Special Boy // phan

-24-

"Not long," a voice said as soon as we entered the building, and Phil grinned. "That's how long it'll take. Not long."

"Afternoon, Charlie." Phil shut the door behind him and reached out to take Charlie's hand, who stood from his position behind the counter and grasped it.

"I'm doing well, thanks. And you? Oh-" Charlie glanced over at me, then back at Phil, and his eyes widened. "Sorry. I didn't.... I didn't know. I mean I did. But I forgot."

My head was spinning. "It's fine, Charlie. This is- well, as you know, this is Dan Howell, my sidekick." I glanced over at Charlie.

I don't know how I feel about that. Sidekick, I thought as I shook Charlie's hand.

"It's not so bad. That's where most supers start, though, to be fair, most sidekicks drop off before taking that leap." I raised my eyebrows. I was expecting that, but not so... soon. It was- "Yeah, I know it's creepy. I get that a lot. Sorry, can't help it. Shall we go?" Charlie turned on his heel and started a brisk walk down the corridor, his steps clicking along the tile floor. I glanced over at Phil, but his face was passive. I didn't know what he wanted. I didn't know what to do. I looked back as Charlie, who barely so much as glanced at me before answering my question.

What is Phil thinking?

"Sorry," Charlie said without turning around. It took me a moment, but I realised he was responding to my thought. "Very sorry."

"For what?" Phil asked, and Charlie paused.

"For the wait," he said, shrugging. Charlie placed his hand on the doorknob of the room to his left. "And for a the sheer amount of shitty paperwork."

Phil and I didn't speak to each other the entire time we filled the paperwork out. But we did speak to Charlie, just thanking him for clarifying a concern we had with where to initial or what to fill out before we even asked it. He sat in an office chair, spinning a stress ball in his hands and watching us, reclined in his chair with a smug look on his face. I knew he was reading into our minds much farther than slight discrepancies in our contract.

Charlie looked at Phil and his eyebrows raised, and he leaned forward in his chair. The silence was deafening. The only noise my brain could focus on was the methodic and slightly hypnotic tick tick tick of the plain black and white clock hanging on the wall to my right. I wondered if Charlie could hear the echo in my head.

There was also the scratch of Phil's pen against the papers he was filling out. He glanced up at Charlie and held his pen up, his mouth opening to begin speaking, but Charlie just smiled, his seemingly warm grin suddenly unnerving, and handed Phil a new pen. Phil set his old one down, apparently out of ink, and began writing with the new one.

Charlie began to stare at Phil, resting his chin on his hands. Phil glanced up.

"I'm going to go use the toilet," he announced, standing up quickly. Charlie nodded and I watched him leave.

Suddenly, I was alone with Charlie.

"I know they're similar. But they're different," he suddenly blurted. I squeezed my eyes shut. I had been thinking two sections on the paperwork I was filling out seemed exactly the same. But I wasn't planning on questioning it.

"Is it okay if.... if you wait until I physically ask the question before you answer it? It's kind of.... driving me crazy." I knew my phrasing was poor and probably offensive, but my head was spinning. Charlie raised his eyebrows again.

"Sometimes we're afraid to ask questions. It's easier for a lot of people to just have them answered without having to articulate them." I didn't want to say anything back, but I knew he could hear me when I though that's stupid.

Phil returned, but it took far too long for my liking. This Charlie guy was giving me weird vibes.

"That's it for the paperwork portion. You ready for the best part?" Charlie asked as Phil and I signed the bottom of the last page with a flourish. I glanced at Phil, but he seemed just as confused as I was.

"You see, Phil's sidekick has to be tough, smart, and have a good power. So we're-" but Charlie froze. I couldn't tell who he got it from, me or Phil, but at that moment- I could see it dawn on his face- he knew. He started to laugh. It started off as a chuckle but turned into a full, booming laugh that echoed off the walls.

"Oh," he said, wiping a tear from his eye. "This is precious. Phil... Phil you knew everything about this kid but didn't... oh god... You without a weakness and this... this kid... oh god... this is going to be fun." I stood up quickly.

"I'll resign." Phil glanced up at me, but his face was impossible to read. It was a mix of emotions; regret, fear, sorrow. But I could tell one thing from his cocktail of feelings, and I didn't have to have Charlie's power to know that. He wanted me to stay.

Suddenly, for a brief glimmer of a second, I felt something, like a spark, a glimmer, somewhere behind my navel. And, since he was inside my brain, Charlie felt it too. He stopped laughing.

"No, Dan. Please," Phil whispered, as if trying to keep the words away from Charlie, who knew them before they even came out of his mouth. "Please stay."

"He's staying," Charlie confirmed, and I shot him a sharp glance. "Perhaps this isn't the worst combination after all," he said simply, a knowing smirk on his face. "Shall we move on, then, to the physical portion?"