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The minute Tony picked up the phone, he could tell he was about to get bad news. Violet had a way of saying hi that always tipped him off. Not wanting to jump to conclusions, though, he affectionately said back, “Hey Vi, what’s up?”
“Um…” he heard Violet sigh through the phone and stifled his own sigh. “Okay, okay, I know you’re probably gonna be really mad, but my parents… there’s this big art heist going on downtown, and usually they’d just take Dash along, but since he’s not on break and it’s a school night, I have to stay home and… babysit.” She said the last word begrudgingly, as if it physically pained her. “I’m so sorry, I know we haven’t been able to hang out much lately and it’s totally my fault and I just…”
“Hey, hey, it’s okay,” Tony said, rubbing the back of his neck. He was disappointed about missing their date, sure, and yeah it was a little frustrating, but it wasn’t her fault. That was just what came with dating a super, right?
She’d told him about her powers three months into their relationship. Well, told was a bit of an overstatement. Really, they’d been having a walk downtown when a car swerved and nearly hit them. Before Tony could react, some sort of purple, glowing… shield thing was in front of them, and the car smashed into, enduring the same amount of damage it would have if it’d run into a brick wall.
“What the…” Tony had said, stunned and confused by everything that had happened within .01 seconds. People were starting to stare at them and then again before Tony even comprehend what was happening, he was being dragged away by his girlfriend who was- not there?! Well, he could feel her holding his hand and pulling him but he couldn’t see her and oh my god what was going on-
So, that’s how he found out. Violet had made it absolutely clear that not a single soul could know about it and, although it was a lot to process, in the end, Tony knowing about her powers had only made their relationship stronger. So, now, he told her, “I get it. It’s not like you can control when a criminal decides to strike, right?”
He heard Violet sigh again. She was probably twisting the phone cord around her finger like she did when she got stressed. “I just feel bad,” she finally said. “Spring break was supposed to be our time. Now, just because Dash is still in elementary and my parents are… well, not normal, we still don’t get to hang out!”
Tony’s youngest sister walked into the room and turned on the TV. “I’m on the phone,” Tony said, shaking his head at her. She rolled her eyes and turned the volume down. Then Tony said back into the phone, “I get it, Vi. I want us time, too, but…” losing track of his sentrance, he suddenly got an idea. “Hey! What if I come over and help you babysit! My older sister is here, so she can watch Mary and Louise.”
There was silence from the other end of the phone. Then Violet said skeptically, “You wanna come here and hang out with… Dash and Jack Jack?”
“Well, why not? I like your brothers! But more importantly, I like you, and I wanna spend time with you,” Tony shrugged, leaning against the wall.
“If you really want to,” Violet said, still sounding unsure. “Just let me ask my parents.”
“Sure,” Tony nodded. He heard her shout something away from the phone, and then there was an indistinct conversation.
After a minute or two, Violet said, “My parents say you can come!”
“Great!” Tony said back, smiling. “I’ll bike over and be there in half an hour, okay?”
“Okay,” Violet said. “See you soon!”
Turns out it only took twenty-five minutes for Tony to bike from his house to the Parr’s, but, in that time, chaos had erupted inside the crazy mansion.
“Hello?” Tony said as he came inside, flinching at the sound of a plate shattering and a wailing baby. “Vi…?”
“Jack Jack, no! Put that down- Dash, can’t you catch him?”
“I’m sorry I can’t catch a flaming interdimensional demon baby! Why don’t you just catch him in one of your forcefields-”
“He could just walk through it-”
“Where’s the tracker? Ugh, Jack Jack, stop!”
Tony rounded the corner into their kitchen to find Violet zapping shakey forcefields around the room and Dash darting back and forth, both of them trying in vain to capture a sobbing, flaming Jack Jack. Just as they almost caught him, he disappeared into the fifth dimension.
“Tony!” Violet said, finally catching sight of him. She quickly stood up straight and smoothed her hair down. “Hi!”
“Oh great, now he’s here!” Dash said, gesturing to Tony with annoyance. Not that he didn’t like Tony- the two boys actually got along really well. But now was not the greatest time for another factor to be added into the insanity that was their family.
“Dash!” Violet said, glaring at him. But before they could get into another argument, Jack Jack reappeared on the kitchen island. Both siblings raced to him, Dash getting their first and scooping the screaming baby into his arms.
“Hey, little bro, it’s okay,” he said frantically, bouncing him up and down.
“Give him to me,” Violet said, walking over and lifting Jack Jack out of Dash’s arms.
“I wanna do it!” Dash protested, chasing her, but Violet walked quickly put a protective forcefield around herself and the baby, which Dash crashed into. All of this only made Jack Jack cry harder. At least he wasn’t on fire anymore.
