~Henry's House~

It was another typical day in Swellview - just an average Saturday in an average house where average people dwelled. 

Like most weekends, Charlotte Page, a feisty and highly intelligent young girl, and Jasper Dunlop, a well-meaning, not-so-intelligent boy, were at the house of their best friend, Henry Hart. They always did their homework together, with the boys forever copying off Charlotte since she was leagues above them, but the dynamic worked well. 

Henry, the blond-haired, unspoken leader of their trio, and Charlotte sat on the sofa, focusing on the algebra questions in front of them. It made no sense to the boy, who merely saw squiggles and letters on his paper before giving up as the girl worked down the page, always answering perfectly.

That was Charlotte - practically perfect in nearly every way because the sooner they finished, the sooner their weekend was free. That is, it would've been until Jasper quickly grabbed their attention as he stood with his PearPad and read the latest Swellview news.

"Hey, did you guys see what Captain Man did yesterday?" He asked excitedly as he turned the screen to Henry, who was now ignoring the math he was supposed to be doing in preparation for the upcoming math test.

"Can we focus on algebra?" Charlotte sighed - as exasperated as a girl could be with her lughead friends. 

Unlike the two boys, she loved school, excelling in every subject, whereas Henry liked sports, recess, and in recent years...girls. Jasper, on the other hand... Well, he had issues.  

The kid was undoubtedly rooted in his awkward phases, bumbling around his best friend's house most days since his own home was less than welcoming--his parents, too. His limbs were slightly too long and perpetually sweaty; his frizzy hair curled in every which way; and he sorely lacked the social finesse of his more normal companions. 

Still, there was a loveable aspect to Jasper, one that neither Charlotte nor Henry wanted to go without. "There was a fire at a pet store, and Captain Man ran inside, right through the flames, and saved all the animals!" 

"And he didn't even get hurt!" Upon hearing his high praise of Swellview's resident superhero, Henry glanced at his friend, appearing unfazed by what wasn't news. Captain Man had been around for years; there wasn't a man, woman, or child in the city who hadn't heard of him. 

The guy was a legend - a butt-kicking, name-taking legend. 

"Captain Man never gets hurt. He's a beast," He replied, returning his focus to the website on his screen.

And that was fine. Great. It was always good to know their was an invincible man prowling the streets to keep everyone safe, but that didn't stop Charlotte from sighing, giving them a sassy stare. 

"Y'know, someday when you guys are cleaning my swimming pool 'cause you failed this algebra test, then flunked out of school, I hope you remember this moment, 'cause I will." 

Still, Henry clicked on another advert, too used to his other friend's sharp tongue, and quickly skimmed over the advertised information. He desparately needed a job, resorting to trawling the web for any listings for a green teen, although most of them were either too much, too boring, or too weird. 

"Hey, here's a cool job I could do--" He slammed his shoe onto the coffee table in front of Charlotte, wiggling his toes in her digusted face, even though she was still trying to work out her sums.

"--Foot model."

For once, Charlotte was glad for Jasper's excited interruption. "You guys! Could we go over the list for my birthday party?" 

"Sure." Henry gave him a friendly smile.

"No." Charlotte, however, quickly shot down Jasper's request, looking up from her homework, and she was the Smart One. Whatever she said was practically law.

"No." And so, Henry changed his answer. 

"But I invited fifty-two people, and nobody's texted back yet. What does that mean?" Jasper asked them with a confused voice.

"That people have been to your parties before?" Henry joked, but he was partially serious. He loved his friend, but some of his parties weren't it. Some might say they were memorable, but only for the worst of reasons. 

His answer had Jasper pouting, arguing like a child as he frowned at his giggling friends, who, at this rate, were gonna be the only ones at his birthday. "Oh, come on, my parties aren't that bad!"

"Christmas three years ago, fifteen kids ended up in the hospital!" Charlotte exclaimed, and Henry nodded, grimacing as he recalled the swathe of vomiting children. 

They never did get the strains out of the rug, and Swellview Hospital still hadn't forgiven the Dunlop Household for causing the worst Salmonella outbreak in decades. 

"'Cause of your raw turkey." 

"It was turkey sushi." Jasper tried to tell them, not that his reasoning made it any better - he was so dangerously dumb at times. 

