Nothing major, just my first published piece in testing the waters of the Zenryverse. As friends know, I write almost exclusively HD content for Charlotte and I am not a Suite Life person, but I do feel like I comprehend Zack as far as Nikki has interpreted him, so I hope I do both of them justice in this little tidbit that I whipped up. @zenryverse
The last time that Charlotte had agreed to bunk with a stranger for convenience purposes, she absolutely lived to regret it. Jasper’s ex girlfriend when he was still… doing that whole, finding himself thing and dating girls. The girl had tried to kill her, despite being pretty tight with Jasper. Sure, this was absolutely different, but Charlotte felt a little bit triggered every time Zack smiled and asked her if she needed anything. She would wait for the moment that he’d pull out a weapon and charged at her. It was ridiculous. She knew that, but that was what her mind decided to do to her with the anxiety of living in a new place with a stranger.
“Henry’s boyfriend,” was basically how she even knew this guy. Henry. “Master of being a good judge of character,” she thought sarcastically as she watched Zack cooking in their shared apartment, while she sat at the little table that was only big enough for the two of them, because that was all that they currently needed. He smiled at her from the other room - actually - there was only a threshold separating the kitchen from the “dining area,” which was a little corner of a room that she used for studying. Zack generally ate on the couch… the futon.
She forced a smile back at him and looked at her computer again. Charlotte had been accepted into Harvard and she had a full ride, but, there was some type of discrepancy in the dormitory applications and she wound up not having a place to stay by the beginning of the semester. A disaster, but something that she was quickly able to work around… Henry’s boyfriend offered her some space in his place. It was small, but he had an extra room that he could clear out for her and put a few things in storage. He generally used the room for his music creation and hobbies, but some of it could fit in his bedroom and he could rent out a storage space for the things he didn’t use as frequently.
She hated to put him out that way, but she had to have something very quickly, as the semester wasn’t going to wait for her to find an affordable place close enough to school, but she promised him that she’d be out of his hair as soon as fiscally possible. “No worries! Hen says you’ve literally saved his life more than a few times. You’re welcome wherever I’m at.” Right.
But, staying under the same roof with someone that she only knew through Henry, MILES away from the person that they knew each other through and for her, away from everything that she knew at all. She didn’t think she would get homesick, but being in close quarters with somebody that she didn’t know how to really interact with was more challenging than she’d figured it would be. The weather was very different, she didn’t know which eateries were the good ones yet. She had signed up for way too many classes to get her core curriculum out of the way, and she didn’t have any friends… after years of practically living with all of her friends. They were all doing their own things and their schedules were different enough that she couldn’t even schedule screen time with anybody but Schwoz, and half the time, he was running around after his new team of heroes.
The most conversation outside of classes she had were that Mika kid contacting her for advice, and these strained interactions with Henry’s boyfriend. He set a plate down next to the computer and she smiled up at him politely. He did keep her fed, so that was a plus. “There’s a farmer’s market I like to hit up, if you want to come with me this weekend,” he said, sitting across from her.
“Uhh…” she pulled up a holographic schedule and shook her head, “No can do, but thanks for the offer.” Zack’s eyes were studying the schedule with a smile in them. She nervously put it away and his eyes landed on her. She shrugged and said, “I use the tech from… you know… I made the schedule interactive, too.”
“Hen talks about how smart you are all the time. I mean, I knew, but it’s always kinda cool to see things for yourself… hey… you think that could work with sheet music?”
“Definitely,” she said. “I’m not that great at writing music, but I could make a program that made the holograph capable of recording the writing of music.”
He leaned back and folded his arms, smiling, “What you said was ‘not that great at writing music,” what I heard is that you write music?”
She laughed, “I mean, I can hardly call it that. I did learn to play a guitar fairly easily.” She huffed, just thinking about it, “Ray made me and Jasper learn instruments so that we could be his band. The idea was that we’d be on the scene of places to play his soundtrack during battles…”
Zack laughed and shook his head. “That’s… not a terrible idea.”
“It’s very narcissistic though.”
“I’ve heard he’s full of that. I relate… slightly.” He glanced at her untouched plate and that was her cue. Charlotte pushed her laptop aside. Dinner smelled delicious. She tried a little and saw as he lit up when he watched the obvious satisfaction on her face. “Is it okay?” He asked, knowing the answer.
“So, so good!” She commented, before forking herself another mouthful. “Thanks, for cooking dinner.” She managed, between chews.
“You were going pretty heavy on those instant noodle thingies. Figured you could use an actual meal, since you’ve got like daily classes. Why do you have daily classes?”
She held a finger up as she finished chewing, then admitted, “I thought because I was coming right out of school, full days scheduled, that I could go right back in all the same… and I can, but… I didn’t prepare for some of the extras.”
“Like eating?” he asked, incredulously. She shrugged. “How is that an extra?”
She chuckled, then thought for a moment, before pulling her schedule back up, hovering above the table, “When are you going to the farmer’s market?”
“Saturday, around 1.”
“Lock in schedule,” she said and Zack watched the lights of the time switch around as she gave other commands to make room for the visit. “There. I can go.” He held out his fist towards her and she shook her head, “I’m sorry I don’t fist bump while eating.”
“Fair enough.”
She returned to her studying while she ate. Zack eventually took their dishes away to wash as she stayed there for the rest of the night, ignoring her reminder to go to bed until everything else in the apartment was silent and she knew that if Zack had already gone to sleep, she was surely up far too late for her own good. Whenever she collected her things to duck into her room, she heard him talking softly and held her ear close to his bedroom door.
“Of course, I’m taking good care of her. I don’t know if she’s really taking the best care of herself though…”
She left him to his privacy. Probably talking to Henry. She checked her phone. Henry had tried to call her a few times within the past couple of hours. She suspected that he must’ve had some free time and presumed she’d be winding down or something. She glanced at Zack’s door and knocked twice, “Goodnight, Zack,” she called.
“Oh, there she is!” she heard him say. “She just told me goodnight. I could give her the phone… okay… nevermind then.” And after Henry must’ve said a little more, Zack called back, “Night!”
Henry had warned him not to get in her way if she was sleepy or hungry. He knew she wasn’t hungry, but if she was sleepy, he didn’t want friction. Henry knew her best, after all. He heard her bedroom door open and shut and talked a little longer to Henry before nodding off to sleep on the phone.
Charlotte noticed after getting out of the shower that Henry had texted her his warnings to Zack with a wink emoji, prayer hands and a heart, with the note: Last thing I need is you murdering my man.
She rolled her eyes and simply texted back: Goodnight, Idiot. He could hear the smile in her voice when he read it. He was glad two of his favorite people were in the same place when he couldn’t be with either of them, but dang. He missed them. Figuring things out without Charlotte around for a change had been one of the biggest challenges of his life. He wondered sometimes if things were just as hard for her, but she was Charlotte, so.. Not likely.
Charlotte laid in bed, playing some lo fi music from her phone trying to sleep. She wondered if Henry was having as hard of a time as she was… Nah. He still had Swellview. She picked up her phone to tell him that she missed him, but decided against it. He still had Swellview and he had Zack, and he had a new situation to settle into without her. “I miss you, Henry,” she said to herself and set her phone back down, willing herself to try to get some sleep while she still had a little time.
