Swellview/Hiddenville XXVI
Summary: Thanksgiving has come to Hiddenville. Mia enjoys some much needed time with her family.
Evie's Notes: Happy Sunday! I hope you all are having a wonderful week ! As always, thank you so much your support of this story, it really and truly means the world to me ! I hope that you all enjoy the this new update
Amelia woke up Sunday morning excited because her family would finally be there that afternoon. She missed them so much while they were away in Swellview, Mia couldn't wait until the summer when the four Swellview residents would officially move to Hiddenville. After getting dressed in a pair of black skinny jeans, an oversized orange sweater and pulling her blonde and purple hair into a high ponytail, Amelia made her way downstairs to the house's kitchen. She LOVED the renovation the construction workers had done to the space, the room now had gorgeous windows which provided excellent lighting.
Quickly making herself some breakfast, Mia curled up on the cushioned bench in the breakfast nook to eat her food and review the news. Opening the Hiddenville News Network (Hidden News) webpage Amelia was surprised to see some of her selfies from Chirper on the screen. While she certainly hadn't been trying to hide the fact that she was operating as Madam Danger in the city, Mia truly hadn't believed that she had done anything interesting enough yet to make the news. Reading through the article and comments Mia decided that her reception was mostly positive. There were a few mentions of who she assumed was the Thunder Twins having been spotted over the last couple months. Neither Thunderman was seriously acting as a superhero/villain consistently so they hadn't drawn as much attention, Mia suspected that that would be changing very soon given her run in with Max Friday night and what she knew of the previous timeline.
Checking her phone Mia saw a text from Charlotte.
Skynet:Morning Mia! We plan to be there sometime this afternoon, probably about four? I'm trying my best to get the lazy boys out of bed.
Black Widow:Can't wait to see you! If the boys won't get up I suggest sending Piper in… if anyone can get them up it is our little Screaming Danger.
Skynet:Good idea Mia. We need to catch up when I finally get there…
Black Widow:oh?
Skynet:I've got SOOO much tea to spill
Black Widow:Ugh! You are so mean to make me wait HOURS till you get here
Skynet:Suffer
Turning off her phone, Mia cleaned up the kitchen before heading to the library to read until her friends arrived.
*A New Hero - A New Hero - A New Hero*
The loud honking of a horn alerted Amelia to the arrival of her family. Rushing out the front door she saw Charlotte, Henry, Jasper and Piper getting out of their van.
"Oh my goodness! I can't believe that you guys are finally here. I've missed you soooo much!"
Henry laughed and pulled Mia into a quick hug saying, "What do you mean Mia, Pipes and I were just here last week"
Piper nodded, not looking up from where she was texting on her phone "yeah, we haven't been gone that long"
"Well it has been over a month since I've seen Jasper and Charlotte in person" argued Mia, hugging Charlotte.
"Dogpile" yelled Jasper, as they all jumped to hug Amelia.
"All right, break it up you guys!" laughed Mia, pushing them off her and leading the Swellview crew inside. "I got the last of the rooms finished this week so the house is finally in working order"
Well… at least the top part was. The Danger Zone below still needed quite a bit of work.
"I can't wait to see my room" squealed Piper.
"It looks great," promised Mia. "Max and I were up late on Tuesday building the last of your furniture"
"OOOHHH! Maxxx" teased Charlotte, Jasper and Henry.
Mia blushed, "Shut up!".
"Who's Max?" asked Piper
"He's no one, just a friend of mine" brushed off Mia.
"Oooh! I 'friend' like that too" grinned Piper.
"What!?" gasped the trio.
"What do you mean you have a boyfriend?" snapped Henry, "you're thirteen!"
"Yeah, doesn't stop me from dating," sassed Piper.
"Well who's your 'friend'?" asked Charlotte, as Jasper placed a calming hand on Henry's arm, the speedy superhero looked close to hyperventilating.
"Jackson Bartell"
"What? How long has that been going on?" worried Henry
"A month. Remember when you helped me with that meet cute?"
"I remember it not working and then Ray blowing up Downtown Brown" said Henry.
"I miss Downtown Brown, they had the best brown coffee" sighed Charlotte.
"Well I dressed up as a paramedic and we had the perfect meet cute in the back of an ambulance"
"Piper! That's illegal!" scolded Jasper. The girl just shrugged unbothered.
"Huh, interesting. Does he know…" remarked Amelia only to stop as she spotted the Trio rapidly shaking their heads and making frantic 'cut it out' motions behind Piper.
"Know what?"
"Does he know… about your brother?" she tried to cover her apparent slip up.
