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queen-of-writing-bad-things · 3 months

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Henry Danger Reader Insert | Captain Man x Reader: SEASON 4

Episode 7: Meet Cute Crush

~In the Man Cave~

"Remind me again why we're watching this crap?" (y/n) asked Charlotte as she sat next to the girl at the supercomputer, which had some crappy, online makeup tutorial up on the screen. The room was quiet, peaceful, tranquil compared to the usual hustle and bustle that occurred with several males stampeding through the Man Cave, so they were taking the time to just chill out, have some quality girl time with no silly boys around to cause them any issues.

Schwoz was off doing god knows what and Henry and Ray were off responding to an emergency call, which left them to do whatever the hell they wanted, and that just so happened to be researching some new makeup tips from teenage wannabe gurus.

Now, (y/n) was definitely missing her boyfriend, feeling like the peace was unnatural in her home as it was him that usually made her life so varied and exciting, but she'd chosen not to follow him on this particular mission, stating that she was sure that three superheroes were a little excessive for a playground problem.

Ray had turned a little mopey at that, whining that he always worked better with her around and with his little secret still under his belt, he didn't want to leave. But she insisted, saying that she'd be at home waiting for him to come back. And that's where they left it, Henry dragging his boss to the tubes as (y/n) pulled a chair up to the computer so she could take the afternoon off.

"Because! It's fun and you never know, you might get some ideas for wooing Ray." Charlotte replied, scrolling through several videos until she found one that looked pretty good, a smiling, brown-haired girl in the thumbnail. The woman on her left rolled her eyes, trying not to let the sly comment get to her, but a blush hit her cheeks, all the same, feeling slightly bashful that the teen loved to tease her about her relationship.

Not one for romantics, Charlotte normally repulsed any ideas of love, preferring to stick to her friends, studies and job, however, she couldn't ignore this couple, not when she knew what was in store and how easy it was to make her squeal.

"He's plenty wooed already, just play the video." (y/n) groaned, hearing the quiet giggles and seeing the way Charlotte's shoulders were shaking with mirth at how she was quick to get playfully defensive. She hit play anyway, leaning back in her chair as the online teen began to speak.

"Now, to save money on eyeshadow, I suggest using...paprika!" The girl, called Lauren, smiled and (y/n) and Charlotte frowned when she began smearing it over her eyelids, making the older woman cringe at how crusty and patchy it was, not forgetting stupidly dangerous.

She was so glad that she was born in the eighties, way back when there was no such thing as the internet and dumb tutorials like this one because she just knew that she might have followed the advice like so many teens sat at home right now. At least Charlotte had common sense and looked just as sceptical as she did.

"If her eyeball isn't on fire now, then it will be when she gets conjunctivitis." (y/n) snorted, watching the girl rub the powder all over her eye area, clearly believing that she had discovered some revolutionary technique for a perfect smokey eye. With her face looking...questionable, Lauren moved on to her next tip, which the girls weren't particularly looking forward to but they kept watching, interested to see how she was gonna save their dollars again.

"And instead of foundation, which is really expensive, you can use...hummus!" She exclaimed, lifting up her pot of crushed chickpeas and that's when (y/n) stopped caring. This had to be satire or some kind of prank because there was no way that anyone would smear a thick, lumpy, vaguely-but-not-really, skin-coloured mush on their face. However, when Lauren actually started doing it, rubbing the hummus into her skin with a tissue, she realised that this was genuine belief. Charlotte slumped in her seat, the truth hitting her too and she was ready to turn it off before any more of their brain cells died, but it turned out that there was one last thing to listen to. "Oh, and notice how I'm not using a sponge! This is just an old tissue found in the trash."

"Yeah, I'm not putting hummus on ma face," Charlotte stated dryly, clicking off the video since they'd both had enough stupidity for one day, the woman silently agreeing that any price for real foundation was better than walking around with dip on your face, but now they were left with nothing to do. Luckily for them though, as one door closed, another one opened and the tube alarm sounded as the glass dropped, signalling the triumphant return of Captain Man and Kid Danger. (y/n) immediately spun her chair around, smiling brightly as her boyfriend came down with his sidekick, both of them landing with a Slush Puppie in their hand.

"Hey, back so soon?" The woman teased, her grin growing as she walked across the room, intent on meeting Ray halfway as they came down the steps and his gaze softened at the sight of her happily skipping towards him. His free arm extended to take her into his embrace after a lonely mission without her; yeah, he'd had Henry, but he wasn't her, nowhere near being her equivalent, and even though it had only been a couple hours, he was ready to be back by her side.

"You make it sound like a bad thing." He smirked, making Henry and Charlotte share an eye roll at how they'd been "reunited" for less than ten seconds and the flirting was already at one hundred, his hand splayed out on her back and hers trailing up his chest, eyeing up the frozen slush drink for a second. Oh yeah, she'd be sipping that in a few moments, but first, she had to feedback to his comment and return his flirtatious tone, something she wasn't able to resist.

"Never." She replied, standing on her tiptoes to press a kiss to his lips, which he hungrily returned after having been separated from his soulmate for too long in his opinion. The teens stood patiently, waiting for them to break apart since they were used to it at this point and it was common knowledge that if you let them kiss it out, they'd eventually start listening again, albeit holding hands or something similarly gross.

(y/n) was the first one to let go, giggling when he whispered in her ear, probably a filthy, cheeky line that he didn't want the kids to hear but couldn't help but tell her just to make her tummy flutter. Ugh, couldn't they get a room?

"So, what happened? Come on, put her down, it's only been two hours." Charlotte groaned exasperatedly, making the two straighten themselves out slightly when it clicked that they were being touchy again and weren't the only ones in the room, despite it feeling like that. (y/n) pulled back, choosing to slot herself against Ray's side where he would be free to keep his arm around her and presses any number of kisses against her temple, whilst also allowing her to bring his slushie to her mouth. There was no way she wasn't gonna steal his drink, that's just what she did.

"Oh, well, we showed up at the playground..." Ray started, passing the cup to his girl once he caught her gaze on his right hand and he instantly knew that her quirk was back, the one that he had a love/hate relationship with. He never got to finish any sodas, coffees, slushies, anything that she liked because he could never resist those puppy-dog eyes that she had when she wanted to share. He would've gotten one for her too, but he didn't, he knew it wouldn't be the same; his girl didn't want her own drink, she wanted them to share because it came from him and that's what he loved.

"Yeah, and there's like a bunch of second-graders playing in the sandbox." Henry continued, side-eyeing the way they were slurping from the same straw and totally not paying attention. Jeez, if this was a two-hour deficit, what would a longer period result in? Ray sip, (y/n) sip, Ray sip, (y/n) sip, that's how it went and in between the strawberry ice, he kissed and mumbled into her hair, only stopping when he thought he should add something completely redundant to the conversation. "They were playing the sandbox!"

"Yeah, I just said that, stop kissing your girlfriend. She's not gonna disappear, dude." Henry told him, making Ray pause to frown at the kid who'd just burst their happy, little bubble of love. His girl blushed but said nothing, knowing that Henry meant nothing by it, he was just a typical teen who was irked by his boss' nuzzling and nauseating muttering.

And she didn't mind, you'd have thought that she'd bite back, tell him that she'd waited far too long for his kisses to say no to them, but she'd just gave him a subtle, knowing smirk. Little did anyone know, but Henry was taking a trip to New York to see a certain someone, a secret he'd told only her about and she knew that his nerves were getting to him and any romance was freaking him out a bit.

"All right, all right, we're breaking it up. Continue, doofus..." She soothed the boy, leading her boyfriend over to the couch where the boys could sit after their tricky mission and Henry let it go when he saw how she actively toned it down. They stood for a moment, not sitting down since the excitement of the tale gripped the boys more than their need to rest; they were superheroes, rest was for babies.

"Right, but what the kids didn't realise was..." Ray started, now holding his girl's hand since his youngest sidekick was being so tetchy. He didn't know why he hadn't asked, all he knew was that she and Henry had been whispering recently with red cheeks and wide smirks, so he was aware that something was up. They were bonding over something, which warmed his heart as it was plain to see that he was going to her for advice (a smart move considering how Ray wasn't known for being discreet) and he saw no reason to start ripping holes in that. She'd tell him at some point, probably when they had their end-of-the-day chat in bed or it would come out for everyone to hear, either way, he trusted her, he trusted both of them.

"That, uh...there was a nest of scorpions right in the sandbox." Henry went on, taking a long slurp from his slushie as (y/n) and Charlotte's mouths dropped in horror. Scorpions in a children's play box? Why were they finding that amusing? Just the thought of those poor, little kids reaching out to make a sandcastle, digging through the box to have a good time, only to get stung by some vicious arachnids, was dreadful for the girls and suddenly, (y/n) kinda wished she'd gone along to ensure everyone's safety. "Scorpions?!"

"And they were crawling all over them and they were freaking out—" "Oh, yeah, arghhh, they're on my face!!! Ahhh, for the love of God—" Henry and Ray screeched, imitating the utter terror from the children who'd been unfortunate enough to play in the sandbox and the boys slumped down as they finished their screaming, sniggering to one another about how amusing it was.

With an unamused expression, (y/n) plonked down next to her boyfriend, instead of sitting on his lap like normal, and tucked her feet under herself as his arm went over her head to rest on the couch's back and open up his side for snuggles. She moved in closer, of course, she did, carefully gauging the kid's reaction as he spread out on the other half of the sofa and when she saw that he didn't care, her head rested against Ray's chest, close to the join of his shoulder thus they'd stay cute but not suffocatingly so.

"So, the innocent kids were covered in tiny creatures with deadly stingers, what next?" The woman asked her boyfriend, guiding his straw into her mouth again for a quick sip before he spoke again, her hand resting on his pec just to close the circle of intimacy. It was nice and she wondered why they couldn't stay like that forever, just her, him, their friends and fucking comfortable couch for them to relax into, perfect serenity.

"Then we just grabbed a fire hose." "A big, old fire hose." Ray looked down at her and shrugged with Henry, finishing the story rather anticlimactically after talking about scorpions and whatnot, his flare for adding drama really making it out to be some daring rescue, but when it came down to it, the whole thing had been a pretty simple job. He sucked on his slushie a bit more, noticing how it was noticeably lighter now that it had two people drinking from it but one look at his pretty girl and how she was absentmindedly drawing patterns on his suit with her finger and it suddenly didn't matter. He'd give up all his beverages if it meant he got to have her, quirks and all.

"Just, uh, sprayed the scorpions of the kids." He concluded, chuckling with the boy for some reason that went over the girls' heads. Obviously, it must have been much more hilarious to witness, otherwise, Ray's shaking wouldn't disturb (y/n) from her drawing, forcing her to sit up properly so she and Charlotte could give them slightly judgemental looks. Okay, maybe the image of blasting an unsuspecting toddler with a beam of highly pressurised water was a bit funny, but because they were upstanding people with morals, (y/n) and Charlotte would never divulge that. And they wouldn't have to; midway through their giggles, the superhero and sidekick were interrupted by a minor alarm from the computer, telling them that someone from Junk-N-Stuff was trying to get in contact.

