She did not expect the day to take the turn that it did.
Edith did not hear the commotion outside the boutique at first, due to the loud contemporary music playing and being too focused on looking at the lovely but otherwise too pricy clothing and accessories. It was only just as she took a few steps out of the boutique that she heard the loud crash from a couple of blocks away, in addition to the panicked yelling from many civilians.
"Oh Lord, what is it this time?!" A random nearby citizen freaked out as others either hurried to check out what happened or hurried away from the area. "Is it the toilets again?!"
A sneaking suspicion made Edith hurry towards where the sound was, along with a few brave souls who were curious.
Moments later and a few streets afterwards, she saw people gathered around the remains of a huge, charred metallic looking thing that took up the entire space of an intersection and tore up the asphalt road around it and for some reason the sides of a few buildings were splattered with weird liquid magenta colored stuff. Already quite a few people were gathered nearby whatever it was supposed to be while Edith cautiously stayed behind and grabbed the straps of her shoulder bag.
"Thing came flying out and crashed right smack dab in the middle of the road!" One woman who saw what happened informed a nearby on-looker.
"Was it a robot?" He asked.
"I don't know, it looked like it." The woman admitted. "It did a number on that guy in the cape."
Edith froze up as the man asked "Oh that superhero dude in his underwear?" He scoffed. "Figures. You know that idiot could have taken it elsewhere. Like, somewhere where, oh I don't know–no people or buildings are around?"
Edith looked around to see if she could spot the superhero or the two boys who were normally with him, but it seemed they got out of there in time. Still, she couldn't help but worry as she forced herself to turn back and head to her car while her eyes kept looking around for a familiar flash of red and white.
She knew she could just call Benjamin later. She could leave him a message and then see if he'd respond. It probably wasn't serious and she knew his counterpart almost always made it out alive (as if a higher power was looking out for him), but she was still worried and wanted to make sure he was alright.
A part of Edith wished that she saw what went down. As nerve wracking as the whole thing usually was, it was hard to deny the childish excitement over some of the stories, even if they usually bordered on the ridiculous. Then again, wasn't that the truth with life in general?
It wasn't even a minute until she heard the cry of "MISS EDITH!"
Edith turned around and saw George running towards her as fast as he could. His face and shirt looked a bit dirty but for some reason there was what looked like a couple of blood stains on his shirt, which made her concern kick in.
"George?!" Edith hurried to the boy and caught him before he could crash into her. "What's wrong?" She asked. "Did you guys just hurry away from whatever was going on just a while ago?!"
"We need help." George panted as he tugged at her skirt. "Captain Underpants–he got beat up pretty badly. He couldn't fly that far and he can barely move right now."
Panic settled in and a hundred thoughts went through Edith's head. "Where is he?" Edith asked as she tried to stay calm.
"Over there!" George pointed to an alleyway and Edith could almost see Harold hiding in there. George hurried over there and Edith followed after him.
Harold was kneeling beside Captain Underpants, who was slumped against one of the walls and was hidden behind some crates. Like George, Harold was dirty and he seemed to have a cut on the back of his hand, but otherwise he was fine.
The same couldn't be said for the superhero.
He was covered in huge bruises, with many of them mixed with a splotches of dirt, grime, bloodied cuts, and scrapes upon his chest and stomach. His arms and legs had some nasty scrapes and even one side of his head had a pretty nasty one amongst the additional layer of grime that seemed to cover most of his forehead. His breathing was slow, deep, yet still stable, and his eyes seemed to be half closed. He wasn't even bothering with putting on an air of bravado or happy optimism in his state.
It was a sight that made Edith scared and sad for him. Just how bad was that fight?
"We can't take him to the hospital!" Harold pleaded. "We can't let them find out who he is and we don't know what they'll do to him if we aren't around!"
"We're sorry!" George apologized. "We got careless this time! We thought we had things under control–!"
"Hey, hey, don't say that." Edith knelt beside George and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Look, I'll hurry and drive over here. My car isn't that far away–we can hide him at my place." She tried to give the two a reassuring smile as she was thanking the stars that she needed to get gas that day because otherwise she would have taken the bus to save money.
