Disclaimer: I do not own Wizards of Waverly Place. No profit is being made by releasing this fiction.

Author's Note: Okay, to be completely honest, I was not too crazy about the last chapter. It was a bit too dry, so I hurried with this one to try to redeem myself.

Also, I dedicate part of this chapter to the Zeke fans out there. He still doesn't get the girl, but at least we'll know what a cool guy he is.

Oh! And this is an extra long chapter to make up for the last one. Hope you all like it.

Let's read on!

A Familiar Pattern 9

By genielou

Justin strained his neck as he looked every which way through and around the crowd that bustled about in the convention center's exhibition hall. It was the next day, the Saturday of the Super Hero Convention; and also the very same one that Harper had assured if he would be attending. He was excited, ecstatic even, because he had assumed that since Harper was the one who asked if he were going to attend, that she was surely to go with him. He had woken up early to make sure that he dressed up to par with her new standards. After much deliberation, he had settled for a pair of black jeans with slight tears on the thighs, his best high-top converse chucks, and a light blue button-up shirt that he knew to have caught Harper's eye every so often when they were younger.

He had spent the night getting up from bed and pacing around his room, thinking of what had transpired the day prior. The kiss was still fresh in his head, and he wasn't sure why. He had muttered over and over again that it was a nothing kiss. But after two hours of him pacing, attacking his window handle in frustration, and continuously looking at the only picture in his room with Harper in it, he finally admitted to himself that he was merely kidding himself.

The kiss was not a nothing kiss.

He had felt something. And for some reason, he thought himself stupid for not realizing it sooner. It had felt so familiar, so comfortable. Was he so hung up on simply rejecting Harper for so many years that he ignored what had actually developed within himself?

Over an hour's worth more of thinking, he also couldn't deny that he was in a complicated position. He felt something for her, but she was already taken, by none other than his former best friend.

So what did Justin decide to do? Justin decided to take Max's advice and merely hang out with the girl of his interest. He may not be able to act upon his newly developed feelings, but at least he could relieve himself by merely being near her. That would be enough, wouldn't it? And he had decided to instigate this plan on this very day, on a day when he and Harper actually shared something in common: a love for comic book heroes.

In the past, he and Harper had always been the ones to be excited about the convention; albeit not together, but it was still a shared interest. They would always run into each other during the event. She would usually gawk at him in his costume and giggle uncontrollably, while he spent the moment annoyed and irritated, and trying to get away from her.

Maybe I should've cosplayed, he thought that morning. She always liked it when I dressed up.

But he quickly shook his head from this suggestion. Grow up, Justin! She wouldn't dress up at this age either and neither should you.

And so here he was, looking through the exhibition hall for the girl that he has been so desperate to talk to for the past 48 hours. Unfortunately, much to his disappointed, she had not been home when he left this morning. She was still not answering her phone, and she was still nowhere to be found. Justin moped for a good 30 minutes before Max had offered to escort him to convention. As soon as they arrived, he set Max off to do whatever he wanted, and he set off to try to find Harper. So far, an hour has passed and Harper was still nowhere in sight.

Justin walked farther into a corner of the vast hall where the food court was held. He spotted Max at a table with three paper bags full of popcorn in front of him.

"Max!" he called out as he headed over. He settled himself down and grabbed a bag for himself. "Where'd you get these?"

Max pointed at a nearby booth with a long line. "They're promoting a new show."

The line shifted enough that Justin was able to read the sign on the booth. Captain Kernel.

"It's about a boy who loves to eat corn. One day he ate one that tasted kinda funny. Here's the punch," Max leaned on the table. "The corn he ate that day had been exposed to radioactive fertilizer."

Justin nodded with a frown. "Right," he said. He started munching on the popcorn.

"So," Max said as he started eating from his own bag. "Any luck finding her?"

Justin glared at him. "What do you think?" he said sarcastically as he tossed a popcorn into his mouth. "She's probably avoiding me, which means that she totally hates me for giving her that peck on the cheek."