"Hey, that's Jasper, calling from upstairs," Charlotte mentioned and wandered over to answer the call, ending the moment for everyone since every time that boy rang, it presented them with a problem. Back to work, it was, no more snuggling and the three on the couch instantly straightened out, getting ready to go and help with whatever issue Jasper couldn't solve by himself.

"Oh, great," Ray grumbled sarcastically, silently ruing the day he took that kid into his employment, but honestly, Jasper had been getting better and he was starting to like him a smidge, not that he'd ever admit it. He had a tendency for interrupting cuddling, movie-watching, napping, kissing, talking, working out, and other...physical activities, so any buzz was a red flag going up in Ray's mind, but like always, they answered, worried that this time, like any other time, could be the one where Jasper really was crying wolf.

"Hey, what's up?" Charlotte answered the call instantly, opening the line so they could see the teen cowering in the storeroom. He was calling from his phone, which was odd since he could've just used the cameras near the counter and cash register, so the fact that he'd had to go into the back said a lot; someone was out on the shop floor and he didn't know how to deal with them. "Hey, it's me, Jasper."

"Yeah, we can see that, Curly." (y/n) replied sarcastically, throwing the comment over her shoulder since she was still partially snuggling with her boyfriend, although she still retained her kind, playful smile, which shined through her voice, so Jasper didn't take it to heart. He just nodded slightly and refocused on the purpose of his call, telling them about the very angry child he was being forced to deal with at that moment.

"Cool, uh, so Henry..." He started, making the three on the couch stand up and walk over since it was kinda hard to have a decent conversation when they could barely see the monitors. It sucked to stand up again so soon after coming back from a job but they didn't mind, if Jasper had a problem, so did they and (y/n) and Ray could hold hands or something. No biggie. "Yeah, what's up, big dog?"

"Your sister is here!" Jasper hissed, making them all frown. Piper was in Junk-N-Stuff, ew, that made Ray's hair prickle and stand-on-end, knowing that he had a brat on the premises and it was even more shocking for Henry. His sister never came for friendly visits, mainly because they were never that friendly to each other, so hearing that she'd come into his place of work, where there was super-secret, super important stuff lying around, made alarm bells ring in his head. "Wha—why? What does she want?"

"I don't know. I told her you were busy and then she got mad and said she's not leaving until she talks to you." The boy explained, making Henry let out a long, tired sigh. He'd already done so much work today and it wasn't even mid-afternoon yet, and now he had to go see his moody, little sister. He had all the luck.

"Are you sure she's mad?" He asked, hoping that if she was in a reasonable mood, then it would be an easy problem to fix no then he'd be able to go back to enjoying the precious free time he had to relax, but fate wasn't that kind to him. When was Piper ever in a good mood when it came to him? "Yeah, look at her pacing angrily" Jasper turned the camera, so they could see past the beaded door curtain and witness how the girl was burning a groove into the tiles by how quickly she was marching around. Yikes, she was in a terrible mood and Henry was gonna be taking the brunt of it.

"Look, just tell her that I'll see her at home before I leave for New York," Henry told him, sparking Ray's interest when he heard about the secretive trip. No one had told him that his sidekick was going away, to New York of all places, and even though he couldn't make the connection of who was in New York, he still wanted to know every little detail. "You're going to New York?"

"He sure is! For a whole weekend!" (y/n) squealed, giving the boy a quick side hug at the reminder that he was finally taking her advice and seeing the Game Shaker girl again, not just on a video call, but actually flying out to her city for Valentine's Day, it just set off her hopeless romantic heart. Henry was nervous, terrified, now realising why Ray had always gotten clammy and cowardly whenever he came close to telling his girl about how he loved her, but he also had the number one cheerleader for cheesy romance on his side and with her wisdom and encouragement, his plane ticket was bought and he was leaving in a couple of days.

It was just something between them, it had to be if they wanted it to stay lowkey, but nothing could stop (y/n)'s excitement or the spontaneous hugs she kept giving him, saying it was the cutest thing she'd ever heard when he told her how he was gonna give Babe a rose and everything. Be still her beating heart.

"Why?" Ray asked, unable to choose between his confusion or how his soul fluttered when his sweet girl latched onto his sidekick with pure elation written all over her face, making him wonder what all the hype was about. Was this the thing they'd been whispering about? And why she'd been extra giggly and smiley for the past week? Charlotte looked like she knew something, not much, but she wasn't dying to know like he was, having been told a few tidbits here and there, just enough for her to keep her nose out, something Ray was incapable of doing.

"'Cause, uh...you don't need to know why that's why," Henry told him sassily, causing his boss to back off at how standoffish he was being, which was the exact reaction he wanted. No questions, no prying, just him and his flight so he could go see the girl he had a massive crush on. He like-liked her, which was a lot for him and he, plus (y/n), would be damned if anything went wrong.

"Hey, I already tried telling Piper you'll talk to her later." Jasper butted in, wanting to get back to the original point, despite him also wanting to know about this trip. It didn't matter though, he'd find out eventually, right now they still had a very angry problem to deal with. "And?"

"She grabbed my earlobe and yanked it. Really hard! And then she started asking all sorts of questions about Junk-N-Stuff, why you're never here, why there's no customers... Oh, and then she wanted to see if she can speak to (y/n), "the nice lady who works here with her dumb boyfriend." Don't know why though." Jasper told them, making (y/n) snort at her description as Ray grumpily came back over, not so happy to be known as the "dumb boyfriend".

He wrapped an arm around his girl's shoulders, looking down at her with a dopey smile, the one he always had plastered on his face when she was next to him because she made him happy and so full of love, if anyone could calm that brat it was her, "the nice lady".

"All right, sweet girl, maybe you and Henry better go upstairs and get rid of his sister." The man suggested, this time pressing a kiss against her temple before she nodded. Sooner or later, Piper would barge into the back, looking for her brother and would no doubt accidentally stumble into the elevator, thus revealing the Man Cave and every that they did in there, which was a big no-no. Therefore, if Piper wanted to speak with Henry and (y/n), then they'd have to go up there and face her wrath.

"Sure thing, handsome. We'll be back in a sec." (y/n) smiled, giving Ray a parting kiss for a split-second before she pulled away and took a long sip of his slushie, savouring the taste since she knew that by the time she came back downstairs, it would be long gone. He gave her a mock-offended gaze, acting as though he had wanted that sip for himself, not that he'd ever not share with her.

"Will I ever be able to drink something without you drinking it too?" He asked playfully, seeing her semi-embarrassed, semi-proud smirk and he didn't even need a reply. She couldn't help it, his stuff always tasted so much nicer and if he ever wanted her to stop, she would, he'd just never complained, not even now.

"Nope, sorry, doofus. Come on, Hen." (y/n) giggled and gestured for the boy to follow her, assuming that he was already chewing some gum or about to do so because of the costume he was still wearing, but he just kept following her, unaware that if he stepped out to see his sister now, she'd get the shock of her life and he'd have a lot of explaining to do. The woman stopped, making him wonder why she wasn't going to the elevator; maybe she wanted one last hug from Ray or one last kiss, whatever it was, he wasn't gonna stop until...

"Uh, kid?" Ray started, stirring the rapidly melted slush in his cup as he saw the problem and shared an amused look with his girlfriend. The boy had been doing the same job with the same rules for three years, but he still missed things, which was worryingly cute. Thank god they were around or else everyone would know about his secret identity or at least Piper would. "Huh? What?"

"Maybe you wanna chew some gum before you go see your sister?" The man asked him, making Henry scoff under his breath. Why would he need to do that? Maybe it was something to do with the garlic pasta that he'd had for lunch mixing with the strawberry slush, perhaps he needed to go brush his teeth because he smelled, could there be any other possible reason? "Why? Is my breath bad?"

"Yeah, real bad. It smells like Kid Danger." (y/n) replied sarcastically, finally making the boy look down to see he was still in his signature red pants and blue tunic, complete with his utility belt. It clicked in his head what a mess he would've caused and he looked between the adults with a bashful, giggly smile, feeling slightly embarrassed that they'd caught him out on such an obvious mistake.

"Ohhhh, yeah, nice one, nice one, (y/n/n). It's why you guys are the bosses." Henry grinned, making (y/n) roll her eyes and drag him off to the elevator with a final wave to her boyfriend, who was already taking a big, long gulp of his slushie, mirroring Henry as he threw a gumball into his mouth. The door slid shut, blocking them from their friends, meaning they were now left alone and as Henry's civilian clothes materialised around him, (y/n) couldn't help but feel another rush of affection for the boy who'd grown up under her watchful supervision.

"Oh my god, you're going to New York! I'm so proud!" She shrieked, wrapping her arms around him in a bone-crushing hug that took all the air out from his body, but he didn't have the heart to stop her, not when he knew how much she adored him. He wasn't the cute, little kid who arrived looking for a job anymore, he towered over her much like Ray did, proving that he was an adult now, but she still felt the same protective urge she always did for the boy who was like a brother to her. "Can't...breathe...."

"Sorry, but I can't wait for you to go and see Babe, it's gonna be like every rom-com I've ever watched. And I'm the orchestrator!" (y/n) grinned, pulling back and letting her arms drop back to her sides as they reached the top of the elevator shaft, half a mile up from the Man Cave. Everything had to appear normal when they went out into the shop so they didn't Piper off to anything, and like usual, (y/n)'s affection came and went in a flash, leaving her satisfied and the recipient happily perplexed as to what just happened.

"You know, I'm so glad you convinced me to go, 'cause I was thinking of...not going," Henry told her sheepishly, making her put a gentle hand on his arm, a contrast to the significant squeeze she gave him only moments before and through that simple touch, she communicated her understanding.

Love is terrifying and no one's good at it, even those who claim to have dated by the dozen and she was one of the people who thought the mysterious sentiment wasn't for her, not when the one she loved with all of her heart seemed so distant.

But in her experience, love was also full of surprises and if she didn't take her chance on that fateful, muffin-filled day, then she and Ray would have never admitted their feelings and who knows where they would've ended up. Sometimes you just got to do it and let your feelings speak for yourself.

"Just be yourself and make her feel special. And then tell me every detail when you get back because I want to know everything!" (y/n) exclaimed, making Henry chuckle at her enthusiasm for his love life, both of them able to hear Piper and Jasper argue as they approached the beaded curtain.

"Well, where are Henry and (y/n)?!" The girl snapped, fed up with waiting. She had a real, serious problem on her hands and she had no one else to turn to apart from her dumb brother and the nice lady he worked with, who she was sure had some experience dealing with her type of situation, considering that she had a boyfriend, who was rumoured to be thinking of proposing. How did she know that? Five words; Henry is a terrible gossip.

"Right here." The kid announced as they stepped out from the back, ready to face whatever the girl threw at them, not that (y/n) saw it that way. She smiled upon seeing the girl, her cheeriness disregarding the foul mood she seemed to be in since she knew that Piper had received zero amounts of patience, a virtue that seemed to have gone to her brother instead, and underneath her fiery nature, she was really quite sweet once you got to know her. "It's about time!"

