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The hallway was completely isolated. Soft, velvet, mahogany red carpet ran through the floor and faux wooden boards were laid upon the walls. Dim, warm lights were sparingly scattered across the ceiling, serving more as spots to differentiate an intersection in the corridor than to actually light it.
No, instead, the true luminosity lied in the bright red LED lights that had been implemented to both sides of the flooring. These were meant to create a certain type of hazy ambience and keep any of the guests of the nightclub that happened to wander away from the main room, in a relaxed frame of mind. That way any of the patrons that wandered off from the main party scene, wouldn't be snapping too much out of it, thus making sure that whenever they returned they would still be properly buzzed and willing to keep wasting their hard earned money on the club’s provided bottle service.
Not that that was an issue being currently faced by the establishment as it had already been mentioned, the place was completely abandoned.
Completely abandoned, with the exception of two people, ones who were currently leaning against the wall, wrapped within each other's embrace as they made out.
Anyone not drunk out of their minds that happened across the couple in their current state would have most likely, been incredibly embarrassed (or depending on the person, slightly disgusted) at the intimate act that was going on in front of them. This would have resulted in most people immediately stumbling away and deciding that interrupting the pair wasn’t worth the trouble. After all, they could probably find another place to take their phone call or cigarette break in.
Of course, with the immediacy the average individual would have left in, they would have missed the rest of the scene, and a very crucial part which revealed it's much darker nature.
“W-wait” The female half of the couple stuttered. Pushing herself away from her male companion. She refused to look him in the eye, instead choosing to focus her gaze on his broad chest as she tried to catch her breath.
At this, the formerly mentioned male merely took a pause as he gave her a look, before placing a hand around her neck and another around her wrist, pulling her back in so they could resume their previous activities.
The sound of kissing once more overtook the passageway, but only for a brief moment before the shorter woman once again tried to put an end to it.
“I said stop!” She exclaimed, in a much firmer voice than the one previously used. This time, she actively shoved the man away from her, and took the opportunity to attempt to distance herself from him.
Attempt.
Unfortunately for her, the blond that had just been taken by surprise and made to collide against the shiny wood-like panels, didn’t take too kindly at her protests; on the contrary, her assertiveness only seemed to spur him on. Once the darker skinned woman took the very first step to get away, her counterpart once again took her by the wrist, although in a much harsher manner this time and like a well seasoned dancer, spun them around, effectively trapping the woman between the wall and himself.
He wrapped an arm around her waist and turned her face towards him by her chin, pressing their lips together once more, then taking that same hand and tangling it between the curls of her hair. His eyes closed in pure euphoria.
The same couldn’t be said for the brunette. Her eyes were screwed shut, and her hands were situated atop the much taller, and unluckily for her, much stronger male’s shoulders in a vain endeavor to get him off of her. The man never even budging an inch.
He kept kissing her deeply, his grip around her waist seeming to only tighten with every mediocre attempt that was made to push him away. Moments passed, and soon he hummed in delight as the girl’s efforts grew less and less forceful, a sure sign that she was giving up and most likely, giving in. If it had been up to him, he could have continued down this path, uninterrupted for the whole night, until a salty taste that hadn’t been there before reached his lips.
Drawing back and staring at her, he saw that the lady in his arms was actively crying.
“Hey, hey,” Henry said in his most comforting voice “don’t cry baby, I’m here.” He wiped away her tears using his thumbs and took her face in both his hands, lifting it slightly to make her look up at him. “I’m not going anywhere.” He wiped off a few more of her tears, and started to lean down again before a sob interrupted his initiative.
“That’s just it.” Charlotte forced herself to muster, opening her eyes to look at him. “I hate that you’re not going anywhere. I hate that you won’t leave me alone. I wish that I had never met you. You or Obsidian Eye!” She cried, giving the cause of her afflictions one last useless shove. “ I hate you. ”
Henry stared at his long-time rival and somewhat-recent obsession with a frown, clearly not appreciating the brunette's words towards his person. He lowered his gaze, as if to ponder on her statement and maybe even reflect on his actions.
If only.
The out of disguise villain once again looked up, a small smile present on him and bent down, closer to the figure in his arms. “You look so pretty when you cry.” He purred in her ear, involuntarily making her shiver, before kissing away a stray tear down her left cheek. The paler male then moved on to do the same on her right cheek.
Just as it seemed he would pull away again, he instead moved his lips from her face to the area below her ear. His left arm pressing her further against him and his right hand tugging her head slightly to the side as he began to kiss down her neck.
Charlotte’s eyes widened at the action, and she began to push away at her captor with much more distress, desperately trying to escape. Her actions became even more frantic as she felt his hand roam around her waist, dipping to her lower back. It slowly took ahold of the fabric at the edge of her shirt, and started snaking its way under the garment-
Charlotte rapidly sat upright in her bed, her breath heaving.
She peered towards her nightstand, her clock read 4:27 AM and she let out a stuttering sigh. The disturbed young woman brought her knees up against her chest as her hands massaged small circles around her temples. This had been the fifth night that she had had the same dream and each time it only managed to disturb her more than before.
She didn’t really know where this particular dream came from, but she did know that her restless sleep had started ever since that night.
Three weeks ago:
The locker door shut harshly and Charlotte sighed at the flier that had been pasted to the front of her locker. It was one out of what appeared to be hundreds that had been scattered across the halls promoting the most important event for so many high schoolers, the senior prom.
“You think they thought they’d advertised it enough with how much it gets mentioned in the announcements, besides the fact that these are pasted everywhere, but nope! I guess they're just that committed to getting people to know about the prom.”
Charlotte heard the voice of her best friend, Jasper, approaching her. She turned to see him reach into his pocket and unfold a piece of bright purple paper with big bold writing on it. “I found this in the wall of a bathroom stall.” he said, a can-you-believe-this expression written across his face. Charlotte let out a short laugh, as she shifted the books in her arm a bit before reaching out and flicking the sheet in his hand.
“Yeah, I feel like they should probably tone it down. Who knows? If they keep it up people might decide not to go just out of spite.”
Jasper chuckled at the girl's statement and shook his head. “Doubt it. Three out of five conversations I've overheard at lunch are about the prom in some way. Whether it’s what they're gonna wear, who’s gonna share a limo with who, where the best afterparty is gonna be… If anything I think the flyers just reflect people's excitement.” Charlotte let out a ‘hmm’ as she observed her curly haired friend open his locker door and take out his own books for his next period. “Hey, don’t you think it's weird how the prom is gonna be after graduation? Isn't it usually the other way around?” Jasper questioned, his friend shrugged before responding.
“Yeah but, it's also understandable why they're doing it this way. My best guess is that they're probably scared we're gonna cause a wreck at the party and are not gonna want to be associated with us anymore if that happens.” Jasper grinned and nodded in agreement
“Probably” he shut his locker door, turning to fully face his shorter companion.