It has been about a month shy of two years since I updated this, but I know that at least one human wanted to actually read it, so tah dah! Lol. I’m sorry. I love y’all. @adorkable-blackgirl @jacksope-lives The previous chapter has @chenoahchantel and I didn’t realize somehow that she was reading this. Or it’s been two years and I just forgot, but better safe than sorry. Tag, Sis.
Share a Lair 20
Henry and Jasper thought themselves to be a couple of geniuses for what they were about to pull off. It was amazing really. While Max was miles and miles away thinking of proposing to her. He was trying to plan out how he would do it, what he would say, what type of fanfare needed to be involved. He thought about their first kiss under the fireworks and knew that he HAD to include that. He wondered if he should try to write her a song, since he was better at songwriting than when he was young. He wondered a lot of things, but mostly, he was worried if she would even say yes, and if she did, how soon she would be willing to get married. Could they elope that night? Could they rush to the courthouse in the morning and then have a small gathering followed by a stay in honeymoon, to make up for all the lost time? Would she want to wait until they were familiar with living with each other again, just in case all of their habits had changed? He was stressed out and he was freaking out.
Jasper left Russia a few weeks before Henry and Max did, and in that time, he stayed with Charlotte. She was thinking about not proposing to Max, but MARRYING him. MARRYING him, whenever he got home! She wondered, “Would it be too forward if Max got home and I had a wedding set up? That would be way too much pressure, right? He doesn’t like pressure, but then again, he likes grand gestures…”
“He LOVES grand gestures!” Jasper encouraged. “I say not as soon as he walks in, but like, maybe the secondary room.”
“The secondary… you mean the dining room?”
“Picture this! You can put up curtains here, going across the room. The two of you can be reunited here, and then the curtains open and BOOM! Wedding venue.”
Charlotte looked at the spacing and started to think of the guest list. The house was spacious, but not Thundermans family + Pages, Harts, Man Cave… “OR… You meet him outside, and then when you come in, BOOM! Wedding venue in here and that way…”
“Wait. How would I HIDE the wedding? Why not he walks in and BOOM, there’s me and TAHDAH! Also wedding?”
“That surprise is too much too soon,” Jasper said. She looked confused. It was literally a few minutes apart from his idea…
.
“What. If…” Charlotte started, in hour 47 of her and Jasper bouncing ideas off of each other, “I don’t do it right away, but I postpone it until April 1st, that way if he says no or just seems not into the shock of it, I can pretend it was all an elaborate prank and if I do that, then, he’ll feel more endeared to me.”
“I love that energy. I hate that wait. It would be a couple of weeks before you’d ask and by then, what if he’s already asked you and we’ve planned everything for nothing?”
“Do you think he’s thinking of asking me?” Charlotte wondered. Jasper was too quiet, trying to think of something to say to that. “He is?!?” Charlotte asked.
Jasper nodded his head and said, “No.” When she held his head still and he realized he’d been nodding, he said, “DANG IT!”
“Why would you spend all this time trying to help me propose when you knew that he would?”
“I wanted us to beat him to it!” Jasper said, as though she ought to know this. She mushed his head away from her and got up to leave the room.
That was when Jasper touched base with Henry, to get things happening on the other end.
Charlotte was now convinced that all she had to do was show up and be beautiful and she would have the things that she wanted. She loved an easy road. In fact, she took all of her accumulated vacation days surrounding Max returning so that she could have some spa days, deep meditation, proper rest, and all of the things that were going to have her equilibrium right and her nervous system calm. She worked on some fashions to design photoshoot perfect couture gumballs. She upgraded the system of the auto snacker to ensure that both of their favorite things would be available, and she made every room in the house a romantic experience, except for Max’s lair, which she didn’t go in while he was out of the country.
Not a single one of her hairs were out of place, her skin was perfection, her health was in peak condition. She couldn’t imagine that a single thing could go wrong. So, whenever Max called to say that his return was a little bit delayed, she was disappointed, but not upset. She could handle another few days… then it was a week, then two. She fumed about it. That would mean that many of her vacation days would go to waste. Not technically, since she was occupied in getting herself and the house ready, but she wanted ALL of that time for Max. She did work freelance, so she could adjust her schedule, but if she took on a client now and couldn’t manage their crisis within the next couple of weeks, that would SUCK. And if she didn’t take on any clients until after she and Max had their reunion time, that would affect her finances… not that she was hard up for money, but she liked to have a certain amount of wiggle room and stuff.
Ultimately, she decided not to take up any jobs until after, and that she would reschedule all of her touch ups and stuff for right before Max got back.
Which. He surprised her about. Charlotte was curled up on the couch with an actual physical book that she recently bought, wearing her glasses, with her hair in bantu knots beneath a bonnet and wearing a pair of lounge pants, a college sweatshirt and some bunny slippers when she heard something at the door. It wasn’t like the security system to not announce someone’s arrival, unless it was an animal or something, so she figured, maybe it was. Maybe some passing critter was around the door.
Then she heard the doorknob. “Oh no they not…” she said, placing her book down, face down and reaching beneath the coffee table for her zapper and cuffs. Whenever she heard the door open, she immediately zapped. ‘OUCH!” She heard Max call out and watched him hold his rib where she hit him. “THAT HURTS A LOT MORE THAN IT EVER DID!” Charlotte gasped and dropped the zapper and the cuffs as he laughed at himself and came in. “You altered that, didn’t you?”
“I DID!” She cheered, rushing over to him. She raised his shirt and saw where it had already left a mark. “The security system didn’t announce you!” She said, worried.
“I’m good.”
“And you didn’t tell me to expect you!”
“I wanted to surprise you. Surprise!” he cheered and opened his arms.
Charlotte was about to hug him, then she let out a huge gasp and begin to wave her hands towards herself and touched her bonnet and her clothes, realizing that she was not shaven or waxed, or dressed, or exfoliated, etc, and so on and so forth. Max ignored her freak out and pulled her into a hug, which melted every worry that she had about the imperfections of the moment away. “I missed you so much,” he said into her skin. “Sorry that I didn’t make it back on time.” Her head rested against him and she shook it. It didn’t matter. He was here now. They were together again. Their reunion could start.
“Where is all of your stuff?” She wondered.
“I left it in the vehicle because I needed this. To see you and hold you and kiss you.”
“You haven’t kissed m-,” she told him, but it was interrupted by him doing so.
.
After all of the elaborate ideas and things, Charlotte had relaxed about it all. She spent the better part of two days closely cozied up with Max, and neither of them had mentioned marriage, even in passing. She figured that she had simply had a moment like other people spoke of - when they had all types of beautiful fantasies about a wedding day. She had never done that as a child or a teenager, so she figured it had been something that she just caught later in life and got over almost as quickly as she thought it up.
She woke up to an empty bed a few days after he’d returned and sat up, confused, pulling the covers to her chest and looking around. There was a letter on the nightstand. She opened it and flower petals fell out. It was an apology from Max that he would have to get with Henry on some details that they forgot to tie up and would likely be at the Hero League Headquarters most of the morning. “Mannn…” She complained, throwing her covers off of her and irritatedly kicking her way out of bed.
“Hey Char, we’ve got the perfect…” She screamed, reached for her bedside zapper and zapped Jasper right in the belly. “HOT CROSS BUNS!” He cried out and crumbled to the floor.
“WHAT are you doing in my house?” she squealed. “And why does the system keep not alerting me?” She grabbed her bedside bathrobe so that she wouldn’t have to check on him naked and scurried over as he picked himself up.
“Max disarmed it to surprise you,” Jasper said.
