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Sharon Hawkins knew her brother had a secret.

Virgil's grades had started plummeting and he all of a sudden had no time for studying or chores or anything. He and his best friend Richie kept having conversations in whispers that would stop as soon as Sharon came into the room. There were the knowing looks, the way they kept sneaking off together whenever they thought no one was watching, the way the two of them were inseparable…

It was obvious. Virgil and Ritchie were secretly dating.

Sharon wasn't the type to judge or anything, she was happy for them if they were happy, but she was a little annoyed that Virgil thought he couldn't tell her. She was pretty sure even their dad knew, and there was no way his own sister should be lower on the coming out ladder than their dad.

It was simply not cool. And Sharon finally got so fed up that she marched right up to Virgil's room one day to give him a piece of her mind. Seriously, keeping a secret? From her?

She raised her hand to knock, his name on her lips, and—

"Shh, Richie! My sister's right downstairs! We can't—"

"Come on, we haven't all day!"

"Yeah, but here?"

"Oh, you have got to be kidding me," Sharon muttered. She didn't bother knocking after all, just shoved open the door.

"Virgil Ovid Hawkins, I can't believe you'd be doing those kinda things in my house when you didn't even bother to tell me that you're—" Virgil and Richie were staring at her, and now that she actually took the time to look around the room she could see a blue coat and a white mask thrown across the bed, a green helmet in the corner, and some metal bug thing cowering under the bed.

"SHARON!" Virgil shouted right back at her. "Don't you ever knock? I coulda been doing anything! Get out of my room! And didn't I tell you never to mention my middle name?" He started towards her while Richie rushed over to the bed and sat on top of the costume.

"You're a superhero?" Sharon said in disbelief.

"What? No! It's, uh, not what it looks like!" He looked at Richie in panic.

"You mean that whole time I was convinced you were Static, you really were?"

"It's a little more complicated than that…" Virgil gave her an incredibly unconvincing smile. "You see, uh, these are costumes. For, uh, a show! And, um, we're trying out—"

"Auditioning," Richie corrected.

"Yeah, that!" Virgil smiled winningly.

"Uh huh." Sharon gave him a dirty look. "And Richie! That makes you Gear, huh?"

"Of course not!" Richie said, adjusting his glasses. "Gear is infinitely cooler than either me or V-Man, of course."

Virgil shot him a dirty look. "Speak for yourself."

Sharon ignored them. "Don't know why it took me this long to figure it out. And here I was just thinking you're gay."

"You what??" Virgil said, eyes all but popping out of his head.

"Yes! That's it!" Richie bounced up off the bed and rushed over to them. "This is all part of some, um, kinky sex games!"

"Richie!" Virgil glared at him.

"Eeeeww!" Sharon squealed. "Look, I don't buy it. Way too late for that to work."

"Yeah, and I think it'd be worse she thinks that than that I'm Static. Thanks, Rich." Virgil glared at him.

Richie shrugged. "Hey, I was just trying to protect our secret IDs."

"Yeah, well, I'm not thrilled about Miss Loudmouth here knowing." Virgil turned back to Sharon. "You realize you can't tell anyone, right? This is for your safety too. I mean, remember when those bad guys kidnapped Dad? That was because someone found out who I am. I can't let anything like that happen to you guys."

"Aww, come here little brother." Sharon wrapped her arms around him and squeezed.

"Ack! Air levels falling! Suffocation imminent!" Virgil gasped.

Sharon ignored him and smiled a little. "I'm so proud of you, little brother. And I'd never tell anyone your ID."

He gave a long-suffering sigh and struggled away from her. Still, he smiled a little. "Thanks, Sharon."

Sharon smiled back then turned to leave the room. She paused in the doorway and turned back.

"Of course, if you were gay, you could tell me, you know. I wouldn't judge."

She closed the door, laughing like crazy as several electrically charged pillows and books went flying at her.

Her brother was Static. Well, it sure was weird, but she could get used to it. And she was glad she knew, at least.

Now, if he could get a charge to stick in her cell phone, that'd be really super.