#labrats

CHASE DAVENPORT X FEM!READER

summary: you and chase have been sworn enemies since he stepped foot in mission creek high. you can't imagine him as anything other than your rival. but what happens when the two of you are forced to work together for the sake of the school? cw: academic rivals to friends to lovers, an attempt at a slow burn, vulgar language, there aren't many other warnings since it's pretty much sfw, i did have to make up a math teacher cuz there aren't many teachers mentioned in the show lol. part one of idk how many :p

words: 10.7k

a/n: AAAAA part 1 is finally here!!! thank you for all your patience ♡♡ It has been a ROUGH couple of months but I've completed part one! Let me know what y'all think teheh 🤭

"What are you doing up still?"

"Need to study."

"You're a bionic genius. What the hell do you need to study for?"

"I need to study so I can beat her."

Chase turned around in his rolling desk chair, facing his step-brother, who was standing by the door with his fuzzy slippers, warm, soft pijamas on, and a glass of water in his hand. The whole house was dark and silent, the only source of light being Chase's desk lamp shining bright onto the glossy, white pages of his textbook. Pencils and highlighters scattered around the desk, stacks of color-coded flash cards, and loose papers filled up the surrounding space. Chase's eyes looked tired. They were coated with a slight shine, and the corners were starting to look a little red due to all the yawning and the rubbing.

"Who cares? Chase, it's just a test! You should really go to sleep, you look awful."

"Just a test? Oh really, yeah? Just a test, ok. Let's say she does better than me in this one test. Who cares? It's just one test! But then, she does better in the next one, and in the other one after, and then she gets a higher SAT score, gets into a better college, gets a better education, a better job, a better future, you see where I'm going with this?"

At this point, Leo was not so sure whether it was a sleep deprivation related issue or if his brother was going insane.

"What's with all the noise?! What are you guys doing up?! It's one in the morning and it's a school night!" Tasha barged in the conversation, her light sleep disturbed by Chase's slow descent into madness.

"I just wanted a glass of water! It's him you should be worried about."

"Chase! Turn off that light, go down to the lab, and go to sleep!"

"But I- "

"No buts! Get your ass down to the lab, or I swear I'm gonna drag you down there myself."

Chase sighed. He knew that if it were Mr. Davenport, he would have simply waited for him to go back to bed and ignore his vain attempt at being a dad. But with Tasha, he was certain she would have kept her promise. He wasn't going to mess with her. Chase closed his book and turned off the light. Complete darkness now filled up the room.

When Chase first got to Mission Creek High, he was ecstatic. Not because the school itself particularly exceeded his standards of excellence. No. but because given the extremely low bar that had been set by the rest of the underachieving students, his academic performance was going to shine even brighter. Or so he thought. What he hadn't taken into consideration was, as a matter of fact, you.

You, with your impecable academic skills, held the number one spot on the score boards since freshman year. Chase found this out pretty soon since you two had almost every single class together.

In the beginning, you weren't threatened in the slightest by Chase. Actually, it was quite refreshing having an intellectual peer, someone you could relate to. You didn't think of him as competition, but the same thing didn't go for Chase. The first time he noticed you was when the chemistry teacher asked a rather difficult question to the class, and both of you put your hand up. The teacher called you, and the fact you answered correctly made Chase's ears perk up. But the first time he really noticed you was when, in that same class, he answered a question, and you corrected him. From then, it was on for Chase. Every class with you was now a race to who gets more questions right before the bell rang. You won every single time, not even knowing you were playing.

As time went by, you realized Chase had something against you. You picked up on his sarcastic and offensive remarks he made under his breath every time you intervened in class. You noticed how interested he was in your grades, looking over your shoulder every time you got a test back. You started to fuel this competition, but not because you actually saw him as such. As a matter of fact, you never felt particularly threatened by him, not even after seeing his terrific academic performance. You took part in this little game he played because he annoyed you. You found him so annoying, with the sarcasm, the grinning and the snickering, that you accepted this childish competition just to put him in his place. And the satisfaction, oh God, the satisfaction of humbling him was almost aphrodisiac.

It was subtle at first. You didn't give much into it. But every time you did something better than him, he got meaner and pettier, and this only entertained you more. It's an adrenaline rush, similar to that of a game of roulette. Every time the teacher handed back a test or graded an essay or a group project, you felt a pit in your stomach, and you held your breath almost instinctively until you saw that big fat red "A+" scribbled onto the page. Then, you would turn to Chase with a smirk on your face and ask innocently, "How did it go?"

"I got an A," he would say, a proud grin plastered onto his lips.

"A! That's nice! A little bit more, and you could have got 100%. I'd say you're almost there, but you know, almost doesn't count..." You'd say taunting him with your perfect score dangling right in front of his face, wiping that grin right off.

The following morning, the both of you walked into your AP Calculus classroom head held up high. Even if you two felt the tension and the pressure of failure upon your shoulders, there was no way you'd let it show. It wasn't even about getting good grades anymore, Chase could have walked out of there with a D for all it mattered. The important thing was you got a D-. Right now, the goal was only one, and it was doing better than you.

You sat down, pen in hand, and a sheet of paper in front of you. The test itself was fairly easy. You were soaring through the questions, all of your concentration completely channeled towards the quiz. Without even realizing it, you finished the entire test in about 25 minutes. You checked your answers a couple of times before standing up from your seat, walking up to the teacher's desk, and slapping the test onto it, "I'm done."

Your words reverberated in your ears, almost like you spoke into a microphone, and you could hear the sound of your own voice. Except it wasn't your voice, but rather the one of the brown-haired boy standing next to you, with his test placed onto the wooden worktop as well.

"Terrific! Now that I have the both of you here, would you mind staying a few minutes after class? I need to speak with you."

Together, you look at your teacher puzzled before looking at each other. What is it that he could possibly want from both you and Chase at the same time?

You two quietly return to your seats and patiently wait for the bell to ring. After class ended, and everyone had handed in their quizzes, your teacher, Mr. Hill looked at the two of you, and with a light nod, he gave you permission to come closer to his desk.

"I wanted to talk to you about this year's Science Olympics. As both of you know, every year our school takes part in the National Science Olympics tournament, but unfortunately, we never make it past regionals."