“That was days ago!” she fussed and folded her arms, “What are you doing here?”
He pointed his thumb behind him, “Hen and I schemed to make Max be out of the house today so that you could set up the April 1st Proposal or Prank.”
“What?” She asked.
“Remember, we talked about it a couple of weeks ago.”
“Yeah, we got a bunch of wild notions about weddings out of the way a couple of weeks ago. That doesn’t mean we are actually gonna do that.”
“I already have all the help and the supplies to set it up. I came over with Henry to pick Max up and then told him I wanted to stay here and gush with you about how the reunion was. Perfect cover. Perfect timing. Perfect plan, etc.”
Her hair was all over her head and she could feel the bags under her eyes, since she and Max had not been sleeping much in the past few days. “You’re out of your mind. Get out of my house, Dude.” Whenever she walked out of her bedroom, she saw what he meant by having everything… There were heroes all over her home using superpowers and ingenuity to set things up, including Max’s family. She took a step back and shut the door. “Holy shit, Jasper, they are setting up a surprise wedding!”
“Or an April Fool’s Day joke. Depending on how it goes.”
Charlotte rested her head against the door. “This is not a good idea, Jasper. This is not a sane thing for normal people to do. This is not even… WHAT do they think that they are witnessing? Do they think that today I am either going to get married, embarrass myself or save face?”
“They think it’s a wedding!” Jasper said.
“So, if he says that this is too much, even for him, they get to be let down by there not being a wedding.”
Jasper shook his head and sucked his teeth. “Oh, Charlotte, Charlotte, Charlotte, and you’re supposed to be the smart one.” Her head snapped in his direction and he lifted his hands, “If he says it’s too much, then you have pulled an April Fool’s Day joke on everybody here. Just like you planned!”
“I did not…”
“It was your idea!’
“Did not mean…”
“It was brilliant!”
“I can’t do it!”
“So what, then? We send them all home now and tell them it was an April Fool’s Day trick on them and not Max?”
She shook her head and went into her bathroom to brush her teeth and wash up. Whenever she came out, Jasper was still standing there. “So, I guess we’re doing this,” she said, got her gumballs out of the night stand and picked up one that was blueberry lemon flavored, royal blue and gold colored. When she blew her bubble, she was noe wearing a royal blue pantsuit with a long cape. Not a hero’s cape, but an evening gown cape. She had gold jewelry and accents in her hair and shoes. Her hair was in a puffy pony hawk, and her makeup was perfect. “If I’m gonna make a fool of myself or anybody else, I’ll at least look good doing it,” she said.
.
Whenever Max got back, with Henry in tow, the two were bickering. Charlotte rushed towards the door, while everyone else was in the back of the house and Max was fussing at Henry about how HALF of the stuff that they did today, he did already and still not comprehending how Henry lost or undid his work. But, whenever they saw Charlotte, the arguing immediately stopped and he stared at her. “Is it too much? You didn’t let me get prettied up for your return, so…”
“It’s. You’re…” Max stumbled over his words and Henry pushed past him.
“Char!” he cheered. He hadn’t seen her in the past few days. They hugged and he picked her up and spun her around and began complimenting her look when Max cleared his throat and they looked at him. Henry sighed and shook his head, “I GUESS you can have a word with her. It’s not like you’ve been with her the past couple of days and I haven’t even seen her once since we got back…” He went into the other room and Charlotte panicked that they might make a noise or something, but everyone was quiet.
“You look amazing,” Max said. “I mean… you looked amazing when I came back.”
“Don’t lie,” she said, laughing nervously.
“You’re so beautiful, you don’t HAVE to dress up, then when you do it’s like.. A shock to my senses.” He kissed her, smiled and said, “I want to show you something.” He took her hand and began to go in the direction of the door leading to the surprise.
“What do you think you have to show me in there?” She asked and resisted moving forward. “I’ve lived here for three years, and I can guarantee that there’s nothing hiding in there that you could show me!”
He laughed and made a face, “Okay… but this is the way to the backyard.”
“There’s another way, that way,” she said and pointed at the front door. He frowned and tilted his head. “You know. We can walk around the side of the house and just…”
“What is on the other side of this door?” He wondered, pointing towards the wedding.
“A… Jasper… production. I swear, I only mentioned it in passing and he…” Max went through the doors and Charlotte stayed right where she was and held her breath.
Max looked around the room. It was decorated with white and gold decorations and there was a rolled carpet that went through the room and out to the back porch, and out to the yard… where there was an aisle and guests and… it looked like a wedding. “Oh shit!” He said and put his hands on his chest.
“WHERE IS THE BRIDE?” Jasper called out, but pretended not to be the one calling out.
“Oh shit,” Max repeated and back stepped into the house and turned and rushed back to where Charlotte was. “Charlotte, there is a wedding out there!” He said, with a laugh, then he was crying, or laugh-crying. He caught his breath and shook his head. “Ummm… So… There is a situation in our backyard.”
“Yeah, a bunch of people showed up here expecting to see a wedding,” Charlotte said.
“Please, explain. This should be good. I’m gonna love this.”
She explained to him about how she had been thinking about them getting married, and proposing, and how it all got here. His face was a wide range of emotions through the whole thing, mostly smiles and laughs.
“So… now, we have a wedding, in our backyard..”
“Or an April Fools joke,” he reminded her. She nodded, laughing at herself. “Let’s do it!” he said.
Her eyes went wide. “Get married in our backyard?”
He smiled. He loved a grand gesture and everything looked beautiful, but, “No. I’m not prepared to get married today, look at me!” He laughed. “Let’s prank them.”
“How?” She wondered. He took her hand and they went out of the front door.
.
“Are they getting ready? Does Max have a suit?” Barb wondered. “I can’t remember ever seeing him in a suit outside of his super suit…” People’s phones began going off and whenever they checked them, they saw a text from Max. It was a photo of him and Charlotte, getting ready to zoom away on his hoverboard and throwing a peace sign with the caption: April Fools!
“No!” Jasper inhaled and rushed into the house. Sure enough, neither of them were there. Everyone else came inside, and they searched the house, and neither Charlotte nor Max were anywhere to be found. Everyone turned to Jasper. He shook his head, “Well. I am just as shocked as all of you.”
Eventually, Henry texted Charlotte and told her that everyone had cleared out of the house. She read it to Max and he shook his head, “No. I don’t trust that. Could be him trying to get us back for the prank. I do not want to face my parents tonight.”
“Why didn’t you just let me say it was my prank?”
“Are you kidding? They’d hate you! They expect this type of reckless abandon from me on such a day.” They were curled up on a blanket at the beach with the sunset on the horizon and he nuzzled her with his nose, “On any other day, I would have.” She laughed. “I’m serious. I would have seen that scenery and said yes and threw on a tux as soon as my speed allowed.”
“Well.. why didn’t you?”
“On April 1st? That’s is a Max Thunderman high holy day. I can’t let you marry me on a day like that! I would never be able to give you an anniversary gift that wasn’t some type of very extreme prank.”
“You could just… not do that.”
“With whose self control, Charlotte?” She threw her head back and laughed, then shivered from the cold. Max wrapped her tighter in his arms and blew heat on the back of her neck. She shivered again in warm pleasure. She would never get tired of that. He stroked her skin, “We need an anniversary that I can give my full attention to. April Fools Day and our anniversary have to be two very separate, but still hugely important days.” They listened to the water for a while, and after a time, Charlotte broke into the sound.