"Hey, Piper, nice dungarees, real cute." The woman complimented her outfit, thinking it made her look really sweet and Piper brightened a little at that, glad that she could have a conversation with someone she liked now, not just her dumb brother and his even dumber friend. Henry ordered Jasper to turn off whatever stupid sitcom he was watching, thinking that this was the time for a serious conversation, not corny jokes and a laughter track, but all the boy did was whine.

A stern look from the woman in charge made him reluctantly hit the off button, making a mental note that he'd have to rewatch that particular episode later when there were no customers or bosses around to scold him. With quietness resuming, Henry and (y/n) turned back to Piper, who still hadn't curbed her impatience, moodily looking at her sibling with disdain.

"'Kay, what?" Henry looked at her tiredly, wishing he was back downstairs relaxing again with a soda and some snacks, but no. He was talking to his bratty sister and he had a feeling that this was gonna be a long one, especially when she started to explain why she had trekked all the way to his workplace.

"I need you guys' help." She explained simply, looking between the two, who weren't following. This was a first and whilst (y/n) could understand why the girl would ask Henry, she couldn't see why she'd need to be in on it too.

"What?" Henry stuttered, unsure if he'd heard her correctly. She, the little sister who he swore hated him, wanted their help? With what? Why? When? How? So many questions, little time and he was certain that he was just gonna say no and go back downstairs, tugging (y/n) with him so Ray wouldn't get all pouty because the reason behind it all didn't matter. "Uhhhhhh, no."

"You don't even know what she wants us to do, give her a chance." (y/n) chastised him, judging her elbow sharply into his ribs at how he just dismissed the girl instantly. She wasn't sure if she was gonna be able to help, but she was at the least gonna hear her out and unlike Henry, give her the best advice she had since she had life experience and all that. The kid though was just gonna slope off to his slushie again, which he'd find empty, long since slurped by Ray, whose motto in life was "waste not, want not".

"(y/n), we have jobs here, okay, Piper? We're—we're working." Henry said, wiggling his eyebrows at the woman to tell her that they needed to pretend that they worked in the junk store and not as the city's greatest crimefighters, but she didn't need him to tell her that, nor did she need him to randomly touch crap around the room just to prove his point. The cymbal-banging monkey toy thing he had in his hands wasn't fooling anyone and it was just ruining the displays she'd tidied earlier that morning when she'd opened the store up with Jasper. "Put the monkey back, you're making a mess."

"Really? 'Cause every time I come here to see you, you're never in this store! So, what is it that really you do around here?" Piper interrogated her brother, a hint of suspicion and scepticism creeping into her voice as she studied her brother and how he struggled to answer, no lies coming into his brain, even when he looked at Jasper, who'd been watching from the counter. "Well...I sometimes...work in the back."

"Right, he works with me...in the garden. A lot." (y/n) jumped in, gulping at how implausible it would be to have a garden with flowers, bushes and trees in Downtown Swellview and even though she and Schwoz kept a few organic specimens in the labs, it was nothing compared to what the girl was painting in her mind.

"There's a garden in the back?" Her voice was disbelieving, but the lie had been said, so now, Henry and (y/n) had to run with it.

"Yeah! It's—it's a rear garden and I work with (y/n) there so...rear garden." Henry stammered, paling as Piper stared at him, not saying anything, so his gaze flickered nervously to (y/n), who just shrugged since she had o idea what else to say, but luckily, Piper could let that go, she had more pressing matters to discuss with them.

"Whatever, you guys gotta help me." She reiterated, going back to her original point, making Henry deflate in relief as (y/n) circled to stand in front of the girl, giving her a neutral yet understanding face as she was open to discussing the problem. "What can we help you with, Piper?"

"Get a boyfriend!" The girl replied excitedly, a lovestruck smile spreading across her face at the thought and (y/n) could feel her own heart swell with emotion again. Two Harts needing romantic advice? Yeah, she was helping, she was so helping, it was like her dream come true, playing matchmaker for the brother and sister and watching her influence spread love. And Piper was so cute and sweet (when she wanted to be), she just knew that she could make it happen, however, Henry wasn't so convinced, he was repulsed.

"Gross." He deadpanned, shuddering at the thought of his sister dating anyone, or rather, some poor sap having to go out with Piper, just the thought of it was turning his stomach. He couldn't do that, (y/n) sure, she practically wrote the book on unrealistic but totally adorable chance meetings, a skill she'd honed watching hundreds of romcoms whilst Ray was off dating random chicks, and now, she could take his place setting up his sister.

"Hey, boyfriends aren't gross, they're magical..." The woman in question sighed dreamily, both her and Piper's minds wandering at the thought of their significant others and Henry recoiled slightly. Okay, it was bad enough when she drooled over Ray on her own, now she was doing it in some weird, hive mind lovefest with the little girl and that was too much for the kid.

"Look, Piper, I don't know how to get you a boyfriend. Talk to (y/n), she's got one, maybe she can give you some tips." He advised his sister, who just looked at him with a bored expression. Duh, that's why she'd come here where the nice lady worked; she knew all about her relationship from Henry's knack for gossiping and bits and pieces she'd found on Twitflash. She knew that the woman had scored herself a lovable idiot and was very happy, which is what she wanted for herself and why she was in the store in that very moment.

"I know, you don't know how to do anything. That's why I have it all planned out and why I need (y/n) to give me lots of boyfriend advice." Piper replied, making (y/n) pause for a second. What did she know about boyfriends? Well, it would have to be suitable for a twelve-year-old, so that's half of her relationship gone, which left all the sweet stuff and she could go on and on about that.

"Be yourself, communicate even if he's a man-child, remember that trust works both ways, make time for him as well as yourself and don't overcomplicate it because you're twelve and have a lot to learn." (y/n) listed, thinking of everything she could say without scarring the child or making her too serious about her first relationship. Everyone has to go through one heartbreak at some point and sometimes, it's best to just let someone learn the hard way, not that she wanted Piper's first boyfriend to be an absolute jerk.

"Ooooh, what's the plan?" Jasper asked, creeping up to Henry and (y/n) and leaning over their shoulders after eavesdropping on the entire conversation. He was a bit of a sucker for romance too and had sat down to watch many of (y/n)'s movies with her, so he knew how it all worked, so seeing it happening in real life was fascinating for him.

"Okay, there's this new boy at my school, right? And his name is Jackson Bartell." Piper started, her cheeks dusted with pink as she divulged the name of her crush and immediately, (y/n) could see how smitten she was and why she had put on one of her cutest outfits to meet this boy. Aw, puppy-love, she loved it.

"Oooh, great name, I bet he's real cute, right Hen?" She smiled at the boy on her right, who wasn't comfortable or happy at all. He didn't care what Piper did in her spare time, to be honest, he didn't really wanna know, and nor did he want to get involved. Going back to work sounded so good right now, even if it did involve doing some ridiculous crap for Ray or beating up bad guys. "Can we go back to our rear garden, please?"

"No, listen! Every day, after school, Jackson goes to that coffee shop on Pinehurst." Piper kept going, setting the scenes in their heads. They knew which cafe she was on about and it sort of told them what kind of a guy Jackson was; kind, cool, adorably in touch with his emotions, keen sense of right and wrong...he sounded dreamy.

"Downtown Brown?" Jasper asked, just to be sure and Piper nodded in confirmation.

"You know, they have great Wi-Fi and hazelnut lattes. Me and Ray go a lot, it's our favourite place for mini-dates." (y/n) grinned, making Piper's heart beat faster. That's what she wanted! Hazelnut lattes and mini-dates, full dates, all the dates with Jackson and a relationship like the one the older girl had with her boyfriend. Not at an almost marriage level, ew, but the same kind of emotion that made her pulse quicken and her cheeks grow rosy.

"I know that, he never stops talking about it," Henry said flatly, his arms crossed tightly across his chest. He had enough love mush in his life, starting with his own maybe-it-will-happen-maybe-it-won't relationship, then he had Ray blabbing in his ear all day about how pretty (y/n) is, or how smart (y/n) is, or how he can't wait to marry her, like jeez, he couldn't get a break. Those two were always snuggling and kissing and holding hands, now he had to deal with it at home? Ew.

"So, this Jackson guy, does he like you?" Jasper asked, butting in on Henry's killjoy session and that's when Piper's cheeriness faltered, just a smidge. To most people, it wouldn't have registered in their mind, but for (y/n), someone who'd spent years watching out for bad guys and learning to spot people's emotions (apart from Ray's infatuation, but that's different), she noticed the drop of her shoulders, the minuscule twitch of her eye, the falter of her smile, everything and it didn't look good.

"No, 'cause he's never met me," Piper responded promptly, not letting her disappointment show too much, even if the fact that her crush had no idea who she was did make her wince a touch. Wow, (y/n) could relate to that, your crush not liking you back and the heartache it brought, but for her, everything had turned out okay. Ray loved her, she loved him, but that didn't mean it would be the same for Piper and Jackson. Pickson. Jiper. Whatever.

"Wait, I thought he goes to your school?" Henry jumped in, suddenly more interested now that he knew about Jackson having no clue who his sister was. Honestly, it's like history was repeating itself, was he destined for a life of bringing obliviously in love people together? And he wasn't doing Project Lobster again, that ship had sailed.

"He's new! I told you that!" Piper snapped, wondering if her brother had listened to the story at all and he hadn't, not really. He'd been drowning out most of it, only focusing when someone said something to him or if his ears picked up something particularly juicy, like this kid having no idea who she was.

"Okay, okay, if Jackson doesn't know who you are, then I'm gonna need to hear the whole plan, 'cause this Cupid isn't stupid but I've got my limits, all right?" (y/n) broke up the arguing, wanting to hear what Piper had in mind since she was good, but she couldn't work miracles. All of her skills would be put to the test to bring these two crazy kids together and most of them would go on the introduction, so knowing the ins and outs of the operation would be best.

"The plan is that we create the perfect meet-cute," Piper explained and instantly, Jasper and (y/n) loved her idea. She'd done her homework, that was a genius idea; combining an intro and the falling in love bit at the same time, cutting the work down and making the relationship seem like it was weirdly meant to be, awesome. "Ohhh, yes, yes, a meet-cute!"

"Whoa, wait, wait, what is a meet-cute?" Henry asked, making the three look at him like he'd grown a second head. Did he live in the world? How could he not know? It just showed how awkwardly up flirty he was by not knowing what one of the most romantic setups was, more so than the fact that two of his exes had been stolen by the same TV show and the other was in jail because she was an actual criminal.

"Okay, now I know that you don't pay attention to my romcoms when we watch them together." (y/n) limply slapped his shoulder, not entirely bothered by that since she had a boyfriend and she subjected him to the torture of cheesy meetings and kisses in the rain mostly, but still. All the movies they'd seen and he didn't know what one was, the shame of it all.

