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The first time it happens, Charlie is exhausted and desperately wants to sleep, still shaky from the flight.
He doesn't normally mind flying, but he'd run late to boarding, had his ID checked three times (the scanner was broken), and met a rude fan on the plane.
He's able to bury the person's comment into the recesses of his mind, putting away the terrible twisting feeling in his gut until he lands.
But then he sees Ted and Schlatt in the airport roundabout, ready to drive up to their hotel, and suddenly he wants to give in and cry.
Instead, he tells Ted about the interaction as they toss his bags into the bed of Ted's truck, unable to keep his voice from shaking even as he tries his best to laugh it off.
Ted offers him a hug, a quick console, and then Charlie's climbing into the back of the cab, leaning his head back against the seat and closing his eyes, trying to relax.
Just until they get to the hotel.
"Ted," Schlatt whispers.
"Hm?"
Ted doesn't look away from the road, though it doesn't really matter, since they're not even moving.
The airport was only ten miles from the from the hotel, but LA traffic easily turns a 20 minute drive into a now 90 minute roadtrip, and Ted finds his ADHD riling up big time.
He tries to ease it by tapping his fingers against the wheel to the beat of the song playing quietly from the radio, but it does very little. He's still bored and understimulated as hell.
Schlatt nudges him, grinning widely.
"Look," Schlatt prompts, and Ted follows his gaze to the back of the car.
Charlie is fast asleep, having fallen onto his side across the entirety of the back seat, glasses askew and cheek smushed against the cushions. His arms are splayed out in front of him haphazardly, fingers curling around nothing.
Ted can't help but laugh, seeing Charlie like that.
What? He loves his friends, okay? And Charlie is very endearing. They both are, really.
Schlatt wordlessly slips his phone out of his pocket and snaps a picture, grinning back at Ted when he's finished.
"Blackmail," Schlatt explains, like it's obvious. "Extra bolgogi for later."
Ted just grins and shakes his head, chuckling.
The second time it happens, they're hanging out in the studio after getting all the recordings done for the day, and Charlie had been staring into plain space for the past 15 minutes.
Ted catches Schlatt's gaze, tilting his head toward Charlie, like is he okay?
Schlatt gently taps Charlie on the arm, eyebrows knit in faux annoyance.
Charlie blinks a couple times, but a distant hum is the only respone he actually offers up.
"Hey, Chari. You okay?" Schlatt asks softly, keeping a hand splayed over his friend's bicep.
He isn't really expecting an answer, but Charlie only barely nods, head hanging low in exhaustion.
"You sure?" Ted asks, and this time Charlie doesn't even nod, instead falling sideways against Schlatt, quickly finding a comfortable position, his eyes slipping closed.
"You tired, bud?" Schlatt chuckles fondly, uncharacteristic in instantly wanting to hide Charlie from the world until he felt better again. (Like Jambo did for him.)
"No, no," Charlie protests, though he makes no move to sit up. He's stubborn, though- Schlatt knows that. "'M fine. Jus' a little-"
He cuts himself off with a wide yawn, not even aware that Schlatt is instinctively gathering Charlie closer to him.
Charlie tapers off, then slowly, slowly- comes back to himself. "'M jus' a lil'. . . " he yawns again. "A lil'. . . "
He trails off, and they wait, but several beats of dead silence pass, then-
". . . Did he just fall asleep?"
Ted laughs softly, gaze fixed on his friends snuggling on the booth, baffled but greatly amused.
"Yeah," he giggles, relishing in the dramatised indignance on Schlatt's face. "Yeah, I think he did."
Another beat, and then Schlatt smiles at Ted, eyes glittering with laughter.
"Well, this is certainly favourite puppy."
Ted laughs.
The third time, they're in the middle of recording an episode, and Charlie keeps losing track of the conversation.
Grace is behind the door to his streaming room, and slides a post-it note under the door, knocking softly to get his attention.
"Is that Grace?" Ted asks, voice quiet and clear in Charlie's ears, though his head is too fuzzy to respond beyond a small nod and a hum.
He rolls his chair backward until he can reach the post-it, then rolls forward so he can read it to his friends.
"What is it?" Schlatt asks, reclined in his chair as he aggressively cuddles Jambo to his chest.
Charlie chuckles tiredly, shaking his head a little, "She says 'Tell Charlie to go to bed. I miss him.'"
"I do!"
They all hear Grace's amused shout from the other room, and burst out laughing. Charlie rubs his eyes as he giggles, feeling a little guilty.
"Maybe I should," he says, running a hand through his hair, tugging a little.
"What time is it over in sunny Vermont?" Schlatt asks, ignoring Jambo's protests.
"It's like-" he glances at his monitor, "it's only six." He pauses, hesitating. "But I didn't sleep much last night."
Again, Grace's voice sounds from the other room, indignant. "Much?"
Charlie laughs, tugging at his hair again, "Okay, I didn't sleep last night."
"Charlie," Ted says in his big brother voice, though he's still chuckling softly.
"I wanted to finish editing a video I'm putting out tomorrow," he said, defensive.
"Did you?" Schlatt asks, moving to lean forward.
"Well, yeah, but-"
"Charlie," Ted cuts in, a fond smile on his face. "It's fine, really. We have enough for Scott to work with, I promise."
"Ted-"
"Go to bed, you grandpa," Schlatt chuckles, resting his chin on the heel of his hand. "Save your energy."
Charlie laughs, but it's a litte forced. He chews on the inside of his cheek, nervous; he can't help it.
Something inside him twists with anxiety at the thought of taking a moment to breathe. It presses into the pit of his stomach like a hot brand, insistent on working, working, working-
"Grace," Ted says suddenly, and Charlie nearly gives himself whiplash looking back up at their discord call.
Somehow, in the few moments Charlie had been almost dissociating, Ted had calld Grace over the phone.
And he could hear them clearly, between Ted talking directly into his headphones, and Grace standing like a loyal sentinel just outside his door.
"Your Slime has served his purpose," Ted jokes in his loud theatre voice, bringing it down an octave to sell the character better. "You may do now what you wish with him."
"Roger that, captain," she says, muffled behind the door.
Then, almost like some sort of bad 70's horror sitcom, Grace swings the door open, phone in hand and gaze determined.
He spins around in his chair to face her, giggling at the dramatic entrance.
He loves her so much.
"Go get some sleep, Charlie," Ted tells him after they hang up, watching as she tilts Charlie's head up to look at her.
"C'mon, beautiful," she says softly, linking their hands and gently tugging him up out of the chair.
"No, wait-" he laughs, protesting as he's lovingly dragged from the room. And then they're gone, Schlatt and Ted laughing loudly through his abandoned headphones.
An hour later, Ted gets a message from Charlie in their ideas chat.
He frowns, clicking on the notification, ready to berate his clearly exhausted friend.
But then he's smiling, heart warm and unbearably fond when he sees it's actually from Grace: a picture of Charlie passed out on top of her, glasses askew and hugging her close, enviously comfy in one of his oversized hoodies.
Ted grins, immediately saving the picture to his phone.
Blackmail.