ONE-SHOTS

Maple In The Bathroom - Treehouse Lore [AU]

This isn't my first oneshot taking place in this universe, but any others have been published in a different book, and WonderGirl1059 's oneshot book (go check it out!) This 'lore' takes place in the Treehouse, a huge treetop city with two main forces ruling over it — good and chaos. Angel (WonderGirl1059 's original character) is the daughter of Chaos, Wonder; Maple, my own original character, is the son of Good, Glitch. However, this is an AU.
The AU is Be More Chill — if you haven't seen the musical or listened to the songs, it may not make a lot of sense. Basically, Angel takes a SQUIP, which is a supercomputer you ingest. It implants in your brain and tells you what to do to become popular. Maple, her best friend, sneaks into the popular person party Angel was invited to, to warn her about a story he heard about the SQUIP. If you've seen the musical, this takes place between Do You Wanna Hang? and Michael in the Bathroom. Content warnings for swearing, mentions of mental hospitals/insanity, and implied panic attacks. Enjoy!

Maple sat up from his place in the bathtub as he heard the door open and slam shut. Angel ran in, looking worried about something or other — but that didn't seem to matter to him much right now.

"Angel!"

She shrieked, jumping back. Maple blinked, before remembering what he was wearing. "Oh, right. It's me! Maple!"

He pulled a black hood off of his head, uncovering his bright red hair, before tugging a plastic skeleton mask from his face and dropping it in the bath next to him with a huge grin. Angel sighed with relief.

"Maple? I didn't think you were invited to this party," she mused, biting her lip. Her eyes occasionally flicked towards the door.

"I wasn't!" he answered cheerfully. "Which is why... I'm wearing a clever disguise!" With one hand, he indicated the black cloak he was wearing. "I also found some really nice bathbombs, you'd be surprised how sweet—" His voice faltered, looking up at Angel, seated on the edge of the tub. "You're speechless. SQUIP got your tongue?"

"No, it's off. I just— it's great to see you again."

"Huh. Explains why you're talking to me again, then." He shrugged, like he wasn't too bothered; in all honesty, he was glad just to see her again. "But you won't be glad. Once I tell you what I found out."

Maple paused for dramatic effect. The silence stretched on for a beat too long, though, and Angel cleared her throat awkwardly.

"Right, sorry. Okay, so you know how there's literally nothing on the internet about the SQUIP?" he asked.

Angel nodded. "Yeah, obviously, but why does that even—"

"Well," he cut across, "I thought that was weird — what's not on the internet? — so I did a bit of digging and I found out about someone who had a SQUIP of their own. He went from straight Ds in every exam to a top student at Harvard. You wanna know where he is now?"

"Oh, I don't know, probably really happy and successful?" Angel muttered sarcastically. "I don't see—"

"Actually, no," he interrupted again. "He's in a mental hospital. Completely fucking lost it."

"I still fail to see why that matters to me," she snapped. "Maybe the SQUIP couldn't solve everything. But it's doing a decent job for me."

Maple rolled his eyes, tapping Angel on the forehead. "Think, dude! This is an insanely powerful supercomputer. You honestly think its only purpose is to get you laid? It could have earned millions of dollars if it had been sold on the actual market, not bought by a high school kid on the black market in New fucking Jersey! Does it not cross your mind to even think about how it managed to make its way into your head?"

There was a pause. They simply stared at each other; Maple looking rather pleased with himself, Angel looking lost. Conflicted perhaps.

"And I thought White was jealous," she mumbled, shaking her head.

"You think— aw, come on, dude! I'm not jealous!"

"Oh, you're not jealous? Because right now, it really seems like you're just pissed I have one and you don't!" Angel retorted. She was on her feet now, glaring down at the shorter boy sitting in the bathtub.

"Seriously, I—"

"Okay, maybe I got really lucky for once! Is that so strange? The universe owed me one anyway." A beat. "You're so jealous. You wish you'd got one yourself. But you don't, so you're taking it out on me."

Maple stared back at her, speechless and wide-eyed. "You don't really think I would do that, do you...?"

"Whatever. I don't know. Who cares? If you're seriously telling me this dude's SQUIP made him crazy?"

"The SQUIP didn't make him crazy," he corrected. Angel paused.

"Oh. Well, there you go."

"He went crazy trying to get it out."

"I guess I have nothing to worry about, then," shrugged Angel. She stood up straighter, and Maple followed her movements, standing up. He skidded slightly on the smooth surface of the bath. "Why on earth would I want it out?"

She started to head for the door, but Maple had already scrambled out of the tub. He blocked the way out, long black cloak trailing awkwardly on the floor.

"Get out of the way," she muttered.

"Or what?"

"I said, get out of my way, loser," hissed Angel, more venom in her voice than Maple had ever heard before, let alone from his best friend.

He moved out of the way, stepping aside as Angel swept out, slamming the door loudly behind her.

Maple climbed back into the bath, staring numbly at the ceiling. His breathing was quickening slightly, chest feeling tight, but he tried to focus: five things he could see, four he could hear...

A sudden knock jolted him up. "Some of us have to pee!" a girl's voice yelled from outside the door.

"I'm having my period!" Maple shouted back, surprised how steady his voice was.

A brief pause. "Take your time, honey," the voice replied. Footsteps receded quickly down the hallway.

Worry started to flood into the pit of his stomach like a sickness, bringing with it an awful sense of panic that quickened his breathing and gave him a headache. He leaned back in the tub, trying to reassure himself.

So his best friend had left him for a computer. It sounded worse out loud, but computers could be switched off.

He had done a little research, and knew there was a way to shut off the SQUIP. And if that's what he had to do to get his friend back, that's what he'd do. It was for the best, wasn't it? Angel could hate him for it all she wanted. He just didn't want her to be gone forever.

Right now, though, it felt like he'd already lost.

I do hope you enjoyed that little oneshot! I will be writing more with this in future, hopefully — most likely including Angel and Maple. A massive thank you to WonderGirl1059 for letting me write about your OC, and CapCallie and reedlvr- for just being involved in other aspects of the lore! Thanks for reading, too! Again, I hope you enjoyed.