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Something was wrong with Becky Botsford, Tobey could feel it with every fiber of his being.
It didn’t matter if she didn’t speak to him in the halls between classes, purposefully going in the opposite direction of their usual meetup spot after their respective AP classes.
Just one look at his beloved Becky and the way she wasn’t glowing when someone asked what a word meant in front of her and he knew.
Violet had asked what ‘impeccable’ had meant after Tobey used it in their lunch conversation, the trio had expected the brown-haired girl to eagerly explain the definition to her.
Instead, they were met with silence, looking over in her direction to find Becky lost in thought while fiddling with the charm bracelet Violet had made her way back in middle school.
She only did it when something was bothering her.
Tobey cleared his throat to grab her attention, her dark hazel orbs looking up in a slight daze as she noticed Scoops, Violet, and Tobey staring at her.
“H-Huh? Sorry Vi, what did you say?” The superheroine’s face flushed in embarrassment.
“I was just asking what impeccable meant is all. Are you alright Becky?” Her best friend asked her, putting her hand up to Becky’s forehead. “I hope you’re not sick, that would be awful.”
“I’m not sick Violet, impeccable means to have no faults: or flawless. Like how everyone thinks I-Wordgirl is… Impeccable.”
She went right back to looking down at her bracelet, letting the small pieces of metal rub between her fingers.
Tobey frowned at this, from her interruption in her own words to her tone in the last impeccable sounded too somber for his liking.
Now, changing the subject from herself to her persona Wordgirl could be mistaken as changing her words so no one would overhear but he highly doubted it. They were in a high school cafeteria after all, surrounded by boisterous teens and this wasn't near the first time they had mentioned Becky’s feats as Wordgirl at their lunch table.
Of course, Tobey McCallister the Third was no fool. He had a hunch what the issue was, and it was her own alter ego she hid from him for so long.
Here he was, the reformed blonde villain using one of his robits (without destroying property of course) to quickly make it over to the Botsford residence to see his partner.
His wonderful, gorgeous partner, might he add.
From the warm glow of her desk lamp coming through her bedroom window, Tobey could tell she was at least awake.
Using one of his robits hands, he lifted himself to Becky’s window, knocking gently on the thick glass to get her attention.
Sure enough, he was correct. She was awake, sitting on her bed while her back was against the bedroom wall, her knees to her chest as she buried her face into them.
She slowly lifted her head to see her boyfriend waiting patiently as he slightly smiled and waved to her from the other side of the glass.
Even in her dejected state, she couldn’t help but smile ever so slightly back at him as she slowly got up and opened her window for him.
“Is Bob here?” He asked softly.
“N-No, I asked him to give me some time to myself so we should be in the clear as of right now.”
Tobey let out a sigh of relief as he clasped her hands in his, “Good. Good. I really need to talk to you alone.”
Becky winced slightly at his words from the guilt of ignoring him as she helped him inside her room, she really hadn’t changed throughout the years besides gaining new interests. She still had small pony figurines around her room as well as a whole bookshelf filled with dictionaries and romance novels she couldn’t help but collect every single one that piqued her attentiveness.
Tobey really admired that about her, even in high school she paid no attention to societal norms when it came down to what she enjoyed.
Becky slowly closed the window behind him, noticing him sitting on the edge of her bed as he gestured for her to do the same with a small but sincere smile.
She returned the expression as she sat down beside him, sighing as she rested her head on his shoulder.
Before he could even open his mouth, Becky spoke, “I’m sorry I’ve been avoiding you at school, I just… Have a lot on my mind right now.” She took his hand in his, something that would have made his heart race and face turn scarlet a long time ago.
However, he was much used to it by now.
“I can only imagine, I mean, you ARE Wordgirl after all. Being a high school student is already stressful enough.” His fingers roamed to her brunette locks as her hair now reached to her elbows.
Becky grimaced at the mention of her superhero persona, “Can we NOT talk about Wordgirl right now…?”
