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“This is bad, this is really bad.” Davenport said, scanning the postcard.
“Another threat?” Chase asked warily.
“Yeah, they say they’re coming soon. We have 24 hour security and nothing on them. We might have to put the penthouse on lockdown.”
Kaz sat up straighter, sounding almost offended. “For how long?”
“Until we figure out who’s sending these.” Davenport said.
Bree’s eyes were kept trained on her phone, unbothered.“They’ve been sending threats for weeks and haven’t done anything. It’s probably just some guy trying to scare us because he still thinks we’re dangerous.”
“Some guy trying to scare us who knows how to hack into the security footage and replace it with fake tapes?” Davenport looked around at the team, a crease forming between his eyebrows. “I’m going to call Douglas. He’s the only one who’s ever hacked me before, maybe he can help upgrade the security. Until then, no leaving the penthouse.” Davenport turned and ran upstairs, already getting out his phone.
Bree set down her phone and crossed her arms. “This isn’t fair. Mr. Davenport always does this. Anything remotely questionable happens and he immediately jumps to a lockdown.”
“Guys,” Chase said, “I know how we can figure out who’s been doing this. Mr. Davenport and I have been working on some time travel technology. I can ask him if we can use it to go to the future and ask our future selves who it was.”
“Has it been tested?” Skylar asked.
Chase hesitated. “Well, no, but I don’t want to miss Franz Mint’s speech on environmental technology tomorrow, so… it’s worth the risk.”
“Wow,” Bree remarked snidely. “Chase having plans. That’s a first.”
“I’ll go ask Mr. Davenport about it.” Chase got up.
Kaz grabbed his arm, halting him. “Wait. Mr. Davenport’s never let us do things like this before. We can just go now and if we get in trouble for it we use it to go back so we never did it in the first pla
ea.He looked around the room like he always did when proposing a stupid idea.
Chase furrowed his brow. “Kaz, you know our lives could be in danger if we use it while it’s still unstable, right?”
“If our lives were in danger, don’t you think future versions of us would be traveling back right now to stop us?”
“No! Because future versions of us would be dead!”
Kaz wrapped his arm around Chase’s shoulders, meticulously guiding him to the hyperlift. “Too bad.”
“That’s not an argument!” Chase exploded. But for some reason, he found himself letting Kaz drag him to the basement.
Light flashed. The penthouse living room disappeared, replaced with a chilly, dimly lit lab. Kaz let go of Chase’s shoulders, looking around the room. “Alright, where is it?”
Chase crossed his arms defiantly. “I’m not telling you.”
Kaz strolled over to a cyberdesk. He picked up something that looked an awful lot like a ray gun and pointed it at Chase. “Well then, I hope this is it, cause I’m firing it at you.”
“Kaz!” Chase broke. He unenthusiastically opened a drawer in one of the desks. “This is it.” He sighed.
“Nice!” Kaz marched over and fiddled with the controls for a second. “Well, I hope this is six months in the future!” He pressed ‘Go’.
———
They found themselves in a large circular room with windows for walls. Chase peeked out the windows, recognizing the view. They were still in Davenport Tower penthouse. Chase knew the device would only minimally transport them location-wise, but the room didn’t look anything like an apartment building anymore. Neat, well-dressed employees sat in cubicles that ran around the wall of the room. In the center stood a glass elevator with a larger desk next to it. Other than that, the room was empty.
Kaz leaned over towards Chase, still taking the room, “Where are we?” He whispered.
Chase grabbed the time machine out of Kaz’s hands, glancing at the dial. “Gah! Kaz, you set us to six years in the future, not six months!”
Kaz nonchalantly gestured to the window. “I mean, we’re still in Davenport Tower, so does it really matter?”
Chase slammed the time machine on the table. “Great. It needs to recharge.” He took hold of Kaz’s shoulders. “It matters because I have no freaking idea where future me is!”
Chase spun, dropping his hands from Kaz’s shoulders at the sound of a voice announcing, “I’m back, my subordinates. And I was promoted to manager!” A collective groan rolled across the room.
A bald, pasty, crooked-toothed man seemed to have just stepped out of the elevator. He paced the length of the office, holding a stapler out in front of him like a weapon.
“Hey!” He clicked the stapler loudly next to a woman’s ear.
She jumped and whirled around in her chair fearfully. “Sir?”
The man smiled widely at her, revealing his mouth full of bent, misshapen teeth. “Typo, six lines down.” He continued his looming patrol of the office, peeking over the shoulders of each employee. As he passed, the workers seemed to routinely lift their shirts over their noses, then grant themselves a discreet cough once he was out of earshot.
Baldie finally spotted Kaz and Chase. Chase drew back, huddling behind Kaz as he approached.
