Author's Note: This first chapter is a straight up bittersweet friendship/case fic that centers around Hector and Danny, plus how the Pranksters and certain Electric Company member see them. The second is a one centered around those in their lives trying to matchmake them (badly.) Because, while as a kid I liked Hisa, upon rewatching the show I fell in love with the potential star crossed lovers story.

The Pranksters have devised a foolproof plan. And they are no fools. It'll be perfect. Manny has already found a sound studio to use and everything else to set it in motion.

All that they need to do, now, is distract a couple members of The Electric Company. Then they can disgrace them in front of the whole neighborhood.

They might have gotten a bit... distracted at first. But now they know exactly how it'll work. Danny will stay behind (because he drew the short straw.) While Manny locks the door and releases his super special truth gas into the booth, the rest of the Pranksters will deal with the other Company brats.

They all agreed that the best one to trap in there would be Hector. He organized a lot of their brainstorming sessions, so he needed to get out of the way. Plus he had the closest connections to everybody: there was his sister (obviously), her friend who saw him as a mentor, and Lisa who he knew since they were kids. If anybody knew enough dirt to convince the neighborhood never to trust them again, it was Hector.

Danny set up a couple of his puzzles to attract attention, and get their enemies to go into the building right where they were needed. Manny manned the controls of the sound booth, laughing maniacally, effectively getting Hector's attention. So he would try to take a peek to see what was there, while Danny pulled him into the room. Then Manny could lock it.

Annie mixed up all the sign names so everybody else went in the wrong directions, and Francine would use the light from her word balls to lead them back out of the building.

It was like taking candy from a baby. Wait, no. Taking candy from a baby would be a good thing, because they couldn't chew it and candy can be bad for you. It was like taking candy from the Electric Company. Sweet revenge, for all the plans that they had ever thwarted.

It didn't exactly work out how they expected, but some of it still happened. Jessica was fast enough to catch up to Francine, Lisa unscrambled the signs, and Kieth found Manny in the audio control room. It ended up being a bit of a scuffle, enough to break off the doorknob, so they couldn't get back into the room.

But Manny had connected the video feed to his laptop, which was back at home. So all they could do was sit back and watch. Well, the Pranksters, plus Jessica, stood and looked through the one-way glass. (She was apparently worried that they would harm Hector. Or she didn't believe them when they said the gas would be harmless after it wore off.)

The rest of the Electric Company went to get a locksmith, or something, to open the door. After they tried calling out to Hector, only to discover the genius of Manny's soundproof room.

Danny started off the interrogation very strong. "What's the worst thing you've ever done?"

Hector just sighed, "I never asked if Annie did all the work books, I got it for her sixth birthday." His eyes widened in shock. "I didn't mean to say that."

Danny explained how he couldn't lie in the room. Then added on much more quietly - looking away from the camera, "She did the first one, but was too fed up to continue with the rest. Her mom donated the others to the library." He clearly hadn't meant for them to hear his answer, but the microphone picked up everything.

Jessica was so confused. "What workbooks?"

Manny perked up too, but it was Francine who turned to their fellow prankster. "Yeah, what's he talkin' about, Scrambler?"

Annie was gearing up to answer, when Danny huffed out, "Oh, right! You thought they would fix her."

He was already offended, and didn't seem to remember who else would have to hear it. That didn't bode well, and made it seem like Hector wouldn't have a very good time, at all. Under the circumstances 'a good time' would probably mean hours of silence, before they were let out.

Hector started getting angry, too. "She doesn't need fixing. I just wanted to help her a bit." Then he remembered that he was talking about the older Annie, "Well, she could stand to be a lot nicer. But that's something she'd have to work out on her own."

Before anyone could make heads or tails of that, Danny was screaming his response. "You've probably told your little friends that Francine's wordballs are purple, because she's evil. You always thought there was something wrong with us." He either forgot that Hector was being forced to tell the truth, or he thought that Hector did believe it but was wrong. "You always hated that I was so sensitive."

