Chapter Text
It’s Saturday night and Chanse is in an Uber, heading out to have drinks with some friends.
It had been about a year since Angela dropped in his apartment.
He had tried to bring it up a few times earlier on, when he saw her struggling, but she would shut down even more so he gave up. He hated watching her suffer like that when he knew he could help her. He had even tried playing dirty, asking while he himself was little. Angela had very nicely rejected him when he was little, before giving him the silent treatment for a few days once he aged up.
He could tell she was struggling again, used to the signs at this point, but knew he couldn’t help her unless she let him in. And at this point, he didn’t know if she ever would.
His group is about to enter the bar when his phone rings. He waves his friends on and pulls out his phone, walking to a quiet spot off to the the side of the building. He reads Angela’s name and is confused. They almost never call each other, preferring to just text. He gets to the quiet spot and answers the phone.
“What's up bitch?” he answers, stating his normal greeting.
He hears a sniffle on the other end. He’s about to ask if she's ok when he hears a tiny voice.
“Chansey... help”
Chanse freezes. “Angie?” he asks quietly. “Are you safe?” he adds immediately after. He knows that if she’s little, she isn't ok, and didn’t do it on purpose.
“Chansey” she repeats again, his name turning into a whine at the end.
He puts his phone on speaker phone, opening Uber again. “Are you at your apartment? He asks, typing in her address.
“Ya” She says quietly, sniffling again.
“Alright Ang, Chansey should be there soon.” He says, booking a trip to her apartment.
He hears a sound of surprise come from Angela, he ignores it, not wanting to do heavy emotions over the phone.
“Uber says 30 minutes, do you want me to stay on the phone?”
“Please” she whispers
He feels his heart break slightly at the emotion in her voice.
“I’m here, baby, I’m here.” He coos, texting his friends that he has an emergency and is leaving.
“Can you tell me what room you’re in?” he asks, trying to keep conversation, and see if he can help her to calm down over the phone.
He gets no response, so he tries again as he gets into the car. “Do you want to just listen while I talk?”
“Ya” she mumbles barely audible. So that’s what Chanse does. For the next 30 minutes, Chanse sat in the back of an Uber talking about anything he can think of that’s age appropriate. Spork, his little adventures, joke ideas for their next show, funny memories, anything to fill the silence.
Angela doesn’t speak again, the only sign she's still there is her heavier breathing and occasional sniffles.
Finally, the car pulls up to her apartment, and Chanse hops out of the car heading to the front door. “I’m here Angie, can you let Chansey in?” He asks hopefully
Angela lets out a small whine in response.
“I’m taking that as a no.” Chanse attempts to joke. “I’m gonna use the hidden key.” He adds, waiting to see if she’ll stop him.
She doesn’t, so he grabs the key from its hiding place and opens the door, shutting and locking it behind him.
“I’m here, I’m inside, I’m gonna hang up now, alright?” He asks quietly, trying to hear her location in the apartment.
“Ok” she whispers, and he hangs up, heading towards her room. The bathroom door is opened, so he peeks inside, and that’s where he finds Angela. She’s curled up under a blanket in the bathtub, clutching onto something, Spork laying near by.
“Angela.” he whispers sadly, heartbroken at the state he’s found his best friend.
Her head shoots up, eyes red, and face covered in tears. She lets out a quiet sob, curling tighter into herself.
Chanse slowly walks over to the side of the tub, kneeling down next to it. “Hi baby.” he coos quietly.
She locks eyes with him, and he forces himself to smile in an attempt to be calming.
“Do you want a hug? He asks gently. All he wants is to pull her into his arms, but he knows that’ll scare her.
Angela looks at him intensely, before she gives a slight nod, scooching backwards to give him room.
Chanse rolls his eyes internally, not really wanting to sit in a bathtub, but he climbs in and sits down. He holds his arms open towards her.
She blinks at him, and then crawls towards him slowly, as if he’ll change his mind. She reaches him, and he gently lifts her into his lap, cradling her in his arms and rocking her lightly.
He brushes back the hair sticking to her forehead. “I got you.” He murmurs looking down at her. She reaches with her empty hand to grab his shirt, to anchor herself to him.
The two sit in the bathtub for about ten minutes until Angela falls asleep, hands loosely gripping her stuffed toy and Chanse’s shirt.
Chase sighs, carefully detaching her hand from his shirt and turning to look at Spork, who is staring past him. “I know bud, I don’t know what to do either.”
It takes him a long time, but he manages to get himself, Angela, and Spork out of the bathtub without waking her. He places her carefully in her bed, covering her with the blanket he also removed from the bath. She moves in her sleep, rolling onto her side, fingers drifting into her mouth. Chanse smiles down at her, before heading out to the living room. He looks around trying to decide what to do.
It’s late enough that he’s hoping Spork was fed, but he seemed fine. Chanse knew she was probably going to wake up little, the question was in how long. He wanted to be there when she woke up, but also didn’t want to stay awake in her room all night.
