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neshabeingchildish · 5 years

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Lady and the Tramp

I do not know why the chapters of this story suddenly got so long! I’ve just been unable to stop writing lately. Stress writing, mostly, which I hate to do because sometimes, that can send the story off track. Of course, it can also ignite some of my greatest ideas. Unfortunately, I never know until after y’all tell me what my stress writing came through with. 😭 At any rate, I definitely will cover the conversation later. I didn’t have the place in this chapter to do so. Your reviews are keeping me sane.

Lady and the Tramp

After the sophomore summer, Charlotte knew that she wasn’t going to be able to make anymore trips home. The amount of lab work that she would be doing, the conferences and a lot of the other workshops and stuff she had to do would pull most of her time and being Jasper’s #1 Fan would take the rest. He had several competitions, matches, and games. She was skipping every boxing match, because she didn’t want him doing it in the first place and had even told him that he should go back to kite disc, but without him, the school’s team dissipated and he didn’t have the time to commit to the league again.

Whenever it was Dodge-a-leen time, though, Charlotte was in the stands in brightly colored high waisted leggings with a Big Dog T-shirt, tied up in the back, and dog makeup on her face. She could do that deep voice barking that the fans often did, but she gave it a shot. With her tiny voice, it always stood out and everybody began calling her “Little Dog,” which Jasper loved, because that was his girl. She… had mixed feelings about it. She didn’t know that she cared for the nickname “Big Dog.” Henry used to call him that sometimes, but this was different. This nickname had come about from something that she still found embarrassing, though Jasper never had taken it as such. And also, she felt like Little Dog was a hop, skip and jump from being his bitch, and well… She guessed as long as nobody ever said THAT, she was fine.

Besides, he still called her Chef’s Kiss and she now called him F Sized. She didn’t explain it to other people, as it started out as a little inside joke during one of her sexy study sessions with Jasper. He couldn’t get the answers right, therefore wasn’t allowed to touch the parts. That was how it worked. A was her backside, B was her chest, C was down there, and D - he was able to take her hand and put on his down there. But, if he wasn’t getting the answers correct, there wasn’t touching. She moved or stopped his hand if it was going to the wrong spot. He was struggling with the mock test and began grumbling about how he’d “cockblocked himself with stupidity.”

While stupidity definitely was a turn off, Charlotte hadn’t viewed Jasper as stupid in a long time and she certainly hadn’t called him that ever since finding out that his stepdad did. Whenever he called himself that, she verbally redirected him. This particular study session, he said, “I have a humongous head with a stupid tiny brain in it.”

“You’re not stupid and if you were, your brain wouldn’t be smaller.”

“It is though. You know brains develop differently when kids have trauma, remember?”

“Yeah, but…” She fumbled over her words and managed to say, “I love your fun sized brain!” He loved that compliment. Fun Sized Brain was his new handle on Twitflash because of it.

“I appreciate that you said fun sized, because that is actually exactly what I think of your cute little body as!” She frowned. He smiled and explained, “Because you’re petite.”

“I got it.”

“You have a full sized heart, though!”

She smiled and shook her head, “See, I would have called yours friend sized, but I dig that full sized still fits the alliteration scheme.”

He took her hand and placed it on himself, “Mm hmm, and what is this sized?”

“Fuck sized,” she said, without a pause and they both started laughing. “By the way, the answer is D, so I’ll count that as correct.”

“I don’t remember the question…”

The only person she told the meaning of Jasper’s F Sized nickname was Henry, and she’d said, “Because his brain is fun sized, his heart is friend sized and his manhood is fu…”

“Let me stop you there, Champ,” he said, laughing and shaking his head. “I’m glad that you two fixed everything. You’re not worried that it might go off track again?”

“No, we’ve done a lot of work together to make sure that we’re actually on the same page and have the same goals for us. PLUS, I got us affirmation journals. We decorated each other’s and we keep them, filling them up with greatness as we see it - like the good things we notice about each other, the positives that we see and the accomplishments made by one another. If we have negative times, one can invoke the affirmation journal and either read in it to reaffirm ourselves OR, if we’re that much in our feelings, the one of us that hurt the other will read affirmations to the hurt party. We haven’t had to use them… much, and we’ve both written a whole lot inside of them.”

“So, you two just carry around paper books and write every good thing in it that you can think about each other, so that if you argue, you’ll have the positives on record already to counter the bad feelings?”

“Bingo!”

“That’s… brilliant. Your idea?”

“Sort of. It was my idea to make it into this type of practice, but that was motivated by how Jasper got me not to break up with him. He let me see his life goals journal and I saw these really beautiful things that he’d written about me and it changed my heart. So, I thought of this idea for us to make a part of our love culture.”

“This is so stinkin’ cute. I can’t even bear it!” Henry said with heart eyes. “Ugh. I gotta find myself a lil’ nerd girl.”

“Find a lovable jock,” she advised.

“Jasper’s considered a jock, now?”

“I mean… he’s involved in the athletics program. Let me show you something, I think you’ll appreciate this..” She dug around for a book then showed it to the video call she had open with Henry. It was a red leather bound book with various rocks attached to it, kinda like it was bedazzled, but not with sparkly rocks, and the title was scripted on in some of Charlotte’s nice scripting: Jasffirmation Journal.

Henry gasped, “You did a fun pun!” “I did!” she cheered.

“That’s a nice journal. What are all those rocks?”

“Those are various forms of jasper that I procured myself on an excavation assignment.”

“You’re freakin’ awesome, Char.”

“I definitely agree with that, but thank you!”

“I gotta see what his looks like,” Henry said and texted Jasper to ask him to send him a pic of the affirmation journal he kept for Char. Within minutes, he received it. “OH MY GOD!” Henry said. Charlotte just smiled as Henry fawned over the realistic sketch of Charlotte with stars in her hair and coils that spelled: I’m Charstruck. “He did a fun pun too!”

“We worked with you and Ray for way too long,” she said.

“You’re welcome,” he said, putting his phone aside. “Man, Jasper’s drawing is amazing. Is he taking art classes?”

“No. He’s a tattoo artist, though. Remember?”

“OH! He finished his apprenticeship. That’s cool. Will tattoos money put him through school?”

“One of his accounting major frat bros has helped him with his budget, which I used to do but hadn’t had the time to try to reorganize it, so this guy did. Jasper gets some funds from his fanbase, and he gets free stuff from local businesses and companies - like he’s got all this merch that he basically is a walking ad for and I keep telling him to see about talking to someone about sponsorship, but he’s just happy to get free stuff just for being popular and likable. I’m like, you can get paid to get free stuff for the same thing, Dude! So, he is doing just fine.”

“Does he have any tattoos? I’m not gonna get a tattoo from somebody who doesn’t have a tattoo, just on principle.”

“He’s got a few little ones,” she said.

“Really? What of?”

She smiled and sent Henry texts. She had photos of Jasper’s tats. The one on his arm, which was a blend of a lion and a bull with touching faces (because those were the animals of their zodiac signs and he’d designed the drawing), a Captain Man symbol on his left wrist, small enough to cover with a watch, if he had to for work or something, and the back shoulder that had Lady and the Tramp characters. “Dude… what?” Henry said, “Two of these are kind of big and why in the world did he get Lady and the Tramp tattooed on his body? Does Jasper realize that these are permanent?” “Yes, he does. He’s not an idiot. He got Lady and the Tramp because of the whole Big Dog, Little Dog thing. Lady and the Tramp is us.” She blushed.

“Awwww, well then it’s cute. I thought that he just liked the cartoon or something.” It’s shocking that he doesn’t have your name or something on him.” She shrugged her shoulders. “Does he and you just didn’t show me?”

“No. But… he’s mentioned wanting to get a tattoo of me over his heart. I don’t know how he can. His chest is an erogenous zone for him.”

“His… OK! That makes all those hickies on his chest make more sense now!”

“Those what?” Her eyes were wide. How the heck did Henry know that she’d put hickies on Jasper’s chest? They DID discuss their sex life!

“I saw hickies all over him one time, senior week and he wouldn’t say anything about it to me. And scratches on his back. Is his back an erogenous zone too?”

“No. I just used to have a real problem keeping control of myself when I was finishing. But, he actually likes that kind of stuff, so win-win, I guess. Why are we so casually discussing this?” she wondered.

“We’re friends and it’s normal.” She nodded. She hadn’t really thought to discuss stuff like this before outside of Jasper, but it came out surprisingly smoothly when talking to Henry. She was able to talk a little more about things with him. But, they wouldn’t be able to see each other in person for a while. Their schedules were simply too demanding. She hated it, but it was one of the things that she’d mentally prepared for whenever she first left home.

Women make up 56% of the college population. 25% of college seniors are virgins. 32.5% of college relationships are long distance. 1 in 4 college students have an STD. 63% of college women hope to meet their spouse in college. By senior year, 72% of college students have hooked up. ⅓ college students have been on fewer than 2 dates. Quick Facts: One of the top reasons college students break up is cheating. College students prefer short-term, casual relationships over long-term relationships because it allows them to focus on their academic and career goals. Most college couples break up around spring break, summer vacation, and right before winter break. 28 % of married college graduates attended the same school, but only 2% of North American marriages are comprised of high school sweethearts.

With numbers like that, it was really easy for me to believe that with Jasper’s personality and follow through that we couldn’t possibly be a part of that 2%. And even if we had been, what about those other stats? How much of it would be applicable. Wouldn’t one of us hook up with someone? Wouldn’t someone cheat? Wouldn’t we break up? For a first time relationship to be the last one that you’ll ever have, these possibilities become more or less likely dependent upon what stage in the relationship I was in. It was a fluctuating scale, to be honest. But, by junior year, I definitely felt like I was in a confident place.

Jasper makes me proud, all of the time, His thinking has become much more critical. His plans make more sense. His ability to manage his time has improved. He’s been calling himself a “Textbook Leo,” which has been annoying, because the traits that you didn’t see before, it’s like he tries to make sure that he has them now. That’s fine for some things. Silly for others. But, he’s very focused and he’s going to be a very accomplished man. I believe that with all of my heart.

One of the last times that Henry was able to visit was whenever Charlotte first moved into her new apartment after Rush Week. Jasper helped her to pack, but got the pledges to move all of her things. The apartment that she found was closer to Jasper, in a nice sized townhouse style apartment within walking distance of the frat house, but of course, the guys had to go to another side of town to grab her things from her previous dormitory. Jasper’s little brother was responsible for overseeing - making sure nobody damaged or tried to steal anything, holding on to the keys of her dorm, and personally handing them to her after her things were cleared out and he’d locked up. Charlotte liked him. She was the reason that Jasper had selected him and he was closer to her than to Jasper, but only because it was hard to get close to Jasper, especially now that he believed himself to be a king.

Henry helped Charlotte to unpack, wishing that he still had that hypermotility. Dang, that would have made this a breeze. Charlotte had a lot of stuff and she was very particular with how she set things up. One area that he was intrigued by looked like a shrine of sorts, with a shelf in the middle, and she hung a photo of her and Jasper above it. “What is that?”

“My gift center,” she said, setting things there from a box marked Gifts From Jasper. “I keep stuff that Jasper gives me in an exposed and visible area. It helps the room to have a good attitude.” He made a confused face, but didn’t want to even ask. “I can feel the energy in these gifts, because I know the motivations and the emotions behind them,” she explained.

“You becoming all metaphysical on me?”

“Not all, but I definitely feel like… energy is something that can be manipulated by certain objects and intentions. Like, you ever meet someone and you can just feel that something is off about them? That’s how I was with Casper and I was absolutely correct about her, even though for a whole year she was nothing but pleasant to me, I knew that there was some negative vibrations there.”

“You do like tarot cards and stuff?” He asked.

“No. I don’t know enough about that area of spirituality and I honestly don’t feel like committing the time to learn.”

“Dang. I was gonna ask you to do a reading for me,” Henry joked.

“We can go to one. There’s a girl in the BSU that does them. I feel like she’s the real deal. She grew up in Louisiana in this matriarchal witch family. Though… I don’t know if witch is the right word. I can’t remember what she said. Jasper might, though. He’s fascinated by that stuff. They have an entire segment on the radio show for African spirituality and diaspora practices.”

“I… we should get a reading, just as a gag.”

“You don’t do it as a gag!” She complained, shaking her head.

“Okay, we can do it for real, then.”

“Well, I’ll have to see if she’s available. She has an online business, where she prepares spells and herbal roots and oils and jewelry and stuff. I’ll check her prices for the readings.” She grabbed her phone and Henry kept unpacking. They were bringing the empty, broken down boxes to the recycling bin whenever Jasper’s truck pulled up. They heard him before they saw him. The truck was always so loud, but it was old and cheap, so that was why he had it. He didn’t want to spend a lot of money on something that he only planned on driving for now. Charlotte began buying her reliable but affordable car in high school. She made regular payments on it to try to help build her credit and by the time she was ready to leave for college, it was paid off. It was a metallic gold hatchback and had horse decals on it. Jasper’s big orange truck had all kinds of bumper stickers and window stickers that he’d peppered it with. Henry turned up his nose, “Why is it orange?”

“That was the cheapest thing that he could find when he was looking, and he loves it. He says that he’s always gonna have orange vehicles, now.”

“WHY?”

“Probab;y because he’s an attention whore,” she said.

Jasper had a pretty booming speaker system in the truck and was blasting music, because that helped him not to hear the troubling sounds that the truck made. He turned off the car and got out with a little box, “Hey, Henry!” he said and waved at him. “Chef’s Kiss…” He slid the box to Henry and wrapped his arms around Charlotte. “Did New Henry give you your keys?”

“Yes,” she said.

“Did who?” Henry asked.

“His little brother,” Charlotte said.

“His name is Henry too?” Henry asked.

“No,” Charlotte said, but left it at that and asked, “What’s that?”

“A homewarming present,” Jasper said and took the box back. It made tiny whimper sounds and she noticed it had holes in it.

“Housewarming, and Jasper, is that a living creature?”

“You don’t have a house. You have an apartment, and no..” he opened the box and said, “It’s TWO living creatures!” She looked to see two very adorable puppies with collars and tags… “Lady and the Tramp!”

“Wow. All I got you was a cake.”

“I prefer cake,” she said, then to Jasper, “Jasper, you cannot just give people responsibilities as a housewarming gift! I don’t have time to raise two dogs!”

“I’ll be here like everyday. All you’ll need to do is be happy to see them when you get home.” She bit her thumbnail and stared at him, displeased. That was what that face was. He knew that much. He handed the puppy box to Henry again, pulled out his life goals journal, unlocked it and made an X on the list, which made Charlotte smile, in spite of herself. “I am willing to take on all of the responsibilities parts of them. I’ll make sure they’re fed and clean and…”

“You need to make sure that they know how to use the bathroom before they are moving in here, Dude. I’m not cleaning up dog poo from any surface of my new apartment.”

“That’s fair,” he said. Henry was already petting the boxed puppies and taking photos when Jasper reached for the box. “I’m gonna let them run around in the back of the truck while I’m here. That’s where I got the dog house, anyway.”

“The…” Charlotte looked and saw the doghouse that she didn’t know where the heck he thought that he was putting in her apartment. She turned around and went into the apartment, leaving both dudes and both dogs outside.

“I didn’t get a chance to tell her that they’re both girls because I couldn’t find a male Schnauzer for Tramp. I don’t think she’ll like me naming a girl Tramp, but it’s symbolic.”

“I don’t think that Charlotte likes animals,” Henry said, climbing into the back of Jasper’s truck. “And, she seems more like a cat person, right?”

“She just doesn’t have the time to raise them, but she’s gonna love Lady and the Tramp, once they’re ready to be civilized.”

“She didn’t love Katelyn. She barely acknowledged that she was alive and Katelyn was effing adorable.”

“She took care of Katelyn all of the time! You just weren’t there to see it,” Jasper fussed.

“Why are you getting pissed?”

“I’m not. I’m just irritated that you’re acting like you still know her better than I do.”

“That’s not what I’m… I’m sorry. How are you doing? What season is it for your sports?”

“Wrestling season is October until March. Boxing events usually begin in March. I have Dodge-a-leen practices all year, but tournaments are late spring, usually. Thinking about reviving kite disc for good on campus and just having it be among frats and stuff. I miss it, but I had to give it up. I’d give up anything for Charlotte.”

“Is… that why you felt like you had to give me up?” Henry asked. Jasper gave him a look. “I just felt like we could all still be friends. Whenever you left for college, you were really on this ‘of course we’ll still be friends’ thing, but we haven’t talked out what happened.”

“What’s there to talk out? I apologized and you said, NBD.”

“I said NBD because you apologized, but that doesn’t mean it was resolved. Especially because you told me that I never reached out to you, then when I did, you weren’t available,”

“So, I was supposed to wait for you to decide that you had some need for me? I have things to do, too. Maybe I’m not saving Swellview, but I’m not sitting around waiting to mean something to you, either.”

Henry set The Tramp down and clasped his hands together, “I’m still the same dude who was willing to give up Kid Danger for you. I’m still the same person who took on a full shift at Cactus Con so you could be on a date! I’m still…”

“You’re still the dude who was having wet dreams about my girlfriend right before we got together and acted like I was being an asshole for not wanting you to sleep in the same bed anymore!”

“Okay. Okay. Well, I apologize for making you feel uncomfortable…”

“Being friends means respecting boundaries. This is the woman that I plan to marry. Your friendship makes me uncomfortable, but that’s not why you and me fell out. You and me fell out because whenever I expressed to you how I felt about it, you talked to me like I was a dumbass, and you accused me of mistreating Charlotte!”

“You were mistreating Charlotte!”

“That wasn’t the way to say it! When I’m trying to tell you what I don’t like or don’t want to happen and you respond that way, it makes me feel like not only did you not care about my boundaries, but you used her pain to try to attack me because you didn’t like me setting those boundaries! And… That’s just fucked up to do to both of us, yet I’m the only person who apologized for my behavior that night. I’ve been apologizing to people for standing up for myself for too long. I know myself better and I deserved better.”

Henry nodded his head and collected Lady to pet her and help him feel better. “That is a lot to process. That makes sense. I think you’re right and I never realized any of that before now, because we didn’t talk about it. But, no matter what kind of dreams I had about Charlotte years ago, mind you… I’d never try to do anything with her and even if I had, she’d shoot me down and probably clobber me. She’s been dickmatized by you since Day 1.”

“I don’t like…”

“I mean, she’s been enamoured with you. Most of the time we talk, it’s about your relationship and how much she loves you. I envy that and I would love to have that with someone, but that someone would never even cross my mind to be Charlotte. And I will sleep in my van before I make you feel that uncomfortable again, or before I won’t hear you out when you’re telling me about boundaries, or before I go without just kickin’ it with my bro for all this time. I’ve got an empty spot where you’re supposed to be, in here, Dude.” He pointed all of his fingers to his heart.

Jasper smiled and said, “You know how she got into her whole energy/vibrations thing? She was researching what Jasper meant, because she had this idea to gift me some Jasper stones and she wanted to know more about them. So, she read somewhere that Jasper is the “Supreme Nurturer,” a stone of grounding and stability, providing comfort and security, strength and healing. Its presence balances the aura to a level of wholeness and peace, and acts as a reminder that one is not here on the physical plane simply for oneself, but to bring joy and substance to others… and she said, “Babe… That is SO you!” And I cried and I started looking for the perfect ring… and she started looking into stones and energy and all that stuff.”

“She’s right, though, That is so you. Why do you think I miss you so much?”

“I missed you too.. I just couldn’t let go of my pride until you seemed like you really cared about what I was trying to tell you that I cared about.” They smiled at each other, then hugged it out.

“So… Did you find it? The perfect ring?”

“No. I think I may have to have it made.”

“Does she know that you’re looking?”

“I haven’t confirmed anything, but she’s the smartest person I know, so maybe.”

“Well, I won’t say anything, but damn it, I’d better be included on however it happens… Unless it's a private just you and her typed thing.”

“I’m trying to find the perfect way too…” Jasper admitted. “When you’ve been doing great things for somebody for a while, it’s hard to outdo yourself.”

“Yeah, the stuff that she brags on you about, I honestly don’t know how you can possibly top them, but you keep doing so, so…” Henry shrugged and sniffed around, “What is…”

“LADY!” Jasper said and Henry looked down at the puppy who peed on him.

“That’s awesome…” he said, sarcastically.

It was good for Jasper to have Henry back, The dynamics of their friendship had definitely changed, as Jasper was less determined to lay himself down for Henry, but he still loved him and having him and Charlotte around when it was time to meet his dad was encouraging. It was a 4 hour drive, so Charlotte drove the way to get to Henry and then Henry drove the rest of the way to Mr. Dunlop’s place.

Whenever they pulled into the address that had been given to Jasper online, the first thing that Jasper did was take the dogs to make waste. Henry and Charlotte were going to take them for a walk while he met up with his dad and not be too far away, in case he had to call on them.

Charlotte was carrying Lady because, “She gets excited and runs off too much,” but, they both had leashes, so Henry was confused, but didn’t bother.

Charlotte kept looking at the house, no matter how far they got from it and checking her phone. Henry realized that she probably was in protective mode. Whenever she thought her Jasper was in trouble, she was one feisty little woman. “Hey! Remember that time that Ray punched Jasper out and you came in and on sight, beat him up with your backpack?” She gave him a blank stare, unsure of why he was bringing that up. He smiled awkwardly. “That was funny to me… Albeit, terrifying.” He shut up.

“Trample, where you goin,’ Sis?” Charlotte said and Tramp turned around and came rushing back to her. “Here,” He said, handing Lady off to Henry.

“Last time I held her, she peed on me.”

“Dude, that was months ago.” Charlotte said, dismissively and picked up Tramp.

“They can walk and we have leashes, why do you keep holding them?” He asked.

“The musty lady in the apartments let her dogs free run beside her and one of them got hit by the public bus!” Henry gasped in horror and cuddled Lady close to himself. “Yeah. That public bus near the apartments is scary. I don’t want them to get used to just running around, unless I live somewhere with an open area and minimal vehicles. A college town is kind busy for that.”

He nodded, “Okay, okay… But… We’re not in town right now and I haven’t seen any vehicles since we got here. Let’s just let them use these for now and if something happens, we pick them back up.” She nodded and let him put the leashes on the girls and walk them. “Are you worried about Jasper, Dude?” Whenever she was worried, she was a little more high strung. She nodded. “His dad seems like he wanted to meet him. I think it’s probably going well.”

“Yeah, but… Jasper just got to where he’s able to balance his issues out with his current situation and I just don’t want anybody shaking him up and throwing him off of his center.”

“That’s not gonna happen as long as he has you. From how I understand it, you’re his center.” She took a deep breath and looked at the house again. “Let’s go back and see if we can check on him,” Henry suggested.

A dark skinned woman with a huge afro, in draping, colorful clothes and a lot of jewelry opened the door and smiled at them. Charlotte and Henry glanced at their car in the driveway, then the house, then the woman. Charlotte asked, “Is… Is Jasper Dunlop here?”