Tony watched all this with wide eyes. Sure, he knew things could get crazy around here, but he’d never been quite as… immersed in it.
“Just a second, Tony,” Violet said to him now, flashing a smile as Dash threw incredibly quick punches against her forcefield.
“Yeah, that’s fine,” Tony nodded, forcing a smile back. He walked to the couch and put down his backpack, knocking aside a pillow to reveal a tablet-like thing. “Hey, um, is this the…”
“The tracker!” Dash shouted, and he’d taken it out of Tony’s hand before Tony had even registered he’d moved. Then he was back to Violet and holding it up over Jack Jack’s tiny body. “It says he’s hungry!”
“But Mom just fed him, like, two hours ago!” Violet said, dropping her field.
“Who cares?” Dash sprinted to the fridge and got out a bottle, running it quickly under warm water, he took Jack Jack from Violet and stuck the bottle into the baby’s mouth, who immediately calmed down, letting out a happy sigh and snuggling into Dash’s side. “Oh thank god,” Dash said, walking to the living room and collapsing into the couch. He looked at Tony and finally gave him a little wave. “Hey, Tony.”
“Hey, Dash,” Tony replied, smiling nervously at him.
“Dash, take Jack Jack to your room,” Violet said, walking over and swatting at her little brother.
“What?!” Dash shouted. “No way!”
“Vi, it’s really okay…” Tony tried to interject, but she wasn’t even listening to him.
“Go to your room now or I’ll tell mom and dad about…” she made wide eyes at him, shaking her head. Dash stared up at her confused. “That time?” she prompted. “You stupidly drank coffee and ran right through the-”
“Okay, okay, I’m going! Jeez…” Dash said, standing with Jack Jack still in his arms. “Bye, Tony,” he said, turning and giving him a little wave. “Violet thinks your butt is very nice, so-”
“Dash!” Violet screeched, throwing a pillow at him.
“Hey, you’re gonna hit the baby!” Dash said. They glared at each other until he rolled his eyes and backed down, walking up the stairs and disappearing into the hall.
Violet glared after him for a moment before turning and giving Tony a sheepish smile. “Sorry about all that,” she laughed awkwardly, smoothing her long hair down again. “Anyway, do you want to… watch a movie?” She sat down and patted the cushion next to her.
Still recovering from the whirlwind he’d just walked in and out of, Tony took a deep breath and nodded, joining her on the couch. As she turned on the TV, he put his arm around her shoulders and remembered why he’d volunteered to come over in the first place.
It was about an hour later when Dash came back down the stairs, holding a bundle of papers in one hand and a stubby pencil in the other. He smiled hopefully and apologetically at Violet, who rolled her eyes and paused the movie they’d been watching.
“Where’s Jack Jack?” she asked.
“He fell asleep, so I put him in his crib. Hopefully he stays asleep. Anyways, I started doing my language arts homework, but I don’t really know how to… do the… well, we have to write anagolies and I-”
“Analogies,” Violet rolled her eyes.
“Yeah, whatever. I just don’t know how,” Dash mumbled. Violet sighed before scooting away from Tony and gesturing to the space in between them. Dash lit up and raced over, burrowing himself into the cushions and unfolding the paper.
Violet shrugged at Tony from over Dash’s head, and he smiled. He didn’t mind. He knew babysitting wasn’t going to be just a normal date, and Dash was sweet, when he and Violet weren’t arguing.
By the time they’d helped Dash through the last of his homework, the blond boy was yawning and rubbing his eyes. “Come on,” Violet said, taking his arm and dragging him up off the couch. “Time for bed.”
Dash whined as she walked him up the stairs.
“I’ll just be a second,” she called back down to Tony as she got him to his room and shut the door.
Tony smiled and leaned deeper into the couch. Although he didn’t entirely understand the three siblings’ relationships, it was clear that they were close. They had to be, since they nearly got killed together on a weekly basis.
True to her word, Violet ducked out of Dash’s room only a few seconds after entering. “He’s going to sleep,” she said, coming back down the stairs. “Which means we have to rest of the night to ourselves!”
“Nice,” Tony nodded as she sat down next to him again. She smiled and unpaused the TV, resuming their movie and their date.
They watched in silence for a few minutes, until Violet shifted and turned to him. “So…” she said, giving a nervous smile.
“So…” Tony laughed, feeling a blush climb up his neck.
Violet took a deep breath, looking down at her lap. Then she leaned forward with sudden confidence and kissed him. They’d kissed before, but only short, nervous pecks. This was more sure and long. Tony was surprised and a little nervous, but he figured she’d never made out with anyone before either, if that’s what they were even doing, so he didn’t have too much to worry about.
