Henry's house was definitely a lot quieter without him here. Multiple photo albums were sitting on the coffee table in front of her, Jasper, Mrs. Hart, Mr. Hart, and Piper, all showing Henry from a baby all the way to now. They were currently compiling a photo board for a karaoke fundraising event for Henry that was sponsored by Kid Danger. Charlotte wasn't sure why it was a karaoke event since Henry hated singing, but whatever helped raised money was good enough for her.
"Do you really think this Go-Fund-Yourself page is a good idea?" Mrs. Hart asked again. Charlotte let out a soft breath. "I feel bad because we really don't need that much help for the bills yet. There're people that actually need this money, right?"
"We already have this whole fundraising event planned," Charlotte told Mrs. Hart gently. She reached out and touched her hand, hoping that she listened to her this time around. "Kid Danger is going to make an appearance to help raise money. You do deserve it, okay? Henry wouldn't want you guys to go bankrupt because of him."
"She's right, Mrs. Hart," Jasper said. For once in his life, he was actually being helpful here at Henry's house with Henry's parents. He was nice and gentle with them instead of his normal attitude. "You know Charlotte, she's always right."
"Yeah," Mrs. Hart said with a quick nod. "You two are right."
Charlotte nodded, too. She hated seeing Henry's family like this. Even Piper was sniffling as they looked through pictures of her brother, and that wasn't normal for her. This plan wasn't as nice as she thought it was going to be, though she already knew it wasn't going to be fun.
However, she couldn't focus much on her feelings because there was a knock on the front door. "I'll get that," Mr. Hart said.
Charlotte watched him open the door to reveal the newscaster that was going to cover the karaoke fundraiser. Henry was able to get the news to come out to help get more money for his family.
"It's almost time," Mr. Hart said to Piper and Mrs. Hart. "They want to talk to the three of us for a second."
"I'll bring the photo board outside," Charlotte told Mrs. Hart before she could grab it and mess it up. "You don't have to worry about it."
"Thank you, Charlotte," Mrs. Hart said softly. "You've been so helpful lately. I don't know how I can thank you."
"Henry's my best friend. I would do anything for him."
Mrs. Hart smiled sadly at her before following her husband and daughter out the door. Charlotte sighed and stood up, too. Jasper joined her.
"This has been pretty hard," he said to her, "seeing them like this, especially because Henry isn't actually hurt."
"I know." She grabbed the completed photo board that was resting against the chair. "We should probably get out there now and get this set up."
"Good idea."
The two of them headed outside together. Charlotte was surprised to find a crowd of at least fifty people standing in the front yard and on the driveway at Henry's house. Most of them were probably waiting for Kid Danger to show up, but some of them looked like they were from school. Even Miss Shapen showed up.
Charlotte set the photo board on the easel that was set up in front of the news cameras at the edge of the front porch. She hurried back to where she had been standing at the front porch. She definitely didn't want to be in the news right now on accident.
"Where is he, Jasper?" Charlotte whispered to him. The news people were talking to the cameras, so she knew the karaoke fundraiser had officially started. "Shouldn't he be here by now? I mean, it seems like everyone in Swellview is here but him."
"Don't worry," Jasper said to her. She definitely couldn't believe him because he almost never knew what the truth was. "Your boyfriend's coming."
"Technically, he's not my boyfriend, and you know that," Charlotte hissed.
Jasper winked at her, making her neck heat up. "Oh, I know the truth, Char. I know."
Henry still wasn't here yet, and his parents were speaking to the news cameras. He really needed to be there because Kid Danger was the one sponsoring this whole thing. Did she have to go get him? Was it up to her to keep everyone running smoothly with the schedule?
Just as she was about to call him, she saw him. His eyes scanned the crowd until they landed on her. A small smile spread across his face at the sight of her, making her smile, too. However, his smile slowly dissipated when he found his parents in front of the cameras, both of them tearing up while talking about him.
"Here, I got you something to eat," Henry said softly once he made up to the front porch with her. He handed her box from Inside-Out Burger. His parents' voices echoed around them as they spoke to the news people. "I wasn't sure if you ate anything, so I stopped at Inside-Out Burger to get you something."
"Uh, why?"
"You don't want to talk to your other best friend?" Jasper asked, interrupting her and Henry from speaking.
"Technically, Kid Danger doesn't know you," Henry answered him.
"Just hug me." Henry hugged Jasper quickly, rolling his eyes at Charlotte. She rolled her eyes back at him. "Thank you."
"Well, the other day you didn't eat anything when I was at your house," he explained to her with a shrug after pulling away from Jasper's hug. For some reason, the tips of his ears were turning red. He scratched the back of his head awkwardly. "I didn't want you to go hungry like you did that day, so I just got you something just in case. And I made sure it didn't have any pickles on it."
