#Nesha Crossover

[blackfemmecharacterdependency]

Slashing Through Your Trauma Pt 1

It was complicated enough going back to college, after everything that happened the first time. Then, the fact that she had not yet tapped into her own healing, and there she had been, back in one of the most triggering environments that existed in her world, finishing her degree to learn how to heal others. But, Hallie managed. 

For a time, she didn’t feel comfortable going by her own name, but once she did get around to the healing portion of her personal evolution, Hallie McDaniel was ready to be secure in being Hallie McDaniel again. Then one day, she became Hallie McDaniel, PsyD. And after some time, she became Hallie McDaniel, Ph.D. 

She traveled for lectures, wrote books, did scientific research, and every now and then, when she wasn’t obsessing over high-profile criminal cases, helped with lower-profile ones. “This is a horror movie in the making!” She heard Mickey’s voice say one night and she looked around the apartment and began her triple checks of all of the potential entries and hiding spaces if anyone was already inside. It was just her. 

Hallie opened the top of her night shirt in the mirror and looked at her scar. She should not still be here. A lot of factors went into her now standing in the mirror, looking at herself. 

1. Killers are often not as talented as they think they are. A single stab wound, in just the right place and she’s dead. A single stab wound slightly off from just that right place, and she has a better chance of survival. 2. Blood loss could have killed her, but after the guards never checked in, when detectives were sent to search, she had not yet enough to kill her. But, she did not have a lot of time. 3. There was no killer to check that she wasn’t alive. The killers went to square off with Sidney, and both died that night. 4. There were no copycats to chase after the dream of killing her, because she was part of a small, exclusive group that people didn’t know about.

Hallie had survived the killings, and she was able to receive protection specifically for the fact that it had already been proven that copycats may try to hunt again. When she had the chance to recover physically, with a scar and a lasting but treatable respiratory situation, Hallie McDaniel had survived. She was never quite right again.

Sometimes, she found herself perusing the sites where people glorified her friends’ murderers and romanticized her presumed death. There were people who got something out of thinking about Mickey killing her. People who were obsessed with it. She found herself reading their message board posts and trying to desensitize herself to the recoil of finding things like that. Sometimes, she found herself studying them for personal reasons. She knew that Mickey had found Billy Loomis’s mother on message boards like these. Were some of these people also potential killers? 

And even more importantly, were some of these people potential Ghostface killers? She was unable to stop obsessing about whether or not some version of the killer may find her. That inability to let it rest led her to traveling to try to find survivors, in areas where there had been suspicious happenings of murder,  just to see if they by chance escaped Ghostface or someone like him. This became her passion outside of her work, and something she kept extensive research on.

This was private work, but it caused her to have to relive her attack and revisit her time with the friends she had met in college and thought she might have for the rest of her life. 

Even though she made her decision to come out of witness protection to get to her therapist journey, she kept off the radar. After learning in the news that Cotton Weary had been found and murdered, the level of panic that shot through her was indescribable. Her fears were coming true. There was another killer in a Ghostface mask hunting. 

She had not remained in Ohio after the murders, though she did often look into crimes there, as though there was still a killer lingering. She had made herself comprehensive reports on each of the killers that she knew of so far from everything that she could find out about them. She had no plans to ever return to Ohio or ever go to California. 

Even as big as it was, knowing Woodsboro was there made the thought of it small. Too small to hide. But, she didn’t want to continue living in her home in Philadelphia, either. Unfortunately, Pennsylvania was beginning to feel too close to Ohio, considering her mounting fears.

The press was romanticizing yet another series of movies surrounding the Stab movie in production, and when she saw Sidney Prescott winding up in the middle of it, Mickey’s voice said in her mind, “She’s still the star!” And Hallie bought herself an RV as soon as she could and began heading away from California and a little further from Ohio, too. 

She was on her way into New Jersey when she learned of a place with a local legendary killer who “Always comes back,” and well, that sounded like the thing she knew about Ghostface. Sidney would kill them and another would arise in his place. “Crystal Lake, I guess I’m coming to visit you..”

[neshabeingchildish]

We'll Raise Him Right

Tagged: Charlotte Page, Max Thunderman, Mika Macklin

Notes: Don't mind me. Just clearing my mind of a little bit of Charlotte x Max lore from my notes.

Plot: Charlotte Page and Max Thunderman's firstborn child gets his superpowers and Charlotte is not sure what she thinks of it all. Potentially Zenryverse, but no mention of Zenryverse characters.

Most superpowers come haphazardly. Charlotte could remember Max claiming that the Incredibles had it easy when Jack Jack was cycling through his in that movie. She had heard all about the fiasco of Chloe going through hers. She even watched footage and read every available article from the Metroburg Library on the subject. Alas, nothing can really fully prepare a typical human woman for the power manifestation of a supe infant.

Max wanted her to stay elsewhere until Baby Maximillian settled on a superpower, but there was no way that she was leaving her baby for some undetermined amount of time. So, when he cycled through storm powers, superstrength, shapeshifting and telepathy; Charlotte was present, nearby, trying to avoid demise as Max caught and comforted Mini Max. He would often do so by singing him lullabies and rocking him gently. That always seemed to be soothing for the baby in those trying times.

Eventually, Baby Maximillian began singing. He was 2 years old with the most beautiful singing voice Charlotte had ever heard. It was haunting, even. She was about to make note of that fact when suddenly, a violent scream tore through the sky and through her thoughts. An oncoming car swerved and missed hitting her by mere inches and she panicked as she realized that she was in the middle of the street. Horns honked at her, but she was more concerned about where her child was. She had been with him, and next thing she knew, she was in the street! What if someone had hit him? Tears welled in her eyes, but she heard crying and turned to see him, standing on the sidewalk, crying miserably.

The crying sounded excruciating. It was tearing her heart as she rushed to him. All she wanted was for it to stop. She pushed through the dread and gathered him to her heart. “Oh, Baby! Mommy’s so sorry! I don’t know what happened.” She was crying now, too. She felt filled with fear and guilt, but having him alive in her arms and knowing he was safe ended that and she rushed home to get him to Max. Max would be able to console him. “What the butt happened?” She asked herself.

Max answered, after she gave him the rundown, “I would say the siren’s song, from the first part, but then the sonic scream would be what broke the trance and probably knocked the car out of the way, but then again… his crying repelled you. That’s at least 3 different things that usually don’t happen from the same supe.” Baby Maximillian was asleep in his father’s arms and had been from the moment Max chilled him out with lullabies. Charlotte reached over to stroke his little head.

“Is there something that can do all of that? Like maybe a general vocal superpower?”

Max thought for a moment then cheered, “That’s it! Voice Manipulation! Usually, there’s only one or two applications per supe, hence why I said that those other things were what I said they were. Typically, supes don’t have those combined. For instance, some have the ability to mimic any sound, and some can mimic any voice, those two might be powers that one has, or they could only be ble to do one of those. Typically, voice manipulation, even though there are many types, the supe only has a slice or two. But if one has voice manipulation and is still cycling through potential powers, it's possible that he was maybe cycling through various voice manipulations and that’s why such differing applications all came out of him while he was panicked.”

Charlotte frowned, eyeing her computer, “Well, according to the database, a voice manipulator has the potential to hone several abilities if they began manifesting them before their age of acquisition. So.. because he cycled through those, he could very possibly wind up with all of that. In other words, those with only one voice manipulation power prior to settling on a voice manipulation power will only have that one, but somebody who cycles through multiple ones and wind up with that power might have others, if they wind up with voice manipulation.”

Max finally put their son into his crib and took a breath, “Well then, I guess our current mystery is whether he has landed on that superpower and if so, what applications has he already cycled through.”

.

Mika was smiling brightly, and full of all of the fervor and excitement that she always had for things. “ I am SO GLAD that you called me about this! Of course, as someone with a voice manipulation superpower, I have life experience with the subject. I have read and studied every superpower in the database, but voice manipulation is my area of expertise! I wrote the, now, most studied article in the world on the subject of the Song Manipulation Curse of Swellview from when we were kids to get into the Secret Academy of Superpower Studies, and my sonic scream journals that I kept for my own powers have been introduced into curriculum in Hero University, for training. I created a signature special pitch that can be used by manipulators of both sonic scream and siren song, so I even have expertise in that!” She clapped her hands once and rubbed them together, “I can hardly wait to get a look at Maximillian’s vocal system!” She squealed happily and reached for the toddler. 

He looked at her, looked at his mother, then back to Mika, then to Charlotte again. “It’s okay, Maxi. She’s Mommy and Daddy’s friend,” Charlotte told him. He looked back and forth once more then went to Mika’s outstretched arms. Charlotte kissed him on the forehead and strummed his cheek, then looked at Mika with a warning glance.

“Charlotte, I will take care of him like he is my most important project.”

“He isn’t a project. He’s my only child.” Charlotte said. “And if something happened to him, I will take care of you.”

“Unnecessary, but noted.”

Charlotte had always been good at school, but she didn’t necessarily love doing school work. Mika, on the other hand lived for it. One thing that they definitely both had in common was loving science experiments and studies. Charlotte was just as excited about the tests that Mika would be performing as Mika was, if not a bit more apprehensive because the tests were on her son. 

“According to the information that you gave in your statements, the scans, and tests, these are the observations that I’ve made so far. Firstly, there is an emotional component to the sounds that he makes. There appears to be some type of impassioned voice activated hypnosis. You were both privy to this and unfortunately almost fell prey to it. We know that it wasn’t his intention to harm you or scare you. You were likely in a state of bliss and absentmindedness. Some use this to begin a series of behaviors for the intended. Some call it siren song, as Max did, because it tends to be presented in song form in most lore. Fun fact - hypnotic voice, as I like to refer to it, doesn’t have to sung to affect. It can be operated in words, usually with a certain prompt, for example “I heard a rumor.” Hypnotic voice can also be operated in other vocal functions, such as laughter and..”

“Crying.”

“He’s not old enough or trained enough to control it, so whenever he sang earlier, being happy, you must have been in the hypnotic state that led you into the middle of the street. Do you remember what you felt? Was it mindless, carefree, or something else? Was he determined to get somewhere? Like, a cookie shop across the street or something?”

“I don’t know. I don’t remember him seeming to want something… I don’t really remember anything from the singing until the screaming.”

Mika nodded, empathetically. Then, she immediately cheered back up, “Look.” She showed Charlotte the brain scans. “It makes sense that you can’t remember what was happening during this, because his memory hasn’t fully formed. If Maximillian had a more developed hippocampus, I think that you would have most likely have felt either whatever he was feeling in the moments of the hypnosis, or, if he truly gets to hone this ability; you would feel whatever he would want you to feel.”

Charlotte looked horrified.

Max smiled, “Villain era me would’ve LOVED to help hone a power like that!”

“It can be used for good!” Mika insisted, “It isn’t mind control. He wouldn’t be able to force someone to follow specific orders, but he very well could possibly get others to feel like they want to do something.”

“That worries me,” Charlotte admitted.

“Nonsupes HONESTLY have got to stop demonizing powers, and supes are no better when it comes to siren song. Just because someone has a hypnotic nature doesn’t mean that they will try to use it against others,” Mika complained. “Note to self, commission a directive to work against hypnotic voice prejudice.”

Max rolled his eyes and sorted through Mika’s findings himself. “Good news!” Mika changed the subject, slightly. “Hypnotic voice doesn’t seem to be the supreme voice manipulation power that he holds. It belongs under the umbrella of the most potently used one that he has. Sonic Scream!” She didn’t hide her excitement at all. “He must’ve realized that you were in danger and his fear made him activate the power that he needed in order to help you.”

“So… he’s a noise maker,” Max said matter of factly.

“He is a soundwaves specialist!” Mika defended. “Or, he will be, if we raise him right.” She giggled gleefully.

Charlotte and Max exchanged looks. His was hopeful. Hers was worried. Her child was already half nonsupe, and now he had this demonized superpower in the supes community… Max gave her a nudge with his forehead, “We’ll raise him right, Charlight.” She nodded and relaxed a little.

[blackfemmecharacterdependency]

It's borderline a recycling of an idea that I had 10 years ago for Bonnie Bennett and Tara Thornton, but like... with less fantasy. Salvaging Hallie would be harder to accomplish in real world type of physical possibility. If I remember right, he stabbed her either right in the heart or the lungs area. But like... What if I said she survived, but the FBI was keeping all of the survivors of the Woodsboro Killer hidden or in protection since every rendition always seems to try to finish the job with Sidney and pals.

So she was severely hurt, but survived and kept off the radar.

Then, she gets antsy and decides to venture out, but she finds that she's unable to stop obsessing about whether or not some version of the killer may find her that she begins to do heavy research and sees that there have been suspicious happenings in a few places. Unable to let it rest, she goes traveling to find survivors, just to see if they by chance escaped Ghostface or someone like him.

When she gets to Crystal Lake, she's met with the usual chatter about the legend of Jason and the typical warnings to just leave it alone and go. But, she can't yet. She attends a survivors' meeting, remaining mostly quiet, but noticing Kia immediately. Of course she does. There's not a lot of other Black women in this area.

At first, they don't interact much and when Hallie has the spotlight put on her and she talks about what happened, someone asks, "Wait. You mean the Woodsboro murders?"

"Windsor College... but.. yeah. We were under attack from fallout of Woodsboro..."

And she quickly informs them that its not like the movies.

In the movies, if you don't die, he comes back for you in the next one. In real life... you never know,so you just gotta stay vigilant..." and she and Kia make eye contact and Kia clearly feels bad for her (she does everything that she can to ensure she doesn't accidentally invite Freddy back into her dreams at night). After the meeting, she asks where she's staying and when she tells her that she has anRV, Kia shakes her head and tells her that she and her man have plenty of room.

Hallie declines, as she's not very trusting. After all, the killers from Windsor AND Woodsboro had been friends and familiars to their victims...even family, from what she last read about Sidney. But, whenever they meet again, they talk a little more, and eventually Hallie starts to lower her walls.

Kia loves that Hallie was in once in college and pledging to a sorority. She didn't get the chance to because of her incident. Hallie appreciates that Kia doesn't require her to help her through her trauma. They realize that while their attacks were different and their injuries and trauma as well, they do have in common that some part of them didn't survive the attacks. Their lives were put on hold for a time and their minds will never be the same.

People have become close with less, after all..

I see you're around, so I am here to bug you! I had this idea earlier. It is a Hallie McDaniel and Kia Waterson slasher survivor short fic where they meet in therapy and become best friends. I think you are the only person that might be interested, so I am throwing the idea at you. Lol.

Oh my gosh, that would be cute! Two Black women who deserved better 😭

[unshackledmonologues]

“when can i see you again?”

Eventually, he was going to stop, right? It wasn’t like they could be together. They were on very different sides of the law, of justice, of righteousness... But every time he showed up, she knew that he had been monitoring, because it was always right after her “so called heroes,” as he described them, invalidated or disrespected her.

Tonight was no different. She was really starting to wonder if she WAS on the right team after all. Maybe that’s why she kept allowing these situations to be created. Of all the people she worked for and fought with, none of them respected her as a person. She was the most skilled in her field, which was why he’d sought her ought in the first place, yet none of her colleagues listened to her expert opinions and they deviated from plans, then blamed her whenever things didn’t work out.

Was it because of her gender, her race, or the simple fact that perhaps her villain was right - she didn’t belong with the people she worked for, with the ones that she swore allegiance to. She was on the verge of tears when his hoverboard whirred next to her, so she didn’t face him. 

But, after a moment, she felt him closer and whenever his arms wrapped around her from behind, she let the tears fall and leaned into the affection. When was the last time someone gave her a hug? She didn’t care that it was from someone that they labeled a terrorist. She didn’t know if she even cared about his crimes anymore at this point. The heroes were the ones who hurt her on a daily basis. What they allegedly stood for was irrelevant in this moment in time. But, all of the personnel had been injected with censors to detect his presence.

It was one of her designs, actually, now genetically monitored to recognize his DNA specifically, giving his enemies a heads up whenever he was near, and alerting their backup, Eventually, someone was going to notice how frequently he was visiting her. Her boss knew that he had “a thing��� for her and therefore, said that they could try to use her as bait whenever he came to visit her and that in the meantime, whatever she could coax out of him, they could use against him.

He never said anything valuable to them. It was always about her. The sirens sounded and he reached for his weapon. She tried to keep him from it, but only superficially. She had to at least look like she was trying to. He pressed his nose against hers, with a smirk and pointed the ray at the incoming cop cars. When fired upon, they transformed, beautifully, into a variety of her favorite plants and flowers. The cars took root into the ground and the officers inside merged, painfully, but aesthetically satisfyingly into flowers or fruits on the bushes and trees.