Her words spilled off her tongue like venom, the disdain in her voice was impossible to not recognize as far as Tobey was concerned.
“...Is there a problem with mentioning it, darling?” He took a moment before he spoke to properly ask her, making sure he didn’t say the wrong words to make her upset even further.
“It’s just…” Becky let out a sigh as she interrupted herself, playing with the gold heart locket around her neck as she looked down at the piece of jewelry in her fingers.
“It’s just what?” Her boyfriend gently asked, holding out his hand to her for a small moment of comfort.
Becky stopped her fingers, looking up at him slightly as she smiled, accepting the gesture.
Their hands intertwined as his thumb rubbed circles on the back of her hand, her hand was warm and soft in contrast to his cold touch which made his stomach fill up with nonexistent butterflies.
Tobey gave her hand a gentle squeeze as he kept his hand connected to hers, “I’m here to listen, Becky. McCallister's honor.”
He raised his other hand as he told his pretend oath, making her laugh softly as she squeezed his hand in return.
“Well, I guess I’m just sick of people preferring Wordgirl over Becky Botsford. I know I should be used to it by now, with all the Wordgirl merchandise and publicity but… It still hurts, a lot.”
Tobey cringed slightly at her confession, he knew it was coming of course. Becky wasn’t exactly very good at being a secretive person. She was lucky enough that half the city hadn’t figured out her secret identity yet.
But that didn’t mean he was exactly thrilled at being correct in his assumption, he couldn’t help but feel like some of that was his fault.
After all, his younger self WAS infatuated with her superheroine persona and treated the real her… Well, not as nicely as he did now.
One could be heavily mistaken (as blasphemous as the thought would be to Tobey) that he was only dating Becky because she was Wordgirl.
That wasn’t the case at all.
She took another deep breath before she spoke, “You… Aren’t just dating me because I’m Wordgirl… Right?”
Ah, there it is.
The question Tobey dreaded to hear, and the words that made his heart practically rip into two.
“Oh Becky, my dear, dear Becky…”
He now took both of her hands into his, looking into her eyes as she stared back.
“I might have fallen for Wordgirl first, that is true…”
Becky fell slightly but her face was quickly replaced with a blink in surprise as he let go of one of her hands and pointed his index finger into the air.
“But! I fell harder for you, because I fell in love with you Becky Botsford. That’s the difference.”
There was a gleam in Becky’s eyes, it was so clear that she practically made the entire room sparkle just by their beauty alone.
Not to mention the fact she brightened every room she had ever stepped foot into (at least Tobey thought so).
“You, Becky Botsford, are radiant. Extraordinary. Alluring. Dare I say, impeccable .” Becky looked down to see Tobey rubbing his thumbs against the surface of her hands, something he did only when she needed comfort in a particular moment.
“And I’ll say it over and over until you practically beg me to stop.” He gave her a smile, making her heart flutter for a second time that night.
“Tobey I… For the first time in my life, I don’t know what to say.” She softly laughed as she smiled up at him.
“That’s alright, take your time. I have nowhere to be at the moment” And there’s nowhere else on earth he’d rather be.
Becky sat in silence for a moment, her eyes scanning the room as she carefully thought about her words, it had to be perfect to show her gratefulness to the words he had spilled out to her.
She took a deep breath, her lips parting slightly as Tobey stared at her with anticipation.
“Tobey, you’re words mean so much to me. God, you have no idea how much they do. I swear my heart beats 100 miles per minute whenever you open your mouth, and it’s been like that for a long time.”
“Ever since fifth grade?” Tobey couldn’t help but ask, the thought of Becky having a crush on him for so long made his own heart beat fast.
“Ever since before fifth grade…” She let out a small laugh, their hands still intertwined from before.
“I thought it was because we were rivals, I truly did but now? I think it’s safe to say my mind and heart were trying to send me the signals and signs. Too bad I ignored them for so long, huh?”
Becky sheepishly grinned, making Tobey shake his head and place a gentle kiss on her forehead.
“Better late than never, my darling.”