“Not that that's something they're gonna have to worry about with me, since I'm probably gonna skip it.” The girl said in what mostly sounded to be an uncaring tone, yet if one paid attention, you could have heard a smidge of disappointment in it.
No sooner than the words left her mouth, than she began regretting saying them as she witnessed how her friend's grin dropped immediately, and remorse overtook his features.
“I- I’m sorry Char.” He spoke like a kicked puppy. “I did want to go with you I swear! But- “ the boy with strawberry blond hair stuttered, not quite sure to continue his explanation. Charlotte smiled at him understandingly and placed a comforting hand on his arm.
“Hey! No, no, Jasper, that's not what I meant.” She began in a softer voice, trying to indicate that she held no ill-will towards him over what had happened. “The guy that you’ve been crushing on since sophomore year asked you to go with him to the prom, of course I expected you to go with him. It’s fine.” She emphasized the last remark, still seeing her longtime companion look at her with a guilty expression. “Besides,” she continued. “something important might come up that night, you know, at work. Ray’s probably gonna need me to be there anyways.”
Jasper’s frown only deterred slightly “Right… I still really am sorry Char. Even if you’re not mad. But I swear, if it had been anyone, anyone else -well, maybe except for that super hot girl in my 3rd period math class that I’ve been crushing on since middle school- I would have said no, I promise.” Charlotte rolled her eyes at her friend’s little quip (knowing fully well that it probably wasn’t a joke.), yet made sure to smile at his genuinity.
“Jasper, really, it’s ok. I mean it.” The dark skinned girl tried her best to reassure her friend.
Originally, yes, the plan had been to go together. They didn’t really discuss it much, it’d just kinda been a thing of them both being single, being best friends, and wanting to spend the night together, so why not? But then, one of the guys that was on the football team (what a cliché right?) had asked Jasper to be his date a week ago. He gave off some long speech about how much he liked him and had wanted to ask him out for such a long time, but now he knew this was probably his last chance since Senior year was almost over, yada yada yada. Jasper had been so caught up in the moment that he didn't even stop to think about what that meant for his previous plans and immediately accepted.
Hell, when he broke the news to her, it still hadn’t registered that they were no longer going to go together until she casually pointed it out.
Usually, whenever a situation like this presents itself, the solution most people come up with, is to simply go with someone else in order to avoid third wheeling. Maybe ask out another friend or just go with your main friend group. Unfortunately however, between keeping up with her grades, being the president of L.I.M.P, and being a fulltime superhero’s sidekick, Charlotte didn’t really have any other friends. She had friendly acquaintances and was usually well liked by most people she interacted with, but it just wasn’t the same.
Still, Charlotte knew that this had been a huge deal to him and she didn't want to be the one to spoil it. After all, it wasn’t Jasper’s fault that she didn’t really have a ‘backup’ friend or a friend group and she knew that expecting him to ditch his crush (that he was probably never going to see again) just for her, was very selfish on her part. Not to mention, that it was a lot of pressure to put on a person.
“Ok… but we’re still gonna do something after prom ok?! Oh let’s go to Seven Flags o-or Seaweed world! My treat!” The male smiled at her hopefully, making Charlotte smile and nod her head in return.
“Deal.” The bell rang and Jasper perked up, offering his arm.
“Shall we go to english, m’lady?” Charlotte made a face at her friend’s expression yet still managed to let out a giggle.
“Ok first of all, gross, don’t call me m’lady. You sound like a nice guy.” Jasper snorted “And second, I can't. I asked for permission to skip English for the rest of the week again so I can go to L.I.M.P headquarters and finish up a few documents and junk since I’m gonna be stepping down as president because, you know, I'm graduating. Mr. Miller said that it was fine ‘cause we’re not really doing anything of substance anymore since exams are over.” The curly haired boy nodded in understanding.
“Alright then. Well, I’ll meet you here again after class so we can go to work together?” Charlotte agreed and so, they parted ways.
Walking to the classroom where L.I.M.P had settled down was usually a relaxing feat since it was at the other end of the school and nobody really bothered her on her way there. Teachers often recognized her to be an excellent student and therefore knew inquiring her on her motives would be rather pointless.
She reached the ‘office’ classroom and took out her keys, fumbling with them slightly before placing it on the lock, proceeding to fumble with it instead. The club leader groaned, reminding herself to have a chat with her successor to ask the school for a change of the locks. Even if it was no longer going to be her problem, this was just ridiculous.
“Still haven’t figured out how to open a door yet?”
Charlotte jumped slightly in surprise at the deeper voice that seemed to pop out of nowhere. She rapidly turned around and only relaxed when she saw who it was.
“Henry! I told you not to sneak up on me like that.” Standing behind her, the taller boy chuckled.
“Sorry, I couldn't help it.”
Charlotte smiled, shook her head and returned to her previous task. “I know how to open doors, it’s just this one that’s-” a ‘click’ was heard and she was finally able to turn the knob. “Stupid.”
The door opened and the brunette stepped inside, her blond impromptu companion following behind, turning on the light switch.
Henry Hart, a fellow senior that Charlotte had only interacted with sporadically throughout her high school career. An encounter in the cafeteria here, working together on an assignment there, bumping into each other at an assembly, etc. She had seen him in the hallways and maybe a couple of times outside of school, along with occasionally hearing other students talking about him, but other than that, their direct interactions had been severely limited.
Two weeks ago however, he had showed up after school at the L.I.M.P classroom, claiming that he had to drop off a few supplies from Mrs. McCormick. At the time, Charlotte had been in the middle of decorating the room for a small ‘End of the Year’ party the president and vice-president of the club always held for the rest of the team. Once he finished his task, he asked her why she was in there all alone and she explained the situation; telling him her vice-president had left school early that day because of a family emergency.
Long story short, the brown eyed boy offered to help and they spent the whole afternoon together, talking and laughing. After that, he had visited her a few times in the club, somehow always catching her when she was alone. Last week when she had told him about her intention to skip English for the entire week to come here, he started to show up much more consistently, insisting on keeping her company.
Not that Charlotte minded of course. After all, Henry was pleasant company, without mentioning the fact she also found him to be very attractive.
Charlotte sat down at the desk at the front of the classroom and took a hold of the computer, scanning over a few archives here and there before opening one of the books that she had brought with her and flipping it to a page so she could begin cross checking information.
Henry on the other hand sat down in one of the tables that was glued to the wall next to a dry erase board, and took a hold of one of the markers, whistling a soft tune as he drew in some type of cartoon. The two remained in a comfortable silence except for the flipping of pages, typing of the keyboard and squiggling of the marker. A few minutes passed and the girl sighed with some relief as she finally got to cross out one of the most urgent tasks off her list. She had been working on it since last Thursday and only really had to do a check up today but it felt nice to not have to think about it anymore.
As she closed the current document and stood up to retrieve a few folders in the room’s closet she briefly took a glance at what the other teen was doing. Laughing slightly at the caricature that he was coming up with.
