𝐂𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐃𝐚𝐭𝐞
plot: henry hart has a crush on his best friend and doesn’t know what to do with his feelings. an unfortunate mishap and a little nudge from team danger might just change that.
pairing: henry hart x fem!reader
show: henry danger
warnings: none that i can think of.
word count: 7,2k
author’s notes: english isn’t my first language, apologies for any mistakes. it's been proof-read, so there shouldn't be many mistakes anyway. it’s heavily inspired by the episode cave the date from season five of henry danger, so most of the dialogues and the story is most likely to be very familiar to y’all. it does go canon-divergent by the end though, and of course it’s reader instead of charlotte. this ended up being longer than i thought it would be. i hope you enjoy!
henry hart masterlist | main masterlist
It’s the perfect day, a quiet one the Danger team hasn’t had in a long time. Between all the petty crimes and the more serious villains who wanted to end Captain Man and Kid Danger, Y/N doesn’t remember the last time they could all just hang out in the Man Cave, undisturbed. She sighs contentedly, flipping a page of the book she’s reading, leaning further into the couch. Schwoz sits next to her, concentrating over a game of chess he’s having against himself, for some reason. Charlotte is nearby too, sitting on the chair at the supercomputer and reading her own book about “nuclear physics for smarties”.
“I will not see that coming.” Schwoz mutters to himself through the silence in the room. “I did not see that coming!” He adds, spitting out the water in his mouth after turning the chess board around.
“Do you ever get bored of playing chess against yourself?” Charlotte asks him, placing her book on the console before her.
“No, I don’t.” A pause. “But sometimes, I do.”
Y/N snorts at Schwoz’s antics. Her text ringtone rips through the silence, followed by a groan rumbling from her chest. She checks her screen, rolling her eyes when she sees the text notification from Jasper, and she looks at Charlotte with brows furrowed in annoyance as she closes her book and puts it down on the table before her.
“The guys are coming back.”
“Give me your book.” Charlotte tells her, extending her hand out.
“Why?” Y/N asks her, raising a brow. “I haven’t finished reading it, and I need to know what happens between Sel and Bree.”
“Just– give me your book.”
“H– hey! hey! hey! Char! Why’d you do that?”
Y/N screams, watching in horror as Charlotte moves from her spot on the chair to grab Y/N’s beloved copy of Legendborn by Tracy Deonn, putting it into a shredding machine and destroying it in the process. Charlotte then does the same thing with her own book.
“Ray gets mad whenever people do ‘smart stuff’ in front of him.” Charlotte explains, putting her hands on her hips. “You should know that, Y/N, you’ve been here the last two years. Schwoz, give me the chess board.”
“But I’ve got myself right where I want me!” The science man protests.
“You’ll get yourself next time.”
Schwoz grumbles, reluctantly handing his chess board and chess pieces to Charlotte who proceeds to throw them into the shredding machine. It makes a strange noise and Y/N winces at the sound, closing her eyes when the grinding noise finally stops.
“Where were they anyway?” Charlotte asks, sitting back on the chair behind the supercomputer.
“They went to throw melons at that abandoned house that people throw melons at.” Y/N shrugs.
“Without me?” Schwoz chirps in. “But I’ve been saving melons for months.” He adds as he glances to his box of rotten melons that’s been laying next to the supercomputer for nearly two months.
“So, they should be back soon, right?” Charlotte wonders.
“Yeah,” Y/N nods. “I just asked them to swing by my house and pick up my phone charger on the way back.”
Schwoz snorts. “You sent Ray, Henry, and Jasper to your house with no adult supervision?”
“Yeah, what’s the problem?”
Just then, the elevator doors ding open and out step the three men they were just talking about, in what seems to be a really serious discussion about Disney movies. All three of them have dishevelled hair, as if they’d just run a marathon, but the ashes smeared across their face and stuck to their clothes and hair give way to an entirely different story.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa…” Y/N interrupts them, standing up from the couch as she takes in their appearance.
“Hey.” Jasper greets her. “What’s up?”
“What have you guys been doing?”
“Hmm?” Henry chimes in.
“What have you guys been doing?” Y/N repeats herself, hands going to her hips as she raises a brow. “Did you go to my house?”
“Sure did.” Henry replies.
“Oh yeah.” Ray continues.
“Walked right in.” Jasper finishes, smiling proudly.
Y/N looks over her shoulder to Charlotte, brows pulled together in a confused frown. They both have the same questions running through their mind. Why were the boys all dirty with dark ashes, and why were they acting so innocent all of the sudden. Innocent, and clueless.
“So… what happened?” Charlotte asks then, crossing her arms over her chest.
“Weee got Y/N’s phone charger.”
Henry trails out, throwing the phone cable in Y/N’s hands but she drops it almost immediately, squealing out in surprise.