"I actually ate just before I came out here," Charlotte told him. His face fell, so she quickly added, "But I'll put it in the fridge so I can take it home with me. Thank you for thinking about me."
"Yeah."
She hastily took the Inside-Out Burger box out of his hands, saying another thank you to him. He wouldn't really meet her eyes, though, so she turned around and headed inside his house to put her burger in the refrigerator. There wasn't that much food in the refrigerator when she opened it, making her frown. Did the Harts need this money more than they were letting on? Or were they too devastated to even go to the store? She wasn't really sure.
Glancing outside, Charlotte saw Mr. and Mrs. Hart and Piper still standing in front of the news cameras. It looked like Mrs. Hart was crying again. That wasn't good, especially with Henry standing a few feet away from her. Shifting her gaze over to Henry, she saw a strange look on his face, like he was trying to hold in some tears of his own.
Thankfully, the Harts stepped out of the way just as Mrs. Hart's crying got to its zenith. Charlotte could hear her wails all the way inside. Her heart broke for her; this was not something any of them thought about when they came up with the plan to "injure" Henry. If only they knew that their son was okay and safe and healthy. But they couldn't. No one else could know who Kid Danger truly was.
"What's he doing?" Charlotte whispered to Jasper once she made it back outside. She pointed at Henry, standing in front of the cameras, who had his phone pressed against his cheek.
"Talking to Captain Man," Jasper answered her quietly. The two of them were standing close enough to Henry to hear him whispering to his phone. "The crowd keeps asking where he's at."
"Seriously, Captain Man, you should come," Henry said into his phone with a grin on his face. "There's a lot of people here who want to see you. You know you can't resist a chant."
The crowd chanted at Henry while he held his phone out for Ray to hear them all. He pressed his phone against his ear again and rolled his eyes. Charlotte knew that he didn't want to leave the Man Cave at all until they caught Seymour Butts, but he really needed to see sunlight again. It had been over two weeks since he went outside. He probably was going crazy in the Man Cave.
"Dude, just come as Ray," Henry whispered into his phone. He turned away from the crowd for a second. "Seymour Butts doesn't know the identity behind Captain Man. You'll be safe as him, okay? Besides, my mom's here. I know you want to see her."
After a few seconds of listening, Henry hung up on Ray. Charlotte really wanted to ask him what Ray said, but she knew she couldn't just yet. They were surrounded by too many people for her to ask some personal questions.
"Unfortunately, Captain Man can't come today," Henry said, addressing the crowd again. The crowd booed loudly. Henry didn't look happy, either. "He's on vacation somewhere far away from here. But I'm here, so that's good. I'll say a few words about Henry Hart before we can get this karaoke party started."
Charlotte didn't bother listening to him talk to the crowd because she wrote that speech for him. She found it a little ridiculous that he couldn't even write a speech about himself, but she was used to it by now. She had to pick up the slack at work for the boys who never seemed to know how to do anything by themselves.
Finally, after what seemed like forever, Henry was done reciting the speech she had written for him. She expected him to walk over to her so they could listen to the people singing together, but he turned on his heel, walking away from everyone and everything that was happening. That was strange. Where was he going?
Charlotte pushed through the crowd just as Jasper started singing a song at the karaoke machine. She winced in pain when he tried to hit a high note. However, all that noise died down when she rounded the corner of his house.
"What's up with you?" Charlotte asked him once she found him pacing around his backyard. She grabbed onto his hand before he could turn and do another lap. "Hey, what's wrong?"
His eyes darted around the backyard like he wanted them to be alone. His fingers were shaking against her palm. Something was wrong with him, and she was worried. Henry never acted like this before. Never.
"Henry, look in my eyes," Charlotte whispered. She let go of his hand and placed her hands on his cheeks, turning his head to look at her. His eyes finally stopped darting around, focusing on hers. "What's wrong? Talk to me."
"My parents are devastated because they think something terrible happened to me," he whispered. He tried to turn his head toward his house, but she held him steady, keeping him looking into her eyes. "They look awful, Char. Even Piper cried when she talked about me. Why am I putting them through all this pain?"
"To help Ray," Charlotte answered him. Though, she didn't believe that much, either. She hated seeing Mr. and Mrs. Hart like they were today. "As soon as we defeat Seymour Butts, you can be Henry again, and your parents will be all better."
"I hate this, Char. I hate putting them through this."
"I know. I hate it, too. What else can we do, though? You're a superhero, and you have to put the world before anything else."
His eyes darkened a little at what she said. Charlotte wasn't sure what was going on in his mind right now. She wished she did to help make everything better. She didn't like seeing him this depressed and upset. It pained her heart to see him like this.