Hector couldn't help but to yell back, "There's nothing wrong with you. I don't care about you being sensitive, or whatever." He took a deep calming breath. Even in the moment of silence their onlookers dared not interrupt, for fear that they would never know what they were talking about. "I wanted you to believe me when I told you that I liked being friends. I wished that you would listen when I said that people wanted you at their parties, or joining us at different places. If you could just hear me out when I apologized, then you wouldn't be a Prankster."

"You think I would leave the Pranksters?" Danny was shocked. But he got it wrong, again. (He always seemed to get it wrong, when it came to Hector.)

"That's not what I said. You're still not listening!" Now Hector was the one acting all offended. "You would've never joined them in the first place. You're not like them." This he seemed very sure of.

That got Danny curious - he always did like a puzzle. "What am I like? What are

they like?"

If the other Pranksters weren't already listening intently they would... listen even more attentively. Yeah. That.

Hector said it like the answer should be obvious. "They don't like other people having fun, or being popular. They want attention. You just like being good at things and people not being mean to you." He laughed, but it wasn't happy. If Hector could be bitter, that's almost what it would sound like. "But dude, most of the stuff you think is mean, really isn't. You make mistakes and want people to forgive you, why can't you forgive other people?" That was the point at which all of the Pranksters realized that their so-called 'foolproof' plan could be turned back on them.

They were so lucky that Hector was a part of the Electric Company, and would never even think to hurt them. "Other people don't really like me. They tolerate me, at best. Invite me to things out of pity. If they don't want me there and are trying to find a nice way to say it, then I'll save them the effort."

That just didn't make sense to Hector. "But you should be able to tell when people don't want you somewhere."

"Maybe you can," was Danny's response.

The reply was simply, "Right, sorry." Which just served to make everyone, outside their little bubble, all the more confused.

"What? Did you forget?" It was almost as though Danny were trying to force himself to be angry.

"No. I just... I didn't think. I'm really sorry."

Danny realized, "You actually mean that."

Hector seemed to be sharing the same exact thought. "I always mean it. People in the Electric company try not to lie. It's in our Code of Honor. We get creative sometimes, but we're supposed to tell the truth."

They just smiled at each other for a second, before Hector had yet another realization. "Did Annie ever get tested? You told her about all the school stuff, right?"

"I told her, but she never did. She knows, we know, her dad knows, and all the teachers." The Pranksters noted how he didn't say everybody and assumed it was because of them. Even if he clearly forgot how the plan was supposed to work, or that it went worse than it did. "I would tell you her family does, but they all think that one of those cousins cured her."

That made Hector frown. (It also made Annie stomp out - scrambling letters in her wake.) "How's she been doing in school, if she didn't get any help?"

Hector really didn't have any clue how that world works. "They don't need a diagnosis to help, just for certain..."

"Accommodations," Hector supplied him.

"You know what I mean." Danny forced himself to put that aside, when he saw that Hector still wanted the full answer. "Manny also helped her for a while."

"Before she got too proud to ask." Hector nodded.

Danny just shook his head. "He helped her practice, and Annie did get better. I mean, she reads a bit slower than me, but she can do all the homework on her own."

Francine turned towards Manny to ask, but he seemed just as unaware. It must've been too far back in their childhoods, or they weren't paying attention. They were just about to try comparing their memories of that time, when Keith and Lisa storm back in, with Paul and his toolbox in tow.

Francine and Manny looked at each other, glanced at the locked door, turned back for confirmation of the new plan, and ran away. They should really try finding Annie.

Author's Note: In case it wasn't clear, I head canon Annie as having Dyslexia, and Danny with Autism. Due to their neurodivergencies they were able to develop powers, while being unable to focus on the image of a word enough to form wordballs. I think I like leaving the reason behind Francine's up to the reader, but I do favor it being some form of personality disorder personally.