promise that Jeremy would never be too cool for video games with Michael. Now the console in Michael’s room was collecting dust. He couldn’t play a two player game without a player two, his player two.
After what felt like a million years Michael walked out into the party. The music was earsplitting and it was absolutely packed. Almost immediately a cup–which he assumed to be alcohol–shoved into his hand. To be fair he was at least somewhat blitzed, having chugged a few beers before confronting Jeremy. Normally he wouldn't have taken it but after what happened, Michael needed a drink. He leaned against the bathroom's doorframe, taking a sip of his drink. It tasted like… Mountain dew? He also felt a… pill-like shaped thing, swallowing it before he got the chance to spit it out.
’shit- Did I just get roofied..?’
He felt something like an electrical tingle in the back of his neck. Just to be safe the boy rushed back into the dreaded bathroom, locking the door behind him.
”AGH-” He yelped, covering his mouth so as to not draw attention to the room. His veins felt like they were on fire.
‘Calibration in process. Please excuse some mild discomfort’
“fuckfuckfuck” The pain shot through his body, sharp and electric. In an attempt to suppress his cries of pain, he bit on the insides of his cheek. The tangy metallic taste of blood gradually trickled into his mouth.
‘Calibration complete. Access procedure initiated’
The searing pain came to a halt as tears pricked at his eyes. He quickly gasped for air, realizing he had been holding his bre-
‘Discomfort level may increase’
The pain returned, almost tenfold. It felt like lava was flowing through his veins while a knife was being plunged into his skull. He couldn’t help but let out a scream, unable to muffle the sobs of utter agony.
“You okay in there?” Michael covered his mouth, attempting to gain his bearings. “Uh- fUCk Y-yeah… uhm period cramps.” He called back, immediately regretting it. Despite being an unequivocally embarrassing thing to respond with, he heard the person leave as relief washed over him
‘oh thank god-‘
As the pain came to another halt, tears flowed freely down the boy's face. His breaths were short and ragged as he choked out small sobs.
“Accessing neural memory, Accessing muscle memory,
Access procedure complete.
Michael Mell, welcome to your Super Quantum Unit Intel Processor.”
“Your SQUIP”
“no… no this can't- how?”
This couldn’t be possible, there was simply no way.
It looked like a hologram. It looked like… Jeremy. But not the one out there, ignoring him. It looked like the one he played Apocalypse of the damned with just a few months ago. It looked just like him but… Wrong. It wasn’t the fact it was translucent or that it was cyan but it was just… different. The way it looked at Michael was hollow and robotic. And it stood upright, lacking Jeremy’s slight slouch that Michael found charming. It smiled but the smile didn’t have the same charm as Jeremy’s did, the one that made Michael blush so often.
“I am coded to look similar to someone you look up to, a role model if you will, and throughout your memories you consistently see Jeremy as such.”
‘This is a sick joke.’
“I can assure you that I am really in your head right now.”
What was he going to do? He didn’t want to be cool. He wanted Jeremy back. The original, real Jeremy. He wasn’t going to let the SQUIP corrupt him like it did to Jeremy.
“‘Technology isn’t dangerous on its own, it's just about how we choose to use it.’ You said that a few months ago in the mall to Jeremy. Accept it Michael, it’s not the SQUIP that corrupted him, it was the idea of being popular. He clearly wasn’t content with his social standings like you are.”
It was lying. It must’ve been because Jeremy would’ve told Michael that.
“Michael. He ditched you at the mall, he chose to turn on the optic nerve blocking to ditch you, He called you a loser not even an hour ago.”
“he didn’t mean it… he’s just. He needs help right now and I promised myself I’d do that for him.”
“Would he?”
“He what?”
“Help you when you need it.”
“Yes. Of cour- Oh. I see what you’re doing. You’re trying to stop me. Trying to come in between us. Well it’s not going to happen because I- I care.”
“that’s the only reason?”
He didn’t have an answer. That was a lie, he didn’t want to answer. Nonetheless Jeremy needed help. Plus he didn’t even like- that was besides the point. He wasn’t going to let this stupid tic-tac get in between him and Jeremy.