"You watch most of them with Ray and they're all boring. Sorry, (y/n/n) but they are." The boy responded, patting her on the back as she rolled her eyes and pretended to take his words to heart. Okay, he was a big lump of loveless mass, but she could change that, hell, if she could get Ray Manchester to stop looking at moms (mostly) then she could do anything.

"Well, I am deeply wounded by your admission, but a meet-cute is when the main guy and the main girl meet in some cute, funny way and later in the movie, they fall in love." She told him, trying to dumb it down into something so bland that he'd pick up what she was lying down and it seemed to settle in. It was just basically a lovey-dovey meeting, big deal.

"Yeah, so what I need now is a meet-cute with Jackson Bartell." Piper finished, looking at her brother since (y/n) was in all the way at this point, invested in the plot line like the boy and girl were in one of her dumb films, but Henry still wasn't sure, feeling like he'd just be dead weight. "I don't know anything about meet-cutes, so..."

"I know, that's why I need (y/n) and why I made an animatic to explain my plan." The girl smiled, dashing over to a table so she could hold her PearPad and show them the little cartoon she'd made. She sat down and the three gathered around her, feeling quite impressed when it loaded up onto the screen, showing a bunch of customers in the cafe and honestly, she could've gone pro.

"Whoa, Piper, you animated Downtown Brown. It looks really good." (y/n) smiled when she saw all the little people, recognising the background of the cosy coffee shop where her boyfriend wooed her and bought muffins for them to share. Yeah, she had a lot of good memories in that place and now, she was hoping to create some for Piper too.

"Thanks! Now, watch, see that kid sitting and doing his homework? That's Jackson." The girl told them, leaning her chin on her fist as she released the sigh that everyone crushing releases, the one when your special someone is on your mind and even cartoon Jackson made Piper's heart beat faster.

"Ha! I knew it! I knew it when I saw his name flashing!" Jasper exclaimed, nudging Henry as he and (y/n) gave him a dry stare, wondering where on earth he could've possibly gotten a hint like that. It's not like Piper was drooling at the sight of him or that he was drawn like the kinda guy most tweens would go for.

"And that's me and (y/n) coming in the door there." Piper pointed to a girl and woman walking through the front door of Downtown Brown, making (y/n) smile softly at how she'd animated her like she was some kind of subtly glamorous movie star. It looked like they were there to order a drink, not expecting anything bad to happen, and that's where Henry came in. "And Henry, that's you over there, in the corner."

"Why is my hair brown and curly?" The kid immediately asked upon seeing his character, who as he'd said, didn't look like him as he had a woolly, chocolate mop on his head that was nothing like Henry's natural, straight, blond locks. Piper looked at him, her mouth twinged into a small frown and her glaring eyes told him that she didn't appreciate his nitpicking. "Because I animated it brown and curly."

"But why?" Henry pressed, thinking that she thought his hair was ugly or something. He didn't think it was that bad and judging by how many girls loved him/Kid Danger, he guessed that others thought similarly, but not his sister, not when he was bugging her. "I guess I never really liked your hair, so I tried something new."

"Hey! Guys! Can we please focus? My soul is craving a romantic setup, come on!" (y/n) screeched, making the bickering siblings shut up and Jasper wince at her volume. They were never gonna get to the real thing if they kept arguing and if she had to shout then she would, knowing that her boyfriend was probably down in the Man Cave right now, watching and smiling at the situation she found herself in.

"I like your hair," Jasper whispered to his best friend, who didn't know whether to feel flattered or weirded-out by the compliment. He shook his head, deciding that it was a query for another day and instead, returned his focus to Piper's PearPad, where the animatic had resumed.

"See, as I walk past Jackson's table with (y/n), you come running at me like a crazy person and you yell, "Hey! Give me that phone!" And then you grab my phone right out of my hands and when you have it, I say, "Ah! That jerk just stole my phone!" At which point, Jackson will jump up and yell "Hey-hey, whoa, man!" And then, he will punch you, rescue my phone and give it back to me. And that's it, questions?" Piper turned off the video, looking up at her friend, frenemy and brother expectantly.

The cartoon was pretty self-explanatory, from the actual plan to how much she adored this Jackson, judging by how she animated his abs, so (y/n) didn't need to ask anything. In fact, she was pretty sure she'd seen it happen somewhere before, probably in one of her romcoms.

"Yes, when did you learn how to make animatics?" Henry questioned, dazzled by the girl's skill and how fluidly the characters, love hearts and him being punched had moved, but he'd never tell her that. He was curious, nothing more and no one could prove otherwise.

"That's not the point! Will you guys help me?" Piper asked, looking at her brother and the woman stood next to him with hope gleaming in her eyes. She guessed that (y/n) would be up for it since this was kind of her thing but she needed Henry to be the asshole who jacked her phone, otherwise, she'd never have a meet-cute, would never fall in love and would have to become a cat lady for the rest of her life, like Sharona Shapen the Second.

"Yeah, I'm game, it's not like a lot's happening in the rear garden. What'd you say, Henry?" (y/n) nodded, knowing that the Man Cave, not garden, had been pretty quiet for a couple days and it was unlikely that any big calls would come in, plus, Ray would understand. She was experiencing a rom-com in real life and lord knows that they spent too much time together anyway. Absence makes the heart grow fonder and all that.

"Come on, even if I say yeah, how'd ya know Jackson is gonna do all that? I mean, how do you know he's gonna do anything to help you?" Henry sighed, feeling his helpful nature tug itself over to saying yes, but there was a lot of scepticism around the whole plan. They could plan Jackson's every move, he wasn't a machine, he was a person and a young boy, maybe he'd get scared by some large, aggressive teenager coming into his favourite cafe and threatening people.

"Love Maybe," Jasper replied, making (y/n) gasp as he lit the synapses in her brain and sparked her muscle memory into action. Now it all made sense, the plan, the familiarity, everything, all because she and Jasper had sat down to watch it together and it was nice to know that he'd actually watched it, not texted or scrolled through Twitflash whilst she grinned at the movie's sweetness.

"Ohhhhh, I thought I recognised the plan! See, Henry? Someone enjoys watching romantic movies with me!" She grinned at the boys, one who returned the grin since it was a pretty decent movie and he'd enjoyed crying when the characters finally kissed at the end, but the other was lost. Totally, utterly lost. "What?"

"Yes! That's Jackson's favourite movie, Love Maybe!" Piper squealed, glad that she had some love experts on her side who recognised what she was driving at. She'd memorised every scene and line just to impress her crush and hopefully, if the best bit happened in real life, he'd react like a true hero and save her. Then, they'd be in love forever and ever and ever and ever and ever...

"Such a good film..." Jasper mentioned, falling into an appreciative silence with the girls as Henry wondered what the hell they were talking about. Perhaps paying a bit more attention to those movies would've been a good idea 'cause it was like they were speaking a different language and being on the outside sucked. "Okay, wait, what am I missing here?"

"Okay, so in the movie, Love Maybe, the girl and guy meet exactly like how Piper wants to meet Jackson. Some dude tries to steal Emma Stone's phone, but Channing Tatum, who I love by the way, tackles the dude, gets Emma's phone back and they fall in love on a green boat." (y/n) explained simply, skimping on the finer details since she could go on and on about them and how much they made her squeal, but she knew that Henry wouldn't care about that and if Ray really was listening, he would hate how much she fancied some dumb celebrity.

Come on, it's not like she'd ever meet the guy or fall in love with him instead and everyone knew how much he liked J-Law, so it was fair game - the celebrity crush game.

"But there's no boat in Piper's animatic," Henry stated, missing the point entirely as he took the movie's plot and ran with it, thinking that they were gonna have to row in a boat to make everything work. What an idiot, for someone who was supposed to be a superhero's sidekick, he was really dumb sometimes.

"Forget about the boat, okay? You let me worry about the boat!" Piper hissed, looking up from her PearPad when she heard how dumb her brother was being. Honestly, she wasn't sure how they were related, but as long as he did what he was told, they wouldn't have a problem and she'd have a boyfriend by the end of the day.

"Okay, same principle as before, the longer we stay here, the longer this will take. Can we please go and do this meet-cute?" (y/n) groaned, getting the sense that it was gonna be a very long afternoon with the siblings, who couldn't talk to other for more than half an hour without fighting over something, but at least she was doing something she enjoyed during her suffering. "NO!"

"No?" "Why no?" "That is harsh, Hen." The objections came thick and fast as soon as Henry dashed their enthusiasm with his refusal. He glared at Jasper, who didn't have anything to do with the plan really, he was just a spectator, so he returned to his seat behind the counter, but (y/n) couldn't be intimidated so easily, not by a kid who she knew so much about. She had the power to embarrass him into a puddle or beat his ass into submission if she really wanted to use it, so she just returned the sharp stare, curious as to his reasoning.

"Because! I'm—we're working—-okay, working, working. (y/n) and I gotta separate these nuts and bolts, all right?" Henry lied, fiddling with the hardware on display, which made the woman scoff at how he was trying to drag them both out of it when she had already agreed.

First of all, nothing in the store was something anyone would want to buy since it was all just a front for protection, so separating hundreds of pieces of metal was futile and dull. And second of all, she was his boss, sort of, she still answered to Ray in a way because he was the boss, the face of the whole operation and even as his girlfriend, she still respected him in that light, but when he wasn't around, everyone looked to her for leadership, something she'd had to grow accustomed to over the years.

"Bullshit, we're not doing that."

"I have to leave for New York tomorrow, so I don't have time for your meet-cuteing. Sorry." Okay, he had her on that one. There was very little time left for him to pack and whilst (y/n) wanted to help Piper with her first taste of romance, she couldn't allow Henry to neglect his love life, so now she was stuck in between a rock and a hard place, also known as Henry and Piper.

"Oh, come on! You can't take half an hour to help your sweet sister—" "My sweet sister? My sweet sister?—" "This is so important to me and I am sweet—" "When I was nine, you pushed me down the stairs!—" It went on and on and on, insults being thrown left right and centre, dirt dug up from a lifetime of petty bickering and the siblings weren't done yet. Their shouting merged into one long, continuous noise that made (y/n) and Jasper sigh as the woman leaned on the counter, damn sure that this was providing Ray and Charlotte with some great entertainment below.

"Oh my god! Stop arguing! Hey! You're both being ridic—okay, they're not listening..." She yelled, trying to break them apart so sense could resume, but they just screamed louder, not even listening to what each other was saying. Jasper shrugged, telling her that intervention was useless and right now, they could only hear themselves and their personal arguments, so they just needed to wait, but someone else was getting fed up with the racket too.

Ray burst through the beaded curtain, a frown on his face as he shoved a fistful of popcorn into his face and marched over, making (y/n)'s heart flutter at the sight of him. She noticed that he'd changed out of his super suit and was now wearing an alarmingly loud, orange, fish-patterned shirt that really accentuated his muscles and gave her a peek at the grey undershirt he had on beneath it. Goddamn, where was a fan when she needed one?

