Work Text:
Silver woke up cheerful the morning of their trip, and didn't clock that the torrential rain hammering the windows might be a problem. He folded up the spare bed he slept on - a canvas frame for camping, currently in the living room - and began stuffing their food into the bags by the side of the door.
Unperturbed though he was, Silver noticed it was nearly time to leave by the time he heard any of the Chaotix: Charmy stomped downstairs angrily in a fuzzy jumper, growling.
"Hey, what's wrong? You aren't ready!"
"We can't go! It's raining!" He whinged, shoving Silver's packing off the sofa. Silver looked outside at the sky, nonplussed.
"It's... raining? So?"
"So we can't go out!"
"Who says you can't go out in the rain?"
"Vector says." He grumbled, and picked up a comic book. He was bored less than a minute later, while Silver looked over their camping gear: compared to what he was used too, it was in fantastic condition. Certainly could weather some rain, it was likely still water-tight.
"Come on, this can't be right, let's go check!"
Vector had made it as far as a hammock one and a half feet above his bed, and was reading a magazine about rock bands.
"Nope. You can't go out. It's raining."
Charmy groaned at the door. Vector parrotted his groaning in a whining tone.
"I know, take it up with the clouds, would ya? Or Sonic. I heard this freak storms somethin' to do with, y'know, saving the world again? I'm sure he'll hear your complaints about the weather."
Charmy shouted wordlessly as he stomped down the stairs.
In the kitchen, Espio was quietly making tea and had a book under his arm, with a rueful smile for Charmy and Silver.
"Doesn't seem fair to me!" Silver huffed, watching the rain patter on the glass.
"The weather can't be moralised."
"No, I meant that we can't go out 'cause Vector doesn't like Charmy getting wet! Isn't that stupid?"
Espio grimaced slightly, face over his tea: "That's my fault, actually."
"Your fault?"
"Cold weather makes me unwell, even at temperatures my companions could tolerate. If you'd like, please do go on your trip. I will stay here."
Charmy smacked tent poles on the floor forlornly as Silver itched guilt off his forehead.
"Oh, right - no, I don't wanna go without you! Is it... too cold?"
"Constant rain is a beating cold. It's not good for Charmy either, but he is more resistant, and would likely be okay today. Please, don't let me stop you."
"No, you have to be there!" He said quickly, but he looked forlornly at the sky, willing it to burst into sun. Charmy stuck two poles together badly, making an awful creak.
"Hey, shall we practice setting it up anyway? I mean, just in case the rain clears up?"
So, they stuffed the sofa and chairs to the side, and the table ended up in the tiny galley kitchen. The floor was just big enough to set the tarp out, so they crammed everything that didn't fit onto the stairs and in the doorway. What was left became environment pieces; the bookshelves were trees, the heavy chest was a stump for eating on, and the rug was a river.
"But not really, we don't wanna be this close to water or the trees!" Silver explained, as they hammered pegs into planks of wood on the floor, stolen from a DIY project that was never going to be finished: "'cause-"
Espio put his hand on Silver's shoulder and cleared his throat.
"Why is that, Charmy? Why don't we want to be close to water and trees."
Charmy hammered enthusiastically, missing the peg and denting the floor.
"Because there's Sharks?"
"... why else?"
He stopped, squinting hard at Silver. Espio tutted.
"He already told you, were you listening?"
Over Espio's shoulder, Silver mouthed to Charmy.
"Mixture?"
"Moisture."
"Tha's what I said!"
The tent was wonky but upright, and they lay blankets down over the unlevel floor.
"Now what do we do?" Charmy hopped over the poles, knocking them with his shoes.
"We don't do that! The inside has to not touch the outside, or you let damp in! Do you want Espio to die?" Silver jumped, tugging the ropes tight again. Espio sighed heavily.
"I am not going to die if you trip on a rope." He said softly, but Charmy flew higher back over the ropes to him.
"If we are out in the wilderness, don't we need to find water?" He prompted, nudging towards the kitchen. Charmy flitted to the tap, but Silver stopped him by grabbing his backpack filled with toys.
"Hold on! We didn't construct our tent near water, remember, or it might flood! We have to walk to it!"
"Awh! But it's raining!" He whinged again, but Espio grabbed a flask.
"It's just over the hills, come on." He motioned to the stairs.
Vector got the slight impression that something weird was going on when he heard two and a half people stomping up and down the stairs three times in a row, but was confident he didn't have to care.
He became less confident when he heard a loud and tragic altercation halfway up the stairs.
"We're not leaving him behind!" Charmy declared, dragging Espio up the stairs by his wrist.
"It's too late for me. I may have died." He said forlornly. In his travelling pack, someone was phoning the Chaotix, but he kept the buzzing thing held tight to muffle it from Charmy's ears. Silver clapped Charmy on the shoulders and shook him softly.