Although she didn't want to abandon them, Edith raced to her car to where it was parked in a public parking space as fast as she could, even when she felt her sides hurt from the run. Time sped up on her as she did and it seemed that she was able to park on the side of the alleyway within a minute before she hurried back into the alleyway.
"Come on, help me get him in the backseat." Edith prepared herself and bent down to try to lift Captain Underpants up. He barely budged and left out a moan of protest as he struggled to wake up and fully open his eyes.
"Ben–I mean Captain Underpants." Edith moved over to face him and gently cupped his face in her hands. "You need to help me out. I need to get you somewhere safe and I need you to be willing to walk for me for a few steps."
During this time, the hero finally registered what was happening and who was before him and his eyes were able to light up a bit when he saw her. "Oh hello." He managed a small yet pained smile–his voice weak with fatigue. "Didn't expect to run into you."
Edith smiled back before returning to his side. This time when she struggled to get him up, he was able to obey her, although very slow and gingerly, and she could feel his body wobbling against her.
"Ok, that's it." She reassured him as she carefully lead him to the car. It felt like an eternity and many times she felt him tilting to the point she wondered if he was going to fall and take her down with him. Fortunately she was able to get him in (with the help of the boys who were able to get the door open) and he crashed into the vehicle when he did collapse.
The drive to the apartment had been quiet and Edith had to force herself to focus on the road the whole time or else she wouldn't be able to stop looking back. George and Harold had their back packs at their feet and they were practically squished against the door thanks to the adult who seemed to take up a huge portion of the backseats and who hand his head rolled back against a shoulder with a gaping mouth and closed eyes.
She hated forcing him to get out and walk to her door, but she had to. She let Harold open the door to her apartment when she tossed him the keys while George shut the car doors behind her as she took Captain Underpants into the house. George came back to her and he was quick to try to hold him up on his other side, even though he was trying so hard to not look at the wounds.
Sometimes Edith wished Benjamin wasn't so harsh with the boys, especially considering how kind hearted they truly were when the moment called for it. Sure it wasn't as bad as it used to be, but if only he really knew how much they actually cared for his well-being.
Upon entering her apartment, Edith let Captain Underpants crash into the sofa of her living room (not minding that the sofa was going to get ruined). "Thank you boys." She told them before quickly grabbing the phone and handed it to George. "In case you need to call your parents!" She then hurried to the kitchen and opened up the cabinet where she stored medicinal and medical items that were mixed together with the coffee, tea and other random items.
She didn't think she would ever have to do this–she didn't mind because it was him that needed it–and she had to tell herself to focus because she needed to tend to him. She snatched up what she needed and made to get some wash cloths.
"Hey mom? It's George. Look, before you freak out, me and Harold know the lady who has this number. She's actually our school's lunch lady but she's really nice. Ok, not all the adults at the school are awful." He corrected himself and Edith couldn't help but take a small bit of pride in those words. She always suspected there had to be a reason the boys didn't prank her or Fyde (before he was fired) as much as the other staff members. Sure the cafeteria didn't smell that great to the kids, but at least they were happy and able to get out everything that had to be pent up in the classrooms, and they seemed to have fun talking with her. Sometimes she just felt more comfortable around kids than adults, which was sadly and ironically the opposite for most of the staff.
She quickly got the wash cloths wet before gathering everything up and headed to the living room. George was on the phone and was facing the window while Harold silently took in the new surroundings, from the water color paintings above the sofa to the CDs that were under the TV. Neither of them were daring to look at their principal-turned-superhero who just so happened to now be in his girlfriend's apartment and was all dirty and bloody.
"Ok, ok." Edith tried to calm down as she set a few things aside and tried to think of what she needed to do as she stared at the man's injuries. She was going to have to disinfect a few first, right? She grabbed the gray bottle and ignored the strong scent as she tilted the liquid onto a cloth. "Uh, you two can get some water for yourselves if you need some." She told Harold. "The cups are on the second shelf in the cupboard by the fridge." She then remembered the cut on Harold's hand. "Actually, come here for a second." She gestured for Harold to come over.
Edith made quick work of Harold's cut and the boy winced, but he handled it well and was rewarded with one of the few colored bandages that got mixed in with the regulars before she let him go off.
She made to start with Captain Underpants' hand and knelt down to get close to him.