“What were you going to show me?” she asked. “At the house?”
“I’ll show you when we get back,” he said.
.
11:59 pm. Charlotte was exhausted, but they figured that they would let everybody party and eat and get over things and go home before checking to see if the coast was clear. They reentered through the backyard and it seemed that nobody was there, even though Henry’s van was still out front, so they knew that at the very least he and Jasper weren’t gone. “Here,” Max said and led her to a camellia bush.
She gasped and shook her head, pointing at it, “That was not here earlier!” she said. Then she noticed that they lined the gate and seemed to go around the whole house. “What the butt…”
“Remember I told you that I made a super venus fly trap plant monster one time?” I put these camellia plant sprouts out when you were asleep and by my calculations for the growth formula, they were supposed to grow into a full bush right before the sun went down. I was gonna let you watch them grow and then after nightfall, I was gonna do this,” he flicked his wrist and she heard fireworks. When she looked up, she saw the question, “Charlotte Page, will you marry me?”
He clarified, “I was struggling a little bit with whether or not you would believe me if I proposed to you on April 1st, but then I saw you and I just… didn’t want to wait.” She looked at him, her face unreadable. “If it helps, it is 12:01, so technically, April Fools Day is over, but I would have been serious, still…” She hoisted herself up to kiss him and he held her close. “Oh!” He went into his pocket. “I almost forgot…” he pulled out a box with a ring inside of it. It was small, which she liked, because she didn’t want it to be too conspicuous and it had the shape of one of the flowers in the yard as its head. “Charlotte, I know that a kiss should be a really good sign and all, but I actually need to hear you incriminate yourself and say that you’ll marry me.”
“Incriminate?” She repeated, chuckling. Then, she slid her finger into the ring and said, “Max Thunderman, I will happily marry you.”
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Chapters: 1/?
Fandom: Final Space (Cartoon)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Characters: Quinn Ergon, Avery Ergon, Commander Ergon
Additional Tags: Sisterhood, Grief, Loss, Family, Military, Death
Summary:
Quinn Ergon has been looking out for her younger sister for most of their lives, whether Avery wanted her to, or not. Eventually someday, she will have to let her go.
Family Danger fans know I love me a Thundermans/Team Danger dynamic, but this time, instead of it being a Danger team with Thundermans (I can’t BELIEVE they called their new team Danger Force, a year and a half after my Danger Force); this is a Thunderman team with Dangers. And where the Family Danger team was Danger Force, this one is the Strike Force. I know it’s generic, but I wanted to keep with Force mode for my brand.You don;t have to be an FD fan but SHOUT OUT TO MY FAMILY DANGER OGS!!! I know that Lamia and Noah been here that long. If you been here since FD and still reading reading at my Share-a-Lair, know that you a real one.
“I'll think of something.” She smiled all through Henry and Jasper's visit. She and Max of course erased all evidence of them ever speaking, but just knowing the brain power of her man and the fact that he was willing to try to see her? She couldn't help but to smile. Henry was suspicious of her sudden change in moods. Jasper was confused, but just happy to see his bestie seeming happy *enough.
And Max? Well… He had his own things happening, as well. Whenever he reentered the tavern, Zenovia quickly wondered where he had gone to. He brushed off the question and soon left for the night. She invited herself over, but he declined, excusing himself for not feeling very well. She looked suspicious, but accepted it eventually and let him go.
She had no idea that her cherub faced mad scientist was in the process of gathering everything that he could to arrange a massive superhero sting. Charlotte probably thought that when he told her that he would think of something, that meant that he would orchestrate some kind of scheme to get her to be able to visit or him to be able to come home… Well… He definitely had a scheme being produced.
The Russian public didn’t know that Dangerstrike wasn’t present and they were not as familiar with Thunderstrike as they were with him… But… Max was sure that he could get this current assignment wrapped up sooner, rather than later if he acted fairly quickly, and… that might mean having to handle it by himself.
He called Henry after he set everything up, to talk to him about it.
“Yo, yo, Borya, my Man! Kinda chillin with fam…” Henry answered, in character.
“Strike Team is set to attack,” Max said.
Henry cleared his throat and wondered, “How’s that now? I’m not there...”
“I just wanted to let you know.”
“Wait wait wait… By yourself? Are you insane?”
“Little bit. So… see you soon… hopefully.”
“Max…” Henry said, but Max hung up, If the call was intercepted or anything before he had a chance to do this, it could ruin everything. Henry shut his eyes and pressed his phone against his forehead, as he tried to gather his thoughts.
“What’s going on?” Charlotte wondered, worried, after having heard him say Max’s name, then look distressed AF.
“Max is moving forward with a strike without me,” he said.
“WHAT?” Jasper squealed.
“Why would he do something so dangerous?” Piper wondered. “Isn’t he up against like… supervillains right now?”
“Everybody just…” Henry still had his eyes shut and needed to think for a moment.
Charlotte whimpered, “He’s doing this for me.”
“Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!” Henry hissed. Then he got up, “I’ve gotta get back there before he gets himself killed. Everybody that he could possibly strike against is dangerous. Like world domination level dangerous! And he plans a strike against them? WITHOUT ME??? What the heck could’ve happened between the last time I saw him and now for him to go on this… this suicide mission?” He was asking rhetorically.
“I sort of reached out to him and begged him to be able to see him soon…” Charlotte admitted, feeling super guilty and ashamed. Piper, Jasper and Henry stared at her. “I missed him and…”
“And you thought that seeing him in a casket was better than waiting a little bit until we had gotten the Russian crime syndicate handled?” Henry snapped.
“That’s not fair, Henry,” Jasper said, his voice soft, but stern.
“Jasper, you know what these people are capable of! Unlike Charlotte, you’v4 been around them and exposed to their depravity. Max doesn’t stand a chance on his own! And she basically SENT him to his doom.”
“Maybe you just don’t realize what Max is capable of!” Charlotte said, angrily. “If he’s doing something, he’s already thought out everything. There’s no way. There is no way that he would risk himself if he thought it was unlikely. He wouldn’t do that to me.”
“He’s stupid when it comes to you!’ Henry yelled. The two of them were arguing and coming towards each other, getting in each other's faces, Jasper attempted to hold them at bay while Piper ate and watched.
The argument traveled with them all the way back to the Hero League Headquarters. Piper came through the golden portal with them and said, “Whoa, that was pretty cool…” They scoffed and noticed that she was with them.
“And now look what you’ve done!” Henry fussed at Charlotte. “You’ve let Piper come along!”
“I’m the only one who was able to open the dang portal. YOU should’ve been the one to make sure that your sister didn’t come through…” There was a lot more fussing. Jasper had given up on making peace. “It’s like I have to do everything!”
“Sending Max to his death was doing enough, I think..”
“LOW! JUST LOW!!!” She shrieked, not wanting to say anything else to him at all or even LOOK at him, at this point. For the moment, she and Henry stopped arguing. Jasper directed Piper to where they would be able to wait, Charlotte and Henry continued towards the department that they would have to gain access to a portal to Russia.
That was really the only way that they could get there quickly enough. A jet would most likely be later than they needed, but approval might take just as long, so while Henry explained his emergency situation, she tried to work the system to see if she might be able to create one herself.
She could get in A LOT of trouble for it, but she was pretty sure that she figured out the proper coordinates and configurations for it… But, she also felt like she only had enough skill to get Henry through unnoticed, then MAYBE she might hang back and clear her tracks.
