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Birthdays weren't necessarily… a thing, for the Chaotix Detective Agency. For one, Vector really didn't care about his own all that much. He preferred work over leisure, in full honesty. Espio refused to even TELL his birthday, as well.
Charmy…
"Do I have a birthday?"
Vector paused, then he slowly put his pen down on the bill papers. He looked up, seeing Charmy hovering just in front of the desk, staring Vector directly in the eyes.
"Uhhmm…" Vector thought for a bit, "I mean, everyone does?"
"Ohhh…" Charmy looked to the side, "Does Espio?"
"Yeah, he's just secretive about it."
"Do you?"
"Mhm," He looked back down and picked up the papers, then began to sort them into files. "April 10th."
Charmy flew down, landing his feet on the floor and put his hands on the desk, looking up at Vector, "It already passed?! That's sad!"
"Ehh, I don't really care," He slid the files into a drawer and stood up, leaning forward to pat Charmy's head, "When you're an adult, birthdays are just a reminder of how old you are."
Charmy tilted his head, "But.. aren't they all like that?"
Vector shrugged, "Well, usually you celebrate in some way on them. With, like, cake, and family."
"That sound like… hmmm…" Charmy closed his eyes as the thought, "We always have cake at Vanillas— is that what a birthdays like?"
"Uh, I guess so. I never really had birthday parties growing up."
Charmy hummed, "Oh, ok!" He then flew up and sat on the desk in front of the two, "When is my birthday?"
Vector looked to the side, "Ah."
He… didn't know…
Charmy may have been under Vectors care his whole life, but he wasn't there when he was born. He was practically abandoned when they found him— the only things Vector really knew when he took him in was:
One, he was a bee.
Two, he wasn't any older than 4 months.
Vector looked into Charmy's eyes. The bee smiled brightly, obviously excited for an answer.
"I'm sorry, buddy," Vector sighed, putting a hand on Charmy's head and pushing him slightly, "I wouldn't know."
Charmy's smile dropped. "… huh?"
Gaia, did it hurt Vectors heart to say things like that.
"We just… there'd be no way to know, I'm sorry, Charms."
"Oh…" The little bee looked down, "It's ok! I'm gonna watch TV now." He climbed down the desk and flew toward the living room.
Vector sighed, rubbing his head. He hated disappointing Charmy like that— but it was true! There really was no way to know, what was he supposed to say?
Vector looked at the calendar. April 21