"You think so?" Max asked while chewing. Each chew crunched loudly. "I wouldn't worry about it too much. Just think of the positive side. Instead of thinking that she's avoiding you, just think that she probably hated the kiss."

Justin frowned at him. "How is that the positive side?"

Max popped another one into his mouth before answering. "Because, if it was a bad kiss, then that means she thinks you're a loser, and this therefore becomes a more logical reason to avoid you."

Justin glared harder at his younger brother. "I hate you."

Meanwhile, on the other corner of the exhibition hall, a Batgirl tried to pull her very short skirt down in an attempt to cover her thighs. She glared at the brunette who stood next to her, wearing a tee-shirt designed to look like Robin The Boy Wonder's tunic.

"You know, it's really not fair that I actually wore the costume while you wore that shirt and simply claimed to be the character," Harper hissed at her best friend.

"Oh come on, Harper, you look great," Alex grinned at her. "Besides, I've already apologized a gazillion times, okay? I lost track of time and forgot to reserve the costume. And this was the only cool shirt I could find at Walmart. At least we match."

An older man in a Fantastic 4 leotard costume tapped Harper on the shoulder. He gestured to his camera when she turned. She nodded her head and smiled at him. Alex, on the other hand, just shook her head and chuckled. She stepped aside as Harper got into position for the camera.

"Wow," Alex heard behind her. She turned to see the Incredible Hulk standing by with two ice cream cones in his hands. "That's the tenth time today. Batgirl must be really in this year."

Alex chuckled effeminately. "Yeah, Zeke," she grinned at him. "That's exactly what it is."

She turned to where Harper was now being bombarded by two more men in costume, asking for her picture. Alex had expected as much. After all, she was the one who rented the Batgirl costume. She had made sure that the costume was not the regular costume that was portrayed on the comic books, but rather the skimpier version that college girls like to wear at Halloween parties. This costume included a tiny shirt that exposed Harper's mid-drift, and a short skirt that would undoubtedly be banned from a church. Add to that the high-heeled boots, leather gloves, the mask and cape, and long extensions; and you've got the hottest Batgirl a 30-year-old nerd would give up his life's collection for.

Harper shook hands with her admirers and walked away with a grimace.

"I do appreciate the attention, but this is getting to be a bit of a hassle," she said with a frown.

Zeke handed her an ice cream cone. "I know, sweetie," he cooed to her as he slung an arm around her shoulders. "But you have to admit, it is pretty cool that all these people want a picture of you."

Harper blushed. The word sweetie sounded so refreshing coming from Zeke, considering all the time she'd been spending lately with frustrating over Justin.

Justin.

She had gone a full twenty minutes without thinking of him until now. She'll have to restart the timer over again.

Harper had done nothing out of the ordinary. This day is flowing according to her and Alex's original plan, which was to go to the convention without Justin, in hopes that he will go searching for her, thus confirming his attraction to her. And then, when he sees her with Zeke, he will then feel the rejection that Alex claims he deserved.

The only problem is that Harper doesn't want to see Justin at all. She doesn't want to deal with him. He had made it pretty clear that he regretted kissing her. When Alex didn't believe her, she flashed both of them back into the miniature village to legitimize Harper's claims. There, Harper saw him again looking at the picture with her in it numerously, and each time he did, he had a disgusted expression. It hurt too much to see him have that kind of a reaction at the thought of her. It just hurt too much.

She had almost not gone to this trip, but Alex was just too good at getting her to do what she wanted. So, after much argument over going to the convention, and over the costume when Harper finally saw what she was supposed to wear, here she was now at the convention center wearing an outfit that her Nana Franny would have a heart attack over.

Harper walked silently ahead, letting Zeke lead her through the different booths that offered various merchandise. Alex walked right beside her with her own camera in hand, giggling every so often whenever she took a picture of something, or someone, that she thought was funny. They stopped at a booth, and shortly after Zeke released her to examine something on a table, a finger tapped her on the shoulder.

