#jasp’s best friend since high school

[vegalores]

[queen-of-writing-bad-things]

Henry Danger Reader Insert | Captain Man x Reader: SEASON 1

Episode 26: Jasper's Real Girlfriend

~Swellview Junior High~

It was another typical day at Henry's school. Sydney Birnbaum, Oliver Pook, Jasper and two other of the school's...more unusual boys were complaining about their girlfriends. Sydney was moaning and groaning about his was always annoyed at how he responded to texts late, which seemed petty, but everything was petty in high school. The other boys agreed, thinking that their girlfriends did nothing but give them a hard time, apart from Jasper who for once, was in a relationship. Not that anyone believed him.

"Well, my girlfriend is awesome." He told his friends, who just stared at him, believing that he was just trying to make himself look cool. 

"What?" he asked after they fell silent.

"You ain't got no woman," Oliver said, making the other boys laugh at Jasper. Henry and Jasper watched the sad scene, feeling sorry for their friend. It wasn't his fault that he so rarely had a girlfriend that when he did have someone special, it seemed hilariously untrue. 

"I do too, she just lives outta town." He told them, but they just scoffed.

"Psh. Yeah, right." Sydney laughed, and the other boys followed suit. 

"Oh, sure, just exit laughing!" He called after them, as they moved on to their next class. Jerks. 

"Hey."

"How you doing, Jasp?" Henry and Charlotte walked up to the downcast boy, hoping they could raise his spirits.

"I'm doing mad. Can you believe those guys think I'm lying about having a girlfriend?" He asked his friends, but honestly, they thought he was fibbing too.

"Yeahhhh." They answered together, trying not to upset him further.

"Wh--You guys don't believe me either?" He asked them with a betrayed look on his face.

"Well, we believe..." Henry started, not knowing how to phrase it.

"...That you're lying." Charlotte finished for him, preferring to just say what they meant without pussyfooting around.

"Yeah." Henry agreed, much to Jasper's annoyance.

"But I've been telling you guys about Courtney ever since I got back from summer camp." He told them and they sighed at how worked up he was getting.

"Jasper, you don't have to make things up to impress us." Charlotte comforted him, but Jasper felt like he didn't need to be comforted. He was telling the complete and honest truth!

"I'd never make up a lie just to impress you guys." He said, hating how they saw him as a pathetic, lying loser.

"Really? Third grade. You. pulled a bag of dirt out of your pocket and told me it came from Jupiter." Henry recalled his younger self who thought that the dirt was some mystical space dust.

"I thought it did. Back then I didn't know you can't trust guys in vans who sell space dirt." Jasper stressed. He was too little at the time to realise that dirt can't come from a planet that's made from gas and nothing else.

"Dude, you'll get a girlfriend someday," Henry told his best friend, whose head rolled in frustration.

"But if not, you can get a pet." Charlotte smiled, trying to encourage Jasper that in theory, he'd never be lonely, just a bit weird.

"You can get a rabbit for, like, 20 bucks," Henry informed them, to which Charlotte nodded enthusiastically. 

"I don't need a rabbit! I got a girl and her name is Courtney, whether you believe it or not." Jasper emphasised his words, but his message still didn't get through.

"And what's Courtney's last name?" Henry asked, thinking that Jasper would look all shifty and nervous as he came up with an answer.

"Sham." The curly-haired boy replied, making his friends giggle. It was an unfortunate coincidence for him that his girlfriend's last name suggested that she was fake.

"And what city is she from?" Charlotte asked too.

"Fibberton." He answered, making Henry and Charlotte sigh and roll their eyes. With a name like that and being from a place called 'Fibberton', it's no wonder they wouldn't believe him.

"All right, why don't you invite Courtney Sham from Fibberton here to Swellview so we can all meet her," Henry suggested, thinking that you can't meet someone if they don't exist.

"Yeah. Tell her she can stay at my house." Charlotte told him, not realising that she'd be rueing her words in a couple of days.

"Maybe I will." Jasper snapped, wanting to prove them wrong.

"Bye!" He said to them, leaving them to think about how angry he was. Could he be telling the truth?

~The Man Cave, later that day~

It had been slightly tense in the Man Cave for the past couple of weeks. The whole Ray lying about Henry turning evil hadn't gone down well with (y/n) and she had felt a little awkward around him since it seemed like he didn't trust her. Still, they were working through their grievances and like always, any tear in their complex relationship had slowly healed up.

Everything was back to normal, well, whatever normal was in the Man Cave. Currently, Henry and Ray were trying to outmatch each other in a ping-pong tournament. (y/n) watched from the steps behind them, intrigued at how Ray's shirt allowed her to see every movement of muscles beneath the material, but she couldn't give a fig about the dumb competition.

"Here it comes!" Henry told his boss as they beat the small, white ball back and forth across the table.

"Bring it, son. Ha, you got nothing." Ray taunted him, trying to show off in front of his best friend so he could hear her adoring praises. After feeling like he was treading on eggshells around her for the past two weeks, he was eager to be in her good books again.

"What do you call this?" Henry asked as he swung his paddle with all his strength.

"Lame!" Ray jumped up to return the ball with equal force, not hearing the small gasp fall from (y/n)'s lips as she saw a small portion of his back be exposed as he lept in the air.

"Hey, guys, Harrison Ford just crash-landed his aeroplane in the Jandy River!" Schwoz yelled as he held his hand over the phone's speaker. 

"Again?" Henry frowned, too invested in his ping gong game to care if the celeb had ditched his place in the river.

"Isn't this, like, his third plane crash?" Ray added, focusing on the game too. All (y/n) could focus on was the way his biceps looked like tree trunks from how he'd been working out recently.

Ray saw an opening and exploited it, beating Henry as the ball went out of bounds. The boy groaned, frustrated that he had been beaten after putting so much effort in.

"21 to 19! I win again!" Ray smiled and threw down his paddle in celebration as (y/n) squealed and ran over to him, planting a kiss on his cheek to congratulate him.

"Dang it, dang it! Frigid diphthong kumquat dang, dang it!" Henry yelled as Ray embrace his best friend, ignoring how his ears were burning from her lips on his skin.

"Good game." The boy calmly shook hands with his opponent after the man had released (y/n) from his arms.

"Thanks." Ray accepted the praise, feeling pretty special at how everyone was complimenting him.

"Now...let's blow a bubble and get Harrison Ford out of trouble." He instructed the boy, not wanting to leave the man in the freezing waters. Schwoz looked at them as he stayed on the phone, waiting to see if there'd be any updates.

"Can't we just send Chewbacca to fish him out?" (y/n) joked, not wanting him to go even though she'd never keep him from his job. 

"No, silly girl!" Ray laughed, giving her one last hug before he went. For once, he didn't want to go either, but he had no choice, Swellview needed him and he had to go. He'd returned to her, always.

"Let's go." He said to Henry, having missed the knowing look the kid had shared with Schwoz.

They ran over to the tubes and slapped their belts so they would come down. Only, as Henry's came down in was covered in some kind of gross, gooey gunge stuff.

"What the..." (y/n) breathed out as she gagged at how filthy the tube was. She had several questions, namely who had done and why hadn't they cleaned it up.

"What is all over your tube?" Ray looked at the filth, feeling a bit squeamish at the sight of it. They raised their tubes as (y/n) walked over to them, demanding an answer. She was scary when it came to someone leaving a big mess in the Man Cave, particularly when they didn't clean up after themselves.

"Okay." Henry sighed when she looked at the boy with raised eyebrows. She couldn't think of when Ray could have done it since they had been together since the last time that tube had been used, leaving only Henry and Schwoz as possible suspects. The little man was on the phone looked extremely panicked as Henry started his confession, hinting that he'd had something to do with it.

"Yesterday, Schwoz told me to go up the tube with a hot nacho platter and the suckage made the cheese and refried beans go everywhere," Henry explained guilty, his strong moral conscience not allowing him to lie to his friends. 

"Schwoz?" Ray scolded his employee when (y/n) looked at him to tell the little man off since he was his boss.

"My sister is in town and she wanted a taste of Mexico." He whined, but (y/n) wasn't happy, not in the slightest.

"Well, both of you are gonna clean that damn tube." She told the with a stern voice. She wanted to get it done herself, but she wasn't going to fall into the habit of cleaning up all the messes they couldn't be bothered to do themselves.

"Oh, come on." Schwoz frowned like a child.

"The tube is, like 100 feet tall," Henry added, looking to Ray for help but he wouldn't find any. The man didn't want her cleaning the nacho goop either, she was his helper, she helped him, not them.

"Well, you should've thought of that before you tried to fly up it with a hot sloppy snack," Ray told them firmly, but Schwoz received more info from the person on the phone, so his attention was quickly taken away.

"Wait, wait, what? Okay, Harrison Ford's aeroplane just sank." He told the superheroes who sighed. More work.

"You guys should go save him." (y/n) told them, but they looked a bit hesitant.

"We will...after one more quick game?" Henry looked at his boss as the young woman blanched at his words.

"We can't ju--my serve." Ray threw his sense of duty out of the window as he and Henry ran to pick up their paddles again. The same tapping of the ball against the table filled the room again as they resumed play, Schwoz and (y/n) gobsmacked at them.

"Oi, assholes. Harrison Ford, danger, go!" (y/n) pointed to the tubes. They could take one tube or if necessary, they could use the elevator and sneak out of the store. Either way, they had to go help the city.

"Yeah, yeah, in a bit, sweetheart," Ray mumbled back, his mind too focused on the game to realise what he had called her so casually or how she stopped breathing as she practically had an out-of-body experience. Sweetheart? Yes, please. 

~Swellview Junior High, the next day~

Henry stood by his locker as Charlotte wandered through the halls, looking for her friend.

"Hey. How can come Jasper wasn't in class last period?" She asked the blond boy, curious as to why her other friend had been absent.

"I don't know. He asked Miss Shapen if he could skip class, and she said, "Yeah, sure, just leave me like every man does."" Henry quoted, but his attention was redirected as Jasper and a very pretty girl with a suitcase came through the school's entrance.

"Wow. Cool school." The girl said as Jasper showed her around.

"Thanks. Oh, Charlotte, Henry. I didn't expect to see you two here." The curly-haired boy gloated at his friends, ready to rub the fact he wasn't lying in their faces.

"Why? We go to school here every day." Charlotte frowned at him.

"And this is where our lockers are," Henry added, but Jasper swiftly moved on.

"Ha, ha, too true. Too true." Jasper stretched his arm around the girl next to him, making his friends frown at the gesture.

"So, I'd like you to meet my girl, Courtney." He introduced his girlfriend, who smiled brightly.

"Hi. It's so great to meet you guys. Jasper's told me so much about you." She greeted them politely, giggling at how their mouths dropped.

"Oka, did he find you at a bus stop?" Charlotte asked, feeling flabbergasted.

"And did he pay you 50 cents to come here and pretend to be his girlfriend?" Henry added, offending his best friend with the low price.

"50 cents? Look at her." Jasper gestured to Courtney, who just grinned and blushed.

"He's your boyfriend?" Charlotte asked her, still in disbelief.

"Well, I sure hope so. I just rode a bus 300 miles from Fibberton to see him." The pretty girl sighed dreamily, as Jasper smirked with pride.

"I paid 20% of her bus ticket." He bragged.

"How come this is the first time she's been to Swellview?" Henry asked the boy.

"'Cause, I don't have a guest room in my house. So when Charlotte said she could stay at her place, I invited her to come here." Jasper revealed as Charlotte's eyes bugged out at his words. Yep, she regretted saying that.

"But, I didn't know she was real." She stammered.

"Well, she is. Wanna feel her face?" The boy asked, putting his hands on his girlfriend's elbows and pushing her towards Charlotte a bit, but neither girl wanted to do the suggestion.

"I guess I'll call my mom and let her know you're coming over." Charlotte smiled at the other girl, who was about to be her roommate for the night couple of nights.

"Great."

"Super." The couple giggled together as Charlotte went to call her mom.

"Hey, wait here. I'mma go get the guys and bring them here to show them that you really exist!" Jasper squealed excitedly, running off early so he could prove Oliver and Sydney wrong.

"Wow, you seem awesome. Jasper's a lucky guy." Henry smiled at Courtney, trying to break the ice.

"Thanks. He says really nice things about you and Charlotte." The girl smiled back.

"Well, Jasper's been my best friend for a long time and he loves Charlotte." He told her, but his words seemed to upset Courtney.

"Yeah, what do you mean?" She asked with a scowl now etched onto her pretty features.

"Huh?" Henry couldn't think of what he had said wrong.

"You said Jasper loves Charlotte." She reiterated, a sting of raging jealously going through her heart.

"Yeah, you know, they like...oh, no, no, no, wait, wait. I didn't mean like he loves her." Henry panicked as Courtney went into a meltdown.

"Are there any other girls around here that Jasper is in love with?" she screeched, freaking out at the thought of Jasper with another girl.

"No, no, no. Just Charlotte." Henry tried to correct himself, but it just made things worse.

"Oh great, so he is in love with her." Courtney growled, a deep hatred for Charlotte taking root in her mind.

" No, they just, they're just really close and it's like--" The boy stuttered, but the teen girl was too lost in her jealousy.

" Oh my god! " She shouted as Charlotte returned, not knowing about the shit show she just walked 

"Hi. So, I talked to my mom and she said it's no problem." She smiled, but it quickly fell when all Courtney did was scowl at her. The dark-haired girl looked at Henry for help, but he just held his hands to his face, thinking about how he'd really screwed everything. Well, tonight was going to be a blast.

~The next day, at Junk-N-Stuff~

Ray and Henry were continuing their ping pong tournament and it was just as heated as it had been before.

"You're going down! " Henry growled as an enthralled (y/n) watched their every movement. Ray was wearing another tight T-shirt and she couldn't take her eyes off of him.

"I'm coming up."Ray quipped, as he tried to keep his focus on the game and not on his beautiful cheerleader.

"Here it comes !" Henry yelled as he basked the ball with his ping pong paddle.

"It's coming back! " Ray was desperate to win, after all, he had someone to impress.

"I'm the king of Ping. "Henry commented, as their banter went back and forth with the ball.

"I'm the master of pong! " Ray replied as the elevator doors opened and Schwoz came out with a trumpet. He blew it loudly, resulting in Henry and (y/n) jumping out of their skins. Ray, on the other hand, had planned the attack so he could scare Henry into losing. He laughed and smirked in victory when the ball hit the floor as his friends, clutched their hearts in fear.

