Captain Man!?

Shopping With the Danger Squad

The next morning, I felt kisses on the back of my neck and smiled. "Good morning, my Ray of sunshine." I said, and rolled over to face him. He chuckled and kissed the tip of my nose. "Good morning, my terrible joke maker." He said. I giggled and went to sit up, but he pulled me back and attacked me with cuddles. "How do you feel?" He asked, laying his head on my chest. "About?" I asked, playing with his hair. "What happened yesterday." He said. "Well, a very bad thing happened yesterday and a very good thing happened yesterday. Which would you like first?" I asked. "Bad." He said. I shrugged. "I'm ok I guess. I wasn't hurt so... That's a good thing." I said. He kissed me. "A very good thing.  What about the good thing?" He asked. I smiled. "I'm a little sore but other than that I am fantastic." I said. "Good." He said, draping his arm across my stomach. "We should probably start getting ready. I told Henry and Charlotte to be here by 10 and Shwoz is always up early." He said. "What about Gooch?" I asked. Ray shook his head. "He has a birthday for a nephew today he has to be at." He said. I nodded. "Ray, you don't have to do this." I said. "I know. But I love you and I want to make sure you're ok and taken care of." He said. "You... You love me?" I asked. He looked up at me. "Of course I do." He said. I smiled and scooched down to kiss him. "I love you too, Ray." I said. We kissed and it got pretty... Heated. We had to calm down before getting up and showering. Then we got dressed and went up into Junk-N-Stuff to wait for Henry and Charlotte. When they got here, we all got into Ray's car and drove to the Swellview mall. "So, what would you like?" Ray asked. I shrugged. "T-shirts and jeans basically." I said. We walked through different stores finding me clothes and every now and then, a member of the Danger Squad would bring me totally outrageous outfit that I had no clue people even considered making! Shwoz brought me a loud tie-dyed dress (as a joke) that had cheetah spots in some areas and zebra print in others. "Oh wow. You know what? I think that's more Ray's style." I said. We laughed and Ray pointed at us and said, "Hey! I like my shirts!" I kissed his cheek and pushed his finger away. "You have cute loud shirts baby." I said. "Yeah I do." He replied. As I was shopping, I'm pretty sure that Henry, Ray, Charlotte, and Shwoz were all observing what I picked out then grabbing things close to it while I wasn't looking. Because when we left he mall, there were much more bags than what would have just held my picks. I felt happy though, knowing that these people cared so much for me. After we left the mall, we went and got some dessert from Yozen Frogurt then went back to the Mancave, where we watched some Walking Orange reruns until being interrupted by the alarm going off. Ray and Henry jumped up and grabbed their gum. Then they were up the tubes. I don't know when I was more worried. Before, when I didn't know that Ray was Captain Man... Or now that I do. Knowing that Henry was Kid Danger worried me too! He wasn't indestructible like Ray was and if he ever got hurt... Ray would never forgive himself. "Hey." Charlotte said, snapping out of my worried mind. "They'll be okay." She said. Shwoz sat next to me. "Oh yeah! They know what they are doing. They will be just fine." He said. I nodded. "I guess this is something I'll have to get used to, huh?" I asked. They both nodded. I didn't have to worry long though, because as soon as they'd left, they came back down the tubes. Both of them were soaking wet. "Storming?" Charlotte asked. "Yep!" Henry exclaimed. "What does storming have to do with this?" I asked. Ray sighed frustratedly and came down the stairs. "Sometimes storms mess with the power upstairs and the alarm down here." He said, standing behind me. "So we went out for nothing." Henry said, taking his boots off. "I will get towels." Shwoz said, walking to the back. He returned with towels for the boys and for the floor they soaked. "Thank you Shwoz." They both said. Henry and Ray both chewed another piece of gum and changed back into heir regular clothes, which were also wet. "Ah c'mon!" Ray yelled. With a groan, he walked back to the room and changed his clothes. "Well I guess I should head home and change." Henry said. Ray grabbed his keys as they walked to the elevator. "I'll drive you." He said. Charlotte left with them and that left Shwoz and I alone to finish watching Walking Orange. Until the power went out that is. Then we sat in the dark until Shwoz flipped a switch for some kind of backup power. "That's awesome." I said. I saw him smile as he walked back over to the couch. "So, you made all this?" I asked. He nodded. "Most of it, yes." He said. "That's awesome." I replied. Shwoz nodded. "Ray's father hired me after Ray became densitized. He trained Ray to be a superhero, and he knew that any super hero would need a super hideout. So this place was built." He said. "That's a good point." I said. Then asked, "So how long ago did Ray become densitized?" Shwoz sighed, "He is... 24 now. So, about 16 years ago."He said. I did the math in my head. "He was only 8?" I asked. Shwoz nodded. "Wow." I said. 'I can't imagine being trained like that at such a young age." I said. "Well that's what my father thought was best." Said Ray darkly, suddenly home. "Ray..." I said, he ignored me and walked back to the bedroom. I sighed.

"It is not your fault." Shwoz said, "This is usually a touchy subject."  I nodded and watched as he stood. "You should talk to him. He will calm down." I nodded. "Where are you going?" I asked. "I am going to see if anything upstairs is working yet. Try to check the weather." He said. "Be careful." I said, and he nodded. "Always." He said, and went up the tube. 

I stood and walked back to the bedroom, where I saw Ray laying on his side in bed. "Ray...?" I asked. "Wanna bring up more of my painful childhood?" He asked. I went over and laid behind him. I put an arm around him and I kissed the back of his neck. "I didn't know that this was... a bad subject." I said. "Why didn't you ask me then? Why ask Shwoz?" He asked me. "I didn't even directly ask Shwoz! The power went out not long after you guys left and Shwoz turned on the backup. I asked him if he made all this stuff and he told me how your father hired him to help. I didn't know that we weren't supposed to talk about it and I'm sorry." I said. He was quiet for a second, then turned over to face me. "Don't be sorry." He said. "It just sucks to talk about because I start to think of what all the other kids got to do while I was training. While they got to play video games and hang out with friends and go to school... I was here. I was training, learning how to use all this equipment instead of suffering through a math class. Learning how to look for the bad guys and take them down." I pulled him close when he stopped talking and hugged him. "Oh Ray... I'm so sorry." I said. He shook his head. "It's nothing you have to be sorry for babe." He said. I kissed his head and felt him jump a little when thunder crashed above us. Ray didn't like storms if they got too bad. Which this one was. "I've got you." I said. "I'll never let anything hurt you, Ray. I don't care how indestructible you are." I said. He chuckled and we lay there. 

A week later though... I had to break that promise.