First part: a cute series of romantic moments hidden under the guise of the 'villain of the week' story.

If you lived in a world where large robot toilets and scientists with unfortunate names could appear at any moment, odds are that you're bound to encounter more oddities, especially if you worked at one particular school. Such days happened for Edith, but there rarely was a day where she ended up getting involved. This day was an exception to the norm.

It started out normal enough–it was lunch time and the kids were either in the process of finishing up their food or else already out on the playground for recess. She watched them all relax and let loose all the energy that had been built up during class time–it was here that they all could truly be happy and free to do almost whatever they wanted when they were away from the eyes of other adults. Whatever they did here was a secret between her and them unless they did something to warrant detention or–even worse–a trip to the principal's office.

The only downside to this time period was that it prevented her from eating with the teachers and staff who hurried to the teacher's lounge for a moment of kid-free peace. It limited her chances of interacting with them, but most of the adults here tended to be apathetic or a little too harsh for her liking and she rarely had any idea of what to talk about with them. The only other adult she would have wanted to talk to and was comfortable with talking to was either with the others or probably alone like her in his office. She wished they had more chances to meet up during the school time, but busy schedules and a watchful eye for those who would probably disapprove of them together limited how much time was allowed.

She kept an eye out for the kids and waited until she knew for sure she could start cleaning and organizing things. It had to be sooner if not later.

The peace was suddenly shattered by a voice from the outside, as if someone was yelling into a megaphone.

"HEY JEROME HOROWITZ ELEMENTARY! CHEW ON THIS!"

The whole cafeteria went momentarily quiet and Edith raised her head up in confusion as strange sounds erupted from outside the school. Moments later there were several children rushing in and yelling their heads off.

"SOME WEIRDO IS MAKING MONSTERS COME ALIVE!" One girl screamed and that was all the kids needed to know before rushing away from the doors to the outside and many already hurried through another set of doors to the main hallway.

Right on cue, strange misshapen creatures came hurrying after the children from the playground. Creatures that looked twisted up and varied between light pink to white to tar-like black. In the back of Edith's mind, they reminded her of something, but her instinct was to protect the kids first. Without even thinking too hard on it, she grabbed the nearest frying pan and hurried out of the kitchens and into the danger.

"GET SOMEWHERE SAFE!" She yelled at the kids as she readied her makeshift weapon and some of them had already ran out of the cafeteria while others were only just registering what was happening and darted away from the tables while scattering food, trays, and lunch bags everywhere. The moment the creatures came up to her, she braced herself and smacked one of the black ones as hard as she could, causing it to fall over. In its place, another came and she had to repeat the move before hurrying to a white one that was trying to drag a child by the arm outside.

"Oh no you don't!" She growled and smashed the pan onto its head, though unlike the black one, this one felt a bit soft and it took another whack to the head to get it to stop. The moment the creature fell over, she reached for the boy it was grabbing onto before and pushed him away. "Get help!" She told him as he hurried away before she could hurry to prevent another from going after a third grade girl.

She wasn't a fighter and was never one to get into a fight but she knew that she could not let these things harm the kids as more of them kept coming into the cafeteria–some of which she couldn't stop and were already trying to get into the hallway. She couldn't afford to think, but she could act.

"Just go somewhere safe!" She told the girl after whacking a black creature away from her. Without watching to see where the girl would run off to, Edith turned her attention onto a few more creatures and hurried after them at the exact same time the doors to the hallway bursted open.

"Ok, they were coming from outside!" Harold explained as he and George had opened the doors to reveal that Captain Underpants was with them and already in his usual attire (or lack of). Given how fast they had to run from off the playground and into Krupp's office and back, they were panting for their lives. "We're almost–" He stopped as he and George looked at what was going on and gapped as the girl ran past them. "Is... that...?"

Edith yelled as she smacked her pan into the creature as hard as possible before throwing her arm back to hit another one–the action hurt her arm, but she had to force herself to slam the blunt object upon another head before she could have a moment to look around to make sure no other children were still in the cafeteria..

