It Couldnt Be Helped

Like they’re in a meeting with the rest of the Z TEAM listening to a SDN exec talk about some new BS services and features they’re adding. And legit everyone is so bored.

Or they’re at some gala event hanging out when some fancy rich people have them join conversation.

Either or, they’re both bored and dead inside. And the exec or the rich people are talking and not paying attention so Robert leans in close and quietly and sarcastically points something out like “His fly is open. He has those stupid heart print boxers”. And Herm looks and then Robert is like “Be serious Herman.” And Herm Is trying to not laugh.

This goes on a bit, trading quips, jokes and observations with “Be serious” and soon Herm is tearing up from holding back his laughs l and he’s shivering and Robert is trying to not show any form of Emotion. But then herm let’s out an accidental “snrk” as the speaker says something kinda cringey and Robert is having to cover his mouth.

The speaker sees Mecha man and Waterboy trembling and Waterboy is crying??

He's just such a sweet kid and they feel even worse because they know they've treated older Herm badly. This baby did nothing wrong.

Ok I’ve talked about this a bit with @lio-the-chaotic-nonbeanie-weenie -the-chaotic-nonbeanie-weenie ! And he prepared its LONG. I’ve been writing this all day.

So essentially Herm gets hit with a power that makes him 6 years old. He’s confused, scared cause SCARY VILLAIN, but all these cool heroes are stopping the villain and he’s amazed. When the heroes come to check on him, they look confused and bewildered, seeing this kid in a hero T-shirt, goggles and yellow ducky rainboots. Herm asks how he got here and the Pink and a blue hair lady and the guy with the pony tail just look at each other.

Soon the rest of the team plus Chase and Mandy are staring at this small, moist child and he looks in awe, but also worried. Little Herm asks where his parents are cause he’s not supposed to go out on his own and he’s not supposed to talk to strangers, but they’re heroes so it should be okay. And everyone looks at each other. They don’t know what to do.

Robert asks how old Herm is (since he mentioned his parents) and Herm is counting on his fingers for a moment, looking confused for a second and the he says he’s six but he’s holding up five fingers (it’s what he’s used to). Everyone’s hearts clench and they’re like “oh fuuuuuck”. Mandy calls a meeting and she says that they’ll talk to Herm in a sec! Their friend Galen will watch him but Herm needs to watch over Beef! She then picks up Beef and places in front of Herm. Herm is immediately distracted by doggie.

In the conference room everyone is asking a bunch of questions and they just don’t know exactly what to do. Mandy speaks up. She looks conflicted but she says they have to lie to Herm. A LOT of people are against this (including Robert). Mandy explains he still thinks his parents are alive. He’s six years old. And if they had his grandma come in, it might scare him to see her suddenly as old or as in poor health as she is. So they need to lie (though they’ll inform Herm’s grandmother and have people check on her) even though she herself doesn’t like it. But she doesn’t want to shatter that kid’s mental state right now.

She says the cover story is that Herm has been sent to SDN as a summer camp of sorts for kids with powers so they can learn about heroes. While he’s like this, he’ll need to stay at SDN or at some of their homes. Robert, Malevola and Sonar immediately rule out their homes for obvious reasons. Visi says she doesn’t need Herm there and Golem says he’s already got one kid to keep up with, but hey what’s one more. He’ll even hide his gummies.

And Mandy says she’ll personally cover things like clothes and food for Herm but they have to keep things a SECRET for the love of GOD. Everyone grumbles, but seeing Herm be so happy and naive and he hasn’t been beaten down as much so..they agree. Coupé asks what if he remembers this when he goes back to normal and he remembers they lied to him? Robert sighs and says then they kiss ass and try to make it up to him.

They all go back (trying to not be concerned) and Mandy smiles and tells Herm that his parents sent him to SDN for a “Heroes Training Camp”! He may not remember them dropping him off cause…the villain makes people forget things (not entirely a lie)! And Herm is wide eyed and excited (everyone’s hearts clench once more) and he’s like “M-Me?! Hero?!” And Mandy nods.