They kissed for about a minute more before Violet pulled away, pink in the cheeks and smiling. She giggled, albeit a bit awkwardly, and then turned back to the TV. Tony took a deep breath, trying to concentrate on the movie after what had just happened.
The rest of their night almost went uninterrupted. Tony had to be home by eleven, and it was nearing ten when the shouting started from Dash’s room.
Violet, who’d been schooling him at monopoly, stood as soon as she heard him. “Sorry!” she said to Tony, running towards the stairs. “He gets these nightmares, and-”
“Hey, don’t worry about it,” Tony shook his head.
Violet nodded at him before taking off up the stairs. Tony heard as she opened Dash’s bedroom door and started talking through his terrified shouting. “Hey,” he heard her say, “hey! It’s okay, it’s okay, we’re here…”
“We were on the island, and we- we-”
“Dash, it’s okay! We’re not on the island, you’re home, with me.”
“I tried to get us out of the tunnel, but the fire came and it was too late and-”
“But you did get us out! You got us out, and now we’re home, safe and sound, okay?”
“I want mom,” Tony heard Dash sniffle. He felt terrible- it was easy to forget how young Dash was, but this was certainly a huge reminder. The poor kid had suffered more trauma than anyone should in a lifetime, let alone in ten short years. Come to think of it, Violet had, too.
“I know,” she was saying now. “And she’ll be home soon! But for now, why don’t you just… come downstairs, and we’ll watch whatever you like, okay?”
There was a brief quiet before he heard Dash say, “Is Tony still here?”
“Well, yeah,” Violet said. “But he won’t care. Come on, you can even bring down your blanket and pillow.”
Another minute or two passed before the siblings appeared at the top of the stairs, Dash in his pajamas, hair messy, trailing close behind Violet, who was holding a fuzzy blue blanket and a big white pillow. Dash flushed red as soon as he saw Tony and moved closer to Violet, holding the hem of her shirt.
“Hey,” Tony said, waving at him with the best smile he could muster. “Thank god you’re coming down to hang out with us again, Violet was about to destroy me at Monopoly.”
Violet smiled at him and Dash seemed to relax, if only a little. “Well, she is pretty good at it,” he said, standing straighter. “But I’m better!”
“No way,” Violet rolled her eyes, depositing his stuff on the couch. “Remember last time we played?”
“You cheated,” Dash shrugged, getting onto the couch and pulling his blanket up over his body.
“Did not,” Violet said, but there was no venom behind their argument this time. Tony joined Dash on the couch as Violet put on a channel that was always playing cartoons. The she sat down next to Tony, leaning into his side as Dash watched the TV sleepily.
Mr. and Mrs. Parr got back just as the clock neared 10:30 and Tony was getting ready to leave. Dash had fallen back asleep on the couch quickly, and Violet was helping Tony look for his house key when her own door was unlocked.
“Hey, Vi” Mrs. Parr said as she walked in, taking off her boots. Mr. Parr was close behind her. “Hi, Tony,” they said at the same time.
“Hi,” Tony smiled at them and gave a little wave.
He suddenly noticed his house key on the rug and bent over to pick it up as Mrs. Parr said, “Why is Dash still down here?”
“Well, he was asleep upstairs, but he had a nightmare… I let him come down and watch TV with us,” Violet said nervously.
But her parents didn’t get mad. Mrs. Parr just sighed and brushed some of Dash’s stray hair away from his face. “Was everything else okay?” she asked without looking up from her son.
“Yep!” Violet said. “Perfect. Jack Jack went down around eight-thirty, and he’s been sleeping ever since.”
“Great,” Mr. Parr said, coming over and rubbing his wife’s back. Then he reached down and scooped Dash up from his place asleep on the couch, not waking him in the process. Mrs. Parr gathered up the pillow and blanket and they started walking towards the stairs. “Thanks for helping Vi out, Tony,” Mr. Parr said.
“Yes, thank you, Tony,” Mrs. Parr added as they went upstairs. “Be safe on your ride home, sweetheart!”
“I will be! Have a goodnight!” Tony called back, putting his shoes on.
“I’ll walk you out,” Violet said, following him to the door.
They walked outside and to Tony’s bike, which was leaning against the garage. “Thanks for coming over,” Violet said as they got there. “I know my family can be a little… crazy. Thanks for putting up with us.”
“Hey, I’m not putting up with anything,” Tony smiled. “I love spending time with you guys.”
Violet smiled back at him, before leaning in for another brief kiss. “See you soon?” she asked as she pulled back.
Tony nodded and mounted his bike. “Definitely.”
Violet waved to him as he pushed off and started pedaling away. As the night sky wooshed past his face, Tony could only think that Violet cancelling their original plans hadn’t been such bad news, after all.