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When Chris got the letter from Samwell's current goalie, he thought it was a fun recruitment tactic. The old goalie was clearly using a matrix reference to ask whether Chris was going to be joining the team or not next year. Which was weird because Chris enrolled in Samwell while on the tour, but maybe Johnson didn't know that.
It never crossed Chris's mind to actually take one of the pills. Chris might be kind of ditzy, but he wasn't dumb. He had no clue what was in those pills or if they're even edible. They might even be the type of pill that grows into a foam animal when exposed to water.
Okay, so maybe Chris tested the foam animal possibility by putting them in the water. He just didn't want to miss out on the off chance that they're hockey-themed foam sponge things. But they dissolved in water, so he poured the water down the sink. He wasn't really bothered that he accidentally destroyed the pills. He took a picture of the letter, pills and all, before he played with the pills, so it was all good.
By the end of the week, Chris had completely forgotten the letter.
Then, Chris touched his lucky puck a couple of weeks before he goes to Samwell. He usually just left it on his dresser, but he was planning to bring it to college with him.
When Chris touched the puck, he was hit with a rush of new understanding. He was a character in a webcomic. He wasn't the main character, which was probably a good thing. Main characters always have the most drama going on in their lives. The main character in their universe was Bitty, the Samwell sophomore who'd been texting him on and off throughout the summer. In the scope of the webcomic they live in, there was nobody who will call him Chris. After a few weeks, he was going to start thinking of himself as Chowder.
Chowder drops the puck in shock.
Chris looks at the puck on his floor. He's not usually clumsy, but he can't remember why he dropped it. For a second, he has a strong urge to leave it there, to never touch it. But it was pretty weird that he was afraid to touch his lucky puck, so he ignored the feeling. He bent down to pick it up. Suddenly, he remembered. He'd just learned that he was a fictional character. He couldn't believe he'd forgotten that.
It had to have something to do with the puck, Chowder thought. Either the puck itself had powers or Chowder had powers activated by touching a puck.
At first, Chowder figured he should find another puck and test out which scenario was true. If it was Chowder, then he'd probably be psychic when touching another puck. If it was this puck, he wouldn't be. Although, he'd also have to test whether it was the specific combination of himself and this puck or whether anyone could touch this puck and gain self-awareness. That test was going to have to wait, though, since it would mean telling another person about his abilities, and that was not going to end well.
Then Chowder realized he was thinking like a programmer. Systematically narrowing down the possibilities was one option, but he needed to think more like a psychic. Chowder mentally flipped through the comic and its accompanying twitter.
There! In a few months, Bitty was going to tweet about Chowder's fear of touching pucks. That had to mean that it was him touching a puck that triggered his ability.
Chowder didn't see anything about his ability, which meant that he was apparently going to keep it secret. Since he couldn't remember having it unless he was touching a puck, that probably meant that he was going to hardly ever actually use his ability. He wondered why he even had it, then figured it was all part of the plot. Or subplot. Or plot of a fanfic based on the original webcomic. Whatever.
Chowder was curious about the last goalie, though. The thing with the pills suddenly seemed less like a casual recruitment tactic and more of a decision that Chowder made. Although not taking either of the pills hadn't really been an option in the movie.
Chowder mentally read back through some of the already posted comics and tweets, searching for mentions of Johnson. Johnson apparently had been able to break the fourth wall all of the time, not just when touching pucks. It had meant that the team hadn't really known how to relate to him, although they tried, so it was probably for the best that Chowder was able to turn the ability off. Chowder wanted to make friends on the team.
Chowder brought his lucky puck down to the basement and left it next to his cap from graduation.
As soon as Chris put down his lucky puck, he wondered why he'd decided to leave it in the basement. He loved that thing. But he felt very strongly that he shouldn't pick it up. He wanted to chalk it up to him growing up and setting aside things from high school, but that wasn't it. The idea of touching a puck seemed strangely repulsive.
Chowder didn't bring the puck up to his room, and the only time he touched a puck that summer was when he was messing around at the local rink with his friends. He'd been afraid that his new weirdness would extend to being on the ice, but thankfully it didn't.
If it didn't affect his ability to play hockey, it was fine if he had a new weird thing. Completely fine. He wasn't going to let his parents find out, obviously, since they already thought he needed to be more normal. Adding a fear of hockey pucks to his inability to control his volume and his issues with identifying sarcasm and all of his other behaviors that his parents want him to work on would just make life harder. This wasn't a big deal, so he could just hide it. From everyone.
It turned out that Chowder couldn't actually hide his puck-phobia, but his team was really cool about it. Apparently their last goalie had been really strange, and so basically any unusual behavior from Chowder was chalked up to him being a goalie. Which was honestly pretty great.
When the team asked him about his puck-phobia, he couldn't really explain it beyond, "I dunno. I guess when I touch them and I'm not on the rink or the ice, it just creeps me out- like, they're so unnatural. I dunno."