He decides to give it an hour. He drags a chair into her room, and pops in a headphone, and watches TikTok on his phone.
About 45 minutes later he hears movement and looks up. Angela is staring back at her, blinking sleepily.
He slowly gets up and walks to sit on the edge of the bed, giving her time to tell him to stop. She gives no reaction, so he sits next to her.
She reaches out with the hand out not in her mouth, and grabs his.
He internally makes note of this habit of hers, but pushes it aside, now's not the time to stop her from self-soothing.
He squeezes her hand gently, “Have a good nap?” he asks gently.
Angela nods, using Chanse's hand as leverage to sit up.
He coos at her. “Are you thirsty?” He asks, knowing she'd probably been crying for a while.
She nods again. He looks around the room quickly for a water bottle, but sees nothing.
“There’s no water in here, so I’m gonna have to go get it.” he starts, her hold on his hand tightening slightly. “Do you want Chansey to go get it for you, or do you wanna come with me?”
Angela tilts her head in thought and Chanse coos again.
“Stay Chansey, please.” she mumbles though her fingers.
“Alright,” he starts, standing up. “Let’s go get some water.” He holds her hand as she lowers herself off the bed. She’s slightly unsteady on her feet, so the two carefully walk to the kitchen.
Angela immediately tries to pull herself up to sit on the counter. Chanse chuckles and boosts her up.
“All good up there?” He asks jokingly, them being about the same height like this. She nods, letting out a quiet giggle.
Chanse pats her knee before he turns around. “Don’t move too much and fall on me, Munchkin.” he instructs gently.
He sees her nod in his peripheral vision as he searches for a cup with a lid. He finally finds a travel coffee cup, so he grabs it, fills it with water, and hands it to Angela.
“Thanks you” She mumbles at almost a normal volume, happily drinking from the cup, spilling a little on herself as she quickly finishes it.
Chanse laughs, grabbing a paper towel to wipe the water off her face. He gently wipes it off and holds his hand out for the cup. “Want more?” he asks.
She nods, passing the cup over, and he quickly refills it and hands it back. She takes another sip and puts it down next to her, happily swinging her feet.
Chanse looks at the clock seeing it's almost eleven. “Did you have dinner?” he asks. She slowly shakes her head. He turns to look in the fridge, finding almost nothing in there. He turns back to her. “Do you want anything specific?” he asks, figuring he’ll probably have to order something.
“No hungry” she whines. Chanse raises an eyebrow at her, but says nothing. He knows about her past, and guesses some of that might have transferred in its own way to her little self.
“Alright. So no dinner. How about a snack?” he tries, looking through the cabinets. He finds a half eaten bag of popcorn and pulls it out. “How about we watch a movie and have some popcorn?”
She tilts her head, thinking, before slowly nodding. Chanse cheers internally, glad he could get her to eat. He holds his hand out for her to hold. “Wanna jump off?”
She quickly grabs his hand and hops off the counter, giggling as she lands. Chanse quickly grabs a bowl and hands her her cup before leading her to the couch.
Angela climbs onto the couch and Chanse hands her the bowl of popcorn. He grabs the remote and as he goes to sit down, she stops him.
“What's wrong?” he asks, concerned.
She points at her room. “‘noli” she mumbles.
Chanse looks at her confused. “‘Noli?” he parrots back
Angela nods “Get please.”
He sighs. “I don’t know what that is, baby.” he tells her
She pouts and holds the popcorn out to him. He takes it, and she stands up clumsily, before toddling back to her room.
Chanse sits on the couch, placing the popcorn on the table, and grabbing the blanket off the back, unfolding it for them.
Angela rushes back in with a stuffed dog. She hops onto the couch and holds the dog out to Chanse about an inch from his face.
He moves back in surprise before laughing. “I see, is their name Noli?” he asks assuming that's the case.
She shakes her head. “Cannoli” she says slowly, carefully enunciating every syllable.
Chanse smiles. “Cannoli? You’re so Italian.” he jokes. She shoves him playfully, freezing for a second, but unfreezing once Chanse started laughing.
He pulls her into his side. “Wanna watch Cars?” he asks, grabbing the remote and pulling up Disney+.
She nods, grabbing the popcorn. Chanse starts the movie, putting the blanket over both their laps, and the two snack on popcorn, watching the movie.
Angela just barely makes it through the whole movie, drifting off to sleep and shocking herself awake when her head fell onto Chanse’s shoulder. Chanse slowly stands, pulling Angela up with him and walks her to her bed. She sleepily crawls in and he tucks her in, making sure Cannoli is under the covers with her.
“Gnight Angie” he whispers, kissing her forehead.
“Night” she mumbles, fingers back in her mouth.
She immediately falls asleep. He sighs in relief, going around the apartment to get ready to sleep. He brings Spork and her water to her room for her, and grabs the extra bedding from the closet.
He lays down on the couch, and falls asleep the second his head hits the pillow.
His last thought before he falls asleep.
She can’t run from the conversation this time.