"Excuse me," a wheezy voice said. She turned to see a very skinny and lanky Green Arrow ogling at her. "Can I take a picture of you?"

She saw Alex suppress a giggle from the corner of her eye.

"Sure," she smiled. She positioned herself to hold her usual pose, and stopped when she realized she still had her ice cream in her hand. She held it out to Alex. "Alex, would you mind?"

"Oh no, don't," Green Arrow said. He gave her an eerie smile. "Keep it. I like the ice cream on you."

Harper slowly withdrew her hand, all the while suppressing a frown. She got into position and posed as she usually did.

"That's good. That's good," he said as he snapped a picture of her. "Would you mind if I take another one? With you holding the ice cream up? Like you're offering it to me?"

Harper blinked. "Um, sure, why not?" She did as she was told.

"That's great!" he exclaimed as he took another picture. "Okay, one last one? Please? This time, with you eating the ice cream?"

Again, Harper blinked but merely smiled awkwardly and did as she was told. Alex had to press a hand over her mouth to keep herself from laughing.

"Oh, oh, that's so amazing!" he exclaimed. "Okay, this last one, I promise. Stick your tongue out and lick the ice cream very. Very. Slowly."

"All right, that's enough," Zeke intervened. He placed an arm around her possessively and held a hand up at him. "One picture per. Please move on."

Green Arrow glared at him before walking away. Harper heaved a huge sigh of relief as Alex finally busted out laughing.

"Thanks, Zeke," Harper said. "I just didn't know how to get rid of him."

Zeke kissed her brow. "It's okay, beautiful," he smiled down at her. "You're just naturally nice, is all."

Harper blushed again. With all the time she had spent concentrating on Justin, she had almost forgotten how much she liked Zeke. This was the first time in a long while that she had been this close to him, and she was finding herself fairly comfortable to be with him.

She snapped from her reverie and turned to glare at a still laughing Alex. "Thanks for stepping in, Alex."

Alex breathed heavily as she tried to calm herself. "Too funny. Just too funny," she said in between breaths.

They made their way towards the food court. Once there, they scanned the area for an open table. As soon as a group left theirs, Alex ran to it and claimed it.

"Let me take that from you," Zeke said as he took the ice cream cone from Harper. He detoured momentarily to throw it away.

Alex grinned at her as she set herself down. "Zeke must have missed you a lot. He's being a total gentleman today."

"I know," Harper replied as she pulled her ballroom mask off of her face. She fidgeted slightly as she tried to keep her skirt from riding up too much. "I almost can't believe how much of a sweetheart he's being."

Zeke returned to the table and sat down. He eyed Harper curiously. "Is something wrong?"

Harper crossed her legs, then changed her mind and uncrossed it. She placed both hands on her lap and squeezed her legs closed. "Not really," she said. "It's the skirt. I feel kind of uncomfortable."

"Oh," Zeke said. He stood up. "I'll be right back."

Both girls stared after him as he disappeared. They looked at each other and shrugged.

"Excuse me," a pudgy Superman tapped Alex on the shoulder. "Can I take a picture of you?"

"Buzz off," Alex told him. Superman walked away with his shoulders slumped.

Harper stared after him warily. "Aww, poor man," she said. She turned to Alex. "Meanie."

Alex shrugged her shoulders. "I do what I can."

When Zeke came back, he quickly laid out a tee-shirt over Harper's lap, the price tag still intact. "Here you go, sweetie," he said. "You can relax now."

Even Alex had to smile.

Then a giant tooth walked by. Alex's eyes followed it as it wobbled away.

"Be right back," she said as she suddenly stood and sprinted towards it. From her seat, Harper could clearly see Alex bully the giant tooth as she pushed it from behind, ducked, and moved quickly to stay at the back of it so she could push it again.