“Yeah, he’s here.” She said and opened up to let them inside. “They’re in the meditation room. Mind taking off your shoes? Also, we’ll bring the dogs out back. It’s fenced in and covered. Hawks won’t get to them.”

“Hawks???” Charlotte shrieked.

“Hawks WON’T get to them,” Henry repeated. “Thank you,” he said. “She’s kind of an anxiety mom.”

The Black woman said, “Well, I can make you some relaxation tea. It was helpful for Jasper. Passionflower with a little lavender and chamomile. You’ll calm down and also sleep like a baby tonight.”

“I… Are you a witch?” Charlotte asked.

“You can say that. I’m a healer, a practitioner of Hoodoo herbalism, tribal holistic care and divination.”

“Oh! Like your friend from Louisiana,” Henry said to Charlotte.

“They have a deep history with spirituality and healing in Louisiana, but I’m from Oklahoma. Descendant of African slaves and Native American slave owners, if you can believe it.While we were recently expelled from tribes as members, you can’t illegalize blood, therefore the magic of all of my ancestors is within me,” the woman said, nodding her head as she released the dogs from their leashes and helped them through a doggie door. “I began to seek out the meanings of my dreams and found a mambo who connected me to my roots. I began practicing, only first to see if I really had a gift, then years later, as a believer. It’s how I met Jack Leigh. He wanted help from some things and a friend told him about me. But, then he saw me and forgot what he wanted help with and asked me on a date, instead.” She laughed.

“I can see why,” Henry said.

Charlotte mumbled, “I can see why Jasper’s mom hates me.”

The woman shook her head, “Is there anybody that woman doesn’t hate?”

“Herself?” Henry tried to guess.

“I wish that were true. That’s where she has to begin her healing and until she does, none of her intentions will be corrected.”

“Are you Jack Leigh’s wife?” Henry wondered.

“I am so sorry! I never introduced myself. Adanna Blackfoot.” She shook both their hands and led them to a sink in the little side area of the kitchen that looked out into the backyard. Charlotte could see the doggie enclosure. There were all kinds of plants and flowers growing on the fence surrounding them. The three of them washed their hands and talked a little while. Charlotte was fascinated with Jasper’s stepmom, though she said she didn’t feel that was a fair title, because she only knew Jasper from afar and word of mouth. But, Charlotte still wished THIS was the woman who’d raised her man. He’d be so much more in love with himself, and not just faking it. They eventually made it to the meditation room and Jasper was happy to see them. “Sorry, was I taking too long?”

Charlotte met him with a hug and a kiss, “I was worried about you, but Adanna eased my mind.”

“She and Uncle Rox would be great friends,” Jasper said.

“Uncle Rocks?” Jack Leigh repeated, confused, because Jasper didn’t have any uncles by that name.

“My uncle Roscoe,” Charlotte said.

“Roscoe Bolton?” Jack Leigh asked. From their faces, he could tell that was who they meant. “Wait a minute… You mean to tell me that your fiance is The Bolt’s niece?”

“Uncle Rox just became infinitely cooler because he is known as The Bolt. Say more, right now!” Jasper said, excitedly. Charlotte was more on the we all just glazed by that F word, huh?

“Hell, The Bolt introduced me and Adanna! What’s he up to? I haven’t heard from that fool in years.”

“Still a fool,” Charlotte and Henry said, but Jasper had said, “He’s the best!” Charlotte looked at Henry and said softly, “So… did you hear him say…”

“Yeah, I did.”

“Okay. Tell me something,” she said and laughed a little. Fiancee? Was that how Jasper had described her? Because… YEAH - they most definitely were most likely gonna get married. She certainly hoped so, but they hadn’t discussed it in a solid form yet. It was more like how kids discussed graduation… an event that you look forward to and you know it’s happening and even have certain elements and dreams about it that you must include. But, not knowing what college you’d attend, what your GPA will be, what major you would choose. It was like, sure marriage was a real possibility, but it wasn’t something he’d asked her to do or something she had started preparing for - things that she associated with being a fiancee… Everybody was looking at her and she rewinded her mind a little to try to recall what they’d said in the background while she was in her thoughts. Think he’d mind if I got his contact info? “Uh, no. I’ll give him a call and verify, though…”

“Small world,” Henry said.

“It’s a huge world, but everything is definitely connected,” Adanna said, pouring the new brew of tea for the additional guests.

At some point, after a lot of laughter and stuff, Henry said, “Hey… Adanna, do you do like readings?”

“Not professionally,” she said. “I’ve limited it to friends and family, loved ones, for personal reasons.”

“Oh,” he said, sadly. “Char and I have been trying to make an appointment with her friend, but our schedules never line up with her available spots.”

“Well, for the two of you, of course, I would.” She said and smiled, getting up to retrieve her cards. Charlotte was staring at Jasper, still thinking about the F word and wondering what happened before they made it in. He’d definitely been crying at some point. He had his ‘crying bags’ under his eyes. He was in good spirits now, but she wanted to know what went on when she wasn’t there to protect and comfort him. He looked back at her and made a confused face. He was wondering what she was thinking about. She mouthed ‘I love you,’ to him and watched the smile on his face beam. “I’m so lucky,” he said out loud. Jack Leigh smiled at the two of them. Beautiful couple. Wonderful boy. He’d really messed up missing out on shaping him.

#A Chasper Fic #chasper #henry danger #hd fanfic #Nesha HD Fics

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johannepetereric · 2 years

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TWITFLASH AND TWIDDLEGRAM—🤣🤣🤣🤣OH HOW I MISS THIS SHOW!!!

#henry danger #ep 3

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the-tendo-blog · 6 years

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Hhhhh,mmm nnrrrgg

It’s 1:30am I’m tired and hungry as fuck @youngbloodthekilljoy here it is better post before I regret it in the morning

This is going to suck ass and be really fucking short bc it’s currently like 1am and I’m falling asleep as I type this but oh well

——

“Are you serious right now?” Henry shouted in indignation at the notification on his phone. “This guy again?”

“I’ve been looking through this guy’s account, and I wouldn’t block them. I can’t put my finger on why, but they seem familiar. I think it’s someone we know.” Charlotte replied, glancing up from her phone screen.

“And how exactly would you know that?” Henry asked her condescendingly.

“They just seem familiar in a weird way. I don’t know why, the only person we know who can shitpost like this is Oliver, but I know his account and this isn’t it.”

The discussion was interrupted by ray walking out to greet the two of them, as energetic as usual. “Hey guys! What’s going on out here?”

Henry headed over to ray and showed him a post on his phone.

“this guy on twitflash called ‘shitsmoker420’ keeps replying to a bunch of my posts with pictures of beans in really weird places.”

Ray looked over the post, about as weirded out as Henry.

“Why can’t you just block them?”

Henry shrugged. “They aren’t really doing anything bad and I’d feel guilty for blocking them, plus Charlotte says she’s been looking through the account because it seemed weirdly familiar.”

Ray was going to protest, but was sidetracked when the crime alert went off. The two heroes bolted over and picked up the call.

“Captain man and kid danger hotline. What’s wrong?”

It took the voice on the other end a minute to respond.

“yeah, this guy at swellview Park who looks like a supervillain is trying to make us all go deaf with some weird music!”

Ray and Henry looked at each other. Ray turned back to the screen, although there was no video. “We’ll be right over.”

On the drive there, ray handed Henry a pair of special earplugs that would block out the weapon but allow him to hear everything else around him.

Eventually, it got a little too quiet in the car, and henry asked ray to put on some music. Ray put something on from his phone that sounded like some kind of Korean rap music, but Henry couldn’t tell for sure because ray immediately scrambled to turn it off.

After a painfully long awkward silence, they finally arrived. The two put in their special ear plugs and headed out to find the offender standing over swellview Park with a huge speaker. Ray tried to look for a way to get the evildoer’s attention, but was interrupted when Henry walked out and unplugged the speakers.

The villain climbed down and pulled the hood of their jacket down, revealing themselves as none other than 6IX9INE himself.

“Dude, what the fuck? We were out here! Getting lit, getting-“ he was cut off by getting punched in the face and curb stomped by captain man right on the spot.

“Captain man?” Henry asked.

“I’m not scared of a rainbow dumbass that can’t rap.” Ray said and lead Henry to the car and headed back.

The next few days were fairly normal, shitsmoker420 continued to beanpost, no crime was happening, everyone just got to chill.

One day, henry and jasper were getting ready to sit down and watch some stupid shit when Charlotte burst through the door.

“Guys! shitsmoker420 changed his profile picture and revealed who he is!” She said as she ran over and jumped down right next to Henry and jasper.

“Really? Show me.” Jasper said and leaned over to see.

Charlotte tapped shitsmoker420’s profile picture, showing a purposely awful mirror selfie of ray with an anime girl poorly photoshopped next to him.

jasper burst out laughing upon realizing ray was the one running an impressive shitpost account, while Henry got up to find him, unsure if he should demand answers or just beat the shit out of ray when he finds him.

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henry-hart · 6 years

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Mo’ Danger, Mo’ Problems s1 ep2

this one is long, just saying. lolol I just really loved it and had a lot to say :))))))

“OK HEN’S VOICE IS DIFFERENT IN THIS EP asjlksjk guess there was time btw this one and the pilot

he’s still incredibly adorable tho

“He’s gotta fix that elevator.” ...and then he never did lolol

OKAY so 13 yr old Henry found a way across town at almost 12 at night???? NO MY SON. THAT IS DANGEROUS (also does Swellview have a bus system??? did he walk??? I need to know.)

“’Put this watch on your wrist.’ Sure. What else would I put it on???” .....

hologram Ray pretending that Hen poked his eye out askjsl

“I’m gonna contact you on this watch now.” “What do I do with the old one?” “Toss it up in the air.” “.....Why?” “It’s about to self-destruct.” “Dahhh!” *tosses watch but it doesn’t do anything* “Hmm. That’s weird It’s supposed to--” BAM lololol

Do you think they chose Puerto Rico history for Hen’s test subject bc Jace is Puerto Rican??? I mean, it’s a lil specific to be coincidence (i hope they did)

“Ah, Puerto Rico. Land of....” “Puerto Ricans???” “Right.” alakjsklj

I FORGOT ABOUT THIS EP. THIS ONE IS SO FUNNY!!!! (I’m remembering what happens later in the ep lol)

antique bottle shop named “Glass from the Past” gotta love the witty names

“Let’s blow some bubbles and fight some crime.” so I see we aren’t into lame puns yet lolol

the “awwww my boot!” line is in this ep “Up the boot! Ow!” “HA!”

“Give me that pretty lavender bottle...because it matches my motorcycle helmet.” asjdlkj you can always count on hd bad guys to be goofy “You better bubble wrap that, chump! That ain’t no good to me busted.”

soooooo Ray walks in through the front door of the shop while Hen just....kind of.....walks in from...the side??? Like, Jace literally just entered from the side of the stage/set. wowowow lol

“Kid Danger.” “Yeah.” he looks so smug ajsklsjksjlk like, “that’s right. you know who i am.”

Ray telling the robber to try hitting him again lolol “Try to keep your arm straight.”

*robber hits him* “Strike three.” Hen pops in “That was only two...” “Okay, don’t correct me in front of the criminals.”

RAY YOU JUST THREW THE ROBBER INTO THAT MAN’S GLASS. WUT R U DOING???

“You really want to fight us?” looks at KD “Can I just fight the kid?” Hen’s all “???” lolol

“No you can’t just fight the--” “Sure he can! Come on, tough guy.” “Ok.” *puts his helmet over Hen’s head*

poor Hen is just spinning around

golf clubs in a store that sells glass. that’s gonna end well.

“KD! Catch this golf club!” *hits Hen in the head* aksjlsjsk

CM AND KD YOU ARE NOT HELPING!!!! YOU ARE BREAKING ALL THAT POOR MAN’S GLASS!!!!

“CM! Where are you?” “Follow the sound of my voice!” *a game of Marco/Polo w/ A LOT OF GLASS BREAKING ensues*

“Would you superheroes just leave!!!!” I feel for you, man.

Ray had to stop a wild, golf club swinging Henry lolol

“Where is he??? Did I get him???” he asks, standing amidst all the glass he broke while RAY got the bad guy

“Yeah, you got him.”

“My whole store is destroyed!” “No need to thank us.” “Thank you?” “You’re welcome.” Ray y r u lik dis

Hen’s hair is all wild from the helmet ajskjlskj

“Let’s go, KD.” “NO!!! Nobody leaves until you boys clean up all of this broken glass.”

MY POOR BB HAS TO BE UP AT 7 FOR SCHOOL. RAY YOU DID NOT NEED TO CALL HIM TO HELP YOU. YOU ENDED UP GETTING THE BAD GUY ALL BY YOURSELF. HENRY JUST BROKE MORE GLASS. LET MY SON GET HIS SLEEP!!!!

“This will only take us like....5 hrs. I’ll get u a broom!” *Hen just sinks to the floor* :(((((

Ms. Shapen just gave Hen a wet willy. aksjlksj The ever classy Sherona Shapen, ladies and gents.

CHARLOTTE IS SO TINY. EVEN THE KIDS IN THE BACK OF THE CLASS ARE SO TINY. THEY’RE. ALL. SO. TINY.

“This is what happens when you stay up all night on Twitflash and Twittlegram.” alksjskjls

poor Hen slept through his whole test (much like in my fic....hee hee)

J....y wud u want....a....wet willy???? (I love Ms. Shapen’s answering face alksjlskj)

Hen just drops back down on his desk. my son :((((

THE FIRST EVER TITLE SEQUENCE!!!!!! (last ep just had the title of the show. this one has the whole “It all just kind of happened” shebang)

“Now I protect the good citizens of Swellview.” Do you Ray? Do you?? (peep him charging ppl for that “protection” in a few years)

Hen just pouring an ENTIRE POT OF COFFEE into, as Char calls it, “a comedically large cup.” askdksjslk I fell you. I don’t drink coffee, but i. feel. you.

never get tired of these whack shows they watch on here. Natural surgery???? Surgery w/ no anesthesia??? what is that???? lolol

“You’re 13. You can’t be drinking this much coffee!!!!” “But I need it!”

concerned friends ftw

Jasp asking Hen about puberty......

“I haven’t had any dreams bc I’m not getting any sleep.” my bb...:(((

“I always have the same dream. It starts with me getting a horse for my bday. Then Jasp shows up. Then the horse kicks Jasp in the face.” “But I end up being okay, right?” “No.” her face kills me lolol

SIREN HART IS BACK ON MY SCREEN AGAIN. IT IS A BLESSED DAY.

“We’re home! Hen come help me please.” “HENRY, COME HELP YOUR MOTHER!!!” gotta love that s1 Piper

“What what what???” that’s exactly how I respond too hen alksjslkj

HEN MAKING DINNER. :’)))) I. MISS. THESE. DAYS. THE. HART. FAM. IS. MY. FAVE. AND. THEY’RE. NEVER. TOGETHER. ANYMORE. *cries*

how does one make chili balls????

“Make them spicy this time.” I love Piper so much gah

“Seriously? I’m like so busy. I don’t have time.” Ya’ll....the way he said this. he sounds so stressed.....my bb....I’m crying.

remember the days when Piper used to be anti-having Jasp in the house?? lolol I mean, she probs still is now, but she used to be a lot more vocal about it. “Aw man, Jasper’s here???” “Piper be nice.” “But Jasper’s always here. It’s NOT okay!!!”

“I’m going to the bathroom.” “Oh no, mom. Jasper’s going to use our bathroom.” ajskjslj

Piper telling on everyone as soon as her dad gets home akjslksj classic

their dad was a lot more....tolerable earlier on. I don’t mean he’s a bad character or anything. It’s just, he’s usually played for laughs now instead of being a parent. We get to see him actually parenting Hen in this ep, and it’s so nice.

“Jasper’s using our bathroom.” “Oh jeez.” Like father like daughter kajslkj (also looks like Hen got his phrase from his dad. cute!)

“and Henry said he’s not gonna make dinner.” “What??? It’s his night!” “I’M GONNA MAKE DINNER!” leave my son alone, Jake (he’s my son. not yours.)

YAS. JAKE SITTING DOWN WITH HENRY TO GIVE HIM A NICE PARENT TALK ABOUT MS. SHAPEN CALLING HIM ABOUT HENRY’S FAILED TEST. YAS. YAS. YAS. I LOVE ME SOME HEALTHY FAMILIAL CONTENT!!!!!

“She called you at work?!?.....Ah, that’s so rude of her. God.” alksjslk nice save hen

“Do you realize how important Puerto Rican history is???” aksjlkjs I really thing they’re doing this bc of Jace. Like, I really do.

Hen apologizing for letting his dad down :’))))

JAKE. HART. BEING. CONCERNED. FOR. HIS. SON. YASSSSS. He sees that maybe having a job is causing Hen’s grades to slip THIS is how you parent. (wish i had me a dad like that...)

you don’t get your 12 yr old daughter to drive u home from mouth surgery.....looking at you s4

“I can’t quit! My job’s a really big deal.” *puts hand on his dad’s leg* “It’s a junk shop. *moves Hen’s hand* You sweep the floors.” ajskjskjskl if only you knew

Hen’s like “I’m gonna go upstairs and study right now!” he takes off and his dad grabs him at the last second and makes him do this spin and akjsljs I just thought that was funny

“You study after you make the chili balls. And make them spicy this time.” He and Piper share this look lolol they’re so similar. it’s crazy

Hen yawning as he serves dinner :(((( he doesn’t even eat. he’s going without food AND sleep. MY SON NO!!!!

“I posted a pic, and now it has 45 comments. So now i have to comment on the comments!” “I’m about to comment on you.” asklkjskl (too tru tho Pipes)

RAYMOND. STOP FUSSING AT MY SON. HE IS TRYING HIS HARDEST. HE CAN ONLY DO SO MANY THINGS AT ONCE.

“Why aren’t you on your way over here???” “Because. I got in trouble for sleeping in class....and i had to make chili balls.” “Chili...balls?” “It was ‘my night’.” lolol I love the way Hen says that. so snarky

Hen stretching over his bed like “I’m just gonna....” slaps himself in the face to keep up “Maybe I can just....I’m just gonna lie down. 5 minutes tops. just 5 min” before he just passes out is SUCH a mood.

Okay, Ray coming in thru hen’s window all angry in covered in sewage is HILARIOUS

like, I love this little “I’m gonna kill him” angry dance thing he does aksjlkjs

oh my god he’s waving his smell in Hen’s direction asjksjsl

“Awww what’s that smell???” “I’m that smell!”

“Well, Ray, I guess I fell asleep.” “WeLl I gUeSs I fElL aSlEeP!!!” Ray u sound like scooby-doo aksjskj

“You know what’s down in the Swellview sewer???” “....poop.” “POOP!”

omg I forgot about Pipes being suspicious of the voices in Hen’s room

“Who are u talking to in here???” “Nobody.” “MOM!!!!!” “Aw jeez.” using his dad’s phrase :)))))

Hen blaming the smell on piper aksjlslkj

“It’s Piper.” “What???” “She hasn’t had a bath in a week.” “That’s a lie!”

“You disappointed me tonight.” “I’m disappointing everybody. People should just call me ‘Kid Disappointment’.” Hen....:((( (but the way he said the last part was really funny akjdlskj)

WHAAAATTT???? RAY WANTS HEN TO TALK TO HIM TO HELP FIGURE OUT A SOLUTIONG TO A PROBLEM???? YOU MEAN HE’S NOT BEING UNJUSTIFIABLY PARANOID OR RIDICULOUS??? HE’S NOT JUMPING TO CONCLUSIONS??? HE’S NOT BREAKING THE LAW OR HARMING OTHERS OR DOUBTING HENRY’S INTEGRITY????? WHAAAATTT????

^^^^^that was a jab at the Ray we’ve seen as of late

“Time. School. Working for you. My family. It’s just a lot to handle.” TOO TRUE HENRY. TOO. FREAKING. TRUE.

“I do know a guy who can get rid of your family.” Who, Ray. Who do you know?

Ray actually wanting to fix a problem rather than make it worse. Yes.

and so begins Ray’s crush on Siren. Nice try dude. My crush began the second she was on screen.

“Who’s this?” “My mom.” “Niiiiiiice. Is she still, uh, married to your dad, or--” “Yes.” “Does she ever seem lonely or--” “Go home, Ray.”

“The picture, Ray.”

aksjdklj I love that interchange.

also Hen just has this portrait of his mom in his room lolol what a momma’s boy :)))))

Jasp x Char covering for Hen even tho they have no idea what’s up ;’))))

GOOCH. MY MAN.

Henry does NOT have hepatitis Japser!!!! ajslkjslk

Gooch and Hen harmonizing those weird sounds omg lolol

“Oohloolooloooloooo--why am I doing this?!??!?!”

“Relax, kid.” “I can’t. I’ve got a huge makeup test tomorrow. I need to study, and you guys are making me go ‘oohloolooloo’“ “It’s ‘Oohloolooloo--” “I don’t care!!!!” I LOVE sassy Henry

all studying done in 30 seconds???? Where can i get me one of these???

“It’s a cerebral data transducer--or as we call it, the HRZ.” wtf???? lolol

“Why am i locked in a chair???” Hen asking the real questions.

the way Ray says “Puerrrrto RRRRRicoooo!”

“Will this hurt???” “Yes.” WHAT???” lolol

okay can you imagine the now jace being as extra as this jace??? No??? I didn’t think so. lololol

“Well?” “That hurt BAAAAD!!!”

“I don’t know anything about P--” *starts spitting out random PR facts* askjljsk “Wooooaaahhhh. I know Puerto Ricoooooo.”

the amount of times they’ve said Puerto Rico in this ep is crazy. I’m definitely convinced they did this for Jace alskjskl

“Do you think it’s cheating???” “Ehhhh.” “It’s a gray area.” GOOCH X RAY ARE MY FAVES. (i love Schwoz, but Ray x Gooch had some good chemistry.)

“I really doing this appreciate you for me.’ ASKLJDLKSJ I LOVE THIS PART OF THE EPISODE. THE SIDE EFFECTS ARE MY FAVORITE PART.

at first, i didn’t even register that he’d switched the order of the words. I was like, “Ok, I knew what he meant, but something about it made my brain feel weird???” lololol

I wonder if Jace had a hard time getting the mixed up order right akjsksl

I love the way Ray says “Uh oh.” with his eyes closed. Like, “I knew this might happen, but I was really hoping it wouldn’t.” lksjklsj

“Well you could’ve before that you told me!!!” THESE PARTS ARE MAKING ME LAUGH SO HARD.

Henry: *screams all high-pitched* aljsklsjls I’M CACKLING

I FORGOT HOW MUCH I LOVED THIS EPISODE!!!!!!!!

“So I’m gonna girl like a days for a few screams---wait.” LOLOLOLOL

*screams again*

“.......You guys wanna get lunch?” CLASSIC Ray. (can something be classic already in the first ep??? I guess the word is vintage. VINTAGE Ray.....but those r the same thing??? I don’t know ajksjlsk)

“The Vermont army finally surrendered and fled the coconut plantations.” “Coconuts in Vermont?” askjslkj school really be like that sometimes

Jasper just doodling the whole time. ME.

