unedited

***

"Good one, Penn."

The boy in question could only stare at his supposed friend in disbelief. "What do you mean? Do you think I'm joking?"

"I mean," Boone countered. "You took her on a movie night inside of some abandoned establishment and she's already head over heels in love with you? Kinda suspicious bro."

Penn's eye twitched. "I- wh- I didn't say any of that!" He thinks that Boone is completely changing the story. The hero explained to his wiseman all of the events from last night. Well, he just gave him a brief summary.

Boone seemed to be unconvinced.

"And I think," Penn took a breath. "We already have some kind of connection before I even asked her out."

"Uh huh, sure."

"Boone!"

Sashi rolled her eyes. "Why are you so negative, Boone?"

"Oh yeah that's a lot coming from you, Miss 'I-Only-Have-Bad-Days'."

Both Penn and Sashi could only look at him with a mix of pity, confusion, and annoyance. They decided that they have had enough with his attitude this early in the morning.

"Okay, what's wrong." Sashi interrogated.

"Nothing."

Penn frowned. "Then why are you so annoyed about my date with Y/N?"

"I just don't like how your first date went, dude. One night of watching a lame movie and the next she's kissing you? It sounds, ugh."

"Oh come on, Boone." Sashi replied. "Don't think that didn't happen on your date with Hana." It finally hit them as they realized that they haven't seen the girl this morning with Boone, so something must've definitely happened between them.

"Oh, Hana? We broke up."

"What?!"

"Yeah, it was a mutual agreement. She's stressed, I'm busy..." He trailed off because he knows that they already knew what happened next.

Sashi and Penn didn't know how to address it. The silence between them became kind of weird and unnerving. What exactly would you say to your friend going through a break-up from a relationship that didn't even last for a month? A week even!

It felt like forever, but when the bell rang for the first period, the three of them unintentionally let out breaths of relief. They scattered to their own classes without uttering another word.

Penn could only feel agony as he watched the clock do its rounds of ticking and moving. The last time he saw you was last night, and he hasn't seen you this morning. Usually, he would see you on your locker or by the announcement board but not today, it seemed.

///

Lunchtime came as the gang met each other by the usual table again. It felt rather awkward than normal because of the situation earlier, resulting in a very quiet table.

Meanwhile, you found yourself casually striding towards your friends. You already noticed that the atmosphere is kinda different today because one is missing.

"Hey," you greeted, smoothly sat down beside Penn as he sputtered your name. "Sorry I'm late. I had to do some errands for my aunt." You sent Penn a signal as if telling him that you spent all night thinking about the date and luckily, he seemed to have got it seeing the blush on his cheeks.

Sashi rolled her eyes. "At least you came through. I'm sure you already know the gist, from the looks of it." You watched as Sashi subtly nodded her head towards Boone, who was miserably poking his mashed potatoes.

You had a hint, but you weren't sure. You leaned on Penn and whispered, "Is this because of Hana." He just nodded before you frowned at the news. "That sucks."

"Tell me about it." Sashi let out a sigh until a curious stare replaced her blank eyes. "But first... tell me all about your date."

"Not now, Sash." Penn chimed in. "Someone might not like hearing about it." He said with a bit of sass, sneakily glaring at his quiet friend.

You could only give Sashi a look that says, I'll tell you later. She nodded before going back to her tray.

Missing classes can be anxiety-inducing because of all the things you might not understand, especially since you're a freshman. You're eternally grateful that Penn was there to help since you have most of your classes together.

Luckily, the morning classes you missed didn't contain pop quizzes nor assigned any homework because you can easily catch up with the lessons.

Penn met you in the hallway before the two of you walked together towards Art. It wasn't a short venture but it wasn't long either, considering the room was on the second floor and you were from the first. But as he wordlessly grabbed your hand, you wished you had walked slower and never had to think about the time.

Nonetheless, you have to pull apart before going inside. You immediately saw a big yellow scarf worn by Hana as you sat down. She was in front of you so there's no way you can greet her with a smile without her turning around on purpose.

You also noticed that Boone was nowhere near her. He was beside Sashi this time so it's kind of obvious that they're avoiding each other.

A sigh left your lips as your cheek fell onto your palm. What could you do to fix this? You feel bad for them but the other part of you thinks that they're actually just pranking you and your friends. Maybe they broke up for funsies.