"Anyway, she's letting us stay for a bit." George continued on the phone as he bit his lip. "You know that one street with the–"
The moment the cloth touched the scrapes on Captain Underpants' hand, he flinched forward and let out a spectacular yelp of pain.
The room went silent and all eyes went to Captain Underpants as he grabbed his hand and let out a whimper while looking more than wide-eyed awake.
"Uh, that was the TV." George quickly lied as Harold nervously looked back at him. "I guess it was louder than we thought. I think it's some hospital soap opera or whatever it is." Harold snickered at this and George cracked a smile.
"Look I know it stings, but it's the only thing I have to clean out the wounds." Edith tried to quietly tell Captain Underpants as her hand rested on his arm and she looked him in his distraught eyes. "Can you try to endure it for awhile? I promise it won't go on forever."
A moment passed before the hero slowly nodded with much reluctance on his face. This time when Edith tended to the wound, she carefully held onto his hand as she let the disinfectant touch it. He screwed his face up, shut his eyes, and balled his hands up into fists, but he didn't make a sound.
"Oh finally!" George sighed as he hung up and set the phone down on the nearby table. "She sounded more freaked out than mad, so maybe we won't get grounded." He told Harold.
"Yeah I hope so." Harold confessed.
"You two are free to get a drink of water if you need to." Edith reminded them as she reached for a wet wash cloth. "You two need a chance to relax." Too bad she didn't have any kind of snack food they'd probably want.
Edith heard them leave the room as she carefully wiped the dirt off around Captain Underpants' wound to make sure it couldn't get into it as she held his hand. She didn't see him be mesmerized at her doing this. Not only was it nice to feel her holding his hand, but the coolness of the cloth circling against his skin felt pleasant and comforting.
"Uh, by the way." Edith looked up to face him. "Thank you for tending to me... and taking care of the boys." He gave her a small, shy smile that was very sweet.
"You're welcome." She smiled back before resuming her work and hoped that he didn't see her blush.
"Rest back, I need to get the others." Edith eventually encouraged him after she was able to completely clean and bandage his hand up. He obeyed and sank back into the sofa while she had to move closer to him to the point that if she fell over she'd land either right on him or into his lap.
Stop it, do not think of that right now. She warned herself even as she felt the blush in her cheeks deepen a bit more.
Each time she used the disinfectant on his chest or stomach, either of them would pull back or tense up on her, but she kept her free hand on his arm to reassure him that it was all going to be fine and over soon.
It was when a new wet wash cloth touched his chest that his head fell back and he could finally relax and even close his eyes once more. She had to remind herself that right now she needed to tend to him and not think too hard on the fact that she had her hands all over his chest in a way that might as well have been very intimate. Even if she had seen him without his shirt multiple times by now, it was still hard to get over that fact and marvel over what had been under it. He had the sort of body that would make you feel safe if he were to hold you and–
Her fingers slipped a little and directly touched his chest–fingertips against skin–and she froze as if that could have done something.
He didn't wake up from that.
She hoped the boys weren't watching this. Or could read the thoughts going through her head.
The truth was that George and Harold were indeed watching after having a drink of water and exchanging a few words. As nice as it was to have an adult who knew about Captain Underpants and helped to keep his biggest secret, there was still the fact that Edith was also dating Mr. Krupp and sometimes there was just no telling when something could go wrong. They would get in trouble for something like this but they didn't want her to get in trouble either.
Edith forced herself to press onward and was able to bandage the wounds up. She did the same with his arms and legs before she dared turned around to see Harold taking Benjamin's clothes and toupee out of his back pack.
"Just in case he's staying over." Harold set them down on a chair at her table. "Which I'm guessing he's going to."
"He'd appreciate that." Edith smiled and got the disinfectant ready before focusing on his head. She saved this part for last, knowing that would happen pretty soon, and she didn't want Benjamin to wake up to find the boys in her place if it was going to lead to an angry fit which none of them needed. In fact, just as she grabbed the wash cloth, the boys made a quick dash to the front door and hurried out.