“Aaahh! Why is it hot?!”
“Because we pulled it out of the fire.” Jasper answers her.
“You are welcome.” Ray adds. “Hit the showers.” He finishes, out of the blue.
The boys whoop, starting to head for the showers when Y/N stops them again. Charlotte and Schwoz watch in amusement, seeing them rolling their eyes and groaning under their breath.
“Whaaaaaaat?!” Henry drags out.
“I told you she’d be like this.” Ray whines, motioning towards Y/N. “What did I say?”
“Yeah, I owe you ten bucks.” Jasper says, defeated.
“Did you guys light my house on fire?!” Y/N questions, panic in her voice.
“No, no, no, no…” Henry stutters. “ ‘Course not.”
Y/N glares at him, her eyes growing darker than he’s ever seen before. Okay, maybe Henry had underestimated his best friend’s anger, but to be fair, it wasn’t his fault they’d set a fire in her house. Still, he shoves his hands in the front pockets of his pants, casting his gaze to the floor to avoid looking directly into her eyes. He begins to balance himself on his heels, racking his brain for the right words to say as he bites down on the inside of his cheek. He inhales slowly through his nose and finally, he looks up to her. He sees the expectation in her eyes, her eyebrows raised as she waits for an answer. Henry swallows the growing lump in his throat; he hates to see her mad at him, when he knows she rarely ever gets mad at anyone. He knows her anger is not only directed at him, but at Ray and Jasper too, and yet he still takes it personally. He doesn’t know why he does, but his chest tightens when he replays the events from earlier, and the guilt settles in the back of his brain. He lowers his gaze again, his feet suddenly becoming more interesting than anything.
“I– I mean… y– yeah.” Henry admits, stuttering.
“Just the kitchen.” Jasper clarifies.
“The kitchen is part of the house.” Y/N deadpans, crossing her arms over her chest.
“The kitchen’s gone. It’s gone.” Jasper blurts out.
“The rest of your house… totally fine.” Ray adds, clapping his hands together.
“Y– yeah.” Henry finishes.
“How could you guys light my kitchen on fire?!”
Y/N asks them, throwing her arms up in the air in exasperation before her eyes fall back to the three men, glaring at them. By then, Charlotte has joined Schwoz on the couch in the centre of the Man Cave, as if they were watching the most interesting movie ever made. Charlotte knows her friend, and judging by how fuming she is about the whole situation, she knows it won’t end well for the boys.
Henry still can’t bring himself to look at Y/N, but he can imagine the hurt and confusion written all over her face. He’s known her for as long as he’s known Charlotte and Jasper; it’s always been the four of them. They can read each other like open books.
Jasper flinches when Y/N raises her voice. He doesn’t think he’s ever heard her raise her voice before, she’s usually calm and composed. He glances at Henry, and when he sees that his friend has suddenly found an interest in his shoes, Jasper knows they messed up big time.
Ray frowns when he sees Y/N crossing her arms over her chest again. Her cold stare travels from Henry, to Jasper, to him, and by the way she holds her head high, lips flattened into a thin line, he can sense the anger radiating off of her. What Ray doesn’t understand is why.
“Oh, this is gonna be good.” Schwoz chuckles as he gets up. “Let me get some popcorn.”
He returns a minute later with a red bowl filled to the brim with popcorn, setting the food on the table as he sits back on the couch next to Charlotte. Both watch, shoving food in their mouths, as Y/N shifts on her feets, body tense.
“What. Happened?” Y/N asks again, gritting through her teeth.
“Okay, first of all,” Ray begins, holding his hands out in front of him as he takes a step towards the girl. “We couldn’t find a light switch anywhere.”
“It– it was very dark.” Henry chirps in, barely glancing up at her as he tries to justify their actions. “And kinda cold.” His voice falters as he looks back to the floor.
“I happened to have a flare on me.” Ray adds, as if there were nothing wrong with that.
“Which would solve both problems.”
Y/N rolls her eyes at Jasper’s comment, her nostrils flaring as she grows impatient. Without even realizing it, she begins to tap her foot against the tiled floor of the Man Cave, her cold stare directed towards Ray.
“So, I had a flare… in your kitchen.” Ray begins to explain again, somehow proud of himself.
“And then, we started exploring!” Jasper smiles.
“First thing we uh… found were the curtains.” Henry adds sheepishly. “Well… the flare found ‘em.”