“Who are you two?” He demanded, his breath hot. It wasn’t bad like you’d expect from his yellow, coffee stained teeth. It was just overwhelmingly mint, like the manufacturer of his toothpaste had dumped too much mint extract into his tube.
Chase felt Kaz’s elbow dig into his side. “Uh, we’re here to see our father!”
Baldie clicked his stapler threateningly. “And who’s he?”
“Chase… Davenport.”
Baldie straightened, raising his eyebrow comically high. “You two?”
“Yeah.”
“Chase Davenport is 24.”
“He wanted to adopt older kids.” Chase offered, unsure.
“And why do you need him?” Baldie finally let his stapler rest by his side, the incessant clicking ceased.
“Familial matter.”
Baldie stared, his beady eyes darting between the two of them. “He’s at the top floor,” he finally said.
Chase grabbed Kaz’s hand, pulling him away from Baldie. Kaz’s hands were warm and soft, not clammy like he’d originally expected. “We’re still in Davenport Tower,” he repeated, more to himself than to Kaz. “Future me is still here.”
Kaz chuckled. “Did you see that dude’s name tag? His name was Larry.”
Chase smacked Kaz playfully and stepped inside the elevator. He hit the button for the 40th floor and the elevator jolted to life.
He felt Kaz’s eyes on him.
“What?” Chase asked.
“I wonder what you’ll look like in the future.”
“We’ll find out soon enough.”
“I hope you’re wearing a suit, you’d look good in a suit.”
Chase short-circuited a little. He licked his lips nervously without a rational forethought. “Thank you,” he finally replied. “You’d look good in a dress.”
The elevator dinged before Kaz could respond.
————
The doors opened to a fluorescent-lit waiting room. Potted, wilting ferns dotted the would-be corners of the semicircle. Plastic blue chairs lined the floor-to-ceiling windows. A large desk was placed in front of the only flat wall. Chase crossed the room over to the man sitting there.
“Excuse me, sir, is this Chase Davenport’s office?”
The man had dark skin and a deep voice. He was wearing a tan suit and sitting boredly at his desk. “Do you have an appointment?”
“No, but this is family business. I’m his son.”
“Go ahead, kid.”
Kaz shuffled over to the closest blue chair. “Yeah, I’m gonna wait here. Give you two some alone time.”
The secretary raised his eyebrow at that, but Chase ignored it and opened the door on the wall. He was met with a blast of air conditioning and himself sitting at a desk, typing away at a laptop. Kaz would be happy to see that he was in fact in a suit.
“Hi.” Chase said.
The other Chase looked up. “Hi. Me.”
Chase grinned. “It worked!”
His future self grinned back. “I remember saying that when I came to see me last time.”
Chase ran to the chair in front of his desk. “I have so many questions for you!” It seemed to have just sunk in that Chase was the first person to time travel. This was Chase’s future self. “I can’t believe I’m meeting you!”
“I remember saying that too!” Future Chase exclaimed
“Okay, tell me everything that happens in the future!” Chase gushed, sitting down properly.
“I can confidently tell you that you don’t need to worry about the threats. Bree was right, they really are just some guy trying to scare you.” He smiled sadly. “I’m afraid I can’t tell you anything else, though. You have a lot to look forward to! I mean, you’ve already seen that I turned Davenport Tower into an environmental technology company! But I can’t really say anything more than that. I don’t want to mess anything up.”
“I understand.” They both said at the same time.
“Sorry,” Future Chase smiled sheepishly. “It’s fun knowing everything you’re about to say.”
———-
Meanwhile, Kaz was getting bored in his little blue chair, his leg bouncing rapidly. He perked up when the elevator dinged. He perked up even more when the person who stepped out of it looked exactly like him, a little taller if anything.
Kaz grabbed a magazine and peeked over the top of it, trying not to make it obvious he was looking. Future Kaz walked purposefully over to the secretary.
The secretary, looking bored as ever, asked, “Do you have an appointment?”
“Yes.” Future Kaz responded.
“Name?”
“Kaz Davenport.”
Kaz jumped at that. Davenport. He was going to marry Bree? He hadn’t thought about her like that, ever. He frowned, not sure how excited he was for the future anymore. Bree was great, but she never seemed interested in him. And he had never been interested in her. He couldn’t remember even considering the thought.
The secretary leafed through a calendar at a snail’s pace. “I don’t see you anywhere.”
Future Kaz looked impatient. “Okay, fine. I don’t have an appointment. But I don’t need one, I’m his husband!”
Kaz dropped his magazine, the glossy pages falling to the floor with a flat smack. He scrambled to pick it up and quickly cover his face again. It wasn’t easy with his hands shaking so heavily, images of Chase flooding his mind.
