Chapter Text
Chase fiddled with his lab coat’s sleeves, rolling them up and down and up and down. ‘It’s just Kaz.’ He told himself. ‘You speak to Kaz all the time. Relax.’, but he couldn’t relax. Not when his thoughts were running a mile a minute. Not when his hands were all sweaty and clammy and yucky. Not when his chest was twisting so tightly that he could barely breathe. He spent all morning going over what to say and how to say it, but no planning could prepare him for the real thing. Chase had never asked anyone on a date before. His expertise didn’t cover relationships and communication skills and love, but the risk of any awkwardness or embarrassment was worth it for the chance of Kaz saying ‘yes’. Said normo doctor could be heard from the other side of the room, laughing with a smile so bright that it outshone the sun. Watching him cheer up patients always made Chase’s insides turn to mush. He couldn’t put into words how beautiful Kaz was, how his entire being glowed… There were no words in any dictionary of any language or culture, which could sum up how incredible he was to Chase. Despite only knowing each other for a month, Kaz was already so important to him. Chase couldn’t afford to mess it up.
Taking in a deep breath, Chase pushed his arms down to his sides, and tried to act natural as he approached the normo doctor. “Hey, Kaz.”
Kaz waved. “Hi Chase!” He beamed. “Skylar said you’ve been busy. Is everything alright?”
“No, no, everything’s good.” Chase reassured him, quickly. Skylar wasn’t wrong, he had been running around and keeping his hands busy, but only to distract himself from his nerves, whilst Kaz was still at school. “You haven’t missed anything important. I’ve been doing odd jobs and my Dad’s errands, is all.”
“School wasn’t too bad.” Kaz shared, pushing his hands into his hoodie’s pockets. “We’re doing group work in science, again, I’m with Jordan and Oliver is with Gus, and nobody gave us homework. Now I have all weekend to do whatever I want!”
“Did you know that they’re showing reruns of the first three Tecton movies at the theatre?” Chase blurted, his heart thumping loud and hard. “We could go together?”
“No way!” Kaz exclaimed. “The original trilogy is a classic! I could listen to ‘Tecton Never Loses’ in my head for the rest of my life, and never get bored of it! Let me go find Oliver!”
Chase frowned. “Wait! Oliver?”
“Yeah! I don’t know what he’s doing on Saturday, so we need to go find him before he’s forced to do something else!” Kaz explained, his eyes still as bright as before.
“Oh.” Chase fiddled with his sleeves. “I was… uh… sort of… hoping we could go together, j-just the two of us… l-like a date?” Chase squeaked out.
Kaz froze. His eyes widening and his smile dropping, he became too stiff and pale for Chase’s liking. There was no disgust on his face, only shock, but Chase didn’t know what was worse. The normo doctor was always so animated, and now he was so still… It felt wrong. “It’s a date?” Kaz forced out, hoarse and breathless.
Chase gulped. “It doesn’t have to be… I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable—“
“You were asking me on a date.” Kaz continued, still breathless, as he ran a hand through his hair. “I didn’t know you liked boys.”
A small blush formed on Chase’s cheeks. “Was I supposed to wear rainbows or something?”
“No!” Kaz blurted. “It’s just— super heroes, they’re okay with it? They don’t care that you’re…”
Oh. He understood now. “No one at Mighty Med has an issue with me being gay. I have met several different intelligent lifeforms from a vast range of cultures and societies, and their understanding of gender and attraction are too complex and thorough for a normo to comprehend. Homosexual heroes aren’t shamed or hidden in our world. The only reason they don’t have comics in the normo world is because the normo publishers won’t allow it. On our side, you can be whoever you want to be, and love whoever you want to love.” Chase explained, softly. He knew how cruel the normo world was for people like them. Same sex marriage wasn’t legalised in Pennsylvania. Discrimination spread as a plague, corrupting everything and everyone, so it wasn’t a surprise that Kaz was apprehensive about being himself at Mighty Med.
His shoulders relaxed and he let out a sigh of relief. “Oh… good… —wait, you like me?!”
Chase chuckled. “Yes!”
“For real?” Kaz exclaimed.
“Yes!” Chase laughed. “Is it that hard to believe?”
“You’re you.” Kaz tried to make a point. “You’re super smart, and have powers, and heal people, while I’m a random high schooler. You’re cool and awesome and I’m just… me.”
“But I like ‘just you’.” Chase frowned. “I don’t care that you’re a normo. The fact you don’t have any powers doesn’t mean anything to me. I like you for you, Kazi.” He blushed.
Kaz’s lips rose into a shy little smile. “I like you, too, smarties.”
“Yeah?” Chase breathed, lightheaded and high.
“Yes, Chase.” Kaz’s smile grew. “Of course, I’ll go to the movies with you.”
Chase’s face hurt from smiling. The fuzzy feeling in his chest intensified, and all the nerves twisting in his stomach faded to dust. He’d done it. He’d actually done it. Chase had a date with Kaz!