She then says Herm will stay at SDN but also with some of the other heroes! And uh…Herm must have forgotten his bag on the car but..they can’t contact his parents so..they’re going to buy everything he needs! Herm looks confused but he nods.

And it’s..both one of the cutest weeks and the saddest weeks the Z team has ever experienced. Especially since Herm doesn’t know how to control his powers, but surprisingly he’s..better off than..grown up Herm?

Herm later that day is startled suddenly after having fun exploring SDN with some of the others and he says he has to feed Goldie! He’s not home to feed Goldie! Some of the team are confused while a few others (Robert, Prism and Phen) know that Herm had a pet goldfish named Goldie and he described Goldie as “his only friend at that time” since none of the kids wanted to be his friend. Robert reassures that his parents are gonna feed Goldie. And Herm looks worried and says Goldie might miss him and Punch Up says he might but then when they see each other again, he can tell Goldie all the stories about being a hero, and that cheers Herm up.

That night the team have dinner with Herm, some of the others coming back with things like clothes, a sleeping bag and other misc items for the kid. Herm is happily eating chicken nuggets as the team tell him some stories when he looks nervous and just goes “bleeeeeh” as a waterfall of water comes out of his mouth. And Herm starts apologizing, worried that they’re gonna be mad. Everyone is always mad at him. He can’t help it! Sometimes it just happens! Please don’t be ma-

Phen then says it’s alright. They aren’t mad. And Herm looks surprised. He actually asks WHY they’re not mad. They’re quiet for a few seconds before Golem speaks up, saying he tracks dirt and mud everywhere. Flambae says he accidentally burns sh-THINGS sometimes. Punch Up says he’s so strong sometimes he breaks things on accident. They know he can’t help it! Little Herm nods, tearing up a little but smiling.

Soon it’s time for bed and Robert volunteers to stay the night. It’ll give the others time to prepare their homes. He gets the sleeping bag ready for Herm in the conference room and Herm says he’s never had a sleeping bag before. Robert says that they gotta have sleeping bags for sleepovers. Herm pauses before saying he’s never had a sleepover before. Robert replies with “you know what kid? Neither have I.” Herm gets in and gets comfy in his sleeping bag (with some towels as a pillow). Robert tells Herm to get some sleep and he’ll be here. Herm asks where he’ll sleep and Robert says a chair. They’re surprisingly comfy.

But time passes and Herm can’t sleep. Robert tells Herm he really needs to sleep but Herm whimpers that he can’t. His mom and dad haven’t tucked him in, his dad hasn’t read him a comic book or his mom hasn’t sang to him and worst of all, he doesn’t have his Mecha Man action figure to sleep with. Robert has some..strange feelings about Herm having an action figure of his dad but..he’s not gonna be too upset. No one knew what his dad did behind closed doors. So he comes up with a better alternative.

He plops Beef right on top of Herm. And Herm blinks and then giggles as Beef licks his face. Robert says Beef likes to sleep so he’ll help Herm go to sleep. And it works like a charm. Herm (and Beef) are out like a light in ten minutes. And Robert just stares at the ceiling like “fuck my life” cause what are they gonna do?

The rest of the week is something else. Various people watch over Herm, but he’s the happiest when Robert’s around. He trusts Robert the most. Mostly because he has a dog. The BEST person taking care of him during the day is Flambae since he actually knows how to take care of and treat a kid. Prism is good too and Herm sees her sparkle powers and he asks if she’s a fairy, and Prism blinks before grinning and says she’s a fairy PRINCESS.

Herm “trains” with the others. Punch up has Herm try punching a punching bag, Flambae is amused when Herm tries to pick up a small weight and can’t so instead he has Herm help HIM train cause “teamwork and shi-stuff”. Some of the others walk in to Herm hanging off of Flambae’s flexed arm giggling and swinging a little and Flambae is like “yeah I’m pretty strong. This is nothing.”