Instead, she saw something that she should have predicted–George and Harold with their superhero friend behind them. All three were most likely going to whatever was going on outside, yet both the boys were staring at her in complete surprise as if they didn't expect the school's lunch lady to be actually fighting off a monster like she was Wonder Woman rather than cowering somewhere like most of the other teachers would have.

Yet neither of their expressions were as noticeable as Captain Underpants himself–for one moment that endless energy dialed back a bit and he was staring at her in awe and something that looked like respect.

"I GOT THIS SPOT YOU CAN GO AHEAD!" Edith yelled at them. The boys didn't need to be told twice and made to run for it, but when they realized that Captain Underpants was still staring at her, George was the one who had to go back and grab him by the wrist before pulling him outside where most of the chaos was occurring.

Meanwhile, Edith was forced to face a few more of the strange creatures and gradually they lessened in numbers until finally she came across a pink one and attempted to smack it.

To her surprise, the pan stuck to the creature instead of causing it to fall over.

In a panic, she tried to pull it away, only for it to pull the creature alongside her as it tried to grab onto her. Not knowing what was going on, she had to hurl it into a wall where it stuck to the surface. She watched as it tried to reach out for her, but could barely budge and it still had her pan attached to it.

Edith then realized what that stuff reminded her of. It didn't make sense until now–those things were like chewing gum. The kind that people carelessly left on the streets where the sun blackened them until they could be hard to remove. The kind that kids tended to leave on the asphalt, concrete and brick walls, or under the desk, to the anger of most teachers but especially to the janitor and those who were expected to keep the grounds spotless. The kind where, rumor had it, one rather very brave or very reckless sixth grade girl intentionally flicked a chewed up piece into the toupee of the school's principal and was forced to scrape the gum off from under all the school desks in every classroom as punishment.

Edith turned around in time to see another creature coming right after her. She dashed to her station in hopes of getting another makeshift weapon (or two) and just as she reached the door, she heard a strange sound, like bacon sizzling in a pan.

When Edith turned around, she was met with the sight of the creature wobbling as it seemed to bubble up at the bottom before it fell over and collapsed. She had no clue why as she tried to make sense of it and stared at what looked like a sandwich on the ground that it was partly touching.

"OK THAT'S IT! I'M GETTING REAL SICK OF YOU THREE!" The voice from outside screamed. "ESPECIALLY THE FLYING PATHETIC EXCUSE FOR AN UNDERWEAR MODEL!"

Seconds later, all the creatures began to tremble–all but the one that had recently collapsed–and to Edith's horror they all got up and more of the pink creatures hurried out of the hallway and towards the group. Before her eyes, they began to merge together, with the pink creatures keeping the others securely in place until they began to form some sort of gum goliath that was twice her size.

Oh joy.

Edith raced into the kitchen to try to find something as fast as she could, but nothing looked good enough to fight such a thing. As she frantically looked through the pots, she found herself wishing that she could get rid of that thing as easily as you could get it out of your hair with–

–Wait.

A sandwich kept one of them from getting up–the one that was still on the floor.

No, it couldn't be that–could it?

Edith abandoned searching for a weapon and hurried to the large fridge before pulling out what she was looking for–a jar filled with something brown and sticky. It wasn't her that was going to need it though, so she hurried towards the doors to the playground as fast as she could.

Without warning, something latched onto her glove covered hand and when she turned back, she saw that the gum goliath finally caught her and wrapped part of itself around her wrist as tight as it could with the pink gum. "Oh no!" She tried to pull away from it, but to her horror she realized that she could not.

If things had been chaotic enough outside, they were bound to get worse. George, Harold, and their superhero friend had tried their best to fight off all the gum creatures, but not only did the mastermind behind them somehow made the creatures merge together, but all three were stuck to the ground.

"You know, I enjoy spending time together with you, but this is ridiculous!" George confessed to his best friend as he and Harold were trapped together with a huge wad of gum around their legs, which also was stuck to the ground.