“Miss Page-” Charlotte yelped whenever she heard Super President Kickbutt say her name. The woman wore a stern look that reminded her of whenever her mom was disappointed. “Come with me, please.” As Charlotte followed, sad and scared, the woman quickly appeased her fears with, “You aren’t in trouble… yet. I actually could use your help with something.”
“MY help?” Charlotte repeated,
“You’re the young lady who keeps sending me her success updated resume to gain a place in crisis management, correct?”
“Yes,” Charlotte said, wondering if maybe they hadn’t caught her trying to hack their transport, or if she was about to have to work her way out of punishment for being detected. Either way, she couldn’t say no to whatever this was.
“As I believe you know, Max Thunderman has given us the go ahead to apprehend 13 high profile criminals he has connections to in Russia…”
“I may have heard something about it... okay, so wait… You know, so that means that he has backup available? So, I didn’t send him rushing into a loveblind suicide mission!”
She stopped walking to turn and look at Charlotte and give her an incredulous look. “Of course. Who do you think is running things around here?”
“In my defense, I worked for Captain Man, for many years…” Charlotte said.
The woman looked for a moment like she totally got it. She chuckled a little, turned sharply, smirked and waved a hand in her direction as she continued walking, “Come along.” President Kickbutt explained that she needed her to evaluate the scene and help the crisis team with tech backup, In the meantime, Henry would be debriefed and sent back to Russia, per his request.
Charlotte went into the crisis center and there were various techs, some speaking on lines, some indicating things on screens, and various other controlled chaos. The team she was introduced to was lead by a clairvoyant super who apparently knew that she would be there tonight and also had seen that Charlotte would be the person to make sure that this assignment went successfully. That was a lot of pressure, but she had to just pump herself up and go for it. She had an opportunity both to help Max and Henry AND prove herself worthy of a position in Metroburg, doing her dream job...
.
Borya had a full set of facial hair. Sometimes, Max would get stubble back home, but Charlotte’s responses would quickly let him know when it was time to shave. He hadn’t focused on it as much whenever they were preparing to leave and since they had been in Russia, he continued to let it grow, the hair up top, as well, and he was typically pretty hairy bodily. In other words, his alias was a hairy guy and generally in winter clothes, covering most of himself. Zenovia had seen some of him, but not so much that she could detect him in his super suit, especially with a freshly shaven face and a body virtually identical to his Borya body available.
A lifeless clone. He didn’t want to activate the thing, knowing that it would be destroyed, but he also needed to make it like Borya was gone, by the end of this, lest stragglers try to find him whenever he didn’t wind up locked up like the rest. The set up would involve him calling an emergency meeting to say that he believed that agents were on to him and he would need all of them to take their product (whatever he might be providing to each of them) and move it.
Now, one might think that they would send goons, and he was willing to risk that happening because he had surveillance on everyone in the secret lair anyway, BUT, most of them had very sensitive orders that they would most likely want to be certain to get themselves and in the event that they didn’t, or found it suspicious, well… Max had gotten word that Kickbutt pulled Charlotte into Headquarters to work out contingency details with the logistics team. He let out a sigh of relief whenever Simone told him. That was more of a relief than the fact that Henry was on his way back. “Dude, I could kiss you and kill you, then kiss your corpse for what you put me through!” He heard Henry say as soon as he came through the portal. They hugged and Max said, “I’m glad you could make it. I’m not gonna lie, I haven’t worked with my siblings in a long time.”
“They’re gonna be here?” Henry asked, “Even your sister?”
“My very unavailable sister will be here. They were able to provide backup faster than I could get you back here and I didn’t want to take you away from Charlotte over the holidays…”
“Okay, LISTEN. If we live past this mission, this ends, alright? I can handle big boy hero things and Charlotte can handle big girl solo things, if something too terrible happens. We’re the team, now, you and me. DangerStrike and ThunderStrike, the Strike Force, and it’s time to strike these bastards.” They got into their costumes and left the door open so that their guests could wander to Borya’s lab and find him dead.
The place was surrounded by Billy, Nora, and Chloe. Phoebe was on the roof with Simone. Billy and Chloe had to be ready to run or teleport after escaping criminals. Simone and Phoebe were ready to kick butt and make arrests. Henry and Max would have the hard job of striking their targets as they came in and trying to make sure that they didn’t get out or make things look too suspicious as to scare away any of the others.
A couple of them hadn’t shown up but sent goons in their place, in both cases, Max reluctantly had to send a younger sibling with Hero League backup to retrieve them. Last, but not least, Zenovia showed up. She looked like she immediately realized that things were off. Phoebe and Simone had ten criminals unconscious and bound in the jet, but the mansion looked disheveled and the sounds weren’t the same. She wanted to flee, but had to see about Borya. Was he okay? She found his body and rushed away, in anguish, but was cut off by ThunderStrike. They immediately engaged in fighting and she was still quite the opponent, but she noticed something… his movements - how familiar they were and she stared at him, seeing his eyes, but nothing else familiar. “You played me,” it was a statement. Not a question. She laughed. “We’ll find out who you really are, and everyone that you love…” He punched her unconscious and she fell and hit her head against the stone railing. She was bleeding.
“Were… you trying to kill her?” Henry asked.
“No! Of course not… But…” He checked her pulse. She was alive, but she had hit her head pretty hard. “Thundergirl and Kicker can get her taken care of. I’m going to rendezvous with Pop Out. You’re with Turbo Toes.” Henry nodded and they each rushed to their emergency vehicles.
Dangerstrike had motorcycle and Thunderstrike, a hoverboard that was akin to jet surfing.
“Dangerstrike, do you copy?” Henry heard Charlotte ask.
“Go for Danger!”
“I’m going to send you an alternate route to get to where Turbo is. You have a very small window and they are shutting down traffic surrounding their lair. You two are gonna have to grab or kill your target and jet set it straight to Thunderstrike and Pop.”
“Copy that, Pagemaster!”
“Don’t call me… Actually… I like that.”
“Yeah, that was good.”
“Hey, just in case, I’m sorr…”
“No. We’re gonna talk it out later. Love you. Byeeeeee.”
Charlotte took a deep breath and then said, “Thunderstrike, do you copy?”
His heart leaped around in his chest and he said, “Thunder, at the ready.”
“Good luck… I love you.” He heard a chorus of “Ooooooooooooo”s in the background.
“See you soon,” he said and rushed to Chloe’s aid with a newfound excitement.
.
Charlotte was waiting with Hank and Barb, Piper, Jasper, Ray, and Schwoz in headquarters. They could see Phoebe and Simone, carrying in several Russian baddies. Then Nora, Billy, Chloe… And at the rear, Henry and Max, holding themselves, and each other up, but walking and alive. She rushed out of the area and ran over to them with Jasper right behind her. The others were sensible enough to wait. Charlotte leapt onto Max and he caught her, though he groaned when he did, because he’d taken quite a few beatings, but he’d be damned if he was going to let her go anytime soon.
Jasper stared incredulously and shook his head, “No regards for his safety. Come on, let’s get you to medical, stat.” He helped Henry in the direction that he needed to go. Charlotte found the floor with her legs and cried against Max’s super suit, standing on her own again, but not letting him go.
“Rough night?” He asked.
“I thought something terrible would happen and that it would be my fault,” she admitted in a shaky voice.
