So, technically, if you look at the specific date on my last story, it hasn't been exactly three years yet since I fell off the face of the earth.

But really, it's been a crazy past couple of years and while I have been keeping up with Henry Danger and starting fics here and there, I haven't really been motivated to actually do anything.

It wasn't until the week before the finale that I got the idea for a story, that turned into a few stories, that turned into a full out 12-fic series. I knew that the show was ending and that we won't see any of the characters we love (other than Ray and Schwoz in the spin-off, of course) again, unless they are brought back for an episode of Danger Force as guests. (Which I am really hoping for.) I wanted to continue the story (mainly Charlotte and Henry's, but I will include the rest of the characters often) in my own way, so I started writing this.

I plan to write this series and post all 12 of them, as well as some other random fics that I have in progress (many of them I started over the past few years, but haven't actually finished). I really want to finish this series and I will try my hardest to, although I know you all know how hard that can be with life interfering sometimes.

I will be posting each fic as it's own, rather than one big chapter story, but they are all an ongoing storyline that takes place over a year (this fic is August, and the last fic will be July). I have some of the fics planned out already, but not all of them, so I am open to any ideas or suggestions on what you guys think should happen. There will be fluff, there will be angst, there will be comedy, and there will probably be smut because they're in college and why the fuck not.

I guess this will be considered an AU series (because I started these before the finale and didn't know they would all three end up in Dystopia, although that ending was great) where Charlotte went to Dystopia alone to open her charity. Henry made up for his missing credits while helping Ray with the new superheroes, and Jasper and Piper both went to their first year of college. This fic begins in August of Jasper and Piper's second years of college, and Charlotte and Henry's first.

Anyways, I hope you guys like it, it's a little shorter than I wanted it to be, but this is mainly just an introduction to the series.

(Also, HUGE shoutout to Lizlen as usual because I wouldn't have actually started writing this if she didn't encourage me and deal with my overthinking. You're the best!)

(And of course, I have a song for every fic because it's me and I can't help myself. Listen to it if you want the full experience.)

Song: Rivers and Roads by The Head and the Heart

Rivers and Roads

August 2021

After spending a year with her charity in Dystopia, Charlotte returned to Swellview to find that many things had changed.

Ray and Schwoz were training four new superheroes, who Charlotte remembered from before. The four young kids she had seen a year ago had grown into skilled fighters, reminding her of Henry so much that she couldn't help but be fond of them.

Piper had come home from Florida for a break and Charlotte couldn't believe how much the younger Hart had grown. While she had grown physically, she was emotionally mature in a way that made Charlotte smile with pride.

Jasper was still goofy, but Charlotte wouldn't have it any other way. She didn't realize just how much she had missed his chaotic energy in her life until it wasn't there anymore.

And of course, there was Henry. She had kept in touch with everyone while she was 7,000 miles away, but she had always been closest to Henry. But talking over the phone with him was nothing compared to seeing him in person. She pretended not to notice everyone's stares when she hugged him longer than anyone else, or the murmured comments when they were constantly attached to one another no matter where they went.

The biggest surprise, however, was the news that Henry told her a week after she came back home.

He was going to start at Boston University in the fall.

She couldn't believe it, as he began telling her that after making up for all of his missing credits and successfully completing high school the previous summer, he had began applying to colleges while taking time to consider what he wanted to do with his life. Out of the many colleges he had applied to, Boston was the first to send back an acceptance letter.

Boston University, a campus that was less than five miles from Harvard.

And ten minutes from both campuses was a small house that Henry's uncle owned in addition to his three other vacation homes.

"He's going to be halfway across the world for the next three years and won't be using the house." Henry had rambled, brown eyes lit with excitement, "He said it would be better for someone to use it than for it to just be vacant."

"Why is he leaving?" Charlotte had asked, fighting back her own excitement.

"I don't know, something about finding himself and a midlife crisis," Henry shrugged, "I honestly stopped listening after he told me I could live at the house."

Charlotte laughed, shaking her head at him fondly.

"So you just have to pay for utilities?" She clarified.

"That and take care of the devil."