"And I win again!" He bragged to her, who frowned at how his boss had cheated.

"No!" Henry cried, annoyed at how he'd lost to that sucker again.

"Yes!" Ray smiled, but it fell when (y|n) punched him on the arm.

"Asshole! You scared me half to death!" She glared at both him and Schwoz. He gave her an apologetic look, not wanting to ruin his victory by losing his girl's support.

"And that means I win the ping pong championship belt." Ray gloated and held up what looked like a WWE belt, only it had a load of ping pong balls stuck to it. Henry whimpered as (y/n) begrudgingly helped him put in on.

"Hoo, hoo, hoo! " Ray chanted as he paraded around the Man cave, but Henry wasn't going to let the hollow victory slide. 

"Schwoz distracted me... And scared (y/n)!" The boy pointed out, making Ray turn around and look at the kid and his best friend.

"Hey. (Y/n)'s fine. And ping pong's about three things, paddles, staying focused, and small plastic balls." Ray told his sidekick.

"Oh yeah, mid-afternoon cardio is my favourite thing." The young woman looked at her best friend sarcastically, so he put an arm around her shoulder and showed her his new belt.

"Why'd you walk in here and blow that thing?" Henry asked Schwoz, who tried to look innocent.

"I found it in a dumpster." He told the kid, causing his friends to grimace as a tube came down, and much to (y/n) 's annoyance, it was still covered in nacho cheese.

"Why haven't you two cleaned that damn tube yet?!" She yelled, looking at the pipe in disgust. Poor Charlotte had to travel through the gunk which had now started to crust over and smelt really, really bad.

"Hello." "Hey, Char." Henry and Schwoz greeted the miserable girl. She'd had a terrible night with Courtney and she was certain that the girl was trying to kill her. The others looked at her in confusion as she moodily plodded past them.

"Charlotte, sweetie, are you all right?" (y/n) asked the teen carefully when she noticed how out of it she was.

"No, thanks. I just ate a taco," she replied, not even listening to what she had been asked. She wandered over to the supercomputer and sat down, completely ignoring her friend's concern.

"What's up with her?" Henry said to the adults, but they couldn't give an answer. This was completely unlike the girl's normal behaviour.

"Worry about her later. Right now, you and Schwoz are gonna clean that tube." Ray scolded Henry and Schwoz, sharing his best friend's anger at how his equipment was still disgustingly dirty.

"Or...I challenge you."Henry suggested, making (y/n) groan in frustration. At this rate, she'd be the one cleaning it just so she didn't go insane.

"To what? "Ray asked, always up for some competition to prove he was the best.

"To another game of Ping pong." The boy answered, piquing Ray's interest. (Y/n) sorely didn't want them to battle it out just to decide who would clean the stupid tube.

"If l lose, me and Schwoz clean the tube. If you lose, you and (y/n) have to clean it." The boy set down the rules. 

"While wearing ducky pyjamas." Ray upped the ante, confident that he and the young woman next to him would be fine.

"Why am I getting dragged into this? This is your testosterone freak fest." she groaned, not wanting to bet on something so stupid.

'It's a bet." Henry shook Ray's hand in agreement, sealing the deal. Schwoz and (y/n) groaned as they were sworn in too, despite their protests.

Charlotte was too busy scrolling through Courtney's Twitflash to realise that any bet had been made. She wanted to find out more about this girl since she had done nothing but try to assassinate her during the night by using her ceiling fan as a weapon.

"Hey, Char." Henry approached her, wondering what she was doing that was so important it meant that she hadn't spoken one word to him since she'd arrived.

"Charlotte." He reiterated when she failed to answer. He tapped her on the shoulder gently, causing her to turn around angrily.

"WHAT?! What's what, what?!" She snapped, scaring Henry a little.

"Why are you looking at pics of Jasper's girlfriend?" He asked, recognising the girl on the monitor.

"Because she's trying to kill me." She revealed, sounding insane to Henry.

"What?"

"Last night. I think she loosened some bolts in my ceiling fan. Because it fell and almost took my head off." She told her friend her theory, but Henry just looked at her like she'd gone crazy. 

"Why would Courtney want to hurt you?" The boy sighed.

"I don't know. But she's acting all jealous, why would she be jealous of me? " Charlotte mentioned, making everything fall into place for him. Oh, shit.

"Uh..." Henry struggled to say anything, which made the other teen highly suspicious.

"What do you mean...uh?" She asked.

"Y'see, at school, I might have kind of made Courtney think that Jasper kind of...loves you." He told her, freaking the girl out.

"Well, why would you say that?" Charlotte snapped at him, thinking about how he'd really screwed her over.

"Because he does love you. As a friend. But she didn't get that." He sighed. What a mess.

"Yeah, all she got was a reason to kill me." The girl stressed.

"Well, what do you want me to do?" Henry asked, ready to sort out the mess he had made.

"Help me tell Jasper that his girlfriend is a crazy, jealous lunatic." Charlotte proposed, but the boy wasn't sure.

"He'll never believe us." He replied so the two teens thought about their predicament for a moment.

"Okay, then we're gonna tell him, and we're gonna show him." She smirked, her devious plan forming in her head.

"How?"

"You and Jasper are going to hide in my room tonight, and he'll see for himself now coo-coo his girlfriend is." The dark-haired girl explained.

"Ah, I don't know." Henry hesitated. Did he really want to take away the first girlfriend Jasper had had in ages?

"Please?" Charlotte begged him, knowing she'd need his help to pull this off.

"Do you still keep that dish of gummy bears by your closet door?" Henry wanted there to be something in it for him.

"Yeah," she groaned; she'd have to buy another packet after Henry had visited.

"Okay, I'll do it "Henry agreed, the temptation of gummy bears being too much for him to resist. Their plotting was halted as (y/n) came down the stairs from the sprocket. She had grown tired of watching Ray stroke and coo at his belt, so she had strolled from his bedroom to the living area.

"Hey, guys." She smiled at the kids, wondering what they were talking about in the middle of the room.

"Hey, Ray starting to annoy ya?" Henry asked, knowing now Ray was loving flaunting his ping pong belt.

"Oh my god, yes. He keeps kissing the damn thing." She groaned, making the kids laugh.

"What? You want him to kiss you instead?" Charlotte smirked and the woman blushed, frantically looking to see if Ray had followed and heard them. God, she'd be mortified.

"Hey! I don't want to kiss him!" (y/n) screeched quickly, but the kids knew her far too well to believe her.

"Yeah, sure!" Henry giggled at her red face, knowing that some of the things she had thought about Ray were downright sinful.

"What were you guys even talking about?" the young woman asked, trying to steer the conversation away from her yearning.

"Me and Henry are gonna show Jasper how much of a psycho his girlfriend is. Charlotte explained and the older girl raised an eyebrow at her words.

"The bucket kid has a girlfriend?" She asked in an amused voice.

"Yeah, and she's totally insane, she tried to kill me last night 'cause she thinks Jasper's in love with me," Charlotte told her, shocking (y/n) to her core. Kids weren't this crazy when she was younger.

"Jesus. She does sound crazy. Are you sure you'll be okay?" She looked at the teens. If anything happened to them because some silly teenage girl got too jealous for her own good, she'd be heartbroken.

"Actually, we could use an adult on our side to back us up," Henry mentioned, knowing he'd feel a lot safer if he had a calm, rational adult, like (y/n), with them.

"Yeah, could you come to my house tonight and hide with Jasper and Henry?" Charlotte asked her, but the woman wasn't sure. She didn't make a habit of staking out children's bedrooms.

"You won't have to listen to Ray and watch his belt-kissing." Henry pointed out.

"Done." She agreed. At least it would get her out of the Man Cave for the night, after all, adventure is good for the soul.

~ Later that night, Charlotte's house~

Charlotte and Courtney had gone to bed like everything was normal, only it wasn't since she was sleeping with a baseball bat and Henry and (y/n) were hiding in her closet. Pecking out from behind the door, the two could see Charlotte pretending to be asleep as Jasper opened the trunk at the bottom of her bed and looked around. They all gave each other a thumbs up signalling that they were all in position for whatever Courtney would do.

Henry went to flick the light on, but the psycho teen moved and mumbled in her sleep, causing him to back off. The girl got out of bed, which made Charlotte shoot up too.

"Hi, how are you? Why did you get out of bed?" She asked quickly, thinking that Courtney was about to murder her or something.

"Oh, I just need to use the bathroom." She said, getting up and walking over to the ensuite.

"Wait." Charlotte stopped her and got out of bed too.

"Yeah?" the other girl smiled.

"Listen. I know Henry told you that Jasper loves me." Charlotte started as (y/n) carefully opened the closet door so she and Henry could listen.

"Oh, well, yeah. He did." Courtney said carefully. Seeing his chance, Henry started shoving as many gummy bears in his mouth as possible.

"Right. But I want you to understand he meant just as friends." Charlotte told her, running over to her gummy bear bowl so Henry would stop eating them.

"I promise I'm not trying to take Jasper away from you or anything like that," she added, jumping on her trunk so Jasper would stop opening it.

"Oh. Well, thanks. I really appreciate you telling me." Courtney smiled, but it had a sinister element to it. The girl opened the bathroom door and walked inside, but the weird thing was that she took her suitcase with her.

Finally, alone, the guys in the trunk and closet came out of their hiding places.

"See? She's not insane. You both owe me an apology." Jasper told his friends sternly as Henry and (y/n) ate some gummy bears.

"No, she may be acting nice now, but I'm telling you she needs help. That's why (y/n) is here." Charlotte insisted. 

"I think she seems pretty nice," Henry said, his voice garbled from all the gummy bears he had eaten.

"Yeah, I've met a lot of bitches in my life and she's not one of them." (y/n) added, popping another piece of squishy candy into her mouth.

"Then explain the ceiling fan almost falling on here," Charlotte said, pointing to where the fan had previously hung.

"Aah!!!" No one had any time to respond as Courtney burst out of the bathroom, wearing a Vikings helmet and carrying a chainsaw crusher thing.

"STAY AWAY FROM MY MAN!!!" She screamed, firing up her weapon as (y/n) pushed Henry further into the closet. They all cried in pure terror as Courtney tried to attack them.

"Holy shit! She is crazy!" The woman screamed as Henry and she ran out of the closet. They didn't want to trap themselves in there if crazy Courtney forced her way in.

Tackling her to the ground, Henry gave (y/n) the chance to keep Charlotte and Jasper away from the psychopath. The dark-haired girl grabbed her baseball bat as Courtney got back of her feet and tried to turn him into mincemeat. They ran over Charlotte's bed and dodged her lethal machine. They threw pillows, lotions, deodorants, anything that would keep her back, but it seemed like her rage was endless.

"Get the silver pillow cushion seat thing!" (y/n) instructed Henry. This wasn't now she had expected the night to go. She could've been at home with pay right now, but, noo000. She had volunteered to go up against Fibberton's biggest nutter.

Following the woman's instructions, Henry picked up the shiny cushion and when Courtney charged at him, he used it to push her back, forcing her through the window.

"I'll get you for that! I'll get you!" She screamed from outside, demonstrating that she really was insane.

"Okay, maybe she needs help," Jasper admitted as the only adult in the room called the cops. Henry and Charlotte rolled their eyes and blew out their cheeks. That was a massive understatement; Courtney needed serious, psychiatric care, stat.

~The next day, in the Man Cave~

Another stupid ping pong competition. Henry needed a stress reliever after the whole Courtney-near-death experience. He really didn't want to clean that damn tube and finally beating Ray sounded pretty good in his mind. The smug man was even wearing the ping pong belt to assert his previous victory.

The males were pulling out every trick they had, from spins to under the leg shots, they were sparing no expense. (y/n) was watching like always, her support going to Ray since if he lost it meant she was cleaning the foul-smelling tube and she loved watching him move. She felt like a teenager again; obsessing over a football player on the field, silently giving him her love. 

Eventually, they hit it so hard that the ball became a white blur in the air, not even touching the table. They shouted from the effort it took it to keep the ball in the air, but Ray was ultimately victorious, using his superior strength to hit the ball into Henry's eye.

"Whoo!" Ray smirked, tossing his paddle in his hand as (y/n) ran over to him and jumped on him in elation. He laughed with her as they span around, ecstatic to have won the bet. He buried his nose into her hair as her smile warmed his heart. He had won for her.

"Ha, ha, yeah. That's 17 to 20. One more point and I win." Ray said, his hand resting on (y/n)'s hip, which at this point, was where it belonged.

"I know how ping pong scoring works." Henry hissed, not happy at how badly he was losing.

"Your serve," Ray told him, letting the kid go first.

"Wait, wait, wait." (y/n) interrupted an idea coming into her mind.

"What?" Henry and Ray asked, confused as to why she was stopping the play.

"Can I play this round? I mean, we are a team, right?" She asked Ray, who looked at her in disbelief. She wanted to play?

"What? But you never play ping pong, even with me." He said to her as Henry shrugged. He didn't care who he played, to be honest.

"Yeah, and now I want to play since I'm cleaning the tube too. So give me the paddle." She gave him a pointed look and he regretfully gave her the ping pong bat. Looks like he'd be the one watching from the sidelines. Slipping off her zip-up hoodie, (y/n) stretched her arms and hips a little bit, Ray blushing as her black tank top stretched over her...features. Now, he'd be in her position, dreaming sinfully about the way her flesh jiggled and bounced as she dived for the ball.

"Your serve, Henry." She reiterated what Ray had said to the boy, getting her gaming head on. All her skill from her years of playing ping pong in college was ready and waiting to be used. However, Henry just stood there and bounced the ball in a bored manner. What was his plan?

"Are you stalling?" Ray asked the boy who just looked around the Man Cave, ignoring how (y/n) was studied his every move. Her muscles were poised and tensed for action and she was expecting a surprise move any minute now.

"No. It's just Schwoz is supposed to be here and he's late, so..." Henry excused, trying to prolong the wait.

"Kid, it's game point. Just serve." (y/n) told him, eager to get cracking.

"Lose, and get to scrubbing the filthy tube," Ray added, also desperate for the match to start so he could see his girl kick his ass. But, they were interrupted by Schwoz as he came into the room with a large, weird-looking man.

"Hey guys, Ray, this is Larry." He introduced the guy, as Ray stood up angrily. 

"What are you crazy?" He looked at the genius with wide eyes.

"You can't just bring people down to the Man Cave." (y/n) said too, thinking that Schwoz should've known the rules by now since he had worked with Ray for longer than she had.

