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“Chase, give me back my cheesy puffs!”
“They’re not yours, they’re mine. You stole them from me!”
“Which means… uh… they’re mine.” He snatches the bowl of cheesy puffs from Chase’s hands, which (of course) turns the bowl sideways and sends flying puffs all over the lab floor and into Adam’s face.
“Chase, look what you did! My cheesy puffs!” Chase looked at him in disbelief, a familiar scowl settling onto his face.
“Adam, you did that! Not me!” He threw his hands up and gestured towards the messy floor.
“Uh, no, I didn’t.”
“Uh, yes, you did.”
“No I didn’t!”
“Yes you did!”
Adam launched himself at Chase, as the younger sprinted out of his reach. Adam fell flat on his face and his arm accidentally nudged the giant barrel of rubbing alcohol (don’t ask Chase why Mr. Davenport decided they needed a giant barrel of rubbing alcohol, he honestly doesn’t know). The barrel crashed to the ground and the liquid exploded from the barrel with the impact.
Chase laughed hysterically at his brother until he realized what exactly had just occurred. The alcohol had splashed onto the computer systems, and the sizzling of the wires certainly screamed that Adam and Chase would most definitely be in big trouble.
They stared at each other in panic, then they looked at Bree who was no longer texting and was now staring at them in annoyance. He could see the way her jaw clenched and unclenched as she tried to restrain her anger.
“Oh. My. God. You guys are ridiculous! Mr. Davenport is going to flip when he sees this.”
“Uh, no, he won’t. Isn’t that right Adam? Because Mr. Davenport isn’t going to see it, right?” Chase smiled innocently, glancing at his sister with pleading eyes. She only gave him a hard stare and abruptly stood up.
“I’m telling Mr. Davenport. You two are idiots and, if he punishes you, maybe I’ll finally be able to have some privacy around here.”
Adam and Chase swiftly blocked the exit to the lab.
“Bree, you can’t! We’ve already been grounded for life, like, five times! If Mr. Davenport finds out about this, I won’t be able to touch technology for weeks! My life will be over!” Adam turned to stare at him like he was crazy and Bree just looked at him in exasperation.
“Yeah? Well I’ll be living the dream, being able to go out without you two attached to me like some weirdos.” She crossed her arms over her chest.
“Bree, I’m not agreeing with Chase, but - I don’t think you should tell Mr. Davenport. Otherwise, I won’t be able to hit Chase anymore!” Chase turned to look at Adam, he threw his hands up and scowled.
“Adam. That’s-” he wasn’t able to finish his sentence since right then Adam hit him square in the shoulder with a little bit of super strength and a beaming smile.
“Ow! Adam, what the-” Adam gave him another punch and Chase gave him what he’d like to think was an “evil” glare.
“Okay, that’s enough you two. I’m getting Mr. Davenport,” Bree said. She tried to superspeed past them but then abruptly slammed right into Chase’s forcefield.
“Nice one Chase!” Adam clapped him on the back a little too harshly and that was it. Chase was done.
“Now it’s your turn!” Chase promptly rushed at Adam, climbing onto his back and trying to punch him in the face. Adam shielded himself with his arms, and was attempting to get Chase off his back but then stepped right into the alcohol and slipped, throwing both him and Chase right into the spill, flat on their faces.
Chase could hear Bree laughing at them, and then when she tried to superspeed away to get Mr. Davenport, he heard her yelp and Adam laugh and then another wet smack of a body slamming into the floor.
“Adam! This shirt was brand new, and you just ruined it!” she screeched. “Oh, you are so going to pay.”
Chase was finally able to regain his breath and sit up, and he was extremely amused to find Bree attempting to speedily slap Adam while Adam, once again, attempted to protect his face with his arms. Chase launched himself at Bree and tackled her back onto the wet floor. This allowed Adam to finally remove his barrier of protection and join in with Chase on the tackling. Except, instead of tackling Bree he just ended up tackling Chase again.
The three of them were fighting on the floor and laughing like children for probably around 3 minutes, until Adam accidentally punched Chase directly in the stomach with his super strength. Chase’s body skidded across the wet floor of the lab until he smashed into one of the lab tables, where his breath was knocked out of his lungs and his vision slowly decreased to a singular dot, surrounded by black as his eyes burned with sudden unshed tears.
He could barely breathe, his lungs struggled to expand and exhale and for a second he felt like Adam might’ve just ruptured his appendix. He blinked his eyes quickly and willed the tears away (which, thankfully, they did go away; if Bree and Adam saw him crying they’d never let him live it down). His brain felt fuzzy with the lack of oxygen, and his stomach ached in pain. His hearing had cut out and there was this sharp, growing ringing sound he wanted so desperately to stop, yet his body wouldn’t cooperate. His hands were stuck at his sides as he lay slumped like a ragdoll against the table.