"What?" Charlotte laughed at his sudden change in attitude, a grimace on his face.

"He has this cat that's like, a hundred years old. That cat is all of the hate in the world in one ancient little fluffball. I would have to feed it and make sure he doesn't try to take over the world."

"Sounds like a fair trade to me." Charlotte teased, glad when a smile came across his face again, "I'll make sure to come by and check on you every day to make sure you're still alive."

Henry's laugh trailed off after a moment and she felt her heart speed up a little as he looked almost nervous.

"Or, you know, you could just take over the second bedroom?"

She froze, unsure if he was serious until she saw the look of hope and uneasiness on his face as he waited for her reaction.

There's no need to overthink this. Friends become roommates all the time.

No big deal.

"Are you sure you can put up with me as a roommate?" She finally asked, a smile fighting to break through.

He chuckled, rolling his eyes at her.

"Are you sure you can put up with me as a roommate?"

"I think I can manage." She replied, then added, "And if you really become unbearable, it sounds like I have a partner in crime to help get rid of you."

"I swear if that cat likes you after hating me since I was three-"

They leave Swellview a week and a half before classes begin.

They pack everything they can fit into Henry's 4Runner and leave early Friday morning. Charlotte drives until they stop in a small Indiana town for lunch, and then Henry switches with her, letting her relax in the passenger's seat.

"Is New York always this crazy?" Charlotte asks as they slow to a standstill for the fourth time in thirty minutes.

"It was pretty busy when I came a few years ago." Henry replies, turning the radio down to a murmur, "It is almost nine o'clock on a Friday night to be fair."

"Good point." She yawns, shifting in her seat to rest her head against the window.

"Okay, grandma," He teases, looking over at her fondly, "I'm counting on you to make sure I don't miss the hotel."

"Shut up." She retorts, stifling a smile, "It's been a long day."

"It has." He agrees, "I wish it wasn't so far away from Swellview."

"Me too." Charlotte murmurs, the familiar feeling of homesickness building in her chest. She had learned to cope with it when she was in Dystopia, but it still hit every now and then.

"Did you miss home when you were away?"

She looks over at him in surprise, taken aback by his question.

"Of course I did." She tries to catch his eye, but he won't look at her, focusing instead on the unmoving traffic ahead, "Why would you think I didn't?"

He doesn't say anything for a moment, then shrugs stiffly.

"Nothing, I didn't mean-" He cuts himself off, then tries again, "We just missed you, that's all."

"I missed you guys too." Her voice was borderline defensive, although she wasn't exactly sure why.

Before he can say anything back, her phone rings loudly, startling both of them. She looks down to see Piper's face and hits the accept button, immediately putting her on speakerphone.

"Hey, Piper!" She greets, and Henry quickly echoes her greeting.

"Hey!" The younger Hart replies, "Are you guys to the hotel yet?"

"Almost." Charlotte answers, relieved when the cars in front of them finally started moving again, "Traffic has been terrible."

"Yeah, New York is the worst." Piper says sympathetically.

"It really is." Charlotte agrees, motioning to Henry quietly.

"There's the hotel." Charlotte points to the brightly lit sign to the right, "Take this exit."

"Got it." Henry follows her direction as they continue to talk to Piper.

"So how's Florida?" Henry inquires as Charlotte uses his phone to find the rest of the way to the hotel.

"Hot." She deadpans, "But there's plenty of beaches around so that's cool."

"We'll have to come visit when we have a break." Charlotte chimes in as they pull into the hotel entrance.

"You better. I'm already in need of some girl time and the past few weeks has not been enough." Piper complains, then adds, "Thanks to someone hogging you the entire time you were home."

"I know right," Henry shoots back with a smile Piper can't see, "Jasper wouldn't leave Charlotte alone."

"I was talking about you, lover boy!"

In the yellow light of the hotel sign, Charlotte swears she sees a faint blush on Henry's cheeks as he reaches over to grab the phone from her.

"We're at the hotel, gotta go, byeeee!"

He cuts off her protest before handing the phone back to Charlotte with an awkward silence.

