Charlotte didn't think that her relationship with Henry was out of the ordinary until people started commenting on it. It started with a nonchalant remark from a stranger.
After midterms were over Henry, Jasper and Charlotte decided to reward themselves on a job probably well done with breakfast from Denny's. Pancakes could soothe the soul.
As usual, Charlotte sat with Henry on one side of the booth while Jasper sat on the other side alone. After giving their drink orders, Jasper told them that he had to go to the restroom.
When he was gone the waiter brought out their drinks and set down their straws. Charlotte immediately stole Henry's straw so that she could put it in his drink.
If she didn't, he would definitely peel off the bottom and blow the wrapper directly at her face. He had been doing it since they were little kids and he once hit her right in the eye. Over the years, Charlotte started taking his straw to prevent it from happening again. It was habit. She didn't really think about how others would perceive it.
Noticing the interesting quirk between the two of them the waiter said breezily, "Wow, you guys are a gorgeous couple." To determine why this comment was made so confidently, Char took inventory of their circumstances.
They were sitting closely, pressed together from shoulder to knee, on the same side of the booth. Henry had his left arm draped on the cushion above her shoulder. AND she had just unwrapped a straw and placed it in his cup. That was kind of a weirdly intimate action.
Okay. I see how this looks. Charlotte thought. But before she could tell them that they were just friends, Henry beat her to the punch.
He stammered out an awkward "Thanks, but we're not- she and I aren't- uuhhhh" while taking the hand that was previously behind her and using it to rub the back of his neck.
Jasper had been approaching the table when the comment was made and reached them during Henry's rambled fumbling. "Wait, you guys are together again?" Jasper inquired with a hint of an excitement.
Trying to prevent the moment from dragging on any further, Charlotte spoke up "Not dating. Best friends." Not her most eloquent, but it got the point across to their server and to their nosy best friend.
The waiter simply let out a quiet, "My mistake" and asked what everyone was having to eat. Jasper grumbled under his breath about them. "Aw man, I thought my ship was sailing again."
Henry and Charlotte were on the couch in his living room. They had taken a break from studying and were just talking while munching on roasted almonds.
Somehow he had maneuvered so that his head was resting atop Charlotte's thighs. She absentmindedly carded her fingers through his hair as they discussed any and every thing.
As Charlotte expertly twisted and twirled her fingers through his blond locks Henry closed his eyes and groaned lowly in pleasure.
This is the position they were discovered in an hour later when Siren walked through the front door with groceries. Henry was snoring lightly and Charlotte was now holding a book with one hand and playing in his hair with the other.
"That is so cute!" Henry's mother whisper-yelled while taking her phone out to snap a photo of the pair.
This caused Charlotte to whip her head in Siren's direction and then adamantly shake her head in protest. We are not dating! She screamed in her mind. She didn't want to talk in fear of waking Henry up. He especially needed the rest lately.
Ignoring Charlotte's fervent head movement, Siren traipsed by them on her way to the kitchen. "Ah, to be young and in love again" she sighed out.
The next time it happened was when they were sitting in the Man Cave one Saturday afternoon binge watching Dog Judge.
Charlotte had gotten her nails professionally manicured because she was going to her aunt's wedding the next day.
Since it was a special occasion, Charlotte decided to get holographic gel nail polish. It was sort of an iridescent chrome that changed colors when you moved them around.
Henry was fascinated by her nails. Charlotte usually did her own and rarely painted them any other color besides clear. So when he saw her shiny appendages, he just took one of her hands and didn't give it back.
He first turned her hand this way and that way to see the different hues present. He rubbed his fingers on the digits' smooth exterior.
Somehow this devolved into him caressing the whole front of her hand, which was super soft by the way, and then flipping her hand over to see if her palm was just as soft. It was. Softer even.
Charlotte let him do this without protest. She didn't need that hand to eat the popcorn on the table anyway. That's what her other hand was for. Plus, his touch was very gentle and super relaxing. She didn't mind his ministrations at all.
