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In his dim room, Vector hears a small voice calling his name. At first, it feels like part of his dream, and he doesn’t register it as real. The third “Vector?” has him alert and sitting up in bed.
Charmy stands in the doorway in his pajamas, outlined by the pitch-dark background of the hallway. He looks so small with his hands twisting nervously in front of him and his eyes turned to the floor.
“Hey, dude, what’s up?” Vector asks with a yawn. He glances at the digital clock perched beside his bed. It’s past midnight.
Charmy’s shoulders hunch in embarrassment. “I threw up,” he mumbles.
“Oh. Oh, kid, it’s okay.” Vector kicks off the covers and rubs the lingering traces of sleep from his eyes. He gets to his feet and joins Charmy at the door. “Let’s go get Espio. He’s better at the, uh— gentle stuff.” He takes Charmy’s little hand in his own, at least five times bigger.
Down the hall, the light is still on in Espio’s room, shining through the crack beneath his door. It isn’t a surprise — he runs on a concerningly small amount of sleep. He’s probably still up, reading a book or writing down his thoughts.
Vector’s about to knock when Charmy gives his arm a frantic tug. “I think I’m gonna— I think I need to—“
“Huh?” Vector looks down and catches him clamping his hands over his mouth. “Oh, sh— sugar.” He scoops Charmy up like a football and runs for the bathroom.
In hindsight, that may have made it worse, but at least they reach the toilet in time. Vector barely gets the lid up before Charmy’s heaving into the bowl. He sinks to his knees on the cool tile and clutches weakly at the porcelain rim of the toilet. Vector feels a sharp pang of sympathy in his chest. He crouches beside his youngest teammate and places a hand on his back.
Charmy brings something up almost immediately. He starts to cry.
“Hang in there, kiddo.” Vector rubs his back as gently as he can.
“Are you guys okay?” he hears Espio call from outside. Soft footsteps make their way down the hall. “What are you doing? Running around the house in the middle of the night?”
“We’re in the bathroom,” Vector calls back.
Espio pokes his head in a few moments later. His expression immediately falls with worry. He joins them inside.
“Charmy got sick in bed. He wasn’t done throwin’ up, though.”
Vector pats the kid’s back and he looks up with a miserable pout, face damp with tears and saliva. “I don’t feel good,” he whispers. His voice is scratchy and pathetic.
Espio sits beside them and begins to stroke the top of Charmy’s fluffy head. “Poor baby.”
Vector startles at the pet name, but Charmy leans into it, closing his eyes peacefully as Espio pets his head. He gets sick a couple more times, but after a few minutes he sits up straighter and says, “I think I’m done.”
“Good job. You’re very brave,” Espio praises. He gives Charmy’s head a final pat and stands up. “Mind if I take your temperature?”
“Okay,” Charmy sighs, defeated. Espio takes his little hands and helps him to his feet. Vector stands after them, reaching over and flushing the toilet.
Charmy is shaky and tired on his feet. He lets Espio manhandle him slightly as he pulls him closer by the wrist and tilts his head up. “Open,” he says softly, and Charmy complies without protest. Espio slips a cool thermometer beneath his tongue. “Close, please.”
Vector’s toe taps the tile mindlessly, and the three teammates wait for the beep. When it goes off, Charmy opens his mouth without being asked and Espio removes the thermometer. He reads the number and frowns. “Pretty high fever. You’ll have to take a break from work until this goes down, okay?”
Charmy doesn’t argue. He looks relieved, actually. “Okay,” he rasps quietly.
Espio washes the thermometer and puts it away in its spot beneath the sink. Charmy watches with glassy eyes. He’s looking more out of it with every minute. He didn’t seem this sick before he went to bed, but if he was and Vector didn’t notice, it will eat at him for the rest of his life. A little guilty, he takes Charmy’s hand and squeezes lightly.
Espio fills a glass with water and hands it to Charmy. He rinses out his mouth a couple times, spitting into the sink. Then he gulps the rest of the water down. Espio takes the empty glass back and sets it out of the way.
He turns to face his teammates again. “Alright. Let’s go see how your room looks.“
“Sorry for making a mess.” Charmy looks at the floor. His thumb has moved involuntarily into his mouth, a habit he mostly dropped a year ago but tends to pick up again when he isn’t feeling well.
Vector ruffles his fluff. “Hey, no worries. Happens to the best of us.”
They head down the hall to his room. The odor inside is thick. Charmy looks a little queasy all over again, so Espio and Vector make it a quick glance.
“Looks like it’s just the sheets. I’ll wash them in a minute,” Espio says. He smiles down at Charmy. “Want to have a sleepover tonight?”
“I’m gonna get you guys sick,” he protests, words muffled around his thumb.
“Nah, it’s probably not contagious,” Vector dismisses with a wave of his hand. In all honesty, he has no idea. But he wants Charmy to be comfortable, and from experience, the best way for that to happen is with company from his older teammates. His honorary big brothers.
“Want to sleep in my bed?” Espio offers.
Charmy only hesitates another moment before nodding. He and Vector follow Espio to his room.
Inside, Espio quickly tidies up. He grabs his open journal off the bed, snapping it shut and slipping it into a drawer. The bed is still neatly made, but he pulls the covers loose so they can climb under. Finally, he turns out the light.
“You boys get in bed. I’ll go grab a couple things and put your sheets in the washer, then I’ll be right back,” Espio whispers. He’s good at this part, calming things down and getting ready for bed. Being gentle and soft. He’d make a great parent, Vector thinks.