“Okay everyone. Get out.” Ms. Shapen is a constant mood. lolol

“100 my makeup test on I got!!!.....I mean, I got a hundred on my makeup test???” aksjlk I love u Hen

*randomly screams* “...” “.... That was inappropriate.” “I just got excited.”I CAN’T TELL YOU HOW MUCH THIS PART MAKES ME LAUGH ALKSJKLSJ

“I’m really proud of you, Henry. I’d give you a hug if it wouldn’t get me fired.” ajsksj

“Have a good weekend.” “Too you.” “....”

Henry said “Yeah, baby!” to Char. :))))) (I know it was just a quick thing on the fly, but it’s still cute)

“Where were you?” “I go to had somewhere.”

ya’ll. Henry’s mix ups are KILLING me.

“One more time???” “I. had. to. go. somewhere. Nailed it.”

*randomly screams again*

CHAR’S SCARED FACE. I’M DYING.

“You later see!” ALKSJKLJSK

I LAUGHED FOR THE ENTIRETY OF THE END OF THIS EPISODE.

I JUST REALLY LOVE THIS EPISODE. I FORGOT HOW MUCH I DID, AND IT WAS GREAT TO BE REMINDED.

this ep had it all

tired/overworked/stressed hen and his supportive friends and fam

then there’s that GOLDEN last two minutes with the side effects

just. wow.

props to Jace for doing an incredible job

he really delivered the goofiness. love my boy :))))))

rewatching these was such a good idea <3333

#this ep is def one of my faves #i was reminded how much i love it #hope this was enjoyable for you guys too #hd rewatch #mo' danger mo' problems

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queen-of-writing-bad-things · 8 months

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Henry Danger Reader Insert | Captain Man x Reader: SEASON 4

Episode 2: Brawl in the Hall

~In the Man Cave~

Nothing is ever normal, not when you're a superhero. But for once, the not-so-normal thing wasn't happening to (y/n) or Ray or even Henry, it was Charlotte who had landed herself in hot water. It had been a regular day at school, she'd been in class, learned some stuff, had lunch and had just been about to go to Junk-N-Stuff for work, but then, she ran into trouble. Trouble being Bysh Bilsky, the infamous sister of the school's number one bully, Mitch.

It had all started when they were waiting for Piper to drive them to work, a terrible idea but neither she nor Henry could be bothered to walk and Piper had a licence technically, so why the hell not? It had all gone to shit when Jasper told them that in his detention session, he'd had the absolute pleasure of spending the hour with Bysh herself and the friends had taken a moment to just reminisce about the time she had hilariously put a scorpion in Miss Shapen's purse, something that in Swellview High was legendary, not that Bysh took it that way.

She'd, unfortunately, walked through the corridor at the wrong moment and overheard something about her name, followed Charlotte laughing. Jumping to the conclusion, the notorious, rough girl got into a bit of a scuffle with the certainly less bulky teen and challenged her to a fight, like they were some kind of freaky knights or wrestlers. Of course, Charlotte freaked out at the situation, not wanting to get into trouble or beaten to a pulp, but when Henry tried to pop a gumball so Kid Danger could teach Bysh a lesson (she blew a raspberry in his face, she deserved it), he and Jasper rounded the corner to see that she'd chucked poor Charlotte into a trash can, something which Piper couldn't resist to hype up.

Where were the teachers? Well, Miss Shapen did turn up eventually and for a second, she was like an angel sent down as a saving grace, until Piper opened her mouth, spilling everything about the fight; when it was happening, who was competing and how she was gonna profit from it, mark her words. Miss Shapen argued that neither of the girls could fight in school, by allowing it she would definitely get the sack, but there wasn't a rule about brawling out of school hours. Loopholes, they're great.

Sharona was adamant, the girl would have to have their fight when no teachers were about, so the date was set. Seven-thirty, Monday morning, Bysh Bilsky versus Charlotte, the fight of the century and it wasn't long before the shitstorm on Piper's fairly popular Twitflash reached the news. Some people have strange things to report on.

"Ray! Ray! I need you! Where are you?!" (y/n) screamed, rushing down from the sprocket as she searched her home from top to bottom for her handsome boyfriend, who hadn't been in the bathroom, hadn't been in the bedroom, hadn't been in the kitchen. He was lounging around on the couch, reading some crappy book and snacking on chips when she came bounding down to excitedly tackle him, her knees straddling his waist as she whipped the book from his hands and forced him to look into her eyes. What was all the excitement for?

"Sweet girl, you still needy after this morning? Two and a half hours not good enough for you? You know you'll have to wait until tonight, 'cause Henry and Charlotte will be here any minute." Ray smirked, his hands settling on her hips as she blushed and looked away from him as she understood the entendre. It was true, their morning had been particularly busy and she'd be a liar if she said that just a tad more wouldn't be unwanted, but that's not what she had run across the Man Cave to tell him. She had news, important news, not that he was interested; her figure was much more enthralling and his hands were starting to wander.

"No, it's not that. And I'm the needy one? Your hands are on my ass." (y/n) whined, trying to keep her on the ball, but he had a one-track mind. He could never get enough of her and at the endearing sight of her red cheeks, he trailed his touched up her spine, bringing her body closer to his so she could rest her cheek on his chest and his arms could settle around her waist. A comfy position, one where he could regularly press kisses to the top of her head and temple, smell the scent of her shampoo and perfume and she could hear the thump-thump-thump of his heartbeat.

"Not my fault, babe, you know I love your ass. And your beautiful face. And your sexy legs. And don't get me started about those fantastic boobs." Ray grinned into her hair, making her smack her palm against his shoulder as her blush grew darker. She loved it when he went on and on about what he loved about her, which was everything, from her head to her toes, but every time, it made her shy and gave her to urge to bury her face into his shirt.

"Shut upppp, flattery will get you nowhere." (y/n) mumbled, fanning her cheeks a little, something that highly amused her boyfriend. His shoulders shook as his chest rumbled with laughter and he took in the moment of just having his girl in his arms, no stress, no worries and he tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear so he could kiss her cheek more easily.

"What did you want to tell me?" He asked, returning to the original matter at hand since it had seemed quite urgent. She altered her position, preferring to sit with her legs across his lap as she imparted the news, suddenly regaining her excitement from before she remembered why she had made the sprint to him.

"Oh, yeah! Have you not seen the news? The breaking story?" She looked into his eyes, dragging a hand across his cheek as he frowned, creasing his eyebrows. He hadn't heard or seen anything and wondered what could have happened that made her get all giddy. She normally wasn't that pumped about the news, well only if it was really interesting.

"No, what's happened?" He murmured, clasping the hand that was tenderly touching his cheek and pressing a kiss to it, loving to go the extra mile just to spark one of her cute reactions. She gazed down at him with such fondness and revelled in the fact that she knew something and Captain Man didn't, a rare thing when you consider how Ray had eyes and ears everywhere.

"Well, I was scrolling through KLVY News and I noticed that Charlotte, as in our Charlotte, has been roped into some fight with that girl who got out of prison last week. You know, the mean one? Bysh Bilsky? She goes to the same school as Henry. Why they've decided to put it on the news, I don't know, but—" She revealed, prompting a sudden energy from her boyfriend as he sat up sharply in the middle of her sentence. Charlotte was fighting who? That girl? She was just a wall of mass; impenetrable and packed a punch and Ray knew one thing. Charlotte was gonna die.

"Wait—Charlotte's fighting Bysh? Oh, man..." He suddenly smiled, confusing the girl in his lap as he suddenly looked like he had cogs turning in his mind and by the fascinated expression on his face, he had been struck by an idea, good or bad.

"What? What are you thinking about? I know that look..." She asked, her voice curious with the hint of a warning as she got the vibe that he was up to something and from experience, she knew that Ray could get up to some right mischief when she wasn't looking. He loved a fight, whether it was promoted on TV or underground in a school, he was gonna get behind it and back Charlotte all the way 'cause without him, she was gonna lose. Hard.

"Sweet girl, I gotta make a few calls. Be back in a bit, you wait here for when Henry and Charlotte get back." The words tumbled from his mouth and after a brief peck pressed to her honeyed lips, he gently moved her legs from across his knees and stood up, running off and leaving her to wonder what the hell he was doing. Who or what was so important that he wanted to leave his sweet girlfriend on the couch, alone and wanting for more kisses?

"Wha—? Ray, where are y—and he's gone. Honestly, why do I bother?" (y/n) muttered, crossing one leg over the other and blowing a wisp of hair away from her eyes as she pouted on the couch. Even when it was just the two of them, tender moments never lasted long and she could only imagine what craziness the next couple of days would bring her. She just had to wait for those two troublemakers to get to work before the real mayhem started.

~Twenty minutes later~

"You just gotta get a baseball ball and then you just hide in the bushes—" Henry advised his friend as they stepped out of the elevator, drawing (y/n)'s attention as she glanced up from the previously abandoned book from Ray and saw that they had finally made it to work. It was pretty boring without anyone around, but she was still fascinated to learn both about the fight and what her boyfriend had planned concerning it.

"No, no, no. I just wanna forget about Bysh and that stupid fight that Piper got me into, okay? Because I am not—" Charlotte told him firmly as they dumped their bags. She was a nervous wreck as it was and wanted a few hours of distraction doing whatever crazy stuff the superheroes wanted because, in all honesty, she didn't want to fight. She was scared of getting hurt, of course, she was, but also, she didn't want to cause any trouble with Bysh. She had no beef, it was just a misunderstanding, not that she could get away from it.

"Hey, guys. What goes on?" (y/n) greeted them as she stood up from the couch, walking over to the teens who ceased their arguing when she entered the conversation. Finally, someone sensible, maybe (y/n) could convince Henry that this whole thing was crazy and that fighting wasn't the answer. Yeah, she knew about the fight, everyone did at this point, but they'd get into that gently...or not.

"Ugh, stupid school stuff. I got into a fi—arghhh!" Charlotte rolled her eyes, ready to go into a full explanation of her circumstance, but out of nowhere, three, unknown guys jumped out from a very sneaky hiding spot, scaring the bejesus out of Charlotte and (y/n), and spooking Henry. Where the hell had they come from? The young woman could swear that no one had entered the Man Cave in the last half an hour unless her observation skills were slacking, not to mention the fact that such weirdos had managed to hide from her watchful eye so perfectly. One looked like a karate, Mr Miyagi type, the next must have been a lumberjack because he was like a human mountain, freakishly tall, chubby but definitely still packed a wallop and the third, well, he just looked like a nut. He had dark, dirty clothes, a mad glint in his eye and was that blood under his fingernails?

"What the hell?" (y/n) gasped, clasping her heart as her fists clenched and instinctively curled up to her chest, ready to punch whichever sucker came first, not that she'd stand much of a chance against three weirdos like this. And she wouldn't have to, whilst Charlotte laid petrified on the floor and Henry and (y/n) pondered fighting or not since these assholes were in the Man Cave uninvited, Ray came out from his hiding spot, behind the tube pads. He cackled at their pale faces and tense bodies, clapping at how he'd got them good, even if no one was laughing with him, especially not his sweet girl.

"Ahh, kids..." He chuckled nostalgically, lightly jogging over to the group with his spring in his step as he wrapped an arm around (y/n)'s shoulders and brought her into him so he'd give her a soft kiss, but she still wasn't happy about being scared half to death. And why had he put on that zip-up sweater? He looked like he was gonna be working out or training...

"Hey, doofus, what was that for? And why'd you leave me all alone?" She pouted, accepting his touch nonetheless as their lips met briefly and he gazed at her with such love, it nearly made the teens gag. Geez, couldn't he just propose already and put them out of their misery? It was nearly as bad as when they were still oblivious, pining idiots whining about how they were "destined for loveless lives". Lovestruck idiots, that's what they were.

"Yeah, Ray, you maybe wanna tell us what's going on?" Charlotte jumped in, brushing the dust off of her butt as she got to her feet again. She wasn't amused by the situation, her day was going terrible enough and unlike with (y/n), icky kisses and revoltingly rotten words wouldn't melt her annoyance away.

"Sure. We are about to get you ready for the...brawl in the hall." Ray smirked, punching up to Charlotte as his friends(?) agreed with gravelly hums. Wait a second, he gestured to the karate one, the huge one, the insane one, himself and (y/n)? Why was she getting dragged into this? It was the first time she heard about it and she wasn't entirely sure if she could teach anything to the girl. Yeah, she could hold her own in a fight, but she'd learnt pretty much everything she knew from Captain Man, so why she had to get her hands dirty was beyond her.

"Wait, wait, wait, are you talking about the Bysh Bilsky and Charlotte fight?" Henry smiled as (y/n) tried to take it all in. This was his big plan? Turn Charlotte into a lethal machine in just a few days? Yeah right. Ray had been trained to kick ass since he was a boy, he'd honed his skills over many, many, many years of practice and battle experience, there was no way she could do the same, not even with the men behind him.

"No, how would Ray know about that?" Charlotte corrected him. They barely just left school and it was just some stupid teen stuff, so she saw no reason for any adults in the city to know about it. News doesn't travel that fast...unless it's being pushed by Piper Hart.

"Wait, have you two not seen the news? I showed it to Ray earlier." (y/n) mentioned, nudging Ray to flick on the computer monitors with his remote so they could rewind the channel back to the earlier news report.

"What news?" Charlotte questioned, her voice lilted with fear, apprehension and annoyance as she dreaded with she was about to be shown. No need to panic. It wouldn't be that bad, it would merely be one of those shitty, mini-stories they did that no one ever watched, it's not like she had become a minor celebrity in all of this.

"Uh, this." Ray pointed to the computer and the group walked over as Mary and Trent appeared on the screen. Hold on, this wasn't just a small report, this was a headline and they were talking about Charlotte?

"And finally, this story comes from Swellview High School. Notorious bad girl, Bysh Bilsky, was released from jail only two weeks ago, but she's already stirring up a ruckus." Trent started, making the teens frown as they heard Bysh's name. Geez, they didn't know how bad Bysh was, she must've been infamous if she got onto the news this quickly and she'd dragged someone else on too.

"That's right, Trent. According to our high school informant, there's gonna be a big, nasty fight." Mary smiled, not even caring about the violence and danger of two teenagers fighting, she was just in her own little world. There were no guesses for who the "high school informant" was, but Henry would bet his money on his sister. Come on, Piper's phone never got a break, it was definitely her.

"Apparently, Bysh will be pummelling a local girl named Charlotte Something, on Monday morning, just before school." Trent's words finished the report and Ray paused it there. Okay, not being bothered to find out Charlotte's surname was just adding insult to injury, but even worse, the whole city knew now, and that meant this thing was getting out of control.

"But I don't wanna fight. I don't have to fight if I don't wanna fight, right?" Charlotte protested, looking to her friends for advice and help, but they weren't too sure. Chickening out was a sure way to get your reputation shredded and your face battered by Bysh for letting her down.

"I mean, you could not fight, but I don't think Byshell would like it. Y'know, she's a bit...insane." (y/n) replied tentatively, cringing at how the girl threw her head back and released a long, loud groan. She didn't want any of this, she didn't want to get beaten up or seem like a coward, there had to be something better.

"But don't worry, because I have brought you the best personal combat instructors who would come here for free," Ray told the girl smugly, dragging (y/n) over to the three men he'd found and stood with one arm around her waist and one hand on his hip, looking particularly proud of himself. Whether it was safe to have them in the Man Cave was unknown, but he seemed to trust them, so they all went with it.

"And, uhhh, who are these...guys?" Henry asked, looking mainly at the new dudes, he didn't think the woman was in on it. She wasn't really the type for mindless violence, but maybe she could give a few useful pointers, something that Ray often struggled with.

"Well, you know (y/n), also known as Miss Danger, the hottest crimefighter in Swellview. She can kick anyone's ass." Ray smirked, his voice laced with pride as he bragged about how cool his girl was, his eyes showing the kids how utterly whipped he was. He loved that she could beat up bad guys and look good whilst doing it, and how she could've chosen any guy she liked, Lord knows that enough of them chased her, but she didn't want them. She wanted him and that made Ray want to keep her by his side forever.

"I did not agree to this." (y/n) replied in a singsong voice, looking up at him, only to stop when she saw the dumb expression on his face. What was up with him? Was it something she said? Or something he said? Oh, right, the hottest crimefighter thing, that's why he looked like his brain had been reprogrammed, something which Henry couldn't help but snap a quick pic of just to save for...y'know, something special.

"Please, do it for me, sweet girl." He begged, wobbling his bottom lip just for effect and paired with his puppy-dog eyes, she couldn't help but say yes. Those damn eyes...

"All right, fine. I'll show Charlotte some moves, but you better tell me who these guys are, 'cause this wax-on, wax-off guy is staring at us." She sighed, nodding her head over to the karate man and Ray noticed how his combat instructors were getting antsy. They just wanted to beat someone up.

"This is Sensei Juke, a multi-degree black belt in shishito, pad-Thai and quinoa." Ray introduced Juke, although someone should've really told him that all of those "skills" were actually food. Where did he find this lot again?

"Now, this man here is Harley Birch. He may look outta shape, but...don't let the flab fool ya." Ray smirked and put both of his hands on the man's (enormous) stomach so he could wobble it around, but when he did, something dropped out from under his chubby rolls. They looked like car keys and they have been wedged under his belly for safekeeping or something.

"Sweet cheese, what is this?" (y/n) asked him, picking the sticky thing up between her forefinger and thumb. She felt like she needed a megaphone and binoculars just to reach the man's face and hearing, he was just so damn tall, but he seemed friendly. More like a big, friendly giant.

"They're ma car keys. I'll just put 'em back there in ma flab." Harley told her in a deep, growling voice and plucked the keys from her fingertips so he could tuck them back in his pants and under his belly. He had pockets, but maybe he wasn't a pocket guy. Anyway, the next guy looked the craziest, like he would switch at any moment and beat you up, leaving (y/n) with the feeling that she wanted to hide behind her boyfriend's back, where she knew she'd always be safe.

"And, uh, who's that person?" Henry nodded to the final guy, who stood with his hands on his hips and a mean glare on his face. He definitely looked like tough stuff and honestly, if he didn't have the whole crazy thing going on, he'd probably be quite cute, not that (y/n) cared. Ray was cuter. A lot cuter.

"Ah, this is Kevin. Kevin is—arghhhhh!" Poor Ray, he made a big mistake putting a friendly hand on Kevin's shoulder. The instant his fingers touched the man's body, he picked up a glass beer bottle and cracked it over Ray's head, shattering the glass everywhere and causing the superhero immense pain. Thank god he was indestructible because that might have seriously wounded him. "You don't do that until I say it's okay! What's the matter with this—ow!"

(y/n) looked murderous when Kevin decided he didn't like Ray's tone and grabbed another bottle, this time breaking it over the finger that was pointing at him. Ray had been looking at the kids when it happened, so it really was quite cruel that he preyed on his oblivious mind and that's what really pissed her off. No one hurts her boyfriend like that, not twice and not when he was being a nice guy.

"I'm gonna knock him out. Give me the word and I swear, I'll knock him out." She growled, leaning forward to grab a metal crowbar from his collection of junk, but two firm hands on her waist brought her back before Kevin could kill her. Or before she could kill Kevin, either way, not something Ray wanted to clean up, especially not Kevin's battered body if he even dared to touch one hair on her pretty head.

"Drop it, sweet girl, drop it. Come on, put the crowbar down." He mumbled into her ear and she reluctantly stepped away from Kevin, who had puffed out his chest when she grazed his weapons. She was gonna keep an eye on that one, but she couldn't complain when her boyfriend hugged her to his chest just to keep her calm.

"Fine. But one word out of "Kevin" and I'll fuck him up. I will, I swear." (y/n) muttered, standing calmly once more after he placed a thankful kiss on her lips. She was nowhere near as strong as Kevin and certainly didn't have any crazy driving her to beat him up, but just knowing that she was willing to go that far to protect him when he didn't even need protecting, well, that was heartwarming.

"I know you will, but Kevin is a street fighter, he utilises any items or objects he can find in the streets," Ray explained, and even though this guy sounded tough, (y/n) was still pretty sure she could fuck him up. She'd faced minions, monsters and villains, Kevin was just a punk, no biggie and if he dared to do anything else that annoyed her then he'd find one of Miss Danger's heeled boots in his face.

"Um, aren't items and objects the same thing?" Henry piped up, unable to help himself from pointing out his boss's redundant words. It made the girls chuckle, seeing how it annoyed Ray since he was trying to be all Captain Man cool in front of the seasoned fighters (he could destroy each of them, no problem), but with Henry mocking him, he couldn't do that. He just seemed like an idiot who didn't understand the basics of the English Language.

"What have a told you about sass?" Ray growled at him after mocking the way he spoke. He really didn't take criticism well, but Henry had learned not to be afraid of his warnings, they were funnier if anything. With (y/n) in the room, he'd never fully lose it, so he was free to chuckle at how irate he got.

"Whoa...sorry." He giggled, turning his back on the man so he wouldn't see his laughter. That would only make Ray madder and he wasn't particularly interested in starting a fight, not when they needed things to stay calm and normal in the Man Cave. The right kind of environment would help Ray pick the moment to propose and they were dying to see it happen, so if Henry poked the bear and made him angry, it would never happen and then he'd be public enemy number one.

"Now, we're all gonna work together to turn you into rad, bad, Bysh-busting ma...shad," Ray smirked but lost at the end when he realised that without a rhyme, it didn't sound nearly as cool as he wanted it to. He needed to spend more time coming up with rhyming quips, this was embarrassing.

"That sounded better in your head, didn't it?" (y/n) asked him gently and didn't even need an answer to know that it was the truth. He might have thought he sounded stupid in the end, but to her, he was just down-right adorable.

"But I don't wanna—" Charlotte tried to tell him. She didn't need to learn any fighting techniques because she didn't want to fight. It wasn't because she was scared or because she didn't want to get into trouble (okay, well, maybe a bit), she just thought that this was a mistake and if she explained herself to Bysh, then it would all go away.

"Music!" Ray interrupted her, not caring for any excuses. He wanted some sick beats that would get them pumped for their training, but when he turned on the speakers with his controller, it was still playing an entirely different playlist, one that made him and his girlfriend blush. The fact that the combat trainers started boogieing made it worse too; the song was slow, sweet jazz, a love song and boy, it was a tad embarrassing to hear it play in front of other people.

"That is our love mix," Ray mumbled shyly, hearing (y/n) squeak from mortification and then felt how she pressed her face into his back to stop anyone from seeing her burning cheeks. Charlotte looked perturbed and disgusted while Henry looked amused and smug; yeah, they definitely knew what was playing and the sight of their scarlet cheeks just confirmed it. What a saucy pair, getting it on to such a cheesy song, it was nauseating, hilarious and kinda cute all at the same time.

"Please turn it off before I burst into flames." (y/n) groaned into the material of her boyfriend's jacket, pulling away momentarily to see Henry trying to keep in his giggles and that was enough to make her want to melt into a puddle. Why did it have to happen with so many people around? She didn't know what was worse, the fact that strangers knew two very intimate details about their relationship or two of their closest friends who just happened to be innocent teenagers.

