Ever since the first time Henry spoke he'd been speaking more and more. Every day he seemed to get a little stronger, his muscles improving more and more while more and more words left his mouth. It wasn't perfect by far. Other than his mouth muscles, he was pretty weak despite all the physio, and only a few sentences wore him out considerably.

His brain was surprisingly less damaged than they expected too. While his mind was a bit more frazzled than before this whole incident and while he did have a lot less control over his muscles, he seemed to have a pretty good grip on everything apart from occasional disorientation.

Most importantly, even with these changes he was still Henry. But he'd be lying if he said it was exactly like before. Something was off, different.

A magazine was spread open in Jasper's hands but he wasn't really reading it.

"What you thinking 'bout, Jasper?" Henry grinned playfully, staring at the dazed Jasper who was sat next to his bed.

They still hadn't really talked about his whole death thing. I mean, they obviously had, but not really. Not to the extent they should have, anyway.

Not one word had been spoken about how they coped in that horrible time where Henry was truly dead. Nothing about Jasper's insomnia, Charlotte's fury, and how Schwoz spent every hour of his wake pouring his heart into fixing the situation in any way he could. They hadn't talked about Ray's sex addiction or the way he pushed the bloody sword over and over and over again through Angel's dead body. They hadn't talked about the roller coaster of emotions they faced throughout the year that they'd spent trying desperately to bring him back. They hadn't talked about the decaying, disgusting body that left Charlotte, Schwoz and Ray pale as a ghost and shivering more than Jasper knew was physically possible. They hadn't talked about the countless surgeries and the patchwork quilt body that made Jasper want to run.

They hadn't talked about Jasper's heartbreak.

They hadn't talked about his parents dazed looks.

They hadn't talked about Piper, the ferocious Piper, dropping out of high school and becoming as timid as a mouse.

And it hung over them, creating a rift between the two.

Henry interrupted the silence. "Dude, you okay?"

Jasper continued to stare at the magazine, the colours bleeding together from his cloudy eyes.

"Jasper!"

He snapped out of it. "What?"

"You okay there, you seemed spaced out?" Henry rolled onto his side, casting a concerned glance to the other man.

"I'm okay, just thinking." Jasper swalloed the heat forming behind his eyes and stood up, letting the magazine fall to the chair as he stretched his legs.

"Yeah?" Henry rolled back onto his back, following Jasper's pacing with his eyes. "What about?"

Jasper shuffled on the floor, pausing for a moment. "Just stuff, you know?"

Henry gave him a long stare, trying to mentally probe Jasper's thoughts out of him, before softly sighing and opening his mouth. "Dude you know you can tell me stuff right? We haven't really talked much since... You know, all of this."

"Yeah I know." Jasper smiled, letting out a sigh.

Henry's eyes lingered on him, watching as Jasper looked down at the floor and mentally scolded himself. He knew this was wrong and that he needed to talk to Henry, though he really didn't want to relive everything once again.

But then this was his Henry, alive and well. And if Jasper had learnt anything from this it was that life was insanely precious and that any second this rebel towards nature could fail so he had to seize every oppertunity to tell Henry the truth.

Because of this, he flicked back and forth between the floor and Henry's brown eyes with those goddamn golden specks in, before coming to a decision and sighing.

"...Can we talk tonight?"

"Yeah sure thing, Jasper." Henry's carefree grin melted away Jasper's tension.

Jasper stretched his arms out above his head, sighing slightly at the pop they made. "I guess we should do your physio. You alright with that?"

"I don't really have a choice, do I?." Henry slowly pushed himself up from the mattress, letting out a slight grunt as he rose. The carefree grin remained, rendering this nothing more than a throwaway comment- a casual complaint of something that didn't really bother him at all. But for just a passing second his brows furrowed and his voice wavered. They really needed to talk.

Jasper instinctively hovered his arms behind his back, prepared to catch him if he failed the great task of sitting up. As soon as Henry was fully up, he retreated and fiddled with the bottom of his sweatshirt.

"So mou-"

"Yeah, yeah. Mouth things first. I don't see why I have to do this so much." Henry rolled his eyes.

"You have to!"

"Nah, my speech is perfect."

Jasper laughed. "It's really not. It's do difficult to make out what you're saying sometimes."

"Nope."

"Just do it!"

"Fine." Henry playfully hit (or tried to hit) Jasper before locking those goddamn beautiful eyes with Jasper's.

Jasper felt his knees weaken.