You and Chase nodded, sadly acknowledging your school's incredibly low average.

"This year," Mr. Hill continued, "I wanted to change things up and assign the both of you as co-leaders of our school's team."

"Co-leaders?!" Chase suddenly spoke up in disbelief, "Why not one of us? Why both? I don't wanna be co-leader."

"Yeah, why do I have to share the title with him? I thought you wanted us to win this year."

"The best student gets to be leader, but since you have the same exact GPA, me and the other teachers in charge of the program have decided to nominate two leaders."

"This can be right. No, you need to check the GPAs again." You suggested, completely and utterly in denial of the whole situation.

"I don't need to check again. Your GPAs are identical, down to the very last decimal point. I'm sorry but our decision is final. Plus, I think combining the two brightest minds of Mission Creek High is what is gonna finally take us to victory!"

Chase highly disagreed with Mr. Hill's statement, and sadly, you agreed with Chase. There was no way you could ever function together as leaders.

"Now, go home and get some rest. Practice starts tomorrow after school, in the auditorium. See you tomorrow." Mr. Hill said as he stood up from his chair, then he collected his things, put the tests inside his bag, and headed home. The two of you exited the classroom with a look of shock and denial still plastered onto your faces.

"Listen, let's clear a few things, ok? There is no way in hell we're both gonna lead, so it's better for you to step back and let me take the reins before it's too late." Chase looked at you with a smug grin on his lips, the same annoying, jarring grin that ticked you off every time.

You chuckled at his narcissistic attempt to take charge of the situation. You found his efforts to sound somewhat manly, almost adorable.

"Absolutely not. Mr. Hill said we're both leaders, so I am certainly not taking orders from you."

Chase's brows furrowed slightly, "You're gonna embarrass yourself."

You moved an inch closer to him and lowered the tone of your voice, "We both know I won't. In fact, the only way this shithole of a school can get closer to victory is if I'm here to stem whatever damage you egotistical maniac will do to our team."

"Your insolence disgusts me."

"I'll get over it."

You mocked Chase with the same jarring smirk he once had on his face before being overcome by a mixture of anger and disdain. He mumbled something under his breath as you began to walk past him,

"Bitch."

"Cunt."

You spit back at him loud enough to ensure he heard it. You're surely not one to hide when it comes to insults. Not when it comes to him.

-

"He said co-leader! Are you kidding me?! Are you fucking kidding me right now?! I tried talking him out of it but he said "Your GPAs are identical", bullshit."

Leo headed down to the lab, Chase right behind him, unloading all of his anger and frustration from the conversation with your math teacher you had a few moments prior.

"Don't you guys get basically the same grades in every class?"

"No! For instance, last week, I got an A in World History, and she got an A minus." How could his own brother forget such important detail!

"Yeah, but if I remember correctly, the week before, you got an A minus on an essay, and she got an A. So, if you think about it, your GPAs are evened out."

Chase paused his rant for a second to think about it, puzzled, "Well– I mean yeah, if you put it that way, yeah, you're right. But that's not the point!"

Leo sat down at the big back table in the center of the lab, taking his phone out of his backpack's front pocket, "No, right, the point is, one: you're going insane and two: you're clearly overreacting."

Chase stood right in front of him, his schoolbag still hanging off his shoulders, "I am not overreacting! You don't know how impossible she is to work with. She's gonna ruin everything. This is a major issue, Leo!" Chase stated his rampage once again. Meanwhile, Leo scrolled mindlessly on his phone. He didn't have the energy for this conversation at the moment, but regardless of how he was feeling, he knew there was no way he could have gotten out of it.

"Is it? Or are you afraid she's gonna be a better leader than you?" Leo didn't even bother to take his eyes off the screen.

Chase scoffed, "Don't be ridiculous."

"I'm not. Everybody knows how hard you cling to your title of mission leader. If you think about it, this is no different than a mission, and you feel threatened because you're afraid she's gonna dethrone you."

Chase could deny it for as long as he wanted, but his brother's words hit him right in his weak spot. He did feel threatened. He was indeed afraid. He had already been proven wrong once, when he thought he could be the best student Mission Creek High had ever seen. Becoming aware of the fact he was no longer the only brilliant mind in school terrified him. An overwhelming feeling of trepidation washed over him like the waves of the ocean wash over the white sand of a beach. Every time you proved you weren't intellectually inferior to him, the wave would crash onto him, knocking him down of his ivory tower. As this feeling slowly faded away, much like the water pulls back from shore, he'd gain his confidence back, setting himself up to impossibly high standards again, because if there were someone who could do the impossible, it would definitely be Chase. But then again, the wave would come back to hit him again, as you reached an even higher standard of greatness.

-

It was a quarter to four, and classes had ended just a few minutes prior, but the school was already empty. The only voices echoing through the halls were the ones of the members of the football team heading to the lockeroom for practice, followed by the airy giggles of the cheer team. The sun shone through the big windows, generating a cozy warmth typical of the spring season, just around the corner.

The auditorium was almost empty. The only seats taken were the ones in the first two rows. Every student had taken advantage of the abundance of space and scattered all of their belongings across multiple rows further back. The team was fairly small. It consisted of 5 regular teammates, plus you and Chase as the leaders, for a total of 7 members. Rules allowed up to 8 students per team, including the leader. Unfortunately, one teammate had withdrawn from the competition before it even started. And unfortunately for you, it was the only other girl on the team. That meant you were the sole female presence amongst this hoard of annoying, pretentious, stuck-up, know-it-all nerds. Great.

"Ok! I see you are all here, so we can get started!" Mr. Hill exclaimed with a handclap as he walked towards the front row of seats. "First of all, good afternoon, my darlings. How are you? I hope you're all doing great." He was as energetic as he always was during classes. It seemed like being with his students brought him a wholesome feeling of joy or whimsy, similar to that of a child eager to know more about the world. "I'd like to thank you all for agreeing to take part in this project. During these practice meetings, I'd like for you to work together as if this were the real thing. You're our best students, so I know you won't let me down."

No pressure.

