Chapter Text
Chase was sitting on the couch, rubbing his temples, which still felt buzzy. He was wearing a long hoodie that went over his hands, to cover up the pale scars on his hands that wrapped up and around his fingers. His head hurt so much.
“Hey, Chase, how you feeling?” Kaz asked as he walked up to him.
“My head still hurts.”
“I figured, and that is why, I brought you these,” He said, holding out a pill bottle and a bottle of water. “The strongest over the counter painkillers I could find,” He said with a smile. Chase took the bottles happily.
“Thanks, Kaz,” He said dopily.
“Still hurts?” Oliver asked, “How long has it been hurting, it might be a migraine. Or if you’ve fallen down recently, you could have a concussion.”
“Uh…” Kaz hesitated before running off to the kitchen.
“I’ve had a headache all day,” Chase said, “I told Kaz this morning, and I haven’t taken pain relievers yet.”
“Yep!” Kaz called from the kitchen, “That’s what happened,” He said.
“Is that why you’re wearing a sweater?” Bree asked, “I don’t think you’ve worn a sweater since we had that sleepover where Eddie got a virus,” She said. Chase nodded, tossing a couple of painkillers in his mouth before taking a swig of water and swallowing it.
“Yeah,” He said, “I just wanna feel comfortable.” Kaz walked over and sat down next to Chase.
“You deserve to feel comfy, Chase,” Kaz said. Chase smiled and leaned against him slightly, which Kaz matched immediately.
“Thanks, Kaz,” He said tiredly, snuggling into Kaz’s shoulder.
“Anything for you,” Kaz said quietly, quiet enough that even Chase, with his bionic hearing and all, barely heard him.
“You guys are weird,” Bree observed. Kaz rolled his eyes.
“Maybe you’re weird, if you haven’t cuddled with one of your best friends,” He said, jokingly snobbish.
“We never cuddled,” Oliver said.
“Mhm,” Kaz said, not even looking up from his phone. “Hey, Chasey, we should go down to the lab,” He said, shaking Chase a bit.
“I know,” He said, “I don’t want to though.” That got everyone’s attention.
“Chase, are you okay?” Bree asked, “Doing nerdy shit is like… your favourite thing!”
“Maybe we should take him to the doctor…” Skylar recommended.
“No, no, Chase is fine,” Kaz said, “He just had a hard time sleeping last night.”
“Mhm,” Chase hummed, tiredly hugging Kaz closer.
“But, we have a project to work on in the lab,” He said, “And I want to do it, because I’m kinda bored.” Chase smiled, still tired.
“Alright,” He said, sitting back up. “Let’s go,” He said, pulling himself up off the couch. Kaz followed and joined Chase in the hyperlift.
“You feeling okay?” Kaz asked as they walked into the lab. Chase slipped off his sweater and fanned himself with the collar of the t-shirt he was wearing underneath.
“I’m kind of overheating,” He said, “But I can’t not wear the jacket, people would see these,” He said, motioning to his arms.
“I dunno, I think they look cool.”
“Perhaps, but people would ask where they came from,” Chase said. “Other than the overheating, and the major headache, I’m fine. Accept, I still feel buzzy.” He leaned his hand against the wall beneath the tv. Which immediately turned on. “Did you do that?” He asked, pulling his hand away.
“Nope,” Kaz said.
“Huh. Weird. Must be a glitch or something,” He said with a shrug before sitting down. Kaz joined him.
“I guess,” He said, not really believing him.
“Anyway,” Chase said, putting his hands together, “Is there any way that this would go away faster?” He asked, triedly. “I hate it.”
“Painkillers are the best way to avoid the pain. I suppose you could use your age thingy, but that didn’t really pan out well,” He said. Chase sighed, agreeing.
“I feel like I’m going to implode,” He said, separating his hands and tensing his hands. “Wait a minute,” He said. “The buzzing stopped.”
“Uh, Chase?”
“Yeah?”
“Look at your hands.”
Low and behold, between Chase’s hands were strands of electricity, glowing and zapping. Chase had just assumed that noise was part of the buzzy feeling.
