Chapter Text
"Come on, come on..."
The light from the jammed laptop shone on the frustrated teen's face as he furiously tapped on its keypad. But try as he might to get the device running again, Jeremy Heere yet again could not get his porno to load. With a loud sigh, he slammed his laptop shut, maybe with a little more force than he intended. He winced as he heard the loud snap of it as it was closed before dumping it on the bed beside him- handling it a bit gentler this time around. He looked over at the clock on his bedside table and got up to, reluctantly, get dressed and ready for the day ahead.
Now here's the thing about Jeremy Heere.
He had a nice group of friends who were major theatre nerds, especially his best friend Christine. He himself also partook in the guilty pleasures of spending countless hours looking at (not so legal) recordings of productions he was into or lounging on his bed belting out the lyrics to Wicked or Newsies as he looked up at his dull grey ceiling. The group bonded over this shared passion and were pretty tight-knit. So one could say that he wasn't doing so bad when it came to his social life. However, he had one problem. And that problem wasn't just that he was a chronic masturbator. No, his issue was that although he relieved himself on a daily, it was mundane and well, meaningless. He didn't want himself to get off for the sake of it or because it had just become a habit ingrained in his daily routine. He craved for the attention of someone else. He wanted his 'self-care' sessions to have some type of significance, whatever that was. Bottomline is- Jeremy Heere felt lonely. So that's why later that night, when he was browsing on the web on his phone (his laptop was still dead from that morning and he wasn't bothered to fix it just yet), he got intrigued by one particular pop-up at the top of his small screen.
It wasn't that he had never pondered about using a dating or hook up app before but he wasn't sure if he would be comfortable showing his face let alone exposing his identity. However, he didn't find himself hesitating in the slightest as his thumb hovered over the small ad and gave it a quick tap which opened up a link to download the application. A few minutes later, Jeremy was lying down on his stomach with his elbows propping him up on his bed, one hand flipping through the different features of the app and the other reaching into a bag of potato chips, bringing each salty crispy morsel to his mouth, savouring them as he filled up parts of the description of his profile. Filling every detail in was optional; only his age was mandatory. He left the name field empty, opting to be referred to by his username- apocalypseOfTheDAMN (he thought himself funny when coming up with that one). He selected looking for men as his preference and after a few moments of deliberating, he listed his body type under twink.
Although Jeremy considered himself (a closeted) bisexual, his inclinations tended to lean more towards men especially if it involved anything sexual. He filled in some other generic fields such as age and height. He could have left it at that but then reconsidered adding some type of picture. But what type of photo could he attach to his profile that didn't reveal who he was? He thought it over for a bit and after a few google searches later for ideas, he ended up lying on his back with his shirt rolled up, his pants slightly pulled down to expose his underwear and attempting to take a photo of his bare torso at a very awkward angle.
This was also the moment that Jeremy's dad decided to burst into his son's room. However, thanks to his quick reflexes gained through years of his dad invading his private space uninvited, Jeremy quickly grabbed his sheets and threw them over him to cover himself up. As always, his father was oblivious that he most likely had barged in at an awkward moment and also, wasn't wearing pants.
"Everything alright son? I'm ordering us pizza for dinner," the older man beamed.
"Um, yeah that's great dad, thanks."
To Jeremy's dismay, his dad spent a bit longer in his room, making small talk about how school went and if he had done his homework, typical parent and child stuff.
When he finally left, Jeremy breathed out in relief. He pulled his shirt down but stayed beneath the covers, curling up in a more comfortable position on his side as he flipped through the photos he had just taken. He picked the last one he took, his skin looked paler than usual in it but the lighting he took it in had cast some nice shadows on the lower part of his torso, accentuating his slightly lean build and protruding hip bones. A light blush crept onto his cheeks as he looked at it and before he could change his mind, he put it up on his profile and put his phone down. All he had to do now is wait for verification and eventually people to contact him.
He rolled over on his back and contemplated what he had just done. He actually set up a profile to potentially get laid. Well not laid but that could be considered an end goal if that was a thing. It wasn't necessarily a bad thing either but he was surprised that he had actually caved in and set himself up for it.
Having nothing to do but wait for his father to call him down for dinner, Jeremy got up and took his laptop from the edge of his bed where he had left it that morning and spent the next hour trying to fix it. As soon as he booted it successfully, his dad called him down from downstairs for 'dinner'.
"No dude but seriously you have to check this out!"
Rich shoved his phone in front of Jake's face and tapped the play button on the cracked screen. It was a clip of someone skateboarding- and doing a very horrible job at it proven by how they slammed face first against a tree. The video cut as soon as the guy turned around with a bloody nose and collapsed on the ground. This slightly morbid sight had the five-foot-five-inch male laughing in hysterics. Jake just smiled at his friend, used to his dark humor.
The pair were sitting on the stairs leading up to the school entrance and while Jake was all bundled up in his varsity jacket and scarf to keep himself warm through the creeping cold winds of the Fall, Rich was still sporting a tank top with one of the usual weird prints he liked on it and above the knee trousers. They were waiting for their lift home to come pick them up. Before the shorter male could find any more 'funny fail videos', Micheal's PT Cruiser rolled up to them. The two got in the back of the somewhat beaten up car that was currently blasting out Joy Division, the sound slightly off as it mixed with the static of the old speakers.
