Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Some family info before we get into it guys!!

•The Caseiro Family:

Cheesy, Brie, Chip, Dip and Slice

•The Vega Family:

Insence (dad), Nightlight (mom, Insence divorced her tho), Album (Stepmom), Lightbulb, Candle

•The Winston Family:

Medal (dad), Vase (mom), Trophy

•The Barut Family:

Firework (mom 1), Smokebomb (mom 2), Bomb, Firecracker (lil brother)

•The Dillhoefer Family:

Tomato (stepdad), Pjuice (bio dad), Pickle, Cucumber (rip)

•The Cobs Family:

Steve Cobs (father), Apple Cobs, Poppy Cobs

 

•The Baccay Family:

B9 Pencil (mom), Pallet Knife (Dad), Paintbrush

Chapter Text

It was August 27th, the sun just started waking up and it's rays shined across the town
Obnoxious beeping filled a specific bedroom. It came from an alarm that stood on a pretty messy and tattered nightstand. It was ringing out that it was 6 in the morning, trying to wake up whoever it belonged to.

Cheesy, the person in question, rolled over to the side to face the alarm clock. With a geoan, he switched it off. He did NOT want to get up, he never does wanna get up at this hour. But if the alarm didn't wake him up, the obnoxious sunlight surely would've.

Slowly sitting up with a yawn, he rubbed his eyes and decided to open his phone to check if he had anything important to do today.

"Gotta take the three gremlins back to school shopping....oh god back to school shopping." he facepalmed

Yup. Back to school in general. You see, Cheesy had four younger siblings. His sister Brie (13), his younger brother's Chip and Dip (both 8, they're twins) and the youngest sister Slice (3). He himself was 17 and not only did he have to get their shopping done, but he also had to register for another year at his own highschool today.

He was still heavily debating if he should. I mean- he barely juggled his first year. Since his parents were never around at all he took care of everything by himself most of the time. Not to mention he never even CONSIDERED dormatories for his first year because he had nobody to leave his siblings with. Therefore it was a disaster last year.
He didn't have a lotta time to think about that tho, because suddenly his bedroom door swung open.
Turning around, he saw Slice just waltz on in.

"Ceecee!" she happily exclaimed walking over.

"Hey there, lil monkey. What are you doi g up at this hour, missy?" He picked her up the moment she walked over, setting her down on the bed.

"Not tired anymore! That's all!"

"Ah i see. You need more sleep to grow bigger tho, Slice." He booped her nose a bit

"I'm already big. I drink milk." She said, voice full of pride.

Cheesy just laughed a bit at that, kids were adorably naive.

"Milk isn't enough to fully make you strong and big, kiddo."

Cheesy finally stood up properly, stretching a bit before picking Slice up in his arms properly.

"Wanna help me make something for breakfast."

"Yuh huh!"

"Let's go then." He left the room, carrying her out as well.

Once they got to the small kitchen their house had, he set her down on the countertop.

"What should we make, Slice? Whaddya think?"

She let out a slight 'hmmm' sound, putting her index finger on her chin, before turning back and saying

"Pankiks!"

Cheesy just chuckled at her mispronounciations of the word

"Pancakes it is then."

"Yayyy!!"

After Cheesy finished making them, after an hour anyway, he slid all of them on a plate.
Usually, if it wasn't summertime, all of them would've eaten something simpler. But because Cheesy had more time on his hands he decided to make it a bit special every now and then.

Slowly but surely, the other three woke up.
Cheesy liked seeing his siblings just happily eating their breakfast and having a good time

"Okay you three. We gotta go back to school shopping today."

Brie, Chip and Dip let out a disappointed and annoyed 'aawwwww' sound.

"No fair. Slice doesn't need notebooks!" Chip said

"That's because Slice is three years old, Chip. She doesn' even know how to write. If anything, we could get her a new backpack atleast."

"Yayyy! Packpack!" Slice exclaimed

"Close enough, Slice."

Since Cheesy couldn't drive, all of them walked to the nearby bookstore to buy school supplies.
They entered the store, Cheesy immediately lining them up.

"Okay guys, we can't do anything TOO flashy or specific, we're on a budget for this."

"I want glitter pens!" Brie exclaimed

"Only if they're under five dollars." Cheesy replied to her

He doesn't WANT to ruin his siblings' fun, they were kids, but if they wanted more things then some things are just gonna have to wait.

While browsing through some of the aisles, he felt someone tap his shoulder.

"Hello, Cheesy."

"Candle!" He turned to look at her "What're you doing here?"

"I came here to find supplies. I'm starting year 1 highschool this year." She said, her voice as calm as it always was

"Oh! You're starting this year?"

"Mhm. I'm guessing you're returning this year as well?"

Cheesy stopped in his tracks. WAS he returning this year? He wasn't sure...should he? He has his siblings to take care of, and dorming he didn't see as a possibility! He just sighed.