He leaves the room and Charmy turns to Vector, looking up at him with a feverish gaze. “Aw, bud. Are you tired?” Vector asks. He guides his little friend across the room and lifts him into bed. Charmy sinks against the pillows immediately, eyelids drooping sleepily.
Vector gets in beside him, pressing himself between Charmy and the wall.
Espio returns a few minutes later with a damp washcloth, a glass of water, a box of tissues, and a teddy bear taken from the pile of plush toys in Charmy’s room. “I’m putting this on your forehead,” he explains, gently draping the cloth over the little bee’s face. “Try to keep it there. I have some water if you get thirsty and tissues just in case you need them. And here.” He tucks the bear cozily into his arm.
Even through closed, tired eyes, Charmy smiles at him and mumbles something around his thumb. Vector’s pretty sure it’s “Thanks, Espio,” but he honestly can’t be certain.
Espio climbs into bed on Charmy’s other side and lies down. He yawns, and it really must be contagious because Vector and Charmy immediately follow suit.
“You comfortable?” Vector asks. Charmy nods sleepily.
Espio pulls the covers up. “Good night, you two. Sleep tight.” For a second it looks like he might kiss Charmy on the forehead, but he chickens out awkwardly. Finally, he kisses his fingertips and presses them against the bee’s fluffy head.
“Him too.” Charmy tugs the bear from under the covers and holds it up. Espio smiles and kisses the top of its plush head.
Satisfied, Charmy settles under the covers and cuddles the bear close to his chest. The cloth starts to slip off his forehead, and Vector carefully adjusts it.
Within a few minutes, he’s fallen asleep and is snoring softly. Vector glances at Espio over Charmy’s head and finds him looking back.
“You okay?” Espio whispers.
“Yeah. Why?”
“I thought you may be stressed.”
“Nah.” Vector feels a cheesy smile cross his snout before he can stop it. “It’s easy with you guys.”
Espio’s eyes soften. “I love you,” he says. His fingers card lazily through Charmy’s bangs. “Both of you. You’re my...”
Vector waits for him to find his words. He’s quiet for a good few minutes. Vector can wait.
“It’s,” Espio bites his lip and then speaks. “I see you in everything. The other day, I jumped into a pond on a whim and I thought of Charmy. I slept under a weighted blanket and I thought of you. Here, right now, you two are like a fire in a fireplace. Hearth and home, you know? And I just want it to always be like that.”
Vector nods. “So do I.”
Espio rolls onto his back. “I used to be scared of the future,” he continues. “Because there’s no way to know what’s coming, or how long it will last. But now… well, I could be here forever, washing Charmy’s sheets. It doesn’t feel scary with you guys.” He shrugs. “It doesn’t feel scary at all.”
Vector lets him keep going because he usually keeps to himself and, Chaos, he can’t remember the last time he saw Espio like this.
“Anyway, we’re eventually going to leave this place behind. Move away from here and go on to a new city. And somebody else will move in. But they’ll know we were here, because they’ll see the glow-in-the-dark stars on Charmy’s ceiling. They’ll see the garden, and my plants. They’ll see the sign you painted and stuck in the ground. And that’s forever.”
Vector’s breath catches in his throat. An itching, a lump. That’s— He’s going to cry.
Espio smiles. “Charmy learned how to tie his shoes a month ago. I’m so glad I was there for that. And I want to be there when he’s in dentures, too.” He looks at Vector. “You guys are my heroes. To me, you’re family. And I love you.”
Vector looks at the ceiling, mildly embarrassed. “Well, shit. I love you guys too.” He scratches his neck. “You mean a whole lot to me, ya know. I don’t have any flowery words to say, but. I wouldn’t get up in the middle of the night for just anyone.”
Charmy shifts beside him, murmuring something in his sleep. Vector and Espio both reach for him at the same time, chuckling at each other as their hands instinctively settle over him. Protecting him, maybe, or it’s possible the proximity is just for comfort. Vector knows he feels pretty comfortable right now.
He also feels tired. It’s catching up with him. Surely Espio must be tired as well, but Vector can’t really figure his schedule out. The guy runs on a few hours of sleep and never seems to run out of energy throughout the day. It’s messed up. Vector needs to catch up on his beauty sleep or he’s going to be very cranky in the morning.
“G’night for real this time,” he says. “It’s probably one in the morning.”
“12:57.”
Vector cracks a grin, eyes already closed. “Yeah, yeah. Shut your smartass mouth and go to sleep.”
As he drifts off with his family beside him, he’s never felt luckier. He listens to Charmy snore and he understands what Espio was saying about Forever. He could be here for the rest of his life, keeping his teammates close, safe, warm. And he knows he won’t, but that doesn’t worry him.
He knows this will all last as long as it needs to. He knows that for the rest of his life, he won’t forget the little things — the thermometer, the journal, the teddy bear, the glass of water. He knows that he and Espio will always be there when Charmy’s sick, that that awesome little kid would do the same for either of them. And so of course he isn’t afraid; of course he isn’t. Nobody can take from him what really matters. He has everything he needs, right here in this bed, in this house. He has his hearth and home — his pond and his blanket, his glow-in-the-dark stars, his garden, his boys.
He might wake up sick in the morning, but that’d be okay. He’d be sick forever just to stay like this, curled up in Espio’s bed with Charmy tucked between them. It’s all he needs — forever and always.