Work Text:
…” You kept a secret like that? ”
“ I’m sorry! I couldn’t tell yo—“
“Who even are you?”
Henry shot up from his bed with a gasp. That dream again, he realized. His hands were clammy and he was shaking, and it didn’t take him long to notice Piper’s party still going on.
Henry whipped around to check his bedside clock, 2:06 A.M. . When did it get so late? He fell asleep around eleven…
He dragged himself out of bed to go to the bathroom right next to his room. Trying to ignore the booming music coming from Piper’s party downstairs, he started to lightly brush his hair so he looked a little presentable, as well as brush his teeth.
Digging out socks, clothes, and his shoes from the depths of his messy room, he made a last minute decision to grab his headphones for the long walk, and to also tune out Piper’s party.
Henry opened his bedroom window, phone and headphones in hand, and climbed out to go to one of the only places in Swellview he found some comfort in.
—
On the walk there, Henry went over the dream over and over. He’d had it since forever, and it was always about one of his biggest fears.
He didn’t want it to interfere with work. Maybe Schwoz would have some sort of gadget that could quell the dreams and fears Henry had. He was Kid Danger , Captain Man’s sidekick and one to help others over himself, he couldn’t be scared. He can’t be scared.
He fiddled with his keys until he found the one Ray gave him. Even if Henry was told it was for emergencies only, he needed somewhere comforting to go.
He unlocked the door to Junk N’ Stuff and walked through the familiar interior to the back, where before pressing the down button on the elevator, he pressed the button in the middle with a question mark.
It opened up a small display with ten buttons, all of the back ups of the Man Cave. Four of the buttons were black and dull, meaning that those Man Caves were blown up, one was green, the one that Henry and everyone else currently were in, and the rest of the five were a pristine white, new polished up Man Caves that were exact copies of the other.
Henry hovered over a few buttons until remembering Man Caves 6 and 8 were infested with Mole People, so he went with number 10, which had been a reoccurring place of thought and comfort for him.
Walking through the elevator doors, Henry was thankful it wasn’t bright in the Man Cave. Ignoring the green and blue glow from the tube pads and the self destruct button in the middle with a note taped on from Schwoz saying how this was the last Man Cave, Henry sank down into the couch, turned up the music to as loud as he could take it on his headphones, and ventured into his thoughts.
It didn’t take him long to lose track of time. before Henry knew it, he was already asleep on the couch.
Then the nightmare came again.
As far as he could see, it was dark, really dark. Henry couldn’t see a thing, not even his own hands.
He shouted at the top of his lungs, shouted if there was someone there, that he doesn’t want to be alone, but not a sound came out of his mouth.
In the distance, he spotted a light. Something small and glowing bright white.
Henry ran towards it, as fast as his legs could take him.
Only to end up at…his house?
Henry takes notice of an upset Jake and Kris.
Mom and Dad.
“Henry, what is this?” Kris holds up a gum tube with glowing blue and red gumballs.
Oh no.
No no no.
“I’ve…never seen that before in my life.” Henry lies, he does his best to hide his surprise that sound actually came out of his mouth.
“I think you know exactly what it is, Kid Danger .” Jake states, not even trying to hide the fact he was looking Henry up and down.
“What are you—“ Kid Danger followed his gaze and looked down.
He was in his Kid Danger suit.
Henry was in his Kid Danger suit.
“No, guys!” He desperately pleads, “It’s a costume! This isn’t real!”
“Really?” He jumped at the voice, Charlotte? “Is that really what you believe? You never told us. Never told Piper or Jasper.”
“Y—yes I did! You figured it out Char, you know this—“
“Why did you lie to us?” Jasper’s voice rang out, “To me ?”
“Jasper, I told you—!”
“I had a crush on my own brother?” Piper’s voice, now. Her voice sounds broken, “I can’t believe you kept that big of a secret from your own little sister!”
“Piper! Listen, I couldn’t tell you—it all happened so fast.”
“Is that what really happened? Or did it feel so fast to you because you never told anyone?”
“You’re not even making sense! I couldn’t tell you! I couldn’t tell anyone! I swore an oath, I swore to help the people of Swellview no matter what!”
“I can’t believe you, Henry.” Piper turned her back to him, as everyone else in Henry’s life, Jasper, Charlotte, his Mom, Dad, Ray, Schwoz—
They were all leaving.
Leaving him alone.
There was only one thing he could get out between his cries and screams.
“…why am I like this?”
—
“NO!” Henry yelled, shooting up and reaching out for something, someone, anyone .
His heart was beating hard against his ribs, he was shaking, he was…crying?
Henry put his hands in his head and tried to calm himself down. He couldn’t breathe, his thoughts were racing, everything around him seemed to be spinning.
He didn’t even notice the elevator door opening and a concerned looking Ray running through, tissues and snacks in hand.
“Henry?!” He ran over to shove the goods on the table and crouched down in front of his sidekick.
Henry kept crying, and was only barely aware of someone in front of him.
“Hey, hey, kid.” Ray did an awkward motion with his hands, he didn’t want to make the kid uncomfortable, and only momentarily realized he’d never actually comforted someone before. Was he supposed to hug him? Tap him on the head?
“Ray…?” Henry quietly choked out, looking up just enough for Ray to see his red-rimmed eyes.
“It’s me, Henry. Bad dream?”
He nodded, tightly hugging himself as if he’d float off to space if he ever let go.
“Deep breaths in, deep breaths out, come on, with me.”
Ray inhaled and exhaled, trying to get Henry to do it with him but not wanting to overstep his boundaries.