"She even got it in our hair!" Harold complained as he tried to pull some of the gum off of his hair where it stuck, but it would not budge and every tug only hurt his scalp.

"What sort of diabolical trickery is this?!" Captain Underpants not only had his feet stuck to the ground, but there was a huge wad of gum that trapped his fists together and no matter how much he used his super strength it would not break apart. In fact, when he tried pulling his hands free, they only snapped back together.

"Man, you were all a lot easier to defeat than I thought!" A young woman–who only referred to herself as Lady G.B.–taunted the trio from a small, pink hot air balloon (though there was no fire) with a strange mechanical contraption aimed at them. Her attire and hair included a spectacular shade of bubble gum pink (enough to make her look like a cos-player who went a little too much on the color), but her demeanor wasn't as fun or bubbly as she initially appeared. "I was almost wondering if I should have even bothered with all the effort or not!"

"What the heck, lady?!" George yelled up at her. "Did we do anything to make you mad?! Harold and I don't even know you! We know we tend to bring in some bad guys on accident, but what's your deal?!"

"I don't know you and I could care less, but I'm sick of everyone leaving their gum behind on the ground or in places they shouldn't be, and schools like this are the worst offenders!" Lady G.B. spat in-between chewing on a piece of gum. "You all are giving gum a bad name! So I think teaching you all a lesson will make a nice warning that'll sick in your minds, or else I'll carry out what I'd like to call 'world gum-ination!'"

George, Harold, and even Captain Underpants stared at her in disbelief.

"That makes no sense!" Harold protested as George tried to decide if her puns were good or not. "You don't want people leaving gum around, but you're ok if it goes everywhere for your plan?"

"I DIDN'T SAY IT HAD TO MAKE SENSE!" Lady G.B. snapped.

"It's stupid! And I happen to like gum, but even I find this crazy!"

"Well, it's thanks to all you lazy kiddos with your gross habits that I got an army now!" Lady G.B. grinned as she patted her machine in the air balloon. "So long as I got this baby, I'm practically unstoppable!" She pressed a button on the device to make the gum goliaths come to her.

"Well, on the bright side at least the janitor will leave us alone." George let out a nervous laugh. "But I could go for a deus ex machina right now because I'm out of ideas!"

"Never fear sidekicks, I shall pull myself free!" Captain Underpants declared as he tried to fly up into the air, causing the gum on the ground to stretch a few feet before it predictably pulled him back and sent him flying face first onto the hard ground. "As fast as I can!" He moaned and tried to reassure them as the two winced for his pain.

Lady G.B. hummed as all the gum goliaths came to her, but then something caught her attention–one of the goliaths accidentally took a hostage who was now stuck to it.

"LET ME GO!" Edith hollered as she tried to pull free while cradling the jar to her chest, but it was hopeless as she was always pulled back into the creature.

"I was not planning that." Lady G.B. confessed with a frown as the creature and its hostage came closer towards the others.

When Edith noticed the trio she called out "BOYS! B–!" She stopped herself right in the nick of time before revealing Captain Underpants' true name. "CAPTAIN!" George and Harold looked at her, but it was her voice that managed to finally make Captain Underpants raise his head up and he felt his heart stop for one second when he saw that it was Edith who had just been captured and was currently in great distress.

He did not know Edith for as long as he would have liked–it was sometimes a miracle that he'd ever see her when he was fighting crime or trying to protect this school, and even more so when he wasn't, like trying to go undercover in the disguise the boys gave him or other little moments here and there that passed as quickly as they came. He didn't know why, but something about her always drew him to her (Was it her beautiful blue eyes? Her sweet smile? Her pleasant, genuine laughter? Her sweet, yet also fun personality?) and thinking about her always made him happy as well as make the world around him a bit brighter than it already was. Yet seeing her in trouble with a look of panic in her eyes not only created a sense of alertness that came from protecting the boys and the children, but something else was awakening something deep down within him. There was fear, but it was something more... something that made him terrified and angry all at once and made him focused on her and only her in that moment.

