Scars

The basement smelled like marijuana and day-old pizza. The floor was littered with garbage; empty pizza boxes, soda cans, and snack food wrappers were everywhere, but this didn't seem to bother the two boys seated on the bean bag chairs in front of the television. One of the boys, Jeremy Heere, was shirtless and lying on his stomach across his beanbag chair. While the other, Michael Mell, was leaning over Jeremy's shirtless frame, examining the scars that started at the bottom of his spinal column and spider-webbed out from their starting point across the boy's back. Michael's fingers lightly traced the pattern of the electrocution scars.

"Do they still hurt?"

"Sometimes, but it's never too bad. Most of the time I think it's just my brain remembering what happened and then they just hurt a little bit."

"Can I see your wrists?"

"Yeah," Jeremy rolled over, so he could sit up. Michael held out his hands and Jeremy placed his wrists in Michael's hands. They both looked at the scars that sprouted from the base of Jeremy's hands. The scars would never leave him. They would always be on his body as a reminder of the mistakes he had made during his junior year. The crooked lines entranced Michael as he released one of Jeremy's wrists and began to trace the patterns on the other.

"I can't believe that thing did this to you, like how was this ever supposed to make anything better. Now you just have a lot of explaining to do to anyone who sees you shirtless."

Jeremy sighed,

"Yeah, I know."

Michael leaned down and kissed Jeremy's wrist. He pressed his mouth against the raised lines and slowly made his way up Jeremy's arm. His eyes flickered up to Jeremy's face and smiled at the sight of his content expression. Michael planted one last kiss on his shoulder and motioned for him to come closer. Jeremy crawled over onto Michael's lap, wrapping his arms around his neck and kissing his cheek.

"I'm sorry... again."

Michael sighed,

"Please don't do this again, Jer. You've apologized to me a million times and I've told you a million times that everything that happened doesn't matter to me anymore. We're here now and we're together and that's what matters to me."

Jeremy giggled,

"You sound like you're reading off the script of a cheesy rom-com."

"Well, I'm not. I'm just being honest."

Michael pressed him lips to Jeremy's and ran his hands across Jeremy's lower back. The scars there more prominent than those on his wrists, darker and raised. His fingers traced the lines and he felt Jeremy shiver. They broke their kiss; Jeremy slipped off Michael's lap and back onto the other beanbag. He picked his shirt up off the floor and pulled it back over his head.

"You okay, Jer?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. I just felt weird, y'know?"

"Was it because I was touching your scars?"

"I think..."

Jeremy trailed off. Michael reached out and took Jeremy's hand in his own.

"Hey, talk to me. What's going on in your head?"

Jeremy's voice was barely above a whisper,

"I can still hear him sometimes, the Squip, I mean. I know he was deactivated, but it's like he is still there, in my head, talking to me. He still tries to tell me what to do. When we're together he'll get mad at me. I... He hates that we're together and he's constantly telling me how gross I am, because I'm gay and I'm dating you and he..."

Jeremy was crying now. Tears were flowing from his eyes at an alarming rate and Michael had no clue what to say. He scooted closer to Jeremy and put his arm around him. He pulled Jeremy close and Jeremy cried into his shirt. Michael rubbed his hand on Jeremy's upper back, careful not to touch the scars. He held Jeremy until his crying was reduced to just stuttering breaths and the occasional hiccup. He gently lifted Jeremy's head off of his chest and looked into his eyes. He wiped away a few of the stray tears that littered Jeremy's cheeks,

"You know you're not gross, right?" Jeremy nodded. "Good. And you know that the Squip isn't here anymore, right?" Another nod. "And you know that I love you more than anything, right?" Jeremy smiled and nodded again. "Good."

Michael kissed Jeremy.