“Not that I’m complaining but do your teachers know that you’ve been skipping their class lately just so you can come here and draw?” Charlotte asked in a playful expression. The blond that had been previously concentrated on his current task, turned to regard his female companion, and gave her a grin.
“He doesn’t really care. I have gym last period and Coach Aron basically gave us permission to do whatever we want since it’s the last weeks of school. He basically told us that as long as we didn’t vandalize anything or leave school premises, we basically had a free period.” The older teen explained. “Technically he didn’t want us to leave the gymnasium or the football field either, but as soon as I mentioned helping out at L.I.M.P he told me to go ahead.”
The younger girl snorted. Coach Aron had always been one of the more ‘relaxed’ teachers around the school, so his behavior didn’t really surprise her. “Alright then. I mean, you’re not really doing anything L.I.M.P related, but I do appreciate the company.” She smiled at her fellow senior and with manila folders in hand, took a seat back at her desk.
A few more moments of silence went by before it was broken again. “So, excited for prom?” Henry asked in a cheerful voice, finishing off his sketch with one final stroke.
Charlotte stopped her typing immediately at the question and looked up to see the other boy smiling at her expectantly. She swallowed. This wasn’t really a topic she wanted to discuss right now. Or ever again after her whole encounter with Jasper earlier.
“Well…” She gave a small, nervous smile, Henry’s own faltering a bit at her dejected tone. “I’m not really going, so…” She responded, peering off to the side in order to avoid his gaze.
“Oh.” The brown eyed male said, this time in a much less happier tone than the one used to ask his original question. “Not a fan of parties?” He tried rationalizing. Charlotte only gave him a tight smile.
“No, I like parties.” She took a deep breath, man this was an uncomfortable conversation to have. “It's just that uh- my best friend and I were gonna go together originally but he got asked out by someone else and kinda ditched me.” She tried finishing off her statement with a light laugh, trying to show it was fine but the boy in front of her only frowned.
“Oh.” He put the cap on his marker back on, twisting it around with his hand. “That must have really sucked, I'm sorry.”
Charlotte's eyes widened a bit, and she immediately spoke again. “No, it's fine. He didn’t even realize it at first and when he did he apologized to me like a thousand times.” She really didn’t want her companion to get the wrong idea about Jasper. “I really don’t blame him, he’s had a crush on this guy for like two years so, I get it. Plus, he promised to make it up to me so it’s all good.”
“Well still, I’m sorry that happened.” He stayed silent for a minute, taking a small pause as if thinking on how to follow up. “If it makes you feel any better I don't think I'm gonna go either.”
Charlotte looked up in surprise. “What? How come?” she caught herself. “I-if you don’t mind me asking.” Talking about the whole prom thing made her feel kind of self-conscious, so she could see how the same could be said for him.
Henry smiled awkwardly “Well I don't really have any friends to go with. I mean I do, I do have friends but not in school you know? My after school job is pretty demanding so between keeping up my grades so I can graduate and working all the time I just never… I don't know. I guess over the years I didn't really manage to build any ‘meaningful’ relationships here or whatever.”
Charlotte watched him sympathetically. “Yeah I definitely understand the whole demanding job thing.” The two teens stared at each other in mutual understanding and shared a chuckle.
“But wait,” The darker girl questioned, confusion setting in her face. “I see you at parties all the time, well the ones that I’ve gone to at least. I’ve also seen you hanging out with some of the more popular people at school. Not to mention the amount of times that I’ve seen or heard girls talk about how hot you are. You basically have them all over you.”
A smug smile appeared on the blond's face. “Oh, you notice girls all over me? How come?” Charlotte quickly realized what could be implied from what she had just said, and blushed profusely at his question. Henry merely snickered.
“Relax, I’m just teasing.” He tried giving her a more genuine smile. “I mean, yeah. I do get invited to a lot of parties, I am on friendly terms with most people here and yes,” He confirmed somewhat hesitantly. “I don’t mean to sound cocky but I have had quite a few girls -and guys- ask me out but, that doesn’t mean they’re my friends. It’s all just, people that I know.”
Charlotte nodded, definitely empathizing with what the taller teen had just said. After all, it was true. Just because you were surrounded by people that didn’t mean they meant anything to you, or you to them. People acting in a friendly manner did not translate into them being your friend.
A quietude took over the room. The two persons inside pondering the conversation and the strange gloomy turn it had taken. Neither one had really anticipated their casual hang out that day to turn into such a personal moment. Charlotte searched for something to say in order to break the silence, but she didn’t quite know what.
Luckily for her, she didn’t have to.
“Hey umm, I know me asking this might be coming out of the blue and please don’t think that I’m saying this out of pity or anything like that but…” The brunette observed her companion as he paused, beginning to nervously anticipate what he was going to say. “Would you… like to go to the prom with me? I know it’s super last minute and we’ve only really known each other for a few weeks, but…” Charlotte’s breath hitched, her mouth slightly ajar. “I like you and I like spending time with you and so I thought it would be fun for us to go together. Leave Highschool behind with some good memories of the place.” He smiled.
For a minute, Charlotte could only blink. Her mind playing catch up with what had just been asked to her. A minute passed and you could've heard a pin drop inside the office. At that point, the fair skinned boy started to feel uneasy and he began to rub the back of his neck in an attempt to make the situation seem less weird.
“Umm, you can say no if you don’t want to go. I won't get offended-”
“No!” Charlotte exclaimed, then rushed to correct herself. Realizing what she had just shouted contradicted what was supposed to be her actual response. “I mean yes! Yes, I do want to go with you I-” She took a deep breath, trying to calm herself down. She stood up and locked her hands in front of herself, speaking in a much gentler voice. “I would love to be your date to the prom.”
Henry stood up from his table too and smiled as he made his way over to the girl. “Cool.” He replied. Then he took out his phone and wrote something down on it before handing it off to her. “Can you give me your number? That way we can figure out any details of picking you up or meeting at the venue. Also you can text me what color dress you’re gonna be wearing so we can match? I don’t know if you’re one of those people that likes doing stuff like that?” Charlotte giggled and took the phone, placing her number inside the little box.
“We don’t have to do that, it's fine.” She handed the device back to its owner who grinned back at her.
“Well-” He began, before a knock at the door interrupted him. The two eighteen year old's turned towards the door, seeing an older woman standing there giving them a kind smile.
“Excuse me Charlotte, but could I borrow you for a second?” She asked.
The girl in question jolted a bit, becoming dazed out of the moment and she let out a small ‘Oh!’ before turning to Henry and excusing herself for a minute while she went to talk to her teacher. The boy nodded and stepped aside for her to go through.
As Charlotte spoke with her teacher, she could only feel the excitement start to flood over her, in a way, still not really believing what had just happened. Just earlier today she was trying to reassure her best friend that there were no hard feelings between them and trying to convince herself how missing out on the prom didn’t matter since she would be busy with her sidekick duties.
