"And don't worry." (y/n) smiled, calming him even more.
"Okay." Ray nodded and began to turn the pedals and gently start moving. He was wobbly, but he started moving and before he knew it, he was halfway there.
"I'm doing it! I'm riding!" He laughed with pure joy, making it over to Charlotte. He was so proud of himself, and his happiness spread to others too.
"Should we tell him about the stabilisers?" Henry whispered in (y/n)'s ear, as they clapped for Ray.
"Nah, just let him enjoy the moment for now." She replied, not wanting to rain on her best friend's parade.
~10 minutes later~
Having been practising with the extra wheels for a few minutes now, (y/n) decided that it was now time for Ray to ride on his own.
"Okay, Ray. No training wheels." Henry said to the man as he unscrewed the wheels.
"Ready?" Charlotte asked him.
"Locked and loaded, baby." The large man replied, ready to get moving again.
"Remember, the faster you go, the more balance you'll have." The woman next to him said, placing her hand on his back so she, Charlotte and Henry could give him some momentum.
"Do it," Ray told them, so they gave him a shove and he started to move. He was wobbling again, but he had managed to stay upright.
"You're doing it, Ray!" The kids encouraged him, loving the way his face lit up.
"I'm doing it! I'm riding on two wheels!" He squealed, but he was so excited about riding properly, he didn't watch where he was going and ended up crashing into the computer. Henry, Charlotte and (y/n) cringed as they watched the bike and rider switch places so Ray was laying on the floor groaning and the bike was on top of him.
"I'm okay." He told them as soon as the pain passed, but somehow, his bike chain caught on fire.
"How the hell have you managed that?" (y/n) asked, grabbing a fire extinguisher for the flames. Ray moved out of the way as she squirted the gas and smothered the fire. Seeing that the bike was heavy, her best friend helped her move it from the control panel, but as they did, they accidentally opened the camera link to Junk-N-Stuff.
They all watched as Piper cried about her phone signal and Jasper came up with a plan to get them out of there. He theorised that if he played the drums as loud as he could and Piper screamed 'help' to anyone on the street, then they would eventually be rescued.
"Help!"
"We need somebody!"
"Help!"
"Anybody!"
"Help!" They both cried out, as Ray and (y/n) cringed at the racket.
"That is the worst cover of 'Help' I've ever heard." The man joked and even though the kids didn't get it, the young woman next to him giggled.
"I know right, they're slaughtering The Beatles." She chuckled with him, but Henry and Charlotte were keen to move on to the next activity.
"Ray, come on, we're ready." The boy called to him, so the two adults ducked under the makeshift rollercoaster and went over to them.
"Welcome to...Six Poles Over Swellview!" The kids said together, showing off the mini slide they had created with the junk they found lying around.
"You ready to ride the flume?" Henry smirked at him, as Ray couldn't contain his eagerness.
"Yeah. What's a flume?" The man wanted to know since he had never been on a ride ever.
"Just get in the log," Charlotte told him, knowing that he'd get it once he'd had a go.
"That's a cooler," Ray observed.
"Just pretend it's a log." (y/n) looked at him with demanding eyes, and he complied with what they had said.
"I'll get in the log." He climbed up the stairs and squished himself into the tight cooler. He watched as (y/n) ran to the microphone and Henry and Charlotte got the water and camera ready.
"Now what?" He smiled, eagerly anticipating what they had planned.
"Please keep your hands and feet inside the log at all times. Mantenga los manos y los pies adentro del tronco en todo momento, por favor." The woman announced like a member of staff at a theme park. She even went as far as to dust off her Spanish skills for extra authenticity.
"¡Gracias!" Ray shouted to her, thinking it was hot when she spoke in other languages.
"Now, pull the pin," Henry instructed him, as he stood behind the camera. Ray did just that, and the cooler began to slowly move down the slide, making Ray cry out in exhilaration. It wasn't the fastest ride in the world, but him, it didn't matter and as he came to the end, Charlotte threw some water at him and Henry took his photo.