"So," Zeke started. He took Harper's hands in his. "I've missed you, sweetie. I feel like I haven't seen in forever."

Harper smiled at him. "I know. I'm really sorry. I've just been so busy lately."

"With school?"

"Yeah, with school." Liar.

"I understand. I knew this would happen once you started that school. But, it's still irritating to not be able to see you as much as I used to," Zeke complained. He drew circles on her hands with his thumbs. "Well, we're here together today and I'm going to savor every minute of it."

Harper smiled as Zeke lifted her hands and brushed his lips against her knuckles. She decided to imitate the gesture by leaning forward and kissing one of his fingers.

"Did you see that? Huh?" Alex huffed as she sat herself back down. She pointed at the giant tooth, which was now lying flat on the floor with its legs kicking up furiously. "Not bad, eh?"

Both Harper and Zeke shook their heads.

A loud static sounded over them, and they all looked up. "REMINDER: THE MARVEL COMICS PANEL WILL START IN APPROXIMATELY 20 MINUTES. ALL OF THOSE WHO PLAN ON ATTENDING PLEASE LINE UP AT HALL G."

"Oops, that's me," Zeke said. He turned to Harper. "Are you sure you don't want to come with me?"

"Oh, I'm sure," she told him. "I'm not a Marvel fan."

"Okay, dear." He placed a hand on her cheek and leaned in. Alex turned and averted her eyes.

Harper closed her eyes as soon as she felt his lips on hers. She sighed as he stroked a thumb on her cheek and pressed his lips firmly onto hers.

He pulled away slowly, and kept his face within inches from hers as she opened her eyes.

"I'll call you as soon as I get out." He leaned in again for another quick kiss, grinned slyly at her, and then went on his way. Harper smiled foolishly after him.

Alex sighed loudly. Harper turned her head and saw her with her hands on her chin, and her elbows propped on the table. She ogled at Harper.

"Sweetie," she said. Harper smirked at her. "So, feeling better?"

Harper sighed at her. "Not really."

Alex stared at her. She wished she could offer apathy to her best friend, but unfortunately, she had never been in a situation where the guy didn't return at least some of the feelings she laid forth. Sympathy was the only thing she could exchange, of which she had never been a fan of.

"Well," she started. "At least you know earlier than later, right? I mean, if it was later, it would've been worse."

"I guess," she replied with a dejected expression. "I just- - I just thought, you know…"

"I know, Harper," she cooed. "I know." In fact, she had thought the same thing too. Although she wasn't a fan of her brother becoming too indulged with her best friend; but if it was going to make Harper happy, then she was sure she would be open to it eventually. "Harper," she started again. "What do you like about Justin anyway?"

Harper placed a finger on her chin in thought. "Well," she said. "He's very kind and patient. Tolerant. He's very honest, too honest sometimes," she remembered what happened two nights ago. "He's smart, passionate about his work, ambitious…"

"Okay, okay, I shouldn't have asked," Alex waved a hand at her. "Now, from all this time that you've been 'teasing' him," Harper winced at her, "what do you think he likes about you?"

Harper had to think hard about that one. "He…" she started, then paused. She took a few moments to think again. When she thought of something, she had to wince slightly as she voiced it out. "He said I look better now compared to how I looked back then."

Alex pursed her lips. That was just too much of an ass thing to say, even for her brother. "When we get home, I'm taking all his white socks and dying them pink," she said firmly.

Harper giggled at her. She knew Alex would take the comment in the same manner, and that comforted her.

"Well, you're here with Zeke today, and the guy is in 'sweetness' overdrive. Just concentrate on him, okay?"

She smiled and nodded at her.

"All right," Alex declared with a slam of her fist on the table. "Let's do what we're here to do. Ugliest costume. Winner buys Slurpies."

"Oh yeah!" Harper exclaimed. She held up her digital camera. "You are so gonna lose."

"Uh-uh, you'll be eating those words once I'm done," Alex retorted, holding up her own camera.