"A boy almost died!" Charlotte reasoned exasperatedly, having tried to explain it many times before, but it never sunk into that dense brain of his. 

"Almost!" Jasper quickly retorted, putting a chip in his mouth, thinking he'd won the argument.

"Okay!" Henry threw his arms in the air, tired of the bickering. "First person who helps me find an after-school job gets this bowl of pine cones." He picked up the large bowl and offered it to his friends, causing Jasper to gasp in excitement.

"Wow. Why do you even need a job?" Charlotte asked sceptically from the ridiculous offer of pine cones.

"Y'know, to learn responsibility...challenge myself..." Henry replied, listing all of his aspirational reasons, but his best friend was quick to interrupt him with the real reason why he was so desperate for a job - he knew him too well. 

"He wants money."

Henry couldn't argue with that, grinning as Charlotte walked into his kitchen. "I want money!"

"Money's good." She agreed.

"Can we please talk about my birthday?" Jasper brought up his party again, much to the annoyance of his friend.

"Am I gonna have to slap a boy?" She sighed sarcastically, but there was also some truth in her voice. Jasper annoyed her sometimes. The curly-haired boy at the bar looked back at her with panic, but the comment made Henry smile down at his computer.

"Henry, can you please tell me how in the wor--" A voice suddenly interrupted them, saving Jasper from a beatdown.

Kris Hart, Henry's mom, called out as she gracefully walked down the stairs, a basket of laundry wedged under her arm. Oh, she was gorgeous - married young, but she still had it. When she looked across the room, it was only then she noticed her son's best friends were also in the living room.

"Oh, I didn't know Jasper and Charlotte were here." She smiled, looking cheerful with her laundry basket under her arm.

"We're studying." Jasper smiled back.

"Are we?" Charlotte retorted, knowing they hadn't done much actual work.

"Mom, we're right in the middle of something." Henry grumbled, not wanting to have his mom around his friends since he could already sense her innate knack for embarrassing him. 

"I'm not interrupting." She said, plopping the laundry basket down on the coffee table.

"Okay, thanks."

"I just have a question about your underwear." And there was the embarrassment.

"Mom!" Henry exclaimed with a horrified voice, his cheeks turning a deep pink as his friends failed to hide their laughter behind their hands. 

"I'd like to hear the question." Charlotte teased, walking behind Henry and resting her hands on the couch.

"What is the issue with Henry's underwear?" Jasper joined in, smirking at Mrs Hart to make his oldest friend blush more. 

"Mom!" Piper, Henry's little sister burst through the front door, stealing everyone's attention away from the underwear situation for a minute.

"Mom, I'm not okay," Piper shouted the phrase that she often did, making Mrs Hart turn around to face her. Henry also looked over, trying to use his big brother status to calm his bratty sister.

"Piper, we're trying to study here."

"I'm talking to my mother." Piper sassed back with irritation evident in her voice.

Henry decided he couldn't deal with her, so he rolled his eyes and looked back down at his PearBook.

"What's wrong, baby?" Mrs Hart looked at her only daughter with a sympathetic expression.

"Jessica unfollowed me!" The 9-year-old showed up again with an angry expression. She showed her PearPhone to her mom.

"No one cares!" Henry said back, clearly not understanding why the tiny issue so worked up Piper. He stood up with his laptop and walked off.

"Henry! Why would Jessica unfollow you?" Mrs Hart tried to keep the situation between her children calm.

"'Cause she posted a picture of her with me and Allison, so I posted a comment that said, "OMG, you look gorgeous." Piper started to explain.

"Well, that's nice." Her mother interrupted in a pleasant voice.

"No. 'Cause Allison thought it meant she looked gorgeous, so she posted a comment that said, "Thanks, ILY." And so then Jessica got jealous and unfollowed me, and now I hate myself, and I'm gonna die!". The young girl failed to see how silly and superfluous her problem was, much to her mother's confusion.

"I'll call Jessica's mom and talk to her." Mrs Hart reasoned, picking up her basket and walking off, which upset her daughter.

"No! That's not okay!" Piper followed her mom, shouting at her from behind.

"Dang it! All these jobs say I've got to have skills." Henry slumped back into his seat at the kitchen table in defeat from not finding a job he liked.

"So? You got tons of skills." Jasper looked at him and tried to cheer him up.