"Now, if you would please come sit by the table you see over here, we can get started with a few practice questions." The teacher pointed at the big white rectangular table placed on the stage of the auditorium, surrounded by seven chairs taken from the cafeteria. Next to it is a big whiteboard with some dry erase markers.

Once you were all gathered, he handed out some test sheets. "Chase, why don't you read the first problem out loud?" Mr. Hill said.

"Determine all real numbers α, such that, for every positive integer n , the integer [α] + [2α] +...+ [nα] is a multiple of n. (Note that z denotes the greatest integer less than or equal to z.)"

"Ok, now, as leaders, you and Y/n must guide your team to the solution. Make sure you guys all work together, alright? Remember: you are not competing against each other, ok?" With that last sentence, your teacher leaned a bit towards you and Chase, sitting facing each other, and gave you a look that said "Do not fuck this up."

However, right off the bat, Chase took over without letting you emit not even a single sound out of your mouth. The same thing went for everybody else on the team. He kept going and going, explaining how he would resolve this problem and, therefore, the correct way to resolve it. It started to look less like a team meeting and more like a lecture. Every time you would try and say something, you got cut off almost immediately. As time went by, things didn't seem to get better. Not one bit. As a matter of fact, it got worse. After the first two problems, Mr. Hill intervened and told Chase to collaborate more with the rest of the team. Chase then apologized, which surprised you, making your lips curl into a satisfied smile. That smile, however, soon disappeared as you realized Chase had no intention to collaborate with you and only referred to his other teammates.

By the fourth problem, you had been cut out completely. Chase had stood up from his seat and started writing each step onto the whiteboard. The other guys focused on writing everything down in their notebooks. You sat there in disbelief. Everything you said seemed to be unheard or ignored by everyone. Maybe that other girl had a point.

Chase had begun reading the following problem, "Three fair dice are rolled. What is the probability that the product of the three outcomes is a prime number? Recall that 1 is not considered to be prime." As you imagined, he once again didn't wait for any input from his co-leader and went on with his lecture,

"Alright, if we consider–"

"Would you just shut up for a second?"

You sat up from your seat. Everyone's eyes pointed right at your face. Chase looked like a deer in headlights, caught off guard by the sudden noise.

"Excuse me?"

"Shut! Up! Shut up!"

"Y/n, are you ok?" a classmate asked in genuine concern as your pent-up frustration rose so much it began impossible to hide it. Your eyes locked onto Chase.

"You have been talking non-stop for the past 50 minutes! It's time you shut up and let me do something."

"You were welcome to join in anytime, Y/n."

"Oh was I? Because I tried. I have been trying to say something since this class started, and all of you pretended I wasn't even here!"

"Maybe if your answers were right, we would have paid attention to you." There it was. That smug grin. That fucking grin it drove you fucking crazy. He had been waiting for you to crack like this for years.

"My answers were right." You fucking cunt, the only words ringing inside your head.

"Yeah? Why don't you solve this one then. The floor's all yours." Chase tossed you the dry erase marker he was holding in his hand. You caught it with one hand.

"I don't need a marker. Unlike you, I can keep my answers short and concise, I don't need to act like a professor."

"Go on then." Now, Chase rested both of his hands on the table, looking at you with a challenging gaze.

"There are 216 ordered triples of dice rolls. The product is prime precisely when two rolls are 1 and the third is a prime number. Since the prime 2, 3, or 5 can appear in any of the three positions, there are 9 such triples, so the probability is 9/216 = 1/24. See? Done. No rambling." Unlike you, you stupid fucking cunt.

"You're right. Maybe you should have thrown a tantrum 30 minutes ago." Chase smiled widely, showcasing his pearly white teeth in a condescending grin.

"You're a fucking cunt."

This time, you said it loud and clear. The other teammates were a bit taken aback by the sudden vulgarity. Not so much by the words used, as they were indeed well suited, but by the audacity to say such profanities in front of a teacher.

"Hey! That's enough!" Mr Hill yelled, "That's it, go home everybody! Class dismissed!" The teacher looked right at you and Chase, your eyes still locked, frozen in the same position. "You two. We've gotta talk."

The other classmates hastily gathered their belongings that were spread across the room and fled the auditorium like there were a fire. You and Chase approached Mr. Hill. He was looking at you from the bottom of the steps that led onto the stage. His eyes filled with disappointment.

"What happened? You guys are my most brilliant students. I thought that bringing you two together would have made a super team! And now? Now you have made me look like a fool."

Your gaze fell on the ground. The cracks of the old hardwood floor were the only thing you could stare at. You've messed up. A bubble of shame started growing inside of you, at the back of your throat.

Chase eyes lowered as well. But for a brief moment, his gaze traveled back up to you. To your ashamed face, hoping to mock you even further with his teasing grin. But as soon as he saw your head tilted towards the ground, with your hair falling down to cast a light shadow onto your cheeks, merely hiding the sheer coat of tears pooling up in your eyes, he couldn't do it. He couldn't bring himself to kick you down even more. He recognized that shame. That stinging sensation in his throat came out every time he made a stupid, unforgettable mistake. He saw that. He saw it and for a moment felt closer to you.

"I am very disappointed in your action today. But I still believe you have the potential in you to be the greatest team our school has ever seen. I believe in you. That is why I highly, highly advise you to go home and work on this together."

Both of you raised your head back up, finally looking your teacher in the eyes.

"I suggest you spend some time together, let all your anger out, and resolve this outside of the classroom. Work on strategies together. Find a way to make this work. Ok?"

You both nodded without a single word or sarcastic comment this time.

"Great. You can go home now. I'll see you in class."

Both of you walked out of that room in complete silence. As you walked out the back door, Chase looked back at you. He wanted to say something but didn't know what to say. Anything he could say could only be mistaken as a mean remark towards you.

He stayed there. Standing in the middle of the empty auditorium. Just for a few moments. A new softer feeling now changing inside of him, it was no longer hate, but it was too soon for him to understand what it meant.

The warm sun of the spring shone through the windows.