He rubbed her back and kissed her forehead. “I told you that I would see you soon. Maybe you oughtta listen to me next time,” he said and when she looked up at him he winked at her. She told him to shut up, then pulled him to kiss her and he knew that she had to be going through something, because she never liked to do stuff like that in front of strangers, much less in this professional setting. “As much as I want to do this all night long, I really should probably see medical,” he said. She snapped to and quickly went along with him to do so.
The Russian assignment was finally one of stationary protection, now that they had gotten the big shots out of the way, there were a lot of petty criminals trying to take on roles much too big for them.
The next few years, with the Strike Force taking care of things, Max didn’t feel the need for any bright ideas to be undercover, although he was meeting a lot of his favorite Russian scientists and even working with some.
Charlotte’s performance in the crisis was noticed by not only the Hero League, but acknowledged by the FBI, CIA, and some other alphabets that she didn’t even know existed. Max told her to market herself as freelance, not to take up any type of residence in any of those organizations - that way she could work and travel on her own time (and visit him in Russia when she didn’t have assignments). And… it was working out. They were both very busy in their separate careers, but they weren’t too busy and he wasn’t too hidden that they couldn’t talk regularly and see each other for special occasions.
Piper and Jasper had signed up for superhero sessions whenever they were at Headquarters, because, what the heck? They worked with them for a while, anyways. Maybe they could bet some perks or something if they took some classes. Piper wound up getting assigned to Billy and Nora for training and shadowing, while Max recommended that Henry was ready to take Jasper under his wing. “Are you sure, Dude? You think that I’ve learned all that there is to learn from you? Because like…”
“If you compare me to Ray Manchester, I swear I’m going to freeze you,” Max said. Henry shut up. It was cold enough without all of that.
“So, are you like my super grandpa?” Jasper asked.
“Don’t freeze him!” Henry warned Max.
The three bickered a little bit, up until the point that the monitor sounded, “Incoming call from the future Mrs. Thunderman…” Max smirked and told the others, “I’m gonna take that in my chambers.”
“Tell Char we said hi!” Jasper cheered.
Max opened the video call to see her radiant face, beaming with a smile and her eyes twinkling. He wanted to always see her like that. And the next time he saw her in person, he was going to get down on one knee and ask her if he could have the pleasure of doing so.
I hope that everybody has been doing well. This chapter isn’t as long as the previous, but that’s mostly because these have been running together, and I’ve been trying to find stopping points for them. I wanted to fully get through this emotional journey that Charlotte is taking the guys on while she figures some things out and after I have the chance to do that, we’ll get back to the action and premise. This was a little bit of a fun break from some of that, even though it is very much so a Max stress chapter, Max is a person that doesn’t wear his upset on his sleeve.Let me know what you’re thinking. I’ve still got notes, but I’m running out of them. Lol.
The Way I Danced with You
This was possibly the best tea that Chase had ever tasted in his life. Max didn’t order tea. He ordered a smoothie and added in a bunch of things that like… why didn’t he just get dessert? All of the sugar content couldn’t be good for him, plus… He mentioned planning on drinking later. How was he able to keep that physique and excel in hero duties with all of the sweets and alcohol he partook in? Chase didn’t do stuff like that. He made sure that his body was as immaculate as humanly possible. But tea would often be one of his guilty pleasures… Not that tea wasn’t healthy, but he ordered for taste and aroma, not so much the medical or spiritual purposes that Charlotte usually adhered to. He wondered how she was doing with “her guys.” He wondered if their presence at the cottage had made the difference that Max once hoped for with those guys. He wondered what it would be like whenever they reunited…
“Okay, so, we gotta go shopping. Gotta get some Dystopia clothes to wear and some supplies for the robot research. Then, it’s to the library, because there’s an entry way into Charlotte’s lab there and that’s the closest and easiest one to access. I’ve gotta look over the potential genius pool results for minions and get them started on one of my side projects, while I have the down time. Gonna swing through Maxtropolis and check in with Marx and Dougie - you can stay in the car if you need to…”
“I’ll be fine,” Chase said, but even thinking about it made him tense.
Max brushed it off and continued, “Probably will be around lunchtime. So, gonna do that at The Bionic Brothel…”
“Brothel???” Chase repeated, clearly horrified.
“Relax! It’s a soup saloon.” His eyes grew misty as he stared into the distance, “There’s nothing else in the world like their soup selection.” Chase glanced towards where Max was staring off into the distance and this brought him back to the conversation, “And, they’ve got cool soup selections and other stuff too, so even though it’s hot outside, you could still enjoy something. One of the biokids Char plucked from your dad’s island opened it up about a year ago. It’s a bionic owned business with a bionic staff, with the exception of a few regular servers. Hostess is an android… Or was. I don’t know the status of the ones that were living life before this hellstorm…”
Now, it was on both their minds again, but Max found his voice to say, “And after that, check in with Charlotte to see if she needs anything, and if not, head back to the Super Stay to wash up and get ready to go to Dance Off Revolution.”
“What… what is Dance Off Revolution?”
“You really have got to get to Dystopia more often!”
“Something that 16 year old me never could have imagined anyone would ever say…”
“Dance Off Revolution is an underground club where dance crews have battles and soloists try out for crews.”
“Are you suggesting that we try to join a dance crew?” Chase asked, a little bit more excited than he intended to sound, but Max froze and looked at him with equal excitement.
“I wasn’t, but the tone in your question tells me that I was wrong! Hell yeah, we’ll try out for a dance crew!”
Chase smiled, cheerfully, then collected his thoughts, “Wait a minute, we can’t try out for a dance crew. We don’t have time to join a dance crew! We’re only here for a few days or so.”
“You don’t do things JUST TO SAY that you did it?” Max asked incredulously.
“I mean…” Chase smiled brightly again and gushed, “YES!”
“Oh man, I am gonna destroy you on that dance floor!”
Chase furrowed his eyebrows. For some reason, in his mind, they were about to do a thing together, not face off. But at merely the suggestion that Max could defeat him didn’t sour his mood. It made him competitive, “In your dreams Super Kid.”
Max’s eyes grew wide, “It is SO on!” He started mumbling something about, “Thinks he can defeat me in a dance battle? This boy don’t even know Beyonce’s catalog and thinks he can beat me in a…”
“What does Beyonce have to do with dancing?” Chase asked.
Max almost crashed the car, then came to a screeching halt. People were honking their horns as he collected himself. “Tell me… that you just did NOT…”
“We are in the middle of the street…” Chase said, nervously, and mouthed apologies to angrily passing vehicles.
“That’s like asking what Usher has to do with dancing!” Chase narrowed his eyes, not wanting to ask it out loud, but Max read his face, clenched both of his fists and yelled, “YOU’RE WONDERING WHAT USHER HAS TO DO WITH DANCING, AREN’T YOU???” Max shook his head and started driving again, making a very illegal U turn. “Plans are cancelled until further notice. You have to be schooled in the Church of Usher.”
“Is that another Dystopia landmark that the tourists don’t usually hear about.”
Through his teeth, Max chimed, “It is a lifestyle choice.” He turned on an Usher playlist and headed for his friend’s house.
.
Simone was giggling about Max Thunderman being in her dance studio, in front of the mirrored walls, showing Chase Davenport Usher choreography. It was extremely unexpected and cute. She loved this so much. AND they gave her permission to put any of the clips she recorded on her stories for the Kickbutt Dance Studios Company page. By the time they finished, Chase knew every Usher song with the choreography and was in the best mood that Max had ever seen the guy in. He took a call from Mr. Davenport while Simone and Max talked.
