Jeremy couldn't wipe the dopey smile off his face as he swept through the front door of his house. He called a quick hello to his father in the living room, kicked off his boots, and scurried upstairs.

He'd just left Michael's in a hurry; Mr. Mell had gotten home, drunk and loud, and Michael had ushered Jeremy out the door.

"I'll be fine," he assured Jeremy. "You know it happens all the time."

Of course he was worried, but even Michael's dad couldn't spoil Jeremy's mood. He was still in awe of what had just happened, and not entirely sure it wasn't a dream.

Jeremy practically danced into his bedroom. He shrugged off his coat, imagining little birds carrying it away, humming to himself that one song from Sleeping Beauty. He couldn't recall the name of it.

"Once Upon A Dream," the Squip offered.

"Yeah, that's the one!" He did a little twirl and swooned back onto his bed like he imagined a Disney princess would. "Squip... I think I'm in love."

"I told you not to address me directly like that. We agreed that it's weird." He sat next to Jeremy on the bed. "But yes, judging by your current levels of oxytocin, I'd say you're very fond of Michael."

"Very very," Jeremy sang. "He's my Prince Charming, Squip."

The Squip let that one slide. He was positively beaming. "It's a good thing this all went according to plan."

Wait. Jeremy's head tilted. "What? No it didn't, we had to change course twice."

"Well, actually..." He stood and faced Jeremy, arms clasped behind his back, standing easy. "The failure of the first plan, and the second, was part of a grander plan of my own design."

"Wait -- " Jeremy sat up abruptly. "Are you serious? All of this was planned?"

"Correct. I came up with a borderline cruel course of action at first, one that you would never be able to follow -- ignoring Michael and the like. I expected you to break very quickly with that." He crossed the room, half pacing and half marching. "Then, I prompted you to 'realize' that you truly wanted to forget Michael. You never really wanted this, but I made you believe you did with simple psychology."

"I can't believe this -- "

"I'm not finished." The Squip stopped pacing and relaxed a bit as he found patience. "I knew you would optic nerve block him again, and I knew when Brooke would mention his name. The attempts I made to stop you from seeking out Michael once the illusion was broken were false attempts. I knew that Michael would be angry -- or, rather, I knew he would feign anger in the interest of hiding his true emotions."

"He was never really mad?" Jeremy questioned, his voice small.

The Squip chuckled. "No, he wasn't. He was feeling the same way you were -- unrequited love. It was by my design that you binge-drank and self-harmed that night, too, Jeremy."

"Alcohol messes you up, though. That was all me," he pointed out.

"You honestly think I couldn't have stopped you?" The Squip laughed again, less calm and more manic. "I could have forced you to pick up the bottle and smash it before a drop passed your lips. I could have forced you to throw the knife out the window. I chose not to, because sacrifices had to be made in favor of the grand scheme. If you hadn't been injured, Michael never would have been concerned and come up to you at school in the morning, and you never would have talked at lunch or at his house, and you never would have kissed."

Jeremy's heart was pounding in his ears now. Fear filled him at the idea of the Squip having total control of his actions.

"I could take over, but I won't." he assured Jeremy. He sat down beside him again. "We've discussed this. Anyway, to sum up, I've had everything under control the whole time. And it worked out, didn't it?"

Jeremy ran a hand through his hair, awestruck. "That's..." Horrifying? Disgusting? Incredibly manipulative? "...amazing. Seriously, I'm... wow."

"I knew you'd come around," the Squip smiled, patting Jeremy on the knee. "That being said..." He trailed off.

"What?"

"Well... with things going so well, and with the knowledge that your fate is in safe hands, wouldn't it make sense to keep it that way?" shrugged the Squip. "I don't want to pressure you in any direction, but from a completely objective standpoint, it would be unwise to throw out such a powerful asset."

"Oh, no," Jeremy whisper-shouted. "No, no, no! You're not dragging me into this again. I can't handle it any more." He sprung off the bed and across the room to his backpack, then took out the can of Mountain Dew Red.

"Jeremy, you kissed Michael today."

He halted, already beginning to blush. "Uh... yeah, I did."

"And you would like to do that again," the Squip spelled out, as if explaining long division to a child.

Jeremy was impatient. "Where are you going with this?"

"You want the relationship to last as long as possible, I assume." The Squip smirked arrogantly. "I am your best chance at that."

Jeremy scoffed. "No, I'm my best chance." He went to open the can, his fingers reaching for the metal tab, but stopped. His hand wouldn't listen to him. At first he thought the Squip was preventing him from moving forward; however, it dawned on him that it was only his own hesitation. The Squip did have a point.

"Everything is going perfectly. Why jeopardize that?" he coaxed.

Jeremy looked at him, then the can, then him, can, Squip, can, Squip, no Squip --

His frustration peaked and he slammed the drink down on his desk in defeat. "Fuck you."

The Squip changed the subject, hiding a smile. "Text Michael, and see if he's doing alright."

Jeremy, scowling, did just that, and sent a simple "Everything okay?" to which Michael responded immediately.

PLAYER 1: i'm good man, he's passed out so i'm just playing zelda in the basement

PLAYER 2: Ok good just making sure

Jeremy put the phone back in his pocket but it went off again in the same moment.

PLAYER 1: call me

He did. Michael picked up quickly with a "hey."

"Hey, Michael." Jeremy was more aware than usual of the rise and fall of his own voice, and right now it was too squeaky by far. He brought it down an octave. "What's up?"

"Well, I uh... I know it would be hella awkward to talk about what just happened, so let's... let's not, yet."

There was a long pause as Jeremy processed this. "You mean pretend it didn't happen?"

"No! No," said Michael hastily. "I'm glad it happened. I... I want it to happen again." The way he said that made Jeremy shiver. "I just mean we don't have to be pressured into anything we don't want, you know?"

Jeremy didn't follow. "Right."

"All he means is that you shouldn't rush the relationship," the Squip translated. Thanks.

Another long pause. Michael was fighting himself over whether to ask the question or not.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm -- I'm great, Jer," said Michael lightly. He summoned his courage. "But, uh... would you maybe wanna go on a date soon?" The words tumbled from his mouth as if he couldn't stop them.

The Squip prompted him, "Accept." You don't have to tell me twice.

"Yes!" he squealed. Be cool, idiot. He composed himself. "Uh, yeah, definitely."

"Cool! Uh, how about Sunday?" Michael suggested. "We could go and make it, like, a real date."

"What did you have in mind?"

"Well, I was thinking a nice restaurant, but then I thought, we're both broke, so, I figured we could go for a walk in the park together. We could get a hot cocoa, hold hands, build a snowman, you know. All that romantic first date crap."

Jeremy smiled. "I'd like that."

They figured out the logistics quickly enough: when, where, what to tell their parents. On Sunday, Michael was going to pick Jeremy up at one and drive to the park (their favorite one since they were kids), stopping at Starbucks on the way. It was deliciously cliche.

The boys said their goodbyes and hung up, both wishing they could talk to the other forever. Jeremy hugged his phone to his chest and grinned ear to ear.

The Squip stood there with an I-told-you-so look on his face. "You're welcome."