"I'll go get us checked in." He finally says, quickly grabbing his phone and wallet before heading inside the lobby.

Charlotte's phone rings again, and she isn't surprised to see it was Piper again.

"Is he gone?" The blonde asks before Charlotte can even open her mouth.

"What?"

"Is Henry gone yet?"

"Yeah, he went inside to check us in." Charlotte answers, "Why?"

"Because I want to know how things are going and you two obviously won't talk about it with the other one around."

"What are you talking about, Piper?"

"I'm talking about the obvious tension between the two of you that the rest of us have been suffocating in for years."

"What?!"

"You know exactly what I'm talking about!"

"No-"

"Do you know how frustrating it is to watch two people who are so obviously in love just pretend that they're just friends? It's like watching 8 seasons of a soap opera and then the main characters don't become canon!"

"What-"

"I mean really Charlotte, do you think that the two of you, as sickly in love with each other as you are, can actually live in a house alone together and not have anything happen?"

"Well I thought so but apparently not-"

"All I'm saying is that when you two finally pull your heads out of your asses and make it official, I better be the first to know."

"Jasper already claimed that right." Charlotte interrupts, fighting back a mischievous smile.

"What?!"

"Yeah, we had to make him think we were dating back before he knew Henry was Kid Danger, and he freaked out. He made us promise afterwards that we would tell him first if 'anything ever happened'."

"Fine. Henry will tell Jasper and you will tell me."

"Nothing is going to happen."

"That's what you think."

"That kind of sounded like a threat."

"It was. I've got money invested in this."

"You bet on us?!"

"Not just me!"

"Excuse me?"

"Well we have to have something going to keep us sane!" Piper protests.

"Who all bet on us?"

"Schwoz, Bose and I bet that you two will be together by Christmas, Miles and Chapa said by spring break, and then Ray and Jasper bet that you guys will wait until the end of the spring semester." Piper explains.

"Well I'm glad at least Mika has the decency to not bet on us-"

"Oh no, she bet that you guys would wait until graduation." Piper corrects, "She started talking about a slowburn or something like that."

"You guys are the worst." Charlotte grumbles, noticing Henry out of the corner of her eye, "Hey, I gotta go. Henry is coming back."

"Make it happen, Page." Piper exclaims, "You've until Christmas to make me and Schwoz rich!"

"I'm hanging up now!"

Charlotte hangs up just as Henry gets back in the driver's seat, an unreadable expression on his face.

"What?" Charlotte immediately asks, eyeing him warily.

"So," He begins as he starts looking for a place to park, "Turns out they overbooked by accident and there's only one room available for us."

"Oh." Charlotte nods slowly, "That's…fine."

"And it's a one bed room."

"Oh." She repeats, nodding again while trying to seem calm, "No big deal."

"You sure?" He clarifies, glancing over at her carefully.

"Yeah. I mean, we used to have sleepovers all the time." She reminds him with a shrug.

"Right."

"Right."

The uncomfortable silence is thankfully broken by the two of them getting out to grab their bags. Charlotte grabs her small overnight bag and follows Henry to the elevator, trying to hide the way she was kind of freaking out.

The thing is, this shouldn't be a big deal. She and Henry had slept in the same room on many occasions since they were kids. They had even shared Henry's bed before a few times, so this isn't really any different.

Except that it is, because they're alone now.

She's so in her thoughts that she doesn't even notice they've reached the room on the third floor until Henry is opening the door to their room. She follows him into the room to see a king-sized bed with a small chair and desk, a tv, and a mini fridge.

Well, at least it's a king size.

She can feel the tension in the air as they set their stuff down, and she's already thinking of hiding in the bathroom to text Piper when Henry speaks up.

"You want to shower first?"

"Sure."

She all but runs to the bathroom after grabbing her pajamas and phone, immediately typing out a text to Piper.

'I don't know how you did this but I will get you and whoever else helped you back'

Her phone vibrates after only twenty seconds.

'What are you talking about?'

She turns on the water to the shower before replying.