“Chase, I think you might have superpowers!” Kaz exclaimed. “Being zapped with that chemical on you must’ve done something to you, and now you have electrokinetic powers!”
“Oh, great,” He said, putting his arms down, the electricity cracking apart and dissipating into the thin air. “Me, the most science based person in the world has magic superpowers! Woo!” He said, annoyed at his own circumstances.
“Chase, don’t you understand? This is amazing! I know you’re great with your laser bo, and your molecular kinesis, and you’re great at combat, but this could really help you!” Kaz exclaimed. Chase sighed and shook his head. “You’ll move up AJ’s list,” Kaz said, poking Chase in the arm.
“Well, it’s not as if I can get rid of them,” He said, “So I might as well use them.” Kaz smiled.
“Awesome!” He said. “This isn’t the first time I’ve had to coach someone on how to use new superpowers, but this is different, completely. She only had gamma powers, and flight. Who knows what you have!”
“I might just have the one, Kaz,” He said, although the idea of that did sadden him a bit.
“Well, there’s only one way we can find out. We have to test out any possible superpower you might have,” He said. Chase groaned.
“Ugh,” He said. “Sorry, I’m still really tired. I just…” Chase shut his eyes tiredly “I want to be back in my capsule.”
Chase didn’t know what happened, but the next thing he knew, he had fallen, trapped between the small walls of his capsule.
“What the…” He muttered. As he tried to figure out how to stand up without opening his door, Kaz bursted through their bedroom door. He shut it behind them, and opened the door to Chase’s capsule. Chase slipped down, but caught himself and regained his composure.
“Teleportation: Check!” Kaz said excitedly. “Now you can get to missions faster! That was one of your main concerns, wasn’t it?”
“Yeah,” Chase said with a nod.
“Sorry,” Kaz said. “We don’t have to talk about this right now. I know you’re tired. I’m just really happy for you. I know you felt isolated as the only bionic hero on the team. We can test powers some other day.”
“Thanks, Chase said tiredly.
“But, you will have to use your teleportation thing to go back down to the lab, and then walk back up here, because they’ll get suspicious.”
Chase sighed, knowing Kaz was right, and did so. He teleported back downstairs, put his jacket back on, and came back up stairs.
“Oh, by the way, I was, uh, at the TechTown at the mall, and I found these like… super high tech noise cancelling headphones. And I thought, since you have bionic hearing, you might…” Kaz held out the headphone box nervously. “You don’t have to use them.”
“Wow, Kaz,” Chase said, taking the box. “Thanks. It does take a lot of energy to tone down my hearing, it’s really bothersome.”
“Yeah, and after yesterday, I thought maybe it’d be harder for you,” He said. He cleared his throat. “I also got ones for Skylar, so… I’m gonna go give them to her,” He said before rushing out of the room.
Chase looked down at the box with a smile. He stepped into his capsule, put on his eye mask (bionic seeing isn’t a picnic either) and then his headphones. The new headphones that Kaz gave him. Sweet Kaz. He cared more than any of Chase’s old friends.
To be fair, his old friends were villains, but still .
Now, Chase didn’t usually have dreams. Especially not vivid ones. But this dream was unusually vivid.
Bree and Skylar were sitting on the couch alone. Chase was viewing them from behind, standing in the kitchen. His jacket was off, and the scars on his arms were visible. Next to him was Kaz, who was making two sandwiches.
‘I don’t like this,’ It was Chase’s voice, but it didn’t sound like it was coming out of his mouth. It was slightly echoey and he could feel that his mouth hadn’t moved. ‘It feels like spying.’
Chase looked over to Bree and Skylar, who were leaning on each other, watching a show that Chase didn’t recognise. He did recognise one of the actors as Joan Cusack, although she was wearing a powered wig for some reason.
‘I know, Chasey, but you don’t like walking around in hoodies or in long sleeves and gloves, so sneaking around is the best option.’ Kaz’s voice this time. Same way. Kaz’s lips weren’t moving either.