Now, in the span of around fifteen to twenty minutes, she had a date with a guy that she enjoyed talking to, was very good looking and who she was confident that she would be able to have a great time with. It was going to be great, even if in the back of her mind, she knew that this also added a whole bunch of things to her to-do list.
She would have to go last minute dress shopping, find proper shoes for the dress, search for ideas on hair and makeup, learn how to master whatever it was that she chose and most importantly of all, talk to Ray into letting her have the night completely off. With how many things now had to be done in such a short period of time, she was bound to start freaking out eventually. Nonetheless, she decided that for now, she would simply soak in the pure bliss of the moment.
Inside the classroom, a very similar yet at the same time, very different set of emotions was taking place.
Looking down at the newly saved phone number inside his screen, Henry smirked to himself. Out of all the scenarios he had planned for, he had managed to land the very best one.
Now, he didn’t have to ask out some random chick to go to prom with in order to ‘bump into’ Charlotte and her friend so he could then progressively ditch said random chick throughout the night and steal Charlotte away from Jasper. He also didn’t have to ‘take care of’ any unwanted suitors that might have thought to ask her out and had gotten her as their date.
Nope, instead, she had been planning to skip the prom (And for the most perfect reason too. Originally he had been wary of her ‘best friend’ due to seeing how physically affectionate they were with each other, but after this? Jasper was officially off his shit list.), making him able to swoop in and ask her out himself. For a brief moment he was kind of worried that she might just reject him, but what do you know? She agreed. Truth speaking, he didn’t really believe in any deities, but upon seeing how many things had seemed to be working out in his favor lately he really felt like praising someone.
It was going to be a memorable night.
Charlotte walked down the halls of the venue, her heels clacking against the marble floor as she tried to locate the right room. She had just been dropped off by her mother who, upon wishing her daughter a great evening, immediately headed off to the airport due to her work.
The whole schtick had been a bit risky in terms of time, but Mrs. Page had insisted on being there for her daughter when she had finally gotten ready so she could snap some pictures of her baby all glammed up (This being the reason Charlotte and Henry had agreed on meeting at the venue instead of arriving together). She planned to send these pictures to her husband, who was also away on a business trip, and in his own regard, felt guilty for not being able to be there for his child on her special night. Despite Charlotte claiming that she understood they had very demanding jobs, and she wasn’t sour with them -honestly just being grateful that they hadn’t missed her graduation ceremony- her parents still promised her a fun night out as a family when they got back (and before they headed out again).
Growing slightly frustrated with all the twists and turns she was taking, and seeing nothing of substance within the walls that actually gave her directions, she pulled out her phone from her clutch bag and was just about to text Jasper to come out and get her, before she spotted him.
Dressed in simple, yet fitting, black tux her date stood at the end of the hall appearing to fix one of the cuffs in his suit.
“Henry!” She called out to him as she waved, making him look up.
Holy. Fucking. Shit. He was the luckiest son of a bitch in the entire fucking world and nobody could ever tell him otherwise.
Charlotte wore a burgundy red, silk, evening gown that hugged her tightly around her upper torso and waist, before flowing out into a skirt that reached all the way down to the floor. From her shoulders, the dress was held up by thin spaghetti straps that then separated into the top half of the dress which revealed an… appropriate amount of cleavage and exposed the upper half of her back. Her hair was tied up in a bun, leaving out two loose curls on either side of her face. And to wrap up the look, were a pair of small gold hoop earrings, a simple yet elegant golden forehead tiara which adorned her head and some simple golden bracelets that encircled her wrists. Henry had to swallow.
"Wow.” He breathed once he had her in front of him. ”You look amazing, just incredible." Henry took a hold of his date's hands as he looked her up and down once more, causing Charlotte to smile and avert her eyes briefly as she became flustered at his compliments. "I seriously don’t know what else to say, you look breathtaking Char."
The darker skinned girl let out a small giggle and she glanced up at her companion to return the sentiment. "Why thank you Henry. You don't look so bad yourself." She smiled happily, as the brown eyed boy offered her his arm, one she took with grace. Together, both teens stepped inside the hall, more than ready to enjoy their night.
For the first few hours, things had been nothing short of amazing. Shortly after entering the event, they ran into Jasper and his date, Mike; together, managing to secure a table. For a while they sat and chatted as they ate some snacks and drank some (not yet spiked) punch. The recent graduates all took turns sharing stories about everything and anything of their Highschool shenanigans. From cringing at the time when Mike broke his arm due to climbing and falling from the school’s flagpole for a dare, to laughing uncontrollably at that one time that Henry inexplicably somehow started a food fight, but was able to leave the cafeteria before things got too out of control.
Some time passed, and Jasper suggested they hit the dancefloor, so they did just that. The music was pumping, the people around them moving to the rhythm of the songs. The DJ played everything from electronic dance, to pop, to reggaetón and everything in between. Both couples had an absolute blast. They danced with each other, as a group and even swapped dates every now and then.
After a while, Charlotte decided she was getting kind of tired from all the dancing and needed a break, with all three boys deciding to follow her in order to get some refreshments. They spoke much more calmly this time, discussing what they wanted to do after Highschool in terms of vacationing and whatnot. It was an unspoken agreement to steer away from topics like college or any other things like that, something that Charlotte was extremely grateful for.
At one point, Mike’s football buddies came barreling in out of nowhere and insisted on taking him and Jasper out into the dancefloor again so they could all ‘bro out’ with their dates. Her best friend didn’t really seem surprised by this, apparently already having been warned by his companion that his friends would probably do something like this at one point in the night. He however, still promised that he would return soon, telling Charlotte to save a slow dance for him. His friend laughed and nodded, sending the boys on their merry way.
She turned to Henry and beamed. She had loved hanging out with Jasper and Mike, but in a way, was also glad to get some one on one time with her own date. A few butterflies ruffled in her stomach as she saw how he returned her grin. The curly haired girl was incredibly happy that they had ended up going together. Whether she would ever admit it or not, she had been looking forward to this night since the beginning of senior year and spending it with him… he just seemed to make everything one hundred times better. A small sigh escaped her lips. Nothing could ruin this night.
Until something did.
The vibration that came from her left wrist was at first so faint that she didn’t really notice it, but after a few moments passed and that same trembling kept going at a consistent pace, it could no longer be ignored. Charlotte felt how her grin slowly started to fall, and immediately replaced it with a tight smile.
“I need to run to the bathroom alright? I’ll be right back.” She saw how the blond raised both his brows in slight surprise but quickly shook it off.
“Alright,” he smiled. “I’ll be here.” His date gave him a quick nod and hastily left the ballroom in order to find the nearest toilets. Thankfully, those had been provided clearer directions and she was able to find them in less than a minute. She was about to enter the women's restroom but stopped at the sight that it was a multiple stall bathroom. Silently, she cursed before spotting one for families and people with disabilities. She quickly entered, locking it behind her and stepping away from the door.
