Fictober Prompt 26: "I'm sure this has never worked, ever."
With Shame in His Eyes
"Better make it a Dad's Shame. In honor of your father."
"I'd make that for myself, but you could never handle it."
Raz was about to chase after Hollis, but he stopped dead in his tracks when Lizzie and Adam spoke. His levitation ball popped underneath him. He clenched his teeth as he landed, his legs quaking from the impact. He pivoted around to face the minibar where they congregated, both of them wearing carefree smiles as if they hadn't realized the depths of what they said.
They hadn't expressed any kind of behavior that would have implied a negative relationship with their fathers. In the few snippets of conversations Raz held with them, they appeared jovial. Adam was studious and prideful in his abilities. Lizzie was laidback but just as smug as her sister. They had both joined in on the hazing ritual against Raz, an incident he hadn't fully forgiven.
If they had paternal problems, then it explained their actions. He had concerns about his father that stemmed throughout his childhood. They were older than him by a few years and must have had heavier emotional baggage weighing on their minds because of their dads. A pang of pity ran through him as they laughed again, but it was quickly followed by a jolt of empathy as an idea sprang to his mind.
He slowly approached them and withdrew Sasha's psycho-portal from his pocket. When Adam noticed him, he perked up and gestured to the small door. Lizzie glanced his way, her neutrality swapping for genuine surprise when she realized what he held.
"LIttle guy, how'd you get that? I didn't know interns were allowed to have their own portals," Adam said, an envious hint in his tone.
"Did you swipe that Sasha?" Lizzie asked, raising her voice. Norma immediately looked in their direction.
"No," Raz blurted. He paused, tapping his thumb against the doorknob. "Well, he left it in his lab at camp and hasn't asked for it back. I'm pretty sure it's mine now."
Adam whistled, tapping his fingers together. "Well, that's impressive. Agent Nein is normally so stingy with his belongings."
"Yeah, the guy can't stand to be without his stuff." She grinned at Adam. "Remember when he blew a fuse when the Brain Tumbler at HQ crashed to the ground?"
"With all those dirty lice scuttling around? Yeah, I do! Man needs to learn how to clean up after himself instead of making Norma do it," Adam replied, chuckling. Norma quickly looked to the monitors, huffing.
Lizzie snickered, tossing her head back. "I know, right? The dude's smart, but he's one of the laziest agents. He even hired a cleaning lady to pick up his lab in Whispering Rock."
"No kidding? He doesn't know how to dust or mop a floor and needs someone else to do it for him?"
"Exact-a-mundo."
They lapsed into another chuckling fit. Raz frowned to himself. He wondered how to address the issue, knowing the interns hardly had any respect for him. He was the new kid shouldered by Sasha and Milla. Even if they vouched for him, he still needed to earn his spot in the roster, something Hollis had instilled in their minds when he arrived late to class.
"I think you two are hiding something," Raz said, and he regretted his choice of words when they abruptly stopped laughing.
"Uh, what the heck are you talking about, kid?" Lizzie demanded, resting her arm on the counter. She scowled, her ebony lips pursing together. "Hey, are you implying that one of us is the mole?"
"Or that we're somehow double moles?" Adam supplied, arching an eyebrow. "Because that's a very loaded accusation, young man. Do you have any proof to back that up or are you going to be like Norma and slither around trying to gather evidence?"
"Like Norma?" Raz muttered, but he quickly shook his head. "I mean, what you guys just said had me thinking. Do you two have any kind of poor relationship with your fathers?"
Lizzie's mouth dropped open. She drew back, looking to an equally bewildered Adam. At their silence, Raz almost felt the urge to tug at his collar and retreat after Hollis. He had only asked because they reminded him of his relationship with his father before he had attended Whispering Rock. Their relationship was frayed, dismal, rife with strife. He couldn't tell his father how he truly felt in fear of being further alienated from his family, or worse. And he had assumed he had kindred spirits in Adam and Lizzie, but their apparent shock told another story.
"We're just - we're just joking," Adam said, his stutter appearing to surprise him when his eyes widened. He cleared his throat. "It's just a gag, little man. Nothing to be taken seriously." He tugged at his sleeve and offered a crooked smile. "I mean, even if we were being serious, then no offense, you can't just waltz up to us and ask that when we, uh, don't really know you. It makes everything pretty, um, awkward."
"And, uh, you know-" Lizzie scratched her neck. "-if you're having problems with your dad, um, maybe, I dunno, talk to Hollis? Or Milla? Or another Psychonaut? They're trained to help with stuff like that." Her eyes narrowed. "At the same time, don't project your issues on us. Like Adam said, we don't know you."
