It was mid-May now and Joanna found herself happier than she had been in a long time.

Much to her surprise, her second meeting with her hero had not been their last one. Far from it in fact. He had been visiting almost weekly since then. The first time he'd shown up again was...interesting, to say the least.

She hadn't known it was him, of course. He'd come in disguised as an old man, bent over with age and supported by a cane. He told her his order, she'd called for Henry, and the turtle then proceeded to rant to her in a shaky voice about nearly everything a senior citizen could rant about and then some. Joanna had nodded along politely wondering why Henry was taking so long until the lazy employee had finally shown up. So she'd given him the pizza, and then proceeded to squawk and fall off her stool in the most uncoordinated manner possible when she saw his green hand extended to give her the payment.

Needless to say her tumble drew more than a few stares and chuckles.

She'd righted herself as quickly as she could and turned her own stare to the not-so-old man. Her throat was refusing to let her ask what he was doing here, so she hoped that she could transfer the sentiment with her mind.

Somehow it worked. "Surprise!" He managed through his stifled laughter. "I totally got you good. You had NO idea that it was me, did you?" A few snickers escaped him before he got a lid on his mirth. "Your face was priceless. Oh man." More laughter, then a sort of hesitance. "I thought I'd show up again and see you...and maybe talk to you for a bit?"

The turtle must have taken her continued staring and silence the wrong way because his speech became more rushed. "I mean it's not often that someone sees u – uh, me without screaming or fainting, y'know? Or trying to get me for some reason. Well, I mean you did kinda gasp and you were chasing me but it wasn't to attack me or capture me or anything. You just wanted to thank me. Which was cool. Really cool. So, uh, your uncle, huh? How's he doing?"

Joanna wanted to tell him a lot of things. That her uncle was fine now. That it probably wasn't safe for someone like him to be in a place like this. That she was so glad he came in anyway. That he and the other three were her heroes. That she was honored and happy beyond all measure that he had come to see her.

She wanted to tell him 'thank you' until her voice went hoarse. But shyness closed her throat and she couldn't say anything at all.

"Shell." Her hero muttered, obviously taking her shyness the wrong way. He seemed to somehow shrink in on himself. "Shell, I...I'm sorry. I didn't think – I never do. Sorry. Should have known better. Just...just forget I was here, okay?" His hand was kept hidden as he placed his money on the far edge of the counter before hobbling off, telling her quietly, sadly, that she could keep the change.

Something in her snapped hearing his pained tone.

"PLEASE!" Joanna shouted, the tightness in her throat wonderfully, beautifully gone – only for it to return full force when she realized that every eye in the room was on her. Including one turtle's, who was paused just in front of the door and half-turned towards her.

Her heart pounded in her ears and she was shaking like a leaf, but somehow she managed to force out three words in a whisper. "Please come again."

It seemed like an eternity, waiting for him to respond. She wanted to talk to him. She wanted to keep seeing him. She wanted it so badly it was almost terrifying. But she had no more words, so she looked at him and tried to will him to understand what she couldn't say.

I want to know you.

Finally, eternity ended, and her hero gave her one small, slow nod before he left.

Joanna hid her smile at the memory behind her hand when she couldn't suppress it. That he had agreed to come back had made her happy beyond words, and the fact that he'd kept his promise and then some made her happier still.

Because he had come back. Just a few days later, decked from head to toe in rain gear to protect against the torrential downpour at the time. And yet again just two days after that, in his teenager clothes once more. He visited again and again, each time a little longer. It was wonderful.

They'd almost made a game of it, of sorts. She'd try to figure out who he was before he showed her his hand. There were a few ways to tell. First, he always ordered the same pizza, so that gave her an idea that he might be coming. Unfortunately that was never foolproof as it was a relatively popular choice. Second, it was always dark out. He never once came when there was light outside, understandably. This also wasn't foolproof, but combined with the first could narrow it down. Finally, and probably the most revealing, was that he never had any skin exposed. With these three things Joanna often had a good guess who he was.

Of course she was still wrong about half the time. It made him laugh a lot when she got surprised.

Orange (Her hero seemed to make a point to wear something orange at all times, so Joanna had mentally taken to calling him that) had many more disguises than she ever would have guessed. A teenager, an old man, a biker, a homeless guy...heck, he had come in as a clown once and nearly killed her by making her laugh so hard.

If nothing else, Orange was a master at hiding in plain sight.

And between all of those visits they'd grown more comfortable with each other. It was near the end of their fourth meeting when Orange had lost any trepidation he'd had and talked to her about anything and everything that came to mind. Joanna herself was able to speak to him more and more every time. She was so close to being able to speak to him properly she couldn't believe it.

She'd always had trouble with people. Ever since she could remember she'd been plagued with a sense of terror whenever she'd had to interact with someone. Shyness, they always called it, as did she, but sometimes she wondered if the dark feeling that she got looking into another's eyes was truly normal. It would consume her entirely, and she would barely be able to think, barely be able to breathe.

She hated it.