They also play “Bad guy” which is like hide and seek meets tag. Some of the Z team members teach Herm how to track and chase down a “bad guy”. One of the other team members will pretend they’re a bad guy running away and hide. Herm has to find and “take them down” by tagging them. He has fun with this game.

Phen scares the shit out of everyone when he takes Herm flying with him. Literally NO ONE but Herm and Phen are happy at ALL.

That Wednesday, Herm is nervous and he says he has piano lessons with his grandma today and he’s missing out! Coupé says his grandma knows he’s here (not a lie) so she understands. Herm looks a little bummed cause he likes piano lessons with his grandma. Prism tells Coupé to watch him before she leaves. 20 minutes later she comes back with a heavily plastic wrapped keyboard of hers and she asks Herm is he wants to play the piano and Herm is excited.

Herm has..also noticed Robert looks stressed out. He’s worried his friend is upset so he asks Prism if they can play a song for Robert cause he looks sad. Prism smiles (secretly screaming cause Herm is SO cute) and says they can write him a song if he wants. Robert ends up on break hours later and he goes into the break room and sees Prism and Herm playing with the keyboard. Prism looks up and smiles and says Herm has a song he wrote for him. Herm is immediately red and shy and tries to hide but Prism encourages him.

The song is sweet and Herm sings along to it (It has the same vibes as “Happy Again” from We Bare Bears I recommend checking that out), singing how he wants his friend to be happy. Once the song is over Robert smiles a little and ruffles Herm’s hair and says he’s happy.

Herm stays at some of the other’s houses throughout the week too. When he stays with Flambae, Prism joins and they have fun together. Flambae cooks and while Flambae cooks Prism wants to play music for Herm. Herm immediately asks for “the body” song (Bodies by Drowning Pool). No one knows what that is. He asks for “Animal song” (Animal I Have Become by Three Days Grace). Still nothing. The. Herm then asks for the song “Empty Walls”. Prism’s like “okay cool” and she finds it. The song is “Empty Walls” by Serj Tankian and when it plays Herm is HAPPY and bouncing a little and Prism and Flambae look at each other with wide “what the FUCK?!” eyes. Flambae asks who lets him listen to this and Herm smiles and says his dad! Once the song is over Herm asks for “Mike and Chester” and Prism has to look it up before she realizes he means Linkin Park.

When he stays with Prism, Flambae and Malevola come over. Herm is..admittedly scared of Malevola cause scary demon lady so he hides behind Prism. But he sees how Prism and Flambae trust and interact with her, he trusts her more and more. Malevola sees Herm get closer so she smiles and asks if he wants to arm wrestle. He does. So she arm wrestles him and wins. He feels bad but then Prism joins in, immediately losing too. Flambae lasts a tiny bit longer but he also loses. Malevola then suggests all three of them try to take her down and so they try. And at first they are losing HARD. But Malevola wants to make Herm happy so at the last minute she has her arm and hand go limp and it gets pinned down Herm is EXCITED that they won.

Soon the week is coming to an ends and the team can’t find Herm at some point. At ALL. And they are WORRIED. They go around looking all over for him, checking the break room, the bathrooms, the gym, everywhere. Chase is walking by the Janitor’s Closet when he sees a big puddle coming from it, so he goes inside. He then sees Herm, sitting in a bucket that’s too big for him and crying. Chase asks him what’s wrong and Herm is startled but he says he misses his mom. And dad.

Chase closes the door and he hears Herm out. He says he’s having so much fun but..he wants to go home. He misses getting hugs and kisses from his mom and dad. He misses his mom showing him her “speriments” (experiments) in her garden. He misses he and his dad watching the latest hero videos together. He..misses them.

Chases sighs cause this is well above what he’s prepared for. But he tells Herm his parents will see him soon. They…probably sent him here cause they want the best for him. They want him to achieve his dreams. They know he can do it. And Herm nods, crying more. Chase pats his back and says he cries a lot. Herm apologizes but chase says Robert cried a lot when he was a kid. He was a crybaby bitch. Herm is immediately distracted and he’s like “B-BAD WORD! Y-YOU SAID A BAD WORD!!”