Piper didn't seem like she totally bought the excuse but let it go for now. "I mean yeah, I've talked about Henry… but with how much those three work there hasn't been a chance for Henry to meet him".
"Piper, we're trying our best," sighed Henry tiredly. He knew that the girl was still being left alone too much, but he was doing the best he could. Things would be better in a couple months when the trio finally graduated and moved the little family to Hiddenville.
"I know you're trying and busy. Obviously you three need to work. It's just frustrating" admitted Piper, kicking the ground. "I hate being in that house all by myself, and it's even worse when mom and dad are home… especially when mom's tennis coach is there".
"Well, if it's cool with your brother you are always welcome to come and spend the weekend with me here in Hiddenville" offered Mia.
"Really?" asked Piper, so shocked that it broke Mia's heart.
"You bet! I'm definitely around a lot more since I don't have a job at the moment like those three. And I get where you are coming from not wanting to be all alone in the house. This place is gorgeous, but it is big and insanely lonely when it is just me"
"Well how do you cope with it?" asked Piper.
"I hang out at my friends' houses or have them over here. Other times we go out and see what fun we can have in downtown Hiddenville".
"Is there a lot to do around here?" asked Piper doubtfully.
"Oh yeah! There's the movie theater, the park, mini golf, bowling, the museum, the rec center and some restaurants like Wong's Pizzeria and Splatburger. We even have a Hip Hop Puree, Downtown Brown, Nacho Ball, Fred Lobster and Yotally Togurt like you have back in Swellview"
"Splatburger?" laughed Jasper, hung up on the silly restaurant name.
"It's this crazy place where the food is delivered to your table by a complicated tube system"
"That sounds AWESOME!" cheered Henry.
"We could go there for dinner tonight?" suggested Mia.
"Yes Please!" cheered her friends.
"Alright, then it's a plan. How about you take your bags up to your rooms and get settled in. We can leave for a splatburger in like half an hour?"
"Sounds good M" agreed Jasper as he and Henry picked up their bags to take them to the trio's room. Piper had already taken off having spotted Duchess on the stair landing.
*A New Hero - A New Hero - A New Hero*
Later that night Mia and Charlotte were curled up on the couch in the library enjoying some tea, both literally and metaphorically.
"Ok, so hit me with that again?" exclaimed Amelia. "You're saying that you and Jasper, a) finally figured out your feelings for a certain blonde superhero and b) are going to start seducing Henry Hart!"
"We weren't that oblivious," complained Charlotte.
"Yes, Char, yes you were," laughed her friend. "Anyway Freddy and Scarlett owe me twenty bucks each. They were quite sure you three would never figure it out".
"Well looks like you're short forty bucks since they are stuck in the alternate timeline" teased Charlotte.
"Yeah I guess so. Still I wouldn't trade it for anything" shrugged Mia, taking a sip of her tea. "I actually have the chance to finish highschool this time. I have friends and get to live somewhere where I am not constantly worried about being attacked. This town is wonderful and the best part is that it is, mostly, ours".
"Yeah, Hiddenville is pretty awesome given its generally low crime rate and active police force. It'll rock to be able to protect a town which has my back" agreed Char.
"To Hiddenville" cheered Mia raising her mug.
"To Hiddenville" echoed her best friend.
"Clink, and then we drink" laughed the pair, knocking their mugs together.
"Speaking of this town's protectors, can you believe my run in with Max's alter ego, Black Knight? I mean I know you guys mentioned he had been a super villain in the past, but OMG"
"Really," smirked Char. "What was it like fighting him?"
"Um, kinda weird. I don't know how you guys handled the whole 'seeing people who you know while in your masks' part. It was so hard not to slip up and tell him something Madam Danger shouldn't know"
"Yeah, that part doesn't really get easier. You get better at hiding it, but it still sucks to not be able to tell important people in your life who you really are".
"At least once we join the Hero League officially we will once again be surrounded by a network of people who get what we are going through and will support us"
"Yeah, too bad that's not for a while still," bemoaned Charlotte.
"I actually don't think it'll take too long for us to be picked up by the League once you guys move to town. I've been trying to keep a moderately low profile for the time being, but there is no way that they will be able to ignore all four of us" remarked Mia, finishing her tea and moving to the keurig to make another cup.
"You think so?"
"Oh yeah. Since this town is officially under the purview of the Thundermans, it is definitely going to raise a lot of questions once we continuously run into Thundergirl"
"Well we will just have to cross that bridge when we get to it" decided Char, before switching gears with a sneaky smirk. "So how are Max… and the boys?"