‘Okay, but why do I have to be here? You could walk around freely. You could walk around with no shirt on at all and no one would say anything about marks you have on your body,’ Chase said. He seemed to instantly regret it. It was strange, it was almost like he could feel his face heating up, even in this dream.
“Hey, Bree, I have something I need to tell you,” Skylar spoke up. Her voice wasn’t like his and Kaz’s. It wasn’t as clear, it was quiet due to her voice being hushed and the distance between the boys and her.
“You can tell me anything, Skylar.” It was strange. Chase was getting deja vu. In a dream. How does that even happen?
“You know how I tried to date Oliver and failed?”
“Yeah, because he’s a little weirdo.” Bree said, earning a nervous laugh from Skylar.
“That’s not the only reason. I’m—”
And that’s when Chase woke up. He immediately pulled off his sensory blockers, seeing that he was still in his capsule, in his room. That was so strange. It felt so real.
With one glance at the clock on Oliver’s side table (not Kaz’s, Kaz’s was still blinking 12:00 from the last time the power went out), Chase learned that only 20 minutes had passed. It was like the dream took place in real time.
Whatever. It didn’t matter. Chase wasn’t tired anymore. He sighed, leaving his capsule in the oversized hoodie Chase had borrowed from Kaz, but leaving behind the items he used to block his senses.
He, less tired than before, walked back into the living room and sat himself next to Kaz.
“Dude, you only got like 5 minutes of sleep,” Kaz said, clearly having no sense of time.
“Kaz, it was 20 minutes,” Chase responded, making Kaz roll his eyes. As if that was so much more. “But I don’t know, I woke up and I’m not tired anymore.”
“Hm,” Kaz hummed, “Well, I’m glad,” He said, ruffling Chase’s hair.
“When did you two become such good friends?” Bree teased, earning confused looks from both Kaz and Chase.
“Like three months ago?” Chase responded, confused.
“No, no, Chase… It was a metaphorical question,” Kaz explained, which just earned more confused looks.
“Rhetorical,” Oliver corrected, fixing the confused looks. “Anyway, have you guys ever read The Series of Unfortunate Events?” He asked excitedly.
“I was underground for 16 years,” Chase said bluntly, “The only books I was allowed to read were textbooks and my dad’s autobiography.”
“Same here,” Bree said, putting her hand up for a moment.
“I read the dreams you had based off it,” Kaz said with a shrug, “So… yes,” He said with a laugh.
“I’ve never even heard of it,” Skylar said.
“Well, it’s really good,” Oliver said, “And Netflix is making a series based on it! It came out yesterday, and it’s also pretty good.” Chase internally laughed nervously.
“This show wouldn’t happen to have Joan Cusack in it, would it?” He asked. Oliver’s face lit up.
“Yeah, she has a guest appearance as Justice Strauss, how did you know that?” He asked. Chase sank down a bit.
“Just a lucky guess,” He said, pulling his sleeves further over his hands. “Man, that is so weird, I had a dream where Joan Cusack played a Justice of the Peace,” Chase thought. He would’ve said it out loud, but it would accumulate questions.
A small part of him feared that he had said it out loud, when Kaz immediately turned to Chase, so fast that he wasn’t sure how he hadn’t snapped his neck.
“Dude… I know I didn’t hear that out loud, because it sounded the same as when NeoCortex talked to us through our heads! Chase, I think you have telepathy!”
“Kaz, why do you look like you’re going to explode?” Oliver asked. Kaz and Chase laughed nervously together.
“Nothing,” Kaz said, “Just excited for the show you were talking about,” He said nervously, exchanging glances with Chase.
“You barely know what it’s about.”
“I know you had a dream where Violet was played by Skylar,” He said, “I don’t really know who Violet is, but you know. A dream’s a dream.”
“Yeah, Oliver, what is this show about?” Bree asked, putting her arm around Skylar.
“It’s about these three gifted kids whose parents die in a fire and they get sent to their uncle’s house, Count Olaf, who tries to kill them to get the fortune their parents left behind for them,” He said. Everyone just stared at Oliver for a moment.
“Dude,” Kaz said, “That is so depressing.”
