Archive of Our Own ^beta

Charlotte wasn’t supposed to be there. She was supposed to be far away, safe at the Man-cave. 

But they were on a date. He and Char spent almost every waking moment together, but there was always Jasper or Ray or Schwoz around. A month of being together and they’d only been on two actual dates. 

“One and a half,” Charlotte corrected him. Henry rolled his eyes and slipped his hand into hers. Char did that thing where she looked away and pretended that she wasn’t grinning like an idiot.

They were getting ice cream in the park that Sunday. Well, that was the original plan. Until Blazer, Swellview’s local fire-themed villain, who was really just some guy with a flamethrower, decided to melt the ice cream stall. And all the other stalls.

“Go!” Char shouted over the commotion. Everyone was running around or screaming about the fire. “Behind the toilet stalls, you can suit up there. I’ll call Ray.”

Henry watched her frantically search her phone for Ray’s contact number and realised that this was the first time he wouldn’t have to make up a dumb lie to get out of a date for an emergency. And a small part of him wondered why he didn’t do this sooner, why he suffered through the awkwardness of being with other girls when it was so much easier like this, to be with his best friend.

“Henry?” She asked.

“Yeah?”

“What are you waiting for?!” She screamed.

“Right. Bad guy. I’m on it.” He pressed a kiss to her cheek before reaching for his gum and running off.

That was about ten minutes ago. Maybe fifteen. Kid Danger had lost track of time in the battle. Captain Man may have been indestructible but Henry was not, narrowly dodging the blasts of fire that emerged from the villain’s flamethrower.

“Kid Danger! Over here!” yelled a voice. Charlotte was hiding behind a plastic slide next to a mother and her toddler. Char was supposed to be the smart one, the one who knew to run from danger. He needed to make sure she got out of there. “There’s a robbery happening at the jewellery store a couple blocks down from here.” She explained when he approached them. “I think Blazer is just a distraction.”

Henry nodded. “Thank you for your help…random citizen.” He looked over to the trembling mother and son beside her. “You three should evacuate–”

“Go!” Char yelled.

“I’m going!”

— — — 

The Swellview cops had the place surrounded, and by that Henry means two middle aged guys stood in front of the door with their tasers still in the holsters. Nothing to really be afraid of, if you actually knew what the cops in Swellview were like, but the thief must have been from out of town as the sign of the police prompted him to try escaping to the roof. Kid Danger used the fire exit stairs to try to get there before him, which he did, and he managed to land a couple of good punches on him before the thief pulled out a flamethrower of his own. 

Captain Man was back at the park dealing with Blazer, but Kid Danger was a hero too. He was fast, and managed to grab the bag of diamonds the thief was holding, before he could point his weapon properly. The thief, who Henry realised was quite tall, had his flamethrower aimed at Kid Danger, but before he pulled the trigger, he turned around and aimed it over the ledge of the roof. Kid peered over, and on the sidewalk of the street below a small crowd of civilians had formed to watch the fight. Nearly all of them had their phones out trying to record the fight, except for one seventeen year old girl. Charlotte Page had pushed to the front of the crowd, her eyes taking in the whole scene and trying to figure out some way to help. 

Shit. The one person he thought that he could count on to be safe. Henry made a dive for the flamethrower and in the fight for it, the weapon was triggered and it blasted the roof beneath their feet. 

The surface crumbled, like it had been hit by a small-scale bomb. Schwoz would later tell him that it wasn’t an ordinary flamethrower that the thief had, but it was something like an explosion shooter. 

Kid Danger would normally have found that weapon to be pretty cool, but this time he ended up in a pile of rubble on the ground where the jewellery store once stood. So maybe not so cool. The hero must have been passed out for a bit because he can’t tell how long it's been before he even opens his eyes. He groaned and tried to get up but a huge slab of concrete was weighing his arm down. Before he could muster the sense to call for help, he felt his arm get a hundred pounds lighter. He blinked once, twice, three times before he could make out the figures who had lifted the slab off of him. Char stood beside two older men, one of the cops from earlier and the other guy who looked like a construction worker. 

Charlotte.

“Are-” Henry tried to get up. She rushed to help him. “Are you okay?”