'Somehow the hotel overbooked and Henry and I are now sharing a room with one bed'

She gets twelve laugh-crying emojis as a reply, followed by-

'I wish I could claim responsibility but that's just the universe telling you to hurry up and get it together.'

She rolls her eyes as she begins undressing, typing with one hand.

'No, it's because New York is the fucking worst.'

She tosses her phone on top of her pajamas before getting into the spray of nearly boiling water.

She prolongs the inevitable for eighteen minutes before giving in and shutting the water off. She dries off with the generic white hotel towel before checking her phone to see Piper's three replies from sixteen minutes ago.

'That's why ya girl is in Florida'

'But seriously, you and my brother need to just admit you love each other cause this shit has gone on for like 38 years'

'Jokes aside, he cares about you and you care about him. Stop overthinking it.'

Charlotte buries her face in her hands, taking a deep breath before grabbing her phone again.

'I know, I'm just scared.'

She pulls on her shirt and shorts, the floral silk slipping smoothly against her skin.

'I know, but so is he. He really had it rough this past year with you gone.'

Charlotte pauses, rereading the text carefully.

"Did you miss home when you were away?"

"We just missed you, that's all."

She hesitates before answering.

'What do you mean?'

'Just talk to him.'

After telling each other goodnight, Charlotte steps out of the bathroom to see Henry sprawled out across the bed, phone in hand.

"Jasper just got off the plane-" He falters when he looks up at her, but quickly continues, "so he'll talk to us tomorrow."

"Cool. Tell him I said goodnight." Charlotte requests as she folds her dirty clothes and puts them back in her bag. She then leans down to fish her phone charger out of her purse.

"Got it."

She freezes for a moment at his almost strangled tone, her face feeling warmer than before. She finally dares to look back at him, only to see his back as he flees to the bathroom, clothes in hand.

Charlotte makes it her personal mission to fall asleep before Henry gets out of the shower, if for no other reason than to avoid this whole awkward-possibly-but-most-likely-sexual-tension.

She almost makes it, too, until the sound of the bathroom door opening jolts her wide awake.

Just pretend your asleep.

The worst thing about being friends for almost fourteen years is that they know each other too well. She knows that Henry is hesitating coming out of the bathroom to face her because he is a staller in the worst of times, and she knows that he knows that even though she's trying her best to fake it, she's not asleep in the slightest.

She feels the other side of the bed dip under his weight as he slips under the covers, and she forces herself to keep her breathing even.

After seven minutes of silence, Charlotte finds herself starting to relax, the exhaustion of the day settling in.

"Does this feel weird to you too?"

She nearly jumps at the sound of his voice, her mind running a million miles an hour because what does he mean-

"What, sharing a bed in a hotel?"

He chuckles, shaking his head at her bluntness as she hears him shift to lay on his back.

"I meant being away from Swellview, but yeah, the bed is kinda weird too, I guess."

She echoes his laugh, glad to feel the tension ease a little as she rolls to lay on her back as well.

"Sort of?" She admits, looking up at the light gray ceiling, "It's just been crazy the past year. I was away from home so long, and then I came back, and next thing I know, I'm moving halfway across the country."

"Do you regret it?"

She glances over at him.

"Which part?"

He shrugs.

"All of it?"

"No." She decides after thinking it over, "I'm glad that I was able to help so many people in Dystopia. But I'm also ready to start a new chapter."

"What about saying yes to moving in with me?"

"What?" She feels her heart skip a beat at the phrase moving in with me, but she catches herself.

"Do you regret it?" He finally looks over at her, and she meets his gaze.

"I was surprised when you asked me," she confesses, "but honestly, it never seemed weird for me to stay with you."

His eyes are gentle, the warm brown welcoming Charlotte to lose herself in them.

"I really missed you, Char." His voice is even softer than his eyes, and Charlotte smiles.

"I really missed you too."

She wants to ask him about what happened over the past year, what he really meant when he asked if she missed home, what Piper really meant by him 'having it rough' while she was gone.

But instead, she lets sleep overtake her as the sound of Henry's breathing evens out.

Charlotte's alarm slowly brings her back to reality as she whines in annoyance at the familiar sound.

Five more minutes.