"USE THIS!" Edith maneuvered the plastic jar in her grasp before hurling it as hard as she could at the boys. It made perfect contact in the gum that was stuck to their feet, just as the gum goliath hoisted her up into the air.

"What are you doing?! Put her down!" Captain Underpants yelled as Harold and George looked at the jar and realized what their lunch lady just gave them. They gave each other delighted grins before Harold unscrewed the lid and scooped out some of the brown stuff to smear around his feet.

Edith yelped as something grabbed onto her wrist and she found herself getting pulled away from the creature. However, she was now being pulled several feet up into the air and even high above the school itself by a huge strand of pink gum before it trapped her against the side of the hot air ballon.

"Hmm," Lady G.B. stared at Edith in curiosity as Edith panicked and tried to grab onto the side of the hot air balloon because she could already feel her hand slipping slowly out of the glove. She blew a bubble with the gum in her mouth before cracking it. "What do we have here?" she asked without having the decent sense to pull Edith into the basket.

"Look, you don't need to bring a civilian into this!" Captain Underpants was panicking as he began to worry for Edith's safety and tried to pull himself free with more force than before, but it was no use and he ended up slamming back onto the ground once more. Meanwhile, George and Harold finally succeeded in getting themselves free before hurrying to the waistband warrior's side. "Gah! Why did it have to be gum?!" Captain Underpants was getting frustrated.

"Hang on, I think I have an idea!" Harold reassured Captain Underpants as he scooped out more of the brown stuff and smeared it on the gum that trapped the adult's hands together. Within moments, the gum began to bubble up and get warm before it lost its stickiness and the hero was able to pull his hands free.

"Well I can't blame it if it wanted to get you because you're the cutest thing ever." Lady G.B. grinned at Edith who was still trying to hang on for dear life. "I mean, maybe you just happened to get stuck to it, but I don't have much control over that."

If Edith wasn't struggling for her life, she would have smacked her head on something in frustration. She wanted to help and she ended up becoming a damsel in distress! Also this woman wasn't even realizing just how far up in the air she was!

"Ok, ready?!" George asked Captain Underpants as he and Harold held both ends of a pair of underwear (the unlimited kind, thank goodness) and angled themselves at the balloon. "Aim for that machine thingy!"

"You got it!" Captain Underpants saluted before grabbing the jar, placed it in the center of the makeshift slingshot, took aim, and pulled as hard as he could before letting go which caused the jar to go soaring up into the sky and defied all laws of gravity by not slowing down. The jar perfectly crashed into the machine to the point that it got inside and almost instantly pink sparks began shooting out of it.

"WHAT THE–?!" Lady G.B. had to duck as more sparks shot out of the machine before there was a series of popping noises and a crack before it died down. Once it happened, all the gum goliaths toppled over and collapsed to the ground within moments.

"WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY MACHINE?!" She yelled at the trio.

"You just got defeated by peanut butter!" George exclaimed before he and Harold laughed hysterically. "The one thing that gets rid of gum!"

The situation for Edith was not as funny and was about to get much worse.

Edith felt the gum's hold on her loosen almost instantly. She had only a spilt second to feel her hand slide out of the yellow glove before it came out and she tried to reach up to grab something, but it was too late and she found herself falling down towards the ground.

She screamed as she felt the wind rush around her, blowing her hair upward, making her dress flap around her legs and making her apron fly up. She wasn't aware of the world around her anymore other than that she was going to fall and there was nothing below to cushion her. She felt like she was going to be sick to her stomach and she shut her eyes in terror for what was to come.

But luck (and perhaps something more) was on her side, for Captain Underpants had been ready to go after her even before she was going to fall. Without thinking of anything else, he took to the sky the second she started to fall, with arms out and ready for her.

Somewhere about three quarters of the way to her certain doom, Edith felt a pair of arms wrapping themselves around her before she was nearly crushed against Captain Underpants' body and they came to a slow stop.