Slowly, his vision came back. The black edges receded, and his eyes were suddenly blinded with the harshness of the different lights in the lab. The white lights from above reminded him of what it felt like to look directly into the sun. He wondered, is this heaven? Did I just die? Until he promptly realized that no, this was not heaven, and no, he was not dead because why would going to heaven be this painful because god did his eyes hurt.
The purple lights almost resembled those strobe lights used in concerts, but held right in front of his face. He squinted to block out the light to soothe the strain and ache on his eyes, until he realized that that was just stupid and he shouldn’t suffer when he can just close his eyes. So, he squeezed them shut as hard as he could to block out as much light as possible.
He then realized that the texture of his clothes (which never really bothered him before since he had worked with Mr. Davenport to find safe fabrics that wouldn’t overstimulate his bionics) was suddenly itchy and scratchy and he hate, hate, hated it. The fabric was wet since they had been splashing so much. It made it stick tightly to his body, almost like an extra layer of skin. It was so unpleasant to the point where the sensation made him want to tear off his skin and curl up into a tiny ball that was numb to all feelings of the world.
Then the smell hit him. The obnoxious and barely tolerable smell of rubbing alcohol suddenly assaulted his nose and it took all his will power to not vomit right then and there. He gagged dryly as the nauseating scent permeated his bionic senses and he brought his hand up to cover his nose, but the feeling of the wet fabric moving on his skin made him freeze. He couldn’t move, and he could barely breathe with the scent of the alcohol. His lungs felt like they were on fire with each inhale of the chemical scent.
Then, came the bombardment of sound. He could hear Bree’s shrill laughter as she got on top of Adam once again. He could hear each sizzle of electrical wire, each buzz of the lights, his clothes rustling against his skin as he slowly - painfully - brought his hands to cover his ears, the clanging of pots and pans as Tasha cooked dinner, the romcom she was watching in the background with its terrible jokes, Mr. Davenport praising himself in the mirror, and Leo screaming at his computer after he lost the level of his video game. He could hear everything, and all Chase wanted right now was to hear nothing .
He wanted to feel nothing, see nothing, hear nothing, smell nothing, and thank God there was nothing in his mouth otherwise he thinks he would actually vomit.
He could feel himself rocking back and forth and he begged his body to stop but there was nothing he could do. His body was completely out of his control.
He heard the loud splashes of boots on the floor and heard whispers but none of it seemed to register. The sound was just all one non-stop infinite input of information and Chase’s systems were entirely overwhelmed. He let out a wince and shoved his hands harder against his ears.
A hand touched his shoulder lightly and he jerked so hard that he fell over.
“Okay, okay… we won’t touch you Chasey, shh, shh,” he didn’t understand why he was being hushed until he realized he was letting out whines of discomfort.
He heard a hushed whisper, “Adam, I’m going to go grab the headphones. Can you carry him to his capsule and make sure he gets changed so he’s not in those clothes anymore?”
His hearing must be at an all time high right now, because he literally heard Adam nod in response.
He felt the air shift as Bree moved away from him, and tiptoed across the floor to the back of the lab where they kept his headphones. Each step sounded like someone banging on metal.
He felt arms right him so he was no longer laying on the floor and slowly wrap around him. The touch wasn’t as overwhelming and sudden as it was before because of the slowness and care but it still made him want to retch and thrash away. He was slowly lifted off the wet ground, and the feeling of rubbing alcohol dripping from his wet clothes almost pushed him over the edge of restraining his nausea.
He was carried only for a few moments until he was set down gently into his capsule. He heard the door shut loudly and he flinched away, his hands still sealed over his ears. In the enclosed space, the scent of rubbing alcohol coming off his clothes was about one hundred times worse.
He was about 5 seconds away from throwing up Adam’s cheesy puffs until an obnoxiously loud wave burned through his ear drums and he didn’t know if either the shout of pain he let out or the sound of his capsule hurt his ears more.
But then, he found he was completely dry and wearing his comfiest pair of pajamas. His feet were even covered in those velvety soft weighted socks he loved to wear. He let out a breath of relief. Everything felt and smelled so much cleaner, though the permeating scent of rubbing alcohol was still enveloping the entirety of the lab and was slowly seeping through the cracks of Chase’s capsule, but it was much more tolerable than it was before.