-

A faint buzzing sound disturbed your sleep. You turned around in your bed, facing the small bedside table next to you. The light from your phone's screen scarcely lit up the dark room. That evening, you didn't manage to do much. As soon as you walked out of that school, a wave of tiredness came crashing onto you. The entire walk home, your mind replayed your teacher's word over and over again. You were bombarded with shame and guilt. When you got home, after what felt like a hundred miles, you noticed a deafening silence, which only amplified the echo of your thoughts. The house was empty. Good. The fewer people there are, the less you'll get asked how your day was. You headed straight to your bedroom, changed into your pijamas, and crashed onto the bed.

After your eyes had adjusted to the faint light, you checked your notifications.

An unknown number had messaged you.

Unknown: "Hey Y/n, it's Chase. I wanted to say I'm sorry for what happened today. I took it too far. It was wrong of me to cut you out like that. I think Mr. Hill is right, and if we work together, we could be a really good team. Would you like to go over some strategies together this weekend?"

That's impossible, you thought. Am I still sleeping? Is this real? Is Chase Davenport actually apologizing to me right now?? AND I have written proof of it??

You stared blankly at the text, trying to think about how to respond. Thumbs fidgeting over the little keyboard on the screen. For a second, the idea of it being a prank or some kind of set up crossed your mind. The idea that it wasn't actually him but someone else trying to trick you in some way. But you soon discarded it, it wouldn't be possible. The only people in that room when Mr. Hill scolded you were you and Chase, so no one else could know what he had said about working together. But one question still remained: Why was he so nice all of a sudden? Was it genuine, or was it pity?

You finally typed something.

You: "How did you get my number?"

You hit send, turning the screen off immediately after, not expecting the quick response that followed your text.

Unknown: "That's irrelevant."

You: "No, it's not."

"Are you really Chase Davenport?"

Unknown: "What? Yes, yes, it's me."

"Who else would it be, dumbass?"

Yeah, it's him.

Chase: "Do you wanna study together or not?"

You: "Yeah, that's fine."

Chase: "Alright, if you're not busy, you can come over at my place tomorrow around 3 pm."

You snickered lightly. Amazing how he can be a control freak even when asking someone to hang out.

You: "Sounds good. See you tomorrow."

The conversation ended with the location of Davenport's residence, given he knew you had no idea where he lived. Then, you put your phone aside and placed both of your hands on your face, rubbing your eyes. An annoyed groan left your mouth.

"How the fuck did I get here?"

-

At 3 pm on the dot you found yourself right in front a huge metal gate, right where your GPS told you. The metal fence covered most of the view. You didn't get a good look at where you were until it split right down the middle, opening its gigantic, automated doors, revealing a mansion just as huge. You knew the Davenport's were rich, but you imagined it being more of a suburban quiet luxury type thing, certainly not this very much in-your-face extravaganza. You walked up the driveway and rang the doorbell at the front door. As soon as it opened, you saw Chase standing there. He was kinda awkward, with his typical flanel, a blue long sleeve checkered one with the sleeves rolled up and a dark gray t shirt underneath, and his navy blue jeans.

"Hi." You broke the silence. It felt like time had begun to slow down the moment he opened the door.

"Hey. Thanks for coming."

"Thank you for inviting me."

Chase smiled shyly. You responded with a light chuckle. Silence fell again.

"Can..uhm...can I come in?"

"Oh– yeah! Sure, obviously, sorry.."

You stepped inside, and Chase closed the door behind you. The inside of the house looked as extravagant as the outside. The design was very modern, and the color palette was so bright it was almost blinding.

"Your house is...huge."

Chase laughs lightly, "Yeah, not the first time I've heard that."

"Your living room is like, my whole apartment." You kept looking around the room, completely astonished by the size of it and the amount of expensive decor just laying around, serving no purpose whatsoever. Abstract ornaments exposed on mantels, huge plants in the corners, a sort of bamboo looking plant behind the giant gray couch, guitars hanged on the wall, two tvs, one in front of the couch and another above the chimney next to the glass dining table, and high end furniture that looked like it had been designed by some northern European interior designer.

"Hi! You must be Y/n! Chase told me you were coming." A sweet and cheerful voice snapped you right out of your thoughts. "I'm Tasha, Chase's mom." A nice, young looking woman with coffee colored skin entered the room and stood right in front of you. She offered a handshake, looking at you with a big smile and glossy lips. Even though she was at home, she had a nice outfit on, and her hair looked as good as if she had just left a salon.

"It's very nice to meet you, Mrs. Davenport." You shook her hand with a smile on your face.

"Why don't you guys sit down, and I'll make you a snack for your study session!"

"Oh no, that's okay. Me and Y/n are gonna go work in my room." Chase quickly said. "Leo and Adam will be back soon, I'm sure they're gonna want to play some video games, and we don't need distractions."

"Oh, ok. Well if you need anything you know where to find me."

Chase gently tapped on your arm, gesturing you to follow him upstairs. You walk behind him, but you quickly turn around before starting to walk up the wooden stairs.

"It was a very nice offer, though. Thank you, Mrs. Davenport." You smiled

"You're welcome, sweetie." Tasha smiled back.

You head up to Chase's room. His room had a very different vibe from the rest of the house. It was a lot less avant-guard, and it looked like an actual person decorated it. Shelfs filled with comic books, mangas and action figures, posters hung up on the wall above the queen sized bed and a few of them also on the wall above the desk. A huge wardrobe also covered in poster and stickers. Although the best part was probably the little glow-in-the-dark stars glued on the ceiling. Some of them were arranged to mimic real life constellations.

"Nice bedroom." You said as you put your schoolbag down next to the bed.

"Thanks." Chase said as he made room for your stuff on his desk. You kept looking around. You got closer to one of the posters above the bed.

"Is that Alien Gladiators?"

Chase turned around, "Yeah. It's the original movie poster from the first movie." His voice had a now a more joyful tone. He moved closer to you.

"You're such a nerd." You turned your head around to face him.

"Shut up." Chase frowned a little.

"And by the way, that movie was ass."

Chase scoffed, "Nuh huh!"

"Yuh huh! The first movie sucked! It only got a sequel because of the director and his hoard of die-hard fans that jacked up the sales. The storytelling in the second and third one was so much better! And we actually got to see a decent representation of Queen Andromeda's backstory and the battle of Azdhar, not to mention Prince Landor's character arc, which was way more accurate and faithful to the grafic novel! And may I add, none of that would have been possible if they had kept the same director of the first one."