"Here we go. Upbeat montage." Ray quickly did as she said and changed the playlist to an energetic song, one that definitely spoke training time to the kids and allowed (y/n) to cool down her scorching cheeks. Never again would she let him leave the playlist on pause. Her embarrassment melted away when she felt her boyfriend take her hands so she could dance with him, something that weirded Charlotte out when her friends insisted on dancing in front of her. Even Henry joined in, forgoing any shame since everyone else was grooving too, but Charlotte didn't dance, not ever.

Okay, after the dance session was over, the real work began. True to his word, Ray was gonna train Charlotte, whether she liked it or not and Henry was the first to show her how. He tugged a blindfold down over his sidekick's eyes, waving his fingers around to make sure he couldn't see, but Henry didn't get it.

"Wait, why do I have to wear a blindfold? He asked the couple, feeling (y/n)'s smaller hands on his shoulders as she guided him into the right position for the training. They didn't want him accidentally punching or kicking or breaking something.

"So you can't use your super-fast reflexes." She told him, letting him stand on the padded mat as Sensei Juke came over with Charlotte. He took the girl's arms into his hands and on Ray's count, began to show her how to throw his elbows and fists at the boy like a true martial arts master.

"And one and two and prep and kick! Nice!" Ray instructed, watching how the girl soon got into a rhythm, moving on every number as Henry braced himself for a foot to the face, but luckily, he was just a dummy and she didn't actually hit him, thank god.

"Okay, thanks, sensei. Charlotte, let's see what you got without any help. Punch and kick, Henry." (y/n) instructed her, wanting to see if any of the karate guy's advice and teaching was going into that big brain of hers. Juke bowed and stepped off the mat, leaving Charlotte to glare at her opponent as Henry suddenly got nervous. Wait, they were gonna cause him pain now?

"Wait, what?!" He gasped, trying to run away since he was about to be attacked and he couldn't see it coming, but he just ran into the young woman's arms, who turned him back around and shoved him towards Charlotte again. "You're a superhero's sidekick, you can deal with it."

"And...now!" Ray shouted and the pain began. Charlotte elbowed Henry in the gut with all her might before spinning swiftly so she could land a roundhouse kick on his face as he doubled over in pain. Henry fell to the floor and the combat fighters applauded the girl's effort as she high-fived (y/n) and Ray checked on the groaning boy.

"Y'all right?" He asked. It was a stupid question; Henry was writhing around the mat, clutching his body as he felt the after-ripples of pain shooting through his belly and face. Okay, Charlotte definitely had some power behind her punches. "No."

"He'll be fine. I think." (y/n) told her boyfriend, looking down at the boy with him. It was just a small bump and he'd gone through worse as Kid Danger, granted he didn't have the protective suit on, but whatever.

~ Next, it was Harley's turn to show Charlotte how to beat someone up. Henry once again was the guinea pig and reluctantly stepped forward so he could grab his waist, roll him over his shoulder and thump his body onto the mat. It was pretty impressive and made the couple hype Charlotte up as Henry lay there. Not so impressive for him.

It was Charlotte's turn to practise what he preached. Harley stepped off the mat and the girl stepped forward to give it a go. She grabbed Henry's shoulder, then curled her arm under his stomach so she could lean back, let his weight fall onto her body, and kick his hips over her head in some kind of weird role-poly. Well, she knew how to do it now, but from the way Henry was groaning and moaning, he had taken too much of a beating to carry on, so who else could they use as a dummy?

"Schwoz!"

~ It was crazy Kevin's turn. He'd given Charlotte a big stick to whack Schwoz with and since it was pretty self-explanatory, she was just gonna go for it alone this time. Schwoz was shitting himself, he had just been relaxing in his room, chilling in his favourite planet-print onesie when he heard Ray's shout, but when he came out to see what was happening, he felt a shiver of regret run through his body. Charlotte was ready to whack him and he was just expected to stand there and take it, no matter what pleads he gave his boss.

"Action!" Ray shouted, giving the girl the signal to beat him and his complaining died when she struck him harshly behind his knees, causing him to drop the mat where she was able to really hurt him by dropping a heavy trash bag onto his bag. Whatever was in it was fucking heavy, leaving Charlotte pumped as she laughed at the defeated man and her friends clapped. She was doing well to say that she was just a beginner.

"Whoa, I can't believe it! I can really fight!" Charlotte exclaimed as she casually stepped over Schwoz's body and grinned at Ray. She felt like fire was coursing through her veins like she could take on the world and make everyone who dared touch her run away with their tails between their legs, but she was yet to face her greatest challenge.

"Yeah, but now, let's see how you do against...(y/n)," Ray smirked, turning the girl around so she could see the young woman standing in the middle of the mat with her arms crossed, an amused expression on her face. She'd taken the liberty of getting changed into some gym stuff and was waiting for Charlotte to show her if she could use her newfound skills to beat her, Miss Danger, Captain Man's (hottest) sidekick.

"I won't go easy on you, Char. Show me what you got." She told her, pulling her fists up to her jaw as the girl shuffled timidly onto the mat, worried about how she was gonna do. Would she even be able to land a hit? Beating up Schwoz, who couldn't fight to save his life or Henry with a blindfold was one thing, but beating up (y/n) with no help, just her wits and whatever punches she knew about was terrifying. She wanted it to be easy, she wanted to feel good about her situation, it was the only thing she had going for her.

She started with an attempt to throw an elbow into the woman's stomach as Sensei Juke taught her, but it was dodged easily, (y/n) just stepping to the side so she stumbled forward. Next came the roundhouse kick and Charlotte put every once of muscly energy into the spin, but like a true tactical fighter, the woman predicted her move and leaned back on her heels to avoid her foot. Charlotte stopped spinning, feeling completely dizzy, which gave (y/n) a chance to shove her onto the mat by pushing her butt with her foot. Ray didn't know whether the cringe or be proud; he loved seeing his girl so calm and collected, agile and graceful, but on the other hand, he needed Charlotte to hold her own.

"Get up. We're not done yet." (y/n) told the girl firmly, making her stand up on shaky knees so they could keep going. Charlotte charged towards her, a new determination going through her body as she tried to do the grabby, roly-poly thing but when she tried to bend the woman's body to her will, she just stayed rigid and giggled when she struggled to get her to move. Breaking away, she switched tactics, deciding that if she couldn't use the fancy moves, then a straight, simple slug to the face would do. She threw her arm, aiming for her nose, but (y/n) knew that old trick; she caught the fist before it even touched her face and bent her arm backwards as gently as she could before taking her to the floor in her own special way.

That gotta hurt. Ray shook his head as (y/n) got up again, panting only slightly as Charlotte whimpered in pain. To be fair, it wasn't even as rough as she could've done it, so her pain was only minimal, but the way the teen was carrying on made the instructors chuckle and Henry groan. Bysh was a real fighter, so if Charlotte couldn't even rough up (y/n) then she was gonna die. But they still had one option; if her fists weren't working, then maybe some weapons would.

"The more you train, the less it'll hurt. Come on, get up." (y/n) repeated, forcing Charlotte to her feet as Kevin nudged the stick into her hands. Okay, this was a bit better, using something else stopped her from getting too close and her body getting bruised. One last attempt, this was it, she had to use the last of her energy if she had any hope of winning on Monday; where was that fire from before?

Charlotte started swinging, going for her knees since it had worked so well on Schwoz, but her opponent just jumped back, keeping her movements light and springy so she could dodge with ease. On the next two swipes, (y/n) ducked swiftly, grabbing the pole with her hands before it collided with her shoulder and raised it above her head like she was gonna crack it over the teen's skull. Of course, she would never, not even in her darkest dreams, but the prospect of getting whacked was too much for Charlotte, who dropped to the floor and curled up in a ball like a little hedgehog fearing the world. The problem was, Charlotte wasn't a hedgehog, she had no spikes or methods of scurrying to safety, so if this was a real fight, then she'd be bloody and bruised by now.

Ray and Henry walked over to the shivering girl as (y/n) dumped the stick and the instructors wandered off. They'd seen enough of the pathetic girl and her cowardly inability to even scratch one woman (granted, said woman was a bit of a legend), and frankly, so was Ray. This whole exercise had failed.

"Think you should stop the music," Henry told him, feeling like the moment was over. There was no more enthusiasm to see Charlotte fight, just a burning sense of disappointment and dread when they thought about how Monday Morning was going to be a bloodbath and it wasn't Bysh who'd be bleeding.

"Yeah." The superhero sighed, and clicked off the speakers, curling an arm around his girl as she came over to his side. Her skin was a bit tacky from the exertion of fighting but she looked so good in the tight, spandex, gym attire he didn't care. He just wanted to feel her smooth skin under his fingertips.

"What happened?" Charlotte gasped for air as the boys helped her to her feet and boy, standing up was painful. It felt like every bone in her body ached, but looking back on the brawl, it was just a blur, like she'd had her eye closed the entire time, which she sort of had.

"Well, Charlotte, I kicked your ass but, to be fair, you can't learn everything about fighting in one three minute montage...or beat a superhero who's been training with Captain Man for years." (y/n) shrugged, earning a glare from the girl who suddenly felt deflated. Yeah, she'd learnt some stuff but there was no way she was gonna get to her level in two measly days, so it felt like all her pain had been for nothing.

"Then what was all this training for?!" She snapped, looking mainly at Ray since he was the orchestrator of it all, the one whose stupid idea it had been. She was a child, what did he expect from her?

"...That's, uh...that's a fair question," Ray replied, unsure of what the true outcome had been for all of them. He'd had a good look at his girlfriend's ass, Henry had had some entertainment and Charlotte had been beaten up, thus learning nothing. Not his best idea ever. His answer spoke volumes to her despite his fumbling for words and Charlotte just sighed before collecting her bag and stomping towards the elevator.

"Hey, where you going?" Henry asked her. They'd barely started her training and he still had some stuff to teach her. Yeah, the first session always hurts, but it was like (y/n) said, you just have to push through the pain until it doesn't hurt anymore, that's how he'd done it as Kid Danger.

"Home." She answered sharply, jamming the up button on the elevator panel with nothing but annoyance to fuel her movements. It had been a stupidly long day and she just wanted to go and hide under the blankets on her bed where she'd be safe from the fight and whatever advice anyone had to give her.

"But we gotta help you figure out a way to fight this girl," Ray argued, not wanting to see her go. He felt bad for her, he knew that failure was tough but being so defeatist wasn't going to help anything. Surely, it would be better to stay and train with those who knew best.

"I've had enough of your guys' help, okay? I'm gonna handle Bysh myself." She snapped, showing the extent of her irritation. She wasn't smiling or leaving any room for arguing, but her friends were concerned about her going solo. Even if she talked to Bysh, she ran the risk of a punch to the nose, something they didn't want to hear about on the news.

"Oh, come on, you can't handle this person—" "You're too small—" "You're gonna die if you face her alo—" They all tried to dissuade her, make her see sense before they had to see her in a full-body cast in the Swellview Hospital, but she didn't want to hear it. She'd made up her mind and honestly, their advice hadn't been useful before. Yeah, (y/n) wasn't an idiot, but she was taking their side and saying that this wasn't a good idea.

"I said, I don't want your help or anyone else's, understand?" She looked at them in turn, her eyes serious and stern like she was commanding their obedience. If she really wanted to be left alone, then they could do that. They wouldn't like it, but they could do it.

"All right." "Okay, we won't help you." "If it's really what you want." They conceded, (y/n) hugging Ray's waist dejectedly as she felt a little useless after trying her best and not finding something that could help the kid. She didn't want to see her hurt, but she could understand that feeling when someone tries to dictate what you are doing. If it made her feel better, then she'd give her some space and hug her boyfriend instead.

"Thank you." She nodded, glad that they'd gotten the message and were willing to let her go, so she turned around and sloped off into the elevator, the door sliding closed behind her. Home sounded nice, but with her gone and off upstairs, the three supers were left to go back on their word.

"We're gonna help her," Ray said the minute the door was closed, speaking the thing that was on all of their minds. They helped people, that's what they did, they couldn't just leave Charlotte, sweet, innocent Charlotte, and send her off like a lamb to slaughter.

"Yeah, we're gonna help her." Henry agreed strongly, thrilled that he wasn't the only one thinking it. Yeah, it was a bit bad to lie to her face but in the long run, this was the best option, just a little bit of interference to save their friend from serious injury. Who could argue with that?

"Let's just not go crazy, though. She's already mad." (y/n) told them, knowing how their idea of help was much different to hers. They always went too far and thought too big, she was just thinking about roughing Bysh up a bit, intimidating her into surrender, something like that.

"Don't worry, sweet girl, it's all under control. Now, who wants spicy barbecue chicken wings?" Ray brushed off her concern with a peck to her nose before guiding her over to the auto-snacker where they could have something to eat. He had it under control, in fact, he already had something in mind, only it was a tad more dramatic (and stupid) than (y/n) had first thought.

~Monday Morning, fight day~

Well, the day had come. Bysh Bilsky was prowling the corridors waiting for her victim and had taken the liberty of getting a little warmup when Jasper gallantly offered to negotiate the fight on Charlotte's behalf. Spoiler alert, he failed miserably and felt pain like he'd never experienced before when she beat him up, his screams being heard in the corridors outside the janitor's closet and outside the school building where the fighter in corner two was skulking. Charlotte nervously pushed the school doors open and saw Bysh smirking her way when people realised that she'd actually been brave enough to turn up. Some clapped, some made bets and some prepared themselves for action, namely Bysh.

"Look who showed up to—" She started in her signature mean voice, but to everyone's infusion, Charlotte didn't run away or square up to her, she merely walked past as if she was invisible and calmly entered the janitor's closet where Jasper was still mewling in agony. The students and other randomers who'd turned up for some action were perplexed, but no one was more shocked than Bysh, the one who had expected the smaller girl to tempt a punch or something.

"Don't freak. There will be blood." She soothed the panicking crowd, not wanting to ruin the morning for everyone. She handed her takeout coffee to some girl and angrily marched to the closet. Charlotte was pacing, going over her rehearsed lines in her he'd so she could build a bridge with the girl, but she was spooked by the sight of her friend suspended from the ceiling with a load of cables and some duct tape over his mouth. Wow, Bysh really did a number on him.

"Jasper, what are you doing up there?" She asked, not putting two and two together, but thanks to the tape, Jasper couldn't answer, he just groaned and mumbled against the tape about how Bysh had tied him up for calling her cowardly. Normally, Charlotte would've helped him down, but then, the bully herself opened the door and her face looked like thunder. Oh, shit.

"It's time." She smirked, taking in the teen's shaking hands and how she lowered her gaze to the floor, something she was used to when talking to people around school. She demanded respect and those who didn't give it to her, well, let's just say they did after she sorted them out.

"I know what time it is. I wanna talk to you." Charlotte told her calmly, trampling down her fear in favour of meeting the eyes of her opponent, but Bysh wasn't much of a talker. She played things close to her chest and anyone who tried to break in would be met with serious consequences.

"So did he. Still wanna talk?" Bysh snarled, pointing Jasper as he was evidence of what she could do to those who pissed her off. Charlotte didn't flinch, not even when Jasper screamed and wiggled in the cables, trying to tell his friend o run before she was strung up too.

"Who hurt you?" Charlotte came out with it straight, shocking the other two in the room, especially Bysh. She hadn't expected that and was visibly taken aback when she was asked such a personal question. No one ever cared about her, her family was shunned and looked down on, so to hear someone actually care was jarring. "Huh?"

"Who hurt you?" The teen reiterated, knowing that it was always the same old story with bullies and she didn't need Ray's karate lessons to solve it. Bullies become bullies because of how they are treated, they get hurt and lash out, so if Charlotte could get to the root of that then maybe, just maybe, she'd see the real Byshell.

"No one hurts me." She snapped, still keeping her tough, reinforced, emotional walls strong up. Being sad or hurt or soft was a weakness and she'd never let this puny, little girl see how she was actually quite squishy on the inside.

"Yeah, well, I don't believe you. Because you wouldn't be the way you are unless somebody hurt you." Charlotte stood her ground, knowing that she was onto something here, even if it would take some elbow grease to chip away at her refusal to admit that she was hurting from how she'd always been treated.

"Girl, what the butt are you mouthin' about?!" Bysh spat, going with her instincts and stepping forward to beat the shit out of this girl who could see the pain on the inside, which forced Charlotte to duck under her arm before she got herself hurt. She didn't want a black eye, she just wanted to get through to her.

"You don't hate me, you're not even mad at me. But you're mad at somebody." She went on, trying to be truthful and tentative, even when Bysh switched to shouting at her like an animal trying to keep a predator away. She was snarling, but Charlotte wasn't scared. "Shut up!"

"And I bet that's why you go around looking for excuses to hurt other people. Am I right? Tell me!" Well, this was as brave as Charlotte got. She stood frozen as Bysh cracked her knuckles and breathed in sharply through her nose like she was ready to smash the girl's face in. "Come on...who hurt you?"

"It was...my stupid cousin, Cherise." Well, that was unexpected. Charlotte and Jasper shared a shocked look; neither one of them had expected her to crack under the questioning and reveal something so personal. Maybe Bysh wasn't the horrible girl everyone thought she was, maybe she was just someone who didn't know how to properly deal with her rage and sadness so she took it out on innocent people around her.

"Okay...tell me about stupid Cherise." Charlotte stepped into a full-on counsellor role, ready to hear every problem, every traumatic experience if it meant she wouldn't get beaten up and Bysh felt better. She'd learnt from the best, (y/n) knew how to talk to people when they were upset, so she could do it too, she just needed to be supportive and listen.

"I don't wanna talk about her!" Bysh barked, still feeling a little emotionally constipated, but that was okay. Even if she turned her back on Charlotte, there was no rush, they could go slow. Whatever she needed to talk about her feelings, she could have it, particularly as much time as she needed.

"It's okay. This is a safe closet." The teen reassured her with a hand on her shoulder, which earned her a glare but seemed to knock a brick from those walls around Bysh, who fiddled with some cleaning supplies as she debated if sharing what was on her mind was the best thing. "Come on, Byshell. Talk to me."

"It happened in third grade." She muttered, remembering that time with disdain and this had to be the weirdest thing Jasper had ever experienced. He hadn't planned on being a silent observer in a therapy session with a school bully, but it was interesting to watch.

"What happened?" Charlotte pressed, but she wasn't expecting Bysh to have some energy left in her for one last screaming match. She just felt the urge to shout her problems away, even if she did appreciate the concern deep down. " Girl, I'm telling you!!"

"All right, right, right, sorry." Charlotte flinched that time, not realising that she'd jumped the gun a bit and interrupted her when she was finding the words to explain the situation. Okay, she had to remember who she was dealing with, Bysh was still one of the most dangerous people in Swellview High.

"It happened at my birthday party, I was turning twelve." Bysh started, but Charlotte couldn't help but jump in again. Something about that sentence wasn't right, surely, in the third grade, she was too old to be twelve? Perhaps that was a mistake, or not. "You were turning twelve in the third grade?"

"Uh-huh!" Byshell snapped, not liking the judgement that accidentally slipped from her lips and how she seemed to be automatically assuming she was dumb. She wasn't, people just thought she was because of who she was and what she did. "Uh, nothing wrong with that."

"Anyway, the day before my party, I fell off my rollerblades and I knocked my tooth out. This one, right here, upfront." Bysh showed Charlotte the place where the gap used to be, but thankfully, had been covered up when the adult one finally poked through her gums.

"Oh, that must've looked kinda weird, huh?" Charlotte nodded, seeing where this was going. Kids could be cruel, especially if someone looked different and stood out from the crowd. And toothless people definitely stand out.

"Yeah...here's a pic." Byshell, for some reason, still carried a picture of her twelve-year-old self with the gap in her teeth and Charlotte could see why she had been bullied. She wasn't the best-looking kid, but she tried to cover up her negative reaction since she was trying to be supportive. "Okay..."

"And then, one of the girls pointed at me and she said..." The older teen bit her tongue at the thought of divulging her deepest, darkest secret, but Charlotte knew they'd come too far to stop now. It was like she'd said, this was a safe space. "You can tell me."

"She said, look! It's Bysh! The toothless doofus! And then-and then, everybody started laughing and Cherise, she just laughed along with the rest of 'em. That's when I knew...if you cab's count on your best friend, you can't count on anybody. Since then, I've never had a friend." Bysh looked down, ashamed at the person she'd turned out to be and both Jasper and Charlotte couldn't help but feel sorry for her. He patted her head with his free hand and the teen took a tentative step forward; Bysh wasn't a bad girl, she was just hurting badly and needed someone on her side, so that's what Charlotte would do. Be the one that was there for Byshell Bilsky.

"Bysh...look at me. I'll be your friend." She offered wholeheartedly, seeing that underneath the mean streak, she was probably a really nice, fun person.

"Nah, you're just saying that 'cause you don't want me to rip your head off your body." Bysh shook her head, thinking that this small sliver of human kindness was just a prank or meaningless, 'cause who would want to be friends with her? She beat people up for fun and terrorised the school, no one ever wanted to be with her.

"That's true, I don't want you to rip my head off my body, but...I also want to be your friend. Do you want that too?" She smiled and prayed that she wanted to accept the friendship, not just for her physical health, but for a better life. Once one person saw her as someone friendly, she'd have loads of friends, buckets of them and miraculously, Bysh was ready to start a new chapter in her life.

"Yes, please." She cried and jumped into Charlotte's arms, experiencing her first hug in years. It wasn't something the girl had expected to experience that day and Jasper swore he must've been dreaming, but this was real and it felt...good. Charlotte knew that violence wasn't the answer and by following her own advice, she'd successfully solved the problem with a fantastic ending. She'd made a new friend.

~ The girls exited the janitor's closet, ready to announce that the fight was cancelled and in the place of extreme violence was a strong, newfound friendship between the two of them. They smiled at each other excitedly and Piper was the first to notice as she looked up and saw that they'd emerged, probably for the entertainment to begin, or so she thought.

"There they are! All right, let's get it on!!" The little girl shouted, prompting the students around her to stop catering to their friends and cheer and shout instead. They'd paid ten dollars to come in, even if they weren't interested in the fight. They were gonna get their money's worth.

"No, no, no, sorry, guys, but the fight is not happening," Charlotte yelled over the noise, causing everyone to stop all the noise as they heard the news. Yeah, well, that was just puny Charlotte saying it, they needed to hear from the bully too, she'd promised them gore and violence.

"There will not be blood," Bysh confirmed, making them all gasp in horror and disappointment as they wondered what the hell had happened in that closest. How had Charlotte managed to save her skin? And what were they supposed to watch now that they'd spent ten dollars and they had no fight to enjoy?

"Wait, there's not gonna be a fight?" Some girl in the crowd asked, and the two, new friend shook their heads, disgusting her even more at how chummy they appeared. Well, this was just great, they'd come in early for the brawl in the hall and now, these two weren't delivering what had been promised. It just wasn't fair. "'Fraid not."