Taking a deep breath, Edith gently placed the cloth on his head. She felt his head twitch, but she continued to try to clean him off. Much of his head got dirtied up and she figured he wouldn't want anyone touching it, but she didn't care. Still it was strange to be touching his head and it was rare to see him without the toupee, but she wasn't in any hurry to get him to change his appearance (besides it couldn't be comfortable wearing that thing for too long, right?). He still looked attractive to her with or without it.
She heard him moan and she lifted the cloth to see him struggle to open his eyes. "Wh-where–" Benjamin grunted before his eyes looked up at her. "Edith?" He asked in a slow voice. "Edith, what happened–why does everything hurt so much?"
"Shh, it's ok, you're fine." She smiled at him as she cupped the side of his face. "You got a bit banged up, but I'm taking care of you right now. Just go back to sleep." She kissed his nose for extra reassurance.
Benjamin struggled to stay awake, but he gave soon into a state of relaxation as Edith continued to clean off part of his forehead.
After she finished up, she snapped her fingers to be on the safe side, right as the boys popped in.
"Mom's here!" George went in to grab his back pack, as did Harold. "Thank you so much!"
"Yeah, sorry about scaring you and leaving him here." Harold apologized.
"It's fine." She told them. "You two did the right thing by asking me for help. I doubt you could have reached his house and I didn't want you stuck in that alleyway." Honestly, she didn't want to imagine them in that scenario. What if someone who wasn't so nice came up to them? What if Captain Underpants had been too tired out to fight back and protect the boys?
"Yeah, he wasn't able to fly that far." George admitted. "But he'll get better soon!" He confidently smiled and went to the door. "Thank you!"
"See you at school Miss Edith!" Harold waved to her and both boys left the house.
"See you!" Edith waved after them before getting up to lock the door.
She turned around to crash against it; She felt a bit tired herself after the last hour had passed and sleeping felt like a good idea. She looked to see Captain Underpants asleep on her sofa–she couldn't let him sleep on that, it wasn't comfortable or big enough. Which meant that she had to–
She had to get him on her bed.
Oh boy.
She tried not to think too hard on that and went over to him. "Hey come on." Edith gently shook his shoulder. "Let's get you on something more comfortable."
"I didn't swim in the piano today... it was my head." Captain Underpants moaned out a protest in his sleep and Edith had to fight the urge to laugh. "Come on." She shook him again and he let out a deep sigh. She bent down to undo the surprisingly tight knot of his cape before trying to force him onto his feet and away from the red and black cloth. It wasn't easy, but she managed it.
A few minutes and many stumbles and crashing against the wall later, Edith was able to get him to crash onto her bed and after struggling to get his legs up onto the mattress, she ended up collapsing on top of him.
"Hah, that was a lot of work." She let out an exhausted laugh before she got up and held her head in her hands for a moment. She was going to have to think of a good explanation when she'd make him switch back.
Her hands dropped and she was about to move away–only to feel a large hand grab her wrist.
"No please stay."
Within just a few moments, Edith found herself getting tugged towards her bed before the superhero pulled her onto it and wrapped an arm around her before she knew what was happening.
It took Edith a few seconds before she realized what happened–Captain Underpants had pulled her onto the bed and was now spooning her with her back against his body. A body that felt rather warm and nice and surprisingly soft.
Edith almost felt her heart racing and she almost lost it when he pulled her closer to him and let out a pleased moan. She could easily feel his breath against her hair.
Well it was unexpected, but she wasn't exactly dying to jump off the bed. It actually felt nice, even if she wasn't sure that he was aware of what he was doing.
Edith looked down at the hand on the arm wrapped around her and slowly, quietly traced the back of it with her finger and traced the back of his fingers. Her fingers moved up his arms, which felt somewhat soft to her like the rest of him.
She could get used to this if he ever did it again.
She turned to face him and he tightened his hold on her as if afraid to let her go, but she managed being able to move around and saw that he was completely asleep. It didn't matter exactly who was in control–it was nice to see him look so peaceful and relaxed, which was a rarity for either version of him.
She licked her lips for a second before moving up to kiss his forehead. "Me too." She shut her eyes and allowed herself to drift to sleep.
Two things occurred to Benjamin when he started to wake up. One was that he still felt as if he had been hit by a huge truck followed by several baseballs that struck almost every part of his body. The other was that there was something pleasantly warm and almost sweet smelling pressed up against him.