Those coming up after them would not be able to easily pass them and would have to be tasked either with keeping them there, uprooting them until they could find a way to reverse the effects of his weaponry, or chop down the obstruction and spin a tale of them being killed in duty. 

It surprised her how little she was beginning to care about all of that, and how much she was beginning to appreciate how beautiful the plants always were. It was time for him to flee. The cops were usually first response. The superheroes would be next. “When can I see you again?” She wondered.

He smiled. This was the first time she’d actually admitted out loud that she wanted to see him, though she always did. “As per usual, that’s up to you...” The choppers were ahead and if he didn’t go now, he’d have to kill others. kill heroes, potentially her friends. He was patient enough to hold out on that. Besides, he was obviously getting through to her. He plucked a flower from the mass of plant life, tucked it in her afro and was gone before anybody touched down. 

[mfackenthal]

MFackenthal Reviews - #7

Hello loves!

 Another week or so has gone by since my last review post.  Okay, more like 3 weeks.  Dang, where does the time go?  

 Truly, if you’re reading this, I don’t deserve you.  But I can only thank all of you who are reading this, all of you who chat with me, who put up with my requests for more work, who post your amazing art and then are like “why the f didn’t she read it ASAP after she whined for me to post it yesterday?!?”, who understand that I want to use .gifs but I just don’t have the patience to find them, who accept me for who I am, who share their love of music with me, and those of you who don’t talk to me at all but who read what I write. Thank you!

 I found organizing by book was efficient – so I’m going to go that route again.  I’m also linking to masterlists whenever I can – and especially if I binged a bunch of a series.

 I’m fairly sure I read an unhealthy amount of fiction again … anyone want to take a guess at how many?  

A few quick reminders:

(1) If you want to find out what I specifically thought about each chapter, that can be found on my blog.  To more easily search my blog, search the phrase “mfackenthal reviews ________” and fill in the blank with the blog name.  IE “mfackenthal reviews maxattack-powell” to find the work I reblogged specifically by @maxattack-powell.

(2) In case it’s not obvious: I recommend ALL of these fics and ALL of these authors.  I cannot say enough about the fabulousness that is these authors

Endless Summer

 Girl Crush https://ooo-barff-ooo.tumblr.com/post/180025286162/masterlist-endless-summer-girl-crush-miniseries by @ooo-barff-ooo

Honestly, I could go on and on about how fantastic this mini-series is.  The author has such a command of the craft. The storyline is fuckin’ beautiful.  I cried. I laughed.  I cheered when things went well.  It’s a six part series.  I read it from start to finish because I couldn’t put it down.

��A Year and a Day https://endlessflame.tumblr.com/post/183182368860/a-year-and-a-day-jake-x-mc by @endlessflame

Flowers play a central role in this short but sweet one shot where Jake gets his happily-ever-after.

 TRR

 Godsend Parts 1 and 2 https://elles-choices.tumblr.com/post/180201737699/masterlist-tag-list by @elles-choices

I was almost late to work twice this week because I was binging this series.  Liam is just so dreamy and romantic as written by @elles-choices. So respectful, so in love.  Even Constantine is supportive of Liam and his true love. Awwww.  Plus, Drake is with a woman named Meg!  I’m still so incredulous that no one pointed this out to me.  Drake + Megs = dream!!!

 The Broken Bits https://likethetailofacomet.tumblr.com/post/183293222860/the-broken-bits-chapter-one – by @likethetailofacomet

In @likethetailofacomet’s other work, she hinted at a back story for Bastien.  This is that story and more.  Life is changing in Cordonia and this means that Bastien is free of the responsibilities that defined who he is and created a wedge in the relationship with the love of his life.  Will he make his way back to this love?  “He’d better!” Is all I can say … and I’m sure @likethetailofacomet will not let me down! ;)

 Riley’s Coronation https://whenyourheartskipsabeat.tumblr.com/post/183339310983/rileys-coronation by @whenyourheartskipsabeat

This is a delightful one shot that is full of heart, love, and laughter.  Riley and Liam have made it through and now they’re happy and Riley will be crowned today.  What does the morning of the coronation look like?  Check it out in this fic.

 A Royal Red Carpet Desire https://pixieferry.tumblr.com/post/183284776607/a-royal-red-carpet-desire by @pixieferry

If the title doesn’t tip you off, I have put this delightful crossover under TRR only because that was the first one listed.  In this delightful fluff, royalty meets Hollywood and lots of fan girling and a little jealousy is produced.  Read this and enjoy!

 Side by Side https://ownworldresident.tumblr.com/post/183186049814/side-by-side-masterlist by @ownworldresident

In this series, Riley and Liam are together, they have children, but Riley is not the Queen. Find out why and then fan girl all over @ownworldresident’s work with me as Claire and the Cordonia gang help Riley and Liam strengthen their relationship and help Riley own the fact that with or without the title, she is Queen.

 In the Garden https://lizeboredom.tumblr.com/post/183279440875/in-the-garden by @lizeboredom

It’s the day before Liam gets to finally marry Sammi.  He’s in the Garden and thinking about his mom.  This one-shot fic will put a smile on your face through sweetness and humor.

 All is Fair, A Twist in the Tale, No Regrets – I’m sorry, Secrets Unwind, and Can you Mend a Broken Heart  https://whenyourheartskipsabeat.tumblr.com/post/182550912733/my-masterlist-the-royal-romance-summary by @whenyourheartskipsabeat

So …  I found an author that I liked and I binged a bunch of her masterlist.  Everything here is fun to read.  The creativity is astounding.  Which series is your favorite?

 Last-Minute Changes https://endlessflame.tumblr.com/post/183257353705/last-minute-changes-bastien-x-mc by @endlessflame

This author never ceases to surprise me with a clever idea.  In this short but sweet fic, Riley has to make some changes to the wedding … starting with the groom …

 Something Unexpected https://hopefulmoonobjectmasterlist.tumblr.com/post/182868864620/something-unexpected-master-list by @hopefulmoonobject and @ownworldresident

The boys are falling deeper and deeper in love with Alex and Nesha … but Liam and Leo still haven’t told these two beautiful ladies who they really are.  These ladies are equally as smitten with the boys and are each holding a little something back themselves.  Will “lies by omission” interrupt the bliss these two couples have found?  Come find out with me!

 The Road Less Traveled – What I never knew I always wanted https://ao719.tumblr.com/post/183227431521/the-road-less-traveled-what-i-never-knew-i by @ao719 Noelle and Liam have been through a lot. In the conclusion of this delightful series, all the walls have been torn down, Liam and Noelle are married, more kids are on the way and we get to see Liam enjoying the family he truly deserves.

 The Mark https://ownworldresident.tumblr.com/post/183200373794/the-mark-chapter-2-the-mark by @ownworldresident

Liam has finally met a woman who captivates his mind … and she’s back and trying to kill him.   Anna surprises herself, realizing how often her mind keeps going back to this one man … but back to work she must go.  Come see what happens when these two go head to head.

 Learning to Love Again https://likethetailofacomet.tumblr.com/post/178641518985/master-list by @likethetailofacomet

Are you a Drake fan? If so, YOU MUST READ THIS SERIES!!!! Are you a Liam fan?  YOU MUST READ THIS SERIES!  Liam is a saint in this series.  Drake is passionate and emotional and, of course, a bit of his signature grumpy-pants. Congratulations in finishing this series @likethetailofacomet!

 One Handsome Devil Chapter 41 https://onehandsomedevil-trr.tumblr.com/post/183207825619/one-handsome-devil-trr-chapter-41-wine-and-dine by @onehandsomedevil-trr 41 chapters and still going strong!  This novel may not be short but it is delightful. Catch up!  In this latest chapter, Nicholas (Liam) sets his sights on another woman.  

 Finding the One: A Royal Mate https://hopefulmoonobjectmasterlist.tumblr.com/post/181412878280/finding-the-one-a-royal-mate by @hopefulmoonobject

Words cannot express how much I loved this whole series!  This author will have you fanning yourself because of the mouth on Liam, she will have you scared that main characters aren’t going to make it, she will have you screaming at the bad guys and cheering for the good.  Read it.

 You, the Lion https://ownworldresident.tumblr.com/post/183185718759/you-the-lion-masterlist by @ownworldresident

In this amazing series, the twists will surprise you, the romance is heightened, and the writing is superb. I found this late – but if you haven’t found it  yet – now’s the time.  Enjoy! I think I binged the whole series in 4 or 5 days.  If it weren’t for work, it would have taken much less time.

 Southern Charm https://traeumerinwitzhelden.tumblr.com/post/177525366533/masterlist by @traeumerinwitzhelden

In this freakin AMAZING crossover with Sawyer, Drake and MC – you will fall in love with both Drake and Sawyer.  Your heart will break for each of these characters.  You’ll laugh with each of them.  *Spoiler alert* Drake gets the girl and Sawyer meets a doctor named Meg. Happy Ending for all!

 Southern Charm Deleted Scene https://traeumerinwitzhelden.tumblr.com/post/183051748528/southern-charm-a-deleted-scene by @traeumerinwitzhelden

Drake gets a dog. Enough said.  If this doesn’t make you want to read this, nothing will.

 An Heir – Part 48 https://sawyeroakleyscowboyhat.tumblr.com/post/183008676284/an-heir-part-48 by @sawyeroakleyscowboyhat

Liam and Viktoria have been through a lot.  The happy couple is having a child.  Max is trying to convince the couple to name the baby after him.  Can’t blame him ;)

 The Way to Love Me http://the-everlasting-dream.tumblr.com/post/181772641780/an-after-careful-consultation-with-captain-of and http://the-everlasting-dream.tumblr.com/post/182890138825/the-way-to-love-me-part-22-drake by @the-everlasting-dream

Have you heard of the book, “The Five Love Languages”?  If not, you should go read it.  It won’t take long.  In this 2 part-er @the-everlasting-dream connects the love languages to Drake x Elizabeth. My heart melted with cuteness.

 Their First Valentine’s – Part 2 https://drakewalkerwhipped.tumblr.com/post/182882058871/their-first-valentines-part-2-drake-x-mc-x by @drakewalkerwhipped

100% fluff and smut from my favorite thrupple.  Their love is #relationship goals.

 Break https://kennaxval.tumblr.com/post/182835619883/break-maxwell-x-oc by @kennaxval

In this cutest of fics, Maxwell’s cavalier use of words causes a deep wound.  This story will remind you to check in with the day-to-day even while you strive towards a bigger goal.  

 America’s Most Eligible

 In the Cards  http://choicesfanfic.com/content/the-devil-inside/ – series by @lizeboredom

Honestly, in game of choices AME is not my fav.  However, what @lizeboredom has done with this series is amazing!  In this series, our MC has a lot of character, a very difficult past, and an even more difficult love for a villain.  Who is playing who?  Can love shine through when everyone’s intent is to win a game?  I honestly don’t know, but I cannot wait to find out.  Oh, and don’t worry, there’s like a virus or something in @lizeboredom’s computer, which is why Minah’s name keeps coming out Myrah. The virus isn’t catching though.

 Desire and Decorum

 Diagnonses and Dalliances https://hellospunkiebrewster.tumblr.com/post/183298192012/diagnoses-and-dalliances-part-8 – by @hellospunkiebrewster

I am living for this slow burn!  We’re 8 chapters in and Ernest and Alex haven’t even met in person yet!  Ugh!  But they are in love and chat every day.  Sometimes they even talk through this amazing device called a telephone ;)  Our two love birds should be meeting soon – catch up and let’s cheer them on together!  Oh, and I cannot wait to see how Dr. Richard’s is going to get his comeuppance.  And please, please, please do not kill the father @hellospunkiebrewster!

 Flowers https://hellospunkiebrewster.tumblr.com/post/183189487767/2-flowers-sinclaire-x-mc-march-challenge by @hellospunkiebrewster

Ernest arrives in Bath and finds Emmeline at an inopportune time.  Their reactions and their conversation gave me all the feels!  You should read this beautiful one shot that had me holding my breath!

 A Garden You Never Get to See http://indescribablechoices.tumblr.com/post/183010819870/a-garden-you-never-get-to-see by @indescribablechoices

This series duo brought tears to my eyes.  The story is heartwarming and heart breaking.  Plus, anything that is inspired by the music of Hamilton is AWESOME in my book!

 A Courtesan of Rome

 The Other Woman https://wughhumans.tumblr.com/post/183323687328/via-the-other-woman-part-vii-warnings-swearing by @wughhumans

Holy crap this author makes me cheer for all the wrong things!  Anthony has never been hotter – or sweeter … but he’s married and cheating and the cheating is HOT and sexy and insatiable.  I’m not even sure what a happy ending would look like, but I am so on board to find out what comes next!

 Open Heart

 Friendly Distance https://tmarie82.tumblr.com/post/183266836133/pairing-dr-bryce-lahela-x-mc-dr-blake by @tmarie82

Dr. Bryce Lahela is more than just a pretty face and a tease.  He has some real depth.  If you’re like T and I and you’re not immediately sold on Dr. Lahela – it’s time to start to fall in love through this work.

 Admit http://mariamulroney.tumblr.com/post/183239718550/admit by @mariamulroney

When Dr. Bryce Lahela starts pulling away from Dr. Park – Dr. Park throws herself into her work and then into some drinks.  Will it be Dr. Ramsey or Dr. Lahela who helps Dr. Park make it home okay? Find the answer to this question and to why Dr. Lahela is pulling away in this delightful fic.

 Friends with Benefits http://angstymarshmallow.tumblr.com/post/183178965439/friends-with-benefits-bryce-x-mc by @angstymarshmallow

What are we going to do with Dr. Maci and Dr. Bryce?  They’re both on the same page and unable (unwilling?) to voice their feelings aloud. After reading this, please help me beg @angstymarshmallow for more!

 Perfect Match

 Realization https://tmarie82.tumblr.com/post/183178196593/pairing-damien-x-mc-camille-park-book-perfect by @tmarie82

Take a trip down memory lane as Damien recounts the moment he realized he was in love with Camille. See the moment when Damien becomes hopeful for a better future.  

 Real Memories https://kennaxval.tumblr.com/post/182903615473/real-memories-hayden-x-mc-nsfw by @kennaxval

Hayden is grappling with the knowledge that her memories aren’t real life experiences of her past. Kai helps her understand the importance of new memories.  

 Red Carpet Diaries

 Simply Between Us http://angstymarshmallow.tumblr.com/post/183135543979/simply-between-us-part-8-thomas-hunt-x-mc-nsw by @angstymarshmallow

I love Hunt.  I love how @angstymarshmallow writes Hunt.  I love real and flawed characters who can find love.  If you like characters with depth and strong writing – read this series! I’m not sure which was longer – the story itself or my comments.  Haha, the story is longer but boy did I write a lot in response!

 Ride or Die

 Defensive Driving https://walkerismychoice.tumblr.com/post/183134105193/defensive-driving-colt-x-mc by @walkerismychoice

When Logan is acting like an ass, Colt steps in and gives MC driving lessons. If you love a slow burn and some sexual tension – this is the fic for you!

 The Freshman

 Battles https://littlegreenmoo.tumblr.com/post/182680772730/chris-x-mc-one-more-drink-shes-mine-the by @littlegreenmoo

Chris and Rhea are going through a divorce and no one is actually handling that really well.  Their poor daughter is very stuck in the middle. The drama is high in this series – but I trust that @littlegreenmoo will help these two find their way back together … right @littlegreenmoo???

 The Freshman: Book 2-11d https://maxattack-powell.tumblr.com/post/183016527541/the-freshman-book-2-11d-nsfw by @maxattack-powell

I didn’t originally love Chris when I read The Freshman.  However, after reading this series I can’t imagine loving anyone else.  Learn the hidden depths of Chris, watch Chris and MC fall in love and then become #relationship goals, and learn why I LOVE ETHAN!!  I am the President of the Ethan Fan Club and not even the creator of Ethan can take that away from me!  Luv ya @maxattack-powell!

 The Quarterback https://elles-choices.tumblr.com/post/180201737699/masterlist-tag-list by @elles-choices

Our favorite quaterback is getting out of a very long but very toxic relationship with Becca, but Becca is having a very hard time letting go.  Laura and Chris have found each other, but will Becca’s schemes interfere?

 The Heist

 Golden https://tmarie82.tumblr.com/post/182860112388/pairing-barrett-carlisle-x-book-the-heist by @tmarie82

Barrett Carlisle likes to be in control at work and in the bedroom.  Find out who he likes to control in this delicious fic!

