right under my favorite pizza place and the time I found twenty bucks in my pocket."

Max gasps, clutching his chest. "Wow. So I rank under pizza?"

"Not just pizza," Melanie says, grinning. "My favorite pizza."

Max throws his hands in the air. "Unbelievable. I literally saved your life last week!"

Melanie shrugs. "And I literally saved yours twice the week before."

Max narrows his eyes. "I'm starting to think you like saving me."

Melanie smirks. "I just enjoy the drama. Keeps things interesting."

Max shakes his head. "You are the drama."

Melanie gasps, fake-offended. "And you are impossible."

"Yeah? And yet here you are," Max says, smirking.

Melanie groans. "I hate you."

Max grins. "You love me."

Before Melanie can respond, Barb suddenly claps her hands. "Okay, kids, focus! Who's ready for family brunch?"

Phoebe groans. "Oh, no."

"Brunch?" Max repeats. "You guys are still teenagers. Shouldn't you be sleeping until noon and eating leftover pizza for breakfast?"

Hank gasps. "Leftover pizza for breakfast? That's genius!"

Nora grins. "I like them way better like this."

Phoebe rubs her temples. "Okay, no. We need to fix this before they go full influencer and start making cringy TikToks."

Max shudders. "Too late. They're already trending."

Melanie glances at the time on her phone. "Oof. And they've been teenagers for, what, twelve hours? That's a new record for parental chaos."

Phoebe sighs. "We need a plan."

Max smirks. "Or we just let it play out. Maybe we finally get that 'cool parents' reputation."

Phoebe glares. "Or maybe they get arrested for organizing a flash mob at the mall."

Billy suddenly perks up. "Ooooh, that would be cool."

Phoebe groans. "No one is getting arrested! We're fixing this now."

Melanie nudges Max. "Guess that means your evil plan to embrace chaos is ruined."

Max sighs dramatically. "And I was so close to world domination."

Melanie grins. "Better luck next time, genius."

Max smirks, leaning slightly toward her. "Oh, don't worry. I always have a next time."

Melanie rolls her eyes but can't help smiling. "Yeah, yeah. Now shut up and go fix your parents."

Max smirks. "You love bossing me around."

Melanie crosses her arms. "And yet you always listen."

Max groans but grabs the BrainMelt anyway. "Fine, let's zap them before they start a vlog channel."

Phoebe sighs in relief. "Finally."

As the siblings prepare to undo the chaos, Barb and Hank are still scrolling through their new fanbase's comments, giggling like actual teenagers.

Phoebe mutters under her breath. "Never. Doing. This. Again."

Max just grins. "Until next time."

Later that evening, after the chaos had finally settled and their parents were back to normal, Phoebe knocked on Melanie's bedroom door.

"Come in," Melanie called, flopped on her bed scrolling through her phone.

Phoebe pushed the door open, arms crossed. "We need to talk."

Melanie barely glanced up. "That sounds ominous. What did Max do now?"

Phoebe walked in and shut the door behind her. "That's exactly the problem. Max."

Melanie finally looked up, confused. "What about him?"

Phoebe sighed, sitting on the edge of the bed. "You know he's a bad influence on you, right?"

Melanie snorted, setting her phone down. "Oh, please. If anything, I'm the bad influence on him."

Phoebe shook her head. "Nope. That's what he wants you to think. But trust me, as someone who's been dealing with him my entire life, he gets under your skin, and before you know it, you're running around in some ridiculous scheme that he came up with."

Melanie smirked. "And what makes you think I don't love ridiculous schemes?"

Phoebe groaned. "Ugh, see?! This is exactly what I mean. He's rubbing off on you."

Melanie shrugged. "It's mutual."

Phoebe pointed at her. "That's the problem. You guys are way too in sync. It's unnatural."

Melanie rolled onto her side, resting her head in her hand. "So let me get this straight—you don't want me getting along with your brother?"

Phoebe groaned, falling back onto the bed dramatically. "I want you to get along with him in a normal way, not in a 'partners in crime who might accidentally take over the world together' way."

Melanie grinned. "Oh, come on. You have to admit, we're kinda great together."

Phoebe rolled onto her side, resting her head on her hand and giving Melanie a knowing look. "Okay, see, that is another thing. You guys are way too cute for your own good."

Melanie immediately sat up. "We are not cute!"

Phoebe smirked. "Oh, you so are. The bickering, the flirting, the way you two always end up in your own little world—it's adorable."

Melanie groaned, covering her face. "I hate you."

Phoebe laughed. "Nope, you love me."

Before Melanie could retaliate, the door swung open and Max strolled in. "Alright, what are we talking about, and why do I have a weird feeling I'm being slandered?"

Phoebe smirked. "Oh, just discussing how cute you and Melanie are."

Max froze. "What?"

Melanie groaned, throwing a pillow at Phoebe. "You just had to say it in front of him, didn't you?"

Phoebe caught the pillow, laughing. "Absolutely."

Max looked between the two of them, then scoffed. "We are not cute."

Phoebe raised an eyebrow. "Mmmhmm. Sure. Keep telling yourself that."

Max crossed his arms. "We are a power duo, not some fluffy rom-com couple."

Melanie, still red in the face, pointed at him. "Exactly!"

Phoebe just grinned. "Riiiiight. And yet, look at you two, blushing and all flustered. If that's not cute, I don't know what is."

Max groaned, rubbing his face. "I hate you."

Phoebe smirked. "Nope, you love me."

Max shot a look at Melanie. "Can we kick her out?"

Melanie sighed dramatically. "Tempting, but she is right. We are kinda disgustingly cute."

Max gasped. "Traitor!"

Phoebe burst out laughing as Melanie shoved Max's arm playfully. He rolled his eyes but couldn't help the small grin forming on his face.

Phoebe stood up, stretching. "Alright, lovebirds, I'll leave you to it."

Melanie groaned. "Never say that again."

Phoebe winked. "No promises. You two are too fun to mess with."

As she left the room, Max turned to Melanie. "You know she's never gonna let this go, right?"

Melanie sighed. "Yeah. But let's be honest, she's not wrong."

Max smirked. "So, we are a power duo?"

Melanie smirked right back. "Oh, absolutely."

Max reached over, lacing his fingers through hers. "Good. Because I definitely like this duo."

Melanie squeezed his hand, her blush finally fading into a warm smile. "Me too."

From the hallway, Phoebe's voice rang out. "STILL CUTE!"

Max groaned, dropping his head onto Melanie's shoulder as she burst into laughter.

And with that, the night ended exactly as it should—with chaos, laughter, and just a little too much cuteness for their own good.