Flicking the golden band upwards, the brunette saw the flickering red light coming from within. Her face dropped, the light confirming her suspicions. She toyed with the bracelet, briefly considering simply taking it off and throwing it away. In all honesty she hadn’t even wanted to bring it with her in the first place, but ever since the Montego’s incident, Ray had refused to let her go anywhere without her communication device.
Briefly (and naively she might add) Charlotte simply claimed that her prom was going to be a formal event and there was no way she was going to wear a wrist watch with her dress in an attempt to get out of it. But then Schwoz, ever so helpful, came around and told her he could make her a more delicate piece of jewelry that served the same purpose, in less than an hour. At the end of the day she had to compromise on the bracelet and because of that, she now had to answer said bracelet. Placing her fingerprint against the black screen under the metal plating, she answered the hologram.
“Kid.” Ray greeted and Charlotte closed her eyes in a small bout of dread. That had been the one thing that she did not want to be addressed as tonight. “I need you to get out of wherever you are and come around the back of the venue. I’m coming to pick you up in five.”
Only the upper half of his torso was visible, which probably meant that he was driving the Man-Van.
“Ray-” Charlotte began, her hand coming up to run a hand through her hair before remembering about her up do-tiara combo and putting it down. “Ray, it’s- it’s my prom. You said- I thought you-” She was beginning to get upset, and became unable to coherently finish her own sentence.
“I know, kid and I’m sorry. I really, really am.” Her boss's voice sounded genuinely apologetic, his facial expression reflecting his tone. “I know I told you that you could have the night off and I would handle anything crime-related that happened, but trust me this is really important. I wouldn’t be calling you if this was just a regular robbery or something like that.”
Charlotte bit her lip. This was the exact scenario that she had feared happening. Why tonight? What could possibly be so terrible that it had to interrupt the one time when she asked for a night off just so she could have some fun? Right now she was wishing she could travel back in time and tell her thirteen year old self to not answer the job ad from Junk n’ Stuff.
She knew it was selfish to think that way, but could you blame her? As the years went by, the guaranteed days/nights off were few and far between and usually they had to be saved for things such as the SAT’s, a funeral, or something along those lines. Her ‘vacation’ days were so often used for some other mentally, emotionally or physically taxing event. Even the days where no criminal activity occurred and she was able to 'kick back' she still had it at the back of her mind that her wrist watch could beep at any moment. She was never truly relaxed, never truly at peace.
Was it really that inconsiderate of her to want a break? And to top it all off-
“Five minutes? Really?”
The hero’s hologram nodded. “Less than five now.” This. She wouldn't even be able to go find her date and make up some bullshit excuse on why she had to leave him all of a sudden. Charlotte wasn’t stupid, she knew that the mission would take at least an hour and a half to complete ( if she was lucky). She wouldn’t be returning to Henry anytime soon, if at all, and would instead come across as an absolute bitch who decided to abandon her date in the middle of the night for no apparent reason. He was never going to talk to her after this.
Yet, despite all that.
“Alright, see you soon.”
She had a job to do.
Not a minute passed after he watched his date rush to the bathroom that Henry had to rapidly put down his punch as he felt his wrist watch rapidly vibrate. ‘Perfect timing’ he thought, stepping outside the room. The boy headed inside one of the more deserted hallways and proceeded to pull out a small earpiece from his pocket, answering the call.
"What is it?"
“Grab your keys and get on your car, I just sent you the location you need to head down to immediately to stop The Twittler from doing something that is not just incredibly stupid but is also gonna fuck with our business. Again. ” Veronika's voice sounded through the earbud, another vibration coming from his phone, confirming the arrival of the message.
A scowl formed on the blond's face not only at the mention of that particular supervillain but at what was suddenly being demanded from him. “V, I thought I told you not to bother me with any extracurricular activities tonight. It’s my prom and I have a pretty girl to entertain.”
“I know it’s your night to have fun and I am genuinely sorry to interrupt you at a time like this, but we have more important matters at hand.” He heard his partner let out a frustrated sigh, the sound of her keyboard being tapped at with irregular speed, prominent. “I don't know what expired carton of milk he drank from this morning that gave him sudden brain failure but he is going off the rails. He’s threatening to take down every single plane that is currently flying and I can’t deactivate any of the controls from here.”
Henry arched a brow at her explanation before rolling his eyes at the detailing of the deranged man's nonsensical scheme. What the fuck was he hoping to accomplish with that?
Still, bullshit plan or not.
“And that’s my problem because...”
“Henry,” His associate let out in a stern voice. “should I remind you who is currently flying back from her European trip?”
The out of disguise villain’s blood ran cold. “Piper.” He said in a breathless whisper.
He shut his eyes, running a frustrated hand down his face. God he hated The Twitler. Not only was he annoying, but that guy was always coming up with and executing idiotic, over-the-top ‘villainous’ acts just because he felt like it. He never really had a justifiable reason behind his actions and more often than not, any dumbass ploy he came up with to solve whatever problem he was having, was usually incredibly overkill. He was convinced the only reason anybody still associated with him was due to his money.
“You’re running out of time.” Veronika said again and Henry sighed.
‘I’m sorry Charlotte, but my sister’s life comes first.’
“I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
Sneaking past any security proved to be a relatively easy feat. As soon as he spotted the cameras inside the building he informed Veronika so she could deactivate them but, surprisingly enough, she told him to go ahead since they had somehow already been put out of commission. He took the elevator upstairs, following the coordinates indicated by his helmet’s screen and took out his blaster, setting it to stun.
The telekinetic villain knew that he could probably just choke Rick and any goons he might have brought around ala Darth Vader, but one, Veronika would scold him for killing a significant business associate and two, even if he somehow restrained himself from not choking him to death, the man would still recognize him and that would also eliminate any future partnerships. So he kinda didn’t really have a choice.
As the elevator doors opened on the last floor, he heard a loud commotion coming from down the hallway. The masked male briskly walked down the corridor, peering into one of the rooms from where all the noise seemed to be coming from.
He should have guessed. Standing inside the room, were Rick Twitler and Swellview's beloved hero, Captain Man, exchanging blows with neither backing down. ‘That must mean Kid Danger is also here.’ Henry thought, suddenly feeling less guilty about ditching his date, seeing as she had ditched him back.
“Alright so you’re going to have to head up to the roof.” His co-conspirator's voice sounded from inside the helmet. “There you’re going to have to manually disengage three panels in order to completely shut off any signal from Rick's weapon. Panel ‘A’ is a huge ass cylinder, about the same width and twice the height as a water tower. For that one all you have to do is transfer some of the code that I just sent to you and it will do all the work itself. Panel ‘B’ is some confirmation coding that’s pretty basic level, you should have no problem handling it and Panel ‘C’ is the easiest since all you have to do there is implement another virus that’s gonna delete the network and manually kill it for good without it exploding. You know how he is.”
“Alright. Heading upstairs right now.” The super powered criminal replied as he did just that.