"Thank you," he whispered, his breath blowing across her face. The hair behind her neck prickled slightly when she realized just how close they were standing to each other. "You helped calm me down."
"Of course." She smiled up at him, and he returned it back to her. That was good, he was smiling again. "I knew something was up with you the whole time you were speaking, and I wanted to make sure you were okay."
Henry's smile slowly slipped off of his face as the two of them went silent. Was he thinking the same thing she was? Did he want to kiss her, too? Did she want to kiss him? Was that what her mind was telling her to do right now?
Too many questions were swirling around her mind, so she quickly dropped her hands from his face. Instead, she pulled him into a tight hug. He buried his head in the crook of her neck like he was trying to hide from the world. She held him close to her, hoping that he knew that she would protect him from anything.
"I told you that they would be back here," a voice said behind them, surprising Charlotte. She pulled away from Henry, but he kept his arm secured around her waist, keeping her close to his side. In front of her stood Piper and a photographer. "You two snuck away to make out, didn't you?" Piper asked them, crossing her arms over her chest.
"No," Charlotte said quickly. She shook her head. "No, we needed to talk about something. That's all that we did."
"Charlotte, I expected better from you," Piper said. Charlotte frowned at her. "You're here to help raise money for Henry, yet you decided it would be a better time to spend with your boyfriend. I thought Henry was your best friend."
"Um, I don't think we should have this conversation right now," Henry said. He gestured to the man with the camera, who was currently recording everything they were saying. "Can't you two talk alone?"
"Piper, we had to talk because I was having a panic attack," Charlotte lied. She also ignored Henry because she didn't want Piper to be mad at her. She was her only friend that was a girl. She needed her. "What happened to Henry has been weighing on me a lot, and I just kind of lost it today. That's why we were out here instead of with everyone else."
Piper's eyes widened slightly. "Really?"
"Yeah," Henry said with a nod. He squeezed her waist slightly, and she glanced over at him. "She's told me a lot about this Henry kid and how awesome he is. He's basically all she can talk about right now."
"Okay, that's not really the truth," Charlotte said with an awkward laugh. Of course, he had to talk himself up. "But I do talk about Henry a lot because he's so important to me. I could never picture my life without him."
"I'm sorry for assuming that you two were making out," Piper said. The photographer walked away from them, probably because it was not the story he was hoping for. "This whole situation has been hard on me, too."
Charlotte pushed Henry's arm off of her and walked over to Piper, throwing her arms around her shoulders. Piper barely wrapped her arms around Charlotte, but it was better than nothing, which was what she usually did when people tried to hug her. The embrace was short and sweet with Piper pulling out of it quickly.
"If you ever tell Henry that I actually cried over him, I will kill you," Piper threatened her.
Charlotte glanced at Henry to find him coughing slightly. She had to look away before she burst out laughing, too. If Piper knew that Henry was actually standing in front of her, she probably would have died.
"Okay," Charlotte said to Piper. "I won't tell him."
"Good."
Piper turned on her heel and walked away from them, leaving them alone again. Charlotte faced Henry again and started laughing when she saw the grin on his face. "It was so hard not to laugh," Henry said, snorting. He stopped laughing, but the smile remained on his face. "You know, sometimes I think that she hates me. Now I know the truth."
"Sometimes I think she hates everyone that's not her," Charlotte said.
"That's very true."
"Should we go back up front and sing some karaoke to help raise more money for Henry dummy?" Charlotte asked him.
"That's really what you're calling hospital me?" Henry asked, taking her hand.
"Maybe."
The two of them started walking around the house back toward the front yard. A larger crowd had formed on Henry's front lawn while they were out back. She was glad to see so many people supporting him even if it was because Kid Danger was here. Someone was just finishing up their rendition of a random song Charlotte didn't know, making her grin over at Henry.
"We should definitely do a duet," she told him quickly.
"Hmm?"
"We should definitely do a duet."
"No, Char," he said, shaking his head at her. "I'm not singing in front of this many people."
"Come on, it'll be fun."
"No."
Charlotte still dragged him over to the karaoke machine, handing him a microphone and taking one for herself. The crowd began cheering louder when they saw Henry standing at the karaoke machine. Ray and Jasper were cheering the loudest in the front of the crowd.
"I hate you, Char," Henry whispered to her.
"I think it's the opposite." Charlotte laughed when she saw him stick his tongue out at her. "You can choose the song we're going to sing, alright? Will that make you feel better?"
"I guess."
While Henry chose the song they were going to sing together, she watched him. He seemed to be doing better than earlier in the backyard, but she couldn't really tell right now. There was a smile on his face that was wide. But it didn't quite reach his eyes. There was something else on his mind, she knew it. She didn't want to ruin the moment, though, so she kept quiet about it, especially in front of all these people. They would have more time to talk, she knew it. They were best friends, after all.