Chase looked at you with both disbelief and amusement.

"And I'm the nerd?"

"Shut up."

"You shut up! Since when do you like Alien Gladiators?!"

"Since I started reading the graphic novel back in 8th grade." You tried to suppress the smug and proud grin on your face. It doesn't happen every day that you get to brag about your nerdiness, but you didn't want Chase to know you were enjoying this a little bit.

Chase looked at you with a grin, but this time, it was different from his usual one. It wasn't mockery, but rather curiosity mixed with enjoyment. "Well, if you're such an expert, among all the movies that had come out so far, including prequels and spin-offs, which one do you think is the best?"

"Mhm.." Your gaze moved up to the ceiling as you thought deeply and carefully about your answer. "I'd say...Alien Gladiators 4: Fallen Empire, but Alien Gladiators 3 is a close second."

Chase smiled. "That's a good answer."

His smile was met with a quite satisfied expression on your face. Not that you cared about what he thought about your opinions, but it was nice nonetheless. "Thank you."

Your friendly conversation was followed by a brief moment of silence. "So..should we start studying?" Chase asked.

"Yeah, we should." The both of you took a seat at the desk on the other side of the room. It was a pretty nice desk, but it was definitely too small of two people, forcing the two of you to sit a little too close. It wasn't uncomfortable. However, you have never been this close to each other before. You didn't even think it was possible without fighting or hurting each other.

You both open your notebooks and start reading the material Mr. Hill had left you. There was complete silence, silence that was soon interrupted again.

"Ok, favorite character from the original Gladiators? Not including spin-offs." You asked eagerly. "Is it Gigabi–"

"Gigabit." Chase said simultaneously.

"I fucking knew it! Of course you like Gigabit! You're such a nerd." "Hey!–"

You laughed together.

"Listen, he is a very well-rounded character, ok!! And let's hear who's your favorite, and don't say Prince Landor 'cause that is such a basic answer."

"It's not Landor! Although I did like him in the graphic novel. Anyway, I'd say my favorite is Lord Zalkon."

"The Zarkanians' king? Seriously?"

"I like morally gray characters."

"Whatever. We should probably start studying for real now." Chase said, picking up his pen.

"You're right. So, by looking at the question, I'd say we could solve the first one individually and then compare our answers. What do you say?"

"I don't know...kinda hard take a Zarkanian seriously..."

"Oh shut up!" You jokingly punched him in the arm while you both laughed. As you looked at him, you realized it was the first time since you met him that his smile didn't bother you in the slightest. It was actually kind of pretty. You noticed his perfect pearly white teeth that he used to put on display in the most annoying grin just to irritate you. But this time, they were adorned with two little dimples at the corners of his lips. His eyes seemed to smile, too. And for the first time, you noticed they were a nice hazel color, with green and brown swirling together. The laughter died down. But you were still staring, momentarily dazed.

Chase's eyebrow furrowed a little bit, confused. "What?"

"Mhm, what?" You snapped out of it.

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Like what?"

"Like you did just now."

"Oh, it's– It's nothing."

Chase chuckled, still confused. "Okay." You turned your head away, looking down at your notebook again, cheeks turning to a faint pink tint. "Let's get back to work."

-

The following class, the team actually did better. Even though you and Chase barely did any work that afternoon, it seemed to have paid off. After roughly 30 more minutes of studying, you and Chase went back to talking about your new shared interest. Turns out, you two aren't so different after all. You watched the same shows, read the same stuff, and even played the same video games. It was kind of a shock for Chase to discover you liked so much of that stuff. Not because you were a girl, it wasn't some kind of stereotype, no, but because at school you had a very different vibe. It wouldn't be unusual for someone to think Chase liked "nerdy things" because you could tell that from a mile away just by looking at him. You, however, were perceived a bit differently by your classmates. That's because school Y/n and real Y/n were indeed two very different people. There was a side of you not many people saw or didn't care enough to see. For some reason, there was more pressure for you to be perfect, to be mature, and reasonable. Not only from your teachers but from your parents too. Not that they would ever tell you directly, but they let you know with subtle words that if you fell anywhere lower than perfect, they would be disappointed. Therefore, it was logical to hide the weirder, more colorful side of you to avoid looking...childish.

After a few weeks of hanging out with Chase, however, you had let that side of you looser. Every other day, you went to his place for a "team's leaders' study session." It would start in fact as a study session, but quickly transform itself into an Alien Gladiators' marathon, or just a yapping session between the two of you, chatting for hours about fandom theories or some other niche common interest. The rest of the Davenports started getting used to your presence. Sometimes, Tasha even invited you to stay over for dinner, but you didn't want to be a bother.

Adam, Bree, and Leo definitely saw right through Chase. They saw how he would giggle at all of your jokes, how he would mess around with you just so he could get a reaction out of you. They heard your little banter, your back and forth of names you would call each other just for teasing. They saw how Chase would pretend to have forgotten his notebook in the locker at school just so the two of you could share and he would have an excuse to be closer to you, pulling the super cliché move of the arm behind the chair. Honestly, it was so obvious and so cheesy they hardly believed you hadn't noticed it yet.

But you hadn't. Really. Anytime that happened (which became quite often after Chase noticed you didn't mind), you were too busy trying to keep your focus on what you were studying and not get distracted by how close he was sitting next to you.

Since you started to get to know him better, it was like your entire perspective shifted. It felt like you had been looking at Chase and everything surrounding him through a pair of lenses, and someone came in and swapped them out. He was still weird and annoying and cocky, yes, but suddenly, it wasn't as much of a bother anymore. What used to drive you insane became a fun little quirk you could poke fun at from time to time, and that's because you knew you too could come off as weird and annoying and cocky sometimes.

