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queen-of-writing-bad-things · 11 months ago

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

Episode 17: Spelling Bee Hard

~In the Man Cave~

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"He wants to challenge you."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Fine, let's do it!"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"I don't."

"He doesn't."

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

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

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

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

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

"Oh, I'm gonna cheat."

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

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

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

~Friday morning, Swellview Spelling Bee~

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Cheat check? Let's do it."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"No!"

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

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

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

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

"Hi..."

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

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

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

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

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

"Piper, just move, okay?!"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Are you guys ready for a soundcheck?"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Dude!"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Will you stop being so stingy?!"

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

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

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

"What!? She was taking my stuff! "

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"W-What?"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"What happened?"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"All right, okay, okay. Bye!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Wait!" Or was it?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Oh, yeah...right."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Correct!"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

How wrong he was...

~Later that evening, in a parking lot~

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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