Distracted Chase. Angry Chase. Flustered Chase. Sciencey-exited-focused Chase. Chase yelling at him. Chase sneaking looks at him. Chase in the elevator, turning red when Kaz complimented him. Chase kissing him.
Kaz realized he was staring at a picture of Chase himself in the magazine. The headline read, Chase Davenport Installs Solar Panels For Free Across Philadelphia. The picture of Chase was wearing a suit. Kaz’s weakness.
He looked back up at Future Kaz, who had turned around because of the noise. Future Kazwas smiling slowly. He winked at Kaz and turned his attention back to the secretary, who unsurprisingly hadn’t seemed to notice the two of them and their resemblance.
“He’s in a meeting right now. I’m sorry. I’m not sure when he’ll be done, but feel free to wait here.”
Future Kaz, without saying another word, walked over and sat down, not taking his eyes off Kaz.
Kaz covered his face further with the magazine, flipping to another page. Future Kazonly smiled.
———-
When Kaz finally saw the door to Chase’s office open, he immediately jumped to his feet, magazine forgotten. “Chase!” he said, pretending not to hear his future self snort behind him. He immediately guided Chase to the elevator, exactly like he did when guiding Chase to the hyper lift before.
“Chasey, what did you find out?” he said overenthusiastically, overcompensating for the crack this new information put in his life.
Chase pressed the close doors button on the elevator. “Nobody, actually. Bree was right, it really was just some guy.”
“Alright then.” Kaz felt hot, unsure how to continue the conversation. Chase clearly didn’t tell himself who he was going to marry.
Then, Kaz connected the dots. If Chase was going to marry him in the future, surely Chase likes him now. This is a huge teasing opportunity. “Wouldn’t want my favorite bionic boy getting hurt.” Kaz added, smiling. He forced himself to look at Chase’s eyes. As soon as he did, Chase looked away.
“Um.” Chase stammered. “The same to you, fireboy.”
Kaz almost worked up the courage to wink.
Kaz kept his eyes directly on Chase. When Chase looked back, Kaz felt himself smile. Chase’s eyes were so pretty, he looked so flustered. It was a cute look on him.
Chase looked away, realizing he’d forgotten to press the button. “Wait, Kaz, where’s the time machine?”
Kaz put his hands on Chase’s shoulder, leaning on him. “I thought you had it.”
“Famous last words.” Chase muttered. “It’s probably back on the floor we appeared on.”
Kaz started absentmindedly touching Chase’s hair. “What floor was that?”
To Kaz’s surprise, Chase wasn’t shaking him off. “I’m not sure.”
Kaz lit up. “Do I get to press all the buttons?”
“No.”
“We won’t figure it out unless we do.”
“What if someone needs to use the elevator?”
“We need to use the elevator.”
“We can just go back up and ask mysel-.”
Kaz promptly kissed Chase on the nose. Chase stopped talking. Kaz stepped back, admiring his work. Chase had gone completely frozen, staring straight ahead, mouth still open.
Chase blinked back, looking at Kaz. He shook himself back to reality. “Fine, but only this row. When I looked out the window we seemed to be around the middle section of the tower.”
Kaz grinned and pressed the buttons. Afterwards, he took Chase’s hand. It was cold. He looked over at Chase, who was smiling stupidly and turning red again.
The elevator dinged. This room had couches and a coffee machine. Chase pressed ‘close door’. And looked back at Kaz, who was still staring at him.
Kaz looked down at Chase’s outfit. A flannel and jeans, as always. He rested his chin on Chase’s shoulder.
Chase’s breath hitched. Chase felt Kaz snicker against his skin at that, but he didn’t do anything to stop Kaz.
The elevator dinged. Wrong floor again. Chase started, “By the way, I run this company.”
Kaz smiled. “I’m not surprised, love.”
“It’s an environmental tech company. Apparently I’m working to switch all of America off of fossil fuels.” Chase’s voice shook a little.
Love.
“I know, I saw you in a magazine. I was right, you do look good in a suit.” Kaz laughed.
Chase felt Kaz’s voice box vibrate against his shoulder as Kaz talked. Chase asked, “What did you do in the waiting room?”
“Oh, well I found out I’m going to marry Bree.”
Chase jumped, panicked. “What?”
“Just kidding!” Kaz said. The elevator dinged. “I’m going to marry you!”
Chase turned to fully face Kaz. He was frozen for a second before breathing, “Thank fucking God.”
They finally kissed.
Chase wrapped his arms around Kaz’s back. Kaz moved his hands up in Chase’s hair, pushing Chase against the elevator wall. Sometimes the kiss would break with little smiles and giggles.
They had completely forgotten the doors to the elevator were open. “Weird family.” Bald Larry muttered, still holding his stapler.