Henry tentatively looks up to his friend, a sheepish smile across his face. It falters when he sees the hurt flashing in her eyes for a brief second. He hates to see her like this, and he never wants to see her like this again. He has to admit it, lighting up a flare in her kitchen had been a bad idea, and he doesn’t know why he and Jasper didn’t try to stop Ray from doing something this stupid. They should be used to it by now; Henry has been dealing with his boss’s antics for the last five years, so has Charlotte, and both Jasper and Y/N have been dealing with it for the last two years. Ray, more often than not, acts without thinking twice about his actions, and perhaps that is because he’s been indestructible since he was eight years old, but he often forgets that the teenagers, and Schwoz, are not him and that they aren’t indestructible. His impulsive actions often bring them into trouble, and Henry has always wondered how they haven’t been badly injured by now, or sent to the hospital for an undetermined amount of time. Lighting up a flare in Y/N’s kitchen should have been an idea that stayed in Ray’s childish brain.
“Those things went up fast.” Ray laughs as Jasper imitates a fire starting.
“Did you guys try to put it out?!” Y/N asks, exasperated.
“Yes! Of course we did.” Jasper tells her.
“But uhm, you know the saying “fight fire with fire”?” Henry asks tentatively, his voice barely above a whisper.
“Yeah, that does not work!” Ray snorts.
“Oh my god!”
Y/N groans as she lets her arms fall to her sides, turning on her heels and heading for the elevator. She pounds her fist against the button, letting out a frustrated yell when the elevator doesn’t come right away. Jasper tries to reach for her, but she whips her head over her shoulder, sending him a stare that could have put him to his grave if her eyes held daggers. Jasper raises his hands up in defence, taking a step back to stand in between Ray and Henry.
“Where are you going?” Henry asks his best friend, voice filled with guilt.
“None of your business.” Y/N grits through her clenched teeth.
She doesn’t mean to speak to Henry that way, but she’s beyond mad that they burned their kitchen, and what pisses her off most is that they don’t even seem to be aware of how bad they messed up.
“Wh– whoa there, Y/N.” Ray exclaims, raising his arms up in defense.
“Yeah, what’s your deal?” Jasper scoffs, nudging Henry.
“My deal–” Y/N speaks through gritted teeth. “–is that I have a date tonight, with Jack Swagger. And I was gonna make him dinner at my house, but you guys blew my kitchen!”
Y/N yells exasperatedly, turning her head back towards the elevator and using one hand to push the up button on the panel on her right.
Charlotte stands from where she sat on the couch, walking over to the boys. She’s the only one who knows of Y/N’s date night with Jack Swagger, and she’s also the only one who knows Jack Swagger out of his international fame. The two girls had met him at camp, ten years earlier, and he contacted Y/N to let her know he was coming to Swellview for a couple days, and that he wanted to hang out with her. Charlotte also knows the real reason why Y/N had agreed to go on a date with Jack, and it wasn’t because she used to have a crush on him when they’d first met.
“Wait.” Jasper’s voice cuts through Charlotte’s train of thoughts. “You know Jack Swagger?” He asks, taking a step toward Y/N. “International music superstar Jack Swagger?”
“Youngest person to win a Grammy Jack Swagger?” Schwoz questions, rushing to Y/N.
“You have a date?”
Henry asks Y/N, a little surprised that his best friend has a date with someone and that she didn’t tell him about it.
“Yeah, I had a date.” She answers him, coldly.
“With Jack Swagger?” He asks again.
“Yes, with Jack Swagger. Can we not do this? I have to go and see the mess you guys made in my house. See if I can fix anything, or if I have to cancel my date tonight.”
Y/N pounds her fist on the elevator button again, but her movement is less angry and more frustrated. In truth, even if she originally did not want to go on a date with Jack Swagger, she’d warmed up to the idea and she was really looking forward to it. Besides, she’d figured it would help her forget about a certain someone that’s been on her mind twenty-four-seven.
When the elevator comes to a stop and the doors ding open, Y/N steps inside, pressing the up button without looking at it, and she keeps her death stare on the three men as the doors close again.
Henry watches as she disappears behind the now-closed elevator doors, but he knows she hasn’t gone up just yet, or they would have heard the loud squeaking noise from the elevator’s mechanical whirring. Perhaps she’s calling Jack Swagger; he did see her reach for her phone in the back pocket of her jeans. For some reason, however, knowing about the possibility of Y/N cancelling her date with Jack makes Henry feel less guilty about his responsibility for being part of the reason why Y/N’s kitchen burned. He knows he shouldn’t feel happy about it, but he does.
“How does she know Jack Swagger?” Jasper asks, turning towards Charlotte when the elevator doors close.
“Me and Y/N went to camp with him, like ten years ago. He was Jack Swaggowitz back then.”
“Okayyy… How did we not know this until now?”
“We’ve told you like a million times! You guys just never listen to us.”
“Okay, fine! Fine!” Jasper raises his hands up in defeat. “So, why can’t they go to Sotto Voce? Or any other restaurant in Swellview?”
“Yeah! Sotto Voce is a nice place.” Ray chimes into the conversation in agreement, snapping his fingers. “Romantic, and kitchen not burned.”
