Jeremy wasn't sure what he'd been thinking when he sold his prized possession of baseball cards, a couple of the vintage games he owned that would fetch the best price, and his limited edition donkey kong action figure just to scrounge up enough money for this thing... but he'd somehow convinced himself that he needed it, this ludicrously expensive hollow body designed especially for the squip to temporarily inhabit. Of course, it would be for totally non-perverted reasons.

Developing something (too close to feelings to be comfortable) for the nagging little voice in his head had been an unexpected development for both of them. Though honestly, Jeremy was a teenage boy, recently come to terms with his own bisexuality and raging with hormones, it shouldn't have been that big of a surprise. The Squip hadn't minded too much. He'd been mildly miffed at first, insisting that Jeremy focus on his high school peers rather than himself, but he'd come to terms with his host's little crush pretty fast. In fact, most days he used it to his advantage, the manipulative ass.

Jeremy still bit his lip whenever he sat down to do his homework, remembering the few times the Squip had offered him phantom blowjobs in return for completing his work.

Jeremy had tried to be good about it. There wasn't much he could do really besides fantasize, and Jeremy had fantasized about plenty of things in his lifetime so that was no different from before really. The only problem was that his brain had started to fantasize about the squip more and more often, even to the point of the Squip's bodily form taking priority in most of his wet dreams. He thought about what it might feel like to be held down by the cold hands of a computerized entity more than he thought about what it might be like to hold Christine's soft curves or to kiss Michael in the middle of playing a game.

He'd been good about it for the most part though, careful to never really verbalise these things around the squip. Of course, he already knew everything that Jeremy thought about, but not bringing it up helped with the illusion that it wasn't happening at all. They could both ignore it that way.

This though... this wasn't ignoring it at all.

When he'd found out that the creators of the Squip had started selling 'accessories' he'd really only been curious, pulling his laptop onto his knees and typing in the secret url of the Squip website (knowledge of said url, courtesy of his very own). When a very long, deep search into their secret website brought up what could only be described as an arsenal of empty bodies, he'd originally wretched a little.

"This is new." the Squip had said with some genuine surprise beside him, looking over Jeremy's shoulder at the catalogue, "I didn't know about this until now."

"Rich said it was new." he replied, scrolling down through the different supply of models they had.

The Squip hummed, "They've based the character models off of the most popular portrayals of the squip. Fascinating. I assume they had a collection of subjects to survey."

Jeremy frowned, peeking hesitantly over his shoulder, "Will they have a model of you?"

"All of those are me, Jeremy."

"I mean, how I see you?"

The Squip side eyed him, "What are you planning to do if they do?"

He shrugged, turned back to the screen and continued scrolling, "I dunno. I was just curious."

"...You can't afford one, Jeremy."

I have some expensive things I could sell if I needed to, He thought before he could stop himself.

"You'd really sell those? For something I could only use within a five foot radius of you?"

Jeremy drew his shoulders up tight and awkwardly, "I don't know. We don't even know if they have what I'd want."

The Squip leaned his chin over Jeremy's shoulder, "You could pick whatever model suited your fancy. It doesn't have to look exactly like how I often present myself to you. This was just a form that I derived from the traits your brain saw as 'cool' and would be most susceptible to recieving advice from."

He blinked, "You picked a form based off of what I thought was cool?"

"Not attractive." he said pointedly, fixing Jeremy with an unimpressed look, "Cool, mature, something you would look up to subconsciously. I hadn't intended on you finding this form physically pleasing."

He shifted a little uncomfortably, "Do you look like this to anyone else?"

"Sometimes." the Squip admitted, then stared at him curiously, "That bothers you."

"It might bother me less if they actually have your- oh."

They both stopped conversing to stare at the picture on screen. The body of a man, older than high school, certainly, but not vastly so. His mature features were almost exactly like the face of his Squip, if not a perfect copy. The hair was a little shorter, not the curly locks that he was accustomed to but a short, styled cut. The front was longer, swept up and to the side. The replica also had a cleanly shaven face, and Jeremy hated himself for being a little sad about that.