"This is serious, adventurer! What can we do to help him!"
"...Bury him?"
"No! He can't walk any more, so we have to go get water as quick as we can, and leave him somewhere safe! If we put him at the bottom of the hill, we can find him later when we can help him!"
"Okay, but it has to be shady, and with no bears!"
Charmy bumped Espio back down the stairs and stashed him under the coat rack.
"Don't die!" He shouted, and stomped quickly back up the stairs. Espio groaned, his head laying slack on his shoulder and tongue hanging out for effect. He peeped at Silver on the stairs, who handed sticks to Charmy to hike with and stuck his tongue out back at Espio.
He took the call collapsed on the floor, falling quiet whenever Charmy and Silver stomped back down another hill. At some point, they disappeared into Charmy and Espio's bedroom, and Vector leant out his door.
"Are you alright down there?"
"No, I have sadly expired from dehydration."
"Shame. Oh well."
Vector clattered down the stairs, pretending to kick Espio as he passed.
"Do you want to 'camp' with us?" He asked as Vector saw the tent in the living room, and table in the kitchen.
Vector groaned: "No. This was going to be a weekend where I had peace and quiet and you all scrammed. I've got work to do."
"You're listening to music and doing puzzles."
"That's pre-work. Important. Part of my process. Where's my sofa?"
"It is a tree."
Vector growled, but Espio could see he was laughing behind his scowl. Silver and Charmy came back downstairs.
"Ahh! A crocodile! Where's my spear!" Charmy squeaked, grasping for the hiking pole and smacking Vector.
"Oi! Don't go hunting crocs!" He snapped, picking Charmy up and bouncing him on his nose, pretending to bite him on every bounce.
"Crocodiles are not efficient to hunt! You should be looking for prey animals!" Silver tried to prod Charmy out of Vector's grasp as he shrieked for joy.
"Err.. then it's a gazelle?"
"We're in the woods! Espio, help me out here."
"I am unconscious."
Charmy wriggled out of Vector's grasp, bashing the tent again, and chucked rainwater over him. He squeaked and spluttered as it splashed in his nose.
"No! He could drown, and we didn't boil the water yet!" Silver hurried, turning Espio on his side.
"Oh, he's choking?" Vector knelt down next to Espio - "Speak to me, man! You'll have to kick him in the stomach so he stops!"
"No! That's for food, you have to-"
"Miraculously, I am fine! It seems rainwater to the face is all that was needed." Espio said quickly, sitting up and grabbing Charmy's ankles as he got ready to kick.
"But now you have no water! And it wasn't clean, so you have to clean it!" Silver hurriedly told Charmy, far more worried than he should have been.
"Or, you could take it from the spring that happens to have appeared in the kitchen? Instead of collecting rainwater?" Espio offered, smiling softly at Silver's commitment nontheless.
Charmy knocked the ropes again as he took the flask to the kitchen and filled it from the tap.
"You still have to purify it!" Silver huffed; "And for that you need to start a fire!"
"Absolutely not. You can use the mystical woods microwave, if Espio helps you. Silver doesn't count." Vector snapped, shooting Silver a look.
"I don't think you came camping, Vector. So we can't hear you." Espio elbowed him, but took Charmy's plastic cup out the microwave and decanted it into a mug.
Vector raised his hands, and his tail accidentally hit the pegs as he passed. Silver twinged, frowning at the microwave and straightening the tent.
"But how do we build a fire?" Charmy asked, and Silver instantly perked his ears up.
"You're gonna need to find the driest spot, and dig down a bit, and-"
He and Charmy started to dig a fire pit out of blankets, using shredded paper kindling and shoes as stones. Espio's heart warmed as he watched them, minding the microwave.
Silver was very particular about the pit, including the bucket of sand - a yellow blanket - and how to stoke the fire - crumpled up red wrapping paper - without burning himself. He picked the 'flames' up with his powers, and they crinkled and crackled as they spat at them.
"Thank you for cleaning the water for us." Espio said softly, pouring the boiled water into their pot over the fire. Silver sighed, and nodded.
"Why does it have to be hot? We making pasta?" Charmy asked, wiggling the flames himself as Silver was distracted by Espio at his shoulder. Silver smiled tiredly as his quills were stroked, then shook himself.
"No! It's so you don't get sick! Wild water is really evil, it can make you so, so sick - you'll hurl and crap water, then maybe die - you have to boil it so you might be safe!" He spoke urgently again, and shivered a little as he thought of it. Charmy looked worried at Espio, and at the water.
"This is clean. I mean, it's boiled. So it's safe."
"Safe-r. But a bad water source is still bad, and if it's near dead things, or triangle signs, or-"
"Silver, it's clean, okay? This is one of the clean ones." Espio insisted firmly, and he pressed on the back of Silver's quills again, shooting him a look.