"Larry is family, you said I could bring anyone in my family down here except for my sister." Schwoz reminded him.

"Who looks like a horse," (y/n) giggled, making the little man roll his eyes. 

"Oh, all right. But (y/n)'s just about to beat Henry at ping pong so if you guys—" The superhero was cut off as Henry smiled at Larry.

"Just a sec. Larry, right there." Henry instructed the man, who walked over to the tube and took his shirt off, which he then threw to Schwoz.

"Uh, I'm flattered but he's not my type?" (y/n) joked, wondering what the hell they were doing. Larry definitely wasn't her type, namely because he wasn't a brown-haired, ripped superhero with a goofy personality.

"You said that ping pong is all about staying focused," Henry said to Ray, who recalled what he had said the day before.

"Yeah, but what's the—" Ray didn't have the chance to finished his sentence as Henry used his remote control to play some music. Larry started dancing and it was pretty funny, to say the least. 'So that's their play, huh.' (y/n) thought to herself, knowing that it would take more than a boogieing weirdo to break her focus.

"Just hit the damn ball." She said to Henry, who at last served the ball. She returned it easily, and they fell into a tense battle. Larry danced his heart out, but it distracted Ray more than it distracted her. She really should've told him to be quiet, because his cute laughter caused her to miss the ball. Twice. 

"Raymond, will you stop laughing?" She hissed at him as he giggled at the man's dancing. Henry and Schwoz knew that Ray wouldn't have been able to ignore a fat guy dancing and they knew that (y/n) wouldn't have been blue to ignore him being adorable. It was a very sneaky plan. 

"Aha! 19-20!" Henry and Schwoz celebrated, as (y/n) gulped. It was all to play, for now, no room for error. Larry grabbed a lime-green bikini top to up the ante, making Ray chuckle again. He even had a skipping rope to add to the laugh factor, which took (y/n)'s anxiety to the next level. Things were getting tense, Henry only needed a couple more points to win.

"Seriously, please stop laughing or I will kill you." She made Ray look her in the eye, her glowing skin stealing his breath away. He nodded dumbly, her radiant beauty making his tongue useless. 

"Okay, let's do this thing." She nodded at Henry, desperate to win the competition, not because she'd have to scrub the tube if she didn't, (she didn't care about that), she just wanted to make him proud.

After another intense round, with Henry scoring yet another two points, making to score 21- 20, everyone was on edge. Larry had a siren on his head and a space hopper in an attempt to make Ray laugh, but the man was biting down on his thumb to keep in his giggles. He chose to focus on her hips instead, loving the way her feminine curves moved and bounced as she dived for the ball.

"Henry, one more point and we won't have to wear the pyjamas," Schwoz told the boy excitedly. Larry decided to move on to the next stage of his plan, so he brought out a King Charles cavalier spaniel and started to eat spaghetti and meatballs with it, like in Lady and the Tramp. Okay, this was getting ridiculous.

"Okay, okay, that's it, I'll clean the damn tube. Stop feeding the dog." She snapped, slamming her paddle on the table. It was just easier for her to get on with it, rather than carry on this bloody charade.

"You forfeit?" Henry gasped at her, not believing that she'd give up so easily. Didn't she want to flaunt her assets at Ray anymore?

"(y/n/n), we're so close," Ray whined, as she walked past him so she could change into the stupid duck pyjamas.

"I know, but I can smell that thing from here and this is just...dumb! I'll clean it, you play the game. Loser cleans with me." She sighed, failure stung like a bitch.

She left them to finish the game, quickly returning when she had put on her PJ's. In all honesty, she often cleaned in pyjamas since she always got in a cleaning groove late at night when Captain Man was out fighting criminals. And they were pretty cute in her opinion, so she didn't mind too much. 

She walked down from the sprocket only to see Henry dancing around the room with Ray's belt. Oh shit, they won. Ray looked dumbfounded that he'd lost to a kid. Now he had to spend his night chiselling cheese off the tube.

"Let me guess? The dog got to you?" She gave Ray a sympathetic smile and he groaned in sadness. He hated losing, but at least he wouldn't have to scrub the tube alone. She patted his arm and he shuffled off to put his red duck pyjamas on. Schwoz, Larry and Henry laughed at his disappointed face, but little did they know that their victory came with a bonus for Ray...

~15 minutes later~ 

"You're doing great. Keep scrubbing that tube, guys!" Henry called to the friends who were now both in the tube. Whilst the three winners got to munch on Chinese takeout, Ray and (y/n) had to chip the hardened cheese off of the strong glass. It sounded like a pretty crappy job, but it did come with a small perk.

The confined space in the pipe meant they were pressed up against each other, and boy, were they secretly loving it. He felt like a giant behind her, his muscly arms wrapping around her so he could wipe the wall. Not to mention the fact that the thin pyjamas meant that every contour of his body was pressing into her from head to toe, and I mean, every contour. She blushed as she cleaned, trying to ignore his breath on her neck, his muscles rippling against her skin, his lower half pressing into her from behind. It was an overload of sensations for her, but she didn't want it to stop.

Ray was the same. His head was spinning from how small she felt next to him. He was her protector, so why did she feel like prey? He wanted to claim her, to mark her in a way that would tell other men she was his and only his, but he daren't, even when the curve of her neck was exposed to his lips. He just basked in her presence, glad that he could just take a moment to appreciate the way she pressed into him in a sinfully delicious way. God, this was torturous, but he liked it.

"Keep it up, guys!" Schwoz yelled as they kept scrubbing, his noodles and spring rolls distracting him and the others from the steamy moment in the tube. They weren't in a hurry. They had all the time in the world to savour their love, which was growing stronger by the day, giving them the strength to keep going like always. Ray Manchester and (y/n) (y/l/n) against the world.

[thebcwens]

『 avan jogia. thirty. cis man. he/him. 』 oh heavens, is that JASPER BOWENS from MAIN STREET i see roaming around mapleview? minnie may’s always calling them -SELF-DESTRUCTIVE & -IRRESPONSIBLE. i happen to think they’re not that bad! they’re a pretty cool OWNER of STRINGS & THINGS MUSIC SHOP and every time i’ve seen them, they’ve always been +SPONTANEOUS & +CARING. i hope i see them around again!

drugs tw, addiction tw, miscarriage tw, death tw ! @mapleviewstarters​

NAME : vincent jasper desai-bowens NICKNAME : jasp, vinnie (family and older mapleview residents only) SEXUALITY : pansexual RELATIONSHIP STATUS : in a relationship with paxton ZODIAC SIGN : aquarius PARENTS : james bowens and priya desai-bowens SIBLINGS : amir bowens (40), eva bowens-walker (40) RESIDENCY : a quaint and comfortable apartment near the music shop OCCUPATION : owner and manager of strings & things CHARACTER INSPO : ulysses zane (apocalypse now), klaus hargreeves (the umbrella academy), lito rodriguez (sense8), liam (high fidelity), frank n’ furter (the rocky horror picture show), laird mayhew (why him?).

CHILDHOOD

vincent jasper desai-bowens was born and raised in mapleview to an irish dad and an indian mother. james and priya bowens moved to mapleview in 1979, not long after they got married. james soon found himself a job at the factory and they decided to build their family in the small town.

the couple welcomed their twins not too long after, the golden boy and the wonderful girl were both named after priya’s late parents -- amir and eva. that’s when the bowens’ started to settle down and james made the bold decision to make money from his passion for music, quitting his job at the factory and buying the music store in town.

but then nearly ten years later, priya got pregnant with their third child. it was a risky pregnancy, since she was almost in her forties. they welcomed a strong and healthy baby -- who was named after james’ father and personal hero, a brave man that fought in the war. they were living the dream. that was, until vincent grew up.

being the youngest of three was hard. especially when your parents' had great expectations for you and your siblings’ were fucking geniuses and you were just, well, you. vincent was never the brightest kid or even interested in anything. he was the kid who’d bite others for no reason, yell at the teachers and break toys. he was the worst possible kid a parent could want but once his teenage years rolled in, the bowens’ knew he was never going to change.

TEENAGEHOOD

by the time vincent got to high school, he started to finally make friends for the first time. that’s when he met adrien and tba, who later on became his best and only friends. the teenage version of vincent wasn’t much different from the kid version, only this time the rebellious acts were in different ways -- vincent stopped attending church, would spend more time in detention than in class and would even pick fights for the hell of it. but what was the last straw for his father was when the rumors of vincent using drugs started to run around town. of course, it wasn’t like he was doing hard drugs or anything, but the bowens were a respectable family in mapleview.

to say james was furious was an understatement. and during their last fight, he told vincent he didn’t deserve the name he got and he was a lost cause. that’s when he dropped the name and started going by jasper. that was also the night he ran from home. only sixteen, with nowhere to go and no money to his name. he never talked to his dad again after that.

his sister eva, not wanting him to turn into a homeless person, took him in. but it still hasn’t enough. jasper started getting into a darker path and eventually into heavy drugs. around that time, jasper and his friends found a man that was almost dead. they saved his life but it always stuck with him. he watched as his friends were moved by the act, but he felt nothing. the only desire he had was to deepen himself in drugs. it didn’t take long for jasper to drop out of school and get kicked out of his sister’s house. he then became known as mapleview’s junkie and the bowens’ black sheep -- if he wasn’t already.

ADULTHOOD & NOW

because of his addiction, jasper pretty much pushed out every single friend he ever had from his life, refusing to drag them into his mess. when he turned twenty-one, he was in and out of rehab like it was a hobby. but during one stay, he met someone. and that someone gave him hope.

jasper was in love with her and he actually saw himself having a future for the first time. the boy even got a job so they could shack up together. after a year of being together, they found out she was pregnant. but the dream didn’t last long, she had a spontaneous miscarriage and that’s when things went downhill again.

feeling guilty about what happened to her and thinking that somehow it was his fault, jasper left her and fled to los angeles. he doesn’t talk much about what his life was like there.

about two years ago, jasper’s mom reached out to him with news that his father had passed. she told him about the plan his older siblings had of selling the music store since they had no interest in it, obviously too busy with their own lives to care, and asked that he’d come home to take over the business. he’s been the owner since.

his return to mapleview was a shock to everyone who hadn’t seen or heard from him in years, most of which just assumed he had died or something. and to be honest, if it wasn’t for his mom, he’d never step foot in town again. the amount of trauma that jasper went through would be enough to break anyone, but he’s managing. well, not really. but he’s trying.

RANDOM FACTS

only is ok with getting called “vincent” by his family and older mapleview residents. he will hit a bitch if he gets called that.

since he’s living near his mama, he’s trying to get on his best behavior. he’s just happy to be with her and be able to take care of her.

always shaking like a fucking chihuahua because of his addiction.

he hates his siblings. if he had the strength, he’d roundhouse kick the shit out of his brother

luckily for him, he doesn’t have to deal with them since they moved away from mapleview a while ago. they also barely talk and he doesn’t even know if he has nephews or not. Sad

sometimes he forgets he’s the boss ( oi leo from that 70s show! ) and forgets to pay his employees

if he says he’ll be “taking care of stuff” in his office, you bet he’ll be napping there pls come back from 2 to 4 hours thanks

he can speak three languages: english, hindi and gujarati

[owenjoyners]

the one with henry’s power problem

The episode we deserved but never got. Henry’s powers are acting up and he doesn’t know how to stop it.

Words: 5136

Tagging some peeps (please tell if you don’t want to be tagged!!): @kiddangers @swellviews-finest @mychenrymadness @bitchmilsky

Piper started pounding on her brother’s door. She was full of impatience and breakfast and ready to knock it down in a second. Oh no, he thought.  What could she possibly need now?

“Henry!” She screeched. “Henry!”

The boy quickly opened his eyes after hearing the screams. He rolled over to take a look at his clock to see just how early Piper was asking him to get up. If I’m late that’s one thing, but it’s not even seven, he thought. What could possibly be so important before seven in the morning?

Piper came storming into his room the moment his thoughts ended. “Get up! You promised you’d help me set up my new Pear Pad before school!”

“Fine, just let me get dressed. I’ll be down in a second.”

“Hurry!” Piper groaned before slamming the door on her way out. 

Henry sighed and rolled his eyes and stretched himself out of bed. The next thing he knew, he had walked straight into his closet door.

Okay, that’s never happened before. How’d I get over here? My hypermotility? Must’ve made me step over here really fast. Probably just tired from getting woken up by a screaming child, he assumed.

What he couldn’t have guessed though was that his hand would start vibrating as he went for the door handle.

“Ah!” He yelped, covering his mouth with his still hand.

Unfortunately, his mom happened to be walking by at that exact moment. “You alright in there, honey?”

“Yeah, I’m okay! Just tripped over my slippers getting out of bed.”

“Alright, kiddo. I made pancakes if you want some.”

“Thanks, Mom,” he answered, pushing down all the fear in his chest. 

He tried to calm it down, but he couldn’t stop it.

“C’mon, c’mon, c’mon, what is this?” He muttered to himself. He squeezed his eyes shut hoping some train of thought would pop into his head. “I’ve had these powers for months now. If something was gonna happen, why now and not then?”

Henry was thinking for so long that he hadn’t noticed his hand had stopped moving. His chest rose and fell quickly as he tried to calm himself down. Henry never really told anyone because he didn't want to seem ungrateful for his powers, but they really wore him out. It wasn’t like being indestructible where it didn’t require any energy. Hypermotility was constantly draining him of all that he had every time he used it.

Once he regained enough momentum, he opened the closet door and took off his pajamas as quickly as he could so that he’d hopefully get through getting undressed before another incident happened. Luckily, he got through it. He even got on a pair of jeans without an issue, but didn’t get much further than that. 

While attempting to put on a blue flannel, Henry kept ducking away like he was being swug at. Oh, come on, he internally groaned. How am I supposed to deal with this one? Aren’t walking into a door and a vibrating hand enough for one morning?

“Henry! Hurry up!”

“I’m really trying to,” he sighed quietly. “One second!” He yelled out, hoping his sister would hear it and lay off of him.

After being fed up with taking so long to do such a minimal task, Henry threw his upper body into the shirt. Shockingly it worked and he was able to get downstairs without another issue.

“Pip, I’m here. Where’s your Pear Pad?” He looked around the kitchen hoping to get it over with as soon as possible.

Piper was sitting on the couch when Henry got down the stairs. “Mom helped me out with it,” she answered. “Your pancakes were getting cold so I wanted to make sure you were moving up there.”