"Yes! That was a lot of fum." Ray exclaimed happily, putting his beefy arms in the air. His eyes crinkled with happiness as (y/n) helped him from the 'log'.
"What's next?" He asked, his childlike personality really coming out to sparkle.
"We're gonna go camping." (y/n) told him, making him squeeze her into a hug as Henry sneakily took a picture of them. 'Yep, that's a keeper.' The boy thought to himself, as the image captured showed two idiots in love.
~
Charlotte and Henry were setting up the tents and sleeping bags, as (y/n) lit the fire. She had been apprehensive to build one in the Man Cave, but Ray pleaded with her, so how could she say no? She wasn't going to be the one to put a dampener on things. The large man placed four chairs around the fire, as the woman finally got it going.
"Aha, yes! Me cavewoman, me create fire!" (y/n) joked, making Ray laugh. They settled into their chairs, which neither of them noticed to be closer to each other than any of the rest. The teens brought over some marshmallows and sticks and they all huddled in to enjoy their camping moment.
"I didn't know camping involved marshmallows and fire," Ray exclaimed, as his best friend showed him how to rotate the squishy treat until it was perfectly gooey.
"This is fantastic." He smiled brightly, (y/n) observing how young he looked at that moment. All his worries had left him and seeing him so carefree made her heart soar.
"Yeah. Um, (y/n), are you sure it's cool to have this fire in here?" Henry asked the woman as she took a swig from her beer.
"Oh yeah, but only because I'm an adult and I'm supervising this activity." She said, teasing the man next to her, who looked offended when she didn't mention him as an adult.
"So, you're saying that no kid should ever try this without adult supervision?" Henry asked again.
"Exactly." She replied, knowing that kids shouldn't play with fire.
"So, are you having a good time?" Charlotte questioned, noticing how close the two adults were.
"Because, you know, this isn't exactly the weekend we planned," Henry said.
"We didn't get to do everything perfectly." (y/n) added too, but Ray grabbed her free hand squeezed it.
"Are you three kidding me? This is amazing. You guys taught me how to ride and crash a bike. You showed me what riding a flume is like. We're camping." He told them how thankful he was, enjoying how warm his friend's fingers were from the fire.
"Yeah. And I bet we helped you forget that you never had a normal childhood." Henry said, but his words made (y/n) facepalm.
"He did until you said that." The woman said, turning her marshmallow over the flames. The lights above their heads flickered, making them feel nervous again.
"Uh-oh," Henry said.
"What's with the lights?" Charlotte asked, wondering what could possibly go wrong next.
"The generators must be giving out," Ray replied, letting (y/n) shuffle towards him slightly. A dark Man Cave always freaked her out.
"I think there's a flashlight in the cabinet over there." She said to Henry, hoping that they wouldn't have to sit in darkness.
"I'll check." The boy got up and opened the cupboard. Ray and (y/n) both stuffed their melted marshmallows into their mouths. Henry looked around the dusty cabinet and found a clock on a wire.
"Hey, what's this?" He showed the adults, who looked at it in confusion.
"What you got there?" Ray dropped his stick to the floor.
"Uh, a clock with wires coming out of it." Henry described, as (y/n) walked over to check it out.
"Lemme see that." She took the clock from Henry's hands and studied it.
"There's something written on the back." Charlotte pointed out, so Ray peeped over her shoulder.
"That's Schwoz's handwriting." He instantly recognised the genius' scrawl. (y/n) gulped at how she could feel his body heat jump through his t-shirt onto her back.
"Lockdown timer. Do not touch." The woman deciphered Schwoz's poor calligraphy. Honestly, sometimes he wrote like a drunken crab.
"Timer? You said the lockdown was 48 hours." Henry frowned at the thing in her hands.
"And you said nothing could change that," Charlotte added to his confusion.
"Yeah, but if this clock is the timer for the lockdown..." Ray trailed off, as he and (y/n) shared a brainwave.