Heat flushed Raz' face. He felt like he was under a glowing spotlight. He shifted his weight onto his left leg and rubbed his neck. They had bantered about their supposed issues, but he believed something was underlying all of it. They wouldn't have made fun of themselves without having a clear-cut history of emotional stress from their fathers.
"I'm not projecting," he insisted, mustering his confidence.
"I think 'misinterpreted' is a better way to phrase it," Adam suggested, his grin appearing strained.
"Well, I still think I should look around, clean up any cobwebs, or stuff like that," Raz said, wiggling the portal with an impish smile. "Any takers?"
Adam uttered a quiet, surprised hum. He pointed at himself, then Lizzie, then back to the portal. "Are you suggesting what I think you are?"
Before Raz could explain himself, Lizzie brightened. She reached over the counter and lightly nudged Adam's shoulder, interjecting, "No, no, Adam, he totally is. Just let him do it. It'll be hilarious."
He cocked his head, his gaze lifting to the ceiling. Keeping his head tilted, Adam gazed back at Raz. A grin spread into his cheeks. Raising his hat to give Raz better access to his forehead, he said, "Well, I'm sure this has never worked, ever, but knock yourself out, Razputin."
He took that as a challenge. Reeling his arm back, Raz tossed the psycho-portal with all his might at Adam. He quickly gripped his goggles and pulled them over his eyes, but he felt a dull pain suddenly throb on his brow. Yelping, he tugged his goggles around his neck, blinking away his shock. He rubbed his head, staring at the psycho-portal falling back into his hand, and his ears burned as Lizzie cackled.
The portal had smacked him square in the forehead, and that was enough for Morris and Gisu to start laughing at him.
Clearing his throat, Adam held up a finger and recited, "In accordance with Section Three, Paragraph One of the 'Young Minds Protection Act,' any device created for the purpose of invasive psychic procedure must have built-in safeguards, which make its use upon anyone under the age of eighteen impossible."
"Wait! What? How old are you?" Raz shouted, shaking his head. He knew about that law; he had memorized all appropriate regulations regarding the Psychonauts.
Adam smirked. "Not an adult, if that wasn't obvious."
"But - but you're so tall. You're taller than Hollis and Sasha," Raz sputtered, grimacing at his lame finish.
"Yes. That's how genetics work, young man," Adam deadpanned with as much gentleness as he could, and Lizzie held her stomach, catching her breath.
"Holy crap. I didn't think he'd go for it, but he did," she wheezed, wiping a tear from her eye.
Anger brewed in his stomach. Back at Whispering Rock, he was respected. He had been able to overcome any of the kids who tried bullying him. But here, surrounded by the interns, he felt like nothing more than their plaything. Even when he only wanted to help them, they spurned him, made him out to be a fool despite his credentials and everything he had endured over the past couple of days.
"Sorry about that," Adam said, his pitiful gaze more coarse than soothing. "You know how it is with us interns. New dog's gotta learn the old tricks."
"You said I was already one of you," he snapped, cutting Adam off when he took a breath.
Lizzie huffed. She gripped her hips and said, "Doesn't mean we're not gonna tease you a little bit. You're the one who marched over here trying to act all high and mighty like you know everything about the human mind." She gestured at the interns scattered in their base. "Ask any of them, too. They won't know everything."
He tensed, his head trembling. "I was trying to help you. You guys said your fathers were ashamed of you," he hissed. "I was worried that it happened to you guys, too, and you tricked me!"
The other interns turned to him. Morris turned off the television, and Gisu levitated down from grinding on the bedframe. Sam hurried in from the other room, almost stumbling over her feet. Norma simply turned around and observed.
Lizzie and Adam exchanged a look. Adam pressed his fingers together with enough force that they slipped and folded together. Lizzie coughed, and Raz shoved the door back in his jacket pocket, not wanting to spend another second with them. He had already felt his cheeks burn enough today.
He pivoted on his heels and turned to the exit. He should've gone straight after Hollis. Putting the mission first was what any good Psychonaut would have done. Nothing should have distracted him, even if his chest hurt when he heard their so-called "jokes."
"Uh, I'm sorry? What did you mean by that?" Adam uncertainly called after him.
"Just let him go, Adam. I think the new kid needs to learn how to lighten up or else he'll become a stick in the mud like Sasha," Lizzie said, and as he stormed out, Raz clenched his fists.