 If you’ve gotten to the end of this review – you are an amazing human being.

 This post represents over 220 fics.

 The talent in this fandom is beyond impressive and I am so thankful for all of you.

 Have a great night all!

[blackfemmecharacterdependency]

Oh! Yay! Alexandria is finished 🥺 Now, I have the model for if I need to try to draw her.

“You don’t recall how it started. All you can remember is watching the fire creep and crawl its way around your home, leaving its mark on everything you knew and claiming it as its own. That night, you saw your future burn, reduced to a crumbling pile of ash and dust. But still the fire demanded more. 

That was a long time ago. The little girl who once feared the flames is gone, and in her place has risen someone stronger, someone new. You command that same fire that took everything from you, setting the world ablaze and remaking it to your liking. You see now that creation and destruction are one and the same.”

SHE IS DONE!!! OH MY GOSH I LOVE HER– okay but Alexandria holds a special place in my heart. And like, yeah, all of the People Watching kids do, but ESPECIALLY her. I love her. …I mean, of course I do, because Nesha always does a fantastic job. 😂😂😂 

Anyway, I would die for her, and I’ll be drawing Sunny next (who I would also die for)!!

[blackfemmecharacterdependency]

Slashing Through Your Trauma Pt 2

Notes: I started writing this a while back as a "fix it" fic for Scream 2 and Freddy VS Jason, and a chunk of it was sitting in my drafts. So, I said, its Friday the 13th, I don't have anything to do, and I wanna do this today. So, here's a small update on my Hallie & Kia centered universe.

We Are Not Dead

It was a nice getaway location, to be honest. One thing her research had taught her over the years was that sometimes, the legends of towns were simply that, and it seemed that this was the case with the Crystal Lake Killer. Throwing herself into looking up past murders in the town and piecing together how they seemed to have been able to occur, she concluded that obviously, someone had been an active serial killer or a duo/team in the 80’s, and either went on in their older years or passed down their legacy, or inspired a copycat. “It happens,” Mickey said.

“I uninvite your voice in my mind,” she said, in response to hearing him. After a soft scoff and gentle laughter, the voice left. All that remained was a curious librarian, whom Hallie offered merely a forced smile, and quickly turned away.

She had listened to reports on the way to Cunningham County. It mostly sounded like notions. One thing about it that took away her ability to believe were the accounts of some of the murders and some of the alleged reports of self defense. Some of the killings seemed unbelievable for somebody to be able to do unless they were exceedingly strong, yet people insisted it was some type of person who lived in the woods, possibly in a cabin, maybe feeding off of the plants and creatures… Physically, Hallie doubted if such a person would sustain enough strength to pull off some of this. It was more likely that someone went on hunting trips in these woods and used this Jason Voorhies legend as a scapegoat.

Besides, Jason Voorhies had been declared dead. Yes, someone found his mother's remains after her vengeful murder spree, but there was nothing to indicate that he was alive and committing murders in her honor. And, had he been alive, they likely would have been committing the murders together, before her demise…

A mother and her son, committing murder made her think of Mickey again and Mrs. Loomis. That made her think about the information in his personal things. Messages to the woman about someone he was interested in. “She thinks she's too good for me. Maybe she can see what I am. She'll become a therapist, if I let her. But, I don't intend to let her. I don't plan on letting her walk away from me, thinking that I'm some guy who wanted her in college and never got her. I'm gonna be the last person who touches her, when I snuff out her light.”

He had photos and videos of her. He had others that he told about her on the forums. She was Sidney’s best friend. Being close t0 her could get him closer to Sidney. If he could manage to gain her trust, he might have a door opened to Sidney. Sidney didn't trust a lot of people, but somehow, she trusted this one…

“Do you need help?” The librarian asked.

Hallie gave her a look, that was both irritated and confused, then noticed her hands were gripping the table tightly. She relaxed.

“I'm just looking up some information about the Crystal Lake Killer. Disturbing imagery. I suppose it made me tense up.”

“Are you another reporter, or.. God forbid, another podcaster?”

Hallie laughed, “No, no. Nothing so colorful. I'm a therapist. I'm doing this in my free time, just for studying.”

The librarian looked excited, “A therapist! Well, lady. This place sure could use one. Not sure where they find the ones they send to the survivor group, but they never stay. Those poor people have to lean on each other more than they can a doctor.”

“Oh. I'm not…” Hallie began to reiterate that this was a h0bby and not work, but the librarian gave her a pull ticket from the community board. She accepted it and watched the woman go to the counter to help someone. “W.A.N.D. Survival Union” and according to her phone, their meeting would be soon.

She was certain that she had done enough research for the time being, so she thought it couldn't hurt to pass by and perhaps peek in.

“We Are Not Dead!” Were the first words she saw, in bright blue letters on a yellow banner. The Fairy Godmother from the old Cinderella cartoon was on it, doing her magic thing with her wand… oh. W.A.N.D. We Are Not Dead. Got it… but Miss Bippity Boppity Boo? I guess…

The first face she saw was a white male, dark hair and eyes, a beard, pointy nose, and a sweater vest. “Hello. Are you here for WAND?” He asked. He was holding an iPad and a stylus.

“I'm just looking around,” she said, committing his face to memory, then breaking eye contact. “I'm studying the Crystal Lake Killer for…”

“A podcast?”

“No! Why is that the first thing that people here think?”

“I'm sorry. It's the most common reason that people come to Crystal Lake, well, after going down to the old campsite to explore. For college then?”

“For studies. I'm a therapist. I have a doctorate. If I had a podcast, it would be professional psychiatric information.” She was looking at him again and noted that he looked sad.

“Are you studying the killer, or those of us who got away?”

“I don't look into survivors uninvited.” She took a deep breath. “I survived a murderer too.” His eyes darted to her chest and she covered her scar. “And I study killers who seemingly repeat their acts or are copied by others.”

The man nodded gently. “Well. Of course, you're welcome to stay. Meeting's starting late today. I texted all of the usuals. Not everybody is a Jason survivor, so, don't feel isolated. If there's anyone who knows how it is… just… living with it all, it's this Slasher Survivor Support group.”

“Can I ask you why your group has the Fairy Godmother on the banner?”

He laughed and held his side. “Well, when it began, from what I know, there was a nice little lady conducting the meetings and one of the member’s kids made it as a gift.”

“The librarian said that therapists come and go through here. Was the Godmother one?”

“She was before my time, but she passed away, and I believe it's been a revolving door since.”

Hallie nodded and after watching sweater vest set up for a few minutes, realized that Camp Crystal Lake was close enough for her to see. Maybe there were still traces of a crime scene there. “Well, maybe I can catch the next one. I should go.”

He frowned, “Okay. Sure! Next one will be on time.” His smile returned. She left without giving her name or getting his. She drove away without looking back.

.

“Mmmm… Look at those buns!” Kia said, as she rolled up to the refreshment table that he was bending over, still setting up. She watched him blush under her stare and bit her lip. “They look scrumptious.”

“You are so bad!” He said, unable to stop smiling. He grabbed one of the honeybuns from the table. “I know they're your favorite,” he said, presenting it to her.

“You should know these are my favorite,”she chimed and reached behind him to grab a handful of his mostly nonexistent buttcheek.

“I appreciate the flattery,” he told her and kissed her on the nose. “That's my favorite.”

She smiled and his heart stopped just looking at her. So beautiful. One of the most beautiful women he had ever seen. One of the hottest girls from school. Kia Waterson.

Once upon a time, he had a crush on her best friend. It wasn't that he found Kia unattractive, not by a longshot. He found her unattainable. A girl like that would never look twice at him on his best day, and she made sure that he knew it back then. She was a mean girl. Shallow and superficial in looks and company. The fact that they were friends, he'd always wondered about, before he got to know her. Kia was insecure. She didn't feel beautiful enough. Again, not because she wasn't, but because there weren't a lot of affirmations for beauty like hers in Springwood, Ohio. So, she harped on her looks, scrutinized others, and kept her nose up high just in case anybody might see through her and find that girl, desperate for attention and adoration.

She even once considered having work done on her nose! Finding that out angered him. He was grateful every time he looked at her that it never came to be. A lot of things never came to be. But, one thing that did, and he was even more grateful about - she came to be his. The unattainable Kia Waterson had fallen in love with a nerd in a sweater vest, Charlie Linderman.

“Oh! You'll never believe what happened earlier…” he started. She had a mouth full of honeybun, so she wasn't in any position to guess. “Another Black woman came in here!” Kia's eyes widened and she started trying to swallow to ask more, but he kept talking. “She wasn't a podcaster. She was a therapist. And a survivor. She had a scar on her chest and she was…” he stopped. “Sad. She was really sad. And maybe scared. She sat for a bit, then sped off in an RV.”

Finally finished, she asked, “Was she pretty?”

“She was an older woman.”

“A pretty older woman?”

“Well. Yes.”

“Ugh!”

He laughed, “She wasn't prettier than you! Why is this even a topic?”

“I don't know. You might try to swap me out for a pretty, older lady whose body..” Kia's smile slowly faded. “I'm just teasing. I know you wouldn't do that.” She said the words like a question, needing some reassurance. That insecure girl inside..

Charlie got on his knee beside her chair and said, “If I had to stay in this position for the rest of my life just to see your face, I would. I would never let you go, Kia. Or give you up.” She leaned forward in her chair to kiss him, honeybun on both their lips now.

[neshabeingchildish]

We'll Raise Him Right, Part 2

Tagged: Charlotte Page, Max Thunderman, Mika Macklin, Chapa De Silva

Notes: Don’t mind me. Just clearing my mind of a little bit of Charlotte x Max lore from my notes.

Plot: Mini Max has been training underneath Mika, AKA Shoutout, and Chapa AKA Volt comes around to see the progress. Potentially Zenryverse, but no mention of Zenryverse characters.

If Mini Max was startled, he would let out a yelp and everyone was startled. Not from the sound of the yelp, but from the link of his feeling with the sound. If he was nervous, everyone got nervous. He learned to hum a tune for everyone else to calm down, even if he couldn’t calm himself down. But if he cried, it was like a cloud of dread covered everyone in his immediate world. 

Once, he began crying when he couldn’t pet a service dog, because Charlotte told him, “That doggie is working, Maxi. We can’t play with him right now.” His tears were practically immediate. The disabled pet owner began crying, the dog began barking and Charlotte saw on the faces of nearby bystanders that they were next. Hurriedly, she tried to get her child away from people, while Max reached out to take him off of her hands. “We aren’t honing this skill with him. Why is he wielding it?” She asked, tears streaming down her cheeks.

Max, unable to find his singing voice in this despair, cried back, “Because he can’t control it, since we aren’t honing it. It’s tied to his feelings! Either he’ll have to be taught how to disable his feelings, or taught how to enable his powers.”

It would be cruel to try to make him disable his feelings. He was a little kid. He was human. He deserved to have his feelings.

“I’ll schedule training with Mika,” Charlotte said, her voice a little clearer. She realized that the dread was gone and hope came in. Max let out a relieved laugh and they both checked on the boy. He was distracted by a Happy Fun Burger. They nodded at each other and headed that way to get him a meal and a toy.

Theoretically, they knew how the hypnosis worked, and Mika could teach him based on that. Fortunately, more often than not, he was a very happy child. That fact made him a joy to be around for most people, most of the time. Humming and singing felt nice, so he often did it to turn his feelings around when they began to go to sadness or fear. Those were generally the bad feelings that got to him sometimes. He hardly ever got mad. 

When it was time for training, Mika set the first goal. This goal was that his voice would become both a serenade and a stronghold. He had a human vocal coach and a super vocal coach, and Mika was his mentor and manager. She would review his training with both coaches, monitor his scans, and give him lessons according to those findings.

“I was a teenager when I got my superpower. I was criticized for blooming later than everyone else on my team. I know what it's like to think constantly about your superpower. This is what I want you to always remember, because it can be even more important for you, considering that you were born super and your power has an emotional aspect to it. It may feel like your superpower is your identity. It is not. Your superpower is a characteristic. It can be a gift, a tool, an instrument, a weapon, etc; but it is not who you are. And, it is not in control.” 

He smiled at her and she felt a tingle in her heart. A flutter of appreciation and of trust. She would never let him down. He wasn’t just her greatest project. He would be one of the most important aspects of her life as a superhero.

Mini Max was advanced in learning. Max was quite arrogant about making a perfect genius the first time around. Because he played guitar and sang to him when he was in the womb, he also took credit for Mini Max’s musicality (despite the fact that Charlotte could also play guitar and Maxi only ever fiddled with instruments when attempting to collect notes to assign voice actions to). He would find a note, sing it and attach it to some type of command. 

By age 4, he had began to use a vocalise in order to move things around. “I don’t scientifically understand this aspect of his superpower,” Chapa said, watching him sing softly at a small ball and keeping it in the air with his song, almost like a seal. “Doesn’t he have voice hypnosis and sonic scream? How the heck does that give him… singing telekinesis, or whatever?”

“Because his voice is moving the object,” Mika said, as though it was obvious. The two of them were in their superhero outfits and Mini Max was in his training gear, oblivious to their discussions, as they were too far away and he was preoccupied with the day’s practice.

“Breath control is an important part of vocal technique, so he’s able to manipulate his breath and vocally move the object. Sonic scream can devastate things when aimed to do so. But, if we tone down the volume and regulate the breath less forcefully; yes, we can move things. I think of it as a vocal shove. He is a natural with great practice and teachings, so he can turn it down as low as even a vocal nudge, and that’s what you’re watching him to with the ball.”

Chapa was impressed. “Could he… could he whisper an attack?”

Mika’s smile grew wide at her partner’s interest. “Not whisper, but check this out…” Mika made a call with her sonic voice to gain Mini Max’s attention, then made a gesture like a choir director to end the singing. Maxi quickly stopped his vocalise and caught the ball in one hand to turn his attention to his teacher. “Will you show Volt your “hit a note” move?”

He nodded, smiling. This was something that he was quite confident about. Mini Max threw the ball gently into the air, then hit a particular note for just a moment, and with that note, spiked it across the yard as far through the sky as he could.

“No way! Kid can throw a punch with his singing voice!” She gave him a fist bump.

Mika interjected, “More than that, Volt. He can use his voice to quite literally touch things. Humans, he can touch both emotionally and physically. Other objects, he can touch at just about any volume or pitch, and depending on what he puts into the notes determines how hard or soft he touches things.” She leaned in and whispered, “I have a theory that at a certain pitch, he may be capable of killing someone.”

“That is AWESOME!” Chapa cheered.

“It is… a fascinating but terrible possibility.” She handed Chapa a pair of extra noise blocking earmuffs and put on a pair of her own. She lifted her hand to get Mini Max’s attention, then asked, “Wanna show Volt how to handle a tough crowd?”

Now, the kid gulped and looked at an arrangement of rows of various glass containers, lined up on multiple heighted surfaces. There were several rows, and so many glass containers, not evenly spaced or anything. He had seen Shoutout do great things, but when he tried some of the same things, he could never accomplish them. Now, she was requesting he do this in front of someone else? A fellow superhero, at that?

“Remember!” Mika chimed, “I’ve been a hero for years and have been training and working since I was a teenager. You are not a hero and nobody expects you to be. You’re a child with a superpower that you’re practicing to develop. I don’t expect to see you do what I can do. I want you to show us what you can do.”

He held these words in his heart and mind as he put one finger into the air and one to his ear.

“Can do, can do, can do…” he sang, raising his voice until he found the note he needed, then pointed the lifted finger towards the rows of glasses and sung a very pointed, “Ooo! Ooo! Oo! OOooo!” He either moved, cracked, knocked over, or broke one of most of the glasses. His shoulders sank and he remembered the awe he was in seeing Mika shout and reduce each glass that she aimed at to chards within moments. 

He turned to face the heroes as they removed their ear muffs and came forward. “Crowd’s still tough.”

Volt guffawed, “Are you kidding? It took Shoutout forever to be able to pull off a move like that.” Mini Max squinted his eyes in confusion.

“Not forever, obviously. Just a while.” She looked at Chapa, “I told you don’t use hyperbole with him. He’s four.”

“A genius four, though,” Chapa challenged.

Ignoring her words and placing a hand over her mouth, Mika said, “Good job, M. That’s it for today.”

[blackfemmecharacterdependency]

Working Premise: Crossover AU where Hallie and Kia survived their attacks by Ghostface and Jason Voorhes, respectively, and become friends through a Slasher Survivor Support group in Crystal Lake.

