Expensive Headphones Oneshots

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Ok there's actually no ship in this

Tw: abuse mention, suicide mention

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Third person POV

Rich remembers when Jake Dillinger was unpopular. He remembers before Jake got a squip.

The two were inseparable since kindergarten. They were also close friends with Michael Mell and Jeremy Heere.

He remembers the day Jake ran up to the other three, excitedly carrying the little grey oblong pill. He remembers sitting with Michael and Jeremy at their usual table a week later, watching as Jake's mind was wiped of the memories of his former friends.

Rich had been devastated, and tried to talk to jake several times to ask what was wrong. Jake had shoved him aside.

"I don't know what the hell you're talking about, loser."

Everything seemed like a haze after that for Rich. Sitting with his friends wasn't the same without jake. He wasn't happy. Michael and Jeremy seemed to only grow closer, making Rich feel like the third wheel.

To make matters worse, Rich's home situation was now horrible. His mom had died a year earlier, and now his dad was becoming an alcoholic. When drunk he would often get angry easily, sometimes even enough to hit his son.

Rich didn't want to be anywhere. He didn't want to be at school, where Jake was getting worse and worse. He didn't want to be at home, where his dad would abuse both him and his older brother Dylan.

After enduring a year of this, Dylan ran away. Jake suddenly started bullying Rich. These only happened within a week of each other, and Rich couldn't take it.

Instead of going home one day, he headed to a bridge. How easy would it be to just end all this?

Someone came and stopped him at the last moment, offering Rich the same pill he saw Jake take a year earlier.

Rich kept the pill and walked home. He was hesitant to take it, after seeing what had happened with Jake. But when he realized he might be able to become friends with Jake again, he took it.

His squip looked like his mom. It helped him become cool. If there was any hesitation, there wasnt anymore. His mom was back, in a way, and he needed her to stay.

Within a month or so, he was already friends with Jake again. Sure, Jake didn't remember Rich at all. But it was still Jake. He was ecstatic to have his friend back.

After 2 years, Rich was less ecstatic. The squip had been growing steadily worse. The abuse was coming from not only his dad, but his squip mom, too. He was confused and hurt, from having both his parents abuse him. Squip wasnt really his mom, but it seemed so real. And when she was shocking him or yelling at him, it still really seemed like her, even though he knew his mom would never so that to him.

The squip made rich give a pill to Jeremy. Rich remembered their friendship still. Only the 2 of them, Michael and Jeremy, remained. Squip said Jeremy would be happier with a squip. So Rich convinced him to get one.

A week or so later was Jake's Halloween party.

Rich was excited to go, but he wasn't prepared for the torment he'd receive. Squip tried to take over. It wanted him to squip everyone else against their will.

Rich knew he couldnt do that. He knew how awful squips could be now. He fought back, to the extent of burning Jake's house down with him inside. He was just so desperate to get that damn thing out that he didn't realize what the consequences would be.