Chase brings Herm out once he’s calmed down and the others see Chase leading him, hand in hand. They’re relieved and Robert asks where Herm was at. Chase says he was in the janitors closet and no one is surprised. Herm then immediately says Chase said a bad word. And Chase isn’t even phased as everyone laughs. Chase says he just called Robert a crybaby bitch. And Herm gasps and is like “B-Bad word again!!”. Robert asks chase if he needs to go into time out to which Chase replies “Fuck you motherfucker! If your bitch ass even tries to put me in time out I’ll drop you off the side of the building!”

Poor little Herm looks SCANDALIZED about the amount of bad words he’s hearing.

It’s that Saturday and Herm is staying at SDN again. They got clearance to use a hospital bed for the night and once again, Robert is the babysitter. He’s woken up by a tap on his shoulder and he looks up. It’s Mandy, and she smiles and quietly says she brought breakfast. Robert blinks and looks over at the hospital bed and…there’s Herm.

Regular, grown up Herm.

Herm is sleeping with Beef curled up next to him and Mandy tells Robert to be quiet. Herm is probably tired.

Minutes later, Robert finds wb in the janitors closet in tummy pain hugging his stomach and groaning and he had to explain what happened

So..I think this could very well happen. And I’m gonna speak as someone who has a sensitivity to dairy, certain oily or fatty foods and eating fattier meats etc (no official diagnosis though). Tagging @lio-the-chaotic-nonbeanie-weenie cause we’ve talked in depth about this stuff.

TW FOR EMETOPHOBIA JUST TO BE SAFE

On one hand Waterboy is VERY good at limiting himself and being very careful about his diet. He limits the things that do irritate his digestive system from dairy to meats to things like coffee. He knows his physician limits and keeps track of how much he’s consumed in a week and adjust by how he feels (in some cases especially with things like IBS, foods can cause symptoms for multiple days). So he is VERY careful and selective in what he eats.

On the other hand…he’s too polite at times. And in the beginning it was awful for him considering who the Z team are. He was worried he’d be made fun of since they already call him “Pissboy” sometimes and Invisigal is STILL mad at him for “ruining her moment”.

The first time the team + Robert, Mandy, Royd and Chase had a thanksgiving-esque meal, Waterboy was..not exactly the most pleased that there weren’t many options for him. A lot of the sides had dairy in them or there was too much meat (they had more than just Turkey). So he just helped himself to some of the vegetables and some cranberry sauce and the dish he brought to share (no one really wanted any). The others HAD seen him eat meat before so they encourage him to actually eat some meat, Punch up even saying “Ya need some meat on your bones lad!” before putting a huge heaping amount of Turkey on Waterboy’s plate. As the others laughed a little, Waterboy just smiled awkwardly and goes to sit, not wanting to seem rude.

And he knew he really shouldn’t have but he was trying to show that that maybe he could eat all of this and they won’t be mad at him. He finishes his meat and goes to the veggies but five minutes later he’s getting up and running to the bathroom, hand over his mouth. Some of the others are like “gross” or “he better not be sick”. Robert sighs and says he’ll check on him.

As Robert gets closer to the bathroom he hears just got awful retching and whimpering he opens the door. And poor Waterboy is just trembling. Robert comes over and rubs Waterboy’s back and asks if he’s okay and Waterboy shakes his head, tears falling. He then tells Robert that he can’t have too much meat or it makes him sick. Robert asks why he ate all of it then. Waterboy sniffles and says that he didn’t want anyone to be mad at him. Robert feels bad for him and he says next time he HAS to let them know. He doesn’t want him hurting or making himself sick to make others happy.

Malevola knocks on the door and asks if they’re okay before she hears Waterboy start retching again. And Robert answers they’re fine..ish. She peeks in and asks if he’s sick. Robert tells her that too much meat made Waterboy sick. It upsets his stomach. And Malevola feels bad cause she was one of the ones cheering him on to eat more meat. Prism is over next cause it’s been a while and she’s concerned. Malevola says Waterboy is sick cause meat can make him sick in large amounts. And despite being a bit grossed out she immediately comes to Waterboy’s aid. Once he’s done, she helps clean him up, has him rinse his mouth up and she gives him a breath mint from her purse, cause mint can help with nausea.