Just as Alex was about to stand up, a flash went off in her direction.

"Hey!" she yelled, but Harper was already up and running as fast as her high heels could go.

"I've got one ugly costume! One up on you!" Harper yelled back at her as she hurried off. Alex was not too far behind her.

Heads couldn't help but turn to the yelling couple, including a particular one that had been frustrating over the thought of one of them for the past day.

"That's Alex!" Justin exclaimed. "And Harper!"

Before Max could turn his head to the subject in question, Justin was already sprinting ahead. Max quickly gathered up his popcorn bags and ran after him.

"Are you sure it was them?" Max asked as he squeezed through the crowd right behind Justin.

"It was them, all right," he answered. "I'd recognize Alex's pretentious taste in costumes anytime. She always thinks it's funny to be different."

In his mind, he couldn't help but think back to Harper's outfit. Costume. Not outfit. Costume, he scolded himself. Of course she would wear a costume. I still had my costume from last year. I should've worn that! He knocked himself mentally on the head. If he had worn a costume, he probably would've connected better with Harper. But no, he preferred to be grown up and merely dress up.

When he exited the exhibition hall and entered the main hall of the convention center, he scanned the area and spotted a black, skimpy outfit not too far away. He quickly ran towards it.

He grabbed her by the shoulders and turned her around. "Harper!" he yelled, but the face that looked at him wasn't Harper. It was instead a somewhat masculine face that had been made-up to look feminine.

"Hello there, handsome," the deep voice of a broad-shouldered Batgirl said to him.

Justin cringed. "Uh, sorry," his voice squeaked. "Wrong person."

Justin ran away with Max right behind him, laughing out loud.

On the second floor of the building, the right Batgirl and Robin was skipping around, giggling and taking pictures of random cosplayers.

"Ooh! Ooh! I see a jiggly Aquaman!" Alex yelled and skipped away. Harper stood aside and leaned against the wall to momentarily rest her feet.

"Great. I look hot but my feet are killing me," she muttered. She saw Alex pointing at another cosplayer, grinning. Harper gave her the thumbs up and smiled. "Okay, Harper, time to get moving."

She pushed herself away from the wall and was about to start making her way towards Alex, when a hoard of people suddenly crowded the hallway and pushed her towards the side again.

"Um, excuse me. Excu- - excuse me," she kept muttering as she tried to squeeze her way through, but there were just too many people moving about.

On the first floor right below where Harper struggled, a pair of men in custodian uniforms placed a yellow tape on waist-high poles, secluding one of the metal pillars that started from the concrete floor and continued up until it protruded through the second floor and then still up onto the ceiling of the building where it supported the roof.

"Stand aside please, stand aside," one of them said to the crowd that passed by. "This is really dangerous. Shouldn't we close down the hallway? I mean, if the current is running through this pole, couldn't it travel through the floor too? I think I saw it on TV once."

"Don't be an idiot, Ed. Electricity can't run on carpet," the other one replied. He secured the yellow tape on his end.

"So let me get this straight. A lose wire in the basement, that is really close to this pole here," Ed pointed at the pillar, "is fritzing out, and it's throwing deadly electric stuff on the metal?" he asked.

"Right," his companion confirmed. "And since it's metal, it's running through the entire pole. An electrician should be here in an hour. But until then, we have to keep anyone from touching it. Could be dangerous, you know?"

"Yeah, sounds like a potential lawsuit," Ed answered. They finished their work and walked off to start on the second floor.

Upstairs, Harper still struggled with the crowd. "Um, excuse me please," she muttered.

Alex was still busy twirling around with a camera, giggling. And only a mere ten yards away was Justin with Max right behind him.

"There," Max pointed at Alex. They tried to push through the crowd but it was still too thick. They slowly made their way towards their target.

"Oh! I'm so sorry," Harper pleaded as she accidentally stepped on an older woman's foot. The woman turned to glare at her. "I'm so, so sorry. I didn't mean to do that."