Henry sat there, saying random sounds over and over again with exaggerated mouth movement, before moving to his arms. He lifted them above his head, repeatedly stretching them and moving them about. Initially, he had only a little trouble, his form relatively steady. But after only a few more control began to slip from him.

"I hate having to do this." It was clearly only intended to be an offhand comment but Henry's voice cracked ever so slightly, exposing something below.

Jasper reached over and patted Henry's shoulder.

"I would too, Hen."

"It's just like... Frustrating, you know?" Henry moved onto his legs, stretching them out and bending the knees repeatedly. "I used to be pretty strong. I was a superhero and now I can't even move my hands properly?" He stopped stretching and let his knees hit the mattress with a plop.

Jasper just nodded, casting the blonde a sympathetic look.

"I just feel a bit trapped, I guess." Henry's hands went to fiddle with his shirt but his fingers wouldn't cooperate.

Once again Jasper just nodded, not entirely sure what to say.

The silence stretched on, the only noise being the gentle hum of the fan in the corner of the room.

"Hey, Jasper?" Henry mumbled, breaking the silence.

"Yeah?"

"...What was it like when I was dead?"

Jasper ran his hands through his hair and let himself fall back into the chair, not caring that he was squashing the magazine. He wasn't entirely sure he'd be able to talk about this if he wasn't sitting. "Horrible. Really, really horrible."

"But how? Did you guys miss me?"

Jasper's mouth widened momentarily, dumbfounded by the stupid question. "Henry, of course we missed you!" He sat up a bit straighter. "It messed us all up so bad! I barely slept for like 6 months, Ray had a full blown addiction, Schwoz buried himself in his work, and Charlotte just spent all day every day trying to find out who killed you." His eyes clouded over.

"... It was really that bad?"

"If anything it was worse." Jasper grabbed Henry's hand and squeezed it tightly. "I missed you so bad Henry, we all did."

Henry squeezed back as best as he could.

For a while they just stayed like that, clinging onto each other, then Henry whispered, disturbing the silence "Jasper?"

"Yeah, Hen?"

"What happened to my parents and Piper?"

"They're um..." Jasper's eyes trailed to the floor, then to Henry's stern gaze, then back again. He took a deep breath. "Charlotte and Ray didn't want to tell them before we knew you were going to be okay." Jasper gave Henry's hand another squeeze. "If you ask Ray he might call them up."

Henry remained still for a moment, eyes fogging up ever so slightly. Then he nodded and sighed.

So they did just that. Or well, Jasper did on Henry's behalf. Henry slithered back under the covers, drained and leaving Jasper to face Ray.

"Come on, Ray. It's not fair, he deserves to see them!"

"He's not well enough yet!" Ray waved his arms around as he spoke. "He can't go meet them!"

"I hate to say it but... I agree with Ray" Charlotte called from the control panel. "Henry can barely talk yet. Is it really safe for him to spend a full day out of the man cave with them?"

"But can't you just bring them over here!?"

"What part of the man cave being secret do you not understand!?" Ray's arm waves increased in their range.

"Ray, they know about Henry being Kid Danger. I don't think it matters much if they also know where the base is." Jasper ran his fingers through his hair. "And you can blindfold them! You've had loads of random girls down here by blindfolding them when you brought them in! Why is that better than having very trustworthy people brought in like that!?"

"Okay, he has a point." Charlotte called again, not looking up from the control panel.

Ray paused for a second, temporarily defeated, before pulling at his hair. "Look, Jasper. Henry is alive and making progress but... There's still a high risk of... You know? It's just not safe." He bit his lip. "And it's just... It would be worse for them if they knew this failed."

Jasper's mouth fell agape. He was still for a second, and then he snapped. "You're kidding me." Blood rushed through Jasper's veins. "You're kidding me." He repeated, the disbelief creeping more and more into his voice. "If Henry is going to die at any goddamn second then isn't it better for him to see if family when he has the chance!? What the fuck is wrong with you, Ray!?"

Charlotte and Ray edged back slightly, thrown off by the uncharacteristic outburst. Ray looked to the floor.

"No, seriously Ray. I know you're worried about security and I know you think you're doing the right thing for some fucking reason, but this isn't okay and you're being stupid, Ray. Just let him see his family!" Jasper spat each word.

Silence filled the room.

"Just let him." The tension in Jasper fizzed out, leaving him sniffling and pawing at his face with his sleeve.

Ray solemnly nodded, which was as close to an apology as you'd get with Ray. "... I'll call them now." He mumbled, disappearing through the gear door as he pulled out his phone.

Charlotte turned her head to look at Jasper, but he was already gone.