One afternoon, you and Chase were studying together at his place. You were in the living room, sitting down at the glass table. Chase, once again, used some lame excuse to share the textbook together. He was right next to you, arm right behind your back to be even closer. Your faces were inches apart, eyes looking down at the pages of your book. Correction: Your eyes were looking down at the page. His were pointed at your lips and how they moved as you tried to solve an equation out loud. He stared at your features: your lips, your eyes, your soft skin, your little strands of hair that fell on your face delicately when you tilted your head down. He wasn't paying attention to a single thing you were saying or what you two were supposed to be studying. It wasn't a problem anyway. With his super intelligence, he could revise all the course material in less than 5 minutes if he wanted to. But you, he couldn't miss an opportunity to study you like that. He was analyzing every little detail of your face like he had to paint an exact portrait of you from memory.

After that, the moment you stepped out of the house, he went down to the lab with a satisfied smirk on his face. He grabbed his backpack that was lying on the floor next to the big black console in the middle of the lab. He took out his notebook and textbook and actually began studying the course material for the next day.

"You ain't that slick, you know that, right?" Bree said, entering the room. Leo walking right beside her. She walked up to the console and leaned onto it. "Why don't you just tell her?"

"Tell her what?" Chase said, eyes still scanning the neatly written pages of his notebook.

"That you have a huge crush on her." Leo said, leaning onto the console as well. Hearing that word "crush," Chase's eyes widened, and he looked at his siblings like they had just said a blasphemy.

"I do not have a crush on her!" He exclaimed, his siblings shared a condescending glance.

"Right... And how come your notebook was nowhere to be found when she was here earlier?" Bree asked sarcastically.

"I forgot I had it."

"Dude, you've been pulling that move for the past three weeks. And what's up with the arm behind the back thing? Where'd you get that? Disney Channel?" Leo joined in.

"Shut up. I don't like her that way. Now leave me alone, I need to revise." His eyes were back onto the page.

"Why would you need to revise if you have just finished studying with Y/n?" Bree asked.

Chase esitated a bit before coming up with an answer. "I got... distracted."

"Right, by her. You got distracted because you were looking at her the entire time." Bree said. "That's not true." Chase scoffed.

"Dude, we saw you." Leo said. "Are you spying on me or something?" Chase closed his notebook shut with one hand as the tone of his voice got louder. "Ok, fine! Yes, I was looking at her! And yes, she is pretty and soft and smells amazing, and her mind is amazing, but I do not have a crush on her!"

Leo raised his hands up, "Whatever you say."

-

At 4 pm on the dot, the whole team sat at the big table on the auditorium's stage, waiting for the class to start. Mr. Hill was running a few minutes late.

Chase sat next to you, the same spot he had sat down the first time. You were casually skimming through the pages of your notebook, looking back at past exercises to revise quickly before being presented with a new list of equations.

"So," Chase said with a softer tone, to avoid grabbing the attention of the other students present. You looked up from your notebook. "Have you seen the new trailer for Alien Gladiators 5 yet?" He was fidgeting with his pen.

"Yeah, I saw it last night. I'm very hyped about it. Honestly, I hope it's as good as the fourth one."

"Me too. It's actually supposed to come out the day we have the regionals."

"Oh shit really?"

"Yeah, April 10th."

"I totally forgot about it, to be honest." You chuckled, "Regionals seemed further away in my head. I got distracted, I guess." Your eyes drifted back onto the scribbled page of your notebook. Chase seemed hesitant for a second, not sure whether or not to let the conversation die.

"Y'know, we could, uh–" Your eyes traveled back to his. "We could go see it... together." You shifted back and leaned against the back rest of the chair. "I mean– if you want. If you don't, it's totally cool. Up to you, you know." He was rambling. He had no idea what he was doing nor what the hell he was saying, and he sure didn't know why it was happening all of a sudden. You smirked.

"Sounds cool. Imma text you later, ok?"

Chase froze. "Yeah- uh, yeah, yeah, sure, ok." What the fuck is happening to me he thought to himself. You chuckled at his awkwardness, which made Chase chuckled as well. He looked at you with dazed eyes. As soon as he opened his mouth to speak again, the door of the auditorium busted open, and Mr. Hill came running in.

"Great news, everyone!" the teacher shouted from across the room. "I have very exciting news!" Mr. Hill came closer to the table you were all sitting at. The entire team looked at him with curiosity in their eyes.

"The team from the other school dropped out!"

"Wait, what?" You said.

"Appearently, there has been a fire at the school which caused so much structural damage that they no longer have the founds necessary to send their team to regionals, and they have been forced to withdraw!"

"How is that great news?!" Chase said quite shocked.

"It's not! I mean, the fire thing, but the great news is we are going straight to nationals! We got declared winners by default, and we are going to Washington DC in two weeks!"

The other members exploded with joyful cheers. Meanwhile, you and Chase looked at each other shocked. The weight of the pressure sinked onto your shoulders.

-

Once at home, you changed into something comfier and crawled into your bed. You unlocked your phone and stared blankly at Chase's chat.

"so...about that alien gladiators?" You type on the screen. You stop to look at it. You want to send it, but an icky sensation washes over you, so you press delete instead. A simple "hey" will do for now.

He quickly types back.

Chase: Hey

You: Are you nervous for nationals?

Chase: A little bit, yeah. It's a lot of pressure.

You: I get it. It's definitely a big deal.

Chase: It's getting exhausting tbh

Chase: Nationals are the only thing Mr. Hill has been talking about for weeks.

Chase: It's kinda hard not getting stressed out when you're constantly reminded that if you fail, it would be your greatest failure yet.

You: EXACTLY !!

You: It's one thing to fail regionals, BUT NATIONALS are you kidding me

You: He doesn't see it, tho. He thinks that by giving us all of this positive reenforcement, we'll work better or something...

You: Someone telling you you're the best all the time sure doesn't give you a chance to fuck things up

Chase: Have you noticed he does it with us only?

Chase: I mean, we are the best

You: Cocky

Chase: It's true.

Chase: The other must feel really bad being compared to us all the time.

You: Is this... empathy??

Chase: [quoting his previous message] On the other hand, they wouldn't be if they weren't morons

You: Ahh nope! He's back!!

Chase: Shut up

Chase: You're the first to complain about them.

You: Whatever ...

Then Chase stopped typing for a few seconds. You thought the conversation died down, so you closed the app to do something else. But a few seconds later, a notification popped up.