“So… This your new romance prospect?” She wondered.
Max furrowed his eyebrows, “What? Are you joking?”
Simone looked confused, “You asked me to open my studio for you to share Usher with him and danced for hours. You put together a routine for Dance Off Revolution! …If that isn’t a date, then I don’t know what is. Anyways, you like teacup people with bright eyes.”
“SHUT UP! I do not!” He did, but. He already had a teacup person with bright eyes. Charlotte.
Simone laughed and shrugged her shoulders, “I guess…” She looked towards Chase, then said in a lower voice to Max, “Just, be careful around the bionics. I don’t know. He seems nice and all, but they’re… they’ve brought a lot of controversy and contempt into our world.”
Max didn’t expect to defend Chase, but it flowed out naturally. It wasn’t even because he felt connected to him or that they had bonded over dance. He just knew that the things that people thought about Chase were probably misconstrued, after having spent some time with him. “I know that, but he isn’t like that.”
“Kaz seemed to think so,” she said.
“Do you ALL know each other???” Chase asked, coming back over.
“Pretty much,” they both said.
Chase fussed, “And why is Kaz ALWAYS talking to someone about me? Jeesh.”
Simone wasn’t EVEN going to get on that subject. “Look… I know you did a lot for the supers whenever the war started, and as someone who could’ve potentially been slaughtered, that definitely means a lot. I just still take issue with the fact that bionics are comfortable with taking the credit for supers’ successes.”
“The supers have told us that they don’t want your world uncovered,” Chase said. “I guess your buddy Kaz leaves that part out when he’s keeping a personal journal about my life.”
“That was years ago, my dude. People know that we’re here now, and yet bionics are still seen as heroes while we’re seen as freaks. The difference being because you guys are just nonsupes with technology and we were born this way. You can’t remove our abilities and that makes nonsupes dehumanize and demonize us. As someone who knows and works with us and even fought alongside of us, I would think you’d be more vocal about exposing the truth. No other bionic person has the platform that you do.” She shrugged her shoulders and said, “Just something to think about. Personally, I never really wanted to be a hero. I love being stationed in Dystopia. The Defenders do most of the work and I was able to open my own dance studio! So, I’m not insulted on behalf of heroes. I just watched my mom bust her buns to be a hero and never get to let the world know, and now that the world is evolving and slowly making room for supers, I think it’s important that our importance in history and in today’s formation is esteemed, as well.” She shrugged her shoulders.
Chase nodded his head, until Max tried to answer for him. “Well, it’s not really his platform, so he can’t just start making statements about supers.”
“Who’s platform is it?”
“His dad’s.”
“I don’t know his dad.”
“His dad’s in charge. He’s just the poster boy.”
“Wait a minute!” Chase interrupted.
“Say no more. I know how that is. I was the Super President’s daughter coming up. No platform of my own to be found.”
“I have a platform!” Chase insisted.
Max smirked, “Yeah, that Daddy controls. Excuse me, Mr. Davenport…”
“I can put whatever I choose on my platform!” Chase fussed.
“Okay,” Max said, rolling his eyes, then laughed when Chase pouted about things. A few more minutes, and they were finally off to do the things that Max intended to do before. Chase remained pouting. Max drowned out his sighs and groans with more Usher. Chase tried to resist moving along to the music. He couldn’t, but he definitely was able to hold his glare.
By the time they were shopping, he lightened up, but the implication that he couldn’t speak for himself because he represented Davenport Industries would continue to bother him. He picked up the tab, because he knew he had more money than Max did and he did feel like he owed him for being pretty generous with stuff like cooking breakfast and offering beverages and stuff. They would be working together and he had to get used to treating him like a person that he was considerate of. Super Stay was a hotel that supers tended to stay in, though there was other clientele.
They were in the Maximus Suite, and the place had a bionic chamber. Chase was impressed with it. It wasn’t like the one that Charlotte kept for him, but it was pretty good for a hotel. Dystopia was extremely accommodating, now that he was visiting. He didn’t want to tell Max that he had quarters in the city, because Max was pretty comfortable with this arrangement of them being in the same suite and he didn’t want to seem ungrateful or rude.
Once they were cleaned up and changed, they met in the common area of the suite and Max announced, “Sure you’re gonna be alright seeing Marx?”
“I’m not a baby, Max.”
“Okay. Well… it’s closer than the library now, so there first, maybe get soup with Dougie and then the library. He’ll probably wanna look over Char’s robot stuff anyways,” Max said.
As they headed out, Chase wondered, “Are you two like… really close?”
Max thought for a moment, then said, “Well… I think so. Something that my family never really realized about my villainous days was that I was missing something. I thought that there was no way that I could ever be as good a hero as my sister and I had a pet villain to motivate me in other directions. My parents never supported me unless I did something they approved of and well… I felt like I found what I was looking for in Dr. Colosso… and I mean, I ultimately made the right decision but I was so close to the darkness. Douglas went into the darkness and when he came out, he'd lost his family. Sure, he was able to get back in, but he still missed out on so much and can't fix what he's done. I empathize. I didn't go as far as he did, and if I had, who knows? My family might not trust me. It could have gone so much worse. Dougie helps me to remember to be grateful and I help him to have a connection with a son like figure that he can relate to. There's mutual understanding and appreciation that we haven't exactly been able to get from our loved ones that have never did the dance in the darkness that we've done."
Chase didn't want to talk about why he didn't trust Douglas fully or the tension and resentment he still felt, after years of work and trying, but, one thing was still true, "I'm glad he's got someone like that."
“He would trade me for one of his own in a heartbeat,” Max said, with a shrug, though the thought of Douglas ever turning on him shook him deeply. He was around when Colosso died… And honestly… he was the only person who was at all helpful. He… wanted to reanimate him as an android bunny, which no… I didn’t want to do, but I sure appreciated his desire to help me cope.”
“Bunny?” Chase repeated.
“I’ll explain later. Anyway, yeah… Dougie and I are close. He’s basically me, if I was old and lonely.”
“Lonely? With you, Charlotte, and Charlotte’s weird little friend?” Chase asked.
“Wow. You’re just gonna disrespect Schwoz that way? Yes. Even with a few friends, Douglas is still lonely. He doesn’t even get to be fun uncle to Naomi.”
“More and more, it’s sounding like you just hang out with him because you feel bad for him. Scared that you’ll turn out that way?” Chase joked. Now, it was Max’s turn to frown.
“Maybe,” he muttered. Probably, he couldn’t get himself to admit out loud.
.
“So, you ready to help me to create a whole new Dystopia?”
“I’m ready to watch your back while YOU create a whole new Dystopia.”
“That works!”
Thunderstrike smiled at Charlotte, his mask hiding half of his face, but not the eyes - old school style, as was the case with the heroes of his bloodline. That and a cape. He was ready to be the hero that she needed to do whatever it was she had to do.
Charlotte was it for Max. He’d made that up in his mind before he ever met her. Sure, he’d done this before (with Cheyanne), but with Charlotte, it was different. First off - he apparently was drawn to her, because he admired her in each form she had, not even knowing she was the same person. And then, they became friends, and then he relocated to Dystopia during the height of its crime and then… he felt validation.
She finally was starting to see him for who he was and he’d hoped, for who he could be to her. At that time, she’d been away for over a year and doing a lot. He could tell that she wasn’t as connected to her former partners as before. He could tell that she cared for him, maybe not as much, but enough for it to matter to her… enough for him to matter, for THEM to MATTER!