He stopped in his tracks at the end of the staircase. Believe me, I was, he thought. Wait, Piper was looking out for me? That’s oddly nice of her.

“Oh, thanks.”

“Yeah, can’t have your slow butt making us late to school.”

There it is.

Henry rolled his eyes and went to go eat his pancakes. He started making his breakfast as fast as he could without even meaning to. His pancakes were cut in the blink of an eye, and he tried to put the syrup on so fast that nothing came out of the bottle. No, no, no, he silently pleaded. She can’t see me like this.

In a split second decision, he decided shoveling the food into his mouth was the best way out of the debacle. Piper can’t see him struggling with breakfast if he’s not in the kitchen anymore. So, he got through breakfast faster than ever and practically ran into the bathroom to brush his teeth and finish getting ready. If Piper’s just sitting around, then she’s all done so I can just hide in here until it’s time to go, he supposed. Yeah that’ll work.

So, Henry brushed his teeth, put on some deodorant, styled his hair, and sat on the bathroom floor for ten minutes until his mom told him it was time to leave.

The car ride was fine. He still had a problem here and there, but Piper was so involved in her phone that she didn’t notice Henry sitting on his left hand or squeezing his right leg into the seat with his left one.

Just like every other morning, Henry was waiting at his locker for Charlotte. Jasper was always coming in right at the last minute. And for the first time that day, he felt normal. No superpowers acting up and ruining his morning, just standing in a normal high school hallway waiting for his normal friend to show up.

He realized he forgot his history textbook inside his locker, and that peacefulness soon left him when his fingers started twitching and he couldn’t get his locker to open again. He was about to give up but Charlotte came up to him with a big smile on her face.

“Yes!” He cheered, finally winning over the piece of metal.

“Hey, Hen! How’s it goin’?”

Henry pulled his locker door back so he could talk to his best friend, clutching onto it with his left hand. He stuck his right hand in his pocket to tie it down. 

“Charlotte! Good, you’re here. I need to talk to someone about this.”

“Oh boy, what’s going on now?”

Henry scoped out the hallway to make sure that no one was paying them any attention. No one ever did, but if anyone heard him utter a single word about superpowers, he knew he’d be in some deep trouble.

“Oh, so it’s a that kinda thing,” she said, also looking around the school.

“Yeah, I have a small issue going on right now with that, and I have no idea what to do. I’m not trying to do it or make it worse but it just keeps happening.”

Charlotte was clearly confused, as anyone would be when dealing with a very non-descriptive boy, and her facial expressions and words clearly showed it. “Hen, you’re gonna have to be a little more specific than that.”

Henry opened his mouth, hoping something that made sense would come out. “It’s like one minute I’m fine, and then the next it’s going nuts.”

“Your,” she lowered her voice to even lower than before, “hypermotility?”

Henry followed suit with a barely audible, “yeah, it’s like, it comes out of nowhere and I can’t stop it. Like…” he tried to figure out a way to explain it better, but didn’t need to.

“Like that?” 

The metal sound caught her attention before noticing that his shoulder was moving with it. She nodded towards the noise, directing Henry’s attention to it as well. 

Henry yelped for the second time that day. “Yeah, so this has been happening all morning and I can’t stop moving and I don’t know what to do about it so please help me,” he rambled. 

“Okay, there’s no way you’re going to get through an entire day of school, so I think your best option is to fake being sick so you can just go home.”

“Yeah, I’ll see how long I can get through first period and then if it happens again, I’ll wait it out and then say I’m not feeling too good.”

“I’ll keep an eye on you if you need any help,” Charlotte smiled at him in an attempt to get her friend to calm down. 

Maybe this is happening because he’s worked up about something, and it’ll go away if he just relaxes for once in his life, she thought. I can’t remember the last time Henry Hart took a day for himself.

“Okay,” Henry took a deep breath and smiled back. “That sounds good, thanks.”

Charlotte nodded as the school bell rang. They both started to make their way to class.

“Let’s see how this goes.”

Henry didn’t last five minutes in history class. He had only just started the worksheet they were supposed to be working on when he started filling in answers faster than he could think of them.

He realized saying he felt sick while otherwise looking perfectly fine wasn’t gonna work so he started thinking of the grossest things he could think of. Piper’s cooking. Jasper’s belly button piercing. Yeah, that worked.

He raised his hand hoping he wouldn’t have an outburst because that would really just be the worst possible thing. “Uh, Miss Shapen? I’m really not feeling well. Is there any way I could go to the nurse?”

Miss Shapen rolled her eyes at the boy. “Yeah, whatever. Just don’t get sick in here on your way out.”

Charlotte had been listening since Henry spoke up. “Miss Shapen, Henry’s really not looking so good, do you want me to bring him to the nurse’s office?”

“Yeah, whatever,” she said, returning to the magazine on her desk. 

Jasper looked up at Henry as he walked past. “You okay?” he asked quietly.

“Yeah, I’m okay. Don’t worry about me, Jasp,” Henry smiled as he left.

Jasper nodded and went back to working on his worksheet.

I’m always worried about you, Hen. You can’t tell your best friend that you’re really a superhero and then expect him not to think of you in danger all the time. What if he’s going somewhere with Ray now?

Charlotte got Henry out of the room quickly and she shut the door behind them. “Are you really doing okay? Don’t put up an act for me, mister!” Charlotte pointed sternly at her friend.

“Yeah, I just need to get out of here. Can’t risk having anything happening in front of everyone.” Henry’s eyes wandered the hallway to scope out any potential eavesdroppers.

Henry did his absolute best at faking sick. He was actually surprised at how well he was lying because for once he didn’t sound like he was pulling something out of thin air. 

The nurse decided it was best for Henry to just go home. From the way he sounded, he probably wouldn’t do too well at school, and might even spread something around. 

Charlotte came back to bring Henry his backpack with a “I hope you feel better soon, Hen.”

Henry nodded and mouthed “thanks,” along with adding a wink on the end.

Charlotte laughed to herself as she went back to class. 

Henry was allowed to walk home on his own, and he was happy that he didn’t have to spend a car ride trying to contain himself in front of his mom. He had to call her to let her know that he wasn’t going to finish the school day, but she was okay with it as long as he was in bed when she got home from work.

Calling Ray was the first thing Henry did when he got to his house. He didn’t want to make a big deal out of it, so Henry just said that he went home sick from school so he wouldn’t make it to work today. He hated not being able to go on patrol but knew Ray would call if there was a real emergency.

Ray made fun of him for a little while but ultimately let Henry stay home and rest. 

Spending the rest of the day in bed went as well as Henry had expected. His powers kept popping up here and there, but luckily not when his parents came in to check on him. 

He tried to sleep as much as possible, thinking that maybe it would just go away if he got enough rest. 

                               Henry couldn’t remember the last time he was so happy for it to be Saturday. He didn’t think he could fake being sick and stay in bed all day again, but going to school would be almost impossible. Going to work was his best option. His powers can’t go off in front of his family if he’s not around them. 

He woke up a little earlier than usual, around 6:45 and wrote a note to his family that he was feeling well again and went into work early. He was happily surprised that he got through getting ready and writing the note without any issues. 

Walking to work wasn’t as easy. His shoulder started to move, and if his whole arm started to do the same, he might start seriously hurting someone if they happened to walk by. 

He started jogging, thinking if he kept his body moving that nothing else would pop up. Henry got to Junk n’ Stuff after keeping up a solid pace, but almost collapsed in the doorway.

He stumbled, but caught himself before he hit the concrete. He opened the door and sat down on the staircase to rest for a second. The kid really didn’t want to seem so desperate by yelling for Ray, but he didn’t know what else to do at the moment. He knew it was unlikely for Ray to be upstairs so early, but what does he have to lose at this point?

“Ray!” He called out. “Ray!”

Nothing.

Henry leaned against the glass. I’ll get up in a second, he thought. Just a second.

Jasper and Charlotte made their way to work as usual, but moved a little faster when they saw the outline of a boy against the bottom of the door. They quickly realized it was Henry, and started running towards him. 

Jasper gently opened the door, not wanting to send Henry falling down the stairs. Charlotte started lightly tapping in Henry’s face when she got inside. “Hen? Henry, c’mon.” She pleaded, worried for her friend when he didn’t wake up. “He’s burning up, but he’s breathing, so that’s good. C’mon Hen…”

Jasper looked at his one conscious friend, saying “we should bring him downstairs. Maybe Ray and Schwoz can get him to wake up.” 

Charlotte nodded and put her shoulder under Henry’s, and Jasper did the same. They draped his arms around their necks. Henry’s head fell on Jasper’s shoulder, but it didn’t stay there for long.

Henry woke up as they got to the elevator door, confused as ever. He quickly put the pieces together and took his arms off of his friends. It’s not that he didn’t enjoy the closeness, but he didn’t want to burden them with having to carry him all the way down. 

“Thanks, guys. I’m sorry about that. Just super tired from—”

“From your powers going off?” Jasper asked. 

The elevator opened before Henry was forced to answer, but Jasper never took his eyes off of him.

“Uh, yeah, that,” Henry answered sheepishly. Why did Charlotte have to tell him, he thought. I didn’t ask her not to, but really?

The elevator ride was as pleasant as always. Henry was a little more shaken up than usual when they got to the Man Cave, though.

“Ray! We need help!” Charlotte called out for their boss as soon as the door opened. She knew Henry needed help quickly and didn’t want to waste anytime.

“Charlotte, please it’s not that bad,” Henry begged. “We don’t need to make a huge deal out of this.”

“We just found you passed out on a staircase. It’s kinda a big deal.”

Henry rolled his eyes. “Char…”

“What’s up, kids?” Ray hopped down the stairs under the door shaped like a gear, and Schwoz came out from behind the wall. 

“Henry’s having an issue,” Jasper told him.

“I— yeah there’s a small issue,” he said and looked down at the floor.

Ray looked confused. “What did another girlfriend go to Kids in the Woods?”

Henry shook his head. He was moving slowly, still tired from recently being woken up. “Funny,” he replied, “but no.”

Charlotte spoke up, seeing how uncomfortable Henry was talking about something being wrong with him. “His powers keep going off.”

“I’m not trying to use them, but they won’t stop. Well, sometimes it stops, but not for long and then it comes back as something else.”

“Okay, let’s get you hooked up to a cardiac monitor and see how you’re holding up.”

“I— I’m fine,” Henry barely managed to get out the few words before needing to sit down.

Every blood vessel in his body felt like it was going to explode. His feet hurt from standing and his hands felt like they were on fire. But how do you tell your friends that? 

Schwoz pulled a machine out from behind the wall and tried to stick the monitors onto Henry's quickly moving chest.

Charlotte finished turning on the machine as Schwoz was finished with Henry. As soon as he was connected, the numbers were higher than she even thought would be possible.

“Henry’s heart rate is through the roof. If he doesn't stop using his powers soon, then…”

“Then what?” Henry pants, sweats dripping down his face.

Henry hadn’t been this scared in a long time. Charlotte never talked like this, with such hopelessness in her voice, unless she was sure something bad was going to happen.

“It looks like your heart can’t handle your hypermotility being in-use for such a long time. Even when you’re not using it, it’s not enough time to really give your body the break that it needs.”

“How long has this been going on?” Ray asked, hoping to get any information that could help Henry.

Henry’s eyes went wide as he tried to rack his brain for something to say. “I— I don’t know, it happened as soon as I woke up yesterday morning, but it could have been happening when I was asleep. I’m sorry, I know that’s not the answer you want, but I really have no idea.”

“Yesterday?! Kid,” Ray had a sad look in his eyes. He tried to put his hand on Henry’s shoulder but the blond unintentionally swatted it away. 

“I’m so sorry, man, that wasn’t me. I didn’t mean that.”

Henry looked like he was about to cry. He was scared for himself, but scared about what he would do to everyone else if he couldn’t control himself. Lightly hitting Ray was nothing but he knew it would probably get worse as his body entered a fight-or-flight state. And with nowhere for his powers to go, fight was the only present option.

“I know, kid. Wait, is this why you called out sick yesterday?” Ray asked with a puzzled look on his face.

“Yeah, I figured it would go away after a while and I didn’t want to make a big deal out of nothing so I just tried to sleep it off. And I needed a way to get out of school so I didn’t expose myself.”

“Henry,” Ray sighed, with sadness in his voice that Henry had never heard. “You never have to keep secrets from me. I know I ask so much of you already and I don’t want you to feel like you have to put up a front for me. So if anything like this ever happens again, you tell me— you tell us, okay? Then we go from there and figure it out together.”

Henry weakly nodded as he fiddled with his thumbs. “Okay,” he answered with a half-smile.

Ray felt awful for the poor kid. He knew what it felt like to be given superpowers, but never had to go through anything close to what Henry was dealing with. Being indestructible can’t exactly be turned on and off. “Don’t worry, kiddo. We’re gonna get you back to tip-top shape in no time at all. Right smart ones?”

Charlotte put in her best fake smile for Henry. “Yeah. You’re gonna be just fine, Hen.” She turned to Schwoz, “is there anything we can give him? Do we have any sedatives or anything?”

Schwoz thought for a second. “We have some muscle relaxants! Those might be able to help a little. They won’t directly help his heart, but it could get him to stop using his powers, which would help.”

Charlotte nodded. “It‘s worth a shot. I don’t know what else we can do for him.”

Jasper could see the fear and pain in Henry’s eyes. Charlotte would’ve too if she could look at him, but she just couldn’t. She hated seeing him like this. 

Yeah, sure he’s been hurt before, but it’s never been something from his own body that’s causing him pain. So, she focuses on the numbers and charts on the computer monitors. She knows they’re Henry’s numbers, but it’s not him.

Charlotte was looking over Henry’s vitals with Schwoz. She looked up to make eye contact with the man next to her and said, “I can’t see anything else that’s out of the ordinary.”

She grabbed a thermometer, partly to see if there were any other symptoms present, and partly to give him something to focus on for a couple minutes. 

“Open up, maybe this’ll tell us something,” she stuck it under his tongue and sat on the other side of the couch.

Henry sat back and closed his eyes to save what little energy he had left. 

Charlotte opened up the gradebook app on her phone to check what assignments Henry had missed at school, knowing he wouldn’t think to do it. She didn’t have enough time to look at anything because of the beeping coming from Henry’s mouth.

Another bit of the small amount of hope that Charlotte was holding onto left her when she saw that number. “Yeah, your temperature is extremely high, too. Almost 101.”