“Yeah,” Bree said, “Sounds kinda like Chase, Adam and I,” She said, referring to their Uncle Douglas’s attempt on their lives. Well, attempts.
“It’s not that similar! I mean, one is insanely smart, one has a really good bite, and one is an inventor.”
“Two of those things describe Chase,” Kaz noted.
“And the other one explains Adam,” Bree said with a laugh.
“Well, the biting one is a baby.”
“Yep,” Bree said, “Sounds like Adam.”
“You guys aren’t orphans!” Oliver exclaimed. Chase shrugs.
“Depends on your definition.”
“Well, you guys don’t have to watch,” Oliver said, “I can just watch it with Skylar,” Oliver said with a smile that made Skylar lean further into her friend’s side.
“No,” Skylar said firmly
“Yeah, whenever we watch things based off of books you’ve read, you spoil it” Kaz said. “You’ll watch alone in our room, while us four watch it out here.” Oliver huffed.
“Like a double date?” He asked bitterly. Kaz and Chase exchanged glances for a second, both blushing. They didn’t notice, but Skylar and Bree did the same thing. “No, man, I’m not leaving Chase and Skylar alone, and you and Bre alone, it’ll get weird.”
“What?” Skylar asked through a laugh.
“I mean, you and Chase are like…” Oliver waved his hands, “And Bree and Kaz are like,” He waved his hands again, but more erratically.
“Okay, no offence, Kaz, but he’s kinda revolting,” Bree said. Kaz let out a laugh and a nod.
“None taken, I get it, I’ve been rejected by many a woman in my time,” He said. Being honest, he would’ve been offended had it come from Chase. But he didn’t care about Bree’s opinion.
But Chase took offence. Who would say that about his Kaz? Why would they say that about his Kaz?
Kaz. Not his Kaz. Why did he keep doing that...
“And if it makes you feel better, Chase and I can watch in the lab,” Kaz offered. The buzzing feeling in Chase’s arms increased, and a bit in his chest too. Maybe it was nerves.
“That would make me feel better,” Oliver said with a nod.
“Oliver, how many times do I have to tell you. I’m not into Chase like that,” Skylar said. Chase nodded.
“And I’m not into Skylar like that,” He agreed. “Don’t really think I ever will. No offence Skylar,” He added. Skylar shook her head.
“None taken,” She said, “I would never be into you either.”
“Why not?” Kaz asked defensively. “Chase is a great guy.”
“Uh…” Skylar started. “You know, not really into know-it-alls,” She said, earning an offended stare from Oliver.
“Anyway,” Chase said in an attempt to break the obvious tension, “Kaz, we should go… start watching, I guess,” He said.
“I want to test out these power things more.” Chase admitted in thought, hoping it would make its way to Kaz.
“Yeah, we should,” Kaz said, standing up, pulling Chase with him. “Good, ‘cuz I kinda want to too,” he said with a smile. Well, through a smile, kind of. Since he didn’t say it out loud. “See you guys,” Kaz said, slightly excitedly, before pulling Chase into the hyperlift.
As soon as they got down to the lab, Kaz started talking.
“Okay, so, you’ve got electric stuff going on, teleportation, and telepathy! So awesome!” Kaz exclaimed. “I wonder if you have any other powers.”
“I might,” Chase admitted. “When I was asleep I had a very vivid dream. And I had telepathy in that too. And Skylar and Bree were watching, presumably, The Series of Unfortunate Events together.”
“That sounds like precognition!” Kaz exclaimed.
“Maybe,” Chase said, “It hasn’t happened yet, so, maybe not,” He said. He pulled off his jacket again. “But this is nice to have off.”
“It looks nice off,” Kaz said, staring at Chase’s mostly blank arms. Underneath the hoodie was one of Chase’s classic polo’s. “Not in a weird way, it’s just that your scars look really cool. Not in an insensitive way, I hope—”
“Kaz,” Chase cut him off, “You’re kind of spiralling.”
“Sorry,” Kaz answered.
“It’s okay, dude,” Chase said, waving Kaz off.
“Anyway, let’s get to work.