She backed away, and in doing so, got sidled towards the walls again; but this time, she was headed towards the very thing that the two custodians had quarantined from people.

Harper turned and reached out to what she thought would be a safe surface. As her gloved hand touched the metal pillar, high amounts of electrical current suddenly jolted into her and surged through her entire body. She gasped as her body arched forward in shock. All of her limbs stretched out and caused her fingers to press even further onto the metal. She couldn't even scream. All that came out of her was a high squeak.

The crowd turned in her direction; voices screamed from all direction. When Alex, Justin, and Max turned their head, Harper's body was still arching abnormally.

"HARPER!" Alex shrieked.

The electricity stopped her heart, and her arms fell limp. Her body made a loud thud as her legs gave out and she fell backwards onto the floor.

Alex pushed her way aggressively through the crowd. "Out of the way!" she cried out. When she reached Harper, she fell on her knees and shook her by the shoulders. "Harper? Harper!" she screamed desperately.

Justin pushed his way through the crowd too. Max did his best to keep pace. When Justin reached them, he also got on his knees next to Alex.

Alex turned to him, the shock of the situation overtaking the surprise of seeing Justin there. "Justin, do something!" she pleaded to him, tears already rolling down her cheeks. "Do something!"

Justin gently pushed Alex away and positioned himself closer to Harper's unmoving body. He placed two fingers on her neck. His eyes widened when he didn't detect a pulse.

"Oh, God," he whispered. He placed both hands on his head as he started to panic.

"Please, please," Alex muttered as she cried harder. Max finally reached them and encircled his sister in his arms. He winced slightly as she grabbed hold of his arms and inadvertently dug her fingers in.

"No, no. Please!" Justin heard Alex cry out. He turned slightly and saw Max restraining a delirious Alex as she struggled in his arms. "Justin, do something!" she screamed at him.

Justin looked down again at Harper. She was very still, and her face looked peaceful. Too peaceful.

He took a huge breath and leaned forward. Pressing both hands firmly right between her breasts, he began to push down repeatedly while counting out loud.

"One, two, three, four, five," he huffed, then moved upwards, pinched Harper's nose, and used his other hand to open her mouth. He pressed his mouth onto hers and blew two big, consecutive puffs. He moved downwards and pressed his hands on her chest again. He pushed. "One, two, three, four, five…"

The crowd was loud with anticipation, but to Alex and Max, everything was dead silent. The only sound that seemed to penetrate through Max's ears was his sister's sobbing. They watched Justin fiercely.

"One, two, three…"

Justin repeated this process four more times. As he readied his hands on the fifth time, his eyes started to moisten.

"Harper. Harper…" he whispered instead of counting. "Come on, Harper. Don't leave me like this."

He breathed into her. His nose started running as the panic in him began to surface. "Oh, God, don't do this," he pleaded as he pushed on her chest. He breathed into her. "Harper, come on!" he pleaded again as he pushed as hard as he could on her chest repeatedly.

He pinched her nose, opened her mouth, and leaned down. He breathed into her.

Once.

Twice.

On the third time, he felt her mouth twitch against his. He lifted his mouth a bit and felt a sigh of air blow onto his lips. When he opened his eyes, he saw her eye lashes move ever so slightly. He heard a low groan escape her mouth.

Whatever came over Justin, no one could really explain, because the next thing he knew, he had leaned down again and pressed his mouth over Harper's. But instead of breathing air into her, he merely moved his lips, closing hers into his. Justin felt her lips move. He opened his mouth, and took her lips in full again.

He finally pulled away after a few seconds. He lifted his head up, opened his eyes, and saw Harper's own flutter open. She gazed upwards, unable to focus through the haze in her eyes. When she was finally able to concentrate, she revealed her confusion while he looked down warily at her.

"Justin?" she whispered.

Justin smiled as relief overtook him.