“That you know of.” Jasper nudges him.
“That I know of.”
“They tried that.” Charlotte explains, sighing. “He’s too famous and gets mobbed wherever he goes.”
That catches Henry’s attention, and he raises a brow as he turns towards Charlotte. What does she mean by “they tried that”? Did Y/N have other dates with Jack Swagger, and she only told Charlotte about it? Why is it bothering him so much that Y/N goes on dates with other boys? She is only his best friend, he has no right to decide who she can date. He shakes his head, crossing his arms over his chest as his friends’ voices come back into focus.
“I got it!” Jasper exclaims, snapping his fingers. “We need someplace to turn into a fake restaurant. Okay? Some place nobody knows about; somewhere underground.”
“So?” Charlotte raises a brow.
“I say we make a fake restaurant in Henry’s house!”
“No.” Henry deadpans, letting his arms drop to his sides.
He doesn’t want to get involved in this. He doesn’t want to make up a fake restaurant so that Y/N can enjoy her date with Jack Swagger. And he especially doesn’t want it to happen at his house. Because if it happens at his house, it means he has to be there, and he has to be forced to watch his friend enjoy her date with some stupid international celebrity when she should be enjoying a nice date in a nice, real restaurant with him– Oh.
Henry bites down on his lips. Take a deep breath, he thinks. He inhales deeply and then, he remembers what Piper said when she called earlier today.
“Why not?” Ray asks.
“There’s a hawk in my house.” Henry answers, silently thanking his idiot dad for bringing a hawk to the house.
“There’s a hawk in your house?” Schwoz questions.
“That’s what Piper said.” Henry shrugs. “I may need to crash here ‘til the hawk leaves.” He adds.
Good thing there is a hawk in his house simply because his father had wanted to get rid of a cricket. It doesn’t make any sense, and Henry hadn’t asked his sister for the details, but right now he was glad he wouldn’t be making up a fake restaurant in his house.
“Okay…” Charlotte trails out, thinking. “So we’ll do it in the Man Cave.”
“Do what in the Man Cave?” Ray wonders, looking at her.
“Make it a secret restaurant so Y/N and Jack can have their date.”
“No! We are not turning the Man Cave into a secret restaurant.”
Oh, no. If they turn the Man Cave into a fake restaurant, it means that Henry, and perhaps Charlotte, will have to pretend to be waiters for the night, and Henry isn't sure he can act the part. Well, if it were for anyone else, he’s pretty sure he could, but not for Y/N. Luckily for him, there’s no way Ray would agree to Charlotte’s idea but the elevator doors ding open, and out steps Y/N. She’s got that hopeful look in her eyes, and Henry knows she’d heard them from inside the elevator. He silently curses under his breath. There go his hopes of Y/N cancelling her date with Jack Swagger.
“You owe me, Ray.” Y/N says, tilting her head. “You burned down my kitchen.”
She raises a brow expectantly, crossing her arms over her chest. Henry shifts on his feet, body tensing as he clenches his jaw. Deep down he hopes that Ray will say no, but Y/N is using her convincing look that none of them can resist, when she’d stare at you intensely until you give up, and she’s backed up by Charlotte, who’s standing next to Y/N and who’s using her famous judgemental look, with her hands on her hips.
“You owe me.” Y/N says again, her lips pressed together in a thin line.
Ray groans, throwing his head back in defeat. “Fine! We’ll turn the Man Cave into a restaurant!”
Y/N squeals out excitedly, turning around to embrace Charlotte in a tight hug, before she goes back inside the elevator, closing the doors behind her and the mechanical whirring activates to indicate that Y/N has gone up to Junk’N’Stuff, the store a half-mile above the Man Cave.
Henry’s shoulders drop, and he shoves his hands in the pockets of his pants, a million thoughts running haywire in his brain. Charlotte notices it, and a smile begins to grow in the corner of her lips. She shakes her head in disbelief before she nudges Jasper’s side, pointing at Henry with her chin. Jasper raises a brow, and he looks back at Charlotte with a knowing smile of his own.
—
“Sorry I’m late.” Henry says begrudgingly as he steps out of the elevator. “The hawk grabbed my tie and wouldn’t give it back. Luckily, my dad distracted it with his face.”
“Is he okay?” Jasper asks his friend.
“Yeah, he’s okay. He’s got like… razor talons and like, a knife beak. So.”
“No, no. I meant your dad.”
“Oh! No, he’s in serious pain.” He pauses. “This place looks, uh… great…”
Henry looks around. Silver and pastel purple curtains cover the entirety of the Man Cave, hiding away anything hero-related like the tubes or the sprocket. Three tables are set for two, with silver tablecloths, white plates and silver cutlery, wine glasses and pastel purple napkins to match with the curtains. A grand white piano with fake candles on it stands in the corner, where the couch usually is, and the floor of the Man Cave is covered with a variety of used red carpets to hide the blue and red logo that’s usually visible on the tiled floor. Henry also notices the white peonies and Calla lilies that form one bouquet on the centre of each table, Y/N’s favourite flowers.