"No, i don't think i am, Candle" He crossed his arms and mumbled under his breath

She raised an eyebrow, confused at what he said. He wasn't returning? That's ridiculous.

"You're not?" She asked

"I'm not. I don't have time, Candle. I just- i have four siblings to take care of! And i can't juggle that, plus work, plus school—"

"Cheesy."

"—And what if they need me at some point?? What if something happens?! I can't stay on campus knowing they'd have nowhere to go! It'd be a disaster!" He started rambling, his nails digging into his arms

"Cheesy Caseiro!!" She yelled a bit to get him to snap out of his panicked rambling
It worked like a charm because immediately he stopped talking and looked at her.

She inhaled, then exhaled

"Calm down, deep breaths. I know this is stressful, but you can't put down your own education like this. You need to go to school and actually live as well."

"I appreciate the sentiment" he said "but i can't leave them behind, Candle. I need to make sure they're okay. I can't take them to campus with me."

She saw the tired and conflicted look on his face. After a bit of thinking, she got an idea.

"Cheesy, i think i have something that can help you. An original idea, if you will."

"Wha-?"

"Listen, me and my sister will also be staying on campus this year. That means our house will only consist of my father and stepmother. No kids will be in the house. My idea is simple, why don't you drop your siblings off at our house on dorm moving day, and then go with me and Lightbulb to the dormatories and campus? That way your siblings will have a comfortable and safe place to be while you finish the school year."

Cheesy stared at her, then immediately tried to object to the idea

"Nono! Candle i can't ask that of you! I don't want to be a bother to your family, i'd never i-"

She just calmly took his hands in hers

"Look at me. My parents finished their schooling, Cheesy. They have nothing really important to do nowadays. You, me and other people our age are still young. We have our whole lives ahead of us. We have many things to continue learning. You cannot spend your days acting like the adult."

"But-"

"No buts. I want to help."

He just looked at the ground, gears turning in his head. He wanted to tell her no, he wanted to disagree. But he couldn't. He knew he needed this.
His breathing did start to pick up a bit, he was unsure of how to approach the situation or what to do. But her hands on his were grounding him and not letting him slip into a full on frenzy!

He finally faced her and said "Okay..." his breath shaking slightly
He said goodbye to her later, and left with his siblings after getting everything they needed.

When they got home, he was staring and the registration forms on his laptop. He was thinking things through.
He looked to the side, seeing his siblings do god knows what in Brie's room.

He smiled at the sight. God, childhood innocence. He missed when that was familiar to him...
He turned back to his computer and started filling the forms out. He added every detail that was asked of him to fill out. Finally, after a while, he finished. He send the registration forms to the school email and called it a night.

Once August 30th rolled around, two days before school was to start, he stopped by the Vega household to both drop off his siblings and go with Candle and Lightbulb to their resignated highschool by bus.
Standing in the front yard, he lined up his siblings for a moment.

"Okay you four, i'm going to be away for a little while. Behave for Mr.Insence and Mrs.Album for me, okay?"

"Aww you're leavin'? No fair! I wanna be in a cool big school!" Chip complained

"Maybe in a few years, Chip." Dip responsed to his brother's complaint

Cheesy laughed at the little interaction

"Be safe on the road, okay? Don't let the bus driver run over any squirrles!" Brie told him, she was a nature lover clearly

"No squirrles will get run over, Brie. If they do i'll be sure to let you know so you can put a curse on the driver" He ruffled her hair a bit
Then he felt Slice tug at his pant leg.

"Where you goin' Ceecee?"

His heart broke when he saw how sad she was. He picked her up

"Hey, why the tears? I'm going on a secret mission, duh! I just need to be at the nearby school so they don't blow my cover!"

She giggled at his words. She was 3, of course she bought it.

"Don't worry, guys, i'll be back the moment i get a proper break." He set Slice down again "Besides, nothing can keep ME away from y'all. Hope you'll have a 'gouda' time even without me!" What a knee slapper.

After he finished talking with his siblings, and thanking Mr. and Mrs. Vega for the 7th time today. He walked over to where Candle and Lightbulb were.

"Comin' with us, Cheesehead?" Lightbulb asked, a bit of teade in her tone.

"Pft, yup! I can't 'brie'leave it either! Hopefully i won't make a single neme'swiss' while there."

All three of them just laughed at the little joke rush he had before actually getting on the bus.

The ride to the actual dorm and campus was an hour long. And he had to travel to the school evedy day last year so he was used to the route. It wasn't a fun experience travelling so far everyday, so this was a nice change.

Since they left pretty late in the day, and since there was traffic, they arrived at the actual location around 8pm. By this point it was already nighttime, which was a bummer but it was fine.
He knew exactly who he was going to be dormmates with, and he couldn't wait for that.
He watched as Lightbulb and Candle went to their respective ones.

Cheesy then went to his, stared at the door for a moment, before putting his hand on the doorknob and turning it.