“Me!?” She asked, a mix of anger and worry in her voice. “You fell through two stories! Your arm could be broken, you’re barely standing, you’ve got bruises on your chin–”

He cupped her face with both hands. “Not what I asked.” And then he kissed her.

Henry would’ve been perfectly fine to stay like that forever, holding Char and ignoring the searing pain in his body. But Charlotte pulled back a moment later. A sizable crowd had formed around the rubble, and everyone had their phones out recording everything. Including their kiss.

Shit.

— — — 

“This just in, we have identified Kid Danger’s girlfriend.” Trent Overunder said on the news. 

Mary Gaperman added, “In case you missed it, earlier today Kid Danger was seen kissing someone after taking down a jewellery thief.”

“That someone is Charlotte Page. The three time winner of the Swellview spelling bee cup and a junior at Swellview high.” 

“Oh god,” Charlotte muttered. “Everyone at school is going to think I cheated on you or something with Kid Danger.” 

“What? No, who cares what they think.” Henry tried to be helpful.

“Hey Hen,” Jasper walked into the Man-cave from the elevator, eyes glued to his phone. “Sid and Oliver want to know how long Char has been cheating on you.”

Jasper looked up at his pair of best friends, one was spread across the couch, ice packs on his leg and one pack he held to his face, while his other best friend gave Jasper ‘the look’.

“O-kay then,” Jasper said. “I’ll tell them that Henry didn’t know.”

“Don’t tell them anything!” Charlotte yelled, before taking a breath to even her tone of voice. “Look if we just lay low and ignore it, people will forget it ever happened.”

Henry doubted that. If Ray were here, he would have pointed out the obvious: civilians love celebrity drama and the locals were not letting go of this anytime soon. Ray was getting Nacho Ball for the group, but Henry knew that when he came back he’d get an earful about how irresponsible he had been. Ray was reckless and never thought things through, but he was still an adult, and liked to lecture Henry on his mistakes even when Ray had done similar things.

Henry groaned and threw his head back against the couch. Charlotte reached over and took the ice pack he had been pressing against his face. “How are you feeling, Hen?” She asked, eyes examining his face to assess how badly he had been hurt. 

“Cold.” He grumbled. Schwoz was a scientist, not a doctor. His solution to any of Henry’s injuries was to throw a bunch of ice packs at him.

“Yeah, I figured as much.” Charlotte smiled at him. “Do you want something to warm you up?”

“You.” He muttered, reaching an arm out to pull her closer. 

“Henry!” She pretended to be annoyed, though Charlotte was a terrible actor, and picked away the ice packs on his thigh. “I meant like turning on the heater. Or getting you some warm soup.”

“Mhm I know,” He pulled her down into a slow kiss and she was careful not to press too much pressure on the ache in his legs. 

“I thought you were supposed to be running tests.” Ray interrupted. “You testing if his mouth still works?” Charlotte sheepishly pulled away. 

“Schwoz says he’s got no broken bones. Just a fracture in his left hand but we’ve wrapped it carefully. And a few bruises that’ll heal easily and can be covered with clothes. But on the whole he’s okay.”

“Great. Why don’t you go grab Schwoz and Jasper and we can eat.” Ray told her. She nodded and went behind the Auto Snacker to find Schwoz. Henry could’ve sworn Jasper was just here a second ago, but he had probably left the room around the time they started making out.

“Kid–”

“Don’t.” Henry groaned, “I know what you’re going to say. I was irresponsible and reckless and whatever.”

“It’s not whatever, Henry. You are very lucky to be alive. You fell through a building! Why didn’t you wait for my orders?”

“You were busy! I thought I could handle it. But obviously I couldn’t.” 

“You could’ve.” Ray told him. “You have enough training and experience, I mean you have hyper motility for crying out loud!”

“So what, I just messed up then?”

“You got distracted. By her.” 

Ah. He and Ray were close, but he forgot just how well Ray actually knew him.

“...She wasn’t supposed to be there. She was supposed to be here, safe, and coming up with a plan.”

“You have got to keep a level head out there, Kid. It’s not just hers or your life on the line, it’s hundreds of other people.” 