Her screaming came to a slow stop the moment she stopped falling and her stomach lurched again before she could dare open her eyes to see that she was hovering several feet in the air somehow, which confused her at first. She could see the boys watching her and she could tell by the way they had tensed up that they had been frightened–they had ceased laughing when they realized what was about to happen to her.

Edith turned her head to see Captain Underpants let out a sigh of relief before smiling a huge smile as he continued to hold onto her with no intention of letting her go until she was back on the ground.

It took her one moment to realize what just happened–he caught her almost at the very last second.

Edith shut her eyes in relief and wrapped her arms around his neck before burying her head into his neck and collar bone. She was trembling so much–she didn't even realize how bad her hands were shaking–she was so close to having something bad happen to her and yet–

"Hey, it's alright." Captain Underpants' voice took on a soft, gentle tone as he reassured her. "I was able to get you. Everything is going to be fine." He tightened his hold on her, but not to the point of squeezing her to death–he gave her enough room to breathe. "It's going to be fine." He rubbed her back a little with one hand in an attempt to help ease her.

There was none of the over-the-top bravado in his voice in that moment, but the gentleness in it was calming and familiar to Edith. It was a tone she didn't get to hear often enough, but with her eyes closed she could almost believe it was Benjamin as himself that was saying those words and holding onto her like this, and not his counterpart. She didn't care who was in control right now–all she wanted after that awful experience was to hear his voice and know that she survived to hear it for another day.

Though of course the villain of the day was still yelling at the boys and she didn't pay attention to what had been going on for that same reason. It was pointless because their attention had been on the rescue for most of that time.

"–DOLLARS! THAT'S HOW MUCH IT COSTED ME TO MAKE THIS! AND I'M NOT GOOD WITH MACHINERY TO BEGIN WITH! ALSO I'M ALLERGIC TO PEANUTS SO I COULD HAVE GOTTEN REALLY SICK THANKS TO ALL OF YOU!"

Both Captain Underpants and Edith snapped out of their moment to see that Lady G.B. was still there. Edith had a moment to think before she moved around in the superhero's grasp and maneuver herself before she was able to take her shoe off. "How much you want to bet that balloon will pop if you hit it?" She asked.

"It'd be worth a shot!" Captain Underpants grinned as he took the shoe and, with careful aim, hurled it at the balloon as hard as he could.

To make a long story short, it worked; The balloon bursted into pink strands the moment the shoe broke through it.

Lady G.B. had little time to realize what happened when she herself got covered in the remains of her vehicle and she herself began to scream all the way down. Fortunately for her, her opponent was able to have the sense to fly to her basket and grab it in the nick of time. Unfortunately for her, she was trapped in her own sticky mess and was unable to escape when Captain Underpants set the basket down.

"Ok you know what?!" Harold shared a grin with George before they looked up at Captain Underpants and Edith, who was still being held by the former. "That was awesome! Well, not you almost falling to your death, but everything else was!" He told Edith, who was not offended.

"Yeah all her plans popped!" George snickered, earning him a groan from Harold. Seconds later, they heard a familiar siren sound in the distance that made at least three of the four worried when they knew what it meant.

"Oh, huh. I guess one of the teachers might have called the cops." George bit his lip before he and Harold turned to the adults. "We'll try to take care of things and stay with her. You better, uh, go hide on the roof of the school for awhile or something... we'll meet up with you later to do the you-know-what with the water." He looked at Edith as he said that last part.

"That I will do!" Captain Underpants saluted the boys before he tossed Edith up in the air, which nearly scared the boys as well as Edith, but it was only a couple of feet so that he could hold her in the much more comfortable bridal style. He then flew over to the roof, while still carrying Edith, who only tightened her hold on him.

"Wow, he really went after her." George recalled what happened. "That was almost scary."

"You don't think the cops'll ask for Krupp?" Harold asked as the villain trapped within the gum moaned and cried out while trying to pull herself free.