Chase: Btw, were you serious about going to see alien gladiators together?

You: Were you?

Chase: Yeah. If I weren't, I wouldn't have asked you.

You: So was I.

Chase: Cool

The text bubble kept disappearing and reappearing for a few seconds. You waited patiently.

Chase: Pick you up at 7?

You were taken aback for a second.

You: Sure, thanks :)

That was the end of your brief and kind of awkward conversation. After that last text, to which you didn't know how to reply in a natural and genuine tone, you quickly closed the app to avoid having to do any kind of unnecessary small talk. The probability of leaving him temporarily on delivered was a better option. For now.

-

Chase didn't think the day would actually come. He thought you would have come up with some lame excuse to bail out of this by now. He didn't think it through. Any of it. He didn't even ask you to hang out. Well, no, he did. But he didn't do it consciously. The thought of it was whirring around in his head when all of a sudden, the words just spilled out of his mouth. Just like that. Much like throwing up. That's how he described it to Bree, sitting on his bed, as he frantically ran in circles across the room, trying to find something decent to wear.

"Would you mind telling me why you are so nervous if you don't even like her?" Bree said with a smug.

"Don't even go there. I know where you're going with this, don't do it. It's not like that." Chase stood in front of the open wardrobe, scanning through his million flannels, which looked all the same to Bree: boring and lame.

She rolled her eyes. "Then what's with all the fidgeting?"

Chase sighed, holding two flanels up, trying to decide which one to wear. "I don't know," he turned to face his sister. "I guess it's cause I want her to think I'm... cool."

"You? You want to be cool." Bree said, both confused and surprised by that affirmation. He nodded.

"I mean, this is the first time we spend time together where we don't want to rip each other's faces off. And I have to admit, as much as I find her annoying, she is also very cool."

"And your idea of cool is dressing as a nerd to go see a nerd movie?" She mocked him

"A cool nerd movie." Chase said, putting one flannel back into the closet.

Bree rolled her eyes, "Whatever, still nerdy."

Chase mocked his sister's tone and jokingly threw the other flannel at her. " 'K. Get out now, I need to change." Bree jumped up the bed and was about to head out the door.

"Chase," he turned around.

"Ditch the flannel. Just go with some dark jeans, converse, and a simple long sleeve black shirt, but keep the sleeves pulled up a bit. It's "cooler"" Bree said before heading out, closing the bedroom door behind her.

He smiled, "Thank you!" he yelled out for her to be able to hear.

-

7 pm sharp. Chase texted you that he was waiting for you outside to pick you up. He had asked Adam to borrow his car to avoid looking like a loser whose brother had to drive around everywhere. Adam gladly agreed because he didn't want to look like the loser driving his little brother around on a Friday night.

You stepped outside, closing the front door behind you, and when you looked up, you instinctively giggled. In front of you, a beige 2008 Toyota Corolla, with a huge dent on the right side of the rear fender, one rim missing in the front wheel, and various scratches on the paint.

You opened the passenger seat's door and got in, still giggling.

"What the hell are you driving?"

"Oh, hello Chase, thanks for picking me up!" Chase said sarcastically. "And before you insult the car that will so kindly take your ass to the movie theater and back, you must know that it's my brother's."

"Yeah, I could tell."

Chase rolled his eyes, his lips fighting a smile.

The drive to the movie theater was quite smooth. You would never admit it to him, but Chase was actually a pretty good driver.

"Can I ask you something?" You asked, head leaning back onto the seat and eyes glued to the straight road in front of you. Chase just replied with a quick hum.

"If your dad is a multi-billioner CEO, why on earth would you drive this car?"

Chase giggled, "What's with you and this poor car?"

"Nothing! It's just that given your living room alone is bigger than an airport and your dad is this filthy rich tech-genius, I would've assumed he had bought his kids a more expensive car... Or at least bother to repair this one."

Chase laughed. "Yeah, my dad is filthy rich, but it's pretty bold of you to assume he would spend any money on us."

You looked at him puzzled. He casted a quick glance at you, "He is... new money. It's just that he didn't grow up with money, so now that he has it, he doesn't want to spend it on things that don't benefit him. It's not about the car itself, it's just how he is, you know? He doesn't waste money on us." Chase tried to give his words the most positive tone possible, but in spite of his efforts, deep inside he didn't even belive himself. There was a brief quiet. Only the sound of the light rain that had started coming down, hitting the glass of the windshield, and the dull, rhythmic beat of the wipers.

"Parents can be asshole sometimes, y'know. No need to make excuses for them." You said, this time looking straight at him, scanning his features in search of a reaction. Though, there wasn't any. Only a very subtle twitch of his lips. He was glad you didn't seem to notice.

-

Once you arrived at the movie theater, you were overwhelmed by the sight of hundreds of fans lined up at the ticket counter, bodies quivering as they wait their turn. The line was so long it extended past the entrace and outside the building. Luckily, Chase had planned ahead and got the tickets online, even before he had asked you to go with him. He knew he was gambling and that there was a chance he had blown 15 bucks on an extra ticket. He called this "cunning premeditation." Bree called him a "blind idiot" because anyone else could see that his anxiety for things to go smoothly was waaay over the line for a friendship, and he clearly had feelings he was in denial about.

Nonetheless, his plan worked, and the two of you got in quite easily. The seats were great, too. You were ecstatic to see this movie, and Chase was too. He hadn't shut up about it for days, and his eyes were glued to the screen as soon as the opening sequence started. However, all of that focused was chucked out the window about 20 minutes into the movie, when during a particular intense scene, the sudden jumpscare of a Zarkanian monster coming out made you jolt so much you instinctively grabbed Chase's hand and squeezed it. You kept holding his hands for a few minutes until your heart rate went down. But from that point on, Chase's focus was gone. He couldn't pay attention to the movie for longer than two minutes, 'cause after that, his gaze moved back to you and every single little reaction that you had. He honestly doesn't remember much about the movie after those 20 minutes. But what he does remember is your serious and concentrated expression during the crucial scenes (which was the same expression you had when focused on a math problem, with one end of the pencil pressed against your lips), the light giggled that escaped your lips during the more lighthearted dialogues, and the excitement in your eyes throughout the last final battle scene. The movie ended, and the lights turned back on. Chase was still staring at you when the room lit up again, and he actually didn't realize he was doing it. You turned to face him, and he felt like he was snapped out of a trance. In a way, he was. He had been so disconnected to reality that his heart jumped a little when you asked him what he thought of the movie. It took him a lot of effort to try and reminisce the bits and pieces of the plot he actually paid attention to. Somehow, he managed to come up with a believable review, quite vague yet solid enough for you to buy it.

