Nothing could take this day from Jimmy. Not now. Not Vicky, not the Itch, not even the devil himself if he showed up.

A girl on fire. A Hero. Rosette. That name burned in Jimmy's mind like a tongue of her flames had taken residence in his soul.

And her words — 'Take my statement. I am a Hero.'

'That's — That's how it's done,' Jimmy thought. 'A Hero. This. Was right.'

He'd not been the only one. Nate had been the first.

[7:43 AM — ND] 'Dude. I'm in love. Did you see the news?!'

But he hadn't been the last. Sashaya — 'Check it on Azure! A good guy Super!!' Then she sent a bicep emoji, and 'Girl Power! I can't believe it!'

None of that captured it, Jimmy thought. Didn't they see it?! The LIGHT?

Then Tom created a group chat and it took off like wildfire.

[8:31 AM — TH] Anyone got any idea what her power is?

[8:31 AM — ND] Total fire bender chick. I bet she can throw fireballs and make fire walls and shit.

[8:32 AM — TH] I don't see why software has anything to do with it.

[8:32 AM — ND] You know what I mean!

[8:34 AM — SW] Nice.

[8:34 AM — SW] Nah. Fire benders are just elementals. Rosette's got all that karate stuff going on.

[8:35 AM — ND] Sooo... Fire Bender....

[8:35 AM — SW] And what's with that tiara? And the roses? AND the ARMOR!

[8:37 AM — MS] It's magic. Doesn't have to make sense.

[8:37 AM — ND] I bet she can shapeshift. You know. Girl one minute. Fire monster the next. Armored night after that!

They really didn't get it, Jimmy thought as he cradled his phone in front of him and watched their texts scroll by.

Didn't they... they see it? The....

[8:37 AM — PC] Strength. Speed. Martial Arts. Fire-based magic. Rose motif.

[8:38 AM — PC] Witness accounts are pretty explicit, Norman. Don't make powers up where they don't exist. Also, you misspelled 'Knight'.

[8:39 AM — TH] Burn

[8:39 AM — SW] So Burn

[8:39 AM — JW] Guys. Didn't you SEE her?? She was FIRE. SHE was SO much LIGHT!

Next to him, Kaykes' head thumped against the granite counter-top as if it had slipped from her hands and she'd failed to catch it in time. She also looked like she was stifling....

Jimmy blinked and then reread what he'd just put into indelible text.

There was a very long pause in the group chat. Then....

[8:44 AM — TH] Ok. Intervention time, dude. You need to stop stacking up all these unattainable crushes. It's not healthy for a growing boy.

[8:44 AM — ND] Remember, we are the study-tree group.

[8:44 AM — ND] Our max attainable score is maybe a seven. And statistically that means we are actually shooting for fives the lot of us.

[8:45 AM — SW] Pa-lease! Speak for yourselves! I am awesome.

[8:45 AM — SW] Us girls rock.

[8:46 AM — MS] You are really sweet, Jimmy. Don't listen to those idiots.

Jimmy's face burned. He dropped his phone and covered his face with his hands.

Kaykes snatched it back up. "Oh, this is golden." She gloated evilly. "I think my face is blushing in pure empathy —"

Jimmy checked. It wasn't.

"So, do you run like, an awkward poll and just throw out the high score?"

"Shut up," Jimmy muttered, covering his eyes again. "Tell me when it runs its course." He just knew his ears were red too.

"Hmmm. Patricia is stepping in. She says —"

"Don't read it to me!"

[8:48 AM — PC] Fools babble when silence suits, Jimmy. Pay them no mind. Rosette was fire. And light.

"I really like this girl, bro." Jimmy could feel her eyeing him speculatively. It was in her voice. "And she's not done!"

[8:48 AM — PC] Also, your math is atrocious as always, Norman. And Timmy. The less said about your advice is to your benefit.

[8:53 AM — SW] Oof. I felt that from here.

[8:54 AM — TH] I'm Timmy now...?!

[8:55 AM — MS] Guys. Guys! Stop it!

"You're probably safe now, bro," Kaykes said.

Jimmy eyed her suspiciously. She still sounded like she was choking back laughter. But he snatched his phone back, grimacing.

[8:56 AM — MS] Rosette kept insisting that she's a Hero. Wouldn't go with Captain Fillmore to the Precinct....