"NO REFUNDS!" Piper screamed, screwing her jar of money shut and legged it with her muscly bodyguard in tow. The students were mortified at how quickly she scarpered and chased after her through the doors as she ran to the getaway car she'd parked outside. Her number one rule was never giving someone their money back and she was sure she could outrun some nerds on skateboards.

Charlotte and Bysh smirked at each other, wondering how they'd managed to draw such eagerness for just one dumb misunderstanding, but before they could walk to class, another huge surprise calm through the school's entrance. In walked, Kid Danger, Captain Man and Miss Danger, fully clad in uniform, ready to sort Bysh out before she could hurt their friend. Oh god, the news couldn't spread that quickly and in a very hasty plan that (y/n) definitely didn't agree with, they may or may not have done something bad, terrible, possibly evil.

"All right, we're here," Henry announced, looking around the corridor to assess the situation. Huh, it was a bit quieter than he was expecting after all the hype, but no matter, he had eyes on the girl he wanted to lock up.

"Everybody freeze and don't move." Ray ordered the mesmerised students who'd actually stayed for their first classes, but Henry picked up on his little, redundant word problem and couldn't help but let out the "sass".

"What? That's the same thing. Freeze and don't move, it's the same thing!"

"See, that's the kind of sass I'm talking about." Ray sneered, getting all grumpy again at how Henry picked up on every little mistake he made, but luckily, there was a sweet girl on hand to keep the peace.

"All right, girls, not now, you're embarrassing me. You can argue and fight over your dollies later." She scolded them in a loud, condescending tone that told them she thought they were acting like spoiled children and it was a good thing that they zipped their lips when she wanted them to, 'cause that's when Charlotte came over, wondering what the hell they were doing there.

"Hi, Captain Man, Miss Danger and Kid Danger. What brings you here when it seems like you don't even need to be here?" She asked them in a tight, forced-polite voice, trying to pretend that she was surprised, honoured and friendly with the superheroes, even though it was clear that her friends thought she couldn't handle things by herself. Assholes.

"I'll tell you what brings us here," Ray announced, looking around at all the kids that were admiring him in all his superhero awesomeness and in his self-absorbed little moment, he couldn't see how his sweet girl was actually very, very nervous. In her defence, she'd never wanted to be a part of this, yes, she wanted to solve the Bysh problem because she thought Charlotte would never be able to stand and fight, but she'd never meant to do something so wrong, so unlike her. Honestly, sometimes Ray was a bad influence.

"A bank robbery. Yeah, it happened in the middle of the night." Henry started, catching everyone's attention as they heard about Captain Man and his sidekick's exploits. It was just so exciting, although, for Bysh and Charlotte, it was about to go downhill real fast.

"Oh, god, please forgive me." (y/n) muttered, making Ray place a hand on her hip, bringing him to her side like it would make her feel any better. It did a bit, being with him always brightened her darkest days, but she felt so guilty and mean, and if she had a time machine, she'd probably go back and tell herself not to go through with it.

"Fortunately, thanks to my very clever and hot girlfriend, Miss Danger, we were able to track the stolen cash to this very school." Ray went on, making his girlfriend blush as two cops ran in, ready to back their superhero all the way after he called them in for backup. Did she deserve compliments after what they'd done last night? She didn't feel clever, clever people don't bully bullies, because then they become just as bad.

"Hey, guys, we got your call." One of the police officers panted, not being used to getting off his ass and doing some actual police work. The Swellview Police weren't known for being effective, more like pure shit.

"Thank you for coming, officers." (y/n) nodded slowly, wondering if it would be best to just call the whole thing off and say it was just a false alarm, but Henry jumped in first.

"Uh, yes, officers, I think you'll find the stolen cash over there in locker fifty-three." The boy told them, catching Bysh's attention. Hold on, that couldn't be right, there had to be some mistake, she'd done nothing wrong, had they read that wrong?

"Fifty-three? That's my locker." She told them and Charlotte clenched her teeth as she got the picture. Those dirty, low-down, poor excuses for superheroes, wasn't this against their moral codes or whatever? Had they set Bysh up? (y/n) was too nice for that, Charlotte couldn't believe that she'd stoop so low and be so cruel to an innocent person, even if she thought they were bad news. The cops swaggered over to the suspicious locker and it gave the teen a chance to shove her moronic friends to the side corridor where she could verbally kill them without any suspicions being raised and holy fuck, was she fuming.

"Okay, why are you guys here?" She demanded to know, already getting the gist of the truth but she wanted to hear it from their lips before she jumped to conclusions. She had really thought better of them, what was that Bysh said about not being able to rely on anyone?

"To help you," Henry replied, thinking that they were still the good guys in all of this, despite being moments away from making the biggest fuck-up known to humankind. It had been done with the best of intentions, but sometimes help just hinders and in this case, it had crippled what was previously perfectly sweet.

"But I told you I didn't want your help." She growled, her breathing growing laboured as Ray chuckled at how she assumed she could just solve the fight without them, the fighting masters. Yeah, (y/n) had said not to go mental when thinking of a plan, but it would work, Bysh would go away and Charlotte would be free to walk around school without fear of being jumped, not that that was the case anymore. "Well, uh, you got it!"

"You're gonna love what we did!" Henry laughed too and the four of them peered around the corner to see one of the officers prising Bysh's locker open with a crowbar and thumping his fist against the metal. Okay, this wasn't funny, it seemed deadly serious and she wanted the truth, now. "What did you guys do?"

"Oh...Charlotte, I'm so sorry, I didn't want to do it, but they said it was the only way to help you and I didn't want you to get hurt so we...robbed the Swellview Bank." (y/n) caved, practically getting on her knees for the girl's forgiveness as the boys kept giggling like hyenas and Charlotte gazed at them all in horror. They...did...what? What were they thinking?

"Why? (y/n/n), you're supposed to be the nice one!" She snapped, looking mortified as a terrible feeling dawned on her. What had they done to her, to Bysh, to themselves?

"So we could get a big bag of cash." "And then, last night, at four AM, we snuck in here..." "And put the big bag of cash in Bysh's locker." "Then we called the cops!" "Which is why they're here!" Henry and Ray explained in turn and with each part of the story that unfolded, (y/n) grew more and more ashamed. When she heard it out loud, it sounded worse and worse until the guilt was killing her. It was a stupid, stupid mistake.

"Wha—you framed Bysh?!" Charlotte spluttered, fearing for her new friend's freedom as the cops got closer to bringing down her locker's door. Who needs friends when you've got these idiots on your side? She'd done everything perfectly, sorted Bysh's emotional problems out, her friendship problems, her bullying problems, made even her criminal ones, but now they'd undone all of that, just because they thought they could do the job better. Where was the trust? "Yeah!"

"So now, she'll get arrested..." "And you won't have to fight her." Henry and Ray or dumb and dumber told her, thinking that it was another case solved, but she hadn't reached the part where she told them that she was ten times smarter than them and hadn't needed their fucking lousy help.

"But I fixed it so I don't have to fight her. I talked to her and now, we're friends!" She hissed, making their stomachs plummet to the ground as a bad situation got even worse. If (y/n) felt bad before locking up a bully, she felt awful now she knew they'd framed someone genuinely nice; she wasn't going to sleep tonight.

"Holy shit, Charlotte, I'm so proud of you for being so much smarter than us and for doing the right thing. We—we weren't thinking and now, it's too late." She mumbled, peeking around the corner just in time to watch the cops busting open the locker and finding the bag of cash right where they'd stashed it. This wasn't their finest moment, probably their shittest.

"There it is! You messed up this time, Byshell!" One of the cops growled at her as his partner pulled out wads of the stolen loot, confirming that all suspicion was on her. Ray and Henry, the ones who'd grabbed the sack, had worn gloves, so they were covered, Bysh, sadly, was not.

"But I didn't put that in there!" The poor girl argued, terrified for what the judge would say this time. They'd throw the damn key away this time, for something she hadn't done and knowing her reputation, she'd never be proven innocent.

"Oh, you're just holding it for a friend?" A cop mocked her before the other forced her hands behind her back to slap the cuffs on her wrist, ignoring her pleas of innocence and squirms to get free. Damn, this was a mess; Bysh tried to bend the man's hand back to get him away from her, but he just fought back and she knew it was over.

"You're in big trouble!" "Come on, let's go!" The hissed at her, marching her across the hall as her fellow students watched in shock and to be honest, Charlotte felt a bit teary. She was her friend, so her screams were heartbreaking and if she could help or be for her in any way, she would be.

"But I didn't do anything! I've never seen that money before! Charlotte, Charlotte! Get me a lawyer!" She cried as she left the building and Charlotte couldn't help but call after her to give her some support.

"I'm sorry! I'll come to the police station after my algebra two test!" She shouted, feeling like someone had ripped out her heart and trodden on it, and she knew exactly who to direct her glare at. Ray, Henry and (y/n) shuffled awkwardly from one foot to the other, the boys thinking that there was nothing they could do, but maybe there was one thing...

"Give me your credit card." (y/n) told Ray, looking up at him with her hand out and determined eyes. It was probably stupid and she'd already been horrible at this point, but if she could right her wrong then she was gonna do it, no matter what the cost was.

"What? Why?" He frowned, Henry and Charlotte looking at her weirdly too as he dug into his deep back pocket to bring out his emergency, Captain Man card that he kept to pay for the important things he needed on missions, like ice cream or waffles. Did she want to go shopping? He couldn't think of why she'd want it, after all, she looked like she was gonna cry.

"'Cause I'm gonna tell Charlotte's teacher that she has an emergency doctors appointment and then, we're gonna go down to the Police station and I'm gonna post Bysh's bail." She answered, pocketing the piece of plastic before he could stop her. Normally, what was his was hers and vice versa and he never minded her using it, but why would she want to spend hundreds if not thousands of dollars on one girl she'd never met but knew the terrible reputation of?

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, you're gonna do what?" His mouth hit the floor and tried to swipe for his card again, but she just grasped his arm gently and held it close to her chest, letting him look into her tear-filled eyes. Shit, she really was upset and that melted his reluctance to let her have it. He hated it when she cried and something told him that this was important to her.

"We did this and the least we can do is pay for Bysh's bail. I can pay you back if you want, but I don't have any cash on me or anything so I just need to borrow—" She started explaining, not wanting to ramble on and on 'cause that made her sad, but it was his money she was about to spend and even if he'd get it back after a quick bank transfer, he deserved to know.

"Sweet girl, you don't have to pay me back, I've got you. You sure you want to do this, though? That girl, she's...not the best person out there." He said as gently as she could and even though she wanted to bite his head off for being judgemental without getting to know her, Charlotte stayed quiet for fear of ruining whatever chance she had of helping her new friend. Screw that test, friendship was more important.

"If Charlotte trusts her, then so do I, 'cause I won't be able to sleep tonight knowing Bysh's wrongfully in a jail cell." She whispered, feeling the teen girl pick up her hand and squeeze in thanks as she felt the trust return. Yeah, she'd made a mistake, but she wanted to fix it and that was good enough for her. Ray too.

"Then go, sweet girl. I'll meet you back at the Man Cave." He whispered, leaning down to peck her lips as Charlotte checked if the coast was clear. There was no time like the present and if they left now, then it meant Bysh would spend less time in a cell, which sounded good to them.

"'Kay. I'll see you later, I love you." She smiled shyly, kissing his cheek one last time before she was pulled away by an eager Charlotte, who was fuelled by the knowledge that they had the funds to free her friend. It was nice having well-paid grown-ups as friends, even if two of them were a bit dumb sometimes.

"I love you too!...Always," Ray mumbled the last part, chuckling when he saw the woman turn around and grin at the last part like it was their own little secret. Their love would never end and by the dreamy look on Ray's face, Henry didn't need to be a mind reader to know what he was thinking about.

"You can't wait to marry her, huh?" He commented, placing a hand on his friend's shoulder as he watched the girls circle the building and leave their sight. He was happy for him, glad to know that for every stupid idea Ray had, (y/n) would be there to sort it out and for every worry she had, he'd be there to calm her down. They just went together like jelly and peanut butter, rhubarb and custard, one doofus and a sweet girl.

"I'd marry her tomorrow if she said yes."

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queen-of-writing-bad-things · 8 months

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Henry Danger Reader Insert | Captain Man x Reader: SEASON 4

Episode 17: Spelling Bee Hard

~In the Man Cave~

Ray had some great ideas. Truly, some frankly awesome, inspired dreams of greatness that came from nowhere and save him and his friends from peril and boredom alike when problems struck. But only sometimes.

Let's face it, the guy wasn't known his brains; he wasn't Schwoz or (y/n), he couldn't science up solutions out of thin air and nor could he calculate the likelihood of doom down to the last casualty. He couldn't do a lot of things, but what he could do was give his fans what they wanted.

Everyone knows that the Man Cave Podcast, aka "Deep in the Man Cave", hadn't gone to plan all those months ago when the hero and his sidekick tried to sit down and record a few episodes. Jeez, it seemed like so long ago, just after Ray and (y/n) had started dating and he vaguely remembered her being annoyed at him for something or another, but either way, that podcast hadn't gone well, mainly because it had never actually gotten past the recording stage. And it hadn't included his sweet girl since she had been in a sulk that day, so why not attempt something similar but also a little different.

Livestreaming. That new fangled thing that all the Twitflashers and Envygrammers seemed to be up to because they could connect to their audience in real-time from the comfort of their mansions and penthouses--or Man Caves if you were Captain Man, Kid Danger or Miss Danger. It was the perfect solution; if something went wrong, then it went wrong, it would be too late to start again since everyone would have seen it, screen-captured it and shared it for everyone to laugh at. No pressure then.

That truthfully helped a lot with the whole screwing-up thing. The heroes knew that they had to get the first take right, so they were each on their best behaviour as Ray plugged in all of his new equipment, including all the recording software and hardware, plus a large screen that viewers could call in on.

That was one of his slightly more intelligent ideas, that their fans could call the Man Cave on a secure line, ask a question and profess their love for the team, then they would forever have their unyielding support. It was brilliant, perhaps a little risky, but the sidekicks let him have it as he was hellbent on doing something cool to fill their time. No emergencies and no crimes left Ray as Pouty Ray and Henry couldn't stand the sight of him lolloping around and smothering (y/n) with affection and needy kisses. So he agreed, and not wanting to be left out, so did she.

"Well, I mean, that's why some people have to wear a helmet in the shower!" Ray joked, which sent his sidekicks into chuckles. Surprisingly, the live-streaming was a lot less stressful than the podcast and they'd settled into it quickly, comfortably sitting at a simple table laden with wires, microphones and a PearBook. Henry was kicking back and feeling like they were talking to old friends, whilst (y/n) was situated between him and her doofus, his hand on her knee, keeping her calm.

He didn't need to, she was feeling pretty good considering that thousands of people were waiting on her to say or do something embarrassing, but it was nice to know he was there. Ray made her laugh, gave her goo-goo eyes, stroked his thumb over her skin and even took the smallest opportunities to sneak kisses to her nose and forehead whenever Henry was speaking. Yeah, that earned them a few eye rolls.

"Makes sense, makes sense, dude. Makes sense..."

"Now, Kid Danger, Miss Danger and I are gonna be live-streaming for about another twenty minutes, so..." Ray announced to the audience once the hilarious anecdote was over and his eyes dropped to their clock.

He and Henry had been the chattiest ones, (y/n) preferring to just add a few funny comments or stories here and there since she would always be a little camera shy, but whatever adoration she got was well-received. Neither she nor Ray failed to miss the simps and fanboys in the comments whenever she spoke, causing him to wrinkle his nose at the ones begging her to marry them. Too late, suckers...

"The name of our next video-caller is J.D!" Henry announced, flicking through the waiting list they had of people hoping to get lucky and speak to the city's greatest crimefighters. This one seemed okay, nothing special, nothing weird, just two letters. Nothing concerning or alarming about that.

"J.D...could be initials." Ray proposed, having put his thinking cap on and looked at his sweet girl with knitted eyebrows, making her giggle at how hard he was debating this small thing. True, he wasn't known for his smarts, but she loved him anyway, adored those brain cells that didn't know quite what they doing but were trying anyway.

"Well, there's only one way to find out, sweetheart." She grinned at him, silently fawning over how adorably dumb he was, so clueless that she couldn't help but want to coo over him, and it made Henry gag. Ugh, he couldn't click on the caller's name quick enough, although he did notice how many comments flooded in to say things like "couple goals", "OTP", "omg Miss Danger is so in love with Captain Man <3". And they weren't wrong, she was.

"Hey, Captain Man, Miss Danger and Kid Danger!" Oh god, J.D. Jasper Dunlop, how did they not guess? The minute the boy came on the screen, Ray's hand slammed down on the end-call button, severing the connection before he could say anything weird or they had to reply. He didn't want to have to talk to the kid, who was only just upstairs in Junk-N-Stuff because he was so damn annoying and the most likely to blab out a secret. Jasper would ruin the live-stream, no doubt about it.

"Sorry about that. Heh, seems like we had a technical problem there." Ray awkwardly mumbled into the mic, trying to excuse why the kid had appeared for five seconds and then just disappeared. It's not like he could admit that he didn't want to talk to him because he knew him, he just had to stiffly gesture for Henry to move on before someone saw how tense he was, and luckily, the boy took the hint. (y/n) had a small scolding gaze at how mean he'd been, but she let it go, content to take a kiss on the back of her hand as compensation.

"All right, we got another video-caller, who goes by the name Mister E. Person," Henry said, choosing the next one in line since Jasper had been kicked off the list now that they knew who he was. Ray got excited at that, glad to have a new, proper fan ready to love him and call him amazing, but something was right. "Ooh, Mister E. Person!"

"Wait a minute..." (y/n) muttered, the name striking something deep in her mind because it didn't sound right and she couldn't place her finger on it, but Henry didn't give her a chance to mull over it. He connected the call and low and behold, her gut was right once again. Holy shit, it was Doctor Minyak. The Doctor Minyak.

He was there on their screen, glaring at each of them with his bald head shining under the bright lights of wherever he was hiding out. Nurse Cohort was nowhere to be seen, thank the lord, because (y/n) always hated crossing paths with the woman who was in love with her fiancé, but that was the least of her worries. The biggest one was the fact that one of their greatest enemies had hijacked the livestream with one of his slyest schemes, eager to get revenge after the debacle at Double G's concert.

"It is I, Doctor Minyak!" The villain announced menacingly, snarling and bearing his teeth at the camera as Miss Danger's mind put the last puzzle piece in place. Right, wordplay, his favourite thing, she should've heard the ambiguity.

"Ohhhhh, mystery person, I get it." She looked at Ray, whose eyes lit up when she figured it out for him and a minuscule smile worked its way onto his face at how clever his girl was. But that carry on would have to be saved for later because right now, he regrettably couldn't be Ray Manchester doting upon his almost-wife, he was Captain Man and he couldn't ignore the asshole on his monitor.

"What do you want, Minyak?!" The hero growled, his happiness pushed to one side so he could appear tough and aggressive, something that made his followers go crazy as they witnessed the heroes face off with a bad guy. They'd be trending at this rate.

"To challenge you, Captain Man!" Minyak growled, trying to make it seem dramatic and suspenseful because that was him all over, he loved the attention it got him but Henry, (y/n) and Ray had long learned not to take the bait. They didn't want to give him any satisfaction or power, so they just sat back and reacted with as little fuss as possible because how hard could a challenge from Minyak be?

"He wants to challenge you."

"Uh-huh, challenge accepted." Ray waved off Henry's comment and therefore whatever Minyak had in store for him with a wave of his hand. He was the Captain Man, he could handle any challenge or competition, no problem, call him big-headed but this was gonna be easy-peasy, squeeze the lemon.

"But you don't even know what my challenge is!" Minyak squeaked, staring at his enemy with incredulous eyes when he heard how readily he accepted his offer like it was nothing. Yeah, he underestimated how sure of himself Ray was, and how eager he was to do anything if it made himself seem bigger and better, particularly when a certain sweet girl was around to witness how great he was.

"Don't care, 'cause I could beat you at anything." See? Massive big-head.

"Yeah, so, what is your "big challenge" for Captain Man?" (y/n) inquired, leaning back in her chair so she could fold her arms and cross her legs, a position that emanated her distaste for the man who'd pulled so many dastardly tricks over the years, including nearly killing her, her doofus, children, celebrities and so many others. She hated scum like him and Ray smirked at how sexy she got when being tough. "Yeah, what do you want to lose to me at?"

"Oh, I shan't lose because I challenge you, Captain Man, to a contest of spelling!" Minyak declared, making them all sit forward and get a tad more serious now that they knew precisely what they were dealing with. Okay, to most people, it was a weird topic because these were two, grownup men, so they could spell, right?

Yeahhhhh, nope. Ray was horrific at spelling. The worst (y/n) had ever seen, thanks to his dad pulling him from education at eight years old and he never really advanced past that stage. He could do simple ones like "the cat is on the mat" and so forth but with the big ones and under pressure, he was awful and his sweet girl knew this all too well. Minyak had chosen cleverly, he knew all the superlatives, adjectives, nouns, dynamic and stative verbs under the sun and their spellings, Ray, however, did not. He was screwed.

"Spellings?" He frowned, wondering how hard it could be since he had this problem where he buried his head in the sand when it came to his deficiencies and unless someone pointed them out, he never noticed. His literacy was great, definitely not stuck at the average second-grader ability.

"Yes. Perhaps you know that Swellview's yearly spelling bee takes place next Friday. You and I shall both enter the bee and when it's over, the entire world shall see which of us is the winner and which is the loser!" Minyak growled, making the young woman's heart jump into her throat when the egocentric doofus next to her widened his arms cockily, not realising how he was walking into failure.

"Fine, let's do it!"

"Uh, can you please hold? Yes, thank you..." She interrupted the men's beef and silenced the livestream, turning off the cameras and everything so she could push her seat back and drag her idiot fiancé off to one side, Henry close behind her. He knew that Ray wasn't the best speller, but he had no idea how bad it truly was, and neither did the hero himself, so he was just as confused at the break. Man, he was just getting into his stride...

"What? What? What? Why're you pushing me, sweet girl?" He demanded to know as they stood a few metres away from the recording table and he looked at her with a pouting, wobbly bottom lip.

"Raymond, I mean this in the nicest way possible, but you can't spell for shit." (y/n) told him gently, holding his hands to her chest as he frowned and got even poutier at her admittance. What? no, no, no, he was great a spelling, the best, he could spell all day, for once, his smart girl was wrong because he knew how vowels and consonants worked. Very well. Whatever.

"What do you mean I can't spell?!" He demanded to know, making her wince at his accusing tone, but sometimes, the truth hurts and from the looks that Henry was giving them, it was clear that she wasn't the only one who had noticed.

"I mean, for the first three months of knowing me, you couldn't spell my first name. And then it took you a further two months to learn my last name. And your texts and emails look like you've written them with your face, so you're a terrible speller." She argued back, making him screw up his face at how she was right, sort of. Who cares if it took him a while to learn names, he knew it eventually and his texts and emails were...legible across the board.

