Back in the Man Cave, Ray and Henry were getting into their disguises to finally visit the store supplying the Swellview robbers. It was 11:30pm, half an hour until they would close up shop and head over to Jimmy's Weapons and Machinery. Schwoz sat slumped over the couch, impatiently awaiting the revelations of Henry and Ray in his disguises while they dressed in Ray's room.

"Hurry up!" Schwoz shouted at the two from his spot on the couch. "We don't have all night."

As if on cue, Ray stepped out of his room with a smug smirk on his face. His eyes were shielded with a pair of dark sunglasses and a fake mustache framed his upper lip. His hair was hidden underneath a brown-haired wig that was long and reached his shoulders. A black leather jacket covered his torso and white tee underneath. He walked with his head held high, feeling confident in his disguise.

"What up?" Ray dragged dramatically, his voice altered with Schwoz's button. It came out deep and raspy, almost frightening compared to his normal voice. Schwoz leaned back against the couch after witnessing Ray, crossing his arms in front of his chest with a grin.

"I'm good," Schwoz spoke out loud, acknowledging his work on Ray's disguise.

"Okay, c'mon, Henry," Ray called to his sidekick.

"I don't want to do this," he yelled from Ray's room. "It's so embarrassing."

"Stop being a wuss and come outside!" Schwoz shouted. "We don't have much time before-"

The beeping of the monitors interrupted him. The security camera positioned on the ceiling of the lobby appeared on the screen, showing that someone had entered the store.

"Who would come here so late?" Schwoz asked as he and Ray approached the monitors.

"Who is it?" Henry shouted from Ray's room.

"Dammit, I forgot to turn the sign over to closed on the door," Ray cursed to himself.

"Hello?" Henry called again. "What's going on?"

"It looks like your curly-haired friend," Ray shouted back. Henry gulped. Charlotte?

"What was his name? Jerry? Jackson?" Ray asked. Henry breathed a sigh of relief from Ray's room, then furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.

"Jasper?" he asked his boss. What was he doing here?

"Henry?" Jasper's voice was heard through the monitors. "You here?"

"Henry, get out here already!" Schwoz called him. "Your friend wants you!"

"I can't let him see me dressed like this!" he shouted back. "He'll ask questions!" Ray audibly groaned.

"This is setting us back further in our plan!" Ray complained. "Just go change and see what he wants. Make it quick, then come back so we can leave."

"Okay, okay," he answered. A minute later, he was out and jogging towards the elevator in his usual attire of a hoodie and jeans. When he reached the top, he stepped out of the elevator and walked through the curtain, spotting Jasper as he looked through the odd antiques of the store.

"Hey Jasper," he spoke, approaching him. Jasper turned to meet Henry, a random object in his hands.

"Hey," he replied, looking around the store. "So this is where you work, huh?"

"Yup, this is the one," Henry nodded, stuffing his hands in the front pouch of his hoodie. "So, uh, what are you doing here?"

"It's my mom's birthday tomorrow and I forgot to get her a gift," Jasper explained. "So I thought I'd come here."

"Don't you think it's a little late to be shopping for a gift?" Henry asked, raising his eyebrows.

"I know, I, um," he stammered. "I just needed to get something fast, and this was the closest place still open." He hoped that it was as believable as Charlotte made it out to be. Henry nodded.

"Gotcha," he replied, taking a glance at his watch. "Well, uh, it was nice seeing you, but I actually have to close up now, so-"

"No!" Jasper exclaimed a little too loudly. Henry looked at him weirdly.

"Uhhh," the curly-haired boy dragged. "Help me find a gift first! Please, I need this, bro. Then I promise I'll be out of your hands." Henry bit his lip, pondering. He knew Ray would probably kill him for not making him leave and wasting time, but he also felt like he owed it to Jasper. He never really got to hang out with him, but he still wanted him to like him enough to be friends.

"Yeah, okay sure," he sighed. Jasper grinned. "Let's make this quick, so my boss doesn't get mad about, uh, paying me overtime." Henry cleared his throat after the white lie, then proceeded to look around for something Jasper could gift his mom. Jasper let out a sigh of relief, a bit of the nervousness he had earlier about their plan not working easing away. This could actually work, he thought to himself. Just then, Jasper's phone buzzed. He pulled it out of his pocket to reveal a text from Charlotte, who stood outside hiding in the bushes.