[8:57 AM — MS] Agent Mannheim said to look out for severe obsessions and odd behavior. Any of that strike you as quirk material?

There was another long silence as everyone incorporated this, and Jimmy was caught between the overwhelming urge to give his far too professional two cents now that this was something he could actually get behind, and covering for his fellow Super.

"You're not gonna bail her out?" Kaykes was sitting at the counter with him, sipping coffee with her I-just-woke-up-and-am-displeased-with-the-results face newly recovered.

She was surreptitiously checking over Jimmy's shoulder while she fielded her own group of friend's texts as well. She was doing a lot more texting than Jimmy was... and her group chat had so many participants that Jimmy was certain she was actually part of several chats that she just kept switching between.

"I can't," Jimmy muttered. "She's probably right."

"See? She's sharp. Far better date material than cheer captain Vicks." Kaykes took the phone back from Jimmy and wrote.

[9:00 AM — JW] Bet it's the theme. Supers get massive bad press. Girl needs to get out in front of it.

[9:00 AM — JW] Don't think you can do better than announcing I'm a Hero every second sentence in front of a bajillion cameras the night of your debut.

She passed the phone back to Jimmy while he gaped. "There."

"That doesn't even sound like me!"

"No one's checking. In a second they'll run wi —"

[9:01 AM — ND] That's not Jimmy.

[9:01 AM — ND] Kayla Chan?

Kaykes pinked. It was pleasant seeing the normally unflappable Kaykes in the hot seat.

[9:01 AM — MS] Hi Kayla.

[9:01 AM — SW] Yo Girl!!

[9:01 AM — TH] Hi Kaykes

[9:02 AM — PC] Hello Kayla. As always, I enjoy your reasoning.

If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

Kaykes snatched the phone back from Jimmy with a scowl.

[9:02 AM — JW] .... This is Jimmy

[9:03 AM — ND] Nah. This is the world's best Imoto.

[9:03 AM — JW] I'm going to kill you, Norman.

[9:04 AM — ND] See? Vicious. And can the women in this group start calling me by my name? Seriously. There's nothing Norman about me.

[9:04 AM — SW] If that was a pun, I enjoyed it. Also, I'm changing you to Norman in my phone.

Kaykes sneered and handed the phone back to Jimmy. "See? Minor crisis averted. Also, I'll pay you fifty bucks to card a tarantula and drop it into Nate's back pocket—Hey!"

Her muttering turned into a screech as their mother walked back in, spied the coffee Kaykes was holding, and snatched it out of her hands.

"Get your own coffee, babe! I was looking for this for ten mi—OW!" Their mother shifted her grip to the mug's handle and rubbed her fingers. "It's... still hot." While Kaykes spluttered and Jimmy tried to look innocent and anywhere but Kaykes' quickly igniting eyes.

"You bribed me to wake up with MOM'S coffee?"

"Fingers have been sticking to things," Jimmy told her apologetically as their mother left to put Azure back on. She'd been in and out periodically to check as the commercials ended and John Hannon showed back up. "But!" Jimmy announced in a staged whisper. "We've got a solution." And he passed Kaykes, his other phone.

Kaykes' eyes sharpened. "Another contract? Already?"

Jimmy grinned. "A potential. Some Tim Cogburn. Missing wallet."

"As long as it means MY money stays in MY wallet, I'm sold."

"Kaykes," Jimmy whispered after several moments. "Don't you know what this means?" Jimmy nodded at his phone lying on the counter with his friends still texting back and forth about Rosette's maybe Quirk. "This means there's another Super in Eastwall. Not just—you know. The Guy."

Kaykes looked at him sideways through still narrowed eyes. Then she pushed her cell phone over to him. It had a news article pulled up.

"As far as I can tell, bro, there's three."

Eastwall Dragon Confirmed

"Caught on a police cam when they were responding to a noise complaint. Didn't stick around. But both officers in the car saw it and it's on video."

"Three..." Jimmy felt winded.

His sister didn't look happy. "It's two more than I'd like," she said.

"I didn't expect to hear you say that. This is great! If I could —"

"No Jimmy. It's not!" Kaykes glanced around, making sure their mother was out of earshot and focused on John Hannon's third analysis that day of Rosette.