Another (not IBSish related) instance of Waterboy being too polite is when the Z team all decide to go get sushi together. Waterboy does not eat fish at all. It freaks him out a LOT. He loves fish and he sees fish as friends. For a while, he related more to fish than people. And fish never judge him for existing. They’re constantly wet too. He even had a pet goldfish named Goldie before he lived with his grandma and Goldie was his only friend (until Goldie died). He doesn’t judge people for eating fish and he knows it’s a good source of protein and important to many cuisines. He however cannot personally do it.

So here he is, in hell, eating edamame while trying not to look too nervous. The others are a little annoyed that he’s not eating sushi with them cause hello this place is EXPENSIVE and he’s not seizing the opportunity? They think he’s being strange. Flambae even holds out some sushi in Waterboy’s face and he tells him to eat it. Waterboy looks petrified and he immediately goes up and he says he’s going to the bathroom and he hurries off. When he doesn’t come back for a while, once again it’s Robert going to check on him.

And he finds Waterboy telling himself to get it together. Robert asks what’s wrong and Waterboy is nervous and pale. He says everything is fine but Robert gives him a look. And Waterboy sighs and he’s embarrassed and says he doesn’t eat fish. He’s like, reverse pescatarian. Waterboy explains that he just..relates to fish too much. He likes them a lot. And he..just can’t eat it. And he’s not mad at anyone for eating fish but he can’t do it. He knows it’s hypocritical or crazy or stupid but..he can’t.

And Robert hums and says he doesn’t have to eat fish. He’s sure there’s some vegetarian options. But Robert them says waterboy needs to tell the others himself. And Waterboy feels a little better but also nervous. When they go back Prism asks what’s up and Waterboy says he doesn’t eat fish. At all. They ask if it’s a dietary thing and he says it’s a personal thing. He just can’t. Fish are wet like him. Fish don’t judge him for existing. Fish are just..chill. They just wanna do their own thing and they don’t care.

So it just feels..off for him to do it himself. He isn’t upset they’re doing it. He just..can’t.

And Phen nods and suggests he have some tamago sushi (egg), or a veggie maki roll. And Waterboy seems to perk up. And as he eats his own special sushi with a scary amount of wasabi on it, they ask how the fuck can he be kicked down by meat or dairy but when it comes to spice he’s completely fine. Waterboy just shrugs and asks if he can get MORE wasabi.

So with all that being said…

He so would do this.

Some office coworker is trying to be nice to him (maybe they’re trying to be friendly. Maybe they think he’s cute. Idk or care). They give him a milkshake. It’s a vanilla milkshake with whipped cream, chocolate sauce and bits of chocolate candy in it. And Waterboy is calculating how much fucking dairy Is in this thing. He doesn’t even eat chocolate! So this shake is made with ice cream, milk, chocolate candies, chocolate sauce and whipped cream. That’s five individual dairy components. He’s going to DIE.

Waterboy sees the happy look on this coworker’s face though and he shakily accepts, smiling and thanking them. And they have him take a sip for them and he wants to cry. But he does and he says it’s good! (He doesn’t eat chocolate for obvious reasons. He thinks this is too rich. Too sweet. God help him). The coworker is happy and tells him to enjoy.

And Waterboy drinks a little more of it cause shit. He doesn’t want them to feel bad if they find it in the garbage. So he drinks about half of this shake before he throws it away. Theeen the cramps start coming and he’s rushing. Golem sees him rush by, clutching his stomach and whimpering. Golem asks what’s wrong and Waterboy says “Bathroom. Bad.”

Golem understands and watches him rush in and thank god it’s EMPTY. What waterboy doesn’t know is as he’s fighting for his life, Golem is standing in front of the door and not letting people in. He doesn’t want Waterboy to feel humiliated. And when they both don’t show up for the shift Robert asks where they’re at. Golem has his earpiece in and on so he says Waterboy’s sick and he’s blocking the bathrooms so no one gets in. Robert sighs cause he’s gonna hear so many complaints but….oh well.