"We'll just say he got stuck somewhere in the attack if they do." George shrugged.

"Ugh, can we stop it with the gum puns?" Harold groaned as he held his face in his hands.

"Well it's true isn't it? He literally did get stuck."

Realizing how true that was, the boys burst into laughter together. "Oh my gosh, you're right!" Harold snickered.

It was on the very top of the school building that Captain Underpants gently set Edith down. She almost stumbled in the process of being returned to solid ground, but she was able to get her bearings and stand upright.

I was flying. She realized only now to her amazement. I was flying through the air. I was saved by a superhero...

When Edith was a child, there was some romantic appeal to that type of fantasy, but as she got older she didn't think anyone in their right mind would see someone as awkward and shy as her as the kind of love interest a superhero would go out of his way to save from danger. And yet...

"Um," She finally turned around to face the superhero, who was still hovering a few inches off the ground. "Th-thank you for saving me back there." She stammered and felt herself blushing. She smiled an awkward smile as her eyes shyly shifted to the side. "I'm sorry I–"

Without warning, Captain Underpants finally returned to the ground and scooped her up into another hug. It almost startled Edith as his arms wrapped themselves protectively around her and he hugged her as close to him as possible.

"Uh," Edith was unsure what to say. "I–"

"I was scared." He buried his head into her right shoulder as she detected a slight trace of fear in his voice. "I don't know why, but suddenly I was scared like I was going to lose something really, really important. I didn't like that feeling, but if something happened to you, I–" He tightened his hug as he let out a deep sigh–he didn't know how to explain it properly. "I just had to save you and it was all I wanted to do."

Edith's eyes widened at this. Captain Underpants was supposed to be a fearless being who wouldn't stop in the face of danger, even if his own safety was at risk or even if he couldn't tell reality from fantasy. He was the part of Benjamin who was free from the burdens of everyday life, who would laugh if you told him something was impossible and would go on to do whatever he wished. He was supposed to be a made up child's dream who came to life, and yet this confession that she didn't expect suddenly made him more human-like. More Benjamin-like.

She only smiled and closed her eyes as she returned the hug and wrapped her arms around him–practically melting into his embrace like warm chocolate. There was this strange softness about him that felt soothing and made her feel safe. "You did though." She told him. "I got to live to see another day thanks to you."

She frowned and let out a weak laugh. "I didn't mean to be the damsel in distress. I was trying to help and look where that got me–dangling several feet in the air on the basket of some crazy person. Maybe I'm just better off as a bystander–"

"Hey don't say that!" The superhero moved away from her but still held her arms as he looked her in the eyes. "You were incredible back there! I wouldn't have thought of that idea to stop her! You saved me and George and Harold when we were stuck and you gave us a way to save the day! You made things easier for us! I should be the one thanking you!"

Edith stared at him in awe before she smiled. "You're welcome." She grabbed one of his hands and gently squeezed it. She recalled exactly what happened and let out a snort of laughter. "Oh my goodness!" She started to really laugh as she put everything together and ended up falling back into his chest but quickly grabbed his arms in the nick of time.

"What's so funny?" He asked with a smile.

"I just smacked some monsters made out of gum with a frying pan!" She laughed. "And then I helped stopped them with peanut butter!" She could not believe the insanity of the whole thing, like it was out of a children's book where anything could happen, and yet that's what you had to expect in this rather strange world she inhabited. "With peanut butter! How many people can say they did that?!" Her grip tightened as she began to laugh until she felt herself on the verge of tears and even smacked her forehead against his chest. "Do you have any idea how funny that is?!"

"I guess that would be pretty funny!" Captain Underpants agreed and began to laugh with her. He enjoyed hearing her laughing and seeing that she was in good spirits once more made him happy.

It was awhile before they both calmed down and Edith wiped the tears from her eyes. Another thought occurred to her and she realized that there was something she had to do–it was pretty much a requirement at this point. "Well, I suppose I'm forgetting something." She admitted as she looked up at him. "I owe you something important."

