𝔀𝓸𝓻𝓽𝓱 𝓈𝑒𝓋𝑒𝓃 𝒹𝒶𝓎𝓈

“ You are an angel. ” was the only thing he had to say back, the only thing he had in his mind really allowed. Sure, maybe neither of them knew anything about cars and the difficult task of changing a tire, but at least they were together in this path to knowledge. Two heads worked better than one, after all. — Nate reaches inside his trunk, gathered the new tire, the few tools he knew were part of the task, but that was about as far as he was willing to go on his own. “ Okay, so— I think we have to use that thing to raise the car, but I don’t really know if that is before or after removing the current tire. ”

“ You think you can help me ? ” came next. Nate did not have a very extensive knowledge of tires and the ins and outs of it working, but from his perspective, the tire was destroyed beyond any fixing. “ I apologize for interrupting you in the middle of your run. I just didn’t know what to do. ”

“ hi ! hey ! hello, yes, you, please, help me, i don’t know what to do ! ” maybe asking a random stranger for assistance wasn’t the best option considering it was late at night and he was stranded with a flat tire way too far from home. but then again, nate was desperate, lost and clueless of what to do. unable to ask for help in his current situations. what else could he do, really ? “ i, i have like an extra tire in the trunk and that little round thing i don’t know the name of and— i just, i got flat tire and usually my mom has someone change it for me, so i never really learned how to do it, but my phone is dead— honestly i have no idea of what i’m supposed to be doing and— god, can you please help ? i’m pretty sure if i don’t home by midnight my mom will kick me off the family. ”

“ oh, yes, that is perfect ! that is amazing, song ! ” he couldn’t really hide his excitement at that. nate turned jumpy at the mere idea, more energetic at the perfect way it played out in his mind. even with the frightful tug of anxiety against his chest, the thought of helping all those people sent adrenaline rushing through his veins. “ song and i will walk in and distract them. if any of them try to shoot us, i’ll make sure their bullet weight like feathers. —while we are at it, ” his lively attention turned towards speedy. exhalation obvious in the continuous snap of his fingers. “ you’ll take everyone to safety, speedy, and then you can give us a signal when you are done, so the three of us can work together to disarm them and tie them up until the police arrive. ” nate didn’t want to waste another second, “ song, lead the way ? ”

the american flag cape swayed in the wind. nate stood outside the bank dressed up as captain awesome, his heart racing, eyes switching back and forth between the glass doors and the people inside. — the robbers had guns, that was the only thought in his mind. guns, bullets, powder, explosion. he hated how nervous it got him. how his hands started to sweat under uniformed gloves. “ we should have a plan, right ? before we walk in ? ” as if on cue his mind ran through thousand different scenarios, considered every horrible outcome to this situation. his heart spiked a beat. “ i could make their guns weight a tonne, they would have to drop it. then we could rush to make sure the hostages are safe ? ”

Immediately his attention shifted to the victim, reaching out to give to look at the moon on the floor, to kneel beside him. “ Sir ? Sir, stay with me. ” He attempted to prop his arm around his waist, to keep the other’s weight steady in order to help him up. “ Sir, I’m gonna take you to the hospital, but I need you here with me. What is your name ? ”

nate campbell + tv tropes

“ no, wait — ! ’ his foot finds the gap at the door first, immediate physical reaction to stop her from closing it, and then come his eyes, peering through the breach a second later, staring — all hopeful — at the annoyed expression on her features. every atom in nate’s body was begging him to let it go, go home, leave this stupid idea behind. ( his palms were sweaty, his heartbeat ringing against his ear. ) every part of him was insanely curious to figure out the outcome of this. it did not make sense. jude lidell was one piece of information that did not make sense with everything else. he needed to know. “ hi, well, sorry, no. hm. it’s just, well, it’s not that— not that i am accusing you of lying or anything, but it’s, hm— well, you share the same last name as them, and some uncanny resemblance too, especially to charlotte. i, hm. ” he half shrugs. the sentence getting lost midway through being uttered. he was going over it again and again in his head: jude lidell was spirit. she had saved him more than a few times. she had the same last name as his biological parents, the same eyes as his mother. he just couldn’t come up with any conclusion out of it. at least, nothing that didn’t sound outlandish, insane. “ i promise i won’t take long with the questions. like, fifteen minutes max. i can, hm, buy you an ice cream ? for the trouble ? everybody likes ice cream, right ? ”