She punched him. "You need to shed this rosy smudge you have on your glasses and focus. They. Are. Looking. For. You."

"Rosette showing up is pretty cool and is a much needed gold star for Supers in general but it means there are going to be SO many more eyes on Eastwall, and therefore SO much more pressure on the feds to find the 'Masked Criminal Super who assaulted that poor boy.'" Kaykes threw in the air quotes. "A fucking dragon, Jimmy?! Really? That's the last thing we need here."

"He hasn't done anything!"

"He looks like he eats PEOPLE! Which... let it be said, literature mostly corroborates."

Jimmy scoffed. "That's just fantasy, Kaykes."

"Bro, you're fantasy."

Jimmy had no response to that.

What could he say? He'd caught flames in his hands just this morning. And in his pocket...

A Little Bit of Magic — Not much. Just a touch

And the card burned against his leg.

----------------------------------------

The date loomed in front of him like a cloud until lunchtime. A sort of doom, that he couldn't really stop from coming around.

The prospect of this date with Vicky had changed a lot since Tuesday afternoon at the park.

Then, it had been a sudden snap decision, made in the moment and was definitely the lesser of two... Well, it wasn't even an evil per se. Actually, it was a really sweet get-out-of-jail deal, especially for Vicky, Jimmy thought as he biked glumly.

Especially for Vicky.

No one in the area. The Itch deciding that it had starved long enough. Vicky with her designer clothes, purse, jewelry, Stun Stick of Power!, phone... and whatever else she had on her person at the time, must have seemed like a juicy steak dangling in front of a starving man.

Who knows what would have happened? Jimmy... thought he did.

So Vicky unknowingly giving the Itch something else to focus on was a godsend. For Vicky... And, apparently the Itch, though Jimmy had no idea what it was getting out of it.

For him though... As he biked, he remembered the sound his voice made when Vicky walked into Physics class the next day. The giggling from her friends. How his tongue tied itself in knots and his brain flushed its system through his mouth. His face flushed.

And... as Jimmy turned into Midtown Park, surreptitiously carding his bike, there she was.

His heart did a flip.

Vicky stood out.

He'd slowed his biking down to a crawl after about halfway to the park and the nerves fully set in, and she... had apparently gotten bored of waiting for her late date and was doing a handstand. And it looked as natural and stable as if she was standing right side up.

Her auburn hair fell like a waterfall down to the grass and her red hoodie, rode just a little bit down showing pale, taut skin. Her jeans were tailored just right so that they hugged her hips and legs all the way down to her calves where they flared out again revealing feet tipped like spears skyward and wriggling toes.

Jimmy gulped. And he... he knew. He was not at all on the same page as the Itch.

He was more on the same page with Nate and Tom!

'What was he doing?' He was... Jimmy. He was a nerd. He was built like a twig. He got pimples and blushed when girls gave him more than a passing glance.

Jimmy remembered Raven's smirk from the other day.

He... He was his grade's laughingstock. And as Nate put it, that wasn't scheduled to change for at least the next few weeks.

Jimmy's hand dove back into his pocket for his bike and suddenly, he knew one thing more definitively than he knew his own name. There was no way he was walking up to... and his hand found a different card. And he stopped.

Perfect Basket for a Perfect Date

When Jimmy touched one of his cards, he knew everything that was in it. He knew the number of lint balls on his Socks of Fluff and Fury. How much charge was left on his Stun Stick of Power, and how much the Brick... For Brick Things weighed down to the last... actually, the tolerance on that seemed to be limited to the size of his conscious memory rather than his Power's sensitivity.

So he knew everything that was in his basket if he cared to look. And tucked in underneath all of the picnic supplies his sister had passed him last night.

Underneath the fresh baked French bread, the three cheese platter, honey, sliced apples, and dipping sauces... was a note.

It didn't say much. But it was undeniably Kaykes.

To the you five minutes beforehand. You're more awesome than she is. Knock it out, bro.

And his brain hiccupped.... And turned again.

Kaykes was wrong, Jimmy knew.

She was awesome. Kaykes was. She had put together the cosmically acclaimed Perfect date basket.

She had friends in four grades, got straight 'A's from the moment that grades started mattering, and made hundreds of dollars off her intellect alone in ninth grade.