[neshabeingchildish]

Share a Lie

It has been about a month shy of two years since I updated this, but I know that at least one human wanted to actually read it, so tah dah! Lol. I’m sorry. I love y’all. @adorkable-blackgirl @jacksope-lives The previous chapter has @chenoahchantel and I didn’t realize somehow that she was reading this. Or it’s been two years and I just forgot, but better safe than sorry. Tag, Sis. 

Share a Lair 20

Henry and Jasper thought themselves to be a couple of geniuses for what they were about to pull off. It was amazing really. While Max was miles and miles away thinking of proposing to her. He was trying to plan out how he would do it, what he would say, what type of fanfare needed to be involved. He thought about their first kiss under the fireworks and knew that he HAD to include that. He wondered if he should try to write her a song, since he was better at songwriting than when he was young. He wondered a lot of things, but mostly, he was worried if she would even say yes, and if she did, how soon she would be willing to get married. Could they elope that night? Could they rush to the courthouse in the morning and then have a small gathering followed by a stay in honeymoon, to make up for all the lost time? Would she want to wait until they were familiar with living with each other again, just in case all of their habits had changed? He was stressed out and he was freaking out.

Jasper left Russia a few weeks before Henry and Max did, and in that time, he stayed with Charlotte. She was thinking about not proposing to Max, but MARRYING him. MARRYING him, whenever he got home! She wondered, “Would it be too forward if Max got home and I had a wedding set up? That would be way too much pressure, right? He doesn’t like pressure, but then again, he likes grand gestures…”

“He LOVES grand gestures!” Jasper encouraged. “I say not as soon as he walks in, but like, maybe the secondary room.”

“The secondary… you mean the dining room?”

“Picture this! You can put up curtains here, going across the room. The two of you can be reunited here, and then the curtains open and BOOM! Wedding venue.”

Charlotte looked at the spacing and started to think of the guest list. The house was spacious, but not Thundermans family + Pages, Harts, Man Cave… “OR… You meet him outside, and then when you come in, BOOM! Wedding venue in here and that way…”

“Wait. How would I HIDE the wedding? Why not he walks in and BOOM, there’s me and TAHDAH! Also wedding?”

“That surprise is too much too soon,” Jasper said. She looked confused. It was literally a few minutes apart from his idea…

.

“What. If…” Charlotte started, in hour 47 of her and Jasper bouncing ideas off of each other, “I don’t do it right away, but I postpone it until April 1st, that way if he says no or just seems not into the shock of it, I can pretend it was all an elaborate prank and if I do that, then, he’ll feel more endeared to me.”

“I love that energy. I hate that wait. It would be a couple of weeks before you’d ask and by then, what if he’s already asked you and we’ve planned everything for nothing?”

“Do you think he’s thinking of asking me?” Charlotte wondered. Jasper was too quiet, trying to think of something to say to that. “He is?!?” Charlotte asked. 

Jasper nodded his head and said, “No.” When she held his head still and he realized he’d been nodding, he said, “DANG IT!” 

“Why would you spend all this time trying to help me propose when you knew that he would?”

“I wanted us to beat him to it!” Jasper said, as though she ought to know this. She mushed his head away from her and got up to leave the room.

That was when Jasper touched base with Henry, to get things happening on the other end. 

Charlotte was now convinced that all she had to do was show up and be beautiful and she would have the things that she wanted. She loved an easy road. In fact, she took all of her accumulated vacation days surrounding Max returning so that she could have some spa days, deep meditation, proper rest, and all of the things that were going to have her equilibrium right and her nervous system calm. She worked on some fashions to design photoshoot perfect couture gumballs. She upgraded the system of the auto snacker to ensure that both of their favorite things would be available, and she made every room in the house a romantic experience, except for Max’s lair, which she didn’t go in while he was out of the country. 

Not a single one of her hairs were out of place, her skin was perfection, her health was in peak condition. She couldn’t imagine that a single thing could go wrong. So, whenever Max called to say that his return was a little bit delayed, she was disappointed, but not upset. She could handle another few days… then it was a week, then two. She fumed about it. That would mean that many of her vacation days would go to waste. Not technically, since she was occupied in getting herself and the house ready, but she wanted ALL of that time for Max. She did work freelance, so she could adjust her schedule, but if she took on a client now and couldn’t manage their crisis within the next couple of weeks, that would SUCK. And if she didn’t take on any clients until after she and Max had their reunion time, that would affect her finances… not that she was hard up for money, but she liked to have a certain amount of wiggle room and stuff.

Ultimately, she decided not to take up any jobs until after, and that she would reschedule all of her touch ups and stuff for right before Max got back. 

Which. He surprised her about. Charlotte was curled up on the couch with an actual physical book that she recently bought, wearing her glasses, with her hair in bantu knots beneath a bonnet and wearing a pair of lounge pants, a college sweatshirt and some bunny slippers when she heard something at the door. It wasn’t like the security system to not announce someone’s arrival, unless it was an animal or something, so she figured, maybe it was. Maybe some passing critter was around the door. 

Then she heard the doorknob. “Oh no they not…” she said, placing her book down, face down and reaching beneath the coffee table for her zapper and cuffs. Whenever she heard the door open, she immediately zapped. ‘OUCH!” She heard Max call out and watched him hold his rib where she hit him. “THAT HURTS A LOT MORE THAN IT EVER DID!” Charlotte gasped and dropped the zapper and the cuffs as he laughed at himself and came in. “You altered that, didn’t you?”

“I DID!” She cheered, rushing over to him. She raised his shirt and saw where it had already left a mark. “The security system didn’t announce you!” She said, worried. 

“I’m good.”

“And you didn’t tell me to expect you!”

“I wanted to surprise you. Surprise!” he cheered and opened his arms. 

Charlotte was about to hug him, then she let out a huge gasp and begin to wave her hands towards herself and touched her bonnet and her clothes, realizing that she was not shaven or waxed, or dressed, or exfoliated, etc, and so on and so forth. Max ignored her freak out and pulled her into a hug, which melted every worry that she had about the imperfections of the moment away. “I missed you so much,” he said into her skin. “Sorry that I didn’t make it back on time.” Her head rested against him and she shook it. It didn’t matter. He was here now. They were together again. Their reunion could start. 

“Where is all of your stuff?” She wondered. 

“I left it in the vehicle because I needed this. To see you and hold you and kiss you.”

“You haven’t kissed m-,” she told him, but it was interrupted by him doing so. 

.

After all of the elaborate ideas and things, Charlotte had relaxed about it all. She spent the better part of two days closely cozied up with Max, and neither of them had mentioned marriage, even in passing. She figured that she had simply had a moment like other people spoke of - when they had all types of beautiful fantasies about a wedding day. She had never done that as a child or a teenager, so she figured it had been something that she just caught later in life and got over almost as quickly as she thought it up. 

She woke up to an empty bed a few days after he’d returned and sat up, confused, pulling the covers to her chest and looking around. There was a letter on the nightstand. She opened it and flower petals fell out. It was an apology from Max that he would have to get with Henry on some details that they forgot to tie up and would likely be at the Hero League Headquarters most of the morning. “Mannn…” She complained, throwing her covers off of her and irritatedly kicking her way out of bed. 

“Hey Char, we’ve got the perfect…” She screamed, reached for her bedside zapper and zapped Jasper right in the belly. “HOT CROSS BUNS!” He cried out and crumbled to the floor. 

“WHAT are you doing in my house?” she squealed. “And why does the system keep not alerting me?” She grabbed her bedside bathrobe so that she wouldn’t have to check on him naked and scurried over as he picked himself up. 

“Max disarmed it to surprise you,” Jasper said.

“That was days ago!” she fussed and folded her arms, “What are you doing here?” 

He pointed his thumb behind him, “Hen and I schemed to make Max be out of the house today so that you could set up the April 1st Proposal or Prank.” 

“What?” She asked.

“Remember, we talked about it a couple of weeks ago.”

“Yeah, we got a bunch of wild notions about weddings out of the way a couple of weeks ago. That doesn’t mean we are actually gonna do that.”

“I already have all the help and the supplies to set it up. I came over with Henry to pick Max up and then told him I wanted to stay here and gush with you about how the reunion was. Perfect cover. Perfect timing. Perfect plan, etc.”

Her hair was all over her head and she could feel the bags under her eyes, since she and Max had not been sleeping much in the past few days. “You’re out of your mind. Get out of my house, Dude.” Whenever she walked out of her bedroom, she saw what he meant by having everything… There were heroes all over her home using superpowers and ingenuity to set things up, including Max’s family. She took a step back and shut the door. “Holy shit, Jasper, they are setting up a surprise wedding!”

“Or an April Fool’s Day joke. Depending on how it goes.”

Charlotte rested her head against the door. “This is not a good idea, Jasper. This is not a sane thing for normal people to do. This is not even… WHAT do they think that they are witnessing? Do they think that today I am either going to get married, embarrass myself or save face?” 

“They think it’s a wedding!” Jasper said. 

“So, if he says that this is too much, even for him, they get to be let down by there not being a wedding.”

Jasper shook his head and sucked his teeth. “Oh, Charlotte, Charlotte, Charlotte, and you’re supposed to be the smart one.” Her head snapped in his direction and he lifted his hands, “If he says it’s too much, then you have pulled an April Fool’s Day joke on everybody here. Just like you planned!” 

“I did not…”

“It was your idea!’

“Did not mean…”

“It was brilliant!”

“I can’t do it!” 

“So what, then? We send them all home now and tell them it was an April Fool’s Day trick on them and not Max?” 

She shook her head and went into her bathroom to brush her teeth and wash up. Whenever she came out, Jasper was still standing there. “So, I guess we’re doing this,” she said, got her gumballs out of the night stand and picked up one that was blueberry lemon flavored, royal blue and gold colored. When she blew her bubble, she was noe wearing a royal blue pantsuit with a long cape. Not a hero’s cape, but an evening gown cape. She had gold jewelry and accents in her hair and shoes. Her hair was in a puffy pony hawk, and her makeup was perfect. “If I’m gonna make a fool of myself or anybody else, I’ll at least look good doing it,” she said. 

.

Whenever Max got back, with Henry in tow, the two were bickering. Charlotte rushed towards the door, while everyone else was in the back of the house and Max was fussing at Henry about how HALF of the stuff that they did today, he did already and still not comprehending how Henry lost or undid his work. But, whenever they saw Charlotte, the arguing immediately stopped and he stared at her. “Is it too much? You didn’t let me get prettied up for your return, so…”

“It’s. You’re…” Max stumbled over his words and Henry pushed past him.

“Char!” he cheered. He hadn’t seen her in the past few days. They hugged and he picked her up and spun her around and began complimenting her look when Max cleared his throat and they looked at him. Henry sighed and shook his head, “I GUESS you can have a word with her. It’s not like you’ve been with her the past couple of days and I haven’t even seen her once since we got back…” He went into the other room and Charlotte panicked that they might make a noise or something, but everyone was quiet. 

“You look amazing,” Max said. “I mean… you looked amazing when I came back.”

“Don’t lie,” she said, laughing nervously. 

“You’re so beautiful, you don’t HAVE to dress up, then when you do it’s like.. A shock to my senses.” He kissed her, smiled and said, “I want to show you something.” He took her hand and began to go in the direction of the door leading to the surprise. 

“What do you think you have to show me in there?” She asked and resisted moving forward. “I’ve lived here for three years, and I can guarantee that there’s nothing hiding in there that you could show me!” 

He laughed and made a face, “Okay… but this is the way to the backyard.” 

“There’s another way, that way,” she said and pointed at the front door. He frowned and tilted his head. “You know. We can walk around the side of the house and just…” 

“What is on the other side of this door?” He wondered, pointing towards the wedding. 

“A… Jasper… production. I swear, I only mentioned it in passing and he…” Max went through the doors and Charlotte stayed right where she was and held her breath.

Max looked around the room. It was decorated with white and gold decorations and there was a rolled carpet that went through the room and out to the back porch, and out to the yard… where there was an aisle and guests and… it looked like a wedding. “Oh shit!” He said and put his hands on his chest. 

“WHERE IS THE BRIDE?” Jasper called out, but pretended not to be the one calling out. 

“Oh shit,” Max repeated and back stepped into the house and turned and rushed back to where Charlotte was. “Charlotte, there is a wedding out there!” He said, with a laugh, then he was crying, or laugh-crying. He caught his breath and shook his head. “Ummm… So… There is a situation in our backyard.”

“Yeah, a bunch of people showed up here expecting to see a wedding,” Charlotte said. 

“Please, explain. This should be good. I’m gonna love this.”

She explained to him about how she had been thinking about them getting married, and proposing, and how it all got here. His face was a wide range of emotions through the whole thing, mostly smiles and laughs. 

“So… now, we have a wedding, in our backyard..”

“Or an April Fools joke,” he reminded her. She nodded, laughing at herself. “Let’s do it!” he said. 

Her eyes went wide. “Get married in our backyard?” 

He smiled. He loved a grand gesture and everything looked beautiful, but, “No. I’m not prepared to get married today, look at me!” He laughed. “Let’s prank them.” 

“How?” She wondered. He took her hand and they went out of the front door. 

.

“Are they getting ready? Does Max have a suit?” Barb wondered. “I can’t remember ever seeing him in a suit outside of his super suit…” People’s phones began going off and whenever they checked them, they saw a text from Max. It was a photo of him and Charlotte, getting ready to zoom away on his hoverboard and throwing a peace sign with the caption: April Fools! 

“No!” Jasper inhaled and rushed into the house. Sure enough, neither of them were there. Everyone else came inside, and they searched the house, and neither Charlotte nor Max were anywhere to be found. Everyone turned to Jasper. He shook his head, “Well. I am just as shocked as all of you.” 

Eventually, Henry texted Charlotte and told her that everyone had cleared out of the house. She read it to Max and he shook his head, “No. I don’t trust that. Could be him trying to get us back for the prank. I do not want to face my parents tonight.”

“Why didn’t you just let me say it was my prank?” 

“Are you kidding? They’d hate you! They expect this type of reckless abandon from me on such a day.” They were curled up on a blanket at the beach with the sunset on the horizon and he nuzzled her with his nose, “On any other day, I would have.” She laughed. “I’m serious. I would have seen that scenery and said yes and threw on a tux as soon as my speed allowed.”

“Well.. why didn’t you?”

“On April 1st? That’s is a Max Thunderman high holy day. I can’t let you marry me on a day like that! I would never be able to give you an anniversary gift that wasn’t some type of very extreme prank.”

“You could just… not do that.”

“With whose self control, Charlotte?” She threw her head back and laughed, then shivered from the cold. Max wrapped her tighter in his arms and blew heat on the back of her neck. She shivered again in warm pleasure. She would never get tired of that. He stroked her skin, “We need an anniversary that I can give my full attention to. April Fools Day and our anniversary have to be two very separate, but still hugely important days.” They listened to the water for a while, and after a time, Charlotte broke into the sound.

“What were you going to show me?” she asked. “At the house?”

“I’ll show you when we get back,” he said.

.

11:59 pm. Charlotte was exhausted, but they figured that they would let everybody party and eat and get over things and go home before checking to see if the coast was clear. They reentered through the backyard and it seemed that nobody was there, even though Henry’s van was still out front, so they knew that at the very least he and Jasper weren’t gone. “Here,” Max said and led her to a camellia bush. 

She gasped and shook her head, pointing at it, “That was not here earlier!” she said. Then she noticed that they lined the gate and seemed to go around the whole house. “What the butt…”

“Remember I told you that I made a super venus fly trap plant monster one time?” I put these camellia plant sprouts out when you were asleep and by my calculations for the growth formula, they were supposed to grow into a full bush right before the sun went down. I was gonna let you watch them grow and then after nightfall, I was gonna do this,” he flicked his wrist and she heard fireworks. When she looked up, she saw the question, “Charlotte Page, will you marry me?” 

He clarified, “I was struggling a little bit with whether or not you would believe me if I proposed to you on April 1st, but then I saw you and I just… didn’t want to wait.” She looked at him, her face unreadable. “If it helps, it is 12:01, so technically, April Fools Day is over, but I would have been serious, still…” She hoisted herself up to kiss him and he held her close. “Oh!” He went into his pocket. “I almost forgot…” he pulled out a box with a ring inside of it. It was small, which she liked, because she didn’t want it to be too conspicuous and it had the shape of one of the flowers in the yard as its head. “Charlotte, I know that a kiss should be a really good sign and all, but I actually need to hear you incriminate yourself and say that you’ll marry me.” 