You rolled your eyes at your overthinking mind. Sometimes you just want to not overanalyze the situation.

Strangely, Rippen isn't here yet but Larry had already organized their table. Where could he be?

As you looked around for any signs of your co-worker, you accidentally met eyes with your boyfriend who quickly looked away and back to his desk. You hid your laugh as your cheeks flushed with pink. What a dork.

Rippen was late, but he didn't waste another time before he was teaching the history of art.

It was slightly entertaining, seeing the most villainous person you've ever met become a high school teacher gushing about art. With Larry providing the visuals by a Powerpoint presentation full of animations and other effects, they were a good team in both of their jobs.

The class had come to an end; of course not without Rippen randomly announcing that there will be a long quiz tomorrow, resulting in a group of groans that might be mistaken by a herd of zombies.

You could almost hear the maniacal laughter leaving his foul mouth as his evil grin keeps getting wider and wider.

Eventually, the bell had rung, signaling the end of classes sending the students off of their seats and packed as quickly as they could.

With your hand on the straps of your bag, you watched as Penn managed to balance the books on his arms. "Call you later?" Penn smiled at you.

"Of course. Let's stay up doing those biology charts."

He groaned beside you. "Nevermind-"

"I'm kidding. Well, I'm only half kidding. We could still consider-"

"I'm getting sleepy just thinking about homework." Penn complained, stuffing his things inside his locker and closing it forcefully.

"I'm getting annoyed just being around you two." Sashi chimed in. "I mean it's good that Boone and Hana aren't at each other's faces for once-" The three of you glanced at Boone moping around his side of the locker. "But this isn't any different."

"Come on, Sash, everything's different now."

"You don't have to lecture me. I've already heard enough lecturing."

The three of you, with Boone slightly lagging behind, eventually reached the sidewalk from outside. "I have to go." You said, starting to walk backward.

"I can walk you there-?"

"You don't have to, Penn. I can walk there myself." You flashed him a reassuring smile. "Bye, call you later!"

Penn waved back at you and he only noticed Sashi crossing her arms. "And she didn't even bid me goodbye."

"She must be in a hurry." Penn said, clearly not knowing that what he said does not make sense yet Sashi didn't counter as she doesn't have the energy to argue with a lovestruck boy.

"Come on, Boone," Sashi urged the guy. "We have work."

"I'm too tired to work."

"So are we but do you hear us complaining? No." Sashi snapped. Maybe she does have the energy to just provoke her friends to anger.

Boone muttered something probably horrible under his breath before walking with his friends while kicking some random pebbles he found on the street.

Meanwhile, you arrived a lot earlier than the two. You opened the door to the shop to see Phil making himself busy. "Hey," you said, making yourself known. He only produced a sound before continuing what he was doing.

Glancing at your watch, you sighed as you wander round and about the shop, doing whatever to prevent yourself from being bored.

The rest soon arrived though, and Phil wasted no time and latched the three of you into the machine, sending you to a different world where everything is made of plush. You could feel that even your internal organs are made of cotton.

Everyone was huggable, yet the only thing that Rippen was hugging is his thirst for victory over the heroes whose plan is to stop you.

At the end of the day, win or lose (more preferably win), it was a tiring day. While walking home you want nothing more than to just slouched or go as far as to laying down on the street. Your body was beat and bruising, but this is your life. And you love it.

Going home to your bed after the day has ended seems more inviting now that you're looking forward to calls with your boyfriend. Penn was unusually excited to go to his room since normally at this hour, he would spend his nights gazing out his window, the stars and the streets, thinking about his parents.

All of the routine seemed to have dissipated from his head when he heard his phone ring.

"Hey!"

"Hi!"

It felt like his heart jumped when he heard your voice again. It was a nice feeling compared to when he had to go to work and defeat the villains. He had to admit, he still enjoys work but it's different now that No-Name is there. Hearing that person taunt them over and over again is so annoying and sometimes they can't beat her so the loss is much more irritating.

"What did you do the whole afternoon?"

"Oh, you know..." You trailed off, trying to think of an excuse. "I just did the first set of homework and I'm on my way to the second." You said, staring at the pile of papers on your study desk that was left blank and untouched.