Kaykes thought and analyzed. She kept his head on his shoulders when the Agents showed up and he was spiraling.

Kaykes was awesome. Not Jimmy.

But Jimmy did have something that Kaykes didn't have.

Jimmy reached a trembling hand up to his face and felt a hospital mask fold slightly beneath his touch. Felt the thick rim of his tinted glasses around his eyes and the ball cap tucked firmly over his head, hiding his hair. He felt the weight of the duster jacket on his shoulders.

He wasn't Jimmy here, was he?

Vicky hadn't offered to go on a date with awkward, nerd Jimmy Wallace. She'd offered it to The Guy. And The Guy could catch fire in his fingertips. The Guy had magic in his pocket.

The Guy walked into Buck Higly's house, tased him, and stole his hard drive. The Guy was awesome.

'Not even my hardest job,' The Guy thought, who was usually called Jimmy Wallace, and he walked down to the most beautiful girl he'd ever set eyes on for his date.

She sensed him coming. Or heard him. Because she flipped smoothly back to her feet. And smiled.

----------------------------------------

Vicky was tall for a girl, but not really tall. So that put her just under head height with The Guy.

She smiled widely as he stepped over, and a little shyly. "Ye'know? I had wondered if you'd come ensembled or not," she said after a pause that was just shorter than awkward.

'Ok. So The Guy wasn't Mr. Suave either,' Jimmy thought wryly.

"So! I came prepared." And Vicky turned around and picked up... A mask! One of those festival masks with long, brightly colored feathers and shiny paint twisting over it in golds and silvers swirls and sequins.

She brandished it grandly, laughing as The Guy gaped very obviously behind his own very mundane mask, and held it up to her face.

"For the duration of this date, I claim the name The Fletched One! And I greet you solemnly, Guy of Mystery and Intrigue! But before that..." She pulled it away from her face and looked The Guy directly in the glasses. "Before that, I'll be Vicky for just a little bit longer."

She breathed a few big breaths, then continued hesitantly.

"You know. My friends told me I was insane meeting up with you like this. Masked Super. Violent. I wouldn't tell them where we were going." Vicky shrugged. "Told me I didn't have to. I don't owe you anything. Bla bla bla. A lot of words."

"But I was there — obviously — and I know you didn't have to help me out. I definitely knew you didn't want to. And... you did it anyway."

Vicky kicked her bare foot through the grass and grimaced, looking back and forth between him and the ground.

"I don't know why," she said. "Maybe I sound like an idiot right now. I know I looked like one the other day in the park. And I bet you were wondering what the whole deal was with some stupid videos and all."

The Guy... hadn't actually. He was certain he would be mortified if half of what he suspected was on that drive was there.

Vicky looked at him straight at his thick-rimmed and tinted glasses, and The Guy almost felt like he could feel her gaze right through the glass.

"I really appreciate it, Guy. I really do. I don't know why you said yes. I don't know why you didn't bail on me when it all went to shit in the middle, too. I don't care. I owe you five dates. And if you ever need anything. I'm there. You hear me?"

And The Guy nodded slowly. And the Itch hummed softly.

Vicky laughed nervously. "Now having said all that in the most awkward fashion possible. That STILL means no funny business! I've got five and a quarter months of Krav-Maga under my belt! So if you try anything, I'm going to knock your ass out here in this park and feast on whatever's in that basket you've brought while I wait for the cops to get here. Capiche?"

And now The Guy had to say something. The date had been in progress for at least a minute now and he'd just stood there for the entire thing and not said a word!

That. That was Jimmy level dating! And The Guy was feeling far too Jimmy-like for his comfort level.

So The Guy did something different. He acted.

He raised the basket and blurted out the first thing that came to his mind. "I have a picnic! The cosmos itself says it's Perfect! And... ah..."

Now The Guy shuffled his feet uncomfortably.

"You keep saying you know kravmega? Isn't that, like, some kind of Middle Eastern dance?"

Vicky toppled over and died in horror. "Oh boy," she said.

Then she jumped up and showed him some dance moves, and The Guy, Jimmy and the Itch, learned a thing or two about certain Middle Eastern dances.

And after that... The Fletched One put on her mask. The Guy opened up the Perfect Basket and they had a Perfect Date.