"You don't even know that you would like the feel of stubble. Calm yourself."

"Sometimes I really wish you would just let me pretend you can't hear everything that I'm thinking."

The Squip huffed, rolling his eyes, "It's not my fault you have an overactive libido. Or a very loud mind when thinking about these things."

Jeremy scoffed, slammed the laptop shut and pushed it to the end of his bed. He wasn't going to buy anything. Not even just because he didn't have the money, but he wouldn't give the Squip the satisfaction. There was no excuse for it. If Jeremy bought one it would only be advantageous to the squip. It would be like... giving him a gift.

"Oh, I believe you'd enjoy it too." the cool, low tone of his Squip cooed into his ear, "After all, the very moment Rich told you about it you thought of what it would be like to have me in a physical form, did you not?"

Jeremy gasped, well used to the manipulative intentions of his bad natured crush, frustrated that even knowing that, Jeremy had sagged back just a little, "I hate you." he groaned, "I'm not buying one."

"I never suggested you should."

"You want me to though, don't you? You'd like to have a body of your own."

The Squip scoffed, a phantom hand slipping around his waist as Jeremy felt the beginnings of arousal build up in his system, "I already told you, I wouldn't be able to use it outside of a short radius to your irritating presence. Here in this room. It wouldn't do me much good. It would do you all the good in the world though, certainly."

The hand slipped up his chest, the nerves in his skin around his neck activated to give the illusion of fingers loosely wrapped around his neck.

"Wouldn't it be lovely to feel this for real? To have actual hands holding you down instead of just imagining it for yourself?"

Jeremy made a strangled noise, "You're awful. Stop it. I can't buy one."

"I know you can't. That's what makes this fun. We can practice your self control, maybe even teach you about coming to terms with the things you can't have."

"That's a shitty lesson to have to learn."

"But a good one."

The phantom hand disappeared from his neck, and Jeremy was left alone with the frustrated beginnings of arousal. He groaned, fell back into his pillow and cursed up at the ceiling.

In the end, he'd sold the lot of his valuables while plastered drunk, having coming home from a party incredibly horny and in the mood to make some terrible life decisions. He'd pulled up the (saved and favorited)page of the website and bought the damn thing before he could talk himself out of it. His drunken brain screamed praises of his genius as he did it, thinking about how great it would be to actually get one up on his Squip for the first time, to actually surprise the git. He'd chuckled, found his dad's stash of pity whiskey hidden away in a cupboard and drank until he was sure he wouldn't remember the purchase the next day.

So of course, it came as a complete surprise to both of them when he received a giant package in the mail half a week later, a huge 'FRAGILE' label slapped across the box on every side. His dad had looked at him a little oddly, but Jeremy dragged the thing inside and refused to say anything other than "Michael." in terms of pitiful explanation.

"When did you order a package?" his Squip asked.

"I didn't..." Jeremy huffed, finally having gotten the box into his room and reaching for a pair of scissors from his desk, "You would know if I did, wouldn't you?"

The Squip hummed and curiously looked on as he started to cut the tape.

They both gasped collectively when the flaps were pulled apart and Jeremy dug through the packing peanuts to find something very flesh-like beneath his hands. He pulled, and almost screamed when he was greeted with a very real looking version of his squip.

"Oh my god, I bought one."

The Squip laughed at him, "That's what happened to your doll. You sold it."

"It was an action figure." he glared defensively, "At least appreciate it now that I apparently spent the money on a fucking body for you. God damn it. Michael's gonna kill me for getting rid of all that stuff for this."

"It's not his money." the Squip pointed out, and settled his hands over Jeremy's shoulders with an excited grin, "The question is, are you going to regret your purchase?"

