Another request but like,,, I like a lot??? If yall have requests send em my way I'd love to do them (other than anything x squip despite my overbearing love for it)
Emotions are nasty. That's the main point of this whole thing.
They get in the way of things and you can't control them, making them more of a problem if anything.
Anyway, let's get that clear before we continue the story.
Michael Mell. You know him. I know him. We all love him, unfortunately, Middle Borough High doesn't. He's chill with that though.
Michael is pretty chill when it comes to a lot of things actually. It was how he was raised to be. Not for a reason most think of though.
See, Michael is quite in tune with nature/the 4 main elements (or 5 is you include aether, which is supposedly what fills the area beyond the layers of our Earth, aka space itself, which I mean,,,I have to use it now). There was also ice, since it was a subdivision of water.
There were the simple ones: Earth, Fire, Air, Water. They each correlate to his emotions and all have double or triple meanings.
For example, earth can represent his happiness/excitement, but it can also represent his envy/jealous. It all just depends.
You can imagine the troubles this came with when he was young. It led to a lot of complaints from concerned kids when their kid came home, thorns still stuck in their skin or clothes partially burned.
It got so bad at one point that Michael had absolutely refused to go back go school, afraid of the kids that were ready to get revenge on his unintentional actions. His fears were quite evident based on the icicles that seemed to sprout around him and in his hair when he hid under his bed.
Eventually, he was coaxed into going back and up on arriving, one kid ran up to him.
Michael squeaked, a few stray icicles sprouting in his hair. His own hair would be the death of him. Fun.
"Hi! I never talked to you before but you look really cool!" The kid bounced happily, his chestnut colored hair bouncing along with him.
"I-...uh, thanks!" Michael smiled hesitantly, assuming it was just a trap to beat him up. It happened before with the older kids, why would this be any different.
Boy was he wrong.
"I'm Jeremy, wanna go play on the swings?"
Michael blinked. This was not going the way he expected at all. Nevertheless, he nodded and Jeremy took his hand, pulling him along to the swing set.
It was then that Michael made his first friend, and honestly, his favorite friend.
Along the years, Michael learned how to control whatever strange powers he had, occasionally blowing up here and there on either a particularly good or bad day.
It would either leave him trapped in his own dome of happiness vines, or on his way to get new furniture to replace he ones he burned.
Of course, Jeremy always found this funny and would even come over with the sole purpose of making fun of his friend for it. They both knew it was in simple fun and it would often lead to Jeremy getting trapped with Michael, resulting in the Mell wives to have to free them.
Michael was pretty content with life. He had his friends (Jeremy being the main one), his parents, and even if some kids hated him, he didn't mind.
Things were pretty okay.
Abilities: In Tune.
Unfortunately for Michael, Sophomore year would prove a rather difficult one.
It all started with Jeremy becoming a bit more distant, which Michael could understand and didn't bother about.
Then, one day, while they were playing AotD, Jeremy brought up the Squip.
"I dunno man, this could be revolutionary! Hey..." Jeremy frowned, watching as frost slowly began to form over the controller Michael was holding, along with his hair.
"...curse these abilities," he huffed, setting the controller down.
"What are you nervous about? Or are you scared-"
"Jeremiah Heere. I do not get scared."
"You nearly froze your bedroom when I put a fake snake in there."
"That was you?!"
"Noooooo..." Jeremy looked away, Michael clearly unconvinced.
"Anyway, I'm just nervous that things might go wrong. I mean, a super computer in your brain? This is 2019, not 3019," Michael looked down, unimpressed when little snowflakes fell down from his hair.
"I'll be fine, and hey, even if things go wrong, I'll have you at my side to fix my fuckups." (who's gonna tell him?)
Michael snickered and nodded. "Okay then furry, let's try the round again."
"Hey!"
"What? I only speak truth."
"Meanie."
"Love ya too Jer."
Michael held comfort in the words, making sure to keep his emotions in check when they went to buy the squip. Even when the effects didn't work (immediately), Michael laughed at Jeremy's reaction and let the little vines in his hair do their things.
It was when he left that things started to go downhill.
Michael had come back to their "spot" to find Jeremy gone. Okay fair, might've gone to do something. He nodded reassuringly and looked around, spotting Jeremy talking to Brooke and Chloe. Well, more like him squirming awkwardly while they talked to him.
Disappointed, Michael left the mall without Jeremy. He was yet again unsurprised when the wheel started to frost over.
~•~
Ever since then, Michael could never seem to keep that god forsaken frost out of his hair, in combination with it being a damp, watery mess. His mothers had recalled to him multiple times that they had to turn the heater on in the house because his powers were getting out of hand yet again.
He assured them he would work on it, but he rarely did. Instead, he opted to staying behind the school by himself more.
He was generally more cold around others, in more ways than one. There had been times where he tried to talk to Jeremy only to be ignored and left behind. It started to become a habit when...
"Michael? Where have you been?" Jeremy looked slightly dazed, as if he just woke up from a dream.
Michael felt his anger flare up, and based on Jeremy's flinch, he did too.
"Really? So you're not the one who's been avoiding me?"
"I...what?" Jeremy looked off to the side, eyebrows furrowed.
