Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Hey.”

Chase couldn’t help involuntarily tensing when Kaz came up behind him in Mission Command. His mind immediately assumed the worst, being sure that Roman was back to kidnap him again.

He heard Kaz exhale, finding Chase’s hand to pull it from his work. Warm. Like it should be.

Kaz then moved it to rest over his heart. The correct beat. Phew. 

Chase sighed his relief, looking up at him. Kaz kissed his knuckles, gently setting it back down. It wasn't the first time Chase had reacted that way to him in Mission Command, nor would it be the last. Damned Roman.

“Whatcha workin’ on, Freaky Genius?”

“Not anything in particular. Just generally stressing myself out, you know how it goes.”

Kaz frowned. Both siblings had been incredibly off and upset since the terrace. He couldn’t blame them. The offer from Oliver to cheer him on while he bludgeoned Davenport was still standing.

Kaz rubbed his back. Chase winced. He hadn’t noticed how sore it was.

“Come on, babe.”

“Where?”

“To get food and water in your system. Maybe… hear me out, sleep too. I know it sounds crazy.”

“But I have to-”

“Nope,” Kaz grabbed him, flinging him over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. Chase squawked. “You asked for help in taking a break. I’m giving it.”

~*~

Chase’s eye scan told him not to. So unhealthy. His nose and stomach made him.

Skylar had had burgers and fries delivered to the tower a few hours ago. 

Chase sat on the couch under Kaz’s arm, two cats begging at his feet. Their owner wasn’t much better.

Chase gasped in offense when Kaz snatched a fry away and crammed it into his mouth before Chase could stop him. Kaz grinned innocently.

Chase, trust now shattered, leaned his plate away from Kaz, glaring suspiciously. Kaz snickered.

“I’m not gonna go for any more, babe. Your burger is-” he paused to theatrically gag. “Vegan,” he shuddered.

One of the cats jumped for the food. It smacked into a forcefield.

“I’m never trusting you again. This betrayal is immense.”

Chase leaned further. Kaz leaned with him, flopping onto Chase’s side and dramatically begging for Chase to graciously forgive him.

Chase shut him up by dropping the pickle slices into his mouth, as he did legitimately not want them, having always hated pickles with a passion. That had ripped his uncle’s heart to shreds when Douglas found out. He broke a fry in half, tossing it to the cats to satiate them. It was Kaz and Oliver’s fault for feeding them off their plates to make the cats think that begging would be fruitful.

He adjusted the ankle monitor for the billionth time, glancing away for half a second.

Two fries vanished. 

Chase blinked. 

“Bree-!”

Bree waggled her fingers at him from where she was stuck on the ceiling, smirking proudly.

“You know, you’d think you guys get starved around here,” Chase complained.

“Oh shit, Kaz, the mom voice-”

“I’m gonna ground you so hard, you little shit.”

Skylar and Oliver came down to see him putting the two in a headlock while they screeched. 

They shrugged, stole fries, and continued to the kitchen.

“Hey babygirl,” Skylar called.

“Yes, darling light of my life?” Chase answered.

“I’d worry more about the cats currently swarming your food if I were you.”

“Damn it!”

~*~

Giselle’s tools sparked on her newest creation.

“Patience there, Vicky. The payoff will be excellent.”

Krane harrumphed and left, nearly trampling her subordinate because of his sheer mountainous size.

“Do you need help?” Marcus called up in the massive white marble warehouse, full of her latest experiments.

“Leave me be.”

He nodded, exiting.

Marcus passed Sebastian as he leaned against the doorframe, not paying the walking migraine inducer any mind.

“Why are you so ugly?” he asked.

“Excuse me?” Marcus spat.

“As in, don’t you have Chase’s intelligence? Can’t you repair your eyesore of a face?”

Marcus’s fingers traced the holes in his false skin. He was suddenly very aware of the clicks and whirs.

“...No.”

“Knew it. She had to be lying somewhere about your abilities.”

Marcus scowled. “No. I do have the intelligence. But she’s the only one allowed to repair me.”