Char: get his boss to the front!

"Oh yeah," he unintentionally spoke out loud. His eyes widened as Henry replied.

"What?" The blond questioned.

"Uh," Jasper coughed. "By the way, I never got to meet your boss," Henry furrowed his eyebrows in response.

"Why do you want to meet him?" he asked.

"You know," Jasper started, bringing a hand up to scratch the back of his neck as he thought of an excuse. "You're just always here- except when you're at school, obviously- and I just wondered what he might be like." Henry narrowed his eyes at Jasper for a moment before resorting back to finding a gift.

"You don't want to meet him," Henry finally spoke. "Especially now. He gets, uh, a little moody- at night. You know, 'cause he would rather be asleep instead of, like, here."

"Oh, come on!" Jasper pestered. "To be frank, I'm probably never going to come here again. But I wanna meet the guy who keeps calling you during school! Just this once?" Henry scratched the back of his neck in nervousness. Should he call Ray? He'd probably murder him the second Jasper left.

"I don't know," Henry trailed, glancing at his watch. It was practically midnight now and Junk N' Stuff should have been closed.

"Please?" Jasper begged. Henry visibly cringed thinking about Ray yelling at him after this. But he just couldn't say no.

"Alright, alright," Henry gave in. Jasper fist-bumped the air, whispering a victorious "yes." As the blond left to retrieve his boss, Jasper looked behind him through the glass door, trying to make out Charlotte in the darkness. When he spotted her, she raised one index finger at him, indicating another minute more. His heart raced and his palms grew sweaty as he prepared for the events to follow.

Jasper took a deep breath as he tapped his foot anxiously, glancing towards the front door every few seconds. He didn't know exactly what to say to Henry's boss when he got here, so he was hoping by then the police would have arrived and would deal with it on their own.

After another moment, he could hear the faint sound of Henry and his boss whispering angrily from behind the curtain before finally a taller, built man walked through the curtain with Henry in tow. Jasper gulped simply at the sight of him. He was large and very muscular, and could definitely knock him out with one punch if he wanted to. Charlotte so owes me.

"Jasper," Henry started before placing a hand on Ray's shoulder. "This is my boss, Ray."

"Hey, how you doing, kid?" Ray spoke quickly and absentmindedly, bringing a hand out to shake Jasper's. Jasper grinned sheepishly at Henry's boss, their handshake firm and leaving him slightly intimidated.

"Good," he answered politely. "How about-"

"Yeah, we gotta get going, so," Ray cut him off short. He gave Henry a look and the blond nodded in reply.

"Sorry Jasp," Henry apologized to his friend, placing a hand behind his back and leading him towards the door. "Maybe you'll find a gift somewhere else-"

Suddenly, the door swung open and two police officers in uniform stomped in. Their large booted footsteps echoed against the floor, their expressions stern and harsh.

"Where's the manager?" one of the officers demanded. His voice boomed in the otherwise silent room, the tension in the room turning dense. Henry and Ray exchanged looks of both confusion and worry, while Jasper tiptoed away from the commotion.

Ray stepped forward. "Uh, I'm the boss here," he stated. "Can I help you with something, officer?" Ignoring Ray, the other officer approached Henry.

"You work here, kid?" the officer asked Henry, his voice a lot calmer and gentler than the officer addressing Ray.

"Yeah," Henry responded questioningly, his eyebrows knitted in confusion. "What's going on?"

The officer with Ray spoke again. "You're under arrest, sir." He brought out handcuffs from his back pocket and hastily took Ray by his wrists, stretching them behind his back to cuff him.

"Hey, what the hell?!" Ray shouted, trying to fight against the officer and free himself. "What did I do?"

"We have reason to believe you have gone against the child labor laws of Swellview with this employee and are condemning your business until further notice," the officer stated as he shoved Ray towards the door.

"What- child labor? No, y-you don't understand-" Ray stammered, his voice filling with fear.

"You have the right to remain silent," the officers spoke as they went out the door.

"Ray! No!" Henry shouted after his boss as he followed the officers. "You can't arrest him!"