Charlotte was freaking the fuck out. Maybe it was because she was manually trying to disengage some huge ass machinery in what Schwoz had just reminded her was a very limited time window. Or maybe, it was because she was doing all of that, while standing on the edge of an incredibly tall building.
The superhero’s sidekick was an incredibly smart young woman and years of running around chasing bad guys had made her work relatively well under pressure, but doing all of that while standing over 300 feet off the ground wasn’t really helping her nerves. After all, hypermotility or not, if she fell, she was as good as dead.
Finally after what seemed like hours, the monitor in front of her let out a cheerful, resounding ‘beep’, marking her successful deactivation of the device.
“Schwoz! I did it! Now I can move o-” A blasting explosion resounded in the panel's control, the impact suddenly knocking her back into the impending doom waiting for her below. To top it all off, it didn’t matter how fast she attempted to grab onto one of the metal bars on the side of the metal structure, as it appeared to be coming down with her. No sooner did her life begin flashing in front of her eyes than the metallic contraption stopped falling and a hand caught her mid air.
Looking up, she came face to face with Obsidian Eye.
“Hold on.” Came his slightly static-y voice, a struggle evident in it.
Slowly, but surely the gigantic machine moved upright and Charlotte's eyes widened as it dawned on her that he was the one moving it with his powers. The structure was probably incredibly heavy, and while she wasn't clear on how his telekinesis worked exactly, she knew that it was probably an incredibly draining maneuver that he was currently performing.
"What are you doing here?!" She couldn't help asking her counterpart. As grateful as she was for his perfectly-timed presence, he had no discernible reason to be there.
"Same thing as you!" The masked criminal retorted, a loud yell emitting from his mouth as he managed to set the heavyset device upright. After that, the two supers were sent flying backwards, this time toward the roof of the building, landing with a harsh slap against it.
Before Charlotte had any chance to complain about the sudden impact, she felt how she was suddenly taken by the shoulders and rolled over several meters to the side. A large iron pole landing on the spot where they had just been situated.
Turning her gaze from it, she found herself literally facing her unexpected savior, as he hovered slightly above her.
"Are you ok?" He asked in a softer voice, all of the adrenaline from the previous moment dying down.
"Yes." Came her reply, matching his volume. "Thank you."
"Good, good. I'm glad to hear that." He nodded. Both seemed to be too absorbed in the situation to really acknowledge that he was still on top of her, in what could have been implied to be a very compromising position. "You know," he continued "Usually, when the hero rescues the damsel in distress, he gets a kiss as a reward."
Or maybe not.
Charlotte scowled, shoving the taller male aside and rapidly stood up. Her mind had stopped for a minute there, and for a while, she had began to re-think everything she once had thought about her villainous counterpart. Then, just like that, as soon as he made that little remark, whatever previous line of thinking she had been on, disappeared.
She couldn't help it, as the flashbacks from that night at Montego's came rushing back. The way he threatened the restaurant patrons, the way he humiliated her date. The things he did and said to her when she was out of disguise.
“You’re no hero.” The sidekick spat out and immediately made her way towards one of the other still active devices. This one considerably smaller than the death trap they had just escaped from. A figure appeared next to her and the young woman didn't have to completely turn to know it was Obsidian Eye.
She tried paying him no mind as she worked to shut down the programming within. From what she could see, all that was needed to confirm the shutdown of all the machinery was fairly simple programming that didn’t really present any type of significant challenge. Beside her, The helmeted villain was messing around with his wrist band. Pressing buttons and entering codes before activating the monitor in front of himself and transferring something to it. Just as Charlotte finished confirming the shut down, a bright blue screen appeared on all of the machine’s monitors right before promptly shutting off, as if someone had just unplugged a TV.
“Alright, we did it.” Came the not-so-excited voice from her unlikely ally at the moment. She would have held back from rolling her eyes before that same voice uttered something else, right next to her ear in a much more provocative intonation “Still waiting on that kiss.”
Charlotte quickly stepped away from his grasp, regarding him with scrutiny at his sheer audacity. “You are unbelievable.”
The villain clicked his tongue, putting his hands on his pockets. “Unbelievable or not, I’m gonna get it eventually.” He shrugged, causing her to glare at him
“Quit being an ass and-” a loud ringing sound brought her statement to a halt and she diverted her attention towards it. Her watch's black screen was double tapped and in came the hologram of a fatigued Captain Man.
“Kid, are you ok?” He asked his assistant. To the side, a knocked out Rick Twitler was clearly visible.
“Yeah. I managed to shut down and kill the systems, so everything should be good to leave to the city officials for now.” She nodded and viewed how the indestructible hero raised his eyebrows in slight astonishment.
“Whoa you did? How did you manage to get it done so fast? I mean, not I don't think you capable but-” The older man shrugged slightly while giving a face that indicated some confusion.
“Well actually,” Charlotte turned to the side, starting to brace herself for the whole ‘Obsidian Eye explanation’ and the reaction it would get from her boss, only to find herself to be the only person standing on the roof. “Umm…” How the heck did he leave without her noticing? “Schwoz told me what to do, it wasn’t that complicated.”
“Oh, alright. Well I already contacted the police and there is no way this doofus here is waking up anytime soon.” Captain Man said, delivering a half-hearted kick towards the passed out villain. “Let’s go.”
“Alright.” Charlotte replied, scanning the roof one last time before shaking her head and heading towards the elevator.
Getting back to her prom was an absolute shit show. Ray temporarily forgot that he was supposed to be the town's superhero and resorted to breaking nearly every traffic law known to man in an attempt to get there as soon as possible. Or maybe he just used being a hero as an excuse. Regardless of his reasoning she knew that he did it as a way to apologize for partially spoiling her night, so ultimately, she was grateful.
Once he dropped her off, she exited the car before popping her bubblegum and transforming back into her gown. The brunette took her jewelry back from the glove compartment and shoved her gum tube back into it. Her older friend sat there, wishing her a good rest of the night as he saw her run back into the building.
Re-entering the ballroom, Charlotte was fully prepared to see her date dancing with another girl or to just not see him there at all. She felt a hand tap her on the shoulder and when she turned, the girl saw her best friend there, handing her her clutch bag.
"Hey." Jasper said. "Schwoz texted me what happened, he told me to take care of this for you."
His friend let out a sigh of relief. "Thank you.” She paused. “Hey, have you seen Henry around?"
Jasper's frown told her everything she needed to know. "I'm sorry Char, I stayed with Mike and his friends for a while. When I went back to the tables to get your stuff I didn't really see him anywhere. At first I thought he just went to the bathroom or something but if he's still not around, I guess…" He trailed off, pity lacing his voice.
Charlotte's shoulders slumped. The tiniest bit of hope she had of Henry still being there and finishing off the night on a good note completely dissipating.
"It's-" She cut herself off from saying it was ok, knowing that it would be an absolute lie. "I'm gonna step out for a minute, send him an apology text, maybe try to call him. You get back to your date."