There’s a tugging at his heart as he takes in his surroundings. His mind is telling him that this is not right; and he wonders why he is doing all this, but then he remembers. He did participate in burning Y/N’s kitchen, so he owed her this, as much as Ray and Jasper did. He is surprised that they even managed to create a romantic fake restaurant in the Man Cave in the first place, but it doesn’t mean that he cannot loathe the idea of Y/N having a date with someone.
“Where’s Ray?” Henry eventually asks Jasper to try to forget about his unresolved feelings for Y/N.
“Chef’s in the kitchen.” Jasper answers, shrugging.
“Wh– where’s the kitchen?”
“Behind the soundproof curtain.”
“Whaaaaat?”
Henry trails out dumbfounded as Jasper mouths “I know”. Ray’s voice reaches their ears almost immediately as Henry slightly pulls open the curtain to make sure Jasper’s telling him the truth about it being soundproof.
“Are you kidding me?!” Ray shouts exasperatedly. “I just had it! How could I lose– it was here two seconds ago! I swear on my father’s prepurchased burial plot–”
Henry closes the curtain, then turns back to Jasper. “Hm. Chef sounds mad.”
“Yeah, we should check on him.” Jasper agrees.
The two friends step through the soundproof curtain, and they see Ray frantically looking around for something, flailing his arms around with two lit flares in each of his hands.
“Oh, come on!” Ray yells.
“Woah, whoa, whoa, whoa! What are you doing?” Henry asks, raising a brow. Anything to get his mind off of Y/N.
“I can’t find my fifth flare!” Ray whines. “And if I don’t have all five flares, it’s ruined!”
“Put the flares away man. They’re for emergencies only!”
“Or for playing Truth or Flare!” Jasper adds.
“It’s fine. I just had the thing! Where– it was here a second ago!”
Ray keeps muttering to himself as he searches for his flare inside the made-up kitchen. He pivots on his feet, his back toward the teenagers, and Henry sighs exasperatedly when he spots the flare inside of Ray’s backpocket.
“Found it!” He says. “I found it!” He goes to grab a dish towel. “Stop. Move.”
“Where is it?” Ray asks again, more to himself.
“Dude, you gotta stop lighting flares in kitchens.” Henry deadpans as he grabs the lit flare from Ray’s pocket.
“Why? What’s the worst that could happen?”
Henry and Jasper exchange a look, before they try to pry the flares away from Ray’s hands.
“Okay, hand them over.” Jasper says when Ray tries to resist.
“Give them to me man.” Henry groans. “We’re done. We’re done! We’re done!”
“Ah! You’re ruining my process! No, don’t put them in there! Don’t put that– Oh…”
Ray whines again as he sees the two teenagers throwing his flares into a steaming pot of water. Henry wipes his hands over the black apron tied around his waist just as Jasper’s phone beeps with an alert. He quickly checks it, and he adjusts the bowtie around his neck.
“Okay. Y/N and Jack Swagger are close.” He says, putting his phone in his pocket. “I gotta go up to Junk’N’Stuff, meet Charlotte, and pretend it’s a fake store.”
“It is a fake store.” Henry snorts, rolling his eyes.
“Exactly. This guy gets it.”
Henry shakes his head in disbelief. So much for trying to forget about his feelings.
—
“I am so sorry, we are fully committed this evening. There are no tables available– Madam President.” Jasper hangs up the phone, raising his head as the shop’s bell dings. “Oh, I’m sorry I didn’t see you there because I was just on the phone with– Y/N?”
Y/N stands awkwardly in the middle of the shop when Jasper finally acknowledges her presence, but he frowns when he notices she stands there, alone. Charlotte stands behind her, with a sad look on her features and she takes a tentative step towards her friend.
“Are you okay Y/N?” Charlotte asks. “Where’s Jack Swagger?”
“He– he bailed on me.”
Y/N chokes out, trying to keep her tears at bay. She knows how much effort her friends put into creating this fake underground restaurant just for her to have her date with Jack, she can’t cry in front of them. And yet, she did not expect Jack to bail on her when she was inside a taxi and on her way to pick him up from his hotel. She couldn’t call her friends to tell them to cancel everything, she didn’t have the heart to. They did all this for her, so she could have a quiet date with a celebrity she’d known since she was ten; she couldn’t bail out on her friends after what they’ve done for her. And yeah, she only ever agreed to go on a date with Jack to forget about her unresolved feelings for someone else, and she knew it probably wouldn’t have worked out between her and Jack, but it had been nice to know that someone cared enough about her to take her out on a date. She wasn’t even mad that her date wasn’t about to happen, she was upset because her friends had created a fake restaurant for her and Jack, and he’d bailed on her at the last minute.