“Incriminate?” She repeated, chuckling. Then, she slid her finger into the ring and said, “Max Thunderman, I will happily marry you.”

[blackfemmecharacterdependency]

@jacksope-lives Train Hunters Grace being consoled by my No Train Grace because their mom is hurtful.

[blackfemmecharacterdependency]

Share a Lair 14 || Share the Details

Max was honestly stressed out for nothing. He spent all of this time trying to talk his way up to the news, and whenever he actually finally spit it out, Charlotte was relieved and surely didn’t seem any of the things he’d been afraid about. She laughed a little and said, “I honestly thought that you were about to break up with me moments after your mother posted me dancing and tagged me to it on her page.”

“I’d never break up with you,” he said, then, “Wait, what?” He checked his mother’s birthday album for the twins and sure enough, there was a post of Max dancing around Charlotte, who was way more reserved, but so dang cute! Max loved it and almost went through to read all of the comments, but Charlotte cut into that mission.

“It’s just that sometimes, I can’t tell if you’re as deep into this as I am. You just have so many important things to do. By comparison, I’m kind of relegated to something fun on the side,” she said.

He put his phone into his pocket and sat down next to her, “That’s never been the case for me. Mostly, I haven’t wanted to scare you off, because my feelings for you are SO intense that I have to rationalize and reign myself in, like, “Max, this is NOT the way to handle this. But, I don’t have a huge frame of reference, because I haven’t had many serious relationships and this is only the second time that I’ve been in love…” As soon as he said it, they both gasped. But, while this apprehensive expression poured over his face, hers lit up at the same speed and they looked at each other, both became confused and expressions switched to match the other one’s, then again they both realized that they were inadvertently making statements with their faces and they both started laughing at this. They leaned towards each other, laughing and Charlotte reached out to collect him into her arms and moved him to lay back on her chest.

“I’m in love, too.” She said it very softly and stroked his hair with even more gentleness.

“I feel like a huge weight has been lifted off of me, just being able to admit that out loud, and hearing you say it too, is like… The perfect birthday present.” She kissed the top of his head and hooked her arms under his. He rested his hands on hers and whispered, “Can I spend the night with you?”

“Of course,” she said and rubbed his chest, one of her legs now comfortably wrapping around him, as well. He sat up and she was momentarily missing his body.

But, he turned to face her, hands sliding up her party dress as he stared into her eyes, “No… I meant… I want to spend the night with you, Charlotte…” She shifted to allow him better access beneath her dress and nodded her head, unable to break eye contact with him, as intense as it was. Had that been all that he had been waiting for? To be able to say he loved her? To have her say it, as well? She wasn’t sure. But, that didn’t matter. It was go time! He leaned forward and she leaned back.

“My bed is pretty small,” she whispered. But Max simply extended his hand, and within moments, the spare bed had been slid across the floor, right next to this bed. She smiled. “That was hot.” He just smiled. He loved when she said things like that to him, and he was ready to prove himself to her.

.

Whenever Charlotte came into the “Danger Column,” she was humming joyfully and carrying a ton of stuff with her. “Hey Char, what’s all that stuff?” Jasper wondered.

“Just some things that I got from home over the weekend,” she said. “Sort of officially moving in with Max.” She continued on her way and Jasper squinted his eyes as she set her things on the rolling cart, “I know that they’ll be gone soon, but what we might wind up doing is me living here for however long they’re here, then when it’s time to relocate, I’ll be looking for a place for us outside of Share-A-Lair.”

Jasper nodded his head, then wondered, “Who’ll be gone soon?”

She laughed a little then looked at his genuinely curious face. “Umm.,, the guys, from this site. Or at least Max, will be. Maybe not Henry, if he hasn’t said anything. He’d certainly tell you before he would anybody else, I’m sure.”

“No. He’d probably tell YOU before anybody else. What do you know, Charlotte?”

She fumbled her hands around packing the cart and tried to find something that MIGHT distract Jasper from the suggestion that Henry might be leaving and hadn’t said anything to him. It probably was a misunderstanding on her part, so she definitely didn’t want to add to that fuel, But, there were very few things that could distract Jasper from the subject of Henry, and if her moving in with Max wasn’t enough (hell, that only caused more questions), then she was probably about to open her mouth and insert and poorly constructed lie foot. “I know what it feels like to have thunder coursing through my body.”

“Don’t change the subject. Thunder can’t course throughOHMYGODYOUANDMAXFINALLYDIDIT???” And just like that, she had deterred him away from the Henry subject and she texted Hen a warning about it as Jasper had to know everything, “How’s it shaped? Is it as perfect as we imagined through the gray sweatpants? Can you draw me a sketch of it? Better yet… Did you get pix?”

“I… had already seen it before. Calm down there, Bud…”

“Did you sing Happy Birthday to him like Marilyn Monroe? That’s what I would’ve done.”

“I didn’t. Honestly, it was just really slow and sweet and steamy,” she said, nodding.

“Awwww. You went easy on him. You must really be in love!” Jasper gushed.

She smiled hard enough to hurt her face, “I did!… And, I am. It’s really cool. I haven’t been this close to anybody in a while, and even then, it was you know, just… not like this is.  I’ve never had to take things slowly, and I’ve never had to learn to trust or have someone learn to trust me after the emotional connection. I’ve never had to be patient for a guy to be ready for me and I certainly have never had to go easy on somebody. It’s equal parts centering and exciting!”

“Did you at least warn him that you were a raging ball of aggression in the bedroom?” Jasper asked.

“I am NOT!” She said, then giggled a little, “I mean, I haven’t had any complaints!” She gasped, “You think that I’ll frighten him if he gets Take Charge Char?”

“I think Take Charge Char is far more hot than she is scary, but the scary is a good scary. That “roller coaster ride scary,” not “a bear in the woods while you’re camping” scary. But, more about the di-”

“Naw. I gotta get this stuff to my new place!” She said and began rolling the cart out of the tower, with a huge smile on her face.

.

Henry looked at Max approaching and wondered, “Are you late, or am I uncharacteristically early?”

Max looked at his watch and said, “I’m late…. Wait, why did I look at my watch? OF COURSE, I’m late. Like you’d ever be early.” Henry laughed and rolled his eyes, then heard his phone and checked Charlotte’s text. “Uh uh. Phone away. It’s training time,” Max said, setting his things down.

“You’re one to talk. You were late today!” Henry said, then groaned at the text message, “Your delightful girlfriend just told Jasper that I might be leaving soon. Why would she do that?” Henry had taken to sarcastically using positive words for Char whenever he was irritated by her, to avoid interference from Max, that he was certain could result in either his own derision or demise. Better safe and sarcastic than sorry.

“Have you not talked to Jasper about possibly leaving here?” Max wondered, stretching.

Henry put his phone into his bag and said, “I’ve brought it up a few times that I was probably gonna go on some far off missions with you, but I think that he’s not hearing that I might be leaving soon.”

“Are you SAYING that you might be leaving soon to him?” Max asked.

“Did you SAY it before you told Char over the weekend?” Henry asked right back.

“Are you and Jasper in the same situation and Char and I?” Max wondered.

“No, but… you can’t be pot kettling or whatever.”

“Different situations, Dude,” Max said. “I wanna marry Charlotte someday, but as it stands, she’s technically not my best friend. I mean… That’s a goal, definitely, but it isn’t our reality. You and Jasper have been together your entire lives and he follows you everywhere. Not telling him that somewhere may be another country is a little different from me having anxiety about admitting to a short term girlfriend the same thing… He is gonna come with you, right?”

Henry shrugged his shoulders, “I kinda want him to figure out his own thing. I’ve been doing some soul searching and I realize that while I’ve been putting everybody else first and working on saving other people, Jasper’s been doing the same thing, but for me.”

They continued stretching and Max commented, “Maybe that’s what he wants to do.”

“Maybe. But, I’ll feel better if he has some time to look inside and really determine that, you know? Would you want Charlotte to just pack up and leave and come along with us to Russia?”

“Yes. But, yet again - not the same situation.”

Henry sighed, annoyed and commented, “I am so ready to swing punches at your face now.”

“I am ready to watch you fail to land them.”

.

“Okay. I am ready to do THAT for the rest of my life,” Max said. Charlotte simply laughed. It was nice, but she was certainly sore. She hadn’t had to work her thigh muscles like that before, or at least in a while. She forgot about all of the “additional” that came along with this. It didn’t matter, though. Max was here with her, and he wanted her, and he wanted this. She had no complaints.

He laid in Charlotte’s arms, ready to forsake Russia, the T Force, the Hero League, anything else that dared to come between him and this feeling that he had right now, in this very moment, wrapped up in her, bodies connected, spirits aligned.

“Whether it’s 3 months or 6, I want to be with you, okay?” She whispered.

He nodded. Of course. He wanted to throw a ring on her and pop a baby in her, but that was a bit much for right now, so he just said, “You could move into the lair, if you want. That might give us a little more time together before the changes happen.”

“Wouldn’t you have to run that by Share-A-Lair?” She wondered.

“Running it by them for me includes sending them a message that it’s happening.”

“Oh, so you got it like that, huh?”

“I’m the man.” He kissed her fingertips and asked, “Do you not want to?”

She smiled, “I think that’d be cool. I mean, it’s only for a few months, then you’re off to Russia, so it isn’t like there’s a danger of us growing sick of each other. Besides, I practically live there now and gas to and from for when I’ve gotta come back here is pretty pricey.”

“You think that we’ll grow sick of each other when we’re around each other more?” he wondered. “I can’t imagine ever being sick of you. I imagine you being the main thing that makes me feel well in a very sick world where I have to battle sick people.” She just smiled. He was strumming her skin lovingly with his fingertips and seemed like he had a lot going through his mind.

“Will we be able to visit each other at all? When you’re in Russia?” She asked.

“It’s not final that I’ll be in Russia… but, I will have a lair, hidden beneath the property of my secret identity. If you want, you can certainly visit me, but I don’t know if I’ll be able to leave during the tour.”

“Cool. I’ve never really thought about Russia, but I’m going to look into it. Add it as a place for me to be able to visit a time or two in the next few years… You are only gonna be gone for a few years, right?”

“Three,” he said.

“Yeah, I’ve done this long distance thing for longer before. We’ve got this.”

He looked at her and gave her a kiss. “Can we…”

“Again?”

“If it isn’t asking too much…”

“It’s not!” She smiled. “Come here…”

.

Each day, Charlotte came in a little less chipper and a little more sore looking. Jasper smirked every time, until one day, maybe about a week later, he straight up asked, “You can’t handle the D, can you?”

She let out a relieved sigh and a chain of word vomit, “Dude, I can’t even get to the point where I’m at my usual performance level with Max, because whenever we get down to it, his physical superiority and stamina outrun my experience and prowess. What does it matter if you can do fun little tricks, if after a few minutes, you’re ready to pass out, just as he’s getting warmed up? He is a leading world  superhero, with nearly perfect health, and impeccable bodily preoccupation! He can do some GLORIOUS shit with body. I mean, leave you speechless tier. And… I can handle about 10 minutes of him, then I’m just there because if I move, I might collapse. I have GOT to add cardio to my daily schedule!”

Jasper nodded his head, cordially the entire time she was speaking, but as soon as she stopped, he simply asked, “Okay, but how big is it?” She stared at him for a moment before walking away. “Bigger than Henry’s? Surely.” He gasped, “Is it bigger than mine? Are there other personality traits to it? Like a curve or a slightly fatter top? OH! He’s… cut, isn’t he? You know what, you should see if he’ll let you take a photo of it, so we can research.”

“Jasper!” She finally shrieked. “Shut. Up.”

“Right. You’re having a crisis. Here’s a solution! You let him take control until you get your own physicality up. Those are essentially pleasure filled workouts. He’ll like being in charge all the time, at least for a while, then whenever it seems like it’s boring and dull, POW! You’ll hit him with your modulation. He’ll be like… WHAT? There was a higher pleasure setting? Huh?? And you can stay on that level until you gain more endurance, and then, guess what? POW! Another modulation on him.” Jasper shook his head, “But, that’s probably not gonna work.”

“No, no… That’s… I can work with that. My legs haven’t burned this much since I started marathon training in junior high!”

“I forgot that you used to do that!” Jasper said.

“So did my thighs.”

He laughed and said, “RIP Charlotte’s hamstrings.”

“Rude!” she snapped. They looked at each other, “But, accurate.” He laughed again and she tried not to, because it wasn’t funny and she didn’t want to encourage him. But, in spite of herself, she had to laugh a little.

She definitely regretted it when a moment later, Jasper slid a pencil and a piece of paper to her and said, “What if you just sketch it for me? As true to life as possible, please?”

She gave him a small, tight smile, picked up the pencil and said, “Imagine for a moment that this was one…” Then, she snapped it in half with her thumb and threw it down on the table. Jasper gasped as she got up and walked over to her work area in the lab.

“He… He has a pencil one?” He wondered, in horror. She just left it alone. Maybe if he thought that, he’d give it a rest! “I’ve been sweat-fished!” He whined. That sounds disgusting.

[blackfemmecharacterdependency]

Share a Lair 13 || Share a Birthdate

“What do you even wear to meet somebody’s parents?” Charlotte wondered.

“What did you wear whenever you met Jack’s parents?” Piper asked right back.

“I didn’t even think about it, because I was just his friend from camp whenever we met. By the time we were something else, they had known me for a little while and they loved me. These people don’t know anything about me.”

Jasper chimed in, “No, but Max probably told them all about you, so you likely have a lot to live up to because he TOTALLY overplays your attributes.”

“Excuse me???” Charlotte asked.

“It’s adorable!” Jasper said. “He thinks the world revolves around you. It doesn’t. It revolves around the sun.”

Piper sighed and held a pair of earrings up to Charlotte’s ear, “Is it like a fancy dinner or like a party?”

“It’s like a family party?” Charlotte said. “I guess something like you guys do for Hen’s birthday. I don’t know. I was thinking that I’d dress like we’re going to a dinner date, since I’m meeting his parents, but maybe like a cocktail dress, since it’s his birthday dinner.”

“I can’t believe that you didn’t plan this out before,” Jasper said.

“Do you know how much work I’ve had to do since Henry’s advancement?”

Jasper scoffed, “Do you know how much work I’ve got to do since you and Henry haven’t been in the Man Cave as much?”

Piper said, “All you do is personal assistant stuff for Ray. You did that anyway.”

“Yeah, but it’s MORE now because he’s lowkey depressed!” Jasper said. “So, I have to pick up more snacks, set more spa appointments, force him to take more showers!”

“Who’s protecting Swellview while he hosts his pity parties?” Charlotte asked, concerned.

“Me,” Piper said, as though it was obvious. Jasper just pursed his lips and nodded. Now, Charlotte wanted to go to the Man Cave and make sure everything was functional! But… She just didn’t have the time and she’d have to remember that. She took the earrings from Piper and placed them back in their spot, picked up a different pair and held up to her own ears. “Much better,” Piper said, nodding.

Jasper laid down on Charlotte’s extra bed while she continued arranging her outfit.

.

Ultimately, she decided on an updo with golden jewels as hair garnish, a long sleeved sleek espresso colored party dress with boots, a belt and a clutch that complimented them well, and a gold jewelry set. If it turned out to be a little more fancy, she had a satin scarf that would instantly upgrade her look.

Max picked her up from her parents’ house, though they were out of town for some of her father’s business. She simply didn’t want to have to drive all the way to the Lair, when Hiddenville was past her in the other direction. Since she was (sort of) on the way, he collected her from there. She was doing some remote Man Cave work while she waited on him on the patio outside and almost didn’t notice him walk up. “Hey!” She said when she did, though. “What’s behind your back?”

“I got you flowers!” He said and pulled out a bouquet of peonies.

Charlotte gasped and smiled brightly. “They’re my favorite! I don’t remember telling you that!” She took them to put them into “the vase.” It was a vase in their house that was only there because Jack used to send her flowers. Mostly, her mom used it now, for nice dinners and stuff. He watched her, a little bit hungrily, but composed.

“You look really amazing,” he said.

She looked at him now - he was the same as always. Dark colors and “not even trying” casual-sexy in a dark purple T-shirt, black jacket, dark jeans and black high top sneakers. “I feel overdressed,” she said, noting his outfit.

“Naw. It’s a special occasion. I think you’re more on the mark than me.” He wrapped his arms around her waist and officially greeted her with a kiss on the nose, which she reflexively pressed herself into a little harder. “Are you ready?”

“Yeah,” she smiled. And they were off.

.