"Wha–?! No, you don't have to give me anything!" Captain Underpants nervously protested with his hands out. "Just seeing you safe is a reward enough for me."

"Oh trust me, it's one small thing." Well, she supposed there was one damsel in distress cliche she didn't mind doing. She moved close to him and she raised herself up on her toes a little before gently placing a hand on one of his cheeks and kissed the other as gently as she could.

The superhero did not expect this gesture and when he realized what was happening, his mind instantly became a blank and his eyes widened in surprise as he stiffened up.

Edith let her kiss linger for a few seconds before she could finally pull away and smile again. As she did, she saw the look on his face–mouth slightly opened, eyes wide, and completely rendered to near speechlessness much like when he saw her face fully exposed that one time. It was moments like these where he just stopped being a bundle of excited energy and had no clue what to do, and it was actually pretty cute when it happened.

"Oh uh," Captain Underpants stammered as his face slowly began to turn pink. "I uh–" He let out a nervous, excited laugh as he began to fly off the ground a few inches. "Th-that I'm alright with!" He grinned as he held the cheek that she kissed and his blush deepened. Oh lord could this man get any more adorable?

"No, I mean–that's not right, it's more than 'alright!' I uh–heh!" He nervously laughed as her smile widened and (in his opinion) grew more radiant and wonderful to behold. "That's a–heh heh!" He tried to fly away in his state of excitement–only to smack right into one of the metal air conditioning boxes nearby, making him fall onto his back.

Edith winced as she hurried towards him. "I'm ok!" He laughed as he tried to reassure her. "I'm more than ok! I'm spectacular! And you're spectacular, Edith!" He threw his arms out was wide as he could and smiled that huge smiled of his.

She let out a sigh of relief. "Well, I need to make sure you're ok too." She held her hand out and when he took it, she helped him get back up.

Eventually the boys finally rejoined them and, after careful maneuvering around the school and Edith distracting Anthrope as best as she could from seeing George and Harold sneaking Captain Underpants into Krupp's office, everything was on track to returning back to the way it was supposed to be.

"Ok, you can take the rest!" George waved at Edith and Captain Underpants. "See you next time!"

"Yeah, bye!" Harold added before he and George went out and shut the door behind them.

Edith waved back with a smile before turning around to see that Captain Underpants was putting on his counterpart's clothing with much visible and uncomfortable reluctance. Almost everything was complete, though he had yet to put the black toupee on and he was struggling to correctly put the tie back on, but he didn't know how to properly do it. "Here, let me try." Edith went over to give it a shot and Captain Underpants let go of the tie as Edith carefully attempted it in a slow, almost hypnotic process. She wasn't perfect, but it was a much better attempt than the last three or so from him. "Perfect." She smiled, despite the fact that he was already trying to tug at it so that it was even more looser than how she had done it.

"And then," She grabbed the black toupee, but stared at it when she saw it in her hands. In mere moments, she'd have to return Benjamin back to his old self–the one who would have to shoulder so much, whose eyes didn't stay alight for the most of certain days, who would be scowling more than smiling, and who couldn't afford to live out a fantasy nor would he dare want to (at least maybe not the one he unknowingly lived out through his other half). The true version of Benjamin would never be aware that he saved her life–that he was a hero for her for one moment–and she still could not be able to tell him at this point. She didn't know how long it could be until she could see him smiling a real smile once more or be laughing alongside her.

She wished she had a sure way to keep that light in his eyes and keep that beautiful, sincere smile on his face as long as possible. She knew she couldn't be able to change everything about him (and she wouldn't if it meant losing the best parts about him), but she wanted him to be happy and at peace more often. She wished there was a way that everything could be perfect, so that he could know about that rescue without doing something he'd later regret, and so that he knew that he was capable of doing so much more than he thought.

She ran her fingers through the black strands of the toupee as she was lost in those thoughts. They felt coarse in-between her fingers and they kept sticking up everywhere no matter what she did.