"Kid, what is happening?!" Ray exclaimed as he was shoved into the cop car. His voice was strained at this point, and Henry felt his chest grow heavy with guilt, like he was to blame for Ray's arrest.

"Don't worry, Ray!" The blond reassured him as he followed them. "I'll come get you!" The car door shut right at the end of his words, and he could only faintly see his forlorn expression through the tinted windows.

"This is crazy!" Henry exclaimed to the officers. "He's hasn't done anything, I-I haven't been-"

"There've been accusations made against your boss, kid," one of the officers spoke. "We're handling this now."

"Accusations?" Henry repeated. "But who would-?" The officer nudged his chin in the direction behind Henry, raising his eyebrows. Confused, Henry turned around to see a head of familiar curls move abruptly behind a bush. His eyes squinted at the figure before widening in realization.

"Charlotte?" he asked, walking towards his girlfriend. She slowly and sheepishly stepped away from the bushes, revealing her presence. An awkward smile was all she could give him as she watched the shocked expression form on his face.

"Surprise," she said weakly. She silently thanked the cop as he lightened their awkward tension with a cough.

"We gotta run," the officer interrupted. "If you want to see your boss, he'll be in a holding cell for now down at the station." With that, he ducked into the passenger seat of the car and the two drove away. Henry sighed before turning back around to Charlotte.

"What is going on, Charlotte?" he asked. "What are you doing here?"

"Well," she dragged, glancing at the ground. She was hoping to ease into the conversation when he wasn't as angry, but when she looked up to meet his now irritable gaze, she sighed and straightened up.

"Fine," she began, stepping closer to him. "Remember when we talked about me not getting involved in your work situation anymore?" Henry nodded impatiently.

"I might have gotten involved," she admitted quickly. She winced when he groaned and looked up to the night sky in exasperation.

He sighed before leveling with her vision to meet her eyes. His own were visibly darker and and wide with concern, his usual kind and lighthearted gaze completely vanished. "Charlotte," he asked again, his voice low and stern. "What. Did. You. Do?"

"Look, Henry," she started anxiously. "I'm sorry I lied to you. You asked me if I trusted you, when clearly I didn't-"

"Char-" He straightened up, shaking his head.

"But I was just worried about you! Okay?" She watched with concern as he continued to shake his head, now bringing his hands up to either sides of his face.

"You're just always so tired, and you come to school late all the time, and whenever I ask about work you get so defensive and run off. I would get so worried- I'd think of all these horrible things that could be happening to you..." Henry took a deep breath as Charlotte spoke apologetically, her own voice becoming strained.

"Charlotte, please, just tell me-" he spoke again, his tone almost harsh with annoyance.

"And I'm sorry if I was wrong, but I just wanted to help you! And you can't-"

"Charlotte! Just tell me what you did!" he shouted at her angrily. She sucked in a breath, her eyes wide with shock. He had never shouted at her before.

"I called the police," she admitted. "It was my idea. I made Jasper come with me to distract you and I was here-outside- calling the police." Henry looked to Jasper who remained in the store watching from afar. After meeting eye contact the curly-haired blond quickly glanced away, pretending to have been looking at store merchandise. Henry shook his head, bringing his hands up to his face to press his temples in frustration. Charlotte let out the breath she was holding. This was not going as I hoped.

"I told them everything-" she continued as he began to pace. "-about you, and where you worked, and how you always come home early in the morning and show up late to school. I told them that the hours your boss makes you work goes against the child labor laws of Swellview. I told them that you were here now, and that they should come right away." She waited anxiously for the boy pacing in front of her to say something. Instead he started whispering 'oh my God' and 'this can't be happening' repeatedly, tugging at the roots of his hair. Charlotte bit her lip nervously. What did I do?

"Henry?" she started softly. "Are you-"

"Dammit, Char!" he yelled suddenly, kicking a rock in front of him and causing the girl to jump, startled. "I told you not to get involved!"

"I know, I just wanted to help-"

"How could you have been helping if you didn't even know what was going on?" His voice was loud and angry as he approached her, and Charlotte took a few steps back.

"How is that my fault?" she threw back. "You never told me what was going on!"

"Because I can't!" he shouted, putting his palms together.

"Why not?!"

"I just can't, Charlotte!"