She wants to reach behind her and hit snooze, but while she's working up the energy to tell her arms to move, someone leans over her and suddenly her alarm is silent.

Thank God.

She sighs and snuggles further into the warm body pressed against her.

She's almost asleep when the alarm sounds again and she groans, surprised to hear a voice answer her after the alarm goes silent again.

"Charlotte?"

Through her sleepy haze, she recognizes Henry's voice.

"What?" She mumbles against a soft fabric that smells very familiar, like citrus mixed with something earthy, like sandalwood.

"You've got to stop."

Her brows furrow in confusion at the strained tone of his voice. She shifts against him, stretching her leg out from where it's tangled with his, and she thinks she hears his breath hitch.

"Stop what?" She prompts, her voice hoarse from sleep as her hand grips the back of his shirt loosely to keep him there.

"That."

"What?" She whines, slowly forcing her eyes open, but letting them shut again almost immediately. Why is he still talking when they could be sleeping?

She readjusts once again, her leg slipping in between his again, and she definitely hears a muffled groan this time.

That, paired with his tightened grip on her waist, are enough for even her sleep-muddled mind to think through.

Oh.

She freezes immediately, and she knows he can tell when it hits her.

Fuckfuckfuckfuck…

"Oh."

"There she is." He quips, his tone way too amused for this particular situation.

She quickly puts some space between them, though a small part of her misses the warmth of his body instantly. The bigger part of her, however, is panicking.

"I am so sorry." She blurts out, eyes wide open now.

"It's fine." He assures, again, way too casual.

"We fell asleep on separate sides of the bed, I don't-I mean…" Charlotte stammers, trying to reason with herself more so than him at this point.

"Well, I woke up around two and you were over here-"

"Oh, so it's my fault?"

"Well you were on my side of the bed." He retorts, a playful grin tugging at his lips.

"Well you didn't have to-" She cuts herself off with a renewed flush, "you know!"

"You've been pressed up against me for six hours-"

"So-"

"-and you were making noises-"

"I was complaining about the alarm!"

"That is not what it sounded like!"

Charlotte's jaw dropped as she stared at him, affronted, ignoring the warmth that was suddenly spreading in her stomach. He looked mildly uncomfortable as well, watching her from only a foot away.

Her alarm sounded yet again and she groaned loudly in annoyance again, reaching behind her to slam her hand down on snooze yet again.

She turned back to see him watching her with a dumbfounded expression, and she glared back at him.

"What, I can't even complain anymore?" She snaps, still very much flustered, and grabs her phone before walking to the bathroom.

She leans against the counter and tries to force her heart to relax.

Why did I think this was a good idea?

The first half of the car ride to Boston is suffocating.

Neither of them attempt to make conversation other than a few directions on Charlotte's end.

It isn't until they pass the Massachusetts state line that Henry breaks the silence.

"Remember when we traveled to that alternate universe?"

Charlotte glances over at him in confusion, but nods anyways.

"Yeah, what about it?"

"I wonder how the alternate versions of us are doing." He muses, "Are they going to college? Is Harvard and Boston University even a thing in that universe?"

Charlotte stares at him, bewildered.

"Did you hit your head or something?"

He shoots her a slightly exasperated look, rolling his eyes.

"No, I'm just curious. I want to make sure evil Henry is achieving his dreams."

Charlotte can't stifle a laugh, and she knows he's just trying to make things between them normal again.

"I'm sure evil Henry is going to the evil college of his dreams."

He smiles at this, although she's sure it has more to do with the easing tension than her actual words.

"We should go back and visit."

"Absolutely not." She shuts him down straightaway.

"I want to know if evil Ray took my advice and changed!"

"If he's anything like our Ray, he hasn't."

He chuckles at that, not even bothering to argue.

"Yeah, that's fair."

They talk for so long that before either of them realizes it, they're pulling into the driveway of Henry's uncle's house.

Their house.

Charlotte looks at the unique teal color of the outside, the small white staircase leading to the front door, the beautiful maple trees shading the left side of the house, and she thinks that maybe, just maybe, she could call this place home.