Henry kept his eyes closed as he spoke. “But I’m not sick. I’m not coughing or sneezing, it’s just this,” he gestured to his arms and legs.

Charlotte fiddled with the thermometer for a second. Powers going off, temperature too high, fine one second and then too tired to stand, like he was being drained, she thought to herself. Then it came to her. “I think there’s too much energy in your body, and without a way to expel it, your powers activated themselves,” Charlotte said. “The energy is trying to leave in any way it finds, and as well as heating up your entire body, your powers are giving it a perfect way.”

“It must have happened on Thursday when Schwoz zapped Henry with one of the new weapons he’s been building,” Jasper adds.

Henry opened his eyes and sat up at the new revelation. Yeah, this is great guys, he thought. But how is talking about Thursday afternoon gonna help me now?

Charlotte nodded as more of it came together for her. “One of the weapons must have shot such a high amount of energy into Henry, and now it’s still trapped in his body. And it’s draining him of the energy that’s still in his body. Energy is attracted to energy so all the energy in Henry’s body is either going to his powers or is just making him warmer.”

Ray pinched the bridge of his nose in an attempt to calm himself down. It didn’t work very well as soon after he was yelling, “Dang it, Schwoz! What—“

There wasn’t enough time for Ray to get upset as every time Schwoz tried to put the needle of the shot into Henry’s arm, Henry jumped away from it. 

“Guys, it’s happening again.” He sounded more out of breath than before. “I’m trying to sit still, but I can’t stop.”

Jasper knelt down in front of his best friend. Honestly, he was a bit scared to be so close to him, but this is Henry. He would never hurt him, and Jasper knew that. Jasper’s eyes were wide, comforting and kind, but his voice was shaky. “Hen, I need you to look at me. Please.”

Henry held his head in his hands. It absolutely broke him to hear Jasper like this. He had only been involved in this secret life for a short time and now he has to see this mess. When he looked up at Jasper, Henry’s eyes were filled with tears. “Jasp,” Henry wiped his face with his sleeve. “I’m scared. I’m really scared. This has never happened to me before, and we don’t know what we’re doing, and一”

Jasper lightly grabbed onto Henry’s hands. “I know, buddy. I am so sorry you have to go through all of this. But you’re gonna be alright. I promise.” He squeezed a little bit harder.

Henry was so focused on Jasper that he didn’t notice Ray had come up to hold onto him by his shoulders. Schwoz took the opportunity to prick Henry in his arm to give him the relaxants. Henry slowly sat back against the couch, closed his eyes again, and his breathing slowed.

“Oh, thank god,” Jasper sighed. “I didn’t know how long I’d be able to keep him for.”

“You did great.” Charlotte patted him on the shoulder. She looked around the group to gather ideas of what to do next. “Should we tie him down? Is that wrong?” She asked. “I just don’t want him to accidentally hurt himself. This might have been our only chance to calm him down and contain him.”

Henry woke up in the guest room in the Man Cave. It was dark and he felt something around his wrists pinning him down. “Guys?” He asked quietly. “Hello?”

Charlotte had passed out in a recliner next to the bed, but woke up once she heard Henry calling out. “Hey, Hen. I’m right here.”

She got up and knelt down next to him. “How are you feeling?”

“A little better, I guess. Why am I in here? Why am I tied down? Where’s Jasper?”

“Jasper’s on the couch out front, don’t worry. You’ve been out for quite a long time. It’s almost two in the morning, and there aren't a ton of places to sleep down here, believe it or not.”

“Okay, yeah, that makes sense. He should get some rest. And wow, that’s a long time.”

“Yeah.” She smiled. Of course the first thing he thinks of is Jasper. It’s actually really sweet. “And we gave you some medicine to help you relax and hopefully to help your reflexes calm down too. Then Schwoz and I found a way to neutralize the energy in you. But the medicine made you drowsy and you fell asleep, so we had Ray bring you in here so you didn’t have to sleep on the couch.”

“Oh, thanks. So why am I tied down again?”

“We thought—we didn’t want you to hurt yourself in your sleep. If what we did didn’t work, we’d be back to square one, and we didn’t want to take any chances. I guess we can untie you now that you're conscious.”

“No.”

“No?”

“No. I’m still a risk factor, Char. What if I start attacking you or Jasper? I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I hurt you.”

She smiled at her friend. Then she started to laugh. His heart was in the right place, but she didn’t think she had anything to worry about anymore. “That’s ridiculous. I haven’t heard you move once since we came in here, and there’s not a mean bone in your body. You wouldn’t hurt me or him, and you’re not going to. I know it.” 

“Char—”

“Henry, I’m taking off these handcuffs and that’s final.”

Charlotte grabbed the key from the nightstand and freed Henry while he rolled his eyes. He rubbed his wrists to get rid of the coldness of the metal. “Wait, it has been like 10 minutes and nothing’s happened,” he said.

“I just told you, you haven’t had a problem for almost an entire day now. But let’s go see if Schwoz has anything new.”

They got to the main room and asked Schwoz if anything had appeared on Henry’s cardiac monitor while he slept. 

Jasper woke up when they started talking and came over to look at the charts too, even though he had been checking them throughout the night. He found it rather hard to sleep when the most important person in his life could leave him at any moment.

“Your heart rate started decreasing a little while after we gave you the relaxant. Then after we neutralized the energy, it immediately went back to normal. I’d say you're all good.”

Charlotte smiled at Henry when they heard the good news. “I told you. You’re perfectly healthy.”

Henry felt like a pussy now for making such a big deal of the situation. I should’ve known they’re figure something out. They always do. Now everyone’s seen me like a scared child. God, they must think I’m weak.

Schwoz and Ray left the kids alone when putting the machine away. The three got sodas from the Auto-Snacker and sat down on the couch. Henry looked at the table and played with his thumbs around the bottle. “Thanks for helping me out, guys. I really appreciate it,” he said quietly.

Jasper smiled at him. “Anytime, Hen. To be honest,” he sighed, “I was really scared, too.”

Henry rested his head on Jasper’s shoulder. It oddly put him at ease that he wasn’t the only one shook up by the whole ordeal. “Well, I’m here now, and I’m not going anywhere anytime soon, Jasper. Don’t worry.”

“Oh, I’m still gonna worry,” he chuckled. 

“And FYI, we’re working on a way for you to not get so tired after using your powers,” Charlotte chimes in.

Henry’s heart dropped after hearing that. They knew? 

She continued, “we can see that you get tired after using them when you’re fighting. So we’re working on a safe way to give you a little boost after a fight.”

“Wow, that’d be great. I feel like I keep saying thanks, but I really do appreciate everything you guys do.”

Jasper grabbed onto Henry’s shoulder. “Anything to keep you safe.”

[jasperdunlop]

Hello, I am back to ask more things! I still have no brain power (but like, we’re friends and you know this is my default setting AJCJSJDN) but I would still like to Know Things, so I apologize if I’m incoherent. First off, knowing I’m going to get a sitcom that’s guranteed to last 8 seasons is *chef’s kiss* combined with the fact that you’re writing it, when everything you do is galaxy-brained has me lit rally buzzing with excitement. Piper/Jasp are such an underrated brotp that even I don’t take advantage of like I should, so the fact that you were like “screw it, I’ll do it” is. Like, literally everything you do is genius. So, Idk how much or what you wanna talk about, but I’d love to hear about some OCs 👀 or just anything you wanna talk about or are willing to tell me, I’ll take literally anything jacjwjcnrkcjd

NIKKI I LOVE YOU SO. MUCH. LIKE SERIOUSLY I ADORE YOU 💕💕💕 this fic is 100% self indulgent tbh fmxmnsmx it's got so much jasper/piper sibling (and roommate) content, jasper being a good dad and loving his daughter, jasper being gay and happy, and anything i want to happen i can literally make happen which is very fun 😂

i'm actually glad you asked about the oc's bc there are some details that it's hard for me to actually fit into the fic without it sounding weird so this is the perfect place to put that lmao:

Lucy: the five year old girl who wants jasper to adopt her; lowkey named after the girl in the marketplace in valiant knight 👀 (but also bc i just like the name); her parents died when she was really young, like a year old, and her godparents (who were close friends of her parents) have been raising her since; she's very adorable and cool and i love her

Ethan Mitchell: jasper's best friend that's not a hd character; the same age as jasper (which is 23 in the beginning of the show since its five years after hd ending); he met jasper in their sophomore year of college and became instant friends, and they lived together their junior and senior years of college; went to school for culinary arts and is currently working in a bakery, which he loves; black, straight, trans guy

Danny Bahe: same age as jasper and ethan; knew ethan in high school but they weren't close friends, met again in college and got super close, now they're best friends and live together at the beginning of the show; met jasper in the gsa their sophomore year of college; him and jasper don't like each other for a really petty reason that'll be explained fnnxnxnx; went to school for music history and wants to work in a university as a music librarian, but currently working in a small record store; native american and bi; his initials are 'dab' which is fun

Dahlia Rahal: in between jasper and piper's ages (21 at the beginning of the show and a senior in college); double majoring in creative writing and journalism; met piper her junior year (piper's freshman year), she has a blog as part of her journalism studies and piper does similar stuff so they met and bonded through that and now they're really good friends; wants to be a well known fiction author but is gonna do journalism stuff until she gets there; half pakistani and half israeli, doesn't really care about labeling her sexuality or figuring it out in detail but she has a strong preference for guys

there's plenty more detail to all of them (as well as like,, personalities lmao) but this is the kinda base stuff that it's hard for me to include without info dumping it all lol. one other thing is that nobody in the main cast gets along with their biological family (to varying degrees) so it's all a big found family situation, which is where the title comes from, and them 'finding' lucy is thing that really solidifies their group as a big family and it brings them together even moreso than before ☺️

[mysamcedesmadness]

So, What Are We Doing This Summer?

It was called to my attention that Henry's age was confirmed as 17 in either the Frittle episode or his birthday episode (I've not repeatedly watched those, so I didn't remember), which would either put them in their senior year or put Henry as a graduating 18 year old next year, which does happen, so I'll go with that.

Also, for some reason, all of the italics and bolds and such disappear whenever I paste to Tumblr. I honestly don’t feel like redoing tonight, but the ffnet post has them, for various emphasis on words and stuff, if that’s a better read for you.

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13274210/7/So

So, What Are We Doing This Summer?

There was no Sweet Sixteen thing that she wanted to do. To be fair, her parents wanted to throw her something and invite her friends over, but she just wanted a nice dinner, some cake, maybe a museum trip and to look over college packets. Last birthday, she went to a show that she wanted to see with her friends, but it was such a hectic night that she almost didn't get to see it.

That's how plans with the friends tended to go. Unexpected and hectic. So, Sweet Sixteen, she was doing things with her parents! And that was all that there was to it!

"But, what about the time WE want to spend with you?" Jasper asked.

She furrowed her eyebrows and handed him a pamphlet. "Here. Underline cons in red, highlight pros in pink."

"What is this?"

"College brochures."

"Why are you looking at college brochures, we still have more than a year of high school left?"

She laughed, "And I very well can't figure out what schools to apply to after graduation. Senior year student council has so much to do for all of those senior ceremonies, I want to make sure I've given myself time to think about where I'm going."

"Why not Swellview University?" He wondered.

"It's on my list, but not my top choice. I want an HBCU or an Ivy League school."

"I'm gonna go right there to Swellview U. It's a good school!"

"I'm sure it's great. It's just not exactly what I want," she said and they heard the sound of Captain Man and Kid Danger coming down the tubes.

She smiled at them as they approached, resuming some kind of debate. "Dude, there's no way that a giant pancake could best a giant waffle. The waffle has ridges!" Henry fussed, then kissed her on the cheek.

"What are you two even TALKING about?"

"Animated and animatronic breakfast foods," Ray said, popping gum into his mouth. "Henry thinks that sausage would be more of a romantic than bacon and that a giant waffle could defeat a giant pancake in a fight to the death, covered in butter and syrup!"

"HOW do these subjects get started?" Charlotte wondered as they changed back.

"What about a crepe?" Jasper wondered.

Henry and Ray both laughed and repeated, "Crepe?"

"Oh yeah, a giant CREPE can fight!" Ray taunted.

Henry added, "Guess it's gonna just roll up to the scene, since he's gonna lose his innards if he steps up." The duo fell on each other laughing. Jasper sighed and shook his head.

"I'm not sure why you entered their weird little world."

"Third Wheel Syndrome has me sensitive, I think."

Henry took a seat next to Charlotte and asked Jasper, "What do you mean?"

"Since the two of you got together, I'm feeling left out," Jasper admitted.

"How? I just spent four hours stuck in a vat of scrambled eggs and country gravy. You and Char have been here going through…" he picked one up from in front of Charlotte and she sucked her teeth. "College brochures." He set it down, "Jasp you're leaving for college too?"

"No. I'm marking pros and cons for Charlotte. I'm going to Swellview University. We talked about this."

"I know! I was gonna be super upset if you were gonna run off on me. Bad enough she will be." He pointed a thumb to Charlotte.

"What happens when that happens?" Jasper wondered.

"It's at least a year in the future. We haven't even discussed what we're doing this summer," Charlotte said. The three were quiet for a moment. Ray and Schwoz were talking among themselves a few feet away.

Henry broke the collective silence between their trio by asking, "So, what are we going to do this summer"

"There's my birthday.." Jasper said then squinched his face and shook his head, "You weren't talking to me, were you?"

"I was talking to you both. Anybody have plans already?"

"I never have plans," Jasper said, almost certain that Henry was definitely only talking to Charlotte.

She said, "Same old same old for me. Summer Youth Program in June. Beginning of July trip with my parents. The only thing different this year is I'm going to add three or four campus tours of whichever colleges have the least cons and most pros."

"Need company?" Henry wondered. She furrowed her eyebrows and actually looked up at him. "Just to you know, make sure that you enjoy yourself despite the work."

"I love college tours. I'll enjoy myself," she said.

Henry pouted, "Fine." She looked questioningly at the sky about his salty tone, but left it alone. Henry sighed, "Jasper, do you think you'll want to spend any time with me this summer?"

"I thought you'd never ask!" Jasper cheered. Charlotte rolled her eyes. She hadn't said that she wasn't going to spend any time with him.

In fact, her visits would be four weekends from the entire summer. Her Youth Program was on Thursdays. Her trip was two weeks. Aside from that, she was pretty sure she'd see both of these clowns every other summer moment. She'd tuned out the boys making plans without her whenever she heard Jasper declare, "It's gonna be super hard for us to do these things whenever you and Charlotte are married and stuff."