As soon as they got inside, Micheal turned around and handed them a take-out bag, its bottom slightly dripping from the oil of its contents seeping through as well as two cups filled to the brim with slightly melted slushie. Rich's face lit up at the sight of food and quickly reached in to grab a handful of sweet chili covered fries that were spilled all over the bag and shoved them in his mouth.
"So how was school kids?" Micheal joked as he started to drive the vehicle.
On Fridays, Micheal finished earlier than his two other friends so, in addition to taking them home, he took a trip to 7/11 beforehand to pick up food and drinks for them. His own drink lay discarded, empty, on the floor beneath the front passenger seat and the remanents of his burger stashed in the lidless front compartment in a greasy paper bag.
"School was great dad," piped up Rich, playing along between mouthfuls of fries, "Well at least for me. Dustin tripped during Phys Ed and scrapped his knees bloody. He keeps saying that I pushed him but we all know that it's because he doesn't know how to tie his laces properly and refuses to admit it." Micheal rolled his eyes but like Jake, he was used to their mutual friend's antics.
The trio stayed silent for a while as Rich loudly munched down his food and slurped his drink. Jake was quietly sipping down his own Big Gulp while flipping through his phone. As soon as the loud male was finished from his afternoon snack, he resumed his chatter once more.
Their conversation revolved mostly around Rich's shenanigans, much to no one's surprise. First to get dropped off was Jake. Then a few turns later, Micheal came to his final stop before heading home.
"Hey Mikey M, are you going to Chloe's party tomorrow?" said Rich as he opened the door to head out. Micheal raised an eyebrow at the question.
"Since when has Chloe been organizing parties?"
"Since her parents went out of town this morning. They won't be back until like, next week dude!"
"Sounds ... great?"
Micheal's tone was unenthusiastic as a sheepish smile made its way on his face. Rich groaned. He knew what that look meant and it always popped up when he and Jake asked him to hang out with other people outside of school.
"Eh, sorry Richie. You know parties aren't really my thing, I'd rather be home and like, chill."
Rich overdramatically pinched the bridge of his nose in irritation and spoke in an exaggeratedly serious manner.
"You should really spend less time cooped up with your video games and those weird porn apps you have on your phone. It's not healthy."
"You're one to talk."
With a shrug, Rich dropped the act and spoke once more in his usual carefree demeanor.
"Yeah true. Oh well, have fun then!"
And with that, he fully got out of the car and slammed the door shut.
Micheal groaned but refrained from calling out behind him to stop trying to break his car door when closing it. He knew it was useless, Rich never listened anyway. And with that, he revved the engine and drove straight home.
It was Rich that introduced him to SQUIP so him shaming him for using it (although he was pretty sure that his friend only teased him about it playfully, but still) didn't make much sense to Micheal. SQUIP is essentially what one could refer to as an 'anonymous sexting app'. It was as direct as such a type of app could get; you fill in your profile and then either wait for people to try and contact you or you do. Once both parties are on board, a chat is created between them and the users can freely chat and do whatever they want. When the chats are closed, all text and/or images get erased. So, therefore, if the pair started up a chat again, it would be a fresh, blank slate.
Micheal didn't frequent the application that much but when he did, he wasted quite a bit of time making use of it. And that was exactly what he was doing that Saturday evening as his friends were out enjoying themselves through drinking and dancing at Chloe's place. Crowds and loud noises mixed with drunk people wasn't a situation Micheal enjoyed finding himself in, however, a small part of him slightly envied his friends who could just go out and have fun without getting anxious or awkward.
Using SQUIP started off as a joke Rich made when he was over in his basement. As both boys were stoned out of their minds, their discussion had fallen on the topic of porn. Micheal remembered complaining to Rich how 'the web just simply doesn't cater to my satisfaction and needs any more'. And the conversation sort of escalated from there. That's what he remembered anyway through his hazy memories.
The first time he had used SQUIP was the night after his high with Rich. He had been slightly nervous at first but with the reassurance of it all being completely anonymous and also the confidence instilled in him with a bit of drink sneaked from his mothers' secret stash, he quickly overcame the uneasy feeling and within the hour he was simultaneously getting off with a random guy over the app. It had felt great, both physically and emotionally. He hadn't just been jerking it to a random triple x video, no. He had been masturbating with someone that wanted to do it along with him specifically.
For the following weeks after that, Micheal and user eriktion sexted one another almost every other day. It only came to a grinding halt however when the other male kept insisting on meeting the student face to face. Micheal wasn't really comfortable with that so he blocked him and after that, he only had one-time chats with other men.
Browsing through the suggestions displayed to him, Micheal found most of them mundane.
Too old.
Too hairy.
"Fuck no."
Micheal furrowed his brows both in concern and disgust when he saw what kinks one particular was in. A few minutes later he was hanging upside down on his back from the edge of his back, his phone on the carpeted floor beside his head as he sighed in exasperation.
He was ready to admit defeat for the night when his phone gently vibrated. His hand reached for the device as he sat back up properly on the bed and unlocking it. His eyes hovered on the recently updated new user list. Skimming through the names, his eyes landed on one in particular, a spark of curiosity igniting in them as he tapped on it and sent the user a message.
"Didn't know anyone would still be into that game," he muttered to himself, a new sense of hope arising in him. Maybe he wasn't going to have another mundane night of playing video games alone and falling asleep during level 9 after all.