Mia glared playfully at her friend, having noted the pause the girl had inserted in her question. "They're all fine. Gideon is in town for the holidays, the whole Giddy clan is coming to his Grandpa's to celebrate Thanksgiving. And since the break is only a week long it's not long enough for Wolfgang to fly home to Germany. He's really excited to celebrate his first American Thanksgiving. His English is really not coming along. The others have had to use a mix of charades or just flat out guessing when it comes to their conversations with him. Luckily their study of German is going much better".
"It must be nice for him to have you there to help translate when he gets frustrated" remarked Charlotte.
"Yeah, I guess in a way I'm thankful for my time in the mob?" remarked Mia uncertainly, only to pause and shake her head violently. "Nope. No way. My time being held hostage by the mob in Dystopia still wasn't worth it, even if I did learn a variety of languages and met you guys".
"Well we hate that you had to go through that, but are happy to have you" promised Charlotte, squeezing Mia's hand comfortingly.
"Thanks Char" sniffed Mia, wiping away a tear that had formed as she was hit by flashbacks to the torture she had underwent at the hands of the Dystopian Mob. "Sooo, you, Henry and Jasper?" she asked, trying to get them back on topic and away from painful memories.
"That's the goal," grinned her best friend.
"Ahh! I can't wait. I'm so happy for you three! This is so exciting. All you've got to do is *romance* Henry Hart".
"Yeah about that. He is being very…" sighed Charlotte
"Oblivious?"
"I was just going to say dumb"
"Yeah, yeah" laughed Mia. "I mean to be fair to him. Your actions before figuring this all out were rather romantic and throupley anyway"
"Yeah, I mean we were like that when we were just friends back in High School" admitted the girl.
"If you want my two cents. I think honestly what it is going to come down to is a good old fashioned open conversation"
"Ugh! I hate having those, especially when they deal with feelings" whined Charlotte.
"Trust me, I know. That's why we gotta have Doc lead those convos within the group"
"Yeah, Jasper really is the best at dealing with all that mushy feel good stuff". Both girls laughed at that. "I blame my hatred for those kinda conversations on being part robot"
"Char, you were like this before you became a cyborg in Dystopia" Mia reminded her.
"Facts, facts. But now I'm a cyborg and I can blame half of my hate for mushy convos on being basically a very advanced Alexa" joked Charlotte.
"I've missed you" sighed Mia, pulling her sister in all but blood into a tight hug.
"I've missed you too" replied Charlotte, hugging her back just as tightly.
"I know you've got shit still to do in Swellview, but I just wish you could move here now"
"We wish that too. With all our hearts" agreed Charlotte. "Unfortunately, we still have some final things to wrap up before graduation and our move. Ray still unknowingly owes us a good chunk more of our reparation money, so that we can be afloat our first year on our own as we wait on the Hero League. We also have a few final villains we need to get rid of, it doesn't feel right to walk away from the city knowing certain terrible things are going to happen, and maybe not be fixed, when we have the power to stop them".
"You three have too big hearts," commented Mia.
"Yeah, as many bad memories Swellview holds for us… it is still our first home. We want to leave it in as good a shape as we can at the end of this year. Even though we know Ray will likely let it go to shit as soon as we leave again".
"Well you four are in town for a full week, do you have anything in particular you want to get up to while you're here?"
"I know Jasp and I are really looking forward to seeing the town. It'll be nice to get to know the place where we will be calling home in just seven months. Henry and Piper already have a head start since they've been coming for Piper's therapy sessions".
"Speaking of which, why the fuck did you guys cut me off earlier with Piper?" asked Mia curiously.
"Well you see… while Piper has figured out that we will eventually be living here. We haven't exactly broken the news to her yet about when we're moving. And by that I mean the moment all three of us finish crossing the stage at graduation".
"yeesh. Why hasn't Henry had that talk with her yet?" wondered Amelia.
"We wanted to make sure that we would be able to take her with us legally before we got her hopes up".
"Oh are you guys still having problems with the legal system?"
"Yeah, the whole emancipation process has been interesting… Henry turned eighteen in September so he is officially a legal adult and we didn't see the need to file any paperwork for him. Jasper and I though have Spring birthdays, and would like us all to be independent as soon as possible. My paperwork went through with minimal issues, my parents were easily convinced, especially since I promised to stay in touch. Jasper's emancipation papers were harder, since it took forever to track her down to get her to sign the papers. Once we found her though she signed the papers and they were processed. It's Piper where we are continuously running into roadblocks. I have a meeting with our lawyers and Judge Tutti next week about the case. We are applying for full custody of Piper and declaring Jake and Siren unfit parents. Surprisingly, the pair decided they actually want to fight us to keep custody of Piper. We think that it's because they are scared to be losing both of their children in one go. Still their sudden decision to fight for her doesn't erase the years of neglect they put the pair through. Our case is pretty solid and though I hesitate to call it an open and shut case. With the awesome lawyers we hired using the hazard pay Ray doesn't know he is paying us, our odds of winning are pretty high" explained Charlotte.