In the ride home, you were so hyped up about the ending that you spent almost all of it yapping about different theories you had and how a possible Alien Gladiators 6 could play out. Chase did his best to listen and follow your train of thought, but in reality he was internally trying to understand what the fuck was all of that about: all the staring and the gazing and the heart fluttering and the touches and the anxiety and so on. He came up with two possible solutions: either he was catching feelings for you or he had developed a new form of heart disease. He was really rooting for heart disease. But when it came the moment for you to get out of the car and go home, he kept staring down at your lips, looking at them move as you tell him you had a surprisingly good time and wouldn't mind if he wanted to do it again. He genuinely couldn't explain it, but the only thought running through his head in that instant was how he wished he could crash his lips onto yours and kiss until both of you were out of breath. His mind was running wild, and his heart was beating faster and faster, just on the thought of feeling you touching him all over, laying in the back seat of the car.

That was no medical anomaly.

His imagination was interrupted by the sudden sound of your voice, accompanied by a puzzled look in your eyes.

"Chase, are you ok?"

"Mhm?" His eyes quickly moved back up to meet yours.

"Are you ok? You zoned out."

"Oh, yeah , yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm fine, just a bit tired."

You were still confused and tried not to laugh at his awkwardness, that at this point had been going on for a few days. "Alright, just try not to do that while you're driving, or you'll crash into a wall. If you leave me alone at the Science Olympics with those other morons, I'll kill you."

Chase chuckled, "How are you gonna kill me if I've already died in a car crash?"

"Oh no, you dying in the crash it's the good scenario. Worse case is: you crash, you survive, I go to the Science Olympics alone, we lose, and then I come into the ICU to smother you with a pillow while the nurse's not watching."

Chase laughed, "Okay, I'll be careful then."

"You better be." Then, you took your house jeys and got out of the car. "Drive safely!" You yell as you walk up your driveway, "And I mean it as a threat!" Chase laughed again as he watched you finally open the front door and go inside. He waved goodbye to you one last time before you shut the door.

When he came home, it was a little after 11 p.m. He headed straight down to the lab, where Bree was about to get into her capsule to go to sleep.

"Oh hey Chase, how did it go at the movies?"

"I think I have a crush on Y/n."

-

The day had finally come. It was 6 in the morning, still dark outside, and everybody was gathering in the school parking lot to take the school bus to LAX Airport for your flight to Washington DC. Everybody was tired, cranky, and basically still half asleep. Mr. Hill and the bus driver were playing tetris trying to fit all the bags and suitcases inside the cramped compartment of the little bus the school had rented for this occasion. You had only 45 minutes of bus ride in front of you, to be then followed by a five hours flight. Tasha dropped Chase off at the meeting point. She was still in her pj's, planning to go straight back to bed as soon as she was home. Chase, on the other hand, was the only student who seemed fully awake already and also the only one who bothered to wear real clothes.

"How the hell are you not tired right now?" You said as he came closer to greet you.

"I'm excited!" He said, with a genuine smile plastered across his cheeks.

As soon as all the students arrived at the meeting point, you all got on the bus headed to the airport. Chase sat down next to the window, at to his suprise you sat down next to him. You take out of your pockets a pair of earphones and offer one to him, "Wanna watch Alien Gladiators 1 with me? I have all the movies 1 through 4 download on Netflix." Chase was a little nervous but gladly accepted the offer. Since the last time you two had hung out, he still hadn't processed well his feelings for you. And Leo and Bree were no help in doing so, with their "I told you so" and "Everybody knew it but you" and stuff.

It changed everything. There was no balance anymore. How could everything work as normal if he doesn't have his nemesis anymore? Sure, the balance had already been compromised the moment the two of you started acting like normal people and didn't try to kill each other. And sure, things changed as soon as you became closer. But all of that never bothered Chase because you didn't have any leverage. You two hung out like friends, but he still could have crushed you if he wanted to. He could still flaunt his intellectual superiority. Now, he couldn't flaunt absolutely anything because how could he when he gets flustered at anything that you say to him? How could he be his witty and sarcastic self when all you had to do was touch him, and his brain turned to mush?

He hated that you had this power over him, and you didn't even know about it. You could have him weak in the knees without even realizing it. Like you did at that moment, on the bus to the airport. While Chase was going through all of that in his head, you had slowly dozed off and leaned your head onto his shoulder. When he got out of his flow of consciousness, he flinched lightly as he realized what was weighting on his right shoulder. But this only made you curl up to him more, nuzzling into the crook of his neck.

Chase had never sat so still in his life.

-

After almost 8 hours of traveling, the group finally reached the hotel in Washington DC. You were all exhausted, hungry, and looking forward to a change of clothes. However, you all had to wait a little longer because Mr. Hill had been talking with the lady at the hotel desk for 15 minutes, and you still haven't checked into your rooms.

"Ok guys, listen up," Mr Hill said as soon as he was done at the front desk and headed over to the group. "There has been some miscommunication between the hotel staff and our school, and apparently, we have some trouble regarding the rooms." The whole group exchanged confused looks. "We have one bedroom with 3 twin beds, one with two, and two single bedrooms with a full bed. One's for me, so that means two of you need to share a bed."

Everybody looked at each other kind of awkwardly. All the other guys knew each other somewhat well, but not well enough that they felt comfortable sharing a bed. There was an awkward silence, everybody looking at the floor to avoid eye contact with the teacher. Then suddenly, a voice cracked the silence. You spoke up.

"Chase and I are gonna take the single room."

a/n: thank you so much for reading! see you in part two ;)

You cant convince me they wouldn't be crazy about labubus. Davenports wallet is in shambles because of them....