Jeremy huffed, shook the squip off of him and pulled the body the rest of the way out of the box, spilling styrofoam peanuts onto the floor as the box tipped over with its weight. It was almost as heavy as a real body, he mused miserably. Jeremy scrambled for the instruction manual that had fallen out with it and set the body up so that it was sitting against the wall behind him. He sat next to it, exhausted and admittedly a little out of breath. He was more out of shape that he realized.

"We're still working on that."

"Shut up." he grumbled, and pulled the thin collection of pages into his lap. "Huh." he said, cheeks going a little red, "It says it's anatomically correct."

The Squip smirked, "I estimate a 90% chance that you will not be regretting this purchase, Jeremy."

He gushed, thought miserably about how stupid it would look trying to hit a holographic person before catching sight of the hollow body beside him.

"You could certainly hit me in that body, but I still wouldn't feel it so your point would be moot."

"You're ruining my fun, asshole."

"Just read the manual. You can skim it if you want, I'll retain the information even if you don't."

Jeremy slumped, turning the body over a little to rid it of the plain, dark T-shirt so that he could remove the panel on the back like the manual instructed. "I have to... prick my finger on a needle so that it can like... read my blood or something. Dude, that sucks."

"It needs to have the same bit of nanotechnology within it as you do. Otherwise this would be completely pointless."

"I'm not even going to pretend to understand how you work." he said with exasperation, and tried to distract himself from just how real the skin of this fake body felt under his hands, "You run on Mountain Dew for crying out loud..."

He'd been trying not to think about what this body looked like shirtless, and it was made a little easier by seeing a square chunk of the back some clean off. It really helped remind him that it wasn't a real body. It was just a shell, designed to hold the squip. Fake, even if the flesh felt real in his hands.

"It was a popular drink in Asia around the time we were created. I imagine those scientists assumed the craze would continue on for sometime."

Jeremy drew the red wire out from the inside as was pointed out on the pages, a sharp tip at its end staring at him like an unwelcome houseguest. "I really don't like needles."

"I know. That's why you wouldn't get the tattoo I suggested. It's just one quick jab. I could take control of your body to do it for you if you don't think you can do it yourself."

"I hate when you do that and you know it."

"But you'll get it done that way."

Jeremy frowned, steeled himself mentally, "I can do it on my own."

He brought his finger close, squeezing his eyes shut before actually going through with the prick, the tip of his index finger stinging for a painful moment. It almost felt as though little barbes were shooting up into where the tip and his skin made contact, but he kept his finger on the needle point for the full ten seconds as instructed.

Beside him, the Squip gasped, and Jeremy turned his head to see what was the matter before realizing the projection had vanished. He had only a second to register the difference before the body lying in front of him moved. He startled, yipped, and fell back onto his ass with an undignified thump.

The Squip turned, a small, devious smirk stretching across his lips, "Well hello, Jeremy."

His mouth open and shut like that of a gaping fish, "H-he-hello-"

The Squip huffed, then turned to crane his head, looking over his shoulder at where the wire was still dangling behind him, "Be a dear and put my back on again?"

Jeremy gulped, quickly nodding before bending forward for the fleshy panel. The discarded shirt too, while he was at it. He tucked the wire away, replaced the rectangle of flesh and nervously tried to return the shirt when the Squip turned around, facing Jeremy in the new body and smiling in the most devious of ways.

He caught Jeremy by the wrist, grin widening at his quickening breath, the spike in his pulse, the way he lifted his eyes up somewhat pitifully to Squip's icy blues.

"I suppose I should thank you properly for this wonderful gift, shouldn't I?"

Jeremy gulped, still helplessly clinging onto the shirt with his other hand, "I- you- uhm-"

"Stop stumbling. It might be cute as the submissive partner in a relationship, but we've been trying for months to train you otherwise."

Jeremy's mouth hung open. He couldn't actually say it, but he definitely thought there's no way I could be dominant with you loud enough to fearthat he'd said it aloud. He couldn't help the beat his heart skipped when the Squip only smirked down at him, taking a looming step closer, eyes lidded.

"Well, maybe just this once... Let's see how 'anatomically correct' this body really is, shall we?"