Hearing aids. They're used by people who suffer from hearing loss, which can happen if the ear is exposed to extremely loud music for far too long.
So, with so many teenagers and adults blasing their heads to insanely loud music, specially in a show called The LOUD House why are old people the only ones to wear them?!
Also, decided to make this Sam and Chunk related, because Chunk barely has any stories to his name, and Sam is paired up with Luna way too often, and she needs to bounce off other characters.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy this little drabble. Have a good day! :)
It was a fairly calm day at the local music shop of Royal Woods, where Chunk, Luna's roadie/bouncer/basically-everything-else was working his shift looking after the store, while the owner was busy dealing with some business. But on this calm day, he was mostly focusing on a poster hanging on the wall, which was promoting some kind of "Loudness War" event.
To explain, the Loudness War was an event held in Royal Woods once a decade, where any and all capable musicians competed in order to determine who was capable of withstanding the most noise before they collapsed. And it was by this precise reason why it only happened once a decade.
It could get so loud, in fact, that even the Loud family refused to set foot on the event, for they usually moved to somewhere far away from the city before it happened, to save their own ears from blowing up from the intensity.
But back with Chunk, the man quickly regained his composure and switched his attention to the door, where a certain blonde musician with a teal stripe on her hair entered, taking a quick look around before she walked towards the counter.
"H-Hi, Chunk," the girl nervously greeted. "How's the shift coming along?"
"Pretty calm, though I'm not really surprised about that," Chunk looked back at the poster. "Seeing how it's the day after the loudness war, I'm pretty sure that people won't want to look for anything that reminds them of that disaster anytime soon."
"Oh, right, that's a thing," Sam twiddled her fingers and looked at her surroundings one more time before she leaned closer, sporting a nervous smile as she said, "S-Speaking about that, I need to ask you a favor-"
Chunk nonchalantly responded, "You want me to check up on your hearing aids?"
Sam hastily tried to shush the man and cover his mouth, but he simply stepped aside, causing the teenager to flip over the counter and hit the ground face-first.
"We've been through this before, Sam," Chunk helped the teenager get back up. "If you want to make sure your hearing aids work, you need to go to an otologist, or at the very least a hearing aid specialist."
"I know, it's just... I don't know anybody else I can talk with about this," Sam answered, putting a hand on her cheek somberly. "I mean, I know most people in Royal Woods are nice, understanding people, and I don't want to slander anybody, but... I don't know, there's something about how people would react if they knew I use hearing aids now."
Sam looked at the ground in regret. "Specially since I couldn't even get past the first round last time I participated."
Chunk, feeling sympathy for the poor girl, took a deep breath and sat down. "Okay, come to my side and I'll check you up."
Sam chirped up and sat right next to Chunk, who gently took off Sam's hearing aids and gave a quick look at them. He checked them, cleaned them, saw if the battery was well or not, all of that stuff, and once he finished, he handed Sam the aids back and helped her get over the counter.
"So, are they okay?" Sam inquired, tilting her head with a worried frown. "Is there something wrong with them?"
"No, none that I can see," Chunk folded his arms. "Although, I had to clean it to avoid the moisture building up too much, and I noticed the batteries are getting pretty low. Are you keeping the battery door open at night?"
Sam tilted her head. "Is that something I must do?"
Chunk rolled his eyes. "Only if you want the battery to stay alive as long as possible, so in other words, yes."
And then, Chunk smiled and took out a pair of hearing aid batteries. "But, you're in luck, I anticipate people would need to go find hearing aids, so we got a couple in stock. Take these, they're on the house."
Sam chirped up. "Really?!"
Chunk, maintaining his friendly smile, shook his head. "Nah, that'll be 10 dollars."
The music fans laughed out loud as Sam paid for the batteries and replaced hers with the new ones, just in case hers were literally about to die at that exact moment.
"Okay, now I'll remember to keep the battery door open," Sam remarked as she wrote down Chunk's advice on a notepad. "Thanks for everything, Chunk!"
"No problem, but seriously, look for an otologist or hearing aid specialist next time, they can help you in ways I can't," Chunk answered as the girl saved her notepad and nodded. "And if you feel too nervous about going to see one, well, give me a call and I'll see if I can help you about that."
"Got it!" Sam strolled to the exit. "Thanks, Chunk! I love you!"
The man flinched at Sam's last words before leaving the store, since, while he knew she meant it platonically, if there was anybody else in the store at the moment, they would most certainly take it the wrong way, and the guy really doubted that he would be able to get out of that misunderstanding unscathed.
Eitherway, Chunk quickly recomposed himself and just laughed it off, putting a hand on his cheek as he took a deep breath, and said to himself:
"You sure are something, Sam."