"Name one."

"You're a great dancer." Henry looked at him with a confused face.

"Not I'm not."

"You could take lessons," Jasper said back, waving his finger at his friend as he sat down on a stool.

"Oh my gosh." Henry suddenly looked worried and stood up from his chair.

"What?"Charlotte asked with a curious tone.

"I'm-- I'm not great at anything. This is tragic." He replied with a sad voice.

"Here, let me see." Charlotte wandered over to his computer and combed all the job adverts listed on the site whilst Henry was still complaining about himself.

"I'm just a big pile of average." He glumly exclaimed as Charlotte busily typed away.

"Okay, here's a job." Charlotte smiled with success, and Henry's attention was quickly on the screen as Jasper came up behind them.

"At a store called Junk-N-Stuff. It says, "Needed: part-time helper for various duties." Charlotte read out to the amusement of Jasper, who was giggling to himself behind her at the word 'duties'. The other two kids looked at him with a 'seriously?' expression on their faces before returning to look at the ad.

"And see? It says, "No special skills necessary." She added to Henry's delight.

"That's me. I've got to go get that job." Henry said with excitement, running towards the couch, grabbing the bowl of pine cones, and running them back to Charlotte in his hands.

"You get the pine cones." He said with a cheerful voice.

Charlotte took them from him with a bemused look on her face. Jasper looked disappointedly between them. He desperately wanted those pine cones.

"Sweet." Charlotte took them, rolling her eyes. After she had received them, Henry ran to the door, eager to get to Junk-N-Stuff before anyone else could apply for the job.

Good luck, Hen!" Charlotte called after him sweetly.

"Thanks!" And with a slam of the door, he was gone.

"If you give me a pine cone, I'll lick my elbow." Jasper offered the girl, who looked at him like he was insane. He tentatively reached for one of them, only for Charlotte to smack his hand away sharply.

~Junk-N-Stuff~

Henry entered the store he saw in the ad. Immediately after he opened the door, a giant T-Rex head on the wall breathed fire, causing him to look at it in wonder and amazement. An Indian man sat at the cash register, suspiciously looking at the boy who had just entered. Another man, wearing dark clothing with a black hat, was browsing the wacky junk on the shelves.

Taking a closer look at the dubious man, Henry noticed that he had a distinct tattoo on his neck, but before he could properly inspect it, the man caught him staring.

"What are you looking at?" He said in a harsh voice, which caused Henry to stutter a little and look away.

"Uh, nothing. Just, uh, this turtle's butt." His answer seemed to make the man back off, and with a quick apology, he continued browsing.

Looking around the shop, Henry noticed the cashier was letting a giant Venus Fly Trap drink from an M-shaped straw. Clearing his throat, he introduced himself to the odd man.

"Um, my name is Henry Hart. I'm here about the job."

"The job?" The man said slowly, as the plant next to him burped.

"Um, did that plant burp?" Henry asked.

"Go back," The cashier said mysteriously, which confused the boy even more than he already was in the kooky store.

"Um, what? Come back?"

"Go back." He repeated, saying nothing more, not a single detail.

"Where?" Henry pressed as the man continued to drink through the curly straw.

"To the back."

"Oh, go to the back." The blond boy finally understood.

"Take the elevator down." The man explained very slowly.

"What floor?"

"Down." Was all the man had to say, which made the plant squeak, adding to Henry's bewilderment.

"You too." He pointed at the flytrap and slowly made his way to the back of the store.

Walking through the back, he came to a rusty-looking elevator, but the phone in his pocket started to ring before he could press any buttons.

"Hey, what's up?" He answered, finding it was Jasper on the line.

"Does my basement smell like chicken poop?" Jasper started with. Of all the questions he could ask, this was the one he asked when Henry was trying to get a job.

"Yes." He could hear Charlotte say in the background. He pressed the elevator button before replying.

"What?"

"I'm down in my basement with Charlotte, and she says it smells like poop from a chicken." He explained.

"A sick chicken!" He heard his other friend exclaim in the background again.

"Uh, what are you and Charlotte doing in your basement?" Henry was so confused as he stepped into the elevator.

"He wants to have his birthday party down here in this chicken toilet." He could tell Charlotte was annoyed with Jasper again, and he continued to listen to them argue."