Shyness had caused Joanna a lot of pain in her childhood. Kids would try to befriend her, but be turned off by her inability to talk to them. Some persevered, of course. Those were always the worst, because they always gave up, sometimes just before she'd finally be able to talk to them normally. It hurt every single time. By middle school attempts were sparse, and now in high school they were nonexistent, which was both a blessing and a curse.

But her hero was not stopping.

She was pretty sure by the fifth meeting Orange had figured out what her problem was, because since then it seemed to be his personal goal in life to make her laugh. He'd tell jokes, recount funny stories, and just do or say ridiculous things to get a chuckle out of her. Oftentimes it worked, making her smile and laugh and relax, which always resulted in a happy, proud smile of his own.

She was starting to love that smile.

The sound of the school bell ringing forced Joanna out of her thoughts. Shaking her head, Joanna hoisted her backpack on one shoulder and made for the door.

Freedom at last!

"Jojo, hang on a minute, I wanna talk to you."

Aw man.

Joanna shot the doors to the hall a longing glance before turning back and trudging towards Carl.

Carl was Roosevelt High School's drama teacher. A bald man in his fifties with tattoos covering every visible inch of skin that wasn't his face, he first introduced himself at the yearly opening ceremony by grabbing the microphone from the principal, telling the unruly crowd to shut the fuck up, and adding that anyone who called him anything but Carl would have hell to pay.

Needless to say he was instantly popular with the student body.

"You're trying out for the next play, right?" He asked without preamble, though it was more of a statement than an actual question. When she nodded, he continued with "I want you to go for a bigger role this time."

"A bigger role?" Joanna squeaked.

Carl gave a sharp nod. "You've been in every play since you got here and never done anything bigger than a damn villager. I've seen you practicing. I know what you're capable of. Go for it, kid."

"But I-"

"Let me rephrase that, Jojo." Carl interrupted her, suddenly becoming ten times more intimidating without doing much of anything. He really was an amazing actor. "You're gonna try out for a bigger role next week or you're not gonna be in the play or any other play ever. Are we clear?"

His student nodded her head frantically. "Crystal!"

He snorted and gave her shoulder a light shove. "Get out of here, kid."

Joanna booked it.

The sound of the front door opening broke Joanna from her 'homework trance'. Pushing the evils of the US government from her lap, she leaped towards her bedroom door and yanked it open. "Hi Dad!" She called out before proceeding to run and tackle said man with a bear hug.

The man let out a loud 'oomph', but the fact that he was smiling and hadn't so much as budged made it obvious that he was hamming it up. "Hey there, Joy." He said as he returned the hug much more gently. "How was school today?" He asked as he pulled away from his daughter.

Jonathan Ward was a giant of a man, well over six feet tall with muscles that could rival a bodybuilder's. His eyes were a deep dark brown, which his short hair and beard mimicked with flashes of silver here and there. One of a precious few people that Joanna was wholly comfortable with, she loved him with all of her heart.

Joanna shrugged. "Pretty boring, for the most part, but Carl said that I had to try for a bigger role in the next play if I ever wanted to act in one again."

"Really?" Her dad was positively beaming as he shrugged out of his jacket. "That's great! I've been wanting to record you in a bigger role since freshman year. It's hard to understand the play when the camera is focused on a villager the whole time."

"You do know you're not supposed to record us, right?" Joanna questioned, eyebrow raised.

"I won't tell if you won't!" Her dad quipped with a goofy grin.

Joanna laughed as she shook her head. "Hopeless. And you were supposed to comfort me, you know." She told him as she made for the couch. She had to shoo the cat from its perch, but the spot was hers in moments. "So how was work? You're home early tonight."

"Quiet, thankfully." He replied, but she noticed him purposefully turning away from her, a sign that he was about to say something unpleasant. Sure enough, after a few strained breaths, he sighed. "We have a job for you."

Hot, sick dread pooled in her throat and stomach. Joanna was glad that her dad was turned away from her at the moment because she could feel the blood draining from her face, rapidly becoming ice in her veins. "It's been a while, hasn't it?" She was impressed with herself for keeping such a steady tone.

Her dad gave a jerky nod. "We didn't want to stress you out too much after what happened to Logan." Her uncle. "We actually wanted to give you more time, but...we need you now. Tonight."

She took a deep, silent breath. "Alright. What's the job?"

"Joy, you know you really don't have to-" He began as he turned to face her.

Spotlight.

Joanna was off the couch and next to her dad in an instant. "I know, Daddy, I know. But I want to help you. It's okay." She smiled at him and leaned against his arm, prompting him to turn and squeeze her as tightly as he could without risk of hurting her.

"I'm sorry." He told her, voice choked with tears forced back. "I'm so sorry."

She kissed the spot over his heart, unable to reach his face from the angle she was at. "It's okay, Daddy, it's okay." She soothed him, hugging him back. "I'll be fine. Nothing's going to happen to me. You won't let it, right? You'll keep me safe, won't you?"

After a few more heartbeats her dad nodded, and Joanna took that as her cue to pull away. He was wiping his eyes when she asked again, still smiling softly.

"What's the job?"