The Super Stay wasn’t around yet, so he had a cabin on the campsite of the shelter he used to bring supplies for (Henry and Jasper’s shelter), and it was cozy and had every amenity needed, but sometimes, he wanted a bath. It was hard to get used to not soaking before he showered, and Charlotte was staying in the fancy place that Mr. Davenport provided, so whenever he’d mentioned this particular inconvenience, she suggested that he could do that at her place. Most of the time, she was either at work or at Henry and Jasper’s (which she was still calling “home” at the time), so she gave him the extra key and told him to make himself comfortable.
He wasn’t going to impose. He just wanted to soak and think before he showered. Nothing else. Only, whenever he came over to do so, Charlotte was always there, despite having claimed that she was never really there. “Guess I just have bad timing,” he joked.
“Or good timing,” she said, with a bright smile and went to retrieve a pair of pants. She was just wearing panties and a crop top sweatshirt, with her locs tied up in a scarf. She didn’t seem uncomfortable with him seeing her that way, or maybe she presumed that he’d turn his head when he realized that she wasn’t decent… Or maybe, and he didn’t want to presume, but couldn’t help it, maybe she’d wanted him to see her like this. She pulled on the tight fighting, snug leisure pants and headed into her bathroom… where HE was about to go. “So, this is where the towels are,” she told him and he followed her voice, gasped when he saw how wondrous the bathroom looked, before even making it to the walk in linen closet, which was full, not only with towels, but soaps, skin products, dental hygiene supplies, etc, and had a little computer on the side. “This is Madame. If you’ve ever seen the episode of Fly Homes with the Dom, that computer system that he calls Eddy, this is like that, but for here and she isn’t obnoxious. She’ll help you with anything you need to set the tone. Oatmeal, honey, milk, tea, whatever you wanna add to the bath. The pressure of the rinse… All the details. You can program your preferences under your name.” She started showing him how.
It was dope. He stayed for a while, laying in the tub, not realizing how much he’d needed this and also hating the fact that he didn’t have such a fancy set up in his house. He’d have to change that at some point… But, that night, he simply rested and soaked, then showered and whenever he came out, ready to go home, Charlotte was closing her laptop, having just finished all of her assignments, and she smiled at him. “Nightcap?” She wondered.
Of course he wasn’t going to leave. He didn’t plan on staying all night, but as it turned out, back then, it took less liquor to make her worry about him driving. So, after a few drinks and long conversations about their current projects and stuff, she let him sleep on the couch and she went to bed.
They had so many nights like that, the first time that he showed up and she in fact wasn’t there, he was sorely disappointed. He went into the bath, put on an eye mask and soaked, steam coming off of everything.
It was a while before he felt like he heard something and sensed someone there. He pulled off the mask and Charlotte was standing in the doorway, trying to quietly back out. She laughed at herself and shook her head, “Sorry. I didn’t realize that you were in here. I was gonna try to leave unnoticed.”
“No, no… This is your bathroom. Do what ya gotta do.” He put the mask back on and rested against the bath pillow. She bit her lip, but came into the room and sat on the toilet. She turned on some music because, maybe it’d be better if he couldn’t hear her peeing. She noticed his hand tapping the side of the tub to the beat of the music and was relieved when he didn’t react to her extremely loud piss. Like… she was only aware right now how loud it was. Was it ALWAYS that loud? She hugged herself, sighed and let out some gas. She groaned and quickly said, “I am so sorry.” She said it almost under her breath, because finding her voice in the midst of that shame was difficult.
“For being a human with bodily functions?” He asked, from beneath the mask, and then added, “In your own house?”
Usually she’d remind him that this isn’t her house and that whenever her stay here was over the Dom was gonna use it for something else, but that night, she just laughed at herself, cleaned off with the bidet and left the bathroom.
The next time that they were both there, she was now more comfortable with stepping in on him, since she knew that he didn’t care, and she really wanted to do what she needed to do and get out of there. They bumbled around each other for a while, trying to be polite, but also to hurry. Max had an early morning and had to get to sleep. Charlotte had a date for the first time “in ages” with Henry and Jasper. It was controlled chaos and they laughed their way through it, and moved along.
Only… Charlotte spent the majority of her date thinking about Max and what was happening with them. How comfortable she was getting with someone who wasn’t Henry or Jasper… how… attached she was feeling. Max spent the entire night awake in bed, willing her to be somewhere thinking of him too. That wasn’t to say he believed that could happen, but the possibility of him being the only one who’s night was overtaken by emotions and thoughts just didn’t sit well with him.
After that… they were solid. Neither of them mentioned it for a time, but Charlotte began to stay home more (calling her Davenport property home, by this time) and he began to stay over a lot.
Jasper was upset. He didn’t feel like it was appropriate. “This friendship of yours is going too far,” he’d complained. Only to be overruled by Charlotte’s iconic, “You think that’s the farthest that I, of all people, can go?” and Henry quickly smoothed things over with, “I think it’d be cute. One of these days one of us was bound to like somebody else and want to explore. It’s Charlotte, so the most sensible of us and the one with the most moral fiber. That’s a good start for a relationship soft open.”
Soft open. She didn’t know if she liked that description, but further conversation led them to a conversation about opening up their relationship, but only with open communication about it.
At 21, she didn’t have all of the answers. Even people who lived poly lifestyles and people in open relationships all had their own ways of doing it and she didn’t know which way was right. She was still learning herself at that time and to learn yet ANOTHER man seemed excessive, but it was Max. She knew that things were mutual. She knew that she could do this and she believed that she would enjoy it.
Whenever she next came in to find him in the bath, listening to something vibey - Jhene or Sza or something - eyes shut and head leaned back, she removed what she had on and joined. He stirred, but didn’t visibly panic whenever her toes touched the water. His eyes opened and seeing her settle in, her stared, but didn’t want to ruin whatever was happening, so he didn’t question her and he didn’t say anything. She sorta wished he did, even though she had no explanation for her bold actions. All she did was shift around through the bubbles and find her way to his chest. She laid on him and felt his arms move to wrap her up. He kissed her forehead and they didn’t say anything about it.
When they got out of the bath and he started the shower, she began her skin and hair routine. He got out, teeth were brushed, bodies moisturized, etc. Finally, the silence was broken, when he pointed his thumb and wondered, “Should I go to the couch?” She shook her head, took his hand, and guided him into the bedroom. That was the FIRST night that he slept in her bed.
“I don’t think you’ll end up that way,” Chase broke into his thoughts. “You’re someone who cares about others at this point in your life… I don’t know that I can say Douglas was that way at your age. You turned things around sooner, and made a good difference earlier in life. You’ve got similar feelings about your adolescent stages, but everything else, save maybe poor taste in fashion, is all different. You won’t end up like Douglas. You even have people who love you,” Chase said. He slapped a hand awkwardly on Max’s shoulder, and patted him stiffly.
“Are you trying to open up to me about your true feelings, Bionic Boy?”
Chase scoffed and removed his hand, “As if! I wasn’t even entirely genuine! You’re a lot like Douglas and both of you have terrible wardrobe. And feelings? For you? Gross!” Chase’s flustered stammering made Max laugh. But also, Chase was right. The first time. He wouldn’t end up with work friends and a few flings. He’d be happy someday with somebody who loved him and wanted him. Unfortunately, for Max… Charlotte was it.