He let out a sigh of relief, and curled his hands around his ears tighter and continued to rock. The electrical buzz was so much louder in his capsule, he honestly had no idea how long he was going to be able to stay in here without crying from the ringing.
He didn’t have to know, however, because right then his capsule screeched open and Chase wailed. Two hands grabbed his wrists and practically ripped them away from his head as he fought to keep his ears covered, and the sensation genuinely made him feel like he would die of discomfort. All the sounds slammed into him, the person’s blood rushing through their body, their heart pounding with nervous energy, their lungs inhaling and exhaling, and then suddenly the sounds were gone.
Everything was gone. The hands were gone, the noise was gone, the uncomfortable clothes were gone, and even the scent of rubbing alcohol was gone. A pressure rested over his ears and atop his head, indicating that Bree or Adam had put his noise-canceling headphones on for him.
Chase crumpled and slumped onto the wall of his capsule and let out a large sigh of relief. He actually began to cry. The contrast of the overwhelming sensations and the suddenness of relief broke his resolve and he reveled in the ability to finally release everything with a gut wrenching sob and wet tears.
When a hand touched his head, he leaned into it. All he wanted now was comfort. The hand slightly scratched at his scalp and he practically melted into a puddle.
They stayed like that for a few minutes, Chase’s brain fog slowly clearing and the tears slowly lessening with the comforting massage soothing his incoming headache.
When he finally felt like he could open his eyes without popping a vessel from the strain, he slowly fluttered them open, at first squinting and then slowly fully opening them (or as much as he could, what with him being exhausted and just wanting to pass out in his capsule). He saw Bree and Adam talking to each other just outside of his capsule, Adam’s hand reaching into the capsule and scratching his scalp.
He sat up slowly, and they both looked at him with soft smiles. He tried his best to give them one back but he couldn’t tell if it was a smile or a small grimace. He was guessing the latter since Bree had to take her hand up to her mouth to muffle her laughter (Chase couldn’t hear anything, so he was just making an educated guess).
Adam stood up and so did Bree. Chase was disappointed at the loss of the hand in his hair and he must’ve made a face since Adam and Bree laughed again. He gave a tiny glare at them along with a small sniffle. They just laughed again.
Adam offered him a hand and at first he was hesitant to take it, because, well, let’s be honest here, it was Adam. But he took his hand and when the touch didn’t make him want to jerk out of his skin he gripped the hand with more confidence and Adam helped him up slowly.
He felt a little dizzy when he reached his full height and slightly stumbled out of his capsule, but Bree was quick to stabilize him and he rested his weight on her side. She gave him a comforting smile and rubbed his shoulder supportively. She had a towel in her hand and tried her best to clean up his (messy) face. He hated how the dry tear tracks felt on his skin and was grateful when he just felt the coldness of water and a soft towel removing them from his cheeks.
He gave a larger smile now and thinks he said thank you, because Bree just gave a nod. Adam patted him on the back but Chase flinched away slightly and Adam backed off quickly, his hands up in mock surrender. Chase just shook his head and reached out for a hug.
Adam always did give the best hugs, and when Bree joined in beside them, Chase felt most of his discomfort and oversensitivity melt out of him. Once they finally ended their embrace, Chase slowly reached up to remove his headphones, and hesitantly lifted them up, only a little bit, fearful of what would happen if his ears were still hypersensitive. However, all he heard was the normal sounds of the lab, and he let out a large breath of relief as he fully removed the headphones and set them on the still sizzling computer.
He ran a hand through his hair and let out a large sigh as he hung his head for a moment before composing himself and looking at Adam and Bree with the largest smile he could muster.
“Thanks, you guys. That- you- well, you really helped me out,” he smiled sheepishly.
“Of course Chasey. We used to have to do it all the time when you were younger, and it’s no problem now.” Bree gave him a comforting smile and he couldn’t help but give her another hug.
“Chase, I’m sorry I didn’t realize that I hit you so hard. I know it messes with your senses when you get hit too hard.” Adam, for the first time, looked genuine with his apology. And Chase, for the first time, genuinely forgave him. Well, there’s a first time for everything.
“No, Adam, it’s not your fault. I should’ve given your cheesy puffs back to you.” Chase gave him a reassuring smile and put his hand on Adam’s shoulder, giving him a pat on the back.
“Chase! My cheesy puffs! You stole them! And Bree! You picked them off the floor and threw them away!” Adam pointed at both of them accusingly.
Chase and Bree looked at eachother. Chase practically leapt onto Bree and she supersped them out of the lab with Chase giggling the whole way at Adam’s desperate yells for them to come back.