An hour and a half later Robert really needs them back so he goes and checks on them. Well, he sees Golem playing a game on his phone. And he asks if he can go in. Golem thinks for a moment before saying “sure” and he moves aside. When Robert goes in, Waterboy is curled up on the floor. Robert just says “oh bud..” and Waterboy says “L-Leave me alone to diiiiiiiie….”

Robert asks what happened and Waterboy explains and trembles cause oogh tummy hurt. And Robert says he’s gotten so good at telling the others he can’t have certain things. Why did he falter now? Waterboy says that the coworker was so nice to him and they spent money. He didn’t want to make them feel bad. Robert says it’s their own fault for buying them something without checking with him first. He asks if a coworker brought him a peanut butter milkshake ( @lio-the-chaotic-nonbeanie-weenie introduced me to the hc Robert has a peanut allergy) and he declined it would that make him bad? Waterboy says it’s different with Robert since he’ll DIE if he eats peanuts. Robert says it’s really not since it’s rejecting food that’ll fuck your body up. His thing will cause death sure , but waterboy’s body also gets fucked up when he eats stuff he can’t have.

Robert asks if he needs the rest of the day off and Waterboy whimpers that he doesn’t know. He wishes lactaid works on him.

herman is in a pretty difficult situation, he's a full time caretaker for his grandma and a bunch of cats, we've seen their house and it clearly looks a little disheveled, and the thing about old people is that they have a shitton of health complications like,, twice a week. And Herman clearly cares for her so he's frequently taking her to the doctor and whatnot. Now, to add to all that, his power makes literally everything a million times harder than it needs to be, and he clearly isn't receiving disability benefits or any sort of help even though his power negatively affects every aspect of his life and makes it really hard to get a decent steady income.

NOW. With all that being said, I think that the first time Z-team gets Herman to drink more than a few placating sips of beer he gets pretty buzzed and just stares at the ceiling in silence for a while, and during a lull in conversation he mutters something along the lines of:

"If i get one more goddamned medical bill... im gonna buy a gun.." and then just trails off, nodds and goes back to staring at the ceiling. He's just as done as tge rest of us, just with way worse impulse control. I may or may not be projecting. I can't really think of how z-team would react tho,,

ABSOLUTELY.

I headcanon that he’s had to work since he was a teen. Sure his grandma receives social security or whatever elderly people get but it’s not enough. Sometimes he worked multiple jobs at one time. And every single job he works at eventually fires him or lets him go no matter how hard he works or how good of an employee he is.

And it didn’t stop when he entered college. He only got a few scholarships so it wasn’t a full ride so he had to take student loans. He worked, studied, took care of his grandma, the entire time. He didn’t have a social life even if he wanted to try (not that anyone wanted to be friends with him). Then his grandma’s health gets worse and he has to decide on what to do. He has to drop out of college even though he wanted to finish so bad. He was going into biology for fucks sake. Sure he wanted to be a hero but he thought he would never get the chance ever. His powers were “useless”. He’s so upset by this but he loves his grandma more than anything.

He has to sell the car his grandma lets him use. It’s a bit older, not worth a lot. That’s why he takes the bus. He works as hard as he can, once having three jobs at once but nope. He couldn’t keep them. He’s been fired from GARDENERS. And worst of all is that word gets around about a man who constantly drips water and “ruins everything” so a LOT of places don’t want to hire him.

The finances are stacking up. He has utility bills, medical bills from both his grandma and himself (he has to get regular testing by doctors for his powers since they’re so severe), student debt, services for dehumidifying homes and mold treatment, groceries, bus passes, the works. He weeps at night cause he’s so stressed out.