5 minutes passed before a soft knock hit Jasper's bedroom door.

"They're coming over now." A voice mumbled from behind the barrier.

Jasper slowly made his way over, shuffling his feet. "Right now?" He avoided Ray's eyes.

The older man nodded and an awkward tension rose around them, neither saying anything.

Then ray caught Jasper's eye and nodded again, slower this time with regret on his face. Jasper paused, clearly contemplating, before sighing and nodding back. The weight eased slightly.

"I'll tell him now." Jasper gave a slight smile. "... Thank you."

Ray nodded again and followed Jasper to Henry's room, staying a few steps behind him before Jasper came to a halt, only starting again when Ray was beside him.

XXX

Jasper genuinely doesn't think he's seen Henry as happy as he is right now in his entire life.

His parents and Piper had ran into the room and were now clinging to him, sobbing and whispering over and over again that it was really him. Piper's phone lay discarded on the floor, an untended to crack running through it's screen from the moment Piper stepped into the room. An orange glow from the lamp coated the moment, casting a picture perfect tone.

Jasper admired it for a minute, warmth bubbling inside his chest, before following Charlotte and Ray and stepping out of the room.

He found himself constantly walking through the hallway, catching snippets of the events inside. Sometimes it was shouts of "No way, you're cheating!" and "In your face!", the family reuniting through their shared competitive streak. Other times it was almost completely silent with faint sobs and whispers of I love you being the only signs the room contained life.

Jasper manages to catch Piper before they leave early in the morning, grabbing her wrist and apologising for not telling her about Henry. She rolls her eyes and says she gets it, before insulting him and giving Henry one last hug.

Ray shoots him a knowing look when Jasper insists on taking over Ray's shift of watching Henry. "Night, kid." He pat's Henry on the back and leaves, leaving Henry and Jasper alone.

Henry grins sleepily and pats the bed. Jasper plops onto the space and stretches out. "So how was it?" Jasper asked, knowing full well what the answer would be.

"Weird but... really really good." The blonde yawned and sunk into the bed so his head rested on the pillow instead of the headboard. "I've never really talked to them like that before."

"What do you mean?"

"That emotionally I guess. You know how I am with them normally, it's really not like that."

"Well you were dead, Hen." Jasper laughed gently.

"Yeah that's the thing. For me it doesn't feel that long since I saw them but for them... I'm surprised they weren't more emotional."

"Piper broke her phone. Piper."

"True."

The pair laughed softly and Jasper slid under the covers to shuffle next to Henry.

"...What was it like?" Jasper mumbled into the pillow.

"What?" Henry looked back quizzically.

"Dying I guess. Being dead. Did anything cool happen?"

Henry stared for a second, clearly taken aback. "If anything cool did happen I don't remember it." Another yawn escaped his lips. "It just feels like I went to sleep but like... More? Like there was some kind of switch that went off when I was asleep."

Jasper nodded, before opening his mouth and closing it again.

"Go on." Henry tried to nudge Jasper.

"...What was dying like?"

"...I just remember pain. From the poison. And Ray loosing his shit and hugging me. Then I blacked out I guess. It's like how you don't remember anything around falling asleep."

Jasper nods again and trails his hand over to Henrys. He interlocks their fingers and squeezes gently.

Henry smiles. "I'm fine, dude. Seriously. I'f anything you're probably more mentally messed up about it."

Jasper just squeezed tighter. They led like that for a while, taking in the warmth of each others palms.

"Do you remember the photo album I have?"

Henry hummed. "Yeah I know the one. With all the stickers and stuff."

"Yeah that one. I used to look at that a lot.

Henry tried to massage his thumb into Jasper's hand but it ended up as more of an occasional jitter in slow motion. Jasper sighed into the touch anyway.

"Can we have a look at it? There are some really embarrassing pictures of you in it that I'm literally dying to see again." The blonde tried to nudge Jasper again, who this time playfully nudged back.

Jasper grabs the book and the pair flick through for hours, absorbing each moment captured forever on the paper. They stop on a picture of them as young kids, probably around 11 They're tucked into bed together the same way they are now. Even after abuse and lies and superheros and college and death and disability, they're still together. Jasper rolls over onto his side and tucks his head onto Henry's shoulder, draping an arm over his chest and savouring the precious heartbeat. Henry leans into the touch, spreading his warmth to the other boy. And within minutes they're asleep, the photo book discarded to Henry's side.

Hours later Jasper's phone vibrates slightly, announcing to the world a one word text. "Stop."