It wasn't a good answer, but it was the only thing he could come up with. He knew that most phobias were irrational, and he figured that it was fine that he was weird about pucks since it didn't actually affect his daily life. It wasn't like he ever had to touch a puck when he was off the ice.
Then Chowder accidentally started a prank war with Dex. He hadn't meant to accidentally take Dex's flash drive, but Dex had taken offense and it had all spiraled from there. Dex had taken Chowder's Sharks cap, so Chowder had filled Dex's water bottle with a mixture of every drink the dining hall offered.
As Chowder walked up the stairs to his room in the Haus, he remembered Dex's face when he'd taken a drink in class. He'd almost spit it out, and he'd spent the rest of the period glaring at Chowder. It had been pretty great.
Chowder knew he had to expect Dex's retribution, but it was definitely going to be worth it.
Then Chowder noticed that Dex was hanging out in the hall.
"What's up?" Chowder asked. He knew that Dex didn't live in the Haus, and so he usually didn't come upstairs.
"Oh, I'm just waiting for Bitty," Dex said, clearly trying to act casually.
"Right," Chowder said skeptically. He was pretty sure he was about to get pranked.
Chowder carefully opened his door, swinging it all the way open before walking inside. Nothing fell from the ceiling.
He looked around his room carefully. Initially, it seemed fine. Then he noticed something.
Dex had covered Chowder's desk with pucks.
"C'mon man!" Chowder said. "Really?"
Dex didn't reply. He was too busy smirking.
Chowder wasn't going to give Dex the satisfaction of watching him awkwardly skirt around the pucks or figure out a way to move them without touching them. The thought of touching even one puck gave him shivers, but his stubbornness was stronger than his fear.
Although every instinct he had was screaming not to, he reached down and scooped up all of the pucks into his arms. He suddenly remembered why he didn't touch pucks as the knowledge that he was in a webcomic rushed into his head. The extra pucks seemed to be amplifying his powers. He knew everything. He was saw Jack and Bitty kiss in Bitty's dorm as he remembered Kent Parson yell at Jack as he saw Jack give him dibs as he read about Bitty's oven breaking as he saw-he saw-
"Are you okay, man?" Dex asked as Dex asked about the 1 in 4 statistic as Dex yelled at Nursey as Dex toured Samwell with Chowder as Dex-
Chowder was vaguely aware of the ground rushing up to meet him, just like it had met Bitty after a particularly bad check.
"Chowder! Chowder, man, wake up," Dex was saying frantically.
"What?" Chowder mumbled.
"I think you fainted?" Dex said, sounding confused and guilty. "I moved all the pucks away from you, in case that's what did it."
"Oh," Chowder said, unable to come up with anything more intelligent.
"You all right to stand up now?" Dex asked, offering him a hand. Chowder took it, feeling a little unsteady. He managed to sit down on his bed.
"Has this happened before?" Dex asked Chowder.
"I don't think so. I think I'd remember," Chowder said. "All I remember about this time was deciding to pick up all the pucks, then waking up on the floor."
"Are you allergic to something in the pucks?" Dex asked.
"Not that I know of," Chowder said. "I think it was a phobia thing? Like, I was so freaked out about the pucks that I passed out? I know some people faint at the sight of blood, so maybe other phobias can casue fainting as well?"
"Man, I'm really sorry about putting the pucks in your room. I didn't understand that your fear was this bad," Dex said awkwardly.
"It's fine," Chowder said. "I didn't realize it, either. But don't tell anyone, please?"
"Of course," Dex said.
"Also, I'm pretty sure this means I win the prank war," Chowder said with a grin.
"All right," Dex agreed, looking relieved that Chowder wasn't mad at him.
After the time he passed out, Chowder avoided pucks even more closely. He didn't know if he was going to pass out when he touched one of them again, but it was enough of a possibility that he wasn't going to risk it. Luckily, Chowder was never in a situation where he'd need to touch a puck.
When the seniors graduated a few months later, the team's old goalie stopped by to talk to Chowder after the ceremony.
"So, I hear you've really settled in as the new goalie. You're a main character and everything now," Johnson said.
"Um, I guess?" Chowder said. He wasn't sure what Johnson meant about him being a main character. It faintly reminded him of something, but he wasn't sure what.
"Right, you've got the puck thing," Johnson said. "That's a pretty good deal, getting the powers without having to deal with them all the time. Not that you've been making the best use of them, but that's more your author's fault than yours."
"I didn't actually understand any of that, but okay!" Chowder said, suddenly convinced that he needed to end the conversation before something bad happened. It kind of reminded him of the time when he'd fainted from touching pucks, although less severe. "It was nice seeing you again!"
"I know when I'm overstaying my welcome," Johnson said. "Nice seeing you, kid. Good luck."
With that, Johnson walked away. Chowder was relieved. That guy had really creeped him out, although he wasn't sure why he had reacted so strongly.
Talking to Johnson had given him the same feeling that being around pucks gave him, and he didn't like it. Chowder felt the urge to check his room for pucks. He knew there weren't any in there, but he just needed to be sure.
There was nothing wrong with indulging a harmless superstition, right? All hockey players had them.