Henry took her hand and placed it on top of his to compare sizes. He was intrigued by how much bigger his hand was. He could curl the tops of his fingers over hers, they were so small and dainty.
Then he smoothed their palms together back and forth several times, spearing his fingers between hers a little more on every pass.
Charlotte instinctually completed the interlocking of their fingers when he stopped moving his hand.
Schwoz walked into the ManCave some time later and witnessed the two teens.
"Oh my gosh! You guys are dating!" He declared in his funny accent.
Looking away from the TV monitor, Charlotte and Henry stared at him in confusion.
"What?!" Charlotte asked.
"What are you talking about bro?" Henry wondered.
Instead of responding Schowz just walked closer and gestured at their still clasped palms.
Looking down at what he was referring to, they both jerked their heads back up to glance at each other and then disconnected their digits abruptly. They had forgotten all about that.
"We're just close." "This means nothing." The friends exclaim simultaneously.
He scoffed and then gave them an incredulous look while nodding his head as if to say, Sure I believe you. Not.
The following occurrence where someone mentions their nonexistent relationship is during the weekly movie marathon at Henry's house.
This week was Henry's turn to pick the genre and he decided that it was a horror/suspense kind of night. Charlotte was not amused.
She was fine during Us and Get Out because she had seen them both before. Now came time for the truly scary stuff. They had just finished Halloween, which wasn't too bad and now they were starting Annabelle: Creation.
Henry was sitting next to her on the couch in his room, seemingly unaffected, while she peeked through her hands and shrieked a little at every jump scare.
At one particularly horrifying part, Charlotte turned to hide her face into Henry's shoulder while he just chuckled and smoothly placed his arm around her lower back.
Char was becoming increasingly jumpy as the night wore on. At one point, she gripped Henry's arm so hard that it left little red indentations that took a few minutes to fade.
Henry kept pulling her closer and closer every time she got scared until she was practically in his lap. Scratch that, he observed, she was ACTUALLY in his lap.
When did that happen? Henry pondered as Charlotte buried her face in his neck. She was slightly trembling and taking harsh breaths that tickled against his clavicle.
He could feel his heartbeat pick up speed from the close contact, the scary movie playing a few feet away not eliciting the same response.
"Henry! I am NOT okay!" Piper yelled while bursting into his room without knocking and cutting off his train of thought.
Frightened by the noise, Henry pushed Charlotte's body off of his suddenly which caused her to fall onto the ledge of his stairs.
"Dude! What the heck!?" Charlotte angrily questions.
"Sorry! It was a reflex!" Henry responds while reaching out a hand to help her up.
Piper watched their interaction curiously. "Why are you so spastic bro? No one cares if you make out with your girlfriend."
Sighing, Henry and Charlotte sit back down next to each other on the couch.
"Would you believe me if I said we were just friends?"
"After what I just saw? No, I would not." Piper says.
"Figures." Charlotte mumbles.
One day they were in the Man Cave researching their latest Big Bad. Charlotte was at the monitors diligently looking through their database for clues while Henry got food from the Auto Snacker.
Sitting down with his meal, Henry called her to join him and told her to go back to the evidence later. She had been at it for hours.
"Just a sec. I'm onto something here."
"Okay but you're missing out on these cheesy, delicious nachos."
"I can order my own when I'm done."
Not finding any flaws in that logic, Henry scarfed down his food. Man was I hungry.
Pushing the empty plate aside, he looked up and realized that Charlotte had not moved from her spot the whole time he was eating.
Letting out a tiny groan of frustration that she was still working, he stood up and walked over.
"Charlotte!"
"Hm?"
"You're supposed to be having dinner right now."
"I will. In a minute."
Henry leaned over the back of her chair and reached over her shoulders to pry her hands from the touchpad. He clasped their hands together to prevent her from going back to it.
"You said that twenty minutes ago."
"Yeah ok. Just another moment" she said while struggling to release her hands from his grip.
Henry spoke directly into her ear. "Nope. Your time is up. Don't make me throw you over my shoulder."
A tingle went down Charlotte's spine at his words and their proximity. "You wouldn't."