“I know, okay? I’m sorry. It won’t happen again.” 

“It better not. You’re smarter than that. I wouldn’t want to lose you over something that stupid.”

— — —

Charlotte knew what was waiting for her at school the next day. She’d seen it with celebrities and influencers, she’d be branded as the cheater, as some kind of a slut. And although she wished that Henry would have stayed home from school to rest, deep down she was looking forward to seeing him during their lunch break.

Lindsay, the brunette she sat next to in History, was the first person she’d spoken to all day. Probably because she had run away from anyone else who had tried to talk to her that morning. “Is it true that you kissed Kid Danger?” She whispered. Charlotte pretended to listen to their teacher drone on about the war of 1812. “God, you’re so lucky. You’re literally my hero” Lindsay said.

Charlotte’s head turned around. Lindsay went on. “The chance to be with a superhero. Girl, I’d leave my boyfriend too.”

“I’m not leaving Henry.” She responded.

The girl behind them, Myra, joined in on their conversation. “But you could be with Kid Danger! Look, Henry’s hot but he’s just some guy who goes to our school. This is an actual superhero!”

“You’d leave your kind, loving boyfriend for Kid Danger?”

“Yes!’ Both of the girls said at the same time. Lindsay was dating the Quarterback and Myra was dating the senior Valedictorian. 

Their simultaneous response caught the attention of their teacher. “Girls! Is my teaching interrupting your conversation?” The three girls muttered apologies, but the teacher came closer when she noticed Charlotte. “Are you guys talking about how Charlotte kissed Captain Man’s sidekick?”

Charlotte groaned and pressed her head down on the desk in annoyance. 

— — — 

“I hear about the whole Charlotte thing,” Brayden said to Henry during Algebra. Brayden was a decent guy, always nice enough to make conversation in class. Plus a few months ago he’d gone through his own bad break up when he found out his girlfriend cheated on him. 

“Yeah, thanks man.” Was all that Henry could say. The situation was too complicated to explain so being polite would have to do for now.

“It’s rough,” Brayden continued. “And it’s not even fair, I mean, Kid Danger!”

“What– what do you mean?” 

“At least when Ella left me it was for that guy on the soccer team. Me and Josh were evenly matched. I could take him.”

“What– are you saying that Kid Danger and I aren’t evenly matched?”

“Uh dude, he’s a superhero. Look I’m just saying that if it came down to it, you wouldn’t exactly win in a fight against him.”

Henry furrowed his brows. The girl in the seat in front of him turned around. “Hey Henry, since Charlotte left you, do you wanna go out with me?”“What? No, I’m still with–”

“You two were together for what, like a month?” She cut him off. “Is that how long it would take to date you before I get to kiss Kid Danger!”

The bell rang— thank god— and Henry was quick to pack up his stuff, careful not to exert his fractured hand. Jasper had met him by the door to his classroom so they could walk to their locker together. 

“Henry,” Darren approached him in the hallways. He was one of the tallest guys in their grade. “Do you know if Charlotte and Kid Danger are like– official or just hanging out? Cause I wanted to ask her out—”

“Dude, she’s my girlfriend.” Henry was getting frustrated.

“Right.” Darren nodded, not really believing him. 

“Hen!” Charlotte appeared. Henry threw an arm around her shoulders. Darren walked away, turning back to check out Charlotte from behind. Now Henry was pissed. 

“Uh, guys?” Jasper began to say. A cameraman and a female reporter entered the school. 

“This is Hope McCarthy reporting from Swellview high where Kid Danger’s girlfriend Charlotte Page currently is.”

“Are you guys even allowed to be here?” Charlotte asked the rational question.

“What is it like dating a superhero?” The reporter asked.

Jasper interjected, “She’s not dating Kid Danger.”

“Yeah, I’m her boyfriend.” Henry said loudly. His arm was still around her shoulders and he pulled her in closer to prove a point.

“Are you going to leave this boy for Kid Danger or can you really have it all? A superhero and a daytime boyfriend?”

“Alright that’s it,” Hen grumbled. He grabbed the microphone from the reporter. “I’ve got a message for everyone, and that includes Kid Danger!”