Barb was frantically going about the place, trying to make sure that everything was perfect. They had the twins come over for their birthdays before, but this year would be so different! Max was bringing a woman home!! Yes, Max had dated before and even casually introduced women that he saw to them… but he hadn’t brought one home in a very long time and not on an occasion like his birthday! This one might be the one! To get him settled into a home to escape from at the end of his missions. To give her some beautiful little grandchildren! My grandchildren would be the most adorable kids alive!!!

She had seen photos of Charlotte before. Max was constantly posting them to his social media and she would always leave a comment, “Beautiful! Can’t wait to meet her!!” And he’d love the comment, but never get around to actually making good on her request. But, today, he would. That was exciting.

He’d called her previously and said, “Hey, Mom… Do you think it’d be okay to add an additional spot, for me and Phoebe’s birthday thing? I kind of… want Charlotte to be with me for my birthday…” She could hear the smile in his voice and she could hear something else too. Her little boy was in love. Well, her big boy. Her grown up baby. She had to make sure that everything was perfect and that she made them comfortable. It was hard enough to get Max to stop by when there wasn’t an occasion or an assignment. He went off, falling in love and gallivanting around with his new girlfriend, they might never see him, if she didn’t make a big impact.

“Alert, The twins and friends approaching,” the monitor called. Barb squealed happily and called, “Max and Phoebe are here!”

Of course, Billy was the first one down, Nora and Chloe came from the kitchen and Hank got up from the couch as his wife rushed to the door to open it for her oldest two. “Mom!” The twins cheered as soon as the door opened and they gave her a shared hug. Charlotte had just been introduced to Link when they got out of the cars, and the two of them stood back as the Thunderman hugs went around. She could have sworn that Max had just seen them a week or two ago, but maybe time was not as she remembered it. While they were exchanging their happy greetings, Cherry and Oyster walked up behind Link and Charlotte and she commented, “Well, at least I’m not the only non-family here.”

“Are you kidding? Cherry is as much family as their kids,” Link said.

“Great.” Now, her hands were sweating and of course, that meant it was time to shake The Thundermans’… Thundermanses’? Thunderman’s?…

“Mom, Dad, this is Charlotte, my… Charlotte.” Max said, somewhat awkwardly and blushing as he put his had in the small of her back to move her closer to himself and them. She smoothly wiped her hand on his sleeve and reached out to shake Barb’s hand but when she reached for Hank’s, Max intercepted and said, “He sometimes is way too strong. Shake in spirit.” She smiled and nodded.

“Nice to finally meet you!” Barb cheered. “Hope you like the flowers. Max insisted on incorporating peonies and I’ve never known him to be a flower boy, so I figured it was for you.”

Charlotte squinted, “I have no idea who told him about peonies, but - they are my favorite. He’s so thoughtful.” she smiled at him and he crinkled his nose smiling and gushing.

Nora and Billy came over and almost tackled her with hugs, both talking at the same time (and she realized that she hadn’t seen them since the video game tournament), and tried to hear what both of them were saying. Eventually, they got back on the same page when they said, “And this is our youngest sister, Chloe.”

Charlotte waved at the young teenage girl, “Hi! Nice to meet you!”

“A likely story!” Chloe said, eyeing her suspiciously.

“Oh,” Charlotte said and smiled, uncomfortably.

“Chloe! Don’t be mean… at least not to her,” Max said.

Chloe beckoned him with her hand and whenever he got closer, pulled him by the jacket and they vanished. Charlotte gasped. “What just happened?” She wondered.

“That’s her superpower,” Billy said, a little amused by Charlotte’s face.

A moment later, Max and Chloe were back and Chloe reached for Charlotte’s hand to shake it. “Well, despite what Dr. Collosso has told me, I’ve chosen to believe Max that he’s just jealous. So, nice to meet you… You’d better not steal away and-or hurt my brother!” She leaned in and said, “I can make you disappear.”

Charlotte’s eyes went wide and Max broke their bodily contact, taking Charlotte’s hand away from Chloe and into his own. “Chloe!” He wrapped an arm around Charlotte and laughed a little, “She’s going through puberty. Hormones and superpowers, yanno?”

Now, Charlotte was not easily scared, but this girl COULD make her disappear. She’d just shown her so when she and Max went to have their little discussion. Nora and Billy had loved her right away and Phoebe had always been cool. The last thing that she was expecting was for the kid to distrust or dislike her. She was gonna strangle that bunny when she saw him!

Aside from that hiccup, it was great, though.

Barb and Hank tried to take a lot of her time, mostly Barb, and Max kept stealing her back when she seemed overwhelmed. Even when he and Oyster were in the middle of talking animatedly about something. She appreciated that. Cherry played some music to dance to and Oyster almost immediately planted his butt to a seat. Charlotte felt THAT in her spirit and moved to join him, but Max caught her hand and gave her a gentle tug.

“What’s happening? Are you dancing?” She wondered. She hated dancing. She did not want this, at all..

He pressed his face close to hers, moving to the beat of the music, “It’s my birthday. Indulge me?” He poked his lip out in a pout and she couldn’t resist him. Phoebe and Link were dancing next to them. Cherry was dancing by herself, with Oyster seated nearby and watching. The younger Thundermans were dancing in a little circle. Charlotte noticed that Barb had her camera out. No way was she going to be caught looking stupid. She had rhythm, so she just rocked a little bit while Max danced around her. With a little wine, she might feel better, but technically not being old enough, she didn’t want to be seen drinking in front of his parents. They might think ill of her. Her parents allowed her wine, but this family was different from hers and it was really a big deal to her to make a good first impression on them. The way that Max adored them made this important to her.

There was something really special about him. He wasn’t the first guy she cared deeply about and she was pretty sure he probably wouldn’t be the last one. But, he was the only one that she felt like… compromising things for. Yeah, it was cool to be able to have somebody who knew that you didn’t want to dance and left you alone about it, but that little, “Indulge me?” and the tugging of her heart TO indulge? That was an exciting, but manageable new sensation, and she was apprehensive, but felt like even when she would jump in, he’d have her. She wasn’t going to slip up and look stupid. If she did look a little silly, well… He was still gonna look at her exactly the same. After a while, she loosened up and enjoyed her little small dance movements. She definitely enjoyed watching him move around her. That’s not to say that whenever Hank excitedly cheered that it was time for cake (A little TOO excitedly, she thought), that she wasn’t thanking the stars for dancing dismissal.

Max took her hand again - she loved whenever they were together and he kept her close to himself, and it felt even better happening around his family than it did when it was just friends. Barb and Hank started what appeared to be some type of birthday rap and Charlotte prayed silently that her face was not going to insult them. She felt something graze her skin and turned to see that Max had taken one of the nearby peonies from their vase and handed it to her, which distracted her long enough to smile, smell it and admire him. And when the rap ended, Hank was the first to grab a slice of cake that Phoebe cut for him and make his way to the couch with it. The others were getting smaller slices that Barb was placing on plates and Max cut a slice for Charlotte. “Here ya go!” he said.

She looked at the room and wondered, “Aren’t you going to get yours?”

He waved a hand and said, “There will be some left.”

She looked at the cake as Hank ALREADY was coming for seconds and shook her head, “I don’t know. You know this group better than me, but it looks like you’ll miss out, Dude.” She had this mini flashback to one of Hen’s birthdays where he was forced to work and everybody else just moved on and had cake. He’d brought it up after the fact and made her feel pretty guilty about not even thinking twice about leaving him out of his own birthday cake and saying that Jasper was the only one who had his back. That was hurtful to hear, because it was true in that one time, and for whatever reason had carried more weight with Henry than she would have thought. To heck with that, though. She turned turned towards Max and pinched off a piece of her cake. “Open up,” she said, with a smile.

He listened. It wasn’t a struggle or anything. It may have been her slice, but he was gonna take first bite and right from her hands was actually much better than he had ever eaten a piece of cake before in his life. Her brown eyes twinkling up at him, her perfect smile beaming at his sheer satisfaction. Neither of them noticed Barb swatting Hank on the belly to get his attention. He was already looking and simply caught her hand in his free hand (He was holding his cake in the other). Barb whispered in excitement, “She’s it for him, you know that right? Just LOOK at them!”

Hank saw a pretty girl feeding his son cake on his birthday… Which gave him a great idea for a gift Barb could give him on HIS next birthday. Whenever he turned to ask her about it, the woman was to the point of crying. In her mind, she was seeing her little boy, too small to even fit his baggy suit, but getting MARRIED? He was too young! But, if that’s what made him happy… “Barb?” Hank broke into her thoughts. “Why don’t you take a little break. You’ve been working hard all day.”

She nodded, “Yes. Yes, a break.” Max took the plate from Charlotte. If she kept feeding him SHE wasn’t going to get any cake! So, at least she was gonna have that last bite of this slice. When he held the fork out to her and she took it into her mouth, Barb just wiped her eyes and smiled softly. Max kissed Charlotte on the forehead and asked her if SHE wanted an actual slice. She did.

Barb was heading to a chair whenever Link had an announcement to make. One that he wanted everyone’s attention for. Max was getting more cake, but everyone else was paying attention, so that was enough for Link.

Charlotte gave Barb a cordial smile as the woman came and stood right next to her and Link went on this tangent about how from the first time he met Phoebe, he knew she was special, “Literally! She used her superpowers right in front of me!” They laughed. He went on and talked about how they had to go their separate ways, but always made time for each other and reconnected a short while ago, etc. Max was back with cake, so Charlotte accepted the plate, ready to devour it, but Max was getting his phone out and started recording Link… which she thought was kinda weird until Link got down on one knee in front of Phoebe and Barb gasped loudly. “Phoebe Thunderman, will you marry me?” Cherry did a spit take with her punch. Charlotte didn’t really know Link, but she hadn’t been expecting that at this birthday party, either. It was kind of sweet and kind of exciting. She ate cake and watched Phoebe try to collect her feelings. Just like that, Barb’s attention was directed towards Phoebe and Link, now.

Max asked Cherry, “Why did you spit out your punch? Link told us that he was going to do this.” Cherry looked extremely shocked to hear this news.

Oyster commented, “He had to swipe the memory, because she kept about to accidentally tell Phoebe.”

Ignoring their ditzy couple friends, Max cheered, “Woooooo!!! Congrats, Pheebs!!” As Phoebe accepted her man and her ring.

Phoebe commented, “You’ll be next, Loverboy!” Charlotte nearly choked on her cake.

He laughed and said, “She’s just teasing, Char.” They stared at each other for a moment, then he took her empty plate, “Punch?”

“Yeah,” she said. He went to hug Phoebe, pat Link on the back, squeeze Barb’s shoulders… a lot of stuff before he actually made it to the punch.

In that time, Hank wound up back by her, “You work for Captain Man, right?”

She made a high pitched ‘Well’ sound and confirmed, “I mostly work for Kid Danger… Well… He’s actually going to change names, but, I definitely did work for Captain Man.”

“And did YOU want to punch him in the face, too?” He asked. She laughed out loud. He nodded, “He’s one of the most arrogant heroes that I’ve ever met, and it’s only on his superpower, because his record isn’t even a Hero League low class. He only qualifies because of his power and occupation. Basically skates on indestructible.”

“I can believe it,” she said.

“You know, I have punched him in the face before. Once upon a time he said something to my wife that I didn’t appreciate. My fists did the talking. Punched him right through an ambulance. He came out on the other side and said, “I’m Okay!” He was, but I had to pay to replace the damn ambulance.” Hank shook his head. “And I hurt my thumb punching his stupid indestructible jaw.”

“He… has never mentioned that there was bad blood between you two!” Charlotte said.

“Oh, there wasn’t, really. The guy forgets everything that happens the moment he sees his reflection, so honestly, it was just me mad for awhile and I moved on. Haven’t really seen or spoken to him, so I was curious to know if he was still…”

“A prick. Yes. He is.” She covered her mouth. You can’t say “prick” to your boyfriend’s dad!

But, Hank laughed heartily and wiggled his finger at her, “I like you. You’re a feisty kid.”

Max glanced over when he heard Hank laugh. He was glad to see her getting on with his dad. Meanwhile, he and Phoebe talked. “It took Link and I TEN YEARS to get to this point. You don’t have as much time to reel her in,” Phoebe said.

“Chill! We’ve barely been together for a month.”

“Well, I mean, not on paper, but come on, dude. How long were the two of you… consorting before then?” She smiled and he blushed and looked away. “Listen, I’m just saying - she’s a HELL of a catch. She’s all the stuff that you want and need without some of the stuff that might run her off. If it’s gonna be a nonsupe, should be one that gets the lifestyle and stuff.”

“I’m not rushing anything,” Max said. “I’d scare her off before I have the chance to let her down, like the universe intended.”

“Let her down?” Phoebe repeated, concerned.

“My training term will be up in a few months. Henry is excelling in it. When he moves on, I will too. They’re leaning towards Russia.”

Phoebe looked sad for him, “And she doesn’t like Russia?”

He scoffed, “I haven’t told her this! How would I even do it? Hey - you know how I spent months pining over you right in your face and you finally gave me a chance and we’ve been connecting and falling in love for the past month or so? Long story short, in a few months, I’m probably going to be sent to Russia, and be stationed there for a few years! Wanna commit to coming with me, this soon into our relationship?”

“Not those exact words, but I have to ask you… How do you think it would play out if you waited until this summer? By that time, she’s several months in and probably all the way in love and let’s be honest, be losing you and her best friend at the same time… Is he coming to Russia with you?”

“Haven’t decided whether I want that or not. He’s capable, but… she’s gonna be mad enough at me without me taking him away.”

“Maybe with him, she’ll come along. All I know is you have to share this with her. She deserves to know.”

“I’m…” He shrugged his shoulders. Scared. She knew that he was, but she also knew that he was brave.

“Brave,” she finished the statement. “And honest. Do the right thing now, and maybe even if it takes ten years, the honesty and respect will always matter and bring you two back together. And to clarify… we don’t even know that she’ll break up with you. She’s had long distance relationships before, and so have you, albeit briefly. When you love someone, and you’re both willing to work, and both smart… you can figure it out! I don’t want to see you miss out on good things because you’re scared.”

“I never said I was scared.”

“We shared a womb. You don’t HAVE to say it!”

“Ugh. Happy 25th, Boogerhead.”

“You too, Loserface.” He pulled her in and gave her a kiss on the hair, then reminded himself that he owed Charlotte punch. They were going to be heading back home in a short while, and he planned on taking Phoebe’s advice. Just the thought of having to have that talk was terrifying, but Phoebe was right. He was brave and honest, and Charlotte deserved to know the truth.

[blackfemmecharacterdependency]

Share a Lair 12 || Share Some Feeling

Max wanted to wait. He had been pretty clear about that much, though Charlotte wasn’t entirely sure that she understood his reasoning - she definitely knew that she had to respect his wishes. He wasn’t that smooth when it came to the ladies. He used to just throw himself right into hitting on them, but as he got older (and realized how corny he could be), that wasn’t an easy thing to allow himself to do. 

Plus, with his career, it was hard to focus on serious relationships, likewise, he wasn’t the type to try to have casual encounters very much. He was a romantic. He was the monogamous type. He aspired to have a family as big and as close as the one that he came from, and he realized that Charlotte might not want those things. In fact, he was almost certain that she did not… But, he also wanted to be with her for as long as he could. There was just something special about her. He knew it from the moment that he met her, even though he didn’t think that they would ever actually hit it off the way that they had. They seemed too different, to him, despite their similarities.

Before they ever started seeing each other, she had made some comments that gave him cause to worry a little bit, and for Max, worrying a little bit almost always snowballed. For instance, they’d been discussing grades in school and she mentioned Henry being a C-D student. Max was nonchalant about it. He, too, had been a C-D student, sometimes F, if he was particularly not giving one. Well, the judgement in her face was enough to make him feel like he had to explain himself, “I just didn’t really care about the grades, because I knew that I was smart enough to make anything work out for me and it’s not like I would’ve needed a certain GPA to be a supervillain… or a superhero. I’ve got superpowers and a high IQ. No public education or piece of paper was gonna make me any more valid when I became an adult.”

Her face didn’t really change, but she did wonder, “So, you’d be fine with your kids not pushing themselves to be the best wherever they were?”

“I wouldn’t push them to be anything that they didn’t feel like they were,” he said. “Kids need support in their identities, not societal coercion.”

“Okay,” she said, dismissively and ended the subject, but he couldn’t help but shake that he had just confessed to being fine with being mediocre to somebody who was very much focused on being and having the best.

