Chapter Text
“You know, if you had just listened to me, we wouldn’t have been this close to letting Drillfinger escape! I told you to cut him off at the loading dock, but no, you had to play hero and go in headfirst. Again.”
Charlotte never anticipated that growing up, she’d spend most of her days around the opposite gender. Although she was accustomed to it by the time she met Jasper and Henry when she was 5, working as the tech person in the Mancave was an extreme headache. It was hard even to be listened to, especially with four egotistical guys as coworkers.
Even Piper, with her anger issues, was a nice break from dudes for Charlotte. Piper had always liked Charlotte, whether it was pitying her for hanging out with two annoyances or a genuine friendship.
But after putting up with this nonsense for a long time, Charlotte was already having a rough day, and this was the tipping point. She just wished to be heard. She wasn’t asking for a billion bucks or a new car. She just wanted her opinion to matter, to be seen more than a computer. In a way, all the guys loved her truly. It’s just how things are when you are Harvard-bound and the people you work with are plain idiots. Henry never intentionally ignored her, he was just a dumb blonde. Respectfully.
“Oh, come on, Charlotte. It worked out in the end, didn’t it? We caught him. That’s what matters.”
Charlotte steps in closer, narrowing her eyes at him. “Yeah, we caught him, but not before he wrecked half of Swellview Plaza and nearly flattened Jasper with a forklift! If you’d just listened—just once —we could’ve stopped him before it even got to that point!
He throws his hands up defensively. “I’m the one out there in the field, Charlotte! You’re sitting here behind a computer, barking orders like it’s a video game. It’s not as simple as you think!”
She blinks, stunned. How could he say something so…undermining? She had a vital role to play, too, half of the missions wouldn’t be so great if it wasn’t for Charlotte’s calculated orders. How could he?
“Are you serious right now? Do you think I don’t know how dangerous it is? I’m the one tracking the bad guys, hacking their systems, figuring out where they’re going before they even know it themselves. You think all of this—” She gestures towards the computer system. “—just runs itself? I’m doing everything I can to keep you alive, Henry, and you can’t even give me the courtesy of listening to me!”
Henry, exhausted from the mission, and who is entirely in his own head, just scoffs. “Yeah, well, maybe if you weren’t so bossy all the time, I’d be more inclined to listen,” he says sarcastically.
“Bossy? Are you kidding me? I’m not bossy, I’m
right
! You don’t take me seriously, Henry. You never have. I’m not just some sidekick with a keyboard—I’m your friend. Or at least, I thought I was. As your coworker and friend it is my job to help you.” Her voice flares up, and this argument intensifies.
“Charlotte, that’s not fair. You are my partner. I just… I make decisions in the moment, okay? It’s not personal.” Henry’s voice softens, and the Mancave echoes back a bit of their fight. It feels like a ringing sensation.
“Not personal? Right. You ignoring me, undermining my input, and acting like you’re the only one who knows what’s best—that’s not personal at all. (She shakes her head, her voice softer now, tinged with disappointment. “You don’t trust me. That’s what this is really about, isn’t it?”
“I do trust you. I just… I have to trust myself, too.”
Hesitation and guilt flicker across Henry’s face. How did they even end up in this heated moment? Charlotte, the logical, calm and collected one. They’re both being so irrational it's unusual.
“You trusting yourself doesn’t mean shutting me out, Henry! I’m not here to watch you play hero while I clean up the mess. I’m here to help you—not to be ignored or dismissed like I don’t matter.”
He runs a stressed hand through his hair, voice exasperated and quieter.“Charlotte, I didn’t mean it like that. You do matter. You know you do.”
“Funny. It doesn’t feel like it.” She crosses her arms and gives him that look.
Heavy silence erupts and she grabs her bag and heads toward the elevator, leaving Henry standing there, stunned and frustrated. The doors chime open, “Next time you want to ignore me, just remember: one of us has to think things through. And apparently, that’s my job.”
Schwoz turns around after she leaves on his swivel chair from the other side of the room, popcorn in hand. He snickers, “Ooh, trouble in paradise.” the tiny foreign man teases.
