A/N: This is a prequel to "150. Twoset Timetravellers".
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"Welcome, Brett!"
"Hello Eddy."
"Brett, I made a magic drink!! Do you want some?"
"Um... okay..??"
5 year old Eddy passed a plastic Elmo cup to his friend 6 year old Brett.
Brett momentarily hesitated, but then with a look of determination, took a swig of its contents.
The next moment his mouth opened agape as its contents poured out from his mouth like a waterfall.
Eddy screamed.
"Oh no, muuuuuuuuuuuuuuum!!!"
"Eddy!!! Oh dear Brett sweetie, are you okay?! Eddy Chen!!! I told you NOT to give that horrible concoction of yours to anybody!! Didn't you learn your lesson when you gave some of that stuff to Belle!?!?"
"But muuuuum, Brett would drink anything for me, I thought he would be okay!!"
"NO Eddy, you do NOT take advantage of your friend's kindness!! Do you understand!?!?"
"Yes mum, I'm sorry."
"I think you are apologising to the wrong person Eddy!!"
Mrs Chen had brought over a large towel to wipe Brett's face.
"Brett sweetheart, I'm so sorry. Eddy will show you to the bathroom so you can rinse out your mouth and I'll get one of Eddy's shirts for you to get changed into, okay?"
Brett repeatedly blinked as he nodded.
"Eeeew.. okay...thank you Aunty Chen..."
"I'll have some tea ready for you to drink.. it seemed to have helped Belle."
"Brett, I'm sorry."
"It's okay.. but that was pretty yucky.. what was it?"
"It was sugar and salt mixed together."
Brett frowned.
"Uuuum okay.. why did you make it?"
"Well, I thought if I mixed the same amount together they would cancel out each other's tastes and taste like water again."
"Well it sure didn't!! ..But Eddy, didn't you taste it yourself?"
"I did.. and I could still taste both the salt and sugar.. so they aren't opposite. I thought that was really strange and interesting and I wanted you to try it, too. I knew you wouldn't get mad like Belle did."
Brett looked at his friend and smiled.
"I suppose that is interesting.. but not all opposites cancel each other out Eddy."
"Really?"
"Well.. yeah like if we both sang the note Eeeee..."
"Brett, you're off pitch. It's Eeeeeee"
Brett rolled his eyes.
"Okay Eeeeeeee.. and then you go down to a C and I go up to Geeee"
"Brett, you're off pitch again, it's Geeeeee"
"Geeeee, got it, okay you go down to a C"
The boys sang in harmony.
"See, our sounds weren't cancelled out."
"Oh wow... and it sounded so nice too.. so why did my drink taste so bad !?!?!?"
"I dunno.. I guess they aren't harmonious.."
"But some stuff taste nice together.. like sweet and sour pork.. sweet and sour.. sugar and.. vinegar??"
Brett tried to stop himself from gagging.
"Eddy... please promise you won't make me drink that.."
Eddy dropped his shoulders in disappointment but reluctantly agreed.
"Oookaaay..."
10 years later
"Eddyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!!"
That was not a good sign. 15 year old Eddy knew better not to stay in the living room but to get out pronto.
"Muuuuuuuum!!! Eddy broke my hairdryer!!!"
"Eddy!! What on earth were you doing with your sister's hairdryer !!!"
Eddy shouted from the corridor.
"Mum, I needed a heat source!! You wouldn't let me use the gas in the kitchen so I borrowed Belle's hairdryer but it overheated, I'm sorry Belle!!"
"How am I supposed to dry my hair now!?!?!?"
"Well you could always use the kitchen gas top stove.."
"MUUUUUUUUUUM!!!!!"
"Eddy!!! You will use your own allowance to buy a new hairdryer for your sister!!"
"Yes mum. Okay, okay Belle, I'll duck out and get one now!!!"
"Brett?"
"Eddy, wassup?"
"Busy? Meet me at the shops? I gotta buy something."
"Okay see you in like 10 minutes."
Eddy hung up his phone and sighed. He then realised Brett wouldn't be a very good person to consult for buying a hairdryer. Maybe for computer stuff and definitely for the violin but hairdryers!? Oh well, he'd be good company anyway.
Brett's brain cells must have synchronised with Eddy's via wi-fi or something.
"OMFG Eddy why the f*ck did you call me to help you buy a frickin' hairdryer!?! I mean I could help you with computer stuff or if you wanted to buy a violin or somethin' but seriously, a hairdryer!??!"
"F*ck.. word by word like in my head dude, that's freaky..."
"What?"
"Nevermind. I'll ask the shop assistant. Let's get this over and done with quickly so that we can grab a bubble tea, my shout"
Brett and Eddy sat down at a small table in their favourite bubble tea place.
"So Eddy, how are things? Why did you need to buy a hairdryer?"
"Good I suppose. Oh cos I broke Belle's when I borrowed it."
"You borrowed your sister's hairdryer and your hair looks like that !?"
Eddy's hair was like a bird's nest.
"Gee thanks man. I didn't use it as a hairdryer. I needed a heat gun. The hairdryer looked similar enough but completely lacked power and its thermostat is so sensitive, it conked out in like 60 minutes"
"F*ck, well I'm glad it did!! You could've started a fire!! So what exactly were you trying to do this time?"
Eddy smiled. He knew his best friend would know he'd been trying another one of his inventive ideas.
"Metamorphosis by heat and pressure."
Brett didn't even bat an eye。
"Of course. And how's that going for ya?"
Eddy frowned.
"Not too good. Mum wouldn't let me use the pressure cooker. I got caught pouring a whole bottle of cooking oil into it and she screamed at me."
Brett recoiled in horror. He was amazed how Mrs Chen kept Eddy from burning their house down.
Another 10 years later
Brett had just sat down on the living room sofa with a cup of tea he had prepared.
"Breeeett..?"
Brett knew that voice and tone.
Now what.
Brett inhaled deeply in an attempt to calm himself down before he answered.
"Yeeeees Eddy?"
"Would you please come down to the basement?"
Brett placed his mug of tea on the coffee table.
"Okay, coming"
As soon as Brett stepped onto the first step down to the basement, the stairs collapsed and turned into a slide.
"WTF... AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!!!"
Brett slid down the slide and landed on an old bed mattress at the base of the slide.
Eddy screamed excitedly.
"Yeah it worked !!!"
Brett was livid.
"OMG Eddy, that was so frickin' dangerous, I could've broken my frickin' arm!!!!!"
Eddy gasped.
"Oh no.. Brett.. I'm sorry.. I.. I was so excited I wasn't thinking straight..."
"No kidding!!!"
"I'm really sorry, I developed a sensor that kicks in depending on all sorts of parameters, the one I wanted to test was how sweaty the soles of your feet were."
Brett spat out exasperatedly;
"Eddy.. there must be a billion other safer ways to find out whether the soles of my feet were sweaty!!!! OMG Eddy I've been supportive of the pursuance of your inventive dreams since you were a little kid but if you ever spring something like this on me again...."
"Okay,okay, I'm really sorry, I promise I won't ever do that again..!!"