Charmy looked at his cup anxiously, poking bubbles in it as he looked for bugs. Silver puzzled for what he'd done wrong, then nodded in recognition.
"But not drinking is way worse! You'll start stumbling, and you get hot, but you can't sweat, and then the next day-"
"But we're fine. We have water and it is clean. That's good. So we can have marshmallows by the fire." Espio said quickly, and rooted in his bag for sweets; "We need some sticks, can you get them from the woodland Kitchen Drawer?"
Silver glanced angrily at Espio, but trekked to the kitchen.
Charmy leant over to Espio as he picked at Marshmallows.
"Did you tell Silver we're pretending?" He whispered seriously. Espio meant to nod, but he stopped himself. No, he hadn't, but surely Silver knew that?
"You have to take sticks from high up so they're clean, yeah? And, they burn less easy if theyre from the live tree." Silver explained carefully, handing Charmy a skewer and stiffly giving one to Espio.
Behind the blankets and cushions, Espio placed a hand on Silver's knee.
"Thank you. We're eating marshmallows and takeaway for dinner, but what would we be eating? If we weren't playing?" He said gently. Silver blinked out of his grump.
"Well, we planned this trip, so we would have packed stuff. But if we ran out? We're in a woods. That's a good place for looking for real food. Like mushrooms and berries, if you know they're safe, and squirrels and birds and deer."
"I wanna catch a squirrel! Is there one running around the trees?" Charmy bounced up off his feet, shoving a whole mega-marshmallow in his mouth. Espio reached into the pile of unsorted washing that lined their Campsite. He tugged out a clean sock, pinged it into the air where it landed on the bookshelf.
"I think I saw one."
Charmy wriggled excitedly, readying a toy bow and arrow with a suction cup at the end.
"It needs to move!" he whispered after a moment. Espio looked hopefully at Silver, and he deflated, and the sock started wriggling, pulling itself to life, long end curling like a squirrels tail.
Later, Charmy tossed and turned in his sleeping bag, wriggling and messing around with the zip. Finally, he huffed and gave up.
"Can't I have just one more toy?" He whispered.
"Did you pack it?" Silver hissed back from the other side of the tent. Charmy grumbled to himself.
Espio rolled over in the middle, and shuffled over to Charmy. He whispered something to him, then Charmy picked up his armful of stuffed companions and trotted upstairs.
"What gives?" Silver whispered.
"I told him he can stop playing until the morning, if he likes."
Silver sniffed, arms folded, but Espio rolled back over to him, facing the back of his head.
"Thank you for keeping him entertained today. We have saved ourselves a lot of sulking." He said softly. Silver hummed, and lay still.
"... Or we have just redistributed it?" Espio teased softly, and was 'hmm'd again. He sat up, looking for Silver in the dark.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend you."
Silver shuffled upright too, asjusting his pillow.
"It's not playing. I'm trying to show him important stuff! Just... what can you do, when you're stuck inside?"
"You did show him important skills. He's surely learned a lot. Thank you."
Silver shook his head, then lay back down, and stared at the canvas ceiling in the dim light. Espio slipped into his sleeping bag and inched closer to Silver. His horn grazed his quills, perhaps unintentionally. It still stirred Silver's stomach, but he dragged his mind back to camping.
"I don't play. Why would anyone do that? It's stupid."
"Well, for someone who doesn't play, you did a good job today. Didn't you... have fun?"
Silver wanted to insist that no, he didn't, but he thought of Espio collapsed at the bottom of the stairs, Charmy stacking marshmallows on his quills, and getting attacked by a sock squirrel. He did have fun. But that felt wrong.
"This stuff... it's too important to be 'fun'. What 8 year old doesn't know how to build a fire? Doesn't that worry you?"
Espio considered him, and Silver turned to face him, so only the fabric of their sleeping bags was between them. Espio had to restart his thought.
"I... we're... he's not going to be in the wilderness alone. We won't let him. It's good if he has good skills, but it won't be life or death for him to depend on himself. Not yet. Hopefully not ever."
"What, so he won't be in danger, because you're just not going to let him?" Silver laughed softly, bumping his nose on Espio's horn. It was dark, but Espio glowed a little brighter pink, nestling his sleeping bag around his cheeks.
"No. But we will always be there to keep him safe."
"But then who's keeping you safe? What if you're stuck out in the cold and rain, what are you going to do?"
"We keep eachother safe. And don't go into situations that are bad for us when we can help it. Not to learn, anyway."
Silver pouted, and Espio bumped him back gently with his horn.
"But what if... something happened to you guys? What if you were on your own? You have to know how to survive, and you're not going to be able to of you've only camped in your living room." Silver sighed.
"We will survive. We can't live in fear of the worst happening. And learning through play keeps us safe now and safe then."