“Uh, Henry–” Charlotte tried.

“Charlotte is my girlfriend. You can’t just kiss my girl and get away with it. So we’re going to fight.” 

“Oh my god.” Char looked up to the ceiling, and wished that it would collapse and crush her right where she stood.

“That’s right. You made a move on my girl so you better watch out!” He handed the microphone back to the reporter who repeated the news about the fight to the camera, actively ignoring Char’s comments about how she didn’t belong to any guy and that all of this was unnecessary. 

— — — 

“So how are we going to do this? Ray asked. “Some kind of hologram, a clone machine maybe?”

“I can arrange a clone.” Schwoz answered.

“No! We are not cloning my boyfriend.” Charlotte said, crossing her arms. “And we are not going to let this fight happen.”

“We kind of have to.” Ray said. “Henry told everyone he was gonna fight himself.”

“Yeah and he said it on live television so now he has to commit.” Jasper added.

Charlotte stared them both down. “Violence doesn’t have to be the answer.”

“You’re violent with us all the time.” Henry corrected. Char gave him ‘the look’. “I– I mean I love you babe.”

“Mhm-hmm.”

— — —

“Are you sure I should be coming over?” Charlotte asked. They were already on the porch of Henry’s house. “With everything going on.”

“My parents love you Char. And they haven’t got the time to watch the news.” 

Henry had invited Charlotte over to join the Hart family’s dinner after work. It was his mom’s night to cook, thankfully, and she greeted them with a smile as both Henry and Charlotte helped set the table. Henry’s dad arrived home from work a little later, and Piper came down the stairs glued to her phone. Char hadn’t even managed to have the first bite of lasagna when Piper said, “I heard you kissed Kid Danger.”

“Piper!” Henry whined.

“Piper, honey,” their mom stepped in. “I don’t think that’s any of our business now, is it?”

“It is definitely my business!” Piper yelled. “I’m the one who’s president of the Man-fans, not her! And back when Kid Danger first became a sidekick, Charlotte, you told me that you thought he was cute but I called dibs!”

“You can’t call dibs on a person.” Charlotte said, reaching over to put some salad on her plate. “We’re all just people, who make our own choices about who we want to be with.”

“Well, Kid Danger should’ve chosen me!”

“Trust me, Pipes, he would not choose you.” Char chuckled to herself. But then she looked across the table at Piper’s wide, red eyes.

She hissed through her teeth, enunciating every word slowly. “And why wouldn’t he choose me?”

Mr Hart stuffed his face with food as Mrs Hart watched the two of them in shock.

“Kid Danger likes black girls!” Henry spat out. The entire table turned to look at him, but Charlotte had to look away to keep from laughing. Piper’s anger seemed to dissipate into something more like confusion.

“Really?” She asked. 

“Yup.” Charlotte poked at the food on her plate. “That’s what it is. That is what I meant. That’s the reason.”

“Huh.” Piper furrowed her brows and took a sip of her drink. 

They stayed quiet for a moment, before Mr Hart began to speak again. “So, Henry, you’re not really going to fight him right?”

“How did you even find out about that?” Henry asked. His father told him that a few of his colleagues had been discussing it during their lunch break. “Well I am going to fight him.”

“You really don’t have to.” Charlotte reminded him. “I’m not going to date whoever wins the fight, I’m with you because I want to be.”

“Listen to Charlotte dear,” Henry’s mom added. “She’ll still love you even when you lose. And I really don’t want to see you get hurt.”

“When I lose? You guys don’t think I have a chance?”

“It’s not that we don’t think you’re going to win,” Henry’s dad said. “It’s that we know you’re going to lose.”

“Oh, come on!” Henry groaned.

“He’s a superhero, Henry.” His dad reminded him. “He deals with weak, unathletic guys like you in his sleep. Plus he’s taller than you–”

“We’re the exact same height!” Henry yelled. Charlotte put her hand on his knee under the table. Henry took a deep breath and let it go. The rest of the night went off more or less with ease. Charlotte helped clear the table, making sure that Henry wasn’t using his left hand to put anything away. Piper sat on the couch and turned the television on as the family dispersed. Henry’s mom was boxing up the leftovers at the table and he took this as an opportunity to ask a favour.