"SCHRUT UPPP! NWOW, KNWOCK WIT WOFF, I MWEAN IT!" He yelled with his mouth full, having dropped some popcorn into (y/n)'s cupped hands and pressing a kiss to her cheek before he let out his bellow. Jasper slumped back in his seat, glad that the boss was here to sort them out so he could get back to doing nothing in peace and (y/n) had to fight the urge not to hug her boyfriend from behind when he shared his food, tensed his muscles and used his most authoritative voice. Hot damn.

"Now, I don't wanna hear any more arguing in this junk store!" Ray yelled again once the kids had finally fallen silent, and they got the message, even when the popcorn filling his cheeks slurred his words a bit, causing (y/n) to giggle. She hid her smile by scoffing the few pieces he'd given her, content to just stand back and let him do all the shouting now.

"Fine." Henry nodded, knowing that Ray was the boss, the head honcho, the big dog, the chief, the gaffer, the big cheese, the whatever. He respected him enough to shut up since he knew he was right. Arguing would get them nowhere and it was just unprofessional; the last thing he wanted to do was get fired because his sister made him lose his temper.

"You're not the boss of me, even if I'm friends with your girlfriend." Piper, however, didn't respect him. Technically, she was a customer right now, a guest in his shop and he had no right to boss her around because she wasn't an employee like her brother and that fact made a smirk appear on her face, which was a mistake.

She wasn't standing up to some idiot, well, in some ways she was but whatever, she was facing Ray Manchester, the king of petty points and twisting the facts to make them suit him. Ray turned to the cocky girl, seeing her challenge and silently accepted it, throwing down his handful of popcorn like he needed both hands to be clever.

"That's true, but I am the boss of your brother, Henry. And since you're directly related to Henry via the transit of property, ex post facto, as long as you're standing in this commercial property, vis-à-vis, I am in fact somewhat...the boss of you!" Ray ranted, using the majority of his legal knowledge to blind Piper in submission because he was a big believer in bamboozling his opponent into surrender by throwing a load of facts at them, hoping they didn't understand what he just said and luckily, Piper had been rendered baffled. "What?"

"Uh, Piper, you're creating a disturbance in my workplace," Henry told her in a strained tone, feeling rather humiliated that Ray had to scold his sister because she was causing so much fuss that he'd had to come in the elevator to tell them to shut up. He didn't even have it in him to gag when (y/n) gave in to her urge and wrapped her arms around Ray's waist, snuggled her face into his back and sighed at the feeling of his hands sliding over hers, keeping her in place.

"Oh, please! I've never seen anybody work in this place except for (y/n) and all she does is clean! Look at Jasper! Just sitting there, doing nothing but stuffing his face full of popcorn." Piper retorted in a sceptical voice and it was sort of true. Henry and Ray never really came up to the store unless it was for a reason and every time she walked past, it was usually just Jasper manning the cash register or (y/n) dusting the displays and mopping the floors. So, in some ways she was correct, but they couldn't tell her that and Jasper wasn't particularly happy that she'd ratted on him.

"Piper, go!" Henry begged the girl, wanting her gone before she got him fired or worse, discovered something round the back and she was thinking about it. Maybe she could do it with just (y/n), maybe she didn't need him after all, but then a thought came to her mind. He was in a relationship, he did love stuff, he was a reasonable guy from what she'd heard and Henry had to do whatever he told him to, so... "Hey! You're his boss."

"Dang right!" Ray agreed, turning around to smirk at Henry just so he got the message. He was in charge and he called the shots, something the kid sometimes forgot when they were out on missions. (y/n) rolled her eyes at that, knowing that he loved relishing the title and unhooked herself from his back, which made him pout slightly at the loss of her warmth, but he soon perked up again when she held his hand and leaned her head against his arm.

"Then tell him that when a guy's nice little sister needs help to make a meet-cute happen, her nice brother should say yes and do his best to make her dream come true!" Piper exclaimed, causing Henry to sigh at how dramatic she was being but to his shock, Ray didn't laugh at her childish delusions, he turned to him with a scowl on his face. "Yeah, man, what's wrong with you?"

"What?!" Henry couldn't believe that Ray, the guy who saw him as his best friend and usually agreed with nearly everything he said, was ganging up on him with his bratty sister. Yeah, he'd become a bit soft when it came to romance ever since he started dating (y/n), droning on and on about how everyone should just go for love if they felt it with someone because he'd wasted so much time pining for his girl when he could've openly loved her the entire time, but this was just a betrayal.

"She needs a favour, man, she's your family! She's your sister!" Ray argued, thinking it was cruel that his sidekick refused to help out, knowing that he was crucial to her plan and available that afternoon. It was only right that he should go to Downtown Brown and do his part, even if it meant that his sweet girl was going too, and he wasn't going to let him off lightly. "I get that, but—"

"Do you have any idea what I'd give to have my sister back? But I never will, all because of a dark, rainy Wednesday in Kansas and that terrible, awful farm accident." Ray sniffed, suddenly getting all teary-eyed and vulnerable and Henry's argument died on the spot when he was told about this sister he'd never heard about.

Perhaps this was why he was so emotionally stunted; he had a father he never spoke to, a nonexistent mother and a tragically killed sister. Okay, now he had a lot more sympathy for the guy and his tendency to lash out and act irrationally, even though (y/n) didn't look sad, she looked confused.

"Ray, I know literally everything about you and I know you've never had a sister." She stated, looking at him with a bored face as he let go of her hand in favour of mournfully drifting across the floor, appearing like he couldn't bear the pain of anyone giving him comfort. She knew him so much better though and didn't fall for his tricks; they'd spent too many nights whispering their secrets into the darkness and sharing their pasts with each other before drifting off to sleep.

Even before they were together, he told her everything when she crept into his bed (like friends do that), the deal with his dad, his miserable childhood, every time he'd had his heart broken, the lot. She knew him as he knew her, so there was no fooling or tricking her.

"Oh my god, seriously?" Henry, though, was a different story. He didn't know Ray like that and in some ways, he was still enigmatic, so he thought he was telling the truth, ignoring his friend's doubting.

"No, but it happens! So maybe you should appreciate having a sister who's still here and breathing and not under a dirty tractor wheel in Kansas." Ray's mood flipped instantly, his sombre, crestfallen face returning to his normal, bouncy grin, which made (y/n) roll her eyes and Henry scoff. Okay, never mind, he couldn't excuse his issues, he had too many of them! "Okay, what planet have I landed on?"

"You know, you've spent more time whining about why you won't help me when if you had helped me, we'd be one by now and I'd have a boyfriend named Jackson!" Piper screeched, making everyone recoil at her volume a little bit, Ray returning to his girl and pulling her into his side so she could hug his waist and drop her head against his pillow of a pec.

"Look, Piper, I wanna help you—" Henry started, trying to remain calm and collected, but Ray was still Ray and still felt that he should help out, dead, fake sister or not. "You're gonna help her."

"I can't, I have to pack for New York! (y/n), tell him!—" "That's an order!" Ray didn't care about any excuses or reasons not to help, even when his sweet girl was brought into the matter and she opened her mouth to say something. He just snapped his fingers and plunged Henry into silence, playing his boss card again to make him do as he was told.

Needing support, Henry looked to (y/n) first, knowing that she could sway her boyfriend into listening to reason, but the man just squeezed her tighter and pressed her head into her chest so her voice would be muffled, carrying it off like he just wanted to rock her from side to side. Okay, next best person, who wasn't all that great, but still, it was Jasper.

"I'm on my lunch break, man." The boy stated, shrugging off Henry's desperate gaze/silent cry for help. What a fat load of good he was, utterly useless when he needed him and with orders coming from all sides, Henry saw only one option; if you can't beat them, join them. "Piper, (y/n), come on, let's go."

"Oh, yay! This is gonna be so great!" The girl squealed, skipping after her brother happily as he plodded through the door, passing his boss, who was smiling at how he was behaving now and going to help his sister find a boyfriend.

"Yeah, so great. Ray, put (y/n) down so we can get this over with." He called over his shoulder, knowing that the woman who jog down the street after them and catch up as he was in no mood to walk fast.

"Okay, I'll see you later, doofus. Promise you won't miss me too much?" (y/n) smirked at her boyfriend as she wriggled in his hold, loosening his arms just enough for them to settle on her hips as he wrinkled his nose in dislike. He never liked seeing her go, but he was a big boy, he could deal with it and this was important, both to her and Piper, so he wouldn't complain this time.

"I always miss you, sweet girl. Just stay safe, 'kay? I love you." Ray whispered back, bringing his hands up to cup her face and stroked over her cheekbones tenderly as he leaned in for a lingering, goodbye kiss. She melted into him, sliding her fingers up his chest and into his hair as their lips moved together in perfect synchronisation. Jasper averted his eyes, feeling a little awkward when Ray groaned a little bit and tried to angle his head so his tongue could explore deeper, thinking that maybe (y/n) could stay and leave the Harts to their adventure, but luckily for Jasper, she pulled back before he could change her mind.

"I love you too, handsome. Don't get all pouty when I'm gone, all right?" (y/n) giggled as he did just that when she pulled away and grabbed her purse and jacket from a display, leaving him standing there with a honey taste on his lips and a desire smouldering in his belly. She blew him a kiss as she opened the door, blushing when he moodily "caught" it and brought it to his chest, exactly where his heart lay under his rib cage. Okay, that made Jasper grin and he waved her off as she walked through the door, leaving the two alone as she ran after the kids halfway down the street. Yeah, he was definitely gonna get all pouty without her.

~Downtown Brown~

Henry led his friend and sister into the coffee shop, still pretty grumpy as they chatted excitedly about how it was gonna go. They were gossiping about boys, gross stuff, makeup, gross stuff, how cute Jackson is, gross stuff, how cute Ray is, oh, and gross stuff.

"There! He's over there! See him? The cute boy in the blue jacket?" Piper said quietly as they stood in the doorway, the smell of coffee and baked goods tickling their noses, and they couldn't miss the kid as he sat at a table on his own, doing some homework and sipping a drink. Well, he was a sweet-looking boy, probably dreamy if you're a tween girl, but (y/n) and Henry couldn't say they were interested in that way, though the former saw the attraction.

"We see him, cute boy in a blue jacket, sat over there." The woman nodded, watching as the kid scribbled something down and Piper practically swooned, gazing up at her and Henry with the same pining in her eyes that Henry had witnessed for the first three years of his time in the Man Cave. "Isn't he cute?"

"I have no opinion on that." Henry deadpanned, thinking that the kid was just a kid. There was one person he thought was cute and she lived in New York, and he was supposed to be fucking packing to go and see her.

"Well, trust me, he's super cute." Piper grinned, confirming what he had no clue about and Henry just went along with it. He nodded and agreed and did what she needed him to then he could go home and sort of his travel plans; everything was just easier that way. "All right, cool. Okay, boy, blue jacket, super cute, now can we please get this over with?"

"Okay, hold on wait, I'm giving you a disguise!" His sister told him when he leaned back in surprise as she pressed a fake goatee to his jaw and chin. His mind couldn't put two and two together, not when he already hated everything they were up to, so the rather ingenious reason for the goatee went over his head. "Hold still and be quiet."