"Yeah well, soon, your last name will be Manchester and I know how to spell that, so--" Ray began to argue back, internally preening at both the thought of what he was implying and how she was fighting back a smile when she caught on too. Okay, yeah, fair point well-made, but still, he was shockingly bad, but then, someone else rushed in with a problem. Charlotte.

"You guys--" She started, slightly out of breath at how she'd rushed down from Junk-N-Stuff, where she'd been watching the livestream with Jasper and Schwoz until she heard the news about what Minyak wanted her boss to do. It was hard to tell him why, but he couldn't compete, not if he valued her happiness and reputation.

"Just a second. I find your comments offensive--" Ray shushed the girl before looking back at (y/n), who had her hip jutted out and her arms folded, braced for his childish comments and inability to deal with the truth. She knew the same old routine, she'd tell him it straight, he'd get moody, she'd left him to sulk and then he'd crawl back with an apology when he realised she was right. Therefore, she didn't take his sudden mood swing or cold eyes to heart.

"Right, well, I find your constant flirting with moms offensive, but I deal with it like a grown-up, Raymond." She told him cooly, holding her ground and meeting his petulance with reliable levelheadedness that had never let her down in the past.

He was getting grumpy, figuratively throwing his rattle from the pram now that he was still facing information he didn't like, especially when he saw more of his shortcomings, mainly how he would always leap at the sight of a hot mom. It was just who he was, nothing against his fiancée or his deep love for her, though it did still sting when he wandered off.

"You're just mean to me sometimes..." He grumbled, making her roll her eyes at how he was on the verge of stamping his foot and throwing a proper tantrum. And it wasn't like she wanted to be mean, she wasn't, she'd never deliberately hurt him because, despite his childishness and preference for females with offspring, she loved him and sometimes, you have to be a bit cruel to be kind.

"Fine, okay, spell "sometimes", doofus!" She challenged him, wanting to prove her points with an easy, but a still fairly long word that she knew he struggled with. He often confused phonetics with orthography and looked at her weirdly at her sudden request. "What?"

"Spell "sometimes" for me." She repeated, looking back at him with her arms still tight against her chest and without breaking their gaze. Henry was just sort of stood there awkwardly, Charlotte too, not wanting to butt in since they were having one of their old married couple fights and it was best to just let them bicker for a bit. It wasn't a fight or anything explosive, just spicy banter that helped them to keep moving forward rather than letting things stew.

"Okay. S. U--" And it was going so well for such a small amount of time. To be fair to the man, English spellings and pronunciations were hard, often placing vowels in places where they didn't make sense and don't get her started on all the regional variations, but still. Sumtimes? That was horrific.

"Wrong. You lose!" (y/n) exclaimed, making his cocky smile drop when his go was over before it had properly begun. Well, she was a scientist, she had awards and degrees and things that made her clever and pretty and sweet, so she was at an advantage. Surely, many people were in the same boat as him, because she was choosing the hard ones. "Well, that was a tricky one!"

"No, sweetheart, it wasn't. What happens if they ask you to spell pusillanimous or pulchritudinous or perspicacious?" She asked him with the softest tone, trying to make him see that this wasn't a witchhunt for the worst speller, it was a matter of pointing out that sometimes is an easy word to spell and not something that was gonna come up on a spelling bee.

"You're just making those up!" Ray replied moodily. He couldn't wrap his head around all of that multisyllabic mumbo-jumbo and he just buried his head further into the sand, terrified at all these new words that kept popping up. Charlotte knew where she was coming from, those were very real words and she could spell them perfectly, which was exactly her problem.

"Hey! Can I say something?!" THe girl butted in indignantly, making Ray and Henry throw their heads back. Come on, the bickering was just getting juicy, one was on the verge of making a good point and the other was debating getting popcorn, why'd she have to ruin it? "Ugh, what?"

"You can't do this!" She started simply, trying to make it seem as imperative as possible that he stay the fuck away from the competition, although an explanation would've strengthened her point from the get-go, had she included one. "Why?"

"'Cause! I'm gonna be in the spelling bee!" Charlotte announced, her hand on her chest like she was swearing the wish into reality. It was her dream, not to win it once, but to maintain her winning streak and show to everyone how brainy she was. Hey, she didn't show off very often, just this once, she was allowing herself to shine and possibly step on a few people. Just this once.

"You?!" Ray reiterated in surprise. Huh, he never would've thought that Charlotte would go for that kind of thing given that she usually hated crowds and being put on a stage, but this is where (y/n) could relate to her. Normally, spotlights scared her too, but when it came to showing off her brain and performing under pressure, she loved it and had multiple science trophies from fairs and contests alike. Being clever was different to being big-headed, well, it was when you had humility.

"Yeah! I've won the last three years in a row! And if I win this year, I'll be the first Swellviewian to win four years straight!" She said with a proud smile on her face and for (y/n), it settled the matter. Ray couldn't enter the spelling bee and win because that would be that Charlotte would have to lose and she couldn't let that happen, unlike her doof who had slightly sketchier morals.

"Oh, Charlotte...Charlotte, Charlotte, Charlotte. You ever think about anybody but yourself?" Oh, was he for real? The girls knew he was dense, mentally and physically, but really? Come on, he was being even more of a childish ass than usual and they couldn't figure out why he was suddenly regressing to a man-baby with (y/n) around, normally she mellowed him out into a normal human being. "What?"

"I can't have this one thing?" The man asked rhetorically, making himself out to be the victim since he was using his petulance like a shield, deflecting anything that might want to burst his happy little bubble, although the bubble could only get so happy without his sweet girl. That's when he'd go back to her and sanity, but he wasn't there yet and Henry wasn't helping matters.

"He just wants this one thing." Little shit.

"Okay, choo-choo-choo, I've boarded the crazy train and I want off!" (y/n) groaned as she rubbed her eyes as if she was trying to see if she was dreaming or not, but nope. Ray was still standing next to her being a dick, probably getting moodier from his kiss withdrawal symptoms and Henry was egging him on. Dear Lord, she could've had a nice, peaceful career like alligator wrestling, but noooo, she chose to fall in love with a superhero and became his mechanic/cleaner/scientist/superhero friend and lover. Give her strength.

"And you, as my friend, you won't let me have this one moment in the sun to beat Doctor Minyak at spelling?"

"Just one sunny moment?" The boys kept going, making (y/n) and Charlotte roll their eyes at how dramatic they were being. Wow, boys stick together, huh? They would've thought that Henry would see sense like them, but he was sticking with his friend, he even put a comforting arm around his shoulders for support. Couldn't he see that he was making it worse?

"But the guidance counsellor at school said it would be great for me if--" The teen tried to explain that by being a record holder, hundreds of doors would open up for her since it would look so perfect on her CV or college applications and it wasn't like Captain Man and his bad guy friends couldn't fight over the best toys in the sandbox somewhere else. This meant so much to her, (y/n) could see that, why couldn't they?"

"Oh, for you? See, for you! Must it all be about you, Charlotte?" Ray exclaimed, wondering around the girl and waving his arms like he was bowing down before a majestic goddess, which was his way of rudely telling her that he thought that she was asking for too much. His world didn't revolve around Charlotte, it revolved around two things, crime and (y/n), and in his mind, this competition was linked to both of them; Minyak was a criminal and he loved impressing her, so, he didn't see why her interests had to shine at the expense of his.

"Choo-choo-choo!" (y/n) sounded again, raising her hand above her head as if she was pulling a train whistle. Her fiancé was on his crazy train and was taking them all for a ride, even though she just wanted to go lay down and wait for him to realise how dumb he was being.

"Okay, fine! Sorry!" The girl backed down, not liking the immense guilt trip she was being forced into and hating the pressure, she decided it was better to submit, not that she was sorry in any way, shape or form. She'd get back at Ray, somehow, at some point and offered him a sour, half-assed smile as he gloated at her lack of a backbone.

"I hope so." The hero left the conversation there and they went to sit back down at the recording table, where everyone, including Minyak, had been left on the edge of their seats for news on their decision. Only, this time, the mood wasn't as happy and lovey-dovey as before because the couple known for doing all that had turned frosty, given that Ray was too proud to back down and say he wanted a kiss. Cutting his nose off to spite his face as it were.

"Hi, we're back." He spoke into the microphone as Henry switched all the cameras back on and Minyak's face and the comments flickered back to life.

Now, Charlotte was silenced since she couldn't appear on the call and Ray felt a smug smirk work its way onto his face, although his fingers were itching to crawl back to his girl's thigh, where it belonged. He also longed to peck at her cheeks and lips just to piss Minyak off even more, and to see her blush under his attention, but no, he had to stay strong. He was sulking, right?

"It's about time!" Minyak snapped, having grown impatient with all of the waiting around, but he was eager to hear what Captain Man would say. Would he live up to his name and be a man, or would he decline and show how much of a coward he really was?

"And I accept your challenge, so, what's the bet?" Ray asked nonchalantly, folding his arms to show that he was comfortable, uncaring, relaxed at the thought of having to do a forfeit for losing because he wasn't going to lose. It was Minyak who was setting himself up to do something stupid, although he wasn't aware of just how stupid the bet was until...

"The bet is whichever of us loses the spelling bee must ride a child's tricycle all the way from Swellview to California and back!" Minyak spat, having come up with the arduous journey whilst plotting his scheme. Well, it was certainly a horrible thing to have to do, cycle hundreds of miles on a tiny, child's plaything and endure the humiliation, but jeez, how did his brain work to come up with that?

"I was not expecting that," Ray commented, feeling slightly perturbed at the prospect of maybe, possibly having to do that, but then, he brushed away the prick of worry. It would be fine, he was Captain Man, the greatest man to ever live, in some people's opinions, and he'd be the one laughing at Minyak as he tricycled away, not the other way around.

"Yeah, that is pretty weird even for you." (y/n) added, unconsciously dropping her hand to rest on Ray's knee, just a small touch that under normal circumstances would've gone noticed by the man, but after being so abrasive for the past few minutes, he was glad to know that she wasn't angry, just waiting for the storm to blow over.

"But I ain't gonna lose so, you got a bet, Minyak!" Ray nodded, wrapping an arm around (y/n)'s shoulders as he stretched out to make himself seem bigger and she allowed it, she even tilted her head against it, drawing more enamoured messages from their fans. Even when things got tricky, they were still adoring, the old married couple thing seriously took into account the "married" part, something they would always be striving towards until it finally arrived.

"Oh, lovely! And you just wait, Captain Man, you will lose. And while you're tricycling to California and back, I shall--" Minyak's deranged, snarling rant was cut off when (y/n) decided that she'd heard enough and hovered the mouse over the end-call button on the PearBook before finally severing the connection. Thank god he was gone, and the live stream would end soon too, then she'd be free to do and say and mess up as she liked without the fear of it being immortalised on the internet. "I think that's enough of that..."

"Ha! He had more to say but you didn't care!" Henry chuckled, turning his head to grin at the woman as she relaxed into her chair. Normally, she'd never do something so rude but when it came to Minyak, she had next to no patience and it was nice feeling Ray's thumb draw tiny circles where her arm joined to her shoulder. Yeah, he was starting to crawl back.

"Yeah, I ain't got time for shit like that."

"Well, I guess I'll just call the Bee Board and tell them I'm not gonna compete this year." Charlotte sniffed, finally having a chance to get back at her boss with a sad tone and distraught face now that Minyak was gone. Yeah, she was getting her revenge but now that he didn't have to act all tough anymore, Ray's goofy, amicable side was coming back out.

"No, no, no, no, no, no."

"No, no, no, no, no, no, don't do that." He and Henry said together, their brains on the same wavelength. They could find a loophole for this, one that meant that Charlotte could still be brilliant and leave Ray's honour intact. Well, that was their plan.

"But I thought you don't want me to win." She frowned. It was true, Ray had changed his tune pretty quickly, but that wasn't entirely true. Whilst he wasn't up for crushing her dreams entirely, he was still gonna look out for himself, that hadn't changed.

"I don't."

"He doesn't."

"I want you to lose on purpose, so I can win." He explained and that's when (y/n) retracted her hand, sighing since she had thought she was making progress, but nope, that was just a false start. Her doofus was still very much being pigheaded and as she would with a child, she took away the positive reinforcement she'd given. Child Ray was Annoying Ray, ugh.

"Raymond! Think about how hard she's worked to get to this point. Do not make her lose on purpose just so you can win some dumb bet." The heroine argued, turning in her chair so she could look at him with a stern gaze and he was scarcely intimidated by it and dejected at losing her loving touch but that was just it. If he didn't do this, then he'd have to go to California on a tricycle; that was, like, a three or four or five day trip with no sweet girl by his side. He didn't want that, he hated not being with her.

"She has to, sweet girl, or else Swellview is losing Captain Man to The Golden State." He replied, touching his fingers underneath her chin for a split second like he was some goddamn cowboy charming a plucky, young girl and she tutted at his arrogance. The irritating thing was that he wasn't even gonna study for this, wasn't even gonna practice his spellings, she just knew it, and Charlotte had to say yes. "Okay..."

"And you can help make sure that Doctor Minyak doesn't cheat," Henry told her, thinking that having an extra person up on stage would be perfect since she could look out for any foul play from the villain because y'know, bad stuff was expected from him. The only thing was that surprisingly, the doctor was quite brainy and a great speller, so he wouldn't need to cheat, unlike Ray...

"Wait, wait, wait, you're a terrible speller. How are you gonna win?" Charlotte asked, picking apart the man's cool facade as he stretched back with his hands behind his head in a perfectly relaxed state. Well, it would've been perfect if he had his fiancée snuggling into his side and no teenage girls ripping apart his self-confidence.

"Oh, I'm gonna cheat."

"He's gonna cheat gooood." The boys smirked at the girls, neither of them seeing how ironic, moronic and irresponsible their plan was. How could they have a go at Minyak and call him out for being evil when they were breaking the rules they set down? All their honour would be burned when they fixed the results and ruined a girl's dreams in the process, something which was too much for (y/n) as they chuckled at Charlotte's flabbergasted face.

"And I'm off to lie down. Maybe once the crazy train derails, my migraine will go away." She told Ray and Henry as she stood up from the table, and ignoring how he made grabby hands at her, sauntered away from Ray and up through the sprocket.

Her bedroom would block out the world's interference and once he came along with his sorries and soft lips, joining her to nap or watch movies on their bed, everything would be perfect...until Friday afternoon came along.

~Friday morning, Swellview Spelling Bee~

To say that it was quite a nerdy thing to participate in, the annual spelling bee was actually pretty lively. There was a crowd gathering, everyone taking their seats and creating a buzz as the contestants tried not to puke from the nerves of being on national television. Yep, Mary and Trent from KLVY News were in the building, sat at a little desk, ready to be the judges of the poor kids' fates and whether they'd take the trophy home or not.

They were all nervous, Charlotte, the snotty kid on her right, the geeky one on her left, everyone was anxious as they prepared to be judged in front of everyone, the cameras going live in just a few minutes, but there was one exception. Minyak.

The smart-ass was sat there, looking all smug since he knew that his literacy skills exceeded nearly all of the children around him and the man on the opposite end of the row, who had the mental capacity of a child, so he was feeling pretty good about himself.

Ray, however, was not. Whilst he looked quite calm as he leaned back and gave the crowd his signature cocky smirks, he couldn't help but feel nausea rise in his throat and a sickening fluttering in his tummy as he saw all those faces looking back at him. Okay, this was not the sort of crowd he wanted to be in front of, because they liked books and math and all the things he didn't, so knowing that his skills were going to be torn apart by them was horrifying. Well, except for one pretty person in particular.

(y/n) was sitting on the front row, having sat down early to make sure that she could get the best view of her doofus facing off with Minyak. Whilst she wasn't in uniform and therefore couldn't be his lover right now, lest she wanted to face Miss Danger's wrath, which would be a very confusing situation, she could still send him subtle smiles and blow a few kisses. Just knowing that she was there eased a few of his worries and whenever he needed to, his gaze could always cross the room to find her supporting him no matter if he was a winner or a loser.

"Hey, Trent, Mary. You're on in about twelve seconds." The producer told the news anchors as they settled in for the long run, the very long run. This thing was gonna take hours and stretch way into the afternoon and early evening, so they were getting ready for the slog, not to mention the whole addressing the nation thing. Although, as usual, poor Mary got a little confused at the guy's warning. "Thanks..."

"Hello, my name is Mary Gaperman and this is Swellview's forty-second annual spelling bee!" She announced happily, thinking that she was talking to the cameras and everyone tuning in at home, but no. She was just talking into the mic a few seconds too early, which drew some very confused faces from Trent and the man with the clipboard.

"We're live in four, three, two..."

"Hello and welcome. I'm Trent Overrunder and this is Swellview's forty-second annual spelling bee!" Trent echoed Mary from ten seconds ago, but the woman didn't falter, merely continued staring dreamily into the camera, something which endeared her to (y/n) as she wiggled to get comfy. Hours sounded like a lot, but when staring at the love of your life, it isn't so bad, not when you have the added fear of him being caught cheating. Oh yeah, that was still happening.

"This year, we have five bright, young finalists and also, oddly, two adult men." The man carried on after the crowd had finished their thundering applause, none of which was aimed at the scowling man on the right-hand side of the panel of brainiacs. That was stupid Minyak, whilst on the left, there was Captain Man, who was getting most of his cheers from Piper, who'd come along to see her favourite superhero crush the villain at his own game.

"First, Swellview's very own superhero, Captain Man!" At his announcement, Ray stood up from his chair to wave at his adoring crowd and throw a super-kick, using their cheers to saturate his nerves with pride at how they all loved him. Of course, during his little circle on the stage, he ensured that Minyak's glares and eye rolls did nothing to stop his confidence because he was too busy smirking at his sweet girl, his eyes subtly on her and projecting loving gazes her way since even in his alter-ego, she was the one who they were for.

"Go, Captain Man!" Piper shrieked at the awesome hero, using her loudest voice to carry her support over the cheers, but she failed to realise that it was just her favourite celebrity competing. It was also her friend, Charlotte, the nicest one out of her brother's friends if you didn't include his nice lady boss, and from the looks of it, she was kinda offended at how she never cheered for her like that. "Oh...and Charlotte."

"And our final contestant is four-time convicted felon, Doctor Horacio T. Minyak," Trent announced and as his rival did, the villain stood up to bask in the cheers of his supporter, although it was safe to say that they weren't cheers or his supporters in any way. Everyone booed at his appearance, even (y/n) as she sent him her best glower, Ray doing the same at how the man thought her could still the people's love.

"Stick around because, after this short break, we'll bee...right back." Oh, Mary, you had to love her. To say that she got things wrong ninety per cent of the time, she still had the enthusiasm for the job and her puns were great, despite the comment being useless since they were just starting, not going for a break.

"Everybody, we're back live in two minutes." Or not. Since she'd said it on air, the TV crews had no choice but to cut to commercials since it would be too confusing to just carry on. But at least it gave two boys a chance to get things set up, namely Henry and Jasper, who'd come up with an ingenious way of communicating the right letters to Ray when he needed them.

"Yo, before we go in, let's do a quick cheat check," Henry told his friend as they waited outside the studio with two large gym bags full of the most miscellaneous crap, no one would suspect that they were trying to help one of the contestants. They had everything, from A for apple to U for umbrella, sort of as if they were trying to teach a five-year-old to spell, but this time, they were trying to help their boss not seem like an idiot.

"Cheat check? Let's do it."

"So, if we want Ray to say the letter G, what starts with G?" Henry asked as they crouched and unzipped the bags, rifling through the stuff they had to see what could signify a specific letter. It had to be so obvious that the average ape could work out what they were trying to say because this was Ray they were dealing with and whilst (y/n) thought his dumbness was adorable, the nation wouldn't.

"Uh, grapefruit!" Jasper answered and pulled one of the large, orange fruits from the bag. Okay, good, Ray would understand that, no problem.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, good, good, good--" Henry grinned at his lightning reaction, knowing that they'd have to be super quick at finding and pulling things from the bag so Ray could give his answer swiftly and without too much stuttering. But just then, a staff member walked through the doors, causing the boys to drop everything and pretend to act casual as he nonchalantly walked past. Thank god he said nothing, otherwise, they'd have a lot of explaining to do and their boss would have a hell of a lot of peddling.

"Okay, so if we want Ray to say the letter E, you hold up an..."

"Egg!" Henry smiled at him as he pulled out the delicate thing from his bag at his friend's request and honestly, they were feeling pretty good about this. As long as they made no mistakes, this would be a breeze. "Nice!"

"All right, dude, let's, uh, go I--N." Henry joked, first holding up an ice cream cone that had to be fake since they wouldn't have a prop for long if it stayed in the bag, and then a nacho bowl. Right, he could spell "in", well done, but they had to move quickly, the show was starting any minute now.

"O--K!" Jasper replied, holding up an orange and a bottle of ketchup. They didn't have all of the items themselves, they had split the alphabet, meaning that this was gonna be a real team effort to synchronise the words and the orthography, which meant it was a good thing that Schwoz was on stand in the Man Cave, ready to tell them the spelling in case they didn't know it.

"Hey..." Oh shit, here came a man. Not a security officer, not a producer or a member of the crew, just some ordinary dude, but even still, Henry sensed like he was trouble right from the get-go as he stood up from his bag, eyeing it nervously because of what it contained. "Hey..."

"Can I have some of that ketchup to put on my finger?" Right, well, maybe not trouble, but he was certainly weird. A hot dog or burger, Henry could understand, but the man literally offered Jasper his finger like it was a sausage and immediately, neither teen liked how nosy he was.

"No!"

"Get outta here, guy!" They snapped at him, screwing up their noses and collecting their things quickly so they could push past him and get into the studio. Ew, why was he licking his empty finger? They really had stumbled on some freak here, some degenerate, who liked clean fingers and those with ketchup on the side.

The cameras were nearly ready to roll again and everyone who'd gotten up for one last bathroom break was sat in their seats, including Piper, who had now swapped to sit next to (y/n) when she noticed the young woman by herself.

Huh, where was that doofus fiancé of hers? According to Henry, ever since she'd gotten engaged, those two couldn't be more than two metres apart, yet here she was on her lonesome. Yeah, she needed company and that meant that there were no double seats left at the front for the boys.

"Oh, hey, hey, Piper, perfect." Henry panted as his eyes flickered over the crowd, noticing that things were starting to quieten down for the recording and if he and Jasper were gonna do this, they were gonna need to ideally be sat together. That meant that they'd keep (y/n) company as she sent goo-goo eyes to Ray and that would be safer than risking Piper seeing them, who would have to change to a crappy chair in the middle of the room. She wasn't gonna like that.

"Hi..."

"Can you sit on that side so me and Jasper can sit together?" He asked politely, hoping that his sister would be in one of her good moods since she had one of her friends with her, the nice boss lady from his work, but Piper wasn't gonna shift for love or money. She could see the contestants Captain Man perfectly from here and she could swear that he kept looking her way for some reason...

"What? No? But me and Jasper wanna sit together."