He had to strain his hearing just to hear small breaths come out from Henry, frantic and quick, but a start.
“Do it slow, don’t rush it.” Ray heard sniffling coming from Henry, shit, why hadn’t he thought of that?
He quickly reached over to the tissue box and gave Henry some.
Ray waited until he was done blowing his nose and wiping his tears.
“You want to tell me what happened in that dream?” He asked.
“Everyone found out I was Kid Danger and—“ He hiccuped and stammered, his thoughts racing faster than the words he could speak, “They left me, all alone, I had no one.”
Henry burst into tears again, putting his head in his hands and letting it all out.
Ray didn’t know what else to do, so he cautiously reached his arms around Henry, and hugged him in a protective embrace.
He seemed to melt into the hug, unconsciously leaning against his arm and putting his head in the crook of Ray’s arm.
“Come on, talk to me, kid.”
“My mom and dad found my gum balls, and my dad called me Kid Danger, then when I looked down and realized that I was in my suit,” Henry took a deep breath, still in Ray’s hug, “It’s like I lost myself for a split second.”
“What else?” Ray asked patiently.
“You, Char, Jasp, my mom, my dad. You guys just…came out of nowhere and accused me of lying to you, that I never told anyone I was Kid Danger and that—that they didn’t want me around.
So many voices were echoing around me and eventually, everyone just turned around and left me,”
“Henry…”
“I don’t wanna be alone, Ray.”
“Look at me.” Ray firmly placed his hands on Henry’s shoulders, “You’re not. ”
“The dream—you guys all just, I was alone!”
“Nightmares are stupid scenarios made up by your brain to scare you. They’re not real. Most of the time, they don’t ever happen.”
“That doesn’t mean mine has no chance of happening! What if—what if I accidentally reveal to everyone in Swellview that I’m your sidekick? I’ll be alone, you’ll fire me.”
“I never said that, Henry. You know I never said it.”
“What…?”
“What I’m trying to say is, you’re here , in the Man Caves, in Junk N’ Stuff, in Swellview. None of us are going to abandon you.” Ray puts his hand to his chest, “ I’m not going to abandon you. Don’t let your nightmares think we are, alright?”
Henry nodded slowly, as if he was taking his words in a single word at a time. Ray understood—the kid probably needed time to himself.
“I, uh, brought you food. Your favorite!”
Ray moved the plate of pizza he got from the Auto Snacker towards Henry, it was his favorite, with pepperoni.
“Even with the ‘roni,” Henry said with a small chuckle.
“Couldn’t find a Diez Leches Cake anywhere, sorry.”
“Ray?”
“Yeah, kid?”
“Thank you.”
Ray smiled, “You want me to stay with you? Ya know, keep you company?”
“That’d be great, actually.”
Having not brought any snacks for himself from the Auto Snacker in regular Man Cave, Ray was surprised to find out that the one in the tenth Man Cave worked despite it never being touched until now.
As he was standing in front of it waiting for his food to be made, Henry perked up from eating his pizza.
“How did you even know I was down here?”
“Was surfin’ the web at first, got a security alert someone had used the elevator and came down to one of the Man Caves.”
“You’re saying you get alerts when people use the elevator?”
“I mean, no. Only if it’s at, like, a suspicious hour. Like now,”
“Damn, must’ve forgot to disable security cams this time,” Henry mumbled, barely loud enough for Ray to hear.
“What about security cams?” Now it was Ray’s turn to perk up, “And ‘this time?’ You’ve been down here multiple times?”
“What? Uh, no. I don’t know what you’re talking about,”
“Dude, you can really disable security measures? Without anyone knowing at all?”
Henry developed a shit-eating grin on his face, “I meeeeean, I might be able to,”
“Oh my god, like any cam in any Cave?”
“Any cam. Any Cave.”
“Even without Schwoz knowing?”
“He won’t have a clue,”
“You smart bastard.”
“Only dumb on the surface, just smart when I want to be,”
Ray squinted at his sidekick, “No, seriously, how many times have you been down here?”
“Just on bad days, come on, get your food.”
He completely forgot his food, it was awkwardly sitting in the opening with the glass open. Only a small meal, he explained to Henry.
“Dude, a whole steak is not a small meal,”
“It could if you make it out to be,”
“True, but I didn’t know the Auto Snacker had steaks.”
“I didn’t know until about 45 seconds ago,”
Ray and Henry talked about various, nonspecific things until around 4:00 A.M.. Henry had to make sure his sister had actually gone to bed and that she hadn’t gotten any sound complaints from neighbors. He wasn’t doubting the latter happening.
“Oh, by the way, if anyone asks about this, which they won’t, because I’m going up right now to erase the camera footage, this didn’t happen.”
“Okay, but how would anyone know if you erase the camera footage?”
“Pretty sure anyone can look up the Auto Snacker history in Man Cave,”
“Wait, no, really?”
“I’ll take off you ordering that steak if you give me a raise,”
“Over my dead body, nice try kid,”
“Not even just by a dollar?”
“We’re broke as is,”
“Guess I’ll leave it up to Charlotte to find out you ordered a full size steak at,” Henry paused to check the time, “4:19 A.M.. She won’t be too happy, boss.”
“Only a dollar?”
“I’ll make it two if you don’t hurry up,”
“Fine, don’t tell anyone. I’m not giving these raises out for free.”
Henry smiled as he pressed the button on the elevator to go back up to the Man Cave.
What he didn’t see, though, was that Ray was smiling just as wide at the elevator door.
—