"What? Why's this necessary?" Henry spluttered, his head jerkily pulled to Piper's direction as she worked on masking his identity and (y/n) chuckled at the pure confusion on his face and how he was just going along with everything his sister did to him.

"Don't you think that Jackson will be confused when Piper takes him home as her boyfriend and he learns that her own brother tried to jack her phone?" She looked at him with raised eyebrows, watching as the realisation hit him and he saw how bad it would be for him to "attack" Piper with his face showing. "Wha-oh—what—okay, that makes sense."

"We good?" He asked once he had a moustache on his upper lip to complete his image of fake manliness, but Piper wasn't done yet. "No, bend down." She ordered him, grabbing a scarf from her bag since he still looked exactly the same with the facial hair. They needed to fully cover him up so Jackson wouldn't be able to recognise him further down the line when she became his girlfriend, something that was definitely gonna happen, she was sure.

"What? Why do I have to—?" Henry asked again when he saw the dark material in her hands and his brain still wasn't functioning properly. He was a sidekick, he should've been an expert at disguises, but clearly, he hadn't been paying attention to that either. "'Cause I said bend down!"

"Nice look, Hen. You suit a goatee, seriously." (y/n) bit her lip to smother her laughter as his head came back up with the bandana tied around it, which hid his blond hair and made him unrecognisable, sort of. He wouldn't be noticed in a scuffle, that was the important thing, but the nerves were starting to kick up in his tummy. "Yeah, I don't know about this."

"Do you remember the animatic?" Piper questioned, knowing that if he was in doubt, all he had to do was remember her foolproof plan. She'd literally drawn it out so he could understand it properly, what more did he want? "Yeah, how'd you make that?"

"Ugh, she can tell you later. Just go hide and get ready whilst I order a hazelnut latte. Go!" (y/n) told him, feeling antsy to get started when she saw Jackson on the phone, meaning that this was the perfect opportunity. Henry crouched next to a couch, using a cushion to cover his face as if it could distract people from his presence and Piper got her phone out for the attempted robbery. (y/n) also prepared herself, checking that her wallet was in her purse for the drink and muffin she was inevitably gonna buy since she could never resist this cafe's stuff. On her cue, she escorted Piper across the room, acting like a bored older sister as she strolled up to the counter with the girl pretending to talk on her PearPhone.

"No way, your mom got a new car?! Does it have a sunroof? It does?! Oh my god, when you open it, can you see the sky? You can!" She prattled on, acting as though she was having a bubbly, intriguing conversation with a friend, but if anyone truly paid attention to what she was saying, they'd realise that no one can get that hyped about a new car, especially not a twelve-year-old girl, but that's when Henry came in.

"Hey! Give me your phone!" He bellowed in his best evil voice as he ran over to her and snatched at her cell, both of them pretending to tug it to and fro like she was trying to hold on and he was trying to steal it away. People around the room gasped as they watched the child struggle against a bully, (y/n) turning around in the cue and holding onto Piper's waist so it looked like she was trying to help but not hindering Henry or the plan. "Leave her alone, you asshole!"

"Hey! Help! That jerk just stole my phone!" Piper cried out, prompting Jackson to stand up just like Channing Tatum and he puffed out his chest so he could stand up to the tall guy and everything was going perfectly. He even said the right line... "Whoa, hey man, give her back her phone—"

"WHAT THE BUTT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!" This was not part of the plan. (y/n) instantly tugged Piper back in mild fear and shock when a very large, very manly and very intimidating lady jumped out of her seat and shoved Jackson out of the way. Clearly, she wasn't one for injustice either, grabbing Henry by his shirt collar and yanking him up to her sneering face, basically taking Jackson's place in the plan as she threw Henry across the room, causing him to collide with a table. Ouch, he was gonna be feeling that for a while. The cute boy awkwardly sat back down as Piper and (y/n) stood frozen and the diners screamed at the scene, but the lady had turned nice and smiled when she returned the "stolen" phone. "Here's your phone, kid."

"Great, thanks so much," Piper replied quietly, feeling her heart plummeting as Jackson ignored her existence, Henry groaned and whimpered on the floor and (y/n) heard the barista call her name. The girl wandered over to her brother as the woman momentarily dashed over to grab her latte, feeling bad for the beaten kid, but there was no way she was gonna leave it after paying for it.

"This was not covered in the animatic," Henry muttered as he struggled to get up, some waiter coming over to see if he was okay and he wasn't. Everything hurt, everything ached, he was pretty sure that he had splinters jabbing into his side, but now he knew one thing; never agree to help Piper find a boyfriend. The pain isn't worth it.

~Junk-N-Stuff~

Back at the store, Jasper, Ray and now Charlotte were sitting at the counter, watching Jasper's dumb show. The teen girl had grown tired of sitting downstairs by herself and had gone to them for a few laughs, which the mildly entertaining sitcom provided, but everything was about to get moody. Piper had returned and she was on the warpath.

The girl stormed into the store, her feet thudding with each step as the door slammed onto (y/n)'s arm as she helped Henry limp home, but the bruises weren't anything for her to worry about. It was the kid with his arm around her shoulders she needed to take care of, he was in some serious pain and the girl's anger wasn't helping, even if it wasn't directed at her per se, just Henry, the one who'd gotten the wrong person to attack him.

"Uh, you wanna help us?" The boy asked his sister as (y/n) struggled to keep the door open and get him through it with a coffee in one hand, but Piper wasn't in the mood for being nice, not for him. Yeah, the woman had done her part, but she was pissed and didn't care about their friendship at that moment, particularly since she was helping her stupid brother. "Why? Did you help me? No, you ruined my meet-cute!"

"Hey, handsome, you pout much without me?" (y/n) smiled at her boyfriend once Henry had limped through the door and removed himself from her side, allowing her to run over to her boyfriend and pull him into a warm embrace, so damn glad that the whole thing was over.

His arms swiftly curled around her back, mindful that she had a coffee cup in one hand, no doubt from the cafe where he adored taking her on dates, and he pressed a kiss to the top of her head before she pulled away, wondering where everything had gone wrong with the kids. They had the cheesy romance master with them and a perfect plan, but Piper said it hadn't worked, so what gives?

"Oh my gosh, Henry. What happened?" "Henry, you okay?" Jasper and Charlotte gasped when they saw how their friend winced with each step and slumped without the support of the young woman aiding him to walk. It was worrying to see a kid so hurt when he was used to taking a beating from the scum of the city, so they and Ray immediately frowned as he stiffly hopped down the steps like if he bent his knee, it would shatter.

"No! I'm not!" He replied sharply, feeling like he had a broken pelvis, femur and a collapsed lung as everything from the neck down ached, but (y/n) had promised him that he was fine, just quite badly bruised. He'd taken worse before, but that didn't make it feel any better and just put him in a fouler mood when he thought about how none of this would've happened if he had just stayed at work.

"All right, tell us what went down," Ray told him as he and (y/n) wandered over, the young woman offering her latte to him so he could take a sip, a peace offering after stealing half of his slushie only a couple hours prior. The cup hit his lips and so did the ridiculously sweet taste of the milky coffee, which wasn't his favourite flavour, but just knowing that it was her way of showing him her affection made it the best taste he'd ever experienced. Well, nearly.

"Oh, I bought you a muffin! Red Velvet, your favourite." The woman butted in before Henry could retell the unfortunate tale and she pulled a brown paper sack from her purse that held the baked treat and Ray's heart almost burst from the tidal wave of love and joy that enveloped him. The simple gesture just screamed so many things; she had thought about him when she didn't have to, she cared enough to remember his favourite, she'd gotten the waitress to write his name followed by a little heart on the bag and the smile on her face when she handed it over, it told him that she found happiness in giving it to him like he did in receiving it.

"Precious girl." He mumbled, gently accepting the muffin bag from her like it was the most delicate and exquisite gift anyone had ever given to him, not a two dollar cake from down the street, but it meant everything to him. (y/n) giggled as he brought her into another hug, this one lingering for longer since he had no intentions of letting go and Charlotte and Jasper smiled warmly at the sight of the woman happily snuggling into his chest and him relaxing fully. Henry and Piper would've cooed at the couple too, anyone would've, but they were too blinded by their anger to care and merely held their glares as Ray and (y/n) kept listening through the embrace.

"Oh, I'll tell you what went down. My body. Down. Through a table. Onto the floor!" Henry brought them back to the original point, spitting out each bit of the sentence like they were hard to get out, either from his rage or the pain he was in, but Ray didn't care about two grumpy teenagers. He could deal with those easily, after all, he had a special muffin from his sweet girl.

"What's this green stuff?" He asked when he saw a streak of green mush in Henry's hair and plucked a chunk of it out so he could check the consistency and smell with his fingers. It was sticky, thick and was slightly acidic, the smell hitting (y/n)'s nose as he held the mush close to her face and inspected it and she knew what it was.

"Probably avocado for toast. They serve it at Downtown Brown." She mumbled against his chest, burying his nose further into his shirt so she could smell his cologne and not some musty, old avocado from the floor and upon hearing her response, Ray flicked the mush from his fingers, feeling grossed out that his sidekick was covered in food and dirt.

"So, Piper's animatic didn't work in real life," Jasper stated, folding his arms as he put the situation together in his head and he too wondered where they'd gone wrong. It was so simple and yet they had managed to screw it up, maybe copying romance films wasn't such a good idea after all.

"It would've worked if Henry had done his part right!" Piper snapped, staring accusingly at her brother who wasn't about to take that kind of insult lying down. He had done his absolute best but apparently, that wasn't good enough for her and neither the fact that his body was now bruised and broken, all thanks to her and her stupid plan. Honestly, the nerves of some tweens...

"Well, what was I supposed to do?! I ran across the room, I grabbed your phone, I said my line! Before Jackson could run in, some powerful woman grabbed me and hurled me across the room! Jeez!" Henry yelled, a splash of emotion creeping into his voice as he relived the encounter and rubbed at his sore back, making his friends ponder why he'd let that happen. He was a superhero, he could take on one woman, right? At least, that's what Charlotte was thinking. "Well, why'd you let her throw you across the room?"

"She didn't offer me another option, Charlotte," Henry said slowly and robotically, not believing that one who was supposed to be so smart could also be so dumb. Yeah, that's what happened; he'd actually asked the scary lady to nearly kill him for stealing from his sister, he enjoyed it. What a load of shit...

"Whatever, get cleaned up so we can go back to Downtown Brown and try again," Piper told him, knowing in her heart that they couldn't just leave it there. That specific meet-cute was history, it would be weird to do another phone robbery sitch without attracting any suspicion, but she wanted Jackson in her life so badly, she was willing to show her face in the cafe again to get him to ask her out.

"Are you insane? I'm not trying again." Henry groaned, shuffling over to the loveseat couch in the window of the store so he could sit down and rest his aching limbs. The thought of being hurled again was also as painful as experiencing it and he knew that if that woman saw him again then it would be like suicide, so he was gonna sit this one out, otherwise, he'd die. "We have to try again!"