“ oh. ” there is a small pause, a nod. “ do you want to, hm, go out for pizza ? won’t help with the whole tired thing, but it will definitely help with the hungry one. and maybe a little with the worn out if you mix pizza with redbull, now that is my kind of mixture. ”

“ no, it’s, it’s okay. i was probably rambling, right ? i do it sometimes, my bad. i, hm, i was, i’m, wondering, you know, are you alright ? you look kinda— ” there is a pause. a moment lost to consider the right words to say it without offending her. “ spaced out ? ”

it isn’t fear exactly, it is something else. it’s the rush of a racing heart. it is the anxiety of knowing something is wrong, not knowing what exactly. it is the certainty that he’ll be standing in front of someone that could kill him, if she wanted to. — for the entire minute that nathaniel stands in front of her door, he is rehearsing what to say, going over the same words about a thousand times, thinking and re-thinking how to ask a simple question. for the entire minute that he is looking at her doorbell, he is second-guessing himself. what go wrong ? well, everything, everything could go wrong. — he pretends he is diving. a deep breath, a second of hesitance, and a knock. — all the sixty-eight seconds that go by are accounted for. the moment he sees her is the moment he stammers. “ i, hm, i. ” nate clears his throat, breaths in, slowly, out, slower “ excuse me, i was wondering if i could ask you some questions about charlotte and christopher lidell ? i, hm, i work for crystalline times. ”

“ I—I guess. ” He shook his head, shrugged. He couldn’t think of a world in which he didn’t have his parents, he couldn’t begin to imagine what her life must have been like. “ Wait, why not ? Why aren’t you a fan of him ? He is awesome ! It’s right there on the name, captain awesome, what else can you ask for ? Not that I care, I mean, I care about the article, but— Why wouldn’t you like him ? ”

“ Oh. ” He nodded. “ I’m sorry. ” There was this small hint of some unreasonable guilt tugging at his chest, a sharp wave of inadequacy washing over him. As though Nate had stolen the opportunity of having good parents from her, by having them for himself. As though that terrible thought made any sense at all. He tried, forced himself to shake it away, but nothing he did seemed to change it. “ It, it, hm, must be really terrible. That, that muse be terrible, I’m sorry. ” A second later, a second too late, probably, he willed himself into focusing on the interview at hand. " —So, you would say that everyone is a captain awesome fan, then ? ” There was a small glint of excitement at the corner of his eyes. “ Old and young alike ? ”

There is a small frown, “ Your mom is not great ? ” A second later, Nate is shaking his head, backtracking on the words that came out of his lips before he had a chance to really think about what he was saying, “ I— That is not. That is not about the story, that’s— You don’t have to answer that. ” It’s only then, only a second a later, that he nods, repeatedly, profusely. “ So, if you had to talk about captain awesome fans, specifically, you know, all those people that got the tattoos. If you had to give me, like an overall idea, what would you say they are like ? ”

“ Oh, no, no, not a drag. Mom is great. She is awesome. It’s just, hm, I don’t think she would endorse me making terrible decisions, and well, no offense to the captain awesome fans, but that wouldn’t be the most amazing decision. ” There was a small shake of the head. Nate cleared his throat. “ Full disclosure, I’m an intern. I just think, you know, making stories about new heroes and their accomplishments could be interesting. Maybe if I had something ready, they could squeeze it in there somewhere, don’t you think ? ”

“ i— what ? no, no, that’s not what i meant. i can’t get a tattoo. mom would kill me. — i am asking if you have seen anyone get captain awesome tattooed yet ? i’m making a research for the crystalline times. i, i work there. ”