Y/N shakes her head, wrapping her arms around herself as if to shield herself from the cold, and she hugs herself tightly as Charlotte puts a gentle hand on her shoulder. Jasper gets off from the chair he’s been sitting on, and he walks around the cashier counter to join his two friends.
“Why didn’t you say anything?” Jasper wonders, genuine concern in his voice.
“H– he texted me. I was already in a taxi on my way here. I was supposed to pick him up on the way, when he texted. Said he couldn’t make it, superstar stuff he said…”
“Y/N… You could have called us.” Charlotte says. “To tell us your date was cancelled.”
“N– no. You guys made up a fake restaurant in the Man Cave so that I could have my date with Jack. It wouldn’t have been fair to you guys if I had cancelled, not after all the effort you must have put into doing whatever’s below us. I– I’m gonna go down there, and I’m gonna have a girl’s dinner by myself.”
Charlotte smiles sadly, before an idea pops in her mind. She lifts her head to look at Jasper, and an understanding passes between them. Charlotte knows what she has to do.
“Don’t be ridiculous Y/N. I’ll have a girl’s dinner with you.” Charlotte lies, having another idea in mind, but Y/N seems to buy it.
“Dinner for two, then?” Jasper chimes in as he walks back behind the counter.
“Yeah, okay.” Y/N laughs. “We have a reservation for Y/N. Y/N L/N.”
“Ah! There it is. Right this way, ladies.”
Y/N and Charlotte look at each other before laughing at Jasper’s antics as he leads the way to the elevator in the back shop.
Down in the Man Cave, Henry waits by the white grand piano as the elevator dings open and out come Y/N, Charlotte, and Jasper. The first thing he notices then, is the absence of Jack Swagger. He frowns, and his grip on the fake menus tightens. His jaw clenches as he grinds his teeth, but his features soften again when his eyes land back on Y/N.
Henry’s breath gets caught up in his throat as he looks at her. She’s breathtakingly beautiful, with her hair cascading down her shoulders and the mesmerized smile hanging on her red, lipstick-covered lips. She spins around on her feet, taking in the sight of the remodelled Man Cave for the occasion, and the long dress she wears twirls as she does so. Her soft chuckle is like music to Henry when it reaches his ears, pulling him out of his reverie just as Jasper and Charlotte walk up to him. But his eyes never leave Y/N, not even when Jasper drags him behind the soundproof curtain until he can’t see her anymore.
“What’s going on?” Schwoz asks, wiping his hands on a dishcloth. “Why’s Henry all lovestruck?”
That seems to pull Henry out of his trance. “No, I’m not!” He says, shaking his head. “Jasper, what’s going on? Why is Y/N on her own?”
“Oh! Jack Swagger bailed on her.” Jasper answers nonchalantly.
“What?!”
“Yeah. He texted her when she was on her way to pick him up in a taxi.”
“So, she came on her own?” Schwoz questions, raising a brow. “Then, what’s the point of a date?”
“She didn’t want to cancel, because she knows how much effort we put in turning the Man Cave into a fake restaurant. She’s going to have a girl’s dinner with Charlotte instead.”
“Well, actually… I lied.”
All four men -including Ray, who’d been eavesdropping on the conversation while stirring a pot- jump on their feet, startled by Charlotte who’s now standing behind Jasper, the soundproof curtain closed behind her.
“Y– you lied to Y/N?” Jasper asks incredulously. “W– why?”
“I thought we were on the same page!” Charlotte groans, throwing her head back.
“Did you– did you leave Y/N on her own?” Ray asks, pointing an accusatory finger at Charlotte.
“No, Piper’s here!”
“Wh– What? Piper’s here? Wh– why?” Henry questions.
“She thought she’d see Jack Swagger with Y/N, so she came to play the piano.”
“But Piper doesn’t know how to play the piano?”
“That’s what I said! She was gonna use her phone to play slow jams, and she’d just fake playing.”
“Uh, makes sense.” Schwoz shrugs as he nods approvingly.
“Any-Ray…” Ray interrupts. “Why did you lie to Y/N, Charlotte?”
“Come on! I can’t be the only one smart enough to have figured it out, can I?” When no one says anything, Charlotte says, “Henry is going to take Y/N out for dinner here.”
Henry drops the fake menus he’d been holding onto all this time, and he whips his head towards Charlotte, blinking several times as if she’d grown several heads and he couldn’t believe it.
“Wh– wha– what?” He breathes out in shock. “Wh– wh– why?! I can’t take Y/N out for dinner, have you lost your mind Char?”