"Try me" he whispered.
Charlotte gave him a defiant look out of the corner of her eye, freed her hands and crossed her arms over her chest tightly.
Before she knew it, he had spun her chair around and swiftly picked her up into his arms bridal style.
Wrapping her arms around his neck for more support, Charlotte looked up at his face to see him smirking down at her.
"I hate you" she said with no malice in her voice.
"I love you too" Henry replied while taking her to the auto-snacker.
Ray came out of the elevator to see Charlotte in Henry's arms with her hand on the auto-snacker screen demanding chocolate ice cream.
"Food. I said food Char."
"Ice Cream is food. The best kind of food at that."
"Whatever" he conceded. "As long as you eat something."
"Eh-hem" someone cleared his throat.
Henry looked over his shoulder while Charlotte grabbed her treat and dug in.
"Sweets for the sweethearts?"
She lifted her gaze from her bowl at the statement and saw Ray standing there with an extremely wide, knowing smile.
Henry walked to the table and sat down, causing her to be relocated onto his legs.
Quickly scooting off of his lap with her dessert, Charlotte says in a flat tone "We are not sweethearts."
"What she said."
"Well you could've fooled me." Ray airily answers while walking through the sprocket door.
More and more instances popped up where people gave their unsolicited commentary on the friend's interactions. Everyone thought that they were a couple and the two hardly lasted a day without someone saying something.
Another occasion was when the teens were at school. They were both tired because they had snuck out late the night before to handle a crime alert at the ManCave.
Ray and Henry ended up losing the criminals due to a stroke of bad luck. Someone had left marbles in an alleyway that the heroes were cutting through to catch up to the thieves.
Ray slipped on the marbles and cracked his head against the pavement. Henry tripped over him. The bad guys escaped.
It was 3 AM when they made it back. After they returned, Henry transformed and then promptly knocked out on the circle couch.
Char stayed up later than everyone trying to get a lead on a possible next target that the villains would hit. She didn't fall asleep until after the sun rose in the sky. It was safe to say that she was exhausted.
Standing at her locker, Charlotte gathered her materials slowly, yawning near constantly. They still had 15 minutes before class started.
When Henry got all the stuff he needed, he journeyed over to his best friend.
"Hey. How are you holding up?"
"Terribly" she moaned out while rubbing the back of neck.
"Got a kink from sleeping at the console?"
"Yep. Several. Plus I have a test first period. Today is not my day."
Moving her hand out of the way, Henry places his hands on her neck and gently massages away the tension there.
She lets out a long, shuddering breath and gives a soft moan when he hits a particularly tense area. He grins in satisfaction.
"Thank you Hen." Charlotte says after a few minutes, cueing him to stop.
"No problem" he replies while stepping closer and wrapping his arms around her waist. He pulls her back flush against his body.
Closing the still ajar locker door, she rotates her head to meet his gaze. "What are you doing?"
"Letting you relax" came the simple reply as he flipped around and leaned them both against her locker. Charlotte using his body as a cushion.
Instead of resisting, she just melted more heavily into him, her head dropping back to rest on his chest.
They stayed like this for the remaining ten minutes before homeroom. Eyes closed and Henry's arms still surrounding her, providing a blanket of comfort and warmth that she didn't want to leave.
Reluctantly extracting herself from his grip when the bell rang, Charlotte turned to face Henry.
"Better?" he asked.
"Better" she nodded.
He studied her face for a few lingering seconds and thought about everything they had been through together. All the things they had done. All things they would do.
She thought about how comfortable they were with each other, how tactile. How a simple touch from Henry could calm her entire nervous system like nothing else could.
How she knew the same was true for him.
She concluded that they were practically dating already, just without the label.
Taking a deep breath, they continued to stare at each other.
Do you want to go out with me?"
"Yes."
Ms. Shapen broke the spell, walking past them and screaming at their fellow students.
"Come on Lovebirds!" she called out to them specifically.
"We're coming!" they reply at the same time.
"Jinx." they say together again and smile.
This time, the assumption was correct.