And that’s not to mention the THIRTY-THREE FUCKING CATS he has to help take care of. It’s a miracle their house isn’t disgusting. Sure they rehome the cats, work with rescues etc but his grandma always finds another cat and boom they’re back at square one. Herm wonders if it’s something to do with her mental health that she brings so many cats in but he can’t find himself to say no to his grandma. He loves her too much.

So when he gets hired by SDN it’s a fucking miracle even if it’s a janitorial position. A place where you can’t discriminate against powers, pays okay and provides health insurance? Sign him up! That’s not even to mention he gets to see actual HEROES up close. It’s HEAVEN.

So he takes the job and he does it with a smile cause it’s better than nothing. And his idol mecha man is being NICE to him. Blonde Blazer is so NICE to him. This is a GREAT job since he has people being NICE to him for once.

And after he becomes a hero he’s over the moon. He’s living his childhood dream. And yeah, his team hates him at first. Yeah he fucking hates himself cause he feels so useless. And yeah, he’s traumatized by fucking Shroud but he’s overall happy. He has a good job, friends now and he can do good just like he’s always wanted to. He even gets to work and get extra money still doing custodial work!

So when he goes out with the Z-team and actually drinks for once, he’s definitely in a more “loose” headspace to open up. The Z-team are talking about shit that sucks and Herm goes “you know what sucks? Student loan debt. I owe 50,000 and I didn’t even get to FUCKING graduate college.”

The team is surprised cause Herm RARELY uses the F-bomb and he isn’t stuttering much at all but they’re like “yeah that sucks buddy” before Herm goes quiet and then he starts ranting. He rants about the medical bills, the utility bills, the fucking jobs that won’t hire him, the cats, the services he has to hire so they don’t get sick, groceries, etc. He goes on this frustrated Angry rant that everyone is wide eyed and quiet while watching. And to think that they fed him so many Melon flavored fruity cocktails to get him to this point.

And eventually Herm goes quiet, staring off into space and he starts giggling. He giggles. Everyone is concerned and especially when Herm just goes “I can’t take it anymore” over and over again. Herm is usually a hesitant optimist. He tries his best to be helpful and to motivate his team and to look on the bright side even though..he knows he’s gonna get hurt. So this is..very telling. To be so down that you can do nothing but laugh cause if you don’t you’ll snap.

Then Herm starts crying, laughing and crying before it turns into sobs and he just says he can’t take it anymore. He’s 24. He can’t do this anymore. This isn’t what he wanted from life.

Robert rubs his back. He’s the only one of the team that understands what this is like. He’s had his break down YEARS ago. He’s numb to it at this point. And he’s worse off than Herm is. So all he can do is rub Herm’s back and comfort him. He tells Herm he’s had enough and that he should go home. He’ll help Herm get home and he asks where Herm lives. Herm can’t process an address so he just says “My house” and Robert sighs.

They all manage to get a very drunk Herm to Robert’s apartment and Robert and Malevola try to put him on the couch but he fights it and says he’s gonna get it wet and he needs a tub, so they plop him in the tub. Robert asks if he needs anything and Herm just is dozing off at this point so they close the shower curtain, turn the lights off and let him sleep.

The team just are left in Roberts apartment just looking like 0-0 cause if the sunshine of their team is suffering that much but still going what the FUCK have they been doing harassing him the way they have?

When Herm wakes up he doesn’t remember any of it happening at all and he’s like “oh g-gosh don’t t-tell me I-I did s-something s-silly!” And Robert’s wincing internally and he’s like “you didn’t do anything silly.”

The next time he goes to work everyone is nicer to him and it’s like, making him feel uneasy. What is going on?? Eventually Maleovla speaks up, asking if he’s okay from their night and what he said. She’s concerned. They’re ALL concerned. And Herm blinks and he’s embarrassed and he laughs nervously and says he’s okay. He’s dealt with this for so long. He can keep going! The team isn’t having it and they tell him to talk to them when it gets overwhelming. They can at the very least hear him out. Herm sniffles and says “w-will do…”

Phenomaman adds Herm’s name to his list of “Friends who need Financial Help” list right under Robert. He’s got a lot of money. He doesn’t know what to do with it. He can help his friends