She sighed and shook her head before setting the toupee back on his head–it was crooked, but neither cared. Then she turned her head towards the cup of water and dipped her fingers in it.

"Will I see you again soon?" She turned her head to see Captain Underpants looking hopeful at her. "Maybe next time when there's not as much fighting? I mean I'll take what I can, even if it won't be much. But the bottom line is that... I uh," He blushed as he nervously rubbed the back of his head. "I hope it'll be soon."

Edith hesitated–did he know that–? She stopped herself and smiled before hugging him once more as tight as she could, with her water covered fingers angled away from him–it was almost like hugging a plush animal. "You're very sweet, you know that?" She told him. "Of course you'll see me again. You know where to find me, right?"

"Oh I do!" He replied, proud of himself for knowing that. "That is, I'll find you whenever you want to see me!"

"I'm already looking forward to it." She admitted with much sincerity as her fingers slowly moved upward. When she sensed how close they were to his head, she lightly tapped it and the resulting jolt she felt told her that the switch was a success.

"GAH!" Edith felt Benjamin's body go from soft to rigid in her arms before she could let go to let him get his surroundings. "What the–?!" Benjamin looked around with a confused look. "What happened? Why am I standing and why–?" He finally noticed who was in the room with him. "Edith?! Wait how did you–I thought you were supposed to be–I thought I saw a bunch of weird misshapen things running around the school and everyone was screaming!" He stammered.

"You might have, but it's been taken care of." Edith smiled at him. "All the kids and I are fine. I just wanted to make sure that you were alright before I have to return to the cafeteria. I'm sure you have some things to take care of in here." She squeezed his arm in a reassuring manner. "I'll see you in a bit after school." She began to head out.

"Wait!" Edith turned around to face Benjamin. All trace of his alternate personality was gone from his face and he looked as if he wanted to say something important. "Uh... thanks." He finally settled on that as his eyes drifted to the floor before he noticed something odd. "Wait, what happened to your shoe?"

Edith looked down and realized she was still missing one shoe (as well as one glove, but that wasn't important). "Well," She tried to think. "I suppose it got stuck somewhere." She cracked a smile at how literal that was. "But I still got a pair or two back home."

"But what if you step on something?! I can't let you, I should c–" He realized that he was about to suggest carrying her piggy back style back to the cafeteria since he didn't trust the floor to be safe to walk on, and see if he could get someone to help her. It surprised him that he even thought to do that, but the hard, stubborn part of him was furiously shaking his head and yelling at him not to. That part wasn't willing to let the students or the staff see him do that–to see him have that sort of compassion–and have a laugh or spread rumors about it. Also he highly doubted that he had enough energy or strength to actually walk down a flight of stairs and go right to the cafeteria while carrying her at the same time.

It made him feel frustrated about himself that he wasn't able to just do any of that. Or let himself just try to do it without worrying about what the others would think.

"Hey, it's ok." Edith smiled in reassurance to Benjamin. "I'm a tough girl. If I could handle a few baddies, I could handle the long treacherous journey to the cafeteria with only one shoe." She waved. "See you later!"

"Wait a–!" It was too late for Benjamin as she was already out of his office. He let out a sigh of disappointment. Well, he did appreciate that she went out of her way to check on him. Still, it felt like he ruined his chance to do something nice for her for today–

"Wait," He was confused again. "What did she mean by 'if I could handle a few baddies?"

Aw don't worry Benny, you'll get to have your moment next time. I promise.

So, yeah, I've seen so much gum–especially the kind that hardened and turned black–on the school grounds as a kid. That was the inspiration behind the villain and the scenario because it felt like it would fit in the world of Captain Underpants.

I was tempted to call Lady G.B. 'Baroness Bubbles' but there's already a fictional candy themed character with the name 'Baroness' from another fictional work.

It'll be awhile until part two comes out. I'm still figuring parts of it out, but hopefully the wait will be worth it.