"Not my problem. I'm sat here with (y/n) and we're talking about her pretty engagement ring and her wedding and that doesn't include you!" Piper snapped, making (y/n) shrug as Henry looked at her for support, but she had nothing.

It was true, they had been admiring the gleaming ring still sitting snugly on her left hand, her bashful smiles not going noticed by Ray as he glanced over to see her looking at it and smiling. God, he loved seeing her as in love with the idea as he was, and it was clear that Piper was fascinated too. Would she be at the wedding? Sure, they weren't close friends, but she'd still like to see the reception and her dress and hear about the romance of it all, y'know, just girly things.

Ten seconds. Everyone, please take your seats now." Any arguing that was present between the siblings was instantly silenced when the same man from before hushed the crowd and their chatter. Great, ten seconds until the TV was back on, that meant they had to sit down now or else they'd be thrown out and then Ray would be totally screwed.

"Piper, just move, okay?!"

"I'M NOT GONNA!" The girl barked back, forcing (y/n) to stamp down her instinct to wince at her volume as Jasper stepped in to calm their anger. It was fine, not ideal, but they could work with this. He'd sit with Piper and Henry could sit in the middle, a little tricky, but at least they were in the room, something which was infinitely better than them not being there at all.

"Henry, it's all right, we can just split up." He reasoned, making the teen take a deep breath as he accepted that that's what they had to do. Damn Piper for having the same stubbornness and tenacity that made him a great sidekick, damn her for wanting to know more about (y/n)'s love life, damn her for picking a rabbit hole that the woman could gush about for hours.

"Fine, fine, fine. Fine." Henry conceded in an irritated tone, having realised that they were causing a scene and with seconds left to go he didn't really have a choice. Jasper opted for the free seat next to (y/n) since the other one on her right was taken by Piper, whilst Henry scooted off to the nasty chair in the middle of the crowd. Great, now he had to shuffle down the row and make everyone hate him for stumbling to get his butt seated. "Pardon me, coming through, sorry..."

"In four, three, two..." The producer counted them down and Henry had to avoid Ray's concerned eyes when the hero noticed that his accomplices were now sitting in different places, meaning his gaze would dart around the room; Jasper, (y/n), Henry, Jasper, (y/n), Henry, all in that order as he worked on staying in the competition and soothing his nerves.

"And we are back here at the Swellview spelling bee, where things are just about to get underway."

"That's right, Trent. And as is tradition, the first word goes to the winner of last year's spelling bee, Sherlock Paggy." Mary announced after Trent brought the at-home audience back up to speed with what was going on, and for some reason, she couldn't quite pronounce Charlotte's name. It was one of the easiest, simplest names (y/n) had ever come across, quite normal with easy pronunciation, but no one ever seemed to remember it.

"It's Charlotte Page...it's the same every year." The girl corrected her as she stood up from her seat on stage and lightly clutched the microphone stand. Okay, the crowd was scary, but the applause she got from them, especially her friends in the front row, eased her and she braced herself for whatever word was coming toward her.

"Okay, Charlotte. Your word is imbecile...imbecile." Trent stated the noun clearly, and (y/n)'s eyes narrowed at him when he took a split-second to dart his eyes at Mary since he clearly thought that she was one. What an asshole, just because she seemed to be an airhead didn't mean she had no feelings.

"Imbecile. I-M-B-E-C-I-L-E. Imbecile." Charlotte's spelling was perfect and her voice steady as she nailed the first round, making Ray scoff lightly. Okay, he had to appear like this was gonna be a breeze for him, but upon hearing the first word, he realised just how tricky this was gonna be because this was supposed to be the easier set, it was only gonna get harder from here.

"That is correct!" Trent grinned and Mary dinged a little bell that made the girl's heart swell with pride and flood with relief as the crowd applauded her expected brilliance and she went to sit back down. Well, that was her safe for the next couple of minutes.

"Okay, next up is Carlos Calderone." The next boy came up, his youthful face framed by glasses and nerves as he clenched his fingers upon hearing his word. "Carlos, your word is Souvenir--"

"Schwoz to Henry and Jasper...Schwoz to Henry and Jasper..." The genius back in the Man Cave called to the boys sitting calmly in the room, the faces not even twitching as his voice came through in their earpieces. No one looked, no one suspected a thing, although (y/n) knew what they were up to, she just kept looking at the kid on stage, who'd requested some information about his term and how it would be used in a sentence.

"Are you guys ready for a soundcheck?"

"Yep, go." Henry murmured back, hoping that the old man next to him wouldn't give him some funny looks for talking to himself during the show but they had to test this. Schwoz being Schwoz though wasn't gonna be normal about this, no, no, no, he was gonna make them seem like psychos.

"Okay...HEY! THIS IS A SOUNDCHECK!" Schwoz bellowed down the mic, causing Henry and Jasper to leap out of their seats and onto the floor in surprise as their eardrums throbbed. Yeah, now they looked like weirdos, the old man, Ray and (y/n) and Piper giving them confused looks as they scrambled to sit back down with their bags clutched to their chests. The woman definitely knew that it was related to their schemes and hummed under her breath at how sucky they were at being subtle.

"You're really bad at this..." She whispered into Jasper's ear as Carlos spelt souvenir correctly, causing the teen to gulp at how everyone was focusing on the front of the audience and the middle. Two boys didn't know how chairs worked apparently, but she didn't tease him for long, preferring to turn back to the stage where her eyes met Ray's. Funny, Piper swore that they wrinkled with delight and love, but Miss Danger wasn't here right now, so what gives?

"S-O-U-V-E-N-I-R. Souvenir."

"Correct!" And that was the next contestant through, Carlos going to sit back down as everyone clapped at his success. Well, everyone but Minyak was happy, who thought that children didn't deserve any sort of praise because it was just a form of celebrating mediocrity, not true excellence. "Ooh, way to go, Carlos!"

"Okay, now we have, Doctor Minyak." Well, this was gonna be a barrel of laughs, or boos rather, because that was what the villain got, as well as minimal applause as he stomped over to the mic with a glare on his face. He sent a particularly icy one to Captain Man as the man sat back and simply sent tummy-fluttering smiles to his sweet girl, only for them to die as the pungent stench of Minyak filled his nostrils. Ugh. "I'm--I'm ready."

"Terrific. Your word is prodigious. Prodig--" Trent stated as the man bent down at an awkward angle to reach the mic, but the repetition hadn't even fully left his mouth when Minyak began uttering letters at a lightning speed.

"P-R-O-D-I-G-I-O-U-S, prodigious! And that was correct!" He growled out, turning to once again glare at Ray as he edged back to his seat with an air of cockiness about him. Damn, it was annoying how confident he was, but he was right, his knowledge was spot-on.

"Hey. I'm the one who gets to say if it's correct." Trent argued sternly, not liking how this asshole was assuming that he was right without consulting the judges first. Minyak waited patiently, not caring about the opinion of some lowly news anchor until he got the answer he'd predicted. "...That is correct."

Now, to spell his first word of the bee, Captain Man!" They moved on quickly and Jasper and Henry squirmed in preparation as Ray nervously yet confidently stood up from his seat and approached the mic, grinning at the significantly louder applause he got, compared to Minyak.

Yeah, the people loved him, but no one's adoration equalled (y/n), who for once, was cheering and beating her hands together even louder than Piper as her secret lover stood up in all his handsome glory. It was nice knowing that all of him, from head to toe, was hers to love and having it as a closely kept secret just made it feel even more special when combined with his general wave to the crowd that was more for her than anyone else.

"Your word is hypotenuse." Trent said and Ray's mind went blank for a moment as he tried to think about what that was, let alone how to spell it. But then, his mind flicked onto something he vaguely recognised as Schwoz hurriedly tapped it into the internet to get the exact spelling.

"Of course, hypotenuse. Similar to the rhinoceros." Ray said in a confident tone, although it drew some funny looks. Oh, (y/n)'s heart bled for him, knowing that none of her rants on math had sunk into him since he was getting animals mixed up with trigonometry. Come on, Pythagoras' Theorem, the square on the hypotenuse is equal to the sum of the squares on the other two sides. He obviously hadn't listened as she taught him about right-angled triangles, but whatever. Help was right in the room.

"I believe hypotenuse is spelled...honey...h...H! Y-P-O-T-E-N-U-S-E! Hypotenuse!" Ray started off shakily, not knowing if the kids in the crowd were gonna help him or not, but when he got into the swing of things, he quickly gained speed and fluency. They pulled out yoghurt, nachos, a mini umbrella in a coconut, anything that would symbolise the letters as Schwoz said them, and it worked like a charm.

"That is quite correct." He could breathe a sigh of relief as the crowd applauded their hero's "genius" and how he'd gotten it right against all odds, Charlotte and (y/n) offering him half-hearted support since they knew he was celebrating for nothing. The boys made up for it though and despite her tight smile, Ray still managed to fluster (y/n) as their eyes met for a brief second and she had to force herself not to blush as Piper tried to see who he was looking at. Was Miss Danger here? Was he flirting with someone else?

She didn't pick up any more clues as the time rolled on, kids and the men alike coming up to offer their knowledge on the rules of the English language as Mary kept dinging the bell or pressing the buzzer for an incorrect answer. It was hard to see people fail, but that was how things worked and for some people, it was hard to focus on their attempts since they were daydreaming about soft lips and a bubblegum-honey combination.

"M-O-N-T-A-G-E. Montage." A pretty blonde girl smiled as the bell sounded, signalling that she was good for another round and that's when the competition really picked up speed. It forced Henry and Jasper to be on the ball as everyone allowed letters to fall from their lips like they didn't even have to picture their words in their minds, but they kept up pretty well.

"F-L-A-M-B-É. Flambé." Charlotte smiled as she got another tricky one correct. Of course, she did, the girl was too clever and well-read to be fooled by French diacritics.

"-M-O-N-I-U-M. Delemonomium." Next, it was Carlos, who was given a word that (y/n) was certain wasn't a real word, but whatever. Apparently, he spelt it wrong, so the poor kid had to do the walk of shame and shuffle off the stage with his head hung in disappointment. Oh well, there was always next year!"

"Just a moment. S-U-B-T-E-R-F-U-G-E. Subterfuge. Thank you." Minyak, being the smug dick he was, went up to answer his next one whilst on the phone, pausing his conversation only to beat out the word like it was nothing. It was kinda ironic considering the meaning of the word, but Ray didn't notice, he just sat there stunned as the villain laughed at how he still wasn't defeated. "I just got another one right!"

"-I-A-L. Marsupial." But that didn't mean that Ray's cheating wasn't going perfectly. The man was relaxed too as he aced his second round, kicking the mic and letting it fall back into his hand before crooning out the last letter. And it was (y/n) who got the smouldering look in his eyes sent her as he basked in the glory of being right again.

"B-L-A-F-H-E-R-W-oh!" Some next kid was unfortunately the victim of Minyak and his less-than-squeaky-clean methods for ensuring that all these nerds were knocked out early in the competition so he could steam ahead to the final round. Using a spit wad, he launched a gross, slimy ball at the kid's face, making him mess up when spelling his bizarre word and Minyak was straight in there to point out his exclamation was in fact a letter.

"Wrong! He said O, but the next letter is H, so he's wrong! Now, buzz him out. Buzz him out!" Mary had no choice but to do just that. The kid had seemingly said the wrong thing and no one could prove Minyak's foul play, so he was another one walking off the stage, leaving the competitor lineup looking pretty thin.

"P-U-S-I-L-L-A-N-I-M-O-U-S. Pusillanimous." Charlotte's next turn was perfect as usual, her knowledge extending to one of the words that Ray had sworn to be made up, but she knew all of it. And, if that wasn't impressive enough, she even fought off a sneaky attack from Minyak as he crept towards her with malicious intentions. A hard microphone smack to the nose soon got him to back off from the trophy which was gonna be hers.

"M-U-M. Chrysanthemum." His tongue felt a little clumsy went saying the word, but Ray was still going strong, earning more thunderous applause as he scored his hardest yet thanks to the help of Henry, Jasper and a marshmallow. Maybe his victory lap around the room was a little excessive, no doubt his girl was giving him an amused eye-roll but he couldn't help it.

"N-A-U-G--" The blonde girl was in the middle of saying her next word when Doctor Minyak struck again, this time sitting menacingly with a pretty unicorn plushie in his lap. That looked a bit weird but what he did to the toy was what made her gasp in horror; he twisted the neck and severed the head from its body, stuffing spilling all over his lap as he whispered cruelly "you're next..." and she lost her train of thought.

"Isabella, please finish the word." Trent requested and pushing the threat to the back of her mind, the girl tried to get herself back on track, but she just couldn't think. It wasn't surprising, given that the bastard had stooped so low that he was now harassing children into failure and annoyingly, he always did it in a way that no one noticed. "Uh, what was my word again?"

"Sorry, we're not allowed to refresh your memory. Mary..." And that was the end of poor Isabella.

"And we're finally down to our final three finalists!" Mary exclaimed, making the finality of it all clear as the clock struck an agonising five hours later. Now, it was only Ray, Charlotte and Minyak left on stage, each of them smiling through the pain of being sat down on fairly uncomfortable chairs for so long. Their butts were aching, the bladders were near bursting and their backs were hurting, but it was worth it to have come so far.

"We sure are Mary, but since it's been five hours since we took a break if anyone would like to visit the restroom, now would be a--" Trent agreed, but he deemed it more important to give the desperate crowd some much-needed relief, so the cameras stopped rolling and everyone was allowed to go pee and buy snacks.

Well, nearly everyone, some people, like (y/n), had been smart and had swiftly nipped out during a boring bit since she was certain that her friends would be okay and the other kids would fill the time anyway. Sure, Ray got a little worried and pouty at her brief absence and how he now had to face the mic alone but stretching her legs felt so good, and it meant she avoided the queues during the interval.

"I'm starving! Gimme your food!" Piper exclaimed as she leaned past (y/n) to rummage through Jasper's bag and all the foodstuffs he had in there. It's not like she was gonna down an entire bottle of ketchup, some of it she couldn't eat, but damn, his apple sure looked good after an entire morning of no snacking. Jasper, however, wasn't so keen on sharing the precious items he had to help his boss, especially such an important vowel like A. "No, no, no, what are you doing?!"

"Dude!"

"Right, you can't eat my apple." He argued and (y/n) watched with an amused smile as he yanked it back to his side, safely tucking the fruit into the bottom of the gym bag so no one else could lay their sticky paws on it. She was half-tempted to take one of his snacks herself, but that would be like a betrayal to her doofus and if there was one thing she wasn't, it was being a traitor to the adorable idiot still throwing their infatuated looks on stage.

"Fine! Then, give me the egg!" Piper's hand crossed the woman's body again, reaching to grab the hard-boiled thing, which was a bit of a weird thing to chow down on in the middle of a studio set, but she was hungry and up for eating anything. But there was the same old problem again; E is the most common letter in English, so losing that one would be like losing his most reliable soldier and Jasper was quick to bring it back.

"No! Are you insane? Okay, A and E are two of this country's most popular vowels!"

"What are you saying?!" Their arguing continued to get louder and more aggressive, causing (y/n) to squirm in her seat when she realized just how much attention their heated discussion was drawing. Oh god, it was that producer man from before, he was looking their way, and what with Jasper talking about vowels and holding his bag of stuff, she was sure that he'd figured out what his game was. Here came the disqualification for Ray...

"Shut up, you two! Shut up!" She hissed, trying to avoid a disaster, but that last remark from the young girl was just too sharp and the producer came over to them, a scowl painted on his features. Oh jeez, how was she gonna explain that that was Jasper's emotional support egg? Or that Piper hadn't covered indoor voices in school yet? Would she get in trouble too for being the supervising adult? She'd find out sooner enough because here he came...

"Hey! No loud talking in the auditorium. Can't you control ya kids?" He snapped, his glare passing between all three of them before settling on (y/n), who didn't know whether to be offended or frightened. Okay, sure, she probably should've managed the situation better, but these were her friends, not her offspring, and she would've thought that the fact would be evident from her youthful face.

"Okay...these aren't my children, but I will try to keep them quiet. Sorry about that." She replied carefully, not wanting to ruffle his feathers anymore by saying something a little too abrasive, even though her instinct was to yell at him about how Jasper was clearly too old to be hers, Piper too. Whatever, her answer seemed to satisfy him enough to wander off, probably boosted by the people-pleasing, apologetic expression she wore to sweeten the deal before finally dropping it when he left to talk to Trent.

"That was a close one. Now, you two need to behave like grownups, not five-year-olds, okay? I'm not gonna get kicked out and miss R--Captain Man beating Minyak." (y/n) told the kids sternly, crossing her knees and mentally kicking herself when she almost let her biggest secret slip. Right, he wasn't hers to love publically right now, but luckily, Piper didn't seem to notice, merely nodded solemnly as she leaned in a bit.

"Right, sorry, (y/n)...now, give me a snack!" The girl gave her friend an earnest look before hissing at Jasper, practically sitting on the woman's knee as she tried to take the bag away from him in a display that went against everything (y/n) had told them not to do. Typical teens, absolute nightmares...

"Will you stop being so stingy?!"

"This is my bag!!" They were instantly arguing again as Piper tried to grab some food, any food that would satiate her body's need to eat, only this time, the producer wasn't gonna give them a second chance. Hearing the commotion coming from them again, his focus was drawn away from his colleagues and to those two pesky teens as the pretty woman tried to quell their shouts with little success.

The man took out a whistle as he stomped in front of the three, blowing it loudly so their ears ached and their tittering stopped. Well, that had been the desired effect and when they parted, Jasper and Piper stared at him with fearful, confused faces whilst (y/n) looked uneasy, nervous to get in trouble since she wasn't exactly a rulebreaker.

"Go on, show 'em the door." And with the producer's words, two security guards roughly grabbed hold of asper and then Piper, stretching their collars as they manhandled them to their feet and started pushing them towards the doors, leaving (y/n) feeling horrified at how they were just being chucked out.

"What!? She was taking my stuff! "

"Oh, come on!" They exclaimed as they were led away and (y/n) turned to the producer man with a stony expression, wanting an explanation for why he'd banned two kids just for being a bit rowdy. Maybe it was a bit disorderly but they were on a break and they were young, bound to make mistakes, so surely they could be forgiven again. Also, why wasn't she being deemed a miscreant? She'd been making some noise too, kinda.

"What the--dude, why are you kicking them out and not me?" They're just kids." (y/n) told the guy cooly, running her eyes over him to see if she could pick anything up from his body language, but he wasn't intimidated or concerned about the opinion of one lady, this was his set, he could do what he liked.

"We need attractive people at the front so they look good for the cameras. And, if you could control your kids, then they wouldn't have been kicked out!" The producer retorted before briskly walking away, not even glancing up from his clipboard as he left the woman to stew over his ignorance. Did she dare shout after he gave them such a strict telling-off? Oh, yeah.

"They are not my children, how many times?! Also, I appreciate the compliment, but I still dislike you intensely right now!" She yelled after him, folding her arms and sitting with a pissed off face now that's she'd have no one to talk to and no entertainment until the final round began, but that was the least of her problems. One helper was down, meaning Ray was in big trouble.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, what's going on here?" Henry asked as he walked back into the auditorium, feeling refreshed after visiting the bathroom and stretching his legs. However, his chirpy mood soon died when he saw his friend and sister being shoved out of the room by two very strong men and he got the sense that something was wrong. Very wrong.

"We're being evicted," Jasper growled, but that was all he got to tell Henry before he was taken away, no details or explanation for the kid who was now gonna have to do the job of two in a very precarious, stressful environment. "What?"

"I wanted one egg! One!" Piper screeched as she too was escorted out of the room and Henry looked back to his bag in worry as he thought about how he was gonna have to up his game to one hundred if he was gonna give Ray the letter in time...or not. Said bag had been nicked by the finger-licking weirdo from before and true to his weirdness, he'd rifled through and pilfered some of the snacks Henry had brought along and to the boy's horror, he was eating them!

"Uhhh, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey! Guy, what are you doing eating my stuff?!" Henry asked indignantly, causing the man to pause as he chewed on a thing carrot and looked at his interrupter with boredom written on his face.

Having overheard the commotion since she was now alone, (y/n) subtly looked over to see what Henry meant by "eating" and Stuff, only to blanch at the man, who also had the yoghurt in his hand. Well, that looked like an even bigger problem.

"Oh, yeah, I thought you'd left." He answered lamely, still munching on the vegetable as if it was completely normal to just munch on one in the middle of public space and Henry didn't know how to react. What was he supposed to do now? Those were his symbols and without them, he couldn't signal to Ray, who was still oblivious to everything.

"What do you mean you thought I left? What does that even mean? Dude, you opened my yoghurt, why would you open my yoghurt, man?" He whined, knowing that with the top off, he couldn't put the item back in his bag, so any chance of that remaining hidden was now a bust.

"To dip the carrot!" His guy was a moron and suspiciously, he had something odd on his shirt and on his scraggly beard. Something soft and delicate, fine and sparkling, sort of like the kind of thing that had been on Henry's D for doughnut.

"What is that right there? Is that powdered sugar? Did you eat my doughnut?!"

"Yeah! And your pear." The man replied and slowly got to his feet, feeling quite full after eating most of the things he'd managed to find in the bag and without a care in the world, he walked off, leaving the leftover pear core in Henry's hand.

"Aw!" The boy whined and dropped it to the floor, not caring if it was littering because now, he had a serious, nervous feeling settled in his stomach, one that told him that Ray was gonna kill him when the next word came up and he had nothing to help him. He'd be off to California and would come back so grouchy and needy for his sweet girl that Henry would never hear the end of it, and that terrifying thought sent him into a deep state of panic.

"You're screwed." (y/n) muttered into his ear, having risen from her seat and crossed the room after hearing bits and pieces of the conversation with the apparently starving man. It had been enough for her to understand the situation and she wasn't gonna lie, she was worried about what they were gonna do next if they could do anything.

"W-What?"

"I said, you're screwed. We're screwed. No Jasper, half the alphabet eaten, Captain Man is never going to win now." She explained, causing the boy to pinch the bridge of his nose and rub at his temples as he saw reason. She was right, he was in a bind right now, totally and utterly trapped with nowhere to move and no time to plan because the cameras were being adjusted for the final hour or so of the competition. Great, like he didn't have enough to worry about.

"I know, I know! I'll think of something, don't worry! Your fiancé isn't going anywhere." Henry soothed her, not that she was excessively worried or nervous, at least not as bad as she could get. As much as it would suck, she could cope with not seeing him for a week or two, because if he lost, then she would make sure that Charlotte was the winner instead, and that outcome seemed so much better.

Of course, she'd always root for Ray, no matter what, but deep down, her heart knew that the girl would always be the rightful winner, no one else. And that was why she found herself only concerned for a few nights of no sleeping and a few days of no kisses because either victory came with its losses, only some were a little more bitter than the others.

"Right now, he's a stranger to me and... Look, I don't want to be involved with this one because there's one person up on that stage who deserves to win. So, whatever you're gonna do, make it fast and make sure you know what you're doing." (y/n) stated, not knowing how to word it perfectly since everything felt so fragile and sitting on the fence seemed so much easier. That way, she could see what was growing in both gardens.