Henry shook his head and Charlotte chimed in, "Whenever what?"

Jasper reminded her, "Remember that whole hashtag Henlotte thing?"

"That was a joke, Bro," Henry said, laughing a little uncomfortably. "Nobody actually thought that I was proposing or that we were gonna be kissing. That's why it was so hilarious."

"Yeah, but you are kissing. You kiss a lot. You're together. Charlotte's thinking about her upcoming colleges before junior year end. Do we really believe she's not thinking beyond that?" Henry's head turned sharply and quickly to Charlotte.

She scoffed and said, "Don't look so panicked. As it turns out, I've been focused enough on my educational future that I haven't been circling anything in bridal books on the off chance that my boyfriend ever wants to me to participate in the antiquated institution of marriage."

Henry sighed, relieved, "Oh thank God. Wait. So… You never wanna get married, at all? To anybody?"

"Honestly, it's never crossed my mind. I've had one stupid boyfriend and I'm only 16. Why I would daydream about becoming someone's less respected partner is beyond me."

"Less respected?" Jasper repeated.

But Henry was stuck on "Stupid boyfriend?"

Charlotte snatched her brochures from Jasper and explained, "Married women are taken less seriously than their married male counterparts in the corporate world. Whether I go into STEM, academia, politics, business, or even if my degree proves useless and I wind up regretting decisions in retail - women are already valued less and when you add a wedding ring, they're expected to be full time workers and full time homemakers while Daddy retreats into his little solo space to unwind after his hard day's work. And don't let her become a mom! She doesn't get the necessary time off to be the kind of mother that everyone expects. Simultaneously, whatever kind of mother she is, the workplace thinks is too much." She was stuffing her bag and then looked at Henry, "And for the record, just because I haven't thought about it doesn't mean that I need your graphic depictions of relief about it!" She snatched her bag and headed for the elevator.

Jasper called out, "Okay, but that explanation of the workplace tells that you've definitely thought about it."

She glared at him and snapped, "That information is common knowledge to women!"

As the elevator door shut, Henry looked confused. "So.. Am I supposed to be thinking about marriage, or not?"

"I think that you shouldn't be, because Charlotte doesn't have marriage plans, but maybe if it crosses your mind, try to not seem repulsed by Charlotte being your wife? Her execution of the subject was all over the place."

"The place of lies," Ray said. "Women wanna get married. It's their reward for being good girlfriends!"

"That's a gross oversimplification of like everything involved in what you said," Henry commented. "Honestly, now that I think about it, Charlotte has literally never mentioned anything about weddings or marriage or anything like it. Not even so much as a "I'll play this song someday at my wedding."

Ray commented, taking a seat by Henry, "That's probably because she's been resigned to the fact that nobody's ever gonna marry her. I mean, she's the worst, amirite?"

"You're not," Jasper said, at the same time Henry said, "No."

"So, either of you can picture having Charlotte there, every single day, nagging you, telling you what to do, why this is unsafe or that's unwise?"

"That sounds like every day of my life since 5th grade," Jasper said.

"Yeah! Char is the smart one. We all know that. We need someone like that everyday!"

Ray muttered, "Still the worst."

"What is your problem with Charlotte?" Henry asked, exasperated."I mean, what if this does go different for us than my other relationships and it winds up being something real and lasting. Do I always have to worry that you're gonna be a butt to her?"

Ray laughed, "Yeah. I've known this was coming for a long time. I'm not treating her any differently no matter what status you have. Because as far as I'm concerned you've always been endgame… Also, she's the worst."

"Because she forces you to have to be better?" Jasper wondered.

Ray groaned and mumbled, "For your information, yes."

.

Charlotte came home and her uncle was on the couch, watching TV. What else was new? "Hey, Uncle Roscoe.

"Hey, Niece! You wanna watch the Kids Danger cartoon with me?"

"No. I've gotta look over college info so Mom and Dad will be able to plan my visits in between their orchestras and excavations. Speaking of, are they out tonight?"

"The Swellview Opera House. Your mom says there's a casserole just for you in the oven. Don't worry, I don't want whatever that is. I'm ordering a pizza." She nodded, disappointed that she wouldn't be able to discuss her college choices with them tonight. "You wanna watch one of your wedding dress shows?" Uncle Roscoe wondered.

"No."

"Not even Say Yasss, This is Your Drass?" He turned off the TV and wondered, "What's wrong, Tiny?"

"Sometimes, I feel like an outsider. Even in my own home and even with my only friends. Like, we're all sharing this one life, but nobody's on the journey with me and those that are on the journey, we're not on the same page."

"You know, I was an outsider like that too. Shoot, still to this day, as a starving artist."

"How can you be starving when you live here and eat everything we have?"

“I ain’t eat that grass casserole your mom made you.”

“I’m sure you mean bean sprouts,” she said, “And that’s not the whole casserole…” The doorbell rang and she looked at him. He reached for the remote control and she gave him a look. “I’ll get it.” She went to the door and by the time she peeked out of the peephole to see Henry nervously bouncing, Uncle Roscoe was laughing at something on the television. She called, “I’m gonna step outside and talk to my friend, Unc.”

“Girl, I’m watching my shows,” he said. Basically, he didn’t care.

She opened the door and stepped outside. Henry laughed, “Your friend? Something you need to tell me?” He joked, awkwardly. “What do you need, Henry?” She asked, sounding irritated.

“I need to explain what happened earlier.”

“Okay.”

“So… Jasper was talking about marriage and we’ve never spoken about that, because neither of us are thinking that far ahead into us. But, whenever I seemed relieved, it wasn’t because I think I’d never wanna marry you or something. I just thought that we were both in the same space - a space where that’s not even a conversation yet. So, I’m sorry if I sounded insulting to you.”

She shrugged her shoulders, “We rushed really fast into the entire boyfriend-girlfriend thing. There’s no need for us to rush anything into anything else. So, it’s fine.”

“But, you seemed upset.”

“Yeah. For the reason that I told you, but it’s not a big deal. Honestly, I have other things to be upset about. Maybe it just landed on you. So, I’m sorry.”

"You wanna talk about your things?" He asked.

She sighed and leaned against the front door. "You know how my parents and I go on a trip every summer together?"

"Yeah?"

"This year is the last one. Next year, they're sending me on a solo trip after graduation to see the world myself before college."

"That sounds awesome."

"But, I hardly see them now and I just want them to go over the pros and cons of these colleges with me. I know that sounds silly to other people, but it's a huge decision to make and I wish sometimes that they'd be more involved instead of just trusting my judgement. They raised me to be independent and they don't realize that sometimes, I could use just a little dependency, you know?"  

Henry nodded, "Yeah, I get that. I haven't been able to depend on my parents in quite a while. But… I've always been able to depend on my friends. So, if you just need someone to lean on, I literally have nothing better to do than here for you." Henry offered her a hug and she smiled a small smile and accepted it. When she was hugging him, he said, "And it'd be excellent, I think… some time in the far future… you know?" She looked up at him. "IF we were thinking about that."

She nodded, "If I was gonna sell myself out in that way, it'd be with my best friend." He laughed. "I meant everything that I said about marriage! The only way that I'd be on board is if it was handled like a business arrangement with someone I trust."

"You trust like two people," he chuckled.

"Yep. And they'd both be IN the marriage."

"Me and???"

She stared at him and suggested, "Think it through."

"OH, YOU!"

"I already regret this unofficial contract."

"Fortunately, we've got a long time to even think about that. We haven't even discussed..  the physical evolution of our relationship." Her eyes widened and she wondered if he was talking about what she thought he was. He noticed and quickly changed the subject, "Or what you and me are doing this summer!"

She relaxed and nodded, "Aside from the few weeks, four weekends and Thursdays, I'm all yours…"  He raised an eyebrow. "I mean, I'm open! I mean my time is free! I have a casserole to check on. I gotta get inside!" She rushed back in, shut the door and Henry shook his head and left. "Why would bring that up, Henry? She was already having a day. I mean, sure.. you wanna discuss it. But, you haven't been together that long and it was a FLUKE that you even got her. This happened kinda haphazardly. You're gonna screw it up if you keep being weird!"

Charlotte leaned against the door, breathing hard. Are… we THERE yet??? She glanced out of the window and saw Henry look back at the house before walking away with his head down. A few minutes later, she got a text: Hey. Sorry if I scared you bringing up THAT. I won't mention it again. I don't want stuff weird between us. Call me when you don't feel awkward.

She sighed with relief and replied instantly: Thanks, Hen. You're a great friend and honestly the best boyfriend.

Henry: Not stupid boyfriend?

Charlotte: Not at all. ILU

Henry: SAME.

[neshabeingchildish]

I just realized that I posted the ff link and not just posted the chapter, so I added it in, in case ff ain’t for some. :)

12. Stuck on Stupid

Charlotte was frustrated. More than she wanted to be and more than she wanted to show. Henry and Jasper were making their plans, as they usually did. She was focusing on what she had to, as usual. Ray was discussing something with Schwoz and Piper was coming into the store. Charlotte noticed her on the monitor and got up to go meet her. Jasper didn’t even notice that she was leaving. “Bye, Guys!” she said, with her stankest attitude. 

Jasper just smiled and waved. Henry cheered, “Later, Char!” 

Whenever she got to Piper, Piper immediately noticed something was wrong, “Great, what did he do now?” she wondered. Charlotte’s glare softened and she forced a smile and shook her head. “I know it’s something, because your forehead is all wrinkly.”

“It’s nothing. Well, it's nothing that I have a right to be mad about.”

“But, you are mad, so spill it, Sister.”

Charlotte sighed and said, “Jasper and Henry are making plans for prom, when neither of them have made any type of moves towards college, and prom and graduation are very close to each other. How can they possibly care more about a stupid school dance than our future!”

“You mean than their futures?”

“Yeah. Of course.”

Piper thought for a moment, then wondered, “Charlotte… Do you plan on being with Jasper after graduation? Because, if you do, maybe the two of you should be mapping out your plans together.”

“My plans are already mapped out. My plans have been mapped out since seventh grade. Anytime I try to ask Jasper what he wants to do, he says something goofy like “Just be happy and be loved,” like THAT buys you personal tennis court! He could at least tell me that he’s gonna take general studies at the community college until he figures it out. Or that he’ll get a full time job and save up for a tech school stint. Or ANYTHING. Tell me something that doesn’t make me feel like I spent 18 years being responsible, only to get so sprung now that I let my hormones think for me, and that is NOT me!” She made a squealing noise and punched a random piece of junk in the store, putting her fist through it.

“Whoa. Charlotte… You’ve got a temper,” Piper had the nerve to say. "Listen… what is it about Jasper that makes you think that you shouldn't break up with him, like right now? What keeps you from making the wise and smart decision of letting him go?" Charlotte shrugged her shoulders and looked at her feet and mumbled something. "You what?"

"Love him!" She said with her eyes shut and her fists clenched. 

"I don't understand why, but if that's the case, that's what you present. Jasper, I…" Piper struggled to even hypothetically repeat it, "love you and I want us to be together. That can't happen if I don't see you taking your future as seriously as I take mine. You can do what you want, but not with me. With me, you've gotta do what you gotta and you need to let me know really soon what that is."

Charlotte shook her head and said, "That sounds like an ultimatum. I don't want to threaten him into anything. I want to encourage him into things."

"Oh, then I can't help you."

"I didn't ask for help!" Charlotte squealed. 

Piper folded her arms and said, "No. Just poured and punched a poor defenseless piece of junk."

"I should just break up with him. That's nicer than trying to get him to change and I promised myself that I wouldn't try to change him!"

"I second breaking up with him."

"But that would also be breaking my own heart. You know what I need? I need to create a vision board for this." Charlotte grabbed her backpack and left the store.

Piper said, "I came here to pick you up!" And chased her outside.

Meanwhile, Ray busted out laughing as Jasper tried not to have a nervous breakdown. “Henry, good call on eavesdropping on Charlotte’s conversation with your sister!” Ray said through tears of laughter. 

Henry glared at him and tried to collect Jasper’s hands, “Jasp,” 

“Oh my God!” Jasper said.

“I’m sure it’s fine…”

“She’s gonna break up with me! How is it fine?” Jasper was hyperventilating.

Henry said, “He’s having some kind of attack, Ray. Do something!” Ray punched Jasper in the face and knocked him out. Henry rushed to catch his friend so that he wouldn’t fall to the floor. “What! Is wrong with you???”

“I fixed the problem! You’re welcome,” Ray said and walked off, scoffing at Henry’s audacity. Henry rested Jasper on the couch and sighed, wondering if he should call Charlotte or try to wake up Jasper. One of these things, but the “freaking out” in him wouldn’t tell him which one! Okay.  Maybe wake up Jasper. Maybe call Charlotte and ask her if he should wake up Jasper? He called Charlotte and said, “Char!”

“Henry, I’m busy,” she told him.

“Yeah, yeah. Me too. Listen… We sort of spied on you and Piper a little while ago and Jasper had a panic attack and Ray punched him unconscious.”

“WHAT? WHY?”

“What to which part? And follow up… Why to which part?”

“I’m on my way. Piper, can you please go back? These… IDIOTS just possibly injured Jasper!”

“Why am I an idiot, too? Ray is the one that punched him…” She hung up on him. “So… She’s mad.”

“About what?” Ray wondered. 

Jasper was awake by the time that Charlotte came storming into the Man Cave, ready to swing on pretty much everybody in the room. Piper was waiting in the store for her and wondering, like she always did how in the world this store was still standing with literally no customers whatsoever, EVER. 

Charlotte came storming into the building and Jasper looked nervous, while Henry looked panicked. Ray was fine. She marched up to him and began to swing her bag at him. "Ouch! Ouch! Why are you hitting me?"

"You punched Jasper in the face and knocked him unconscious!" She fussed. Jasper came to collect her and she turned to Henry, "And you!"

"I tried to help him, I swear!" He said, fucking behind Jasper. 

She went on to say, "I know it was your idea to eavesdrop on me and you can bite it, Henry Hart!" She grabbed Jasper's hand and said, "Let's go. I have to stay with you to make sure you don't have a concussion and we aren't staying here!" She pulled him, swung her bag one more time at Ray, who pushed Schwoz in the way. 