Henry mutters sharply, “Not now, Schwoz.” The boy slumps down on the circular grey couch, conflicted about how he should feel. He should feel like he’s in the right, right? But Charlotte made extremely valid points–which hurts his pride a bit. That’s life.
~
“I don’t know, Ray! I’ve never argued with Charlotte like that before. It’s just so strange. We’ve bickered and disagreed, but it was never this bad.” Henry paces around the Mancave, explaining to the Superhero everything that unfolded a few days ago.
“Is that why she hasn’t come to work lately?” Ray picks at his fingernails. “Ugh. That’s coming out of her paycheck.”
“She told Jasper to tell me to tell you that she’s taking a break and doesn’t care if it comes out of her paycheck.”
“Rough.” Ray sighs. “Well kid, lovers spat is something I am no stranger to. Once dated a girl name Kiki, we’d have fights like this all the time—”
“We are not lovers.” Henry corrects. “You and Schwoz keep pushing that!”
Ray smirks, if anyone he was the person to know love when he sees it. “Besides the point, arguments come and go, son. You and Charlotte have known each other since sandbox days, nothing can change that. You know what they say, time seals all wounds.”
The boy blinks, “...I think the saying is time heals all wounds–”
“Same thing!”
Schwoz walks into the room wearing a fuzzy pink robe, “Do any of you know where I left my limited edition Olay Unicorn shampoo?” The man asks grumpily.
Henry looks confused, weirded out even, but expects nothing less from Schwoz“...No? Wouldn’t that be in your…bathroom?”
“That’s what I said!” Schwoz replies, accent heavy. “I don’t know, I've been misplacing things for the past three days. I must be getting old.” He squints at something and walks toward the computer’s control panel. “Hey! What is my shampoo doing here?”
“Huh. Was that there the whole time?” Henry asks Ray. The superhero shrugs.
~
Charlotte pulls out her laptop from her backpack and begins her homework. She has a hard time focusing lately, and ends up staring out into nowhere, simply thinking about the fallout with Henry. Was she being too dramatic? Is she PMSing?
She’s never been an overthinker, but after all, she’s only human.
She wonders if maybe she should’ve sucked it up for a little longer to keep the peace. Graduation was only a few months away anyway, and she wouldn’t have to work in the Mancave for much longer.
Though Charlotte's a fighter, a smart one at that, it was only time that she stood up for herself.
Charlotte reaches into her backpack to pull out her laptop…again. “Didn’t I just take it out?” She’s been too burned out lately, it’s probably messing with her head.
Mrs. Page walks into her bedroom with a basket with clean laundry. “Oh hi honey. Why are you home?” before Charlotte could respond, “Oh, you’re taking a break from work? A fight with Henry? That’s new. Well, get a good night's rest.” Her mother exits the room.
“Wait Mom—I didn’t even say anything yet!”
~
Tensions are the last thing that has lightened lately. Two weeks of not speaking has gone by—are they really that bad at emotions? Henry was at his locker, mindlessly moving from class to class. For once he’s in school, at least. Maybe catching up on World History will relax his mind.
“Rebecca, Rebecca!” Ms. Shapen shouts.
“Are–are you talking to me?” Henry turns around, to his hunchback teacher standing behind him, a displeased look on his face.
The teacher, in her hot pink cardigan, simply hits Henry on the head with a roll of test papers. “Ow!? What was that for?”
“For fighting on school grounds, Rebecca!”
“Fighting on school grounds–?” Henry scratches his head. “Ms. Shapen, I haven’t been in school since September. And why are you calling me Rebecca?...Do you mean Rebecca Stallone?” He recalls Jasper telling him about some catfight that he missed three days ago.
The teacher walks away quietly, with no explanation whatsoever.
~
Henry turns up to work that day, demanding answers. If someone is gonna know what’s going on it has to be Schwoz.
“Schwoz, please tell me you know what the hell is going on in Swellview!?! Because these past few days my life has been weirder than that one time I was stuck in a dream!” The sidekick demanded answers, tossing his backpack across the room. “I went to Inside-Out Burger before I got here, and the people were glitching! Like actually, glitching!”