“Hen, we know you like her.” Charlotte implies, and her statement is followed by a chorus of hm.
“Wh– what? N– no, I don’t.”
“Yeah, you do.” Jasper states. “Now that Char’s said it out loud, we know what she’s talking about. You’re not good at hiding it.”
“Even Ray could tell you like her.” Charlotte adds.
“Hey!” Ray whines. “But it’s true though. You do like her.”
“Yeah! You’ve been doing oogly eyes at Y/N whenever she comes to work.” Schwoz carries on, nodding.
“What does that even mean, Schwoz?!” Henry wonders.
“You can’t take your eyes off her!”
“Schwoz’s right.” Charlotte agrees. “You even started to read her favorite book. And you hate reading.”
Henry sighs, throwing his head back and lifting his arms up in defeat.
“Okay, fine! Fine.” He says. “So, what if I like her? What am I supposed to do?”
“Take her out on a date, Kid.” Ray answers, motioning towards the soundproof curtains.
“But what if she doesn’t like me that way?”
“But, what if she does?”
Henry glares at Ray, before he glances towards Charlotte. Surely she’d been joking when she suggested he takes Y/N out on a date here in the Man Cave turned restaurant. But she looks at him with a knowing smile, arms crossed over her chest, and she’s backed up by Jasper, who has a smug expression plastered on his face.
Henry sighs. It’s true that he hasn’t been really excited to play-pretend being a waiter in a fake restaurant, because it meant being forced to watch Y/N enjoy her date with Jack Swagger. It’s true, now that he thinks about it, he’d felt slightly jealous when Y/N first mentioned her date with Jack Swagger earlier today. And it’s true that he’d felt slightly relieved when he found out that Jack Swagger bailed on Y/N. So, what is he so afraid of now? Charlotte’s offering him a chance to take Y/N out on a date, in this fake restaurant they’d spent all afternoon setting up, why doesn’t he want to take it?
He glances at the soundproof curtains, knowing Y/N’s behind with his sister, and Henry can hear the thumping of his heart the more he thinks about how she looks tonight. Her bright smile, the wonder in her eyes as she’d looked around the remodeled Man Cave for the occasion, her H/C cascading down her shoulders, or how her dress fitted her perfectly as she twirled around.
“Earth to Henry. Earth to Henry.”
Henry blinks, pulled out of his thoughts by Ray’s voice, and when he turns his head back towards his friends, he knows what he has to do. He fumbles with the knot around his waist, before handing his apron to Jasper.
“Why are you giving me this?” Jasper asks, raising a brow.
“I’m gonna take Y/N out on a date.” Henry says confidently. “Give me your tux jacket.”
Jasper grumbles and reluctantly gives his jacket to his friend. Lucky for the both of them, they wear the same size so the jacket fits Henry like a glove.
“Let’s get this date on the road!” Ray shouts as he fist-bumps the air, returning to his cooking.
“I’ll make sure he doesn’t blow up another kitchen with those flares.” Charlotte sighs, watching as Ray childishly lights up a flare.
“Thanks.” Henry whispers before he turns to Jasper.
“Yeah, I guess I’ll be the waiter tonight.”
“Thanks man.”
—
Henry steps out of the made-up kitchen, instantly spotting Y/N by the grand white piano, laughing as Piper pretends to be a professional pianist. He nervously adjusts the tie around his neck, wiping his moist hands on his trousers as he walks over to the two teenage girls. Tentatively, he puts a hand on Y/N’s back, and she turns her head around to look at him.
“Oh, hey Hen.” She smiles. “What’s up?”
“Char told me what happened,” he says. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s alright. Where is Charlotte, by the way?”
“In the kitchen, making sure Ray doesn’t blow it up.”
“Oh.”
Henry can hear the disappointment in her voice, and he instantly feels guilty, dropping his hand from the small of her back. He swallows nervously, and he hears the rustling of the curtain behind him, meaning Jasper’s waiting to settle them at their table.
“Y/N?” Henry calls for her attention.
She lifts her head, eyes looking into his. “Hm?”
“Would you like to go on a date with me?” He asks her, rubbing a hand against his neck out of nervousness.
“Wh– what?”
“This is going to be interesting.” Piper whispers under her breath as she watches.
“I, uh… I’d like to take you out on a date if, uh… that’s okay with you?” Henry tries again, albeit clumsily.
“Are you– are you asking because Jack Swagger bailed on me?”
“N– no! No!” Henry shakes his head, hands dropping to his sides. “No! I’m– Listen, Y/N, I– I like you. I mean, I like like you, Y/N. And I’d love it if you’d go on a date with me.”
“You– you like me?” Y/N stutters, blinking.
“Yeah, I do.”
