blood and dreams

Telling Charlotte

*the next morning*

As Henry woke up, he noticed Jasper lying next to him, and memories from the night before came flooding back. His stomach sank. At least Jasper could help him through this, he thought. He did feel kind of relieved that his best friend knew about his cutting, but he could never tell anyone else. As Henry was thinking about this, Jasper slowly woke up and smiled at Henry. Jasper couldn't read Henry's expression.  

"Hey Hen?" 

"Yeah?" Henry replied. 

"You okay?" 

"Yeah, I was just thinking... about what happened last night." 

"Hen, you know I'm gonna be here for you okay? Don't worry about it now."  

Henry just smiled weakly back at Jasper.  

He got up and walked across the room to his steps. He walked over and opened the window. 

"Do you think... maybe you should tell Charlotte?" Jasper asked carefully, unsure of what Henry's reaction would be.

Henry quickly turned around to face Jasper. His expression already answered his question.

"What?! No, no, NO I can't tell ANYONE about this!" Henry said frantically. 

"Charlotte is your friend, you know she'd only want to help" Jasper reasoned. 

Henry thought about it, he honestly did. He just couldn't imagine confessing something like that to Charlotte. She was so smart, and Henry felt her to be above him. He didn't want to have to bring himself to tell her about his mistakes and problems. She was so perfect, she wouldn't understand. 

But then again, she had been his friend forever. She deserved to know. 

"I- okay fine. But only if you come with me. Please, come with me?" Henry caved. 

"Of course I will, I'm proud of you." Jasper said, pulling Henry into a hug. 

Henry called Charlotte and asked to come over. His voice shook a little as he was talking to her on the phone, but if Charlotte noticed she didn't say anything. 

After getting ready, Henry and Jasper left for Charlotte's. The car ride was quiet. Jasper reached his arm out and held Henry's forearm gently from the drivers seat. Henry felt safe with him. When they pulled up to the house, Henry shot Jasper a nervous look. Jasper understood how he was feeling. 

"Its gonna be okay, I promise.. You can always wait and tell her next time we see her if we want, okay? It's really soon, I know." 

"No Jasp, I gotta do this" Henry replied. He got out of the car and they started walking up to the house. With a shaky hand, Henry rang the bell. They heard footsteps and a few seconds later Charlotte opened the door. 

"Hi guys!" She said 

"Hey Char" Jasper replied, trying to keep a normal tone to calm down visibly nervous Henry. 

Charlotte shot a slightly concerned look towards Henry's direction. The she looked at Jasper and he shared a knowing glance. This made Charlotte grow more worried.

The two boys walked into the house and went to Charlotte's room. The three friends all sat on the floor, Henry leaning his back against the side of Charlotte's bed. 

"So, uh, is there any reason you wanted to come over?" Charlotte asked. 

"No just to- uh, hang out, y'know?-" Henry said. Jasper and Charlotte shared a look then both turned to face Henry, eyebrows raised. 

"Okay fine, that was a lie. I have to tell you something Charlotte." 

Charlotte felt her heart start to beat faster and her mind race as she looked at visibly anxious Henry, shaking a little, preparing to tell her something. She knew this was going to be serious. 

"Ok, so maybe..." Henry started. He was so so nervous and embarrassed to admit this. Jasper squeezed his hand and Charlotte gave him an understanding look. 

"Maybe I kind of self harm sometimes and I know it's wrong I just really needed you to know because you're one of my closest friends." Henry said quickly. A tear rolled down his face as he continued. He took a deep breath and went on.

"Jasper found out on accident last night and I didn't plan on telling either of you but I think it's for the better that you know" His voice was shaking at this point and he was itching for a response. 

Charlotte moved over next to Henry and put her arm around him. He leaned his head against her shoulder. She had thought something was up with him lately. Not answering calls, acting strange, always wearing a hoodie. Sometimes she would see random bandaids on him, or catch a blood stain on his clothes, but she thought it might have to do with his job as Kid Danger. 

"Henry, it's okay. It's hard. You go through a lot for your friends and family. For your city. Just promise me you'll at least try to stop?" Charlotte said, while Henry cried some more. Still, he was a lot more calm than when Jasper had found out. 

"I promise." Henry said. He wasn't being completely honest. He wanted to stop but he knew it wasn't going to be easy. He also knew it really did comfort him a lot, even though it hurt him in the process. 

Henry felt at peace for the first time in months, resting on Charlotte's shoulder as Jasper held his hand. That was until it hit him that it was going to be a lot harder to hide now that his two best friends were aware of what was going on. 

"And promise you'll call one of us next time you feel like hurting yourself?" Jasper added. 

"Okay...okay I can do that.." Henry said quietly. He was being truthful this time. The three friends stayed there together for the rest of the day, enjoying each other's company. 

(authors note: lmao does it show that im projecting onto henry so hard)