The curly haired male was about to protest but upon seeing her face he understood that she just wanted to be alone for a while. So with that, he nodded and headed back towards Mike.
She walked towards the door in the back of the ballroom, it led to a medium sized garden that was pretty empty by now. Maybe due to the fact that most of the lights had been shut off since the event of the night was going to be ending pretty soon and people wanted to be inside to be able to experience one last dance with their partners or take group photos with their friends or whatever end of the night tradition they may have had.
'Of course he's not gonna be here.' Thought Charlotte as she pulled out her phone and found his contact. She started typing out a long apology before a familiar silhouette caught her eye. Standing at the back of the garden, with his gaze set upon the sky was the very person she had been previously seeking out.
She approached him from behind, slowly, but with enough volume in her step to make her presence known and avoid catching him by surprise. Once she reached the fair skinned boy, she merely stared at him for a few seconds. Suddenly at a loss of words on what to say.
Once again, he saved her the trouble.
"The stars look beautiful tonight don't they?" He asked in a quiet murmur. Her eyes drifted towards the sky momentarily but quickly returned towards his person.
"Henry-" Charlotte had no time to come up with a reasonable explanation for her disappearance, so as much as she hated to do it, she just had to wing it and spill whatever first came to her mind. "I am so sorry that I just left you here like that. Something extremely important came up, it was an emergency and I had to be there and I wanted to tell you that I had to leave but there was no time and I know all of this sounds like some bullshit excuse but I promise you-"
He raised a hand, stopping her mid-ramble.
"Hey, it's ok. I believe you. I know you wouldn't just ditch me like that without a good reason.” The taller male turned towards her and took both of her hands in his. “If you say it was an emergency, then it was an emergency. It's fine."
At that very moment, Charlotte considered herself one of the luckiest girls in the whole entire world. She had no idea how someone could be so understanding. Twelve out of ten guys, or just people in general, would have been extremely offended or angry at being deserted with no explanation. Anyone else would have told her to get lost and never speak to them again, but for some reason, Henry had decided to forgive her and take her words at face value. How?
“Well prom is almost over and I still am very sorry.” She shook her head as she averted her gaze. “It’s ok if you hate me.”
“Hmm…” She heard the other male voice in what seemed to be contemplation. “I'll only hate you if you don't dance this last song with me.”
She stared at her date once again and saw him give her a genuine smile. She couldn’t help but return it. She tried pulling him back into the prom by their still linked hands but was met with small resistance on his part.
“Let’s just stay out here.” The brown eyed boy suggested sweetly. “Have this moment to ourselves.” Charlotte stared into his eyes.
How could she deny him?
The soft music played, muffled by the walls, but neither teen minded. Gently, they swayed back and forth, simply trying to enjoy each other's company under the dim lights of the stars.
“You know,” Charlotte said gently, her face pressed up against his chest. “We’ve only really been hanging out for the past few weeks, but I really enjoyed having you around. It makes me wish that I had met you sooner and that we actually kept talking to each other. I would have been able to spend more time with you, get to know you better.”
She heard her dance partner give a small chuckle, his chin coming to rest up on the top of her head. “Don’t worry about it too much.” He pressed a soft kiss on her hair. “Highschool isn't the end of our lives. I know that we will meet again.” The blond male said with a degree of such high confidence that the darker skinned girl couldn’t help but peer into his eyes, as if to somehow discern whether he actually meant it.
Maybe it was the moon, maybe it was the stars, maybe it was the music from within quieting down, but at that moment, without really thinking about it, they both leaned in and their lips met together in a kiss.
As the kiss went on, Henry slowly began walking, moving them back and ever so gently pushing the brunette’s back against the wall. Both of his hands moved to the back of her neck, deepening the kiss. Charlotte stood with both her hands gripping his arms, never wanting to let go. She could only feel how the world around her seemed to fade for a moment. Her head was in the clouds, never wanting to come down.
When they finally stopped, it was Henry who broke the kiss, Charlotte’s eyes still closed, too engulfed in the moment that she failed to note that his fingers were no longer pressed up against her neck, but instead moving behind it.
“I told you I'd get my kiss.”
It was nothing more than a whisper, but it still caused Charlotte to open her eyes and look at her date questioningly. She was still disoriented from the kiss and had no idea what was going on until she felt something around her neck. A sudden weight that had most definitely not been there through the night until just then.
Glimpsing down, her eyes locked with a golden necklace, but not just any gold colored chain. It was that gold colored chain. The very same one that Obsidian Eye had taken from her on that night at Montego’s.
“I got my well deserved kiss, you got your necklace back. I think it’s a fair trade.”
Charlotte was still confused, a lost expression mirroring her feelings. As she turned her gaze to Henry, she saw the blond male standing there, with what she could only describe as a self-satisfied smirk plastered on his face.
'What is he talking abou-'
Then, it all clicked.
And all of her world came barreling down.
“Oh my god…” She mumbled as if she couldn't believe it herself. Henry took a step back.
"Oh my god!." Her voice was louder, this time, a hand came flying towards her mouth. A horrified look overtaking her features.
"How long have you- since when- what do- You- you…" The girl's mind was going at a mile a minute. She seemed to be putting everything together yet at the same time she was having trouble processing it.
What? How? When? Why?
Why?
Why?!
"What the fuck?!" Despite the weight of the revelation, and everything it meant, she never attempted to strike him or even attempt to grab at him in any way. Instead she was clutching her own head, as if letting go of it would suddenly make it implode.
Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit.
The word repeated itself in her mind. Every and any past interaction they had ever shared, now rushing back to her. So many things that, at the time, seemed a bit off but she never really bothered to think too much on. Now they all started to make sense, even when they didn't.
Things like why him even while claiming to be a loner, offered to help her decorate for a club he was not a part of, despite school being over. The way that after that, he started going out of his way to hang out with her despite them never really talking before. The way Obsidian Eye had singled her out and for some reason, started to flirt with her back when the Montego's episode happened. Why Henry asked her to the prom at the very last minute. Why Obsidian Eye was always making an active effort to try and permanently eliminate Captain Man but somehow always holding back from seriously injuring Kid Danger. And finally, the reason why Henry had been so surprisingly alright with the fact that his date had just ditched him for more than two hours and then came back out of thin air.
Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck.
Anger, confusion, rage, disgust and so many other negative emotions started to pile on her and at one point, she planned to let him hear all of it.
Only to find that when she looked up, he had vanished.
So instead, all of those feelings turned into tears. The curly haired girl slid down the wall, breaking down against it. She no longer cared about her dress getting dirty or her makeup streaking. All she could focus on was the sudden ache in her heart.
How could she be so stupid? How could she not have realized it sooner? How could he do this to her? And maybe that was the part that hurt the most.