He groaned and let go of whatever the thing was to press a hand to his face. He couldn't remember much about what had happened other then feeling like he was in pain and he swore that he saw Edith talking to him in his state of fatigue with her hand on his face and kissing him as if it were a pleasant dream.
Benjamin finally let go of his face as his arm draped over whatever the thing was and opened his eyes to find himself in someone's bedroom–a woman's, he could clearly tell.
The thing he had his arm draped over was none other than Edith, who was in a peaceful state of sleep and her face on full display for him to marvel at.
It was actually nice to see her asleep. She kind of reminded him of one of those fairy tale characters and something about it was oddly soothing–wait.
She was laying down on her bed.
He was also laying on her bed. With her.
They were together on her bed.
A storm of cursing that would have jeopardized his career if it all came out at the school went through Benjamin's head as he sat up in alarm to confirm what he was seeing. "Oh no, no, no, no–" Yes they were on her bed and he was somehow in just his underwear again.
His panic increased as he had no clue what was going on or what to do. He couldn't get off the bed because Edith was in the way! What happened while he was out?! How did he even get in her house, let alone on her bed?!
"Mmm?" Edith moaned and looked up to see him. She shot him a dazed smile. "Oh hey, you're awake. You want me to get you some water?" She struggled to push herself up until she finally sat on the bed beside him. "Give me a minute to–"
"Why am I in your bedroom?" Benjamin finally blurted out.
Edith paused and tried to wake up a bit before she could take in the alarmed features on his face. It took a few seconds before she realized that it was Benjamin before her and not Captain Underpants.
"Uh... Benny?"
"Yes?" He answered without denying it.
How exactly did that happen?! She didn't use water on him and there was nothing else she could have done to reverse the... oh.
Oh.
She touched her lips when it hit her–she kissed him before she fell asleep and it wasn't a dry kiss. Well that was something new for her to know. Otherwise he was knocked out when she snapped her fingers and that had really been Benjamin the whole time.
"Uh you got in a bit of an accident and I took you to my place to patch you up." Edith quickly explained. She watched as Benjamin took a look at himself again and when he saw the bandages and dark bruises, his eyes widened and he tensed up. "Also George and Harold found you and they lead me to you." Edith added. "They helped me get you here, so I shouldn't be getting all the credit."
Benjamin was snapped out of the confusion and stared at her in disbelief. "Wait, you're just joking about that part, right?"
"No, they actually looked out for you. They found you and stayed by you for as long as they could." She smiled.
He shook his head and pinched the bridge of his nose. "I'd sooner believe time travel existed before they'd actually care that much about me."
"You'd be surprised." Edith began to think. "Uh... I could drive you back home if you want. Your clothes are here, but I can just drop you off... unless you want to stay for a few more hours?" She shyly asked. "Maybe a bite to eat here? And uh, you can use the shower if you need it."
Benjamin just stared at her and she couldn't tell what he was thinking. "That–" Whatever he was going to say, he gave up. "Yeah, that actually would be nice." He nodded. "The staying over part that is." He nervously looked away from her.
Edith smiled. "Well ok, I'll get something ready." She smiled and got up off the bed–only for a hand to reach out and grab her.
Edith looked to see Benjamin grabbing onto her hand and looking intently, yet shyly at it. "I don't know what's going on and I still can't believe that those two could have helped me out," Benjamin began "But–" He looked up at her and gave her a small smile. "Thanks."
Edith smiled back. "You're welcome, Benny."
Despite how unexpected the day turned out, it wasn't too awful. After fixing something up to eat and a much cleaner Benjamin coming out with everything back on him, things felt a bit more relaxed and normal, like his counterpart didn't get in a fight (though the bruises and bandages said otherwise).
But when all was said and done and she hugged him once again–and felt him hug her back to the point that she could feel all that sweetness and security that he usually tried to hide away from the world–she felt like she did something heroic in a chaotic day for someone else. Sometimes life wasn't meant to be routine or boring and she could accept it.
Just something cute I felt like doing.
Also I recalled what happened in book 6 with the kissing thing that somehow triggered a switch and wanted to have fun with that with someone both CU/Krupp ACTUALLY liked.