When they got onto the elevator, Charlotte was asking questions about how he felt. He felt fine. He had a high tolerance for physical pain. It was his heart that was aching. He was afraid to admit that. Instead, he answered her questions and afterwards asked, "Are you gonna break up with me?"

She sighed and said, "No. I just wish that you cared more about your future. I feel like you not caring about your future is you not caring about OUR future. It makes me feel like you kinda don’t care about… me.” Her volume dropped dramatically when she admitted that. 

“What? No. How could you think that? You’re the most important person in my life, right now. I don’t know… I’m sorry if you feel like I don’t care. Can you help me fix it? There’s nothing could be further from the truth and I don’t have the… I’m sorry. Nobody ever taught me how to love you right, but I promise I’m trying to learn how! I thought I was doing okay.” She sighed, put her backpack down and collected him into a hug. “I thought you knew that you mean the world to me. I don’t know how to handle knowing that you don’t..” She cupped his face and kissed him. But he shook his head. He’d let her down, somehow. She wasn’t going to make him forget. No matter how juicy and sweet her lips were. “Charlotte, no.” He said and moved her off of him. “Tell me what I can do.”

“I just… Wish that I knew what your plans are? Is this a senior year fling? Did you just want to have a high school sweetheart to tell your future wife and kids how things turn out differently than you think when you’re young and in school? Did you just want another notch on your belt? Did you just want to see what it felt like to hook up with your best friend? To bed an asexual? To…”

“Please, stop! None of that is true. I don’t… I thought that I’d be spending our senior year working and saving up to maybe move out of my mom’s when I turned 18 and most likely just dropping out and working until I had enough to be comfortable. I figured that I’d spend years working in the Man Cave and watching you be successful in your science stuff and watching Henry become the hero of Swellview and just having to be happy to accept that I had really awesome friends who made a difference in the world. MAYBE find somebody to put up with me long enough to fall in love and start a family and hope that Henry would pay me enough to provide for them. I didn’t think too deeply about my future before you and nobody made me. My mother would be fine with me never leaving the house. I’m on my fourth stepdad and I don’t know if he likes her as much as a husband should. I’ve told you - You and Henry are my only people, and you’re my PERSON. My favorite person. I wish that I could have everything with you, but I realistically know that isn’t possible. I have a lot of ideas and plans that I’ve had in recent months, but I know that most of my plans are usually stupid, so I didn’t want to present anything to you. My stepdad calls it being “stuck on stupid,” which is hokey talk for somebody who’s basically trapped being stupid.” He felt really weak right now, so he just hid his face against the elevator wall. 

Charlotte felt bad. “Jasper?” She said, softly. She didn’t want to just reach out and touch him. “Do you want me to get off of the elevator and give you a moment? Or stay?”

“I will always want you to stay.” 

Now, she reached out and touched his shoulders, “And I always want to stay. That was the reason that I was upset. I thought that you didn’t want that with me. It was a miscommunication, Jasper.”

“I have goals,” he reiterated. “I write them down and I say them out loud, just to see how it sounds and looks. I scratch off a lot and tear out a lot of pages…” She didn’t want to talk about that anymore. He was too upset and all she wanted was for him to feel better.

“Let’s get you home. Piper’s waiting to drop us off at your house.”

“You’re coming to my house? With my mom there?”

“If we’re gonna have a future… I’m gonna have to get used to her, or at least try to tolerate her.” She shrugged her shoulders and said, “I love you, you know?” He couldn’t stop himself from smiling.

“You’ve never said that out loud before,” he noted.

“I know. But… I also know that sometimes, a person just needs to hear it.” She was scared to make eye contact. She loved him, but Jasper’s love level could be a little bit intimidating. The thing was that Charlotte felt a little bit guilty that this was her first time saying it out loud. She’d written it down before on gifts, in a platonic way. She’d texted it as abbreviations or in emojis. But, saying it out loud always felt like it might cement her to him and she was already scared of how clingy he was. If they didn’t last. If they didn’t work out… What kind of condition would they be in with that being out and on the table, for real? And now, he was staring at her with this huge, proud smile and she could feel the warmth of it on her forehead. It might be too bright for her eyes to bear. But, Jasper lifted her chin to have to face him and he told her, “I love you too. But, you know that.” He moved in to kiss her, but truth be told, all this emotion was a bit intense for her, so she pressed the button and they held on to not fall down as the episode shot upward.

Piper dropped them off at Jasper’s house. Charlotte was pretty quiet the whole trip, while Jasper seemed pretty elated. Piper didn’t want to get involved. Instead, she just said, “Hey. Call me if you need me to pick you up?”

“Yeah. Thanks so much, Piper. You’re a great friend,” Charlotte said. Piper made a confused expression. Charlotte was unsure of why she said that. She was just in her feelings, she guessed. Jasper was sleepy, so they went inside and his mom was in the kitchen, cooking. Jasper was so out of it at this moment that Charlotte was the one to address her. “Hi!” She tried to cheer. “Um, Jasper unfortunately had a work accident and so I escorted him home and hope that I can stick around for a little bit to see if he’s alright and doesn’t need any medical attention.”

Jasper’s mom’s smile was fake, but at least it was there. “Okay. Well… Keep the door open,” she said. “Are you going to stay for dinner?”

“I’m not hungry. I was thinking that I’d just finish some homework while I monitor Jasper to make sure he doesn’t have a concussion or anything.”

“Okay. I didn’t realize that you were qualified to do that.”

“There’s tips all over the Internet. Most people don’t rush to the ER every time they hit their heads,” Charlotte said through her teeth and fought the urge to roll her eyes.

“She’s a genius, Mom. She’s qualified to do anything,” Jasper said. He headed for his room, bumped into the door and Charlotte moved it and tried to help him out. “And she loves me!” Jasper called out. “More than we could say for you,” he muttered.

“Jasper, please.” Charlotte said softly. She didn’t want to get kicked out. He might be hurt and she wanted to make sure that she was around to get him help, if he needed it. He was fine, though. Physically, at least. 

Charlotte was bothered about how Jasper felt. Hearing that his stepfather called him “stupid” was bad enough, but “stuck on stupid” was just ugly and mean. She hated the way that they made him feel. Recently, she realized that Jasper cried a lot. He let her know that she was the first person to know and see it (since Henry when they were younger, and even since Henry most likely thought that Jasper no longer did that). They all knew that his mom sent him mixed messages about whether or not she actually loved him and from his little outburst earlier, Charlotte guessed that he had at least subconsciously decided on the belief that she didn’t. 

One of the reasons that their relationship had worked in the beginning was because Charlotte was extremely harsh with him and pretty mean. Honestly… it embarrassed her to think about how she would speak to him. Even sometimes today, if she said something with an attitude, in the back of her mind, she wondered if she might be adding on to his drama/trauma with his mama. So, now… she tried really hard to be less condescending and gentler. She tried to be more complementary whenever he frustrated her than accentuating whatever he was doing to get on her nerves. He still got on her nerves A LOT. He just had certain ways that were very different than what she liked. 

In their round robin spiral, instead of an update, Charlotte simply wrote Jasper a little love note that read: Now that I know that you’re okay, I’m hoping that you sleep well and wake up okay. The most important thing is that I wanted you to know that I rebranded that thing from you know who. 

Then, she drew a little doodle (she wasn’t great at drawing, but she made an attempt and since it was lettering, it was better than her actual drawings), which read Jasper TBD Dunlop: Stuck on Stupendous and had a little Jasper drawing smiling and giving the thumbs up. Then, she kissed the bottom right hand corner and autographed it. It was a light pink color, because she only wore gloss, but she opened the book so that he’d see it whenever he got up. Then, she gave him a kiss on the cheek and fixed his hair, even though he was sleeping. 

On her way out, she said, “I think he’s fine, so he’s gone to sleep, now and Piper Hart is outside to pick me up. So, goodnight.”

“Goodnight,” his mom said. 

Charlotte nodded, then stopped at the door and said, “Look. I don’t know why you don’t like me. I don’t know why you think that I’m bad for him. I don’t know what I might have done or said to give you the thoughts and ideas that you seem to have of me. But, I also don’t care. I don’t care what you think or how you feel or even how you try to treat me. But, I do care how you make Jasper feel, and I wish that you would take the time to care about that too. Now, good night.”

His mom looked offended and bothered, and maybe she had just made things a billion times worse, but maybe she had helped. If she had, it was worth how uncomfortable she felt having to say that to this woman. 

By the next day, at work (Charlotte came early, so she didn’t meet up with the guys), but whenever they came in, Jasper immediately wrapped his arms around her and kissed her on the cheek. “Thank you,” he said.

“For what?” She wondered, blushing.

“My mom told me what you said and she was pretty heated about it. Asking me what I’d been saying to you and if I was making her look bad.” He laughed.

“That doesn’t sound good,” she said.

“It was pretty bad, but I appreciate that you stood up for me. That’s super important. You’re the best. Also, I sent your artwork in to 1 Hour T-Shirts. I ordered it in seven colors.”

She gasped, “Jasper! That was just for you!” 

“Yeah, so doesn’t that mean I can do what I want with it?” She scoffed. He smirked and kissed her on the neck. 

[c-atm]

Snow day Prompt: Bittersweet meeting *p1*

“Looks like it'll be a big storm. Don't think the others are coming today.." The seventeen year old stated as he looked at the start of snowfall.

Part of him wanted to leave as well but his pride as club leader president wouldn't allow him, you never know who might need some assistance or help in this school, which is why he created the 'Crystal gems'.

From student counseling to school events to setting parlays between students, the Crystal gems goal is to make every Diamond high student as smooth as possible. Which is why they, for the most part, butt heads with student council every so often.

The SC feels that the CG overstep their boundaries at times. Though they cannot deny the good they have done. Even if their methods come off as questionable. It's less animosity and more of a rivalry between the two on whose better for the school. Still they get some funding from the treasury cause they are an official club, that get results.

“Universe..Shouldn't you be heading out?”  a gruff voice called out to him. He turned to see  three girls standing in the hall, looking in.He gave them a small smile before taking a seat on the club rooms sofa.

“Awe...You're worry about me Jasp, That's sweet of you cuz.”

The girl in question scoffed lightly as she hid her small smile under her orange scarf. Tall and muscular but also very feminine, with wild white hair, gold contacts and faded brown skin with white  stripes of vitiligo; which only made her more exotic.Her name’s Jasper, vice president of the student council and his younger cousin.

Behind her stood two others. A slender woman of average height and a swimmers build. Her ocean colored hair and dark sand colored skin, with striking eyes as blue as her namesake Lapis lazuli. She was the secretary of the  student council and scuba team Captain.

The last part of this trio was small and shapely, just braking five feet, five-three with her gravity defying, greenish-blonde hair, a natural light tan, her infamous goggles over some of the brightest green eyes you'd ever seen. The student council treasurer and fire cracker, Peridot.

all three were dress in the standard academy  uniform( White blazer, yellow blouse, pink tie and blue skirt) under their wool, leather  and down coats, respectively.

“Joking aside, she's right Steven..We're supposed to be getting a few feet through the night. It's best if you head home now, before it gets worst...We’d wait for you, if you want.”  The bluenette suggested with a small smile.

“Tempting, but I still have some work to finish, beside you never know who might need some advice.”  Lapis’s smiled faltered a bit at his refusal.

“Told you, he'd say no. Him and Boss are both the same.” Peridot sighed exasperatedly

“So, the President still here as well? That works in my favor, there something i wanted to discuss with her.”

The three girls looked as Steven to rub his chin and a small smirk appeared on his lips. While Peridot grinned, almost cackled; Jasper sent Lapis a apologetically knowing glance, who in responded in a slight wave. Jasper cleared her throat before walking up to Steven,her left hand open and free, her right held the keys to her car.

“Your keys, give’em here Steven.”

Steven would have argued a bit, but the fact that she used her ‘family’ tone and gave him the look she always did when she was worried about other, left him no resistance. He dug into the back of his slacks and produced a key to his motorcycle with a small pink lion plush on one of the chains.  The two exchanged keys, before Jasper headed to the locker in the far left and grabbed three helmets and some goggles from it. She passed the green one to Peridot, a blue to Lapis and kept a large orange one and the goggles for herself.

“Don’t stay too late Steven…”

“And you don’t go too fast on lion…”  He turned towards the other two “Make sure she don’t break 25, just because it’s not that bad yet and I had the tires redone for the season, dosen't mean your perfectly safe.”

Lapis and Peridot gave their word, despite Jasper protest of being a responsible driver. A protest that ended shortly after Steven admitted to trusting her with his ride, making her feel a bit smug.

“Alright guys, we should head home before we all have to load up in Jasper tuna can of a car.”  

Jasper growled at Peridot’s comment before giving her cousin a quick one armed hug, Not to be left out; Peridot gave the young man a quick friendly hug causing the tallest girl to roll her eyes and Steven to chuckle.  He blushed when he heard Peri whispered something into his stomach and the sly look on her face didn’t help. He shook his head as she broke the hug and basically skipped out of the room once again joking about Jasper car when she was a good ways away, causing Jasper to chase after her. Lapis  and Steven looked as the two took off, when they heard Peri yelled.

“MAKE SURE TO TAKE THE PRESIDENT HOME AS WELL, GOOO~OOD LUU~UUUCK!”

“I better go before she kills Peri.”

“Yeah,that’s a good idea. Get home safe, Lappie.”  Red face and head down, Lapis delivered a weak trembling punch to the boys stomach.

“You rejected me already, so save that charm for her...I’m rooting for you”

With a small kiss upon his cheek and a wipe of a tear, Lapis ran to catch up with Jasper and Peri. Steven shook his head with a sigh as he turned around and laid on the couch.  He watched as the snow lightly fell, with a peaceful look, dozing off as he did.

It was a melodic sound. A familiar one as well, he’d recognize it anywhere on earth. A simple feminine humming from his left. He turned towards it and saw a indian-american woman of his age sitting on the loveseat. Pad and pen in hand and headphones over her head; humming to a song on her mp4.

That natural walnut skin, shiny black eyes; long  curly brown hair that flowed like a waterfall that cute slightly pointed nose and those small yet full lips. She was a bit taller than lapis, curvier than Peridot; and strong...not Jasper strong, but a fencer and athletic build.  She sat, one leg over the other, in an alternative school outfit (pink blazer, yellow skirt,blue shirt, and pink tie). The Student President of Diamond Academy, tennis and fencer all star; Connie Maheswaran.

“That uniform fits you very well.”

“Why, thank you” Steven shocked and red face allowed Connie arched an eyebrow and smirk at CG leader. Steven sat up with a stretch and a crack of the neck.