This wasn’t just about finding out that a fellow classmate of hers was actually her long time rival. No, it was about the fact that she had been eagerly anticipating this event, putting so much effort into it, not just for herself but in a way, for Henry. Tonight was supposed to be a night where she could forget about all the grim realities of her stresses, her job and her situation; instead being able to let it all go just so she could have fun and relax. And she had wanted to, looked forward to , sharing this night with Henry, the boy who she believed had shared such an instantaneous connection with her. She had wanted to have a good time with him, and maybe after tonight, things could progress in the direction it all seemed to be going.
But now, any hope of that was dead. All because he had killed it.
Obsidian Eye wasn’t just a villain, she decided, he was straight up cruel. He was straight up cruel, and she hated him for it.
Charlotte wasn’t sure for how much longer she cried. Whether it was for another 10 seconds or another 10 minutes, she didn’t really know. All that she knew was that once the tears stopped, all she could do was stare at nothing for another elongated period of time. She wasn’t numb to the situation, no, it was too early to feel that way. The previous events still fresh and incredibly recent, but at the very least, she was done crying for the night. As if all her tears had dried up.
An energetic tune came from inside the ballroom. At first she had assumed the night was over and that that last slow song was meant to end things off, but it seemed like the recently-graduated students inside wanted an encore and the DJ somehow found it in his heart to give them just that. Or maybe he just needed a willing audience to debut his newest mixtape too.
Upon hearing the music, Charlotte immediately knew there was no way she could head back in there. Not only was she no longer physically suited for it, but a part of her knew that she would just have another breakdown if she re-entered that atmosphere. So instead, the brunette pulled out her phone and texted Schwoz, asking him if he could pick her up and take her home.
‘I’ll be there soon.’ Came his reply and the worn down girl once again headed towards the back of the building.
Schwoz arrived in less than ten minutes, just as Charlotte had texted Jasper that she was feeling pretty tired after the whole crime-fighting incident and she was heading home.
“Charlotte?” Came his heavily accented voice from the driver's seat. Briefly taking his eyes off the road in order to glance to the side, directing a concerned look at his younger co-worker. “Are you alright?”
“Yeah Schwoz I’m just… tired.” His colleague mumbled.
“Hmm. Ok.” Came his skeptical reply. He didn’t sound too convinced, but refrained from pressing her to elaborate. Whatever the older man lacked in conventional social interactions, he more than made up for in empathy and emotional intelligence.
When they arrived at her house, she silently thanked her friend, wished him a good night, and went inside her house. After sending a quick text to her parents confirming her safe arrival to their home she shut off her phone.
“You’re home earlier than expected. Were all of the 24/7 diners closed or did you get kicked out of all of the afterparties?” Veronika chuckled at her own joke as she heard her roommate enter through the steel door. Henry let out an amused huff of air.
“The second one, I’m too much of a party animal. Nobody can handle me.”
The blonde laughed, finally turning away from her computer and standing up to greet her friend. A clear contrast formed between the formal-attire-wearing male and his blue eyed counterpart who was currently sporting sweatpants along with an oversized shirt.
“Seriously Henry, why are you here at this hour? Not that I don’t love sharing the base with you but please don’t tell me you came back earlier just to check up on The Twitler situation. I took care of the rest of Rick’s bullshit after you left, you should be out enjoying the rest of your night.”
The taller male gave his literal partner in crime a tired smile. “Quit worrying about that, if anything I’m glad you told me. Piper would've been dead by now if that maniac went through with his dimwitted plan” He took off his tuxedo jacket. “Remind me to kick his ass next time I see him.”
Veronika shook her head with a smile. They both knew she would never let him do that.
Well, at least not yet.
“Honestly, I just got tired. I wasn’t really in the mood to keep dancing and making small talk after the amount of brain cells that I lost by just looking at Rick.” He half-lied. Obviously omitting everything that went down with Charlotte before he left.
But speak of the devil.
“And your date? Don’t tell me you ditched her for a second time.” Veronika’s tone was playful, but Henry could still tell that even if she didn’t know who she was in the first place, she still felt guilty at being partially responsible for making Henry ditch her. So he decided to make something up.
“She, uh, got sick from some of the food they were serving. Actually she sent me a message telling me that she was throwing up in the bathroom and couldn’t stay anymore right after you called me, so it all worked out.”
Was the story a little too convenient? Yes, but Veronika didn’t really have a reason not to believe him, so she simply accepted that version of events.
“Oh, ok then. I hope she feels better.” She replied slowly.
The blond then let out an exaggerated yawn, claimed he was very tired and wanted to get some shut-eye before having to get up to drive to Neighborville and pick up his sister from the train station. The villainous duo wished each other a good night and Henry entered his bedroom, stripped off his tux, and got into bed.
Laying in the darkness, Henry dwelled on the night’s events. More specifically, on his decision to reveal his true identity to Charlotte. It was something that he had been pondering since, well ever since he found out about her own identity really, but never truly considered until he had finally asked her out to the prom.
He took his time deciding, weighing how dangerous it could actually be, evaluating the pros and cons, thinking and planning for worst-case scenarios, among other things. He wanted to make sure he made the right choice and not just leave it up to the spur of the moment.
But even after all that contemplation, when it came time to actually go through with it, he did hesitate. Heavily.
For a moment, no matter how fleeting, he considered not following through. For him, the entire time that he and Charlotte had spent hanging out during or after school, or texting back and forth as their civilian selves had been some of the best times he had had during these past few months.
Obsidian Eye interacting with Kid Danger was always entertaining and he took every opportunity to make their exchanges ‘fun'. Still, whenever they met as their ‘super’ alters, they were always on some sort of mission that more often than not clashed with each other. No matter how amusing, they would inevitably end up fighting, and there was always this feeling of urgency that didn’t allow him to properly enjoy spending time with her.
Henry and Charlotte however? They were like two peas in a pod. They meshed with one another so well, like two puzzle pieces. He was convinced that if life had brought them together under better, less chaotic circumstances, they could have been best friends.
Maybe then, their first kiss wouldn’t have had to bring with it such tragedy.
Regardless, he didn’t regret doing it. He couldn’t. If he hadn’t done it, she more likely than not would have kept wanting to see him. He would have led a double life, dating her as Henry and fighting her as Obsidian Eye.
This all went without mentioning Veronika, who would sooner or later demand to know who his girlfriend was, insisting on running background checks on her due to safety concerns. Which, with the type of skills the girl had on the computer, Charlotte would be exposed.
Was his timing shit? Maybe, but in the end it had to be done.
Thinking about the consequences regarding himself was far less troubling. They had graduated High School, so she had no guarantee of seeing him again. Any legal documents detailing his legal guardian and his place of residence had been inaccurate for the past five years. On paper, the last time Piper had officially associated with him in any way had been when he had been thirteen and her nine. Back when she had been sent to live with an affluent couple on the other side of the country while he stayed in Swellview. Realistically it would be very hard to track him down. Veronika had made sure of that.
All he had left to wonder now, was that with the cat out of the bag, how their next encounter would go.