Michael frowned and crossed his arms, waiting for Jeremy to respond. (Fuck that excited for the squip bs).
That moment never came as Jeremy mumbled something then turned and walked away.
Michael was momentarily shocked before he gripped his bookbag and stomped out of the school, "accidentally" shoving past Jeremy.
The shriek Jeremy let out when he stumbled to the side and seeing his jacket caught fire was one of the small victories Michael could claim for himself.
~•~
Halloween day. God this would be a day that scarred many people, either physically, emotionally, or both.
Jeremy was still confused about why his fucking jacket caught on fire that day. The answer was on the tip of his tongue but he could never seem to figure it out. He decided that the party Jake was throwing would be a good way to get his mind off of things.
Boy was he fucking wrong.
First off, Chloe. Just...no.
Then came the worst part of the day (can you imagine?)
Jeremy slammed the bathroom door shut, taking a deep breath and going to the tub, sitting on its edge.
His squip had given up on trying to talk to Jeremy so it had shut off, leaving Jeremy in clarity and peace for the moment.
So when a hand reached out and grabbed him, his girly shriek was to be expected.
Jeremy jumped back in a frenzy, only to see Michael peeling the monster suit off his body.
"Michael?"
"Funny, you're actually talking to me."
Jeremy flinched at the sharpness and pain in his tone.
"Wha- I j-just...Its b-been so different lately. F-freeing almost- Micha..?"
"What?" He snapped, unaware that it looked like someone dumped a bucket of water on only his hair, however it was starting to steam. Only this time there were also burning orbs beside him that Jeremy could only assume must've been stars.
"Dude what's wrong? You look like you just came out of a pool," Jeremy remarked.
"Now wouldn't be the time to try and make jokes Jeremy, also there is a lot wrong at the moment, but I'm sure you would wanna tell all your new friends about it." Michael huffed, pacing around the bathroom and allowing the vines to take root in his hair. Anyone who didn't know what the hell was happening would think it was some natural disaster happening in his hair. Frost on one part, steaming water on another with vines taking root all around, followed by mini dimmed stars.
Jeremy narrowed his eyes at Michael. "Are you...jealous?"
"Jealous wouldn't be the right word but sure, let's go with that. You know, I was thinking of what I was gonna say to you when this moment came. 12 years of friendship really does go a long way, doesn't it? Of course, all that doesn't really matter to you now, hm?"
"Of course it does! Micha I-"
"Don't 'Micha' me, you don't fucking earn that right anymore."
Jeremy frowned. "It does matter to me Michael. Look I'm sorry for all the crap I pulled but I just wanted to be a bit more out there, you know? I wanted to be able to take care of myself, not being held back by anything..." Jeremy muttered, messing with his costume.
Michael was silent for a while, not making eye contact with Jeremy and leaving an ill filled silence in the air.
"If you wanted that so bad, why didn't you just tell me?" Michael asked quietly, the little shitstorm of nature in his hair slowly withering away as the steam became larger.
"What? Michael you wouldn't be able to do anythi-"
"You think I don't fucking know that?!" Michael hissed, very aware of the flames now in his hair as Jeremy flinched away.
"Of course I can't just magically make you popular or shit like that but I would've understood if you wanted a change of pace! I would've given you your space and even try to help you! But you know what you did instead?"
Michael stomped up to Jeremy, jabbing a finger in his chest angrily. "You just suddenly disappeared that day at the mall. I was fine with that. Then you just started flat out ignoring me, no contact, not a single peep from you at all," Michael stepped back and started pacing, running his fingers through his still flaming hair as angry tears ran down his face.
"And you know? I was still okay with it. I was so confident you would even send a fucking message saying you were fine or whatever. Then that goddamn day at school. What did you think? That I was the one ignoring you?! I had been trying to get your attention the entire day, then not even a minute went by after you started talking to me after days and you just walked away like nothing ever happened!"
Jeremy was now pressed away the wall, watching in shock as his friend paced around, basically giving him a verbal paper titled "Why You Fucking Suck as a Friend".
"I'm not god, I know that. I would've given you your space if you needed it, but you could've at least kept me updated. Even if it's one goddamn text a week! All this-" Michael motioned to his hair. "Has been hard to keep up with ever since you-" Michael took a deep breath and looked to the ground.
"You asked if I was jealous? Well, I guess I am. I'm jealous at how easily you can just dump your closest friends to become popular just like that. Just leave them behind like they mean nothing to you," Michael crossed his arms and glared at Jeremy, sighing.
"But, I guess one thing did come out from this..."
"W-what?" Jeremy asked feebly, slightly shaking now.
"I know who my actual friends are and who aren't," Michael walked to the bathroom door and opened it, eyes still affixed to Jeremy.
"And, fortunately for you, you aren't an actual friend of mine at least, not anymore. So, don't let me hold you down anymore Jeremy. And also, lose my number. You don't use it anymore anyway so I thought I'd give you advice on what to do with it." Michael turned and closed the bathroom door, leaving Jeremy at the conclusion of the paper, with the worst ending possible.
Abilities: Off Tune.
Conclusion? Emotions are a bitch and if you want to try new things, don't assume others will be fine with you just slicing them out of your life because I assure you they will not be in the slightest.