"I dough-not, I dough-not!" Henry whined, getting his vowels sounds all wrong since all he could think about was how much his legs and butt hurt after the "incident", but didn't care. Charlotte did, though. "You said dough."

"I meant do! Everybody here knows I meant do!" He snapped back, slumping grumpily as (y/n) pulled back from Ray, feeling as though she'd hugged him long enough and whilst he smell and felt great all around her, conversations worked best when she could look at her friends, especially when he boyfriend was mulling something over and she had at least one gulp of coffee still left.

"I have a question," Ray stated, raising the hand that had left his girl's skin whilst the other held his muffin, his girl downing her now lukewarm drink before it could get any colder and she licked its sweetness from her lips, making the man wish that his mind wasn't so filthy. She stayed close to him, chucking the empty cup over to Jasper so he could toss it in the trash can by his feet as she listened to this question. "Why's it so important for you to have this meet-cute?"

"Huh?" Piper's eyebrows furrowed at the question. Okay, he was never interested in her, he was just her brother's weird boss and (y/n)'s adorkable boyfriend, but that was the key factor in his sudden interest. He was in love, he knew about dating and asking people out, sort of, so he figured that she could use some of his excellent advice once he knew what the hell was happening. "Why can't you just go over to Downtown Brown, walk up to this, uh—this boy you like—"

"Jackson Bartell," Piper told him, wondering where the hell he was going with this and (y/n) was curious too. Okay, they admitted it, they were both terrible at love; he dated hundreds to stop his heart from feeling lonely and she drowned her sorrows in false relationships made by Hollywood, and all the while, they were standing right in front of each other, waiting for love to look their way. The fact that he was trying to give advice was mildly amusing to her yet heartwarming at the same time.

"Okay, him. And just say, "Hi, Jackson. My name is uh—" He snapped his fingers, looking at the girl's face to try and rendered her name even though they'd met plenty of times and she'd been mentioned by Henry too. He wasn't very good with names, mainly when they belonged to brats or people he didn't really care about.

"Piper..." (y/n) coughed, trying to cover up his forgetfulness by helping him out, not that it worked. The kid was still offended but quickly forgot about it when Ray moved on with his advice, his belief that the old ways are the best etched into every word.

"Piper! My name is Piper and I really like you, so what do you think of that?" He finished, making the group, including his own dear girlfriend look at him weirdly. On the face of it, it seemed pretty straightforward, smart even, but then when you thought about how bold and nerve-wracking it was to just walk up to your crush and confess, it seemed reckless. Had he forgotten about his own experience with love and how long it took him?

"Oh, Ray, come on!" Charlotte exclaimed, finding it amusing that he was so sure of him and his plan when she knew all too well that he had never followed the advice himself, not even a little bit.

"That would never work in the real world, except maybe for old people," Piper added, not realising that she'd just said the no-no word in front of a man very touchy about his age and she'd done it whilst looking right at him. Well, it was her funeral.

"I'm not old!" Ray snapped, his hands on his hips as his eyes glanced at his girlfriend, seeing how she smiled and giggled at their interaction, which eased his worry a little bit but not by much.

He hated his age, and not just because it meant that his youth was slipping away, but because every moment that he lost was another moment when he could've been married, could've had children, could've spent so much more time with the love of his life if he had just been brave with her from the beginning.

He'd spent ten years focusing on his fear of rejection or the terror that they'd break up and he'd lose her, so he'd lost a lot of time with her, time where he could've loved her like he wanted to and not sat on the sidelines as a friend. He didn't want that for anyone else, not when he knew how much it sucked.

"Oh, please! What are you, like, thirty?" Piper suggested, not seeing his inner flash of pain and the memories of regret he kept locked away from bubbling to the surface or how it wasn't much of an insult to Ray. He was thirty-six, so knocking six years off his age was more a compliment than anything else and it didn't do much for her argument.

"No! I'm not—yeah, yeah, I'm, uh, I'm like thirty." He bragged, accepting the age since it was lower than his real one and (y/n) rolled her eyes at how he was so tetchy about it. Getting old happened to everyone and she'd never truly understand how much it bothered him, not when he kept his real reasoning as a secret never to be told. She was younger and so beautiful, was it really so wrong to mourn all of those lost opportunities?

"Whatever, just tell Henry that he has to help me and I need you and your girlfriend to help me think of a new meet-cute plan," Piper told Ray hurriedly, not caring about his real age or whether she insulted him or not. Jackson wasn't going to sit in the coffee shop forever and they were losing precious seconds, so they needed to think before she lost her only chance at happiness.

"No!" Henry protested, having had more than enough of her so-called happiness and all the pain it brought to others. He was quite content to just sit quietly and do nothing, but Piper needed action and good ideas, not her brother's grumpy refusals. "Yes!"

"Look, Paper! I know you're, like, seven and you think you know everything..." Ray started, not phased one little bit by the girl's attitude problem and had no problem taking her down a notch or two, even if she was on good terms with his girlfriend, who could practically feel the tension between them.

"Okay, Ray, her name's Piper and she's twelve, 'kay?" She reminded him carefully, letting her palm rest flat against his bicep to remind him to keep a lid on his temper and for her, he could do that. He could anything, no matter how much this brat tested his patience.

"Be that as it may, I'm gonna show you that young love can begin with something as simple as a good, old-fashioned nice to meet ya, how do you do?" He told her. Look, just because that's not how he did it, didn't mean that it wouldn't work for someone else and Henry liked his plan. He liked it a lot. It didn't involve him or any disguises and certainly no scary ladies who could snap him in two, so he thought she should listen to his boss. "Yeah, try that!"

"Uh, one small problem. Ray, it took you ten years just to tell me you love me and even then you had to be tricked into saying it! And you were absolutely terrified, don't deny it!" (y/n) argued, airing on the side of caution since she knew all about him and his big ideas for confessing, none of which had worked into two teens stepped in. What made him think that he could master a meet-cute between two strangers when he could barely do it himself with the woman he'd known forever?

"Yeah, I was terrified because you said "Oh..." after I told you that I'm in love with you!" He replied instantly, his voice incredulous rather than biting, like this was playful banter that always came up between them and it sort of always did.

The Man Cave team had so many fond memories of that moment, although the one that stood out the most was when (y/n), in her pure shock, just said the first thing that came to mind, unable to find her tongue and make it say the three words back. Everyone remembered how Ray went pale and nearly fainted, him fearing the worst whilst she was shaking from joy and the couple never lived it down, their friends didn't let them.

"The man of my dreams had just confessed to me, how else was I supposed to react? And anyway, I said it back, like, three seconds later before you had a heart attack, silly doofus," She grinned, unable to stop it when she remembered the moment when he pulled her into the warmest hug she'd ever felt and oh god, the kiss, it wasn't even their first but it felt like it and that was good enough for them. No boundaries, no holding back, and that's how they'd been ever since.

"Yeah and I'm so glad you did, sweet girl. Now, let's show Plopper that she and this boy can go out by just talking to each other. Come on, let's go." He smiled down at his girl and took her by the hand as she gave him a quick kiss from yet another rush of affection, one triggered by the memory of the best moment of her life. He went to lead her out of the store and gestured for Piper to follow them, but the kid didn't want to go without a plan, as the crap he'd come up with wasn't a plan, it was stupid and not only that, he was stealing her head planner by turning her into a mushy, dopey idiot who couldn't stop smiling.

"No! I'm not going until (y/n) comes up with another meet-cute plan and then, I have to make an animatic of it!" Piper exclaimed, gesturing to the woman who was practically glued to her boyfriend's side, her eyes sparkling with love for him. That's what she wanted, why couldn't she set her up to find someone like that? Surely, she must've had some good ideas when she had it in real life and studied it during her free time, she was the wingwoman!

"When did you learn how to make animatics?!" Henry exclaimed, his question still not answered and he was desperate to find out. Piper had talent and he wanted to know why not that she was in the mood to explain it to him.

"That's not the point! Look, we're going to do this my way, so that I—" Piper started, looking around the room from Charlotte to Jasper to (y/n), her voice returning to a calmer level, but Ray was bored of all the talking and he wanted a prove a point, so he decided to end the girl's babbling there and then. He took out his controller and zapped Piper with a green laser, making her collapse woozily as unconsciousness overcame her.

"Ray! What?! Why?! Huh?" (y/n) gasped as she dropped his hand and stepped back in shock as he grabbed the girl's arm and slung her over his shoulder in a fireman's lift, smirking at his girl's open mouth, but she still grabbed her purse again so she could follow him out of the store. His muffin was left on the counter, where no one would touch it until he came back, they wouldn't even look at it, because if they did, he'd kill them for taking what was his present from his girlfriend. It would be the gravest of errors and it would take a lot to calm him down.

"All right, I'm gonna carry her over to Downtown Brown. Come on, sweet girl, I'll buy you a blueberry muffin, your favourite." Ray told the teens before turning to (y/n), who was all ready to go, smiling softly at how he knew her favourite too. He wanted to return the gesture and since they were heading back to the cafe, he saw no reason why they couldn't prove his point and have a mini-date at the same time.

"Good, take your time. Have fun with your girlfriend." Henry called after them, glad that his sister and all the problems and pain that came with her were being carried away, literally. Now, he could relax in peace and let his body heal for a few hours, something he'd been wanting to do all day. Why couldn't Ray solve Piper's problems all the time?

~Downtown Brown~

"We look like kidnappers!" (y/n) hissed to her boyfriend as they stepped through the door of Downtown Brown and yet another person stared at them weirdly when they noticed how some huge, hulking man, accompanied by a nervously smiling woman, had a child slung over his shoulder, almost like he was taking her off to his human abattoirs.

"It's fine, in you go," Ray replied as he held the door open for her to enter first like a true gentleman, even though it was harder for him with Piper on his back and judging by her wriggling and twitching, she was starting to wake up. Here came his excuses and they needed to be good ones. "Wha—what's going on?!"

"Ah, look who's waking up." The man grinned when he heard her mumbling and (y/n) bit her lip in worry when he placed the girl back on her feet, thinking that the laser's effects had worn off completely. However, she was still dizzy and incredibly wobbly on her feet, so the minute he let her go to stand on her own, Piper collapsed onto the floor, falling over the platformed entrance and onto the lower floor, which made the woman watching cringe at how she flopped around like a limp noodle.

"Oh my god, Piper, are you all right?" She asked instantly, bending down to help the girl up from the floor, both of them vaguely aware that everyone had their eyes looking in their direction, but (y/n) ignored them, remembering that the tween had just taken a nasty fall. She patted down her arms and Piper quickly found her feet, so she was satisfied that nothing was broken, but her brain was still fuzzy and she blinked at her surroundings in shock as Ray tried to help too so he didn't look heartless in front of the other customers.

"How did I get back here?" Piper asked the woman, wondering why she was shining her phone torch in her eyes, but she had her reasons, mainly that she didn't want the girl to meet her boyfriend with a concussion. Honestly, (y/n) didn't have an explanation for how they'd gotten there, all of her answers involved mentioning the laser and that would open another can of worms, so she left the talking to Ray, which was interesting.