“Time?”

“Only fifteen to five.”

“So..30 minutes, see you made yourself comfortable; Ms.President.”

“Was waiting for my best friend to wake.” Connie pulled her head phones down to her shoulder as she watch him get up and walk behind her and gave her a small hug, which she returned  by squeezing his left bicep.

“Tea?”

“ Green, please.”

Giving her a smile the seventeen year old released his hold, a bit reluctantly, before going to the mini fridge getting two bottle of spring water, four  tea bags from a nearby locker; and turning on the electric tea kettle that Pearl, one of the club members; brought for the room.

“So really what brings you to the room? And how long have  you been here?”

“No reason. Just making rounds saw you here in this nice warm room, decided to come in for a bit. I’ve only been here for about 10 minutes. Is that ok?”

“All are welcomed, but you get special privileges; like this tea.” Steven pointed to  the kettle with a smirk. Connie place three fingers on her blouse and gasp in exaggerated fashion.

“Talk about the V.I.P treatment.” She sent him a half smirk. “You wouldn't be trying to get something from me, Right Mr, Universe.”

he let use a low chuckle as he handed her a mug, and sat back on the couch. “Now whatever gave you that idea?”

“That chuckle for one, and the fact that you left a list of funds proposals on the table.”

“I swear they are all needed.” The pace of that statement caused the president to arched an eyebrow and pursed her lips.

“Uh-huh and what pray tell, does these items have to do with your club activities?”

“As you know, our club was main goal to ensure that our fellow students have a pleasant  school life...Which we have done very well.”

“Methods aside..Sure.”

“Negotiations doesn't always work with words alone..sometimes games need to be played, parlays need to be made-”

“Classrooms need to be close off, dances need to be unofficially hosted; disguises need to be worn.”

“We always brought the costumes back in pristine condition” Connie stone face made him sigh. “ok, working condition.”

“and the fighting?”

“Oh, like you never used your skills outside of an match.”

Connie shrugged, a small toothy grin on her face. “The S.C does double as a disciplinary committee.. You guys don't.”

“Fair enough,  but you can't argue that we have gotten results-”

“Steven,I'm not going to deny your proposal for these items... Though, I don't  know why you don't talk to the headmaster themselves..you are related after all.”

“No way. Last Thing I need is people thinking I am privileged.

“....Just choose some soon, ok?”

the spontaneity of the statement and tiredness of her voice aroused suspicion in him. He scooted over and patted the cushion  next to him. She took the lifeline quickly as she sat beside him, leaned on his shoulder and grasped his hand, he did nothing but intertwined  his fingers with hers.

“You doing ok, President?”

“Just tired of talking shop, is all. Been planning the winter formal and been dealing with disputes between clubs.”

“You could send some of those disputes over here.”

“and have Jasper be on my case..no thanks, I choose peace... but the dance we could use a little ---.” Connie growled mid sentence, facepalming as she did.“No.. No more talk of S.C. work.”

Steven looked on with a smirk at her antics. “Sorry..So how has things been with you, personally? Still dating that Jeff guy?”

“Wow...weeks since we really spoke and that the first thing you ask, wait... how did you know I was dating...ANYONE?”

“He did come to us for advice...Though I was sick for that week. Garnet took control of that one…”

“and…”

Steven looked at her and rubbed the back of his head. “ On my day back, I caught you two giggling and such afterschool..You wasn't were we usually meet up for our ride home. I saw you two and was quick to figure what was going on.”

“Oh… Steven, I'm so sorry I-”

“Hey, No problem you don't have to tell me everything..I mean he's your boyfriend… you have, nothing to be apologetic about. Heard he's a good guy…” Steven glared and his voice, chilling “He IS a good guy..right?”

“I guess? We were only together for a month before I broke it off.”

“Ooo..May I ask why?”

Connie shrugged with a sigh. “Wasn't actually  attracted to him, but I figure I'd give the guy a chance. He has good ambition, wanting to go into film and such a nice guy but...just no real spark between us.”

Steven nodded. “It's like that sometimes”

“True...I'm mad at you though.” Connie playful pokes called the bigger teen to laugh. “Six weeks and no hang out, no rides on lion; no games night” What started off as jovial and teasing, ended serious and cool. Connie frown was pronounced and her eyes sharp. “and why? cause some guy that didn't even last a whole month…”

Steven glared back just as hard. “You didn't  exactly try to talk to me too much either.”

Connie growled slightly at this before sighing..this was not what she wanted. “You're right..I wanted to talked to you, but something happened…other than jeff”

“Oh..and what was that?”

“You rejecting Lapis…”

[the-edge-of-great]

14 - Henry Danger (Henry and anyone)

This ended up being a lot longer than I planned, sorry lol But hope you enjoy! 

Warning: Drug use ahead

“Literally everything about this is illegal.”

Henry breathed a laugh. He glanced over his shoulder, meeting his best friend’s eyes. “That’s the fun of it,” he replied, smirking.

Jasper huffed, crossing his arms over his chest. “Well, I don’t see the fun in any of this.”

“Jasp, c’mon. Live a little!” Henry tried.

“No! Do you know what Ray will say when he finds out? What Charlotte will say?!”

Henry reassured, “They won’t find out!”

Jasper opened his mouth, ready for another approach to talk his best friend out of whatever he was planning to do, but he froze when a guy walked over to him. The guy was in their grade and more Henry’s friend than Jasper’s. He may have a name, but Jasper only ever heard the guy’s nickname, “The Hippie.” Henry didn’t talk to him much, but they had a few classes together and talked a lot at school. Jasper glared at the guy sat between them, brown bag in hand.

“All right!” Hippie exclaimed, grinning at his buddies. “Who’s ready?”

“Me!” Henry answered, eagerly snatching the bag from the guy. It was a clear sandwich bag with two thin rolls inside.

“Not me,” Jasper declared, shaking his head. “There’s no way I’m trying that stuff.”

“Jasper,” Henry whined.

“Hey, hey, if he doesn’t want to, he doesn’t have to.” Hippie smiled. “I’m not gonna make you do anything tonight.”

Jasper scowled ‘cause he wanted to hate the guy for talking Henry into this, but Hippie was too nice to despise. So, Jasper settled with moving around the table and watching the two with a nervous glower.

“Okay,” Hippie began, taking the bag in his hands again, “so since this is your first time, don’t try to be a big shot, all right? Take it slow, I promise we won’t laugh much if you choke or something.” He paused to throw an amused look at Jasper, hoping to ease the tension a little. Hippie’s face fell when he was met with a stern look.

“You sure you don’t wanna take a hit, Jasper? You look like you could you unwind a bit.”

“Thought you weren’t gonna pressure me?”

“Hey, I’m not. Just suggesting.” Hippie shrugged, turning back to Henry. He fished a lighter from his pocket and grabbed one of the joints from the bag. “So, you gotta just roast this for a second, okay? Don’t puff till I say.”

Henry nodded. As Hippie slipped the joint in Henry’s hand and began roasting the end of it, Henry felt a bit nervous. He’d grown up being taught getting high and marijuana in general was bad news and illegal. The practice still was, at least at the age of seventeen. What would his parents think of what he’s about to do?

Henry stole a glance at Jasper. He’d never seen his best friend so stern, so serious. Jasper met his gaze. Henry smiled nervously. Jasper sighed, offering a toothless halfhearted grin in return.

After a moment or two of roasting the joint, Hippie decided it was the moment they’d been waiting for! He demonstrated taking the first hit, inhaling deeply, waiting a moment, and exhaling through his nose.

“Don’t take that big of a breath, ‘cause you’re gonna choke on it,” Hippie advised. “Take it easy at first, then work your way up.”

Jasper fished his phone out of his pocket. He ran his fingers over the screen, contemplating options as he watched Henry take the first hit. Henry cleared it with ease, watching with wide eyes as the smoke filtered out his nose.

Jasper’s phone came to life with a blinding light. The time stared up at him, seeming to remind the kid how much of a bad idea this whole thing was. 1:30 in the morning? When he and Henry had work the next day? Jasper scowled, rubbing his face. Bad ideas everywhere!

He was dialing a number before he even realized he was doing it. Jasper knew he should’ve done this first, the second he saw Hippie approaching from the parking lot. Jasper guessed he hoped Henry would call it quits and make the right decision, but clearly that was too big a gamble.

Jasper sighed, slipping out of the picnic table. He walked a few feet away until he was out of hearing range. As he pressed the phone to his ear, he turned and watched the spot he’d just left his best friend, growing more and more high and vulnerable. He could’ve dragged Henry to the car and forced him to stop smoking, but Henry was too fast for Jasper. HIs reflexes would kick in and Jasper would never be able to hold him.

“This is the Captain Man hotline,” a tired voice answered. “You better be dying, ‘cause it’s too early for this.”

Jasper cleared his throat, rubbed his neck, and said slowly, “Heeeeey Captain Maan….”

Ray growled, “I’m hanging up.”

“It’s about Henry!” Jasper cried. He slapped a hand over his mouth and glanced back at the two he left behind. Did they hear that? God, he hoped not.

There was a pause, then a sharp question, “What about Henry? Is he okay?”

Jasper chewed on his lip. Henry’s gonna hate me. “We’re in the park. Henry’s smoking weed with a guy from our class. I tried talking him out of it, but it didn’t work. I figure he’ll listen to you more?”

“Smoking weed’s illegal in Swellview, right?” Ray sounded further from the phone now. Jasper hoped that meant he was about to transform.

“When you’re seventeen it is.”

“Okay, on my way. Son, make sure he doesn’t move.” 

“Got it.”

Henry and Hippie were on their feet, humming loudly to a song Jasper couldn’t really figure out. They were kinda just dancing around, bobbing their heads to their own music.

“Jasper!” Henry cried. “Here. Throw my phone at me.”

“What?” Jasper asked, eyes wide. “Why would I do that?”

“I wanna see if my reflexes are normal again!”

Jasper really did want to chuck Henry’s phone at his face or something. Maybe it would knock some sense into him.

“Hen, you can’t even see me. It’s too dark.”

“Is not.” Henry stumbled forward. There was a thud followed by a hiss of pain. “There’s no way I was that close to the table.”

A pair of headlights turned down the park street. Jasper panicked, grabbing Henry’s arm and dragging him behind a tree. Hippie staggered, looking around. He mumbled in question of his friends’ whereabouts.

“Captain Man?” Hippie asked, squinting at the superhero walking toward him. A bright light shined in his face and Hippie hissed. 

Jasper stepped into the open, grip tight on Henry’s wrist. “Thank God,” he whispered, pulling Henry toward their boss.

“You called Captain Man?” Hippie spat as Jasper approached. 

“Yeah. What of it?” Jasper spat.

“Okay, hey,” Captain Man snapped, shoving between the two. He turned and faced Hippie, shining his light at the boy’s shoes. “This boy tells me you’re out here getting high on marijuana you’re not legally allowed to have.”

Hippie scoffed. “So is Henry!”

“And he’ll be dealt with, right after you. C’mon, let’s go.”

Hippie scowled as he turned and walked toward the parking lot. Captain Man looked at Jasper, then nodded in the same direction. Watch him, his face said. Jasper nodded and jogged off, keeping an eye on his peer.

Captain Man turned to Henry. He grabbed the boy’s shoulder, glanced him over, made mental notes of things that looked out of the ordinary. To his relief, his sidekick was okay. 

“I can’t believe Jasper called you,” Henry mumbled.

“You’re lucky I got here before the police did,” Ray snapped, eyes narrowed. “If you were anyone else, I’d take you to jail.���

Henry smiled a little. “Heh, sidekick benefits?”

“Don’t push it. I still may drop you off on the way back.”

The sidekick fell silent after that. Captain Man grabbed the boy’s arm and walked him to the Man Van. Jasper and Hippie stood side by side, Jasper watching the kid’s every move like a hawk.

“You can head home, Jasper. I’ve got it from here.”

Jasper nodded slowly. With a final look at his best friend, Jasper climbed in his car and drove off.

Henry woke the next morning in a strange room. There were no windows or anything on the gray walls. He sat up, panicked. Was he in the hospital? What happened last night? His heart began to speed up.

Then, Ray walked in. He had a water bottle tucked under his arm and a bottle of ibuprofen in his hand. Henry slumped against the bed board and asked, “I’m not in the hospital?”

“No.” Henry sighed with relief. Ray tossed the water and pills onto Henry’s bed. He explained, “No, I was such a nice guy that I took you to the Man Cave instead of home for your parents to see you all smoked up on weed and junk. So I’m expecting a thanks or something.”

Henry smiled. “Thanks, Ray.” He cracked open the water and poured a few pills in his hand.

Ray leaned against the wall, arms crossed over his chest. “If I ever find out you’ve done that again, you’re fired.”

Henry choked on his water. He lurched forward, hand covering his mouth as he coughed. When he had calmed, Henry looked at his boss.

“What?!”

“What if there had been an emergency last night, hm? You weren’t in the right mind to help anyone. Not even yourself. You could’ve walked in front of a car and then it’d be bye-bye Henry!”

Henry pursed his lips. He began to speak, but Ray beat him to it, “Not to mention, what you were doing was illegal. If you had been caught, it’d be out of my hands. You’d be at the mercy of the law.”

That may have frightened Henry the most. Here he was thinking he was untouchable because he was Captain Man’s sidekick, that nothing bad could happen. And while that was true for the most part (Ray would protect that kid with his life), there are some things even Captain Man can’t defend him from.

“I get it,” Henry said slowly. He sighed, scratching his nose.”Sorry.”

Ray took a deep breath. “It’s okay, kid.” He wasn’t exactly mad at Henry for what he did. Teenagers make mistakes, after all. There would probably be plenty more and Ray would have to threaten to fire the kid again (though by now, there was no firing Henry. Ray figured that out a few years in, but as long as Henry didn’t know, the effect still worked). 

“You’re a smart kid. You better make some better decisions next time.”

Henry nodded, biting back a smile. “Yes sir!”

Ray turned to leave. As he moved, he lunged toward Henry and ruffled his hair. The teen recoiled, swatting at Ray’s hand while complaining.

“Not the hair!” he yelled. I hangout with him way too much, Henry thought as he gazed up at his boss.

“Don’t do drugs,” Ray basically ordered as a passing word, shooting a finger gun at his sidekick and running out of the room.

Henry shook his head, smoothing out his hair. “Yeah, yeah,” he mumbled, smiling. “I promise.”