"That's a lot. Anything I can do to help just let me know" promised Mia.
"We will," agreed Charlotte
"Have you guys started to think about what you're going to do after graduation?".
"Yeah, I got an acceptance letter from Bordertown University so I will be entering their law program. Jasper and Henry are planning to enroll in Neighborville College online since they know how important it is to have a degree in something. Jasp did the whole in-person college thing last time and isn't looking to repeat it. And Henry has never really been the biggest fan of school so this was the compromise we came up with. Jasp and Hen will also probably get jobs of some sort here in town" explained Charlotte.
"Seems like you guys have it all figured out"
"We at least have a starting plan, and a lot of it depends on how long it takes for us to be picked up by Super President Kickbutt, because at that point we will start to make money from fighting crime".
"Hopefully it won't take too long for them to reachout once you arrive. In the meantime, why don't we go find the others and watch a movie?" suggested Amelia.
"Sounds great!" cheered her friend racing out of the room to find her partners and little sister.
*A New Hero - A New Hero - A New Hero*
The week of Henry, Charlotte, Jasper and Piper's visit was busy and fun. Amelia proudly showed her family around their future town, being sure to point out her favorite spots. The group ended up bumping into Gideon and Wolfgang at the Grocery store on Wednesday while doing some last minute holiday meal shopping. Mia happily introduced her new friends to her family. The pair were so excited to meet the Swellviewians that they had heard so much about. Henry, Jasper and Charlotte impressed Wolfgang with their German. Mia promised that they could all get together for real before the Swellview contingent left on Sunday.
Friday Mia cracked and texted Max inviting him to come over; sue her, she missed her best non-time-traveling friend. Max readily agreed and quickly biked over to her house. He clearly wanted to make a good first impression since he brought flowers. Said flowers led to a lot of teasing of Mia by Henry and Jasper.
Amelia was thrilled that Max got along so well with her family. The group sat out on the porch drinking lemonade and getting to know each other. Max's snarky wit was a good match for Piper's sass, Charlotte loved talking engineering with him, each discussing their non-crimefighting inventions. Max was a great listener and clearly enjoyed speaking to Jasper about his hyperfixations. Henry, like Mia, was just glad to see everyone getting along. The boys bonded over their love of skateboarding.
Standing by the door after dinner that evening, Mia hugged Max tightly, "Thank you for being so awesome with them. It really means a lot to me"
"Of course M. They are important to you so they are important to me too" promised Max. "Plus your family is actually cool unlike mine".
Mia laughed at that, reluctantly letting go of the hug and stepping away. "I can't argue with you there. We're getting together with Wolfgang and Gideon Sunday at Wong's for lunch before they drive home. Do you want to join us?"
"I'd love to!" grinned Max. "I've missed you this week"
"Great, I'll text you the details! And Max, I've missed you too".
Mia felt herself drifting closer to the superpowered boy. When they were close enough to touch, Mia pretty sure his eyes were locked on her lips… his phone rang. The pair startled apart like they had been shocked. Looking at his cell Max pulled a face seeing his Mom's name on the screen.
"I should probably take this," he sighed.
"I'll see you Sunday" promised Mia, waving goodbye as Max answered the phone and made his way down the porch stairs to where he had left his bike.
Turning around after locking the door, Mia jumped as she saw Charlotte, Jasper and Henry standing in the entryway with smirking grins.
"Just friends… right…" drawled Jasper disbelievingly.
"Oh shut up" huffed Mia, her face flushed bright red.
"Girl you got it bad" whistled Charlotte.
"Oh please, like you're one to talk" scoffed Mia.
"At least I'm not living in denial" shrugged the girl.
Rolling her eyes, Mia motioned for the trio to follow her as she made her way to the family room, they had a new (old) episode of dog judge to watch!
Evie's Notes 2: Thank you all so much for reading ! I hope you enjoyed this update, let me know your favorite part of in the comments! I hope to see you all next week !
I love hearing from y'all! Let me know what you think of the chapter and the story as a whole in the comments or my Tumblr Find-y0ur-j0y! Have a great week and stay safe! - Xo Evie