“Hey Mom, would it be okay if Charlotte stays the night? It’s late, and I wouldn’t want her to go home by herself. Plus we kinda have some things we need to talk about.”

“Of course honey,” She nodded. “Charlotte’s always welcome here, you know that. Especially since she actually likes doing the dishes.” 

Henry beamed and walked over to Char, who was by the sink. Most people thought she was just trying to be polite by always volunteering to do the dishes, even though she claimed that she enjoyed it, which everyone agreed was just weird. But Henry knew that most dinners Char would spend on her own, with only one plate, one fork, and one knife to wash. So getting to clean up after every one was something she truly loved. 

“Hey,” he wrapped his arms around her waist. Charlotte’s hands were still damp and covered in dish soap, but she welcomed his hug. “My mom says it's cool if you wanna stay the night. You know, if you want.” He wasn’t clingy or anything, but he hated it when Char left. Part of him hated knowing that she was going home to an empty house, and an even deeper, more selfish part of him liked keeping her around. 

“Yeah?” Charlotte dried her hands with the towel and spun around to face Henry. “Your dad still wants me to stay on the mattress?”

“What he doesn’t know won’t hurt him,” He smiled. It was weirdly nice to do normal things with Char. Sure they spent most of their days together, but there was a quiet comfort in going through their routine together. She borrowed his Fred Lobster shirt and his old basketball shorts from when he was thirteen. They were tight on her, but Charlotte didn’t mind and Henry wasn’t complaining in the slightest. She made a comment about how she should start leaving clothes here for her to change into if she was going to stay over more often. He nodded but didn’t really agree. 

“I’m going to have to leave a little early tomorrow morning,” Char said as she reached for the spare toothbrush they kept for her. “So that I can get home, and change for school.”  

Henry watched the both of them brushing their teeth through the bathroom mirror, occasionally making eye contact every few seconds and grinning like idiots when they did. Piper passed by the open bathroom door and peaked her head. 

“Uh Char, you can use my make up remover if you want. And the skin care stuff, but do not use the white and pink bottles, those were crazy expensive.” 

Charlotte thanked her and whatever angry tension that had existed between the two was gone now. Henry went ahead to his bedroom to wait on Char, and beside Henry’s bed was the mattress he normally kept whenever Jasper or Charlotte would sleepover. Okay, maybe not so much where Char would sleep anymore. I have got to get a bigger bed. Henry realised. He was a pretty tall guy now for one, but also his single bed did not fit two people comfortably. 

He opened his phone and scrolled through the posts and the trending hashtags about the big fight that was going to go down. It was probably a terrible idea, this whole challenging Kid Danger thing. It was impulsive and reckless, but Charlotte was worth it. Even if he wasn’t defending her so much as defending her honour. 

“Hey baby,” she walked in and he put his phone down. She’d only called him that a couple of times before. Char climbed into bed with him as she thought out loud, “I’ll have to get up early tomorrow, go get my things—”

“You said that already,” Henry muttered as he wrapped his arms around her. 

Whatever, his stupid fight was a problem for future Henry to deal with. 

Then he suddenly remembered, “You thought I was cute?” 

“Hmm?”

“Earlier at dinner, Piper said that when I was first Kid Danger you thought I was cute.”

“What– no I– I mean this was before I knew that it was you. Like the first week of the job.”

“You totally had a crush on me,” he teased. 

“I had a crush on Kid Danger,” She corrected.

He smirked. “I knew it. I knew you were into the superhero thing.”

“Whatever,” she rolled her eyes. “I did mean it though. I would pick you over the superhero, any day of the week.” 

And obviously it shouldn’t have meant as much as it did, but Henry couldn’t help the shy pride in his chest. Being a superhero took over most of his time and his alias was all that people seemed to care about, to the point where he wasn’t even sure what parts of him left were just Henry. But right now he was here holding Char, in a bed that was far too small for the both of them, and she was dressed in his clothes, and they were both breathing evenly as they tried to fall asleep; maybe there were still bits of Henry Hart's life that were worth holding onto.