"You have to learn by doing it. You need to be prepared..." Silver mumbled, rubbing his face on the horn as he thought.
Silver's hand lay next to Espio's, close to their faces. Espio inched his closer, brushing over the back of Silver's paw tentatively.
"I'm sorry you had to learn by doing. It's kind of you to worry about us."
Silver was stumbled as to how his 'you's had been turned back against him, and he laughed before he could think about it.
"I... Don't mind! I learned what I know well. But Charmy needs to know this stuff, and he won't if you coddle him this much!"
"We do not coddle him. He's barely parented, poorly raised, and far from sheltered."
"Are you kidding? He's the luckiest kid in the world!" Silver laughed more, muffling it in his sleeping bag, as Espio closed both hands over his and squeezed.
"No, he isn't. Everybody should have a safe home and people who love them, at the minimum."
Silver snorted softly with the last of his disbelief, but couldn't think of an answer. Espio seemed to take this as victory, because he was gazing with a small smile at Silver, his eyes tracing the dark outline of his wild quills.
"I hope you know that you have that here, too, if ever you would like."
"I don't need to be raised! I'm just... glad you're letting me stay for now."
"I'm glad you're letting us 'let you'. I hope you stay awhile." Espio whispered
Silver tingled as the weird aura they seemed to make sparked his brain with strange ideas of staying here, right here, for all his forseeable future. Espio's hands held his delicately, a tender stroke over his thumb every so often. Silver rested his head back on his, feeling his breathing softly graze his fur.
"How cold do you think it is outside?" he said, suddenly nervous.
"Perhaps below 10 degrees; it is nighttime."
"That's... too cold for you?"
"It is a bit cold. I would be fine."
"No, um, pretend it's cold. How are you going to deal with that?"
Espio was unwilling to pull himself from Silver's face, but he crossed his eyes to try to assess what he was getting at.
"So we are playing after all?"
"No. Yes. Just answer the question."
"I would... wrap up more? Find a heat source, perhaps start the fire?"
"Um, no, you can't start the fire. It's raining. And you're wearing all the blankets."
Espio snickered, but Silver pressed on; "I'm serious, I need to know you can take care of yourself! You're out in the cold, how are you going to get warm?"
"Well, what have I got?"
"Your... bag, with food - but you ate todays, and... your clothes that you're wearing, and your tent, and you have all the stuff I brought, so we have enough for the two of us, 'cause we went together." He stumbled as he worded it, flexing his toes in his sleeping bag. Espio giggled silently as Silver spoke, but turned over the scenario.
"I don't have heating packs?"
"No. You didn't pack them."
"I'm not very wise, am I?"
"No you aren't. I don't have any either."
"Are you too cold, too?"
"... No. I'm furry, and I run warm. I don't get cold as easy." Silver said quickly. He regretted his proposal as Espio thought quietly for a minute.
"If you're warm, and I am cold... can I sleep in your bag with you, just until I'm warm?"
Silver nodded with enthusiasm, rubbing his face against Espio's again: "That's what you should do. If you were in that scenario."
"... Are we still playing?" Espio whispered.
"If you want to be. I... can play. I've decided I do."
Espio's sleeping bag unzipped, and Silver made to unzip his from the inside, but Espio got their first, and wriggled into the bag with him. It was a snug fit, impossible to keep from constant contact, but Silver shuffled even closer nontheless. His underhand found Espio's again, as his other stayed wound next to his chest, ready to put around him if given the slightest chance. Espio softly put his face back against Silver's, his heart racing. It would take barely a slip for his lips to meet Silver's, but he didn't trust himself not to miss in the dark.
"So, I should stay here until I'm warm?"
"You should stay here until the morning, 'cause you'll let the heat out if you go back to yours. And I should make you warm. If you're still okay with playing."
"I'm okay with playing. You are warming me up." He said quietly, but still grunted a small breath out as Silver put his arm over him, resting his hand on his back. He slunk his own over Silver's side too, and cosied into him, pressing his chest on his fur. Espio closed his eyes and breathed slowly, pretending he could sleep with this much nervous energy in his veins. Silver stroked his spines and he shivered.
"You don't have to pretend you're cold. We can stop if you like."
"No, I like this game."
Espio ran his fingers in his quills gently in answer, his nails catching on the tangles, and gently teasing them out. Silver was hot in the face, and buried his face in Espio's neck to hide it, but his rumbling chest betrayed a weakness yet to be hardened. Espio kept playing pretend that he didn't notice, and scritched his back and shoulders once the knots were gone.
The soft feeling of Silver's purring eventually lulled Espio to sleep, and his hand fell slack on Silver's shoulder as he snored in the quietest tones. Silver lay awake awhile longer, thinking over playing, how long he could stay here, and when they could next go camping.