"This is my home." Jasper protested in an offended tone, and Henry wanted the conversation to end as he pressed the down button.

"Guys, I can't talk right now. I'm at a job interview, so I gotta go." The second his fingertip left the button, the elevator fell down the shaft, causing him to shout and scream in fear. As he continued falling with the elevator, he could hear his best friends express their concerns over the phone, but he was too busy to reply.

When he finally came to a stop, the doors opened to reveal a bright room filled with cool gadgets and rock music playing loudly.

"I'll call you back."

~(y/n)'s PoV~

"So tell me again, why do you need a sidekick?" As usual, I asked Ray, who was excitedly walking around the Man Cave. He turned to me and began to talk to me in his 'Captain Man' voice.

"Because, my cute little helper, I realised I'm not getting any younger and need help when I'm out doing cool superhero stuff." He stopped beside the couch where I was sitting and leaned on it.

"Right, it's taken you 25 years to realise that." I retorted, which only made him roll his eyes at me. We often bantered with each other, being the best of friends, even though I've been in love with him for most of the seven years I've known him.

Y'see, I met Ray when he wanted a helper to look after the Man Cave when he was out and about as Captain Man, Swellview's beloved resident superhero. Gooch stays upstairs in Junk-N-Stuff, and I monitor the supercomputer for emergency calls. I keep Ray in check when he lets his childish nature get the better of him. After being hired when I was 20, we worked to keep the city safe, and before I knew it, those beefy arms and that floppy brown hair had me head over heels. Not that I'd ever tell him.

In the last few years, I've been determined to maintain a professional streak in our friendship. That and his constant interest in all the pretty girls Swellview has to offer; I've been firmly in the friend zone since I moved in. Now I'm at the ripe old age of 27, and it seems that Ray is insistent that he introduces a new face to the Man Cave.

"Look, smarty pants, I put an ad online, and now I'm waiting for Gooch to send down an applicant." He had circled the couch and was sitting next to me while I was scrolling through a playlist of our favourite rock music.

"This ad you posted online. Can anyone apply for it?" I paused for a second after I processed what he said.

"Well, yeah, I guess. Anyone who saw it." I looked up at him with a slight scowl on my face.

"Wait, so we could have any weirdo come down the elevator into your super-secret hideout, and you're going to give them a job? And, you're going to trust them with your identity?" He had that stupid, but the loveable expression on his face told me he knew I'd caught him out.

"Yeah, but I can always use the memory wiper." He smirked back, making me scoff and remove myself from his side. I climbed over the back of the couch and walked to the automatic snack machine for popcorn.

"Don't come crying to me when shit goes wrong, Raymond." I tried to tease him, but he had already put my headphones on his head and made the couch spin around the room. He was oblivious to the rest of the world, now jamming to some rock.

I was just about to order my popcorn when the elevator dropped, and a dazed, skinny, blond kid stumbled out. He looked around the Man Cave in amazement, quickly becoming confused when he saw Ray in his little music world.

'Huh, this could be interesting.' I thought to myself.

~3rd Person PoV~

The couch came to a stop, and Ray noticed that he now had a teen boy in his Man Cave. (y/n) looked on from the computer area, and the boy didn't seem to notice her, as Ray's exuberant personality quickly caught his attention.

"Hey! How are ya?! Cool. Thanks. Great to meet ya!" He exclaimed quickly, not giving Henry any chance to greet him back. He yanked off the headphones and chucked them to the couch, which caused (y/n)'s eyebrows to fly to her hairline, mainly because they weren't his to throw, and he hadn't let the poor kid get a word in.

"I'm doing good. What's your name?" He said quickly, walking over to the boy and finally giving him a chance to speak.

"Um, I'm Henry Hart. I'm here about the job." To say how overwhelming the situation was, Henry did a good job of keeping his voice steady.

"Age?" Ray started his quizzing.

"13. I'll be 14 on my next birthday." Henry explained to the large man in front of him.

"Ahhhh. So, you're ageing sequentially. I like that." Ray placed a hand on his chin as if he was thinking.

"Thanks." Henry looked nervous as Ray offered him his hand and enthusiastically introduced himself.

"My name's Ray."

"Hi, Ray." They shook hands, grinning at each other.

"You