Another example - Oyster casually mentioning how Max used to “really give it to those nerds” when they were in school. Max shook his head vigorously, but Oyster thought he was being bashful and proceeded to tell stories that Charlotte looked extremely put off to hear about, even though she said that she would expect stuff like that from somebody who was trying to be a bad boy. “I guess I just would have expected that someone trying to be the big bad would target big bads. I mean.. People that you consider nerds or dorks or whatever, they already have to be measured as socially inferior, but you felt the need to make them feel even worse and humiliate them. It’s definitely villainous. Thank God we didn’t go to school together. I was the nerdiest nerd in our class.” She seemed offended.

“I never would’ve done anything like that to you,” he said.

“Oh, good to know you consider me one of the good ones.” He didn’t want to say anything else for fear of making it worse. After that, she would casually make comments and jokes about his past as a “nerd terrorist.” SO… Max wasn’t positive that they would last, no matter how much he wanted them to.

His first girlfriend had broken up with him extremely suddenly, to him, and they hadn’t been exactly a fitting match either. He loved her, they were great together a lot of the time, and they had a good time… but, she eventually realized that he just wasn’t the one for him. It was the most painful heartache he had ever had at the time. It wasn’t something he wanted to necessarily repeat, therefore he was generally guarded with his emotions and careful with his choices. Charlotte made that hard for him.

The more time he spent around her, the more he wanted to dive in, with zero abandon. By the time they kissed, he knew that he was doomed. He was relieved that she didn’t want to be with him, at the time. It was bittersweet, because he knew he was hers. That he’d be hers even if she hadn’t eventually come around. When she did start to come around… he tried to reprogram himself.Just because they were different in a lot of ways didn’t mean that they wouldn’t last or that she would grow tired of him or decide that he wasn’t worth a long term commitment. She made that hard too. She was so aloof about certain things that he’d think she would be reserved about - like her comfort with the guys. She’d mentioned sleeping in the bed with them, mentioned walking around indecent, and well… while that was normal enough - sometimes you just had that with those you worked with, like a locker room comfort. But… he didn’t have any female friends that he felt that comfortable with, so he didn’t really understand it. He also didn’t want to judge her or come across as insecure. So, he was really just trying to bide his time to get over it, with regards to that portion of her lifestyle.

But, one of his biggest secret concerns was her interest in his superpowers. It sometimes came across as a little bit fetishizing. Now… He definitely wanted her to want him and he didn’t necessarily have a problem with her being drawn to his powers. They were an amazing part of him. But, he also didn’t want that to be the sole reason that she was so attracted to him. He wanted it to just be part of the package that she got with him, and he wanted to be sure about that.

So, while he was still mulling over the idea of them and their future together, as well as continually getting to know her as his partner, he chose to wait to take it further physically.

Charlotte, on the other hand was feeling a little bit rejected about it. She was a confident woman. She didn’t make decisions lightly, but when she made decisions, she always knew that she had made the best one for who she was at the time of the decision. She had decided to be with Max. She knew what she wanted, and he was one of those desires. He was a very well thought out goal and she was secure in herself for making the choice. But, whenever he would hold back or stop her from handling up on some pants party business, she couldn’t help but wonder what his issue was with being with her. They were very open, but she always felt like he was kind of secretive about this thing. “I just don’t feel like we’ve reached that point, yet,” he told her and when she asked what would make him feel like they have, he only said, “More time and consideration.” So.. she read that as him not wanting her like that. It was oddly infuriating, but she knew that she had no right to be mad, and she didn’t want to be mad. But… why didn’t he want her though? He spent so long wanting to be with her and now, she was all in and he was… restrained.

She had decided to stop going out, stop meeting men, stop kicking it with the men that she knew a little better than casually, whenever she realized that she was interested in Max. While she wasn’t necessarily a trollop, she could definitely identify as a minx, sometimes.

She and her ex broke up a little bit before Henry applied to Share-a-Lair. They had been together for almost 5 years, the first couple long distance, the next couple on and off, and in that last year that they were together, he became a little restless. He didn’t understand why she wouldn’t come on tour with him (he was an international music superstar). He didn’t understand why she didn’t seem to want to be with him more, because high school was over, she was almost done with college, and she didn’t have any prospects for work or anything. He just wanted her to spend more time with him and for them to experience more of his fortunate life and extravagant lifestyle with him than just summers and sometimes breaks…

So, Charlotte made the mature decision to set him free and remain friends. They… talked a lot less, but she would see him living what seemed like his best life without her. It was bittersweet. Every now and then , he’d text something amazing and tell her, “Wish you were here. This would be perfect with you.” He was absolute wonderful, but she knew that a lot of his time had already been spent on her and now that he was a fully grown man; she couldn’t ask him to standby and wait. She might never be ready and the world was his oyster. She bowed out, threw herself into Henry/work, and began to see other men, casually on her weekends and such.

However, from the first time that Max said that she was cute, she didn’t realize it at the time, but she stopped going out as much. If a guy that she’d spent time with hit her up with the WYD, she’d either decline from seeing them, or not even remember to reply. Max was into her system before she really acknowledged it.

One time, Max commented, “You know that Jack Swagger is coming through here for a tour - do you wanna try to get tickets?” Charlotte tilted her head in confusion. They hadn’t discussed this, so she was unsure if this was his way of fishing for information. He noticed her hesitation and said, “Jasper makes comments calling him “ya boy,” so I presumed that you were a fan, but now I’m guessing that he’s being ironic when he does that?” Now, she sighed and laughed a little.

“No. I am a fan. It’s just that Jack and I used to hang out, so I didn’t know if you knew that and were being facetious, or worse… weird about it.”

“Why would I be weird about… WAIT - You and Jack Swagger used to hang out? When?”

“Like… before he got famous, and for a while afterwards. We really only stopped in the last maybe year and a half.”

“I once hung out with Cheyenne briefly. I mean… that’s an exaggeration. I scammed to get close to her and got busted,” he laughed. “So, are you still on good terms with him? Because, truth be told, his ticket prices are outrageous.”

She laughed too now and said, “As it stands, I don’t have to pay for tickets to his shows, but I don’t know if I’d bring another man. That might get us into an uncomfortable area.” Max was confused. Damn, did Jack Swagger have a crush on her too? She expounded, “I was supposed to take a gap year after high school and go on his European tour with him, but after planning to for a while, I backed out and told him that I just couldn’t. I think that was the beginning of the end, to be honest. But… he did let me design all his wardrobe for it, so in a way it was like he took a piece of me with him, and now, I get to charge people CRAZY prices to slash and alter jeans every now and then whenever I need some side cash.” She laughed and said, “I actually paid for my car by designing a dress for Cheyenne, so small world.”

Max was frozen in the same weird smile that he’d had for a while. It was like he was in shock, but then realized something, and then he looked like he was hit in the gut. “So… You used to hang out with Jack Swagger,” he said. It was emotionless, but he looked bothered.

“I’m sure you’ve hung out with plenty of women before you met me.”

“I wouldn’t say plenty, and I certainly wasn’t ‘take a gap year to travel the world with them’ hanging out. When I hung out with someone, it was mostly just that.” He sat down. “How long were you together?” He shook his head, “Nevermind. It’s your past. It’s none of my business. Then again - you still get free tickets, but it would be uncomfortable if you brought your boyfriend…”

“I wouldn’t bring you there on a free ticket. I’d pay for it!” She said.

“Yeah, but…Does he still love you?”

“We’re still friends.” She didn’t say no. “We’ll most likely always be friends, unlike the guys that I saw in between then and now. So… please, don’t make this an issue.”

He smiled. She could tell he was still bothered, “I won’t.” And he didn’t. But, it was still on his mind and made him even less secure about them physically. Jack Swagger… That dude had to have been able to land any woman in the world and if he was still hung up on her, like… what made him that way? Could he even satisfy her?

So, Charlotte simply moved at his pace - which was almost not moving at all. He was definitely affectionate. He loved snuggling with her and he could kiss her for hours without regret, if she’d let him. But, when she decided to press forward and see how far he would allow her to move forward. He usually didn’t stop her, but she could tell when she was making him uncomfortable and she would stop herself. Affirmative consent mattered and his last communication was that he wanted to wait. After a while, she gave up. Her shoulders slumped and her sigh was harder than she meant. “Are you okay?” He wondered.

She nodded her head, but said, “I think I ought to go home tonight.”

“Tonight? We have plans tomorrow.”

“I’ll be back tomorrow. I just think I should sleep in my own bed tonight.”

His eyes dropped and looked off to the side. They were silent a moment, then she started to get up. “Charlotte… I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be,” she said. She meant that. He had no reason to be sorry, just like she had no right to be upset.

“I didn’t tell you that we had to stop. I just… wasn’t sure what to do next. I don’t know what my limits are. I didn’t mean to clam up like that.”

“You don’t have to explain anything, Max. I’m not entitled to your body or your physical attraction.” She looked like she was far from okay. She looked super hurt and now, he was upset with himself.

“You think that I’m not attracted to you?” He wondered.

She shrugged her shoulders, “You see something in me, but I really don’t feel like getting into this. I’m gonna go home, handle this and go to sleep.” She looked like she might cry, but she wasn’t going to. Hell no. Not in front of him, and not about something so… she wanted to consider it superficial, but she couldn’t. Not with how she felt.

“You’re the most attractive person that I have ever seen. That’s not what my problem is…”

“Then what is it, Dude? Why don’t you want me?” She silently cussed at herself. She didn’t mean to ask that or to use that tone.

“I do want you. So, so bad. I just… Don’t really know if I can be what you want, and I guess that I wanted to stay super in your mind for a little bit longer. But, if it’s making you feel like this…”

“The last thing anybody wants is to feel like you feel obligated.” They were both silent again. She sighed and sat back down. “I don’t want you to feel pressured by me. I just don’t understand why you’re so reluctant to share yourself with me, but you don’t owe me that.”

“Did you hear what I said?” He asked. “I’m trying to tell you that I’ve never done this before. But, I shouldn’t let that stop me. I shouldn’t make you feel bad because I’m scared to fail you…” He threw his head back. “I didn’t mean to make you feel rejected. I’ve wanted you since I first met you, and I still want you. Of course I do. How could I not? But, you’re like… super hot and I’ve realized that you’ve probably got expectations and desires that I’m not gonna be able to just meet. I hate things that I don’t know that I’m good at. This Is too important.”

She stared at him, “Wait. So… you’ve never hung out with anybody and now you think that you’re gonna let me down?” He didn’t want to agree to that, specifically. Luckily, she moved on, with a smile, “You… do know that I could just tell you what I like, and you could tell me what you’re interested in trying, right? I mean.. You know that everybody, including me, generally had to figure out from experience what works for us.”

“Yeah, but you’ve figured it out and I’ve barely explored it. And I’m older than you. It’s a little bit…”

“Unexpected, sure,” she said cutting off whatever self deprecating  description he might be thinking. “Max, I don’t think that anybody would ever expect somebody as good looking and well made as you to have waited. But, also, that makes me feel so much better than thinking that it’s just me you’re holding back with. It’s cool. Thank you for telling me. I understand now and I don’t feel so disappointed. There are other things that can be done while I wait, but that uncertainty was what was really messing with me.”

“Will you stay tonight?” He asked, gently.

“Yeah.”

“I think I’m ready for… more…”

She studied him a moment, to ascertain if he was just saying that or not. He seemed genuine. Maybe. She would simply try to see how far he would let her go without discomfort and this time, she wouldn’t have to wrestle any feelings of doubt if he hesitated. She would always stop, but now she would know exactly why she had to.

.

A/N: In this particular story/chapter, there’s a few things in Max’s personality/lifestyle that some of you may be wondering why I decided on them. What I’m talking about is his sexual history, or lack thereof. The reason that I decided to go this way with Max’s sexuality/experience is actually derived from a few small things that I picked up from watching The Thundermans.

Max’s pickup lines were not the ones of someone who knows how to play the field. I know for a fact that even with his looks, if some dude said some of that mess to me out in the real world, I’m clowning him, and I want to dare to hope that y’all would at least not dignify his methods with interest in him. So, I’m voting on he can’t really get casual encounters with women in his “league,” generally.

But, I am betting that he wouldn’t be very interested in casual encounters either. We saw him have a few hard crushes before his canon girlfriend, and usually the case was that he somehow got a date with these girls, but was bending over backwards to impress them (serving me desperation teas, but also showing me that in his youth, he was willing to work hard for a girl he liked, even when he wasn’t going to be with her for a while), and that kind of “give it my all” mentality is usually for the folk who want a relationship to have some endurance.

Even villain Max, when he had the first crush we see him having - he envisions a woman at his side in his dominion, as his partner, ruling with him. He doesn’t seem to want to use his power to acquire a lot of girls, and his shyness around a few of the girls he’s liked makes me think that he would be awkward with a woman that he doesn’t fully know and trust with himself.

His nightmare about Allison kissing another dude in a play then deciding to marry him indicates to me that he mentally has a strong connection between physical exchange and commitment. That his brain would jump from a kiss to getting married tells us more about how he thinks about relationships than his fear in that episode.

Allison kissed him first. I know, he was young and that was his first girlfriend, but I think it also shows that within his personality, while kissing was something he obviously enjoyed, because he was engaged as soon as it happened, it wasn’t something he went after.

In short, in my opinion, Max Thunderman is a physically conservative man who reserves sexual intimacy for meaningful relationships and that he also seeks out genuine partnership for those purposes. Even though he wanted to be in a band to get girls, I think he wanted the attention of girls, but ultimately that he just wants to be able to have and to hold one really special woman and to hold on to her for a long time.

If it’s a reach, it’s a reach, but that was my reasoning for his style in this chapter.

[blackfemmecharacterdependency]

Share a Lair 11 || Share Your Feelings

Charlotte thought that she and Henry had worked through his jealousy over Max, but every since they were out and official, he was acting so brand new with her and while it was irritating, she didn’t feel like addressing it with him. For one thing, he should man up and admit if he had some sort of problem. It shouldn’t have been up to her to clear the air when she knew good and well that she had done nothing wrong. For another, if she were to get into it with Henry and be upset, she knew that it would affect the time that he spent with Max. Max was a very vengeful and overprotective loved one. She vented to him about Piper talking to her like she was an idiot and Max blocked the young lady and all of her devices oddly got viruses at the exact same time. He never denied doing it, but he wouldn’t admit it either… 

Charlotte wasn’t openly spiteful. She secretly loved that kind of thing, though. It wasn’t common for somebody to lash out on her behalf and it was kinda hot. BUT, she couldn’t do that to Henry, especially since Max was very serious and committed to their training relationship. He’d tell Charlotte about how good Henry was and how he could’ve been so much further in his career if he had previously had real mentorship. Max felt bad for him. He knew what it was like to want to be better and want to please the adults in his life and not even having their faith or support.

If Max didn’t notice anything, she wasn’t going to say anything. Unfortunately, Max did eventually notice something.

His birthday was approaching, and he had asked Charlotte if she wanted to come to a thing that his family was doing for him and Phoebe… This would be the first time that he was officially introducing her to his family as his significant other and he was both excited and nervous about it, because his parents could be embarrassing at times, and because Charlotte wasn’t the kind of person to try to… well… shield her facial responses to corny people and stuff. She wasn’t rude, but  sometimes, her face said things that her brain knew not to let out of her mouth and he could think of a thousand possible things that either of his parents could say or do to get some Charlotte side eye and well… he didn’t want that, but he knew that it was a possibility. Just because she couldn’t control her expressions all of the time. He blamed it on the fact that she basically grew up surrounded by a workplace full of people who deserved it, so masking it wasn’t a skill she honed.

Max tried to talk to Henry about it, and well… his response was… different than Max expected.

“Hey, Henry, I’ve got a question,” Max said, on their way back to the house from the training area in the yard. Henry glanced at him, but didn’t say anything, so Max continued, “So, March 22, my 25th birthday is coming up and Charlotte’s gonna meet my parents.” Henry blinked his eyes, but still didn’t say anything. “She has that habit of looking at people who do and say stupid things… you know, like they’re stupid. And well, both of my parents are kind of cheesy and goofy. Is there anything that you can think of that might make that easier for her? Like, something that you know of, as her long time friend that will just put her in such a great mood that she’ll be less likely to be judgy with them?” It was the nicest that Max had ever spoken to him and Henry could tell that this really mattered and Max hadn’t done anything shitty to him in weeks, but…

Henry scoffed and said, “You’re the genius. Don’t you have an idea for like, anything?”

Max stopped walking for a moment and stared at Henry. Henry didn’t even pause. He kept walking to the house and Max eventually resumed walking too.