"Aw, no fair! I thought we're gonna do it together."

"You can do it on your own first then we can check if our answer matches."

"Deal."

The night went on. Penn managed to finish the pages full of equations without being distracted. You didn't even try to distract him anyways as you quickly went through your own homework. The two of you relayed answers with each other, making sure if you did the math right. When it was completely done, Penn offered to take a break before doing the essay assignment next.

"Are you still working at that theater?"

Maybe Penn thought that this was a bad idea.

"Yeah. Why?"

"Just asking."

"Hm." Penn hummed. "Do you still go to the Fish Sticks store?"

"No. I used to since I had to look for jobs, but... I don't know, I guess they discontinued?"

You sweat dropped. You just hoped it was enough, but you didn't even give him a chance to mull it over before you changed the subject. "What do you think would happen between Hana and Boone?"

"I'm sure it's just a misunderstanding. Or better yet, they might be pranking us. I bet they're gonna hold hands again the next day."

"Maybe."

"Are you alright?" He asked when he heard a slight somber in your voice.

You couldn't help but sigh. "I don't know. I haven't been taking the chance to talk with Hana lately. I felt like I haven't been a good friend to her. But I knew I had to give her space." You sighed again. "I don't know."

"You're a good friend, Y/N," Penn reassured you.

As he continued to comfort you, you secretly began to write the essay. You could only roll your eyes and when he was done, you just told him to do the paper.

With everything finally done, you let out a huge breath of relief as you crashed into your pillows. You closed your eyes as you heard Penn's laughter through your phone. "Did you crash or something?"

"Mmmph-"

"I can't hear you."

You removed your face out of the soft material. "I'm tired," you mumbled.

"You just did homework, you whiny baby."

"Homework requires a lot of brain work. I'm mentally tired."

"Then rest."

"Are you gonna hang up?" You gently placed your phone beside you, close to your ear.

"Do you want me to?"

"Stay." You sleepily muttered but Penn heard it.

"Okay, I'm here."

I love you was left unsaid. Your mind had gotten awake when you had to overthink about saying it or not.

Do you love him? Yes.

Is it early to say I love you to each other? Yes. You just went on a date yesterday.

You could just pretend that you had already fallen asleep but he doesn't know that you're out here, staring directly at your ceiling, your heartbeat pumping faster than before, your heart and mind battling inside you.

It's not quite easy for you to say I love you. You could say that to your Aunt May. You could say that to your fictional crushes (ironic).

But to your actual boyfriend?

It might be a lot harder than you think.

There are a lot of possibilities. First, is the possibility of him not saying it back. Will you just get left out in the sky after you saying it. "Hey, I love you." "...." You might as well just change your name and move to a different state right then and there.

Second, he doesn't know everything about you yet, and you him. He doesn't know that almost everyday after school you go to various pocket dimensions to cause chaos. He doesn't know that when you're out there, you change into a completely different person and wreak havoc.

And you just realize that you lied to him when you said that you never go to the Fish Sticks shoo anymore when in reality you still do. You just have to give out excuses as to how you were in the area. Sooner or later the uncle excuse would be excessive.

Now you're thinking what lies to use the next time he sees you. That's not being a good girlfriend...

Still, you love him. You know that you really do. Even if he doesn't love you back... well, it was a good experience.

***

Penn stared at his phone, watching as the seconds go up until it goes zero, adding to the number of minutes. He waits for your even breathing accompanied by the background noise until he had to hang up. His gadget was sadly running low on battery.

He really loves you.

He wanted to say it.

But the overthinking brain intervenes and just casually brings up many probabilities. But the one thing that resonates was the idea of you not loving him back. He knows it's too early since the date was just yesterday, yet when he kissed you that night (or was it you who kissed him he didn't remember), he just felt safe and sure.

When it comes to you, he just has the instinct of trusting you, yet he feels like he's the one that can't be trusted... what with his job and all.

He crosses through multiple universes to save it and its people. You don't know that he and his friends' are "working" to rescue worlds. You don't know that he fights these two men and one gal who actually looks stunning in the battle field.

Penn had to lie and give excuses and does he think that's being a good boyfriend? Probably not. Maybe? Yes.

All of this thinking made his eyes go droopy. His last thought was of the two of you exchanging the three words before he's unconscious.