“Oh?”

“She only does it when I earn it,” Marcus mumbled, eyes fixed on the ground.

“Well, I guess we see how much favor you have,” Sebastian snickered. “Ta-ta, loser.”

A vein bulged in his neck.

“Yeah. Maybe. But y’know what, Seb?”  

“What?” Sebastian smirked amusedly, pausing.

“With his intelligence built in, I have more of Three than you ever will.”

Sebastian’s face darkened.

“Not for long.”

“Mm, forever, actually. Giselle wants him. She doesn't share. And guess what: your weak little ass can’t stand next to me. And Krane doesn’t give two shits about what you want. He won’t help you against me. And my job is to protect Giselle. So try me. I have beaten all three of those scums on my own. You couldn't win against one. I don't know what creepy hyper-fixation you have on Three, but from what I've garnered from the bug in One’s phone, the only reason you're alive is because he's dumber than a bag of rocks and Two didn’t see whatever you did at the time. Bold words from you, huh?”

Sebastian’s jaw clenched.

“Ta-ta,” Marcus waggled his fingers as he left. 

~*~

“Ew,” Oliver commented as he watched Kaz and Chase be overly romantic in the kitchen. Giggling, elbowing, far too many lip locks.

“They’re back to the puppy love stage,” Bree shuddered. They all remembered how nightmarish that time was.

“Drekk help us all,” Skylar cringed.

“Who’s that? You’ve said it a lot,” Bree continued playing with her curls from where she sat behind Skylar. 

“Calderan Elder,” the other two answered in sync.

Oliver looked up at the girls from where he was stomach down on the couch with their pets on his back. “I’d like to thank you two personally for being a normal couple.

“I thank us too.”

~*~

“So, what’s the next step?” Skylar asked.

“I dunno,” Chase sighed, flopping down on the couch against Kaz. Kaz put his arm around him. “Someone else figure it out for once.”

"Atta boy," Kaz smiled, stroking his hair.

The rest shrugged.

“The protest idea still stands,” Oliver suggested, feet tossed in Kaz’s lap. 

“Yeah, because that went well,” Bree said sarcastically.

“Well then, you come up with something miss-”

“Okay,” Skylar mediated. It’d be lovely to keep her girlfriend and best friend from jumping each other. “We need to try something new.”

“I was thinking about this,” Kaz started, rubbing up and down Chase’s arm as he snuggled into him. He pressed a kiss to his hair. “What if we cleaned the slate?”

The others stared at him.

“What if we start fixing small crime around here? Smaller disasters. Get cats outta trees, all of that. To rebuild rep. Once again, I think the people are the scariest right now. Not the FBI, not the shifters.”

Silence.

“Are you a shifter again?” Oliver asked. “What kinda concussion do you have to come up with decent ideas?”

“Hey-!”

“I love you and will buy you Loopy-Loops.”

“Forgiven.”

“Chase can probably build a police scanner so we can listen in,” Bree held her chin. “Right, bro?”

Quiet.

“Chase?”

“Oh!” Kaz whisper-exclaimed. He put a finger to his lips. Chase had literally passed out right there, most likely having not heard a damn word they said. Skylar chuckled. Bree rolled her eyes fondly.

“I can’t tell if that’s a good or bad thing,” Oliver pointed out.

“I’m gonna make it a bad thing if you wake up his super ears,” Kaz warned. 

Oliver put his hands up in surrender, doing the zipped lips motion. 

Kaz gently lifted him. Chase unconsciously curled in closer to his warmth, making a little noise.

His hair burst alight and cheeks puffed out as he strained. The others quietly cackled at the pure desperation in his face to not scream about how cute Chase was.

He took a breath to collect himself, extinguishing and walking to the stairs.

~*~

Kaz made it back down, smiling. “So-”

He shut up fast. 

Skylar was standing by the door. Oliver and Bree were a bit further off. A whole platoon of agents was there for the inspection. Right when the guy who wrangled them the best conked out from exhaustion- and would be awoken by these bastards destroying everything. 

Great.