"Why the hell not?" She repeated. "What could you possibly have to keep secret even after your boss gets arrested for I guess the wrong reasons; even though we're here, arguing, outside, in the middle of the damn night?"

Henry fell silent, sighing and placing his hands around his neck in distress. It was Charlotte who was angry now, while Henry could not find the right words to say anywhere in his entire being. His mouth opened slightly, as if to say something, then fell closed again with a shake of his head. He couldn't get himself to look her in the eyes and say something different than what he had been. He only looked up when he heard her sniffle.

Charlotte was looking down too, blinking back tears as she held her arms when a particularly chilly breeze swept through them. He saw and immediately moved his fingers to the zipper of his hoodie, wanting to give it to her and wrap around her shoulders. She stopped him before he could, taking a step back and positioning a hand in front him.

"Don't," she spoke softly, her voice breaking. He felt his heart sink to his stomach at the sound of her so vulnerable.

"Charlotte, let me just-"

"No," she said sternly, shaking her head. "You need to tell me, Henry." The blond sighed, shaking his head at the girl in front of him.

"I want to," he responded sadly. "But I just can't, Char." She pressed her lips together, not saying anything for a moment.

"So that's it?" she asked suddenly, crossing her arms in front of her chest and stepping towards him. "You're just going to continue keeping secrets from me."

"It's not like that," he defended. "If I could tell you, I would."

"That's the thing though, Henry," she replied, now close enough to him that if she went on the tips of her toes his lips would be on hers. "You can do whatever you want. You could tell me; you just won't." Henry stared down at the girl in front of him, his heart aching. He definitely could not handle this. Being a 16-year-old kid and Kid Danger? Fine. But having to keep that secret from someone whom he cared so much for, and clearly cared about him, too? He wasn't only hurting himself now.

"You're right," he finally answered, swallowing the lump in his throat. "I guess I just won't tell you."

"Then I guess we shouldn't be together." Charlotte took a step back after her own words, regretting them after they had left her mouth. Henry sucked in a breath, not expecting the words himself.

"I mean," she said quickly. "If you're going to keep secrets from me-"

"Maybe that'd be best," Henry finished for her. Charlotte whimpered as a shaky breath left her mouth. This is definitely not what I was hoping for.

"If that's what you want," she whispered back, tears beginning to stream down her cheeks. While she had tried to hold them in as he stood in front of her, she simply lost the strength to.

"Of course that's not what I want," Henry replied as he stepped towards her, wanting to wipe her tears away. She resisted at first, but when he placed his hands over her face she couldn't help but melt into him, letting out a sob.

"Then why are you doing it?" she asked, her voice barely audible. She brought her own hands to cover his, hanging on to his fingers as if to stop him from leaving. Henry blinked back his own tears, swiping his thumbs across her cheeks gently to wipe away her tears.

"Because I don't want to hurt you anymore."

She looked up at him confusedly, her eyebrows furrowed as tears continued to fall from her cheeks.

"But how-"

"Ray was right," he spoke mainly to himself. "I can't have you be a part of my life."

He quickly pressed his lips to her forehead before she could say anything else, letting them linger there for a moment. Charlotte sucked in a breath at the sudden contact, refusing to exhale as if it was the only thing keeping them together. All too soon, he dropped his hands from her face and walked away.

Charlotte brought a hand to cover her mouth as she tried to stifle her incoming sobs. Jasper rushed to his best friend and wrapped his arms around her to keep her from falling to the ground. He moved her into his chest, her tears staining his sweatshirt as he tried to shush her.

"It's okay, Char," Jasper whispered into her ear. "I'm here." He let her simply cry for a few moments as he stroked her hair comfortingly, whispering soothing words to her.

After a few moments, she finally spoke. "I'm not surprised," she said quietly. "Of course my first relationship only manages to last a day." Jasper couldn't help but let out a chuckle, and he felt his heart lighten when she rumbled against his chest with her own laugh.

He knew she'd be okay.

...Sorry. xD I know this sucks now, but it'll get better! Eventually. xD God, that was so dramatic! I was lowkey cringing at myself for writing something so cheesy. xD

Anyways, lemme know what you thought! I'll have an update up asap. Thanks for reading! 3