“You’ve noticed that too?!” Schwoz is intrigued and very relieved. He thought he was going crazy. “Earlier today, the walls of the Mancave changed colors from grey to green and then switched back. There have been some open patches on the floor too, closing up right after opening.”
Ray interrupts. “Now that I think about it…I have been waking up five minutes earlier than usual every day. But I think that was just me being awesome.” The handsome man counters.
Schwoz does his heavy-thinking face for a moment. “Oh no…no, no, no. This is very bad.”
“What, what is it Schwoz?” Henry questions and he and Ray follow Schwoz to the Mancave computer.
“What are you thinking? Is it villain-related?”
“No. Well, maybe.” Schwoz pulls up some website references. “There may be a glitch in the matrix. Or universe. Like, something has been setting the world off its intended course. Like uh…an anomaly.”
“An anomaly? From what!?” Ray takes over the control panel, scanning the website's information with his eyes.
“I’ll have to do some extensive research.” the scientist says, determined.
~
“What-what are you saying!?”
Schwoz sighs, annoyed as if his first explanation wasn’t clear enough. “I’m saying that you and Charlotte were the anomaly that threw the matrix off course. I used my multiverse travel machine, hooked it up to a screen, and observed each and every universe out there. And well…”
The tiny man grins and explains, “In every universe I looked at, there isn’t a single one where you and Charlotte do not meet and form some kind of connection. Whether it be friendship, dating, strangers who bump into each other, or enemies forced to work together—you two will always cross paths.”
This revelation takes a moment to wrap around Henry’s head. How could something so primitive as his and Charlotte's friendship be what throws the universe off balance? “And–and how does that affect everything be so weird and glitchy”
“Well, from my understanding, you and Charlotte’s bond is a fixed point across every dimension. The universe has to have you two connect in some way. For example, without water, we wouldn’t have any plants. The entire world would fail. A Henry without a Charlotte means the exact same thing.”
After this is resolved, they are so not escaping the #henlotte allegations.
“Come see.” He walks Henry and Ray over to the screen and clicks through each universe rapidly as if changing TV channels. The three observe.
Ray comments annoyingly, “Hah! You two are like magnets! The universe says ‘they must be together!’ But you go and fight?! Ridiculous!”
“Okay, okay. I guess it is me and her.” Henry sighs in defeat. “How do we fix this?”
~
For research purposes by Schwoz, Henry is sent into a universe where he is Kid Danger without Charlotte’s existence. He and Ray don’t even last a week together without her intelligence and level-headedness. They end up crashing the man-van trying to chase a supervillain, Henry breaks his leg and is forced to quit his sidekick job by his parent’s paranoia.
Charlotte, after being filled in by Ray and Schwoz, is sent to a universe where she becomes a brilliant scientist. Her life is well-sought and expensive. However, she spends her days feeling isolated and living alone in a mansion, because Henry doesn’t exist to encourage her to take risks.
They both stumble into worlds where their connection is romantic, platonic, or even antagonistic—but it’s always there.
~
Upon their return to their original universe, Schwoz is quick to reprimand the two teenagers. “See. For the sake of everyone, you two need to make up. And well, the multiverse wasn’t working just because of your argument.”
“Then what else was it?” Charlotte asks.
“If you two don’t make up, like any multiverse stabilizer, all the universes may cease to exist altogether. It was reacting to the possibility of your bond breaking forever.” This leaves them with a deep sense of responsibility for their connection—not because it’s forced, but because it’s clearly vital on a cosmic scale.
~
The walk home was silent at first. They always walked home together, given that their houses were in the same direction.
“Look Char, I’m sorry, for everything. I was wrong to belittle you like that.” Henry apologizes genuinely, “I’ll start listening and hearing you more, promise.”
Charlotte smiles softly, “Thanks. I guess I overreacted a bit during our fight. Sorry about that too.”
“No, you had every right to be mad. We were being idiots. But hey, I think we learned today we balance each other out–and we also balance the multiverse!”
Henry and Charlotte laugh off the idea that the universe is obsessed with their friendship, but there’s a quiet moment where they both acknowledge how much they truly mean to each other. “Together forever?” Henry holds out his pinkie, like how they made promises as kids.
She interlinks her pinkie. “Together forever.”