"Try turning the hands forward!" Charlotte directed the older woman, who did as she said. She spun the hands around the clock, fast forward the timer by forty-eight hours. A buzzing sounded as the doors unlocked and everything switched back on. They all cried in celebration at the prospect of freedom.
"The elevator works," Henry said, as Ray and (y/n) tried the sprocket.
"So does our sprocket," Ray replied, happy to have access to his bedroom again.
"Bye! Up the tube!" Charlotte waved goodbye to them and got out of there as quickly as she could.
"Oh my god, Junk-N-Stuff!" (y/n) exclaimed, running over the computer to check the camera.
"I've never, ever been this hungry," Jasper whined onscreen, as he and Piper had slumped against the counter.
"Why are they still up there? Can't they leave since the lockdown is over?" Henry asked, worried at how incoherent his best friend and sister were.
"Yeah, but I think they're delirious with hunger," Ray told him, as Piper got desperate.
"Okay, how about this? If you let me eat your thumb, I'll let you eat my thumb." She proposed to the curly-haired boy and the thought of something to eat was too tempting for him to resist.
"Deal." He groaned and they swapped hands.
"Holy shit." (y/n) breathed, worried that the kids were actually gonna start eating each other.
"They're gonna eat each others' thumbs," Henry said to Ray.
"We better get up there." The superhero said, as he and Henry took out their gum tubes and popped a gumball.
"Let's blow and go." Henry quipped, and they both transformed into Captain Man and Kid Danger.
~
Entering from the front of the store, the two superheroes burst into Junk-N-Stuff, preventing Piper from biting through Jasper's food.
"Stop eating that thumb!" Ray shouted at her, and they stood up in a daze.
"It's Captain Man." Jasper looked at the large man, who was beginning to look fuzzy.
"And Kid Danger." Piper smiled in confusion.
"Yes, we are," Henry replied, but in Jasper's and Piper's minds, they had transformed into a burger and a hot dog.
"Why...Why are they looking at us like that?" Henry asked Ray, as the boy and girl began to salivate.
"Uh, I don't know." His boss replied, not liking how the kids were smacking their lips together.
"Why are they coming towards us?" Henry asked, panicking at how Jasper was staring at him.
"I don't know, but they look hungry!" Ray said and the two of them backed up to the door.
"Wait! Stop!" A melodic voice came from the back, drawing the attention of the four people on the shop floor. (y/n) came running in, an assortment of food from the auto-snacker nestled in her arms.
"I have pizza!" She said, waving the greasy food under Jasper and Piper's noses. The kids turned away from Captain Man and Kid Danger and began to stalk towards her instead.
"Food..." Jasper mumbled, his pupils dilating at the smell of pepperoni and mozzarella.
"Yeah, leave the nice superheroes alone, and catch!" The woman threw each kid a slice of pizza and they devoured it within seconds. They looked at her for more, sauce smeared over their lips.
"Knock yourselves out." She put the rest of the pizza on the counter, as well as a load of fries, chocolate, doughnuts, waffles and everything else the snack machine had thrown out in record time. Jasper and Piper jumped on the food pile like zoo animals at feeding time, making the woman stand back.
"How'd you know we were about to be eaten?" Henry asked her quietly, as they stood back and watched his sister inhale three doughnuts in one minute.
"You do know there are cameras in here, right? I saw everything." (y/n) smirked, remembering how Swellview's bravest crime fighters were crying like little girls.
"Let me guess, you recorded us being scared?" Ray sighed at her, seeing the mischievous glint in her eyes.
"Of course, it's not every day Captain Man wets his pants due to some children." She laughed to herself and walked back to the elevator so she could watch the clip again. Ray looked at her back until she was gone, making Henry nudge him with his elbow.
"Dude, you're so obvious." The sidekick teased him, making Ray look at him with annoyance.
"I am not!" Ray snapped back, trying to pretend that he wasn't melting from her smile.
"Are too."
"Am not!"
"Are too!
"Am not!" This went on for a while, as (y/n) watched from the Man Cave, wondering what they were arguing about. She had an uncanny knack for missing things in plain sight.
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