Y/N lets out a trembling breath. She doesn’t know what to think; she’s had the longest crush on her best friend that she doesn’t even remember when she’d first caught feelings for him. He’d been the whole reason she agreed to go on a date with Jack Swagger in the first place; to forget about her confusing feelings for Henry. But here he is now, after she’d been bailed on, asking her out on a date in a fake restaurant he’d put up all afternoon with the rest of their friends. She takes a deep breath, trying to calm the rapid beating of her heart as she looks back to Henry. What an interesting night this turns out to be, she thinks.
“I’d love to go on a date with you, Henry Hart.” Y/N says eventually, smiling.
“Shall we?”
Henry asks as he offers her his arm to take, and shivers run down his spine when her hand finds the crook of his elbow. He looks at her with a smile, before he leads her away from the grand piano, where Piper resumes fake-playing a slow tune, and towards Jasper who holds the fake menus in his hands.
“If the two lovebirds would follow me,” Jasper says as he slips into the role of a waiter in a fancy restaurant. “We have your table ready right over here.”
“Thanks.” Henry says as he pulls the chair for Y/N.
Y/N sits down, placing her small purse on her thighs as she waits for Henry to sit across from her. She spots the flowers in the centre, and she smiles. Her favourites. For a minute she wonders whose idea it was for the flowers, and after pondering it she comes to the conclusion that it had either been Charlotte, or Henry.
“So…” Y/N trails out, a smirk on her lips, as Henry sits down. “What’s this place called?”
“It’s called Food.” Jasper answers proudly.
“That’s dumb.” Y/N snorts.
“Is it? What if I told you it’s ‘food’ spelled with a U with two dots over it.”
“Now, that’s interesting.” She glances at Henry, who smiles sheepishly.
Jasper hands them the menus. “Take your time, I’ll be back for your orders.”
Y/N gives Jasper a grateful smile, watching as he disappears behind the silver curtains. For a short minute, she can even hear Ray yelling there and she cannot suppress a laugh as she shakes her head in disbelief.
“This place is nice.” She says, looking at Henry again. “For a fake restaurant.”
“Right? So private.”
“Henry, we’re the only ones here. Of course, it’s private.”
“Ye– yeah, I know. I just– I like the idea of our first date being private. Y’know, without anyone around.”
“Are you sure about that?”
“What do you mean?”
“Oh, I don’t know… Maybe that your sister is eying us from the piano, and that everyone else here has poked their head through the curtain to spy on us.”
Y/N finishes explaining with a laugh, and Henry looks over his shoulder to see Ray, Schwoz, Charlotte, and Jasper with their heads poking through the soundproof curtain, one head after the other. He frowns, giving them his best menacing stare, and all of them scurry off back behind the curtains. Then he glances towards his sister, his lips pressed into a thin line when he sees her with her phone in her hand as if she were going to take a picture. He wants to tell her off, but the words get lost in his throat when he feels a hand above his on the table, and he turns his head back around to look at Y/N. She’s smiling that soft smile she always wears around the people she loves, and Henry’s breath gets caught up in his throat again. God, she’s beautiful, he thinks as he flips his hand around so that his palm touches hers.
“I’m sorry this isn’t the date you had in mind.” He tells her, holding her hand in his. “And I’m sorry Jack Swagger bailed on you. And that you’re stuck with me inst–”
“Henry.” She interrupts him, smiling. “I’m glad it’s you I’m stuck with. And it may be a fake restaurant, with fake chefs, a fake waiter and a fake pianist, but I’m happy it’s you here with me.”
“R– really?”
“Yeah. Honestly, I’m not sure it would have worked out between me and Jack, if something ever were to happen… I don’t think I’m cut out to be the girlfriend of a superstar.” She laughs, rolling her eyes playfully.
“And what about being the girlfriend of an awesome sidekick to a superhero?” Henry asks with a smug smile on his lips.
“Henry Hart, are you asking me to be your girlfriend at the beginning of our very first date?”
Y/N questions him, letting go of his hand as she leans over the table, resting her elbows on top of the silver table cloth, and she rests her chin atop her linked hands. A playful smirk grows on her lips as she watches him, raising a brow as she waits for his answer.
“And what if I am?” He says then, mimicking her movements. “What then?”
Y/N hums, feigning deeply thinking. “I don’t know. Do you know any awesome sidekicks here in Swellview?”
“I might know of one. Maybe you’ve heard of him. His name is Kid Danger.”
“The name does ring a bell.” She says playfully, leaning further over the table. “Do you know where I might find him?”
“I heard he works in a store called Junk’N’Stuff.” Henry answers, leaning over the table until his forehead touches hers. “And I heard he’s really Henry Hart behind the mask.”
“Well then, Henry Hart,” Y/N says with a smile. “I would love to be your girlfriend.”
ⓒ writerinlearning – 2025