.

“Henry was kind of a dick today,” Max said to Charlotte whenever he came into his  lair. He started gathering his things for the shower, “I asked him a serious question, man to man, and he just shut me down and kept going. Did I do something that I don’t remember?”

She sighed. Shit. She smiled gently and shrugged her shoulders, “I think he doesn’t like that we’re actually together.” She winced through saying that out loud.

Max narrowed his eyes and tilted his head, “Why? He and Jasper have their… thing going, whether or not he actually claims him, and it isn’t like you’ve left him out in the cold or anything. You still work as hard and you spend even more time in his lair than before. I don’t get him. This is why I hate giving people another chance!”

She sighed again, “I’m proud of you for how good you’ve been to him. I really couldn’t tell you what his problem is. I was just gonna ignore it, to be honest.”

“Well, that’s a little bit easier for you to do. This is somebody that I’m trying to get trained enough to take out into possible life and death situations and have my back. That can’t happen if we don’t have complete trust and respect. I mean… it could, but damn its so much more frustrating to do it that way. So, I’m gonna talk to him about it. He’s going to have to look me in my face and tell me why he has a problem with us.” She nodded in understanding. He was right. Henry owed him an explanation.

Max kissed her on the forehead and she wondered, “What were you asking him about?” He told her and she was low-key offended, but it was fair. “I’ll be extra conscious of it, I promise,” she told him. He went to the shower and she called Schwoz, “Hey… Do you have anything that can help me control my facial expressions?”

“No, but I can try to work on something.”

.

“Henry, we need to talk,” Max said. Henry nodded his head. He thought it was about his training. He knew that he had been a little bit distracted lately, so he expected for this to have to become a discussion. But, he wasn’t expecting what Max said to start the conversation. “If there’s something that I’ve done since we began training that’s made you not trust or not respect me, we’re going to have to get it out in the open and deal with it. Your training was going extremely well, and I’ve been looking through assignments to figure out which ones to take you on, but Henry… I can’t do that if there is some type of discord. The missions that I go on are extremely dangerous. I only ever go on said missions with members of my immediate family and I made a huge decision to step out of my comfort zone to be able to go with you. So, please, tell me what our current problem is.”

Henry wanted to act like a brat, but… Max was so approachable, at this moment, while still somehow seeming imposing, and Henry was reminded that he was a much different type of superior than Ray was. At this moment, Ray would cackle and tell him just joking and to suck it up. But, Max truly seemed to be waiting for (not for Henry to explain himself for acting funny with him, but for Henry to tell him what problem Henry had with him). And, as Henry ran these things through his mind, he felt stupid and small for how he had been feeling, but more importantly, for how he had been acting. “It’s gonna sound stupid,” he said.

“Henry, with our distance in intelligence, I couldn’t tell you how many times what you say doesn’t sound stupid. But, your feelings are valid. And if we’re going to be working together, it’s crucial that they are balanced.”

Henry sighed and folded his arms. Man up. “Well, Dude - it’s been a really long time since somebody in a position of authority saw something in me, and it’s extremely rare that any older adult figure respects or values me. So, us training was like, really going to my head and to my heart. Like, I felt honored that you chose me for this…” He bit his lip and shook his head, frustration brewed in the pit of his belly.

“Okay. What changed, then?”

“You’re with Charlotte.” Henry laughed at himself, feeling stupid as ever. “You didn’t choose me because you saw something in me. I have no reason to feel honored that you gave me this pity position just because you’re banging my best friend. I feel so goddamned stupid that I ever thought that YOU would actually see something in me.” He wiped his eye with the heel of his hand, “So, I definitely get it if you’re gonna recommend a change in mentorship now that it’s out in the open.” Henry cleared his throat and looked at Max again.

Max’s face was pensive, but didn’t seem upset or judgmental. Henry didn’t know this face. He just looked like he was just thinking, not troubled, or anything. Then he asked, “Do you feel better now that you’ve said all of these invasive thoughts out loud?”

Henry frowned, “No. I feel stupid and weak.”

“What would make you feel strong again?” Max asked.

Henry furrowed his eyebrows. What kind of a question was that? “I… don’t know. I’ve never really had time to think about it. I usually just go where I’m needed and know that I have to be strong.”

“For a mission, sure. But. we’re just having a conversation. You don’t have to be strong right now, I just want you to feel better. I don’t want you to have had the courage to admit the things that were hurting you just to do it. We need it to matter and to make a difference in our current work relationship. I’m not going to tell the Hero League that I made a mistake choosing you, because I didn’t. So, the only way that you’re getting a new mentor is if you request one. If you feel like you can’t get over these emotions, by all means, do whatever you need to do. But, let me tell you this… I requested you, because somebody that I care about and trust recommended you. From the moment that Charlotte expressed her faith in you, I believed her, because she’s honest and she’s intelligent. I didn’t think for one moment that she was selling me a lemon, and she didn’t ask me to do her a solid and take on her useless friend. A woman that I am involved with, Henry, not “banging,” told me that she had an idea that would be beneficial to you and to me, and I believed her. because we trust each other. So, I trusted that you were worth it, and your current insecurity hasn’t changed my mind about that, because I don’t believe that Charlotte would have wasted my time if she didn’t fully believe in you. It’s a shame that you don’t believe in yourself half as much as she does. But… maybe that’s partially my fault. I was extremely hard on you whenever I met you. So, I want us to dog ear today, and if we have to go back, we will. But, I want us to move forward. You’re doing too fucking good to just tell me that you quit and to make Charlotte look like an idiot for thinking so highly of you.”

Henry covered his face with both of his hands. He couldn’t help but to start crying, and he felt so… he didn’t feel good about it. He needed this type of affirmation. Why was he handling it so poorly? Max probably thought he was the weakest goddamn… Max telekinetically summoned Henry’s towel from where their things waited for him and handed it to him. “Why don’t we take a day off of training. Personally, emotions are exhausting to me. You seem like you need a little time to regroup.”

Henry wiped his face and shook his head, “No. I’m fine. We can continue training today.”

Max nodded, “That’s commendable and everything, but I’m emotionally exhausted. I was just forced to speak my feelings honestly. I need a day off. So, I’m gonna go back inside.”

Henry nodded his head. Max gave him a small smile and Henry was relieved that it didn’t seem negative. Max had… really attractive features, now that he wasn’t a complete and utter A-hole. “Max?”

“Yep?”

“Peonies and ponies. Like… if either are around or within her eyesight, she’s gonna be like stupid happy and probably less likely to give your parents ‘judging you’ faces.”

Max smiled brighter now. “Thank you! That’s extremely helpful!” He grabbed his gym bag and jogged back to the house. Henry felt relieved. But, he also felt something else… He didn’t know if he ever wanted to work with Ray again… Not when he could work with someone who seemed to believe that he was worth something. Somebody who seemed to care about how he felt and what was best for them… Shit.

[blackfemmecharacterdependency]

Share a Lair 10 || Upgraded

Charlotte was extremely excited about Henry’s advancement results. He was now featured on Hero Tracks, and she was THE FIRST person to follow him! Hero Tracks was one of her favorite forms of social media. Hero Tracks (while mentioned before, hasn’t been explained, so… let’s).

Hero Tracks served as a progress and news tracker for your favorite heroes. General updates were for the public, but if you follow a hero, you get more updates and if you’re on the friends list, you get to see their own posts, read DETAILS that they would trust friends with. 

Charlotte generally followed and friended every hero that she met. Henry wasn’t previously on Hero Tracks, because he thought that sidekicks with tracks were lame. “Their hero has a page that has AND and features them. Getting a separate account is try hard,” he told her. So, whenever the Hero League reported his results to him, (which also gets sent to Charlotte, simultaneously), she posted his account from the Tower, followed the account, and congratulated him. Shortly afterwards, Max sent a friend request, which she accepted on Henry’s behalf, and Max also congratulated Henry, “Good  going! Hope this means you’ll move out soon!” She laughed and shook her head. She actually wanted the two of them to possibly work together at some point… and she wished that maybe they could train together. She nonchalantly dropped these desires to both of them at different times, subtly. Max definitely took it in. Henry shot her down.

But. A few days later, Henry received a message from the Hero League.

“I can’t believe my life,” Henry said, disappointed.

Charlotte glanced over and wondered, “What’s happened?” He shoved his phone to her and she read, then cheered, “Max is gonna be your Hero League appointed mentor and trainer?!? Lucky you!” She gave him the phone back with a huge smile. “I’m so proud of this.”

“You had something to do with this, didn’t you?”

“I told Max the same things that I told you and I guess he cared, because that message says that he personally requested this… and Henry… That is remarkable. He’s got global hero status. Henry… This could rocket your hero career.”

He sighed. He knew these things. He still didn’t like it. This meant that he sort of would have to report to Max… and… he still worked for Captain Man. When would he have PEACE, in this arrangement? He groaned and left her workspace to go call Jasper and complain to him about it. HE’D offer some type of empathy for Henry’s plight.

.

Honestly, it wasn’t bad being under Max’s mentorship and training. Henry found that even though he hated being around him casually, Max was pretty professional and patient with teaching him stuff. Sometimes, Henry could see in his expressions that he thought Henry should know more and was silently judging him for it. But, the one time that he brought it up, Max corrected him by saying, “I’m actually judging Captain Man. It’s almost like he never wanted you to take over for him… or maybe Swellview is too small for your talents. That’s also possible. Hiddenville was definitely too small for mine, and you’re under my wings now, so… your possibilities broaden.” Max gave him a sincere smile, then clapped his hands once and said, “Back to acrobatics lessons!”

Max was… a brilliant fighter! Henry was super impressed with his abilities, agility, and versatility. And, he wouldn’t say it yet, but he was truly grateful for the opportunity to work so closely with him. Also, he was seeing Max a lot differently. Whenever he was satisfied with Henry’s training progress, he said that he would select assignments to bring him on. ASSIGNMENTS. With SuperMax! Henry was not going to fanboy over it… openly. He just wanted to work hard, prove himself, and venture on those opportunities.

.

Piper decided a get together was in order, because since Henry began training with Max, he hadn’t been in Swellview as much. Hero League business took precedence over Swellview business and Max refuted several of Captain Man’s refusals to let Henry off for various reasons. Max’s requests took precedence. Captain Man was definitely pissed, but Piper missed her brother and friends. Charlotte hadn’t felt the same about Piper since she joined the team and started acting like the guys, but she still hung out with her whenever she got a chance, out of nostalgia for the kid that she used to love and Girl Code. Definitely didn’t make it a priority or effort, though.

There they were, all being at least civil and Piper suggested that they play “Sex, Kill Marry” or whatever the heck it was called. Charlotte rolled her eyes and listened to various requests and answers, from names that Piper spouted out.

Jasper thought for a moment, during his turn, “Hmmm… I guess I’d marry Timothy Chalamet, screw Matthew Daddario, and have to kill Dylan Minnette. (Only because I just don’t love him like the other two…)”

Henry complained, “I HATE THIS GAME. UGH. F word China McClain, K word Selena Gomez, marry Daisy Riddle.”

Piper told him, “That’s not even her name!”

Henry wasn’t to be deterred or have this lengthened. “That’s my answer! This is weird enough to play with my sister involved.”

So, when it was Charlotte’s turn and Piper said, “These three!” And she pointed at the three dudes in then room.

Max raised an eyebrow and gave her an amused glance. Charlotte was extremely surprised. “Everybody else got celebrities!” she pointed out.

“Yeah, but I’m much more curious about this,” Piper said, waving her finger between Charlotte and the guys..

Charlotte reached for her wine tumbler and took a sip. Wow. Ugh. She hated this game too. “Well, Jasper… I love you and all, and it’s been real, but…”

“Kill ME???” Jasper completed the thought. “Why???”

“Well… because my brain just can’t fathom any scenario in which either of the other options could happen,” She shrugged her shoulders and took another drink.

He sank in the couch and Piper reminded him, “Henry will marry you.“

Henry scoffed, "I’m marrying Daisy Riddle.”

“RIDLEY!” Charlotte and Piper both snapped. Then, Piper sighed and looked back to Charlotte.

“With enough wine, I guess Henry gets laid..” she took another sip of wine and Max tried not to smile as big as he wanted to.

Henry on the other hand jumped up, “Do you realize that means you’d choose to marry MAX?"

"I’m glad you said it so I don’t have to,” Charlotte said and stared into her wine glass.

“I’d like to hear you say it,” Max said and smiled at her. She fought a smile of her own and avoided his gaze. They hadn’t been together long enough to even have a conversation about this, so it was SUPER awkward. They hadn’t even… gone very far intimately or officially told their friends about them. As far as everyone was concerned, they were still playing the “will they, won’t they” game. And now Piper’s little messy ass brings this mess in front of everyone, including Max.

“Why do I have to die, but Max gets married?” Jasper asked, breaking into her stressful thoughts.

“Yep,” Charlotte said, relieved for the interruption of her overthinking.

“What?” Jasper asked the sky.

“Huh?” Charlotte asked him.

“Why? You barely know him and what we do know is that he was a teenage villain and I know we can’t prove it, but I’m reasonably sure he stranded me and Henry on that boat!”

“I was at a party all night with Charlotte,” Max said. She nodded her head, making eye contact with him for the first time since her answer, but she quickly looked away.  He squeezed her knee, then turned his attention back to Jasper. “And I can’t believe that the “why” isn’t obvious.” He began to count his qualities on his fingers for Jasp, “I’m a genius. I have great hair. Muscles. Superpowers. A jet. I can fight, dance, award winning skills in a variety of areas, I’m beautiful and handsome, at the same time…”

“You rock a pair of gray sweatpants like nobody else in the world,” Jasper added, seeing Max’s points.

“Like… everyone here should want to marry me,” Max finished off.

"He’s not humble, but he’s correct,” Charlotte said.

“Thank you for admitting that my hair and muscles have value,” he teased her.

“Wait…” When she  looked up; he winked at her and she felt her face warm from a combination of realizing that the person that was just described was… hers (and wine). This was an even more impressive catch than her ex! She smiled at him.

“You’re equally as intelligent as me and I’d be honored to be your hypothetical husband. Imagine our hypothetical offspring!” Max cheered in excitement. He… really could see himself with Charlotte for the long haul and talking about it, even hypothetically… made it more realistic for him.

And she played along, too. “They would have to be intelligent. That’s just genetics. Obviously, they’d be gorgeous. We both have stunning features, good health, perfect teeth, amazing hair…” he just nodded to everything that she said. “Wow. I really chose well. Imagine if I had answered out of loyalty!” They both laughed.

“Jasper’s rocks for brains babies. Henry’s pick any feature and I’ll pick it apart…” Henry and Jasper grimaced at Max’s insults.

“You’re so rude,” she giggled.

“You love it,” he said and winked.

She nodded. “Can’t deny that.“

“Come here for a sec,” he said and pulled her into his lap. She laughed and he kissed her on the neck, “I would have collapsed this entire house if you said anything else.”

“That doesn’t give me confidence in my choice! You’d better not give our hypothetical kids a temper!”

“Temper? I’M not the one with the temper to give them.” He kissed her neck again and she just reveled in it. They hadn’t been this openly affectionate, but she was feeling good and he had the best neck kisses.

“Are you two still talking hypothetical kids?” Henry asked.

“Are you saying that I’M the one with the temper?” Charlotte asked in a low voice, not paying attention to Henry’s question or Piper taking a sneak pic of them.

“You’re the more aggressive of the two of us,” he said.

Jasper let out an extremely loud sigh of relief. “OKAY! So, I had to die because you two are actually officially doing the thing. Okay. I feel better.”

Henry frowned. He didn’t feel better. He knew that there was something between the two of them, but he guessed that he didn’t think it would get to this level… The seeing his second boss kissing his best friend’s neck… He… didn’t care for that. Max squeezed Charlotte and rested on her shoulder. They were having their own little conversation while Piper was posting their photo and asking how many people knew that they were official.

“This bitch is so messy,” Henry heard Charlotte whisper (about his sister, which he didn’t appreciate, but he knew that he was probably more irritated with Charlotte for being with Max).

Was that why he was mentoring him? TO please his girlfriend? He really… didn’t see anything special in Henry, Henry began to convince himself. Did he even mean the encouraging shit he’d said to him during training, or was he just being nice to score p***y points?  Henry got up and asked, “Jasp, Piper, want anything?” Charlotte noted that he didn’t ask her and Max, but she didn’t want to make a big deal out of it. She could talk to him later about it. She was enjoying this… openness.