Supporting her friend and doing the right thing, or saving her lover's pride...which to choose?

"Right..." Henry murmured, watching as she returned to her seat, ready to see how everything would unfold as the rest of the crowd came swarming back in, also eager to see who would be crowned the greatest speller in Swellview.

Right, he couldn't make contact with Schwoz in the middle of the room, so, keeping (y/n)'s advice in mind, the kid swiftly walked to the back of the room and talk a seat next to the water table. There, he wouldn't be disturbed as he hissed into the phone and the cameras wouldn't bother zooming in on him. After all, they only went for the "pretty people" on the front row.

"And we're back again!" Trent announced as they went live again, Mary happily dinging her bell now that she'd eaten and peed. Everyone was refreshed, everyone wanted to see the end and everyone was placing their bets on who was gonna be the winner.

The contestants were considerably less than what they had started out as, now it was only the creme de la creme of spellers, or rather, Charlotte and Minyak with Ray struggling to keep up, although he did gain a few points for being eye candy. At least in (y/n)'s eyes anyway, the young woman getting as comfy as possible on her plastic seat as she anticipated grief from whichever parties were the losers and for whatever reason.

"We started with seven spellers, now four of them have been defeated. They're gone! And only three remain to compete for the coveted spelling bee trophy!"

"Come on, Schwoz..." Whilst everyone else was enthralled by Trent and whatever the hell he was banging on about, Henry had his phone glued to his ear, desperately trying to reach the genius in the Man Cave since it was too late for him to back out now. (y/n) couldn't help, Jasper was gone, Ray was looking nervous as he searched for his youngest sidekick in the crowd and came up with nothing, so it was vital that he got through, and eventually, thank god, the coconut picked up.

"Hello, I'm Schwoz." The man answered chirpily, sitting back as he relaxed on the Man Cave's couch with the spelling bee upon the supercomputer's monitor. He had a pretty cushy job, all he had to do was sit back and occasionally search whatever word Ray was sked, so everything was okay for him, although now, he would have to start thinking of how to avert this crisis.

"Hey, Schwoz, man, we have a big problem." Big was an understatement, more like huge, catastrophically enormous, so fucking colossal that it would plunge the Man Cave into what would be known as "the Very Dark Ages". Kid Danger would have to go solo because there would be no way Miss Danger would be feeling up to fighting crime without Captain Man. It would be Schwoz who'd have to hold her hand and say "there, there", so just by the tone of the kid's voice, he knew something was up.

"What happened?"

"Jasper got thrown out of the spelling bee and...and some guy ate a bunch of my foods," Henry explained briefly, setting off alarm bells in the genius' head as he heard the worrying news. Yeah, that didn't sound good, not when he added both misfortunes together into one big, terrible conundrum.

"But how are you going to help Ray spell words he's too stupid to spell by himself?" Schwoz asked, praying that (y/n) wasn't in earshot. She repulsed anyone who belittled or insulted her doofus, who she insisted wasn't stupid, just... okay, maybe stupid was accurate, but he was also kind and adorable and hot and sweet and brave and all those other qualities that everyone else didn't notice. Either way, she'd bite your head off in his defence and the little man didn't want to stumble down that road again.

"Yeah, that's the problem! Look, if we can't help Ray spell, then we gotta find a way to make Doctor Minyak lose." The boy stated, looking as Charlotte took her next turn on the stage, reciting the spelling perfectly again whilst he figured a way to help the anxious hero up there with her.

"Oooh, I know what to do!" Schwoz exclaimed suddenly, coming up with something a lot quicker than Henry had been expecting. That's the kind of brainpower he needed, but he was curious as to what this so-called miracle was and if it was actually gonna be useful. "What? Tell me! Tell me!"

"Okay, after Doctor Minyak spells his next word, you stand up and challenge the spelling." He described, having hurriedly ran over to the computer where he'd now be working with much more urgency. Technically, that was part of the rules, spectators were allowed to protest if they thought there was a discrepancy, but there was one hitch. Minyak never got it wrong and therefore, making a challenge would only serve to make Henry look foolish, not him.

"But if he spells it right, why should I challenge it?"

"Because I'm going to change the spelling of whatever word he spells." Well, that'd do it. It was so sneaky and cunning, and Henry loved it because of how simple it seemed. They'd look it up, Schwoz would do a quick, little hack job and then, Minyak would be going home to grab his tricycle. Perfect. But, could he actually do all that? And just from the Man Cave?

"Dude, you can't change the spelling of a word!" Oh, how little he knew. Sure, most spellings were ingrained into people's minds, but when doubt was thrown in there, they relied upon online dictionaries to tell them the truth, not just the physical ones.

"Yes, I can." This was the work of a genius, how dare he doubt Schwoz's ability to run rings around firewalls and databases. "How?"

"With the internet!" He made it sound so simple, but then again, everything could be done through the internet and suddenly, Henry knew what he was driving at. He'd have to break a few laws, but that was fine, and if he could pull it off, well, there'd be no disputing it.

"You're gonna change the spelling of a word on the entire internet?"

"Yah, if you let me hang up this telephone!" Schwoz snapped to Henry, who he felt was asking way too many questions. Surely, it was nearly time for another Minyak round if Charlotte was busy doing hers, so he should return to the crowd before it was too late to challenge, rather than sit at the back and pester him.

"All right, okay, okay. Bye!

"Challenge the spelling!" Jeez, Henry had the just, he didn't need to yell it down the line again. The teen was now realising just how much he had to move and in the corner of his eye, he sensed (y/n) constantly turning around to see if he was sat down yet. That only made Ray more nervous, her worries affecting his, their feelings in synch even when they weren't supposed to have any strings tying them together right now. One even when they were apart.

"I got it, I will. Okay, hang up."

"No, you hang up first." This guy, this fucking guy. The notion that they were in the tryst of some kind of lover's call, not wanting to be the first to lose the dulcet tones of the other in their ear, was disgusting to the teen. Who were they? Ray and (y/n) separated by the cruel, cruel world? Ew, ew, ew, ew!

"Oh my god..." Henry was quick to shove his phone back in his pocket and got to his feet so he could bend over and scuttle off to his free seat in the middle of the chairs. Yeah, like bending over made him invisible as he pushed past people and stepped on a few toes, but whatever, most were too focused on the villain as he stood up to take his round, boos echoing around the room.

"Okay, Doctor Minyak, your word is... Zeitgeist." Trent said into the microphone and for most people in the audience, they'd never heard of such a word. It was so strange, not something you'd hear in everyday life and only a true scholar or lover of reading would know the orthography...someone like Minyak.

"Zeitgeist... Z-E-I-T-G-E-I-S-T! Zeitgeist! Ha!" The criminal recited with a rapid pace and enough ego to make everyone roll their eyes. His wit was impressive, being able to spell so quickly was something that would normally be celebrated, but coming from him, it was just plain annoying.

"Correct." And Trent had no choice but to let him survive for yet another go because he knew every letter perfectly. Ray groaned and threw his hand up in the air as he heard the devasting news, more suffering he'd have to deal with because the bastard was playing the only game he could win at. He'd been hoping with all hopes that this would be the one to get him, so he could go home that night and sleep in his own bed with his future wife, but sadly, that wasn't looking so likely.

"Wait!" Or was it?

"I, uh, challenge!" Henry said bravely, staring at the floor and occasionally Ray's, Minyak's and Charlotte's eyes as the producer came barreling out from backstage with shock written all over his face. He'd run a hell of a lot of spelling bees but never had he come across someone challenging a spelling, especially not some lanky kid who looked like he didn't spend enough time in school.

"Uh, young man, Doctor Minyak spelled the word correctly."

"Yeah, it's right here in this dictionary book." Trent and Mary replied, making (y/n) nervously bite her lip as her gaze met Henry's when she looked over her shoulder, wondering what madness was in his mind, but he looked confident, sort of. He looked like he had a plan, that was the main thing, and wasn't daunted by the sight of the presenters gesturing to their official guide.

"Yeah, but, um, the internet is way more up to date than dictionary books, which are made from trees. Am I--am I right?" Henry argued back, trying to seem assertive even though he was terrified from all the eyes on him. Ray was so confused, Charlotte was so confused, Minyak was so pissed, but the hosts accepted his argument, thinking that a quick search couldn't hurt, so they did just that.

"Okay, Lervard, please check the spelling on zeitgeist online," Trent asked the producer man and he swiftly walked off to type it into the search engine. In the meantime, Schwoz was working hard in the Man Cave, systematically altering every single usage of "zeitgeist" on the internet so it would come up with a slightly different spelling, just enough to rule Minyak out, but not so much that people smelled a rat.

"Okay, the correct spelling of zeitgeist is Z-E-I-T-G-E-I-S--Q." The man noted, shocking the crowd with the surprising twist at the end, the last letter coming out of nowhere since Schwoz's cheeky file upload had been completed just in the nick of time. He'd just added one random letter that definitely shouldn't have been there, but it meant that Minyak was now wrong and he didn't take that very well.

"Ah, yes, can't forget the final Q in the word zeitgeistquah," Ray commented, stretching back cockily as he saw the smirk on his sidekick's face and met (y/n)'s relieved face, and that spurred him to play along with it. Charlotte was just as puzzled as everyone else, but that didn't matter, not when it meant that he was safely cruising for victory.

"All right, it seems that our dictionary book is wrong, which means so is Doctor Minyak."

"That's right, Trent. YOU'RE OUTTA HERE!" Mary screamed as her hand came slamming down on the incorrect buzzer and everyone smiled to themselves at the news of the villain's failure. He really couldn't win anything and even if their minds were made up, he was not a happy bunny.

"Oh, come on! What sort of bee is this?!" Minyak growled in outrage, stomping to the edge of the stage so he could scowl at the officials, but no one liked a sore loser and Ray was more than happy to poke the bear. Why shouldn't he be smug? He wasn't the one going cross country on a child's plaything.

"Uh, it's the sort of bee you just lost, Minyak! Better get your tricycle ready to ride to California and back!" Ray cackled at his face, standing up at pointing at the humiliated man since he was sure to succeed. The excitement was palpable in the room, Captain Man's happiness was radiating to everyone else and despite her knowing that encouraging his ego wasn't a great idea, (y/n) couldn't help but smile softly at how cute he was when he was this happy.

"Yeah, Minyak!" Henry shouted too, standing up and singling himself out because he got lost in the tidal wave of adrenaline and emotion sweeping across the room. He was so damn thrilled and relieved that he forgot who he was right now, forgot what (y/n) had said about naming Captain Man as a stranger since they weren't his sidekicks right now and he wasn't their friend.

"Yeah..." He added awkwardly, having killed the mood since no one knew why this randomer was sharing his opinion and for a brief second, Ray's heart was in his mouth when he considered that someone might put two and two together and work out that Henry was Kid Danger, but thankfully, when the boy sat down, he disappeared into social obscurity again. Thank god for that, he was pushing his luck every time he looked at the beauty sitting on the front row, he didn't need the kid getting discovered too.

"Well, excuse me, Captain Man, but you haven't won this bee yet. If that girl wins then you also lose and you will have to pedal with me to California...and back!" Damn, Minyak made a good point. The condition was that one had to win, but if they both lost, then they'd have to be cycle buddies, that was the bet. But to avoid that, Ray would have to crush Charlotte and her dreams so he could be happy and when he thought about it like that, it didn't seem like a win, more like a loss.

"Oh, yeah...right."

"Hahaha, yes!" Minyak cheered as he skipped gleefully and sat back down again, grinning from ear to ear as Ray reluctant stepped up to the mic. He had no idea how to spell, he had no idea how he was gonna do this, he had no idea how he was ever gonna make it up to Charlotte once he took this away from her, he had no idea how his sweet girl would react to him putting himself--their happiness first.

"Okay, Captain Man, your word to spell is...pectoral," Trent said, everyone's heart thundering as they heard the word that would decide it all. And it was a good one, one that Ray should've been highly familiar with since he loved working out and flexing his muscles to make his fiancée swoon, but he only knew about showing off. He knew nothing about the science or English behind things.

"Pectoral...yeah, no problem. I believe pectoral is spelled..." The hero looked at Henry expectantly, expecting the boy to guide him to victory since that was the plan he'd been relying on, but all he got was a shrug. Henry had nothing, no items, no ideas and Ray's smirk fell when it dawned on him that he was gonna have to go solo on this one.

"...Okay, I got this, I got this..." He whispered to himself as he internally died and panicked and vomited and cried at how he was now in his nightmare scenario, on the verge of public humiliation and not even (y/n)'s sympathetic face could give him much comfort. She didn't know how to help either and had to dig her nails into the meat of her legs to stem her heartache.

"Uhhh, pectoral, well, obviously, it starts with a P, right? Followed by...E...and then...C!" Ray started shakily, putting every brain cell to work, so he could picture the word in his mind and guess the likely spelling because honestly, this one wasn't that hard. It was spelt how it sounded and that knowledge painted a pained expression on Charlotte's face as she watched her boss figure it out piece by piece.

"T...O...R..." He was doing so heartbreakingly well and for some, the excitement at him being on the verge of winning was too much.

"Just two more letters!" Mary cheered, prompting a very angry response from Minyak, who thought that her comment was biased toward helping his hated enemy. No one told him how many letters there were, not that he needed it, but still. Hints weren't allowed in his book.

"Hey! She can't tell him that!"

"I'll allow it," Trent replied flatly, his unwavering expression being enough to make the villain park his ass back in his chair since he wasn't one for interruptions, not during his spelling bee.

"And the last two letters of pectoral are...A!" Ray groaned at the effort of thinking so hard and by the ghost of a smile gracing his girl's lips, he was on the right lines. Dear God, he was nearly there and when Henry lifted a lemon in his hand, one of the only things that wasn't eaten, the win was in the bag. Ray's body flooded with relief knowing that he was secure, he knew the answer, all he had to do was say it to win, but when he turned around to smirk at Minyak and Charlotte, he didn't know why he did that but he did, the girl looked so damn sad.

The bittersweet smile she offered him broke his heart there and then and for the first time in a week, he knew how much breaking the record meant to her. He could picture it now, how happy she'd be winning, how the crowd would cheer her name and how far she'd go with that honour pushing her all the way. This was his chance to do the right thing and when he caught (y/n)'s eye and the way she offered him the same kind yet soulful expression, he didn't need to ponder. His mind was made up and he was gonna make her proud.

"W." He punched out plainly, causing everyone in the room to gasp in horror at how far he'd come only to throw it away at the last minute. Dear God, he had been so close and now, he was so stupid, it couldn't have been possible, but it was.

Captain Man had thrown the win away and everyone was devasted, all except for one woman who sat on the front row and placed her hand over her heart when it sang with love and warmth for the man who'd put a girl's feelings before his own. She always knew he was a big softie at heart but this just made her adore him even more.

"Wrong. You're Captain Wrong." Trent told him rather cruelly and Mary sadly pressed the buzzer to signal that Ray was now out, but that was okay. He did not doubt that Charlotte, being the clever girl she was, would rightfully take the trophy and he'd have to say goodbye to comfort and the easy life for a few days as he hit the road with Minyak, but that was okay too. Just knowing he'd made a wrong right made everything good, sucky but good.

"Okay, Charlotte. If you can spell pectoral, then you win." This was it, the girl was shaking with nerves because she knew, she knew so damn much. Ray had quietly returned to his seat, happy to watch her clinch victory from the sidelines because for once, he knew that he wasn't the one meant to be in the spotlight. It was Charlotte.

"P-E-C-T-O-R-A-L. Pectoral."

"Correct!"

And that was how Charlotte Page, not Sherlock Paggy, became the first Swellviewian to win the Swellview Spelling Bee four times in a row.

The bell dinged and the city had its newest champion in its record books and no one was prouder than her friends as they applauded her along with the audience. People stood up and rushed to the stage as Ray clapped as hard as he could when he saw the girl being handed her trophy and flowers and all the praise she deserved, meaning he was pushed to the sidelines. And he was just fine with that.

(y/n) whistled at the sight of the girl being crowned, literally being crowned and she knew that she'd be giving her the biggest hug she could muster when she finally pulled her to one side after the crowds had had their time with her because she couldn't explain the rush of affection she felt when she saw her succeed. These were the kids she'd raised in a way, throughout their adolescence and just as much as anyone in the Man Cave family, she was well aware that Charlotte's place was right there; in the middle of it all.

But that didn't mean she didn't recognise the second hero of the hour, one who was invisible for once despite the bright uniform and unmistakable splendour that followed him everywhere he went, and the same went for Henry. Charlotte could have her moment with the people, again she deserved that and they were more than happy to find Ray standing at the side of the stage, where he'd drifted to so that he didn't hog the limelight when it wasn't his to have.

"Well, Captain Man..." (y/n) smiled softly, joining her lover and linking her arm through his after a quick scan of the room to see if anyone was looking. Of course, they weren't they were all too focused on the queen of the bee, so no one was concerned with the hero or the woman and boy who were now talking with him so intimately.

"You're a good guy." She whispered softly and placed a lasting kiss on his cheek since she was free to do so, no prying eyes to report the scandal to the newspapers that Captain Man was cheating on Miss Danger with some floozy, who was herself engaged to be married.

No, this was their moment and Ray blushed at the pride in her gaze and how he'd done all right by her, enough to earn himself a kiss that seared into his skin and made his tummy do somersaults. Yeah, it was worth it just to have her love, but there was also a teen present, who didn't have quite the same sentiment.

"Who has to ride a tricycle to California and back..." Henry snorted, making the woman pull back and give him a dry look, although she kept her fingers intertwined with Ray's for now, even if it was a risky game to play. Eh, no one was looking, it was fine, but he did raise a very good point. There would be much handholding or kissing or anything in California...

"Ehhh." Ray brushed his comment away, making Henry and (y/n) look at him in confusion. Minyak had been pretty serious, so why was he acting so nonchalant about the prospect of the arduous journey? He'd miss (y/n), right? He'd be annoyed at leaving the Man Cave, right? Why wasn't he concerned about going away?

"Sweetheart, you made a bet." She reminded him, keeping the term of endearment low and under her breath, which only served to make Ray shudder even more. He could get used to this selflessness thing if it made her so affectionate, he rather liked how it made her so happy and himself so satisfied that everyone was pleased with him and it's not like there were gonna be any real consequences. Everything would just blow over, right?

"Yeah, sweet girl, but... Minyak's not really gonna go through with that, y'know?" Ray replied in an assuring tone, although she wasn't sure if it was to quell her worries or his own. Judging by how her knitted eyebrows made his sure smile drop, it was a mix of both, but he kept his hopes high. Why make them both suffer? It wasn't really a win if they both had to be miserable that was just defeatist and hey, there is no honour amongst... villains. Minyak would keep his word, the hero was sure of that fact.

How wrong he was...

~Later that evening, in a parking lot~

Yeah, he was wrong. So very wrong. The wrongest a wrong person had ever wronged.

Minyak did not forgive and neither did he forget. He refused to let the terms of the bet go, stating something about a gentleman's code of honour or something and that if the Captain truly was man enough to have it in his name, then he had to prove it by upholding his agreement to the deal.

And that's why the villain, the hero and the hero's ever-faith, loving, soon-to-be wife found themselves in some shitty, secluded parking lot at three in the morning. Ray couldn't say no to that, no matter how many times (y/n) told Minyak to take his bet and go fuck himself, so he and his rival had each purchased their "vehicle" and were now ready to go.

They had their asses on the seats, they had some snacks for the way and Minyak had his goggles to deflect flying debris or something and the road ahead of them was long, that's why (y/n) had forgone snoozing to go and see her doofus off.

Screw her sleeping patterns, they were terrible anyway thanks to her superhero lifestyle. She'd do anything if it meant Ray got to leave for California with her kiss on his lips, that's why she was by his side, clad in her Miss Danger uniform and ignoring the tugging of her heart to latch onto him and never let go.

"To California!--Oh, do put her down, you insufferable oaf!" Minyak groaned as he looked to his left, only to get an eyeful of Miss Danger doing, well, what he would describe as eating Captain Man's face, but that was by the by. God, were they always like this? Sure, he wasn't looking forward to it either, but jeez, he wasn't getting that kind of sendoff.

"Piss. Off." (y/n) growled in return, her lips barely leaving Ray's for a second as she pressed them to his again to give him one last desperate, hungry kiss before he had to start pedalling because that's when their mutual suffering would begin. The villain adjacent to them was practically vomiting when he heard his enemies sighing and lowly groaning into the kiss, the hero's hands cupping her face and pushing her hair away so he'd have more access.

Honestly, he was tempted to just call the whole thing off because how could he ever willingly leave this? It was heaven, his perfect girl and her honeyed lips just exploring his for days, but the same thought crossed her mind and she realised something very important. So important that it made her pull away.

"Captain Man...if I don't let you go now then everything you did for that girl will be for nothing and I can't let that happen." She whispered to her, her face rasing away from him as her back straightened out and she could almost feel the heartache emanating from Ray's chest as her touch withdrew, leaving him cold and longing for more. But as always, his girl was right and as much as he loved kissing her in the dark without a care in the world, he wasn't gonna sacrifice her admiration of him.

"I'll miss you, sweet girl...and I love you." He told her gloomily, his hands returning to the handlebars of the tricycle so he could straighten up for the off, but his sadness at such a bitter parting was banished by the gentle smile she gave him and the way her fingertips drifted down his cheek. God, Minyak was nauseous.

"I love you too, doofus. And I'm so proud of you, so off you go." She replied, blinking back her tears and taking a deep breath when she stepped back, giving the men the room to start pedalling. It was so sad to see him go, but her doof would be back and she'd make sure he'd get a hero's welcome, plus a little extra on the side to make up the loneliness.

"Thank god, that's over. Now, to California!" Minyak cheered, his mood significantly brighter now that no one was face-eating and with one last loving gaze to his sweet, sweet girl, Ray's knees awkwardly accommodated the ridiculous size of the tricycle and he pedalled as much as he could without toppling over. The embarrassment, ugh...

"This is stupid..." He muttered as they made the first metre out of a million or whatever and he didn't stop for anything, not even the goddamn car that nearly ran him over as they focused on the journey ahead and not their surroundings. Stupid people with their stupid cars, couldn't they see that he was trying to cross several states in as little time as possible because he had a goddamn angel of a woman at home waiting for him to wife her up and he couldn't do that if he was in stupid California?!

"Ehhhh, shut up!" He shouted at the dummy behind the wheel, scowling at the person who clearly thought they owned the road. All Ray had to do was keep on going because the girl he was so eager to get back to was giggling at how miserable he was right from the start.

"Good luck, Captain Man! I'll be here waiting for you! Always!" (y/n) shouted after the men, or rather one man, really, because he was the only guy she'd ever wanted to wait for and even if it took him a day, two days, a week, two weeks, a month or even a whole year to come back to her, she'd keep on waiting. For Ray Manchester she always would because he was the one for her, always had been, always would be.

And that was enough to make him pedal just a little bit harder. After all, there was nothing that made him want to go home more than knowing that she was there waiting for him, engagement ring and all.

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