"Look, life's not about how we get places, it's about what happens at those places after we've gotten there...here," Ray answered, hoping that if he sounded philosophically brilliant, her fuzzy mind would get all confused and forget her original question, preferring to focus on his plan. Luckily for him, that's what happened; Piper was way too perplexed to pick up any of the sentiment and flowery imagery he was laying down, so she just stared at him blankly, wondering if he had always had four eyes and two noses. "Huh?"

"So, where's this allegedly cute boy you wanna meet so bad?" Ray moved the conversation on, that way he wouldn't have to explain anything and the mention of Jackson was enough for Piper's heart to take the reigns and make her brain switch focuses. She remembered why they were there and quickly scanned the cafe for his signature blue jacket, her heart sinking a little when she didn't see him at first. For a second, she thought that he'd gone home after the trouble from Henry and she could feel the tears spring up in her eyes, but then, nestled into a corner, she spotted him, still scribbling away at his homework. "Oh, um, he's right over there in the cool, blue jacket."

"Okay, so I'm gonna go order (y/n) a hazelnut latte with extra whipped cream and chocolate sprinkles and a blueberry muffin and I want you to walk right over to that boy and say, hi, my name is Paper Hart and I would like to introduce myself to you so that we can be—" Ray started, feeling his girl link arms with him when he recalled her exact order without missing a beat. A smile ghosted over her face at how he still hadn't learnt the girl's name, thinking he really was the most adorable man she'd ever met and she would've gladly smiled over him all afternoon if she could, but no, the universe never let her do that. Midway through Ray's instructions, he, (y/n) and Piper were scared out of their wits when a woman jumped up from her seat and screamed, pointing at something big, black and deadly that had scared her as it crawled around the wall. "There's a big bug on the coffee bean display!"

"Oh my god, it's a scorpion!" Another guy shrieked and everyone sat near the arachnid ditched their lunch, coffee, tea and pastries so they could scramble towards the door, terrified of being stung or crawled on by the creature, which had probably been disturbed after Captain Man and Kid Danger hosed down its nest in the park across the street.

"Okay, okay, everyone, let's just calm down. Only one per cent of scorpion species have deadly stings, so it's highly unlikely that anyone will die. If we just stay away from it, we'll be fin—" (y/n) tried to calm the panicking crowd down, knowing that the bug was happy to just explore the display since no one was threatening it. All they had to do was just wait until animal control or a similar authority came and took it away, but no, Ray, being the show off he was, decided that he would be the hero of the hour, forgoing any of his girl's sound advice.

"You know, I used to be a better than average tennis player back in my day. You mind?" He announced and looked to his right where a man with some tennis balls and a racket was standing. Oh no, he was going to, was he? (y/n) looked at him with wide eyes and clutched his arm as she realised that he was gonna try and squish the scorpion by blasting a ball at it. His aim was terrible, the creature didn't deserve to be killed and he was just doing it to seem all macho and cool, not realising that it was reckless overkill. "All right, Mr Scorpion, don't take this personally, but game, set and—"

"Ray, no, don't do it, think about what will happ—" (y/n) exclaimed, predicting the chaos that would ensure from him bouncing balls all over the place and he was a heavy hitter; those muscles packed a punched and could fire tennis balls like they were coming from a cannon, but he had already swung and was too late. "SMASH!"

"What was that?" Jackson asked as the ball whizzed over her head and pinged off the display, knocking the scorpion off in the process, so it was a success, but the forceful impact was too much for the rickety, old display and it collapsed when the nails that screwed it to the wall loosened. Poor Jackson was the unfortunate soul who'd picked the seat beneath it and took the full brunt when it fell on his head, which caused Piper to scream as her crush was knocked out. Not Ray's finest moment and he gulped when the boy groaned on the floor and he saw everyone cringing and wincing, not to mention his girl shaking her head at him with her hands on her hips.

"Jackson! Quick! Somebody call an ambulance!" Piper screeched when she saw that no one was moving to help the boy and upon her shout, the bystanders sprung into action, pulling out their cells as the waiters and baristas went to pull their stock from his broken body.

"Why don't you get a better tennis racket, guy?!" Ray snapped at the man who'd given him the suspect weapon and rapidly returned it before anyone started pointing fingers, even though everyone had witnessed his stupidity. He looked at (y/n), pretending to be her loveable idiot like usual but she just tutted and shook her head with a sigh whilst she comforted Piper, half-ignoring the hands that ran across her hips and shoulders in a bid to get her attention. He got the scorpion, he did something impressive, yeah, a boy was now unconscious, but he did it to impress her...

Moments later, the ambulance had arrived and the paramedics burst into the building with their bags and needles and shit as Ray, (y/n) and Piper continued to watch mournfully, the girl on the verge of tears as the lead medic started barking orders on how they were gonna tackle the incident. Another turned to them, thinking that their keen interest meant that they'd witnessed the accident and that they could tell her something important. "You guys see what happened?"

"Yeah, there was a big scorpion—" Piper began, not caring that snitches get stitches or anything, she didn't see anything wrong with telling the paramedic what had happened, but Ray didn't want her to say anything that was remotely near the truth because it would come out that he was the asshole who hurt a kid, so he quickly stepped in front of her.

"Uh, I'm the adult. So, apparently—" He started too, before being pulled back by his girlfriend, who had enough of his bright ideas for one day. She could handle this.

"Uh-huh, okay, I'm the real adult here and as my slightly idiotic but very loveable boyfriend was saying, apparently, that poorly constructed display just fell off the wall, for no apparent reason whatsoever. We didn't even see it really, no one can prove anything, 'cause it was just an accident, so have a nice day..." (y/n) chuckled nervously, using her winning smile to charm the woman into nodding and agreeing with whatever she was writing down and thankfully, she believed every lie she said, walking off when she turned away to pull Ray from the scene. That was a close one, but no one was more hurt than Piper, whose miserable face broke both of their hearts as they knew that this was the worst thing that could've happened.

"Listen, Popper. I know you're sad and I'm sorry that you didn't get to have the meet-cute that you wanted..." Ray sighed, giving the girl the most remorseful face and kindest words he had because he knew that this was his fault. Sure, he got her name wrong and it ruined the emotion a bit, but it was nice for her to hear that he was sorry and she looked up to see if (y/n) had some soft words to comfort her with too because she really needed her support at that moment. But to her and Ray's surprise, she had nothing, she wasn't even paying attention, something that wasn't like her, not when someone was upset and looking for succour and Piper frowned when she looked around the room and not at her.

"Hey, (y/n), what's wrong?" She asked, tugging at her jacket's sleeve when she stared at the paramedic's tending to Jackson and ducking in and out of the room. What gives? Was something wrong with the way they were treating her soon-to-be boyfriend? Had they missed something? Ray gazed at her too, worried that she was angry or upset with him for his actions and choosing to ignore him, but she wasn't, she was thinking and using that big brain of hers.

"Hey, do you think that paramedic lady is the same height as Piper?" She asked her boyfriend, subtly gesturing to a woman, who was taking statements and Ray turned to briefly study her and the girl stood with them. Okay, their body proportions weren't identical, but they were roughly the same size and he wondered what she was up to, recognising that the cogs in her mind were turning. "Yeah, so?"

"So, Piper, I've come up with another meet-cute." She grinned, turning to the girl so she could grab her by the arm and lead her so she was looking at the right paramedic. Piper felt her excitement grow in tandem with her confusion and bit her lip as the three of them stared at the unsuspecting woman and Ray's warm hands settled on her shoulders, him grinning when he sensed her mischief.

"Okay, so, you're gonna take that paramedic over to that cupboard, the one that has the private sign on it and you're gonna "borrow" her uniform. Then, you can sneak onto the ambulance and be there when Jackson wakes up, just like Scarlett Johansson in Breakfast at Brittany's." She grinned, chuckling at the immortality of it all and how it was totally unlike her, but either way, it was kinda ingenious. Piper must've seen the movie too and how Scarlett and Ryan Reynolds fall in love because she gasped and turned around at the speed of light, hugging her waist tightly as she bounced up and down.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you! It's perfect!" She squealed into the fabric of her dress before pulling back and storming over to the woman immediately, saying nothing else since she couldn't/wouldn't waste any more time, not when Jackson was being prepped for a stretcher. With her bravely walking over to the paramedic, Ray took the opportunity to curl his arms around the matchmaker's waist and pull her back into his chest, allowing her to bask in her own love and not just that of others.

"Uh, 'scuse me, can I show you something behind that door over there?" "Uh, yeah. Okay," The couple giggled when they saw Piper sneakily dupe the woman into following her and how she wiggled her fingers at them as she closed the door, locking out the world as she fought for the uniform. They could hear the ruckus through the wood, the woman's protests and screams and Piper's determined snarls to win her prize; she'd lost one meet-cute, she wasn't about to lose another and (y/n) felt at peace as she felt the plan fall into place and Ray's lips press against her pulse point.

"You're so bad, I love it." He mumbled against her skin, kissing up her neck since everyone else was either returning to their food or helping with the rescue, which left them to stand to the side and let the victory sink in. And he could smother her with his love and affection, so it was a win-win all round, especially after the whole tennis debacle and how it was his fault because he ignored her warnings.

"I prefer being sweet." She replied quietly, unable to stop the smirk that wormed its way onto her face and it widened when he smiled against her neck too. He couldn't argue with that, she was his sweet girl and he wouldn't have it any other way, not when she was sweet for him in every sense of the word and in every way she could be. He fell in love with her sweetness, her kindness, her shyness, her uniqueness, her silly sense of humour, her quirks and funny rituals, her everything, and he never wanted her to change, she didn't have to. Her cheeky side was a bonus though, something that could keep him on his toes.

"I love that even more. I love you." He whispered, causing her to turn around his arms and melt against him, tears stinging her eyelashes at how far they'd come; from strangers to coworkers, from best friends, terrified of saying anything, to lovers, unafraid of revealing their true feelings, uncaring of whatever situation they were in, whether it was at home or in some random coffee shop. He could say what he wanted, he was just as sweet as she was and she didn't know what she could say in return that would give him the same teary-eyed, heart-jerking feeling that she was experiencing, so she went with the only thing that felt right.

"You wanna have that mini-date now?" She whispered, brushing their lips together and smiling when he nodded with a breathless chuckle. Yeah, that sounded nice and it got even sweeter when she mumbled those three little words back, leading him over to the counter where business had resumed as normal, Doctor Piper grinning to herself as she helped carry her crush out and saw them step up to order some coffee. He could hear her sweet voice talking to the barista, ordering two drinks and possibly something equally sweet to eat, but he wouldn't find out what it was until they sat down on one of the cosy loveseats and chatted the afternoon away because he was lost in his thoughts.

It was a moment, but it wasn't the moment, even if the box was obnoxiously sticking out of his pocket like it was begging to be let out, but it didn't feel right. There were too many people around, strangers that had no business in seeing the best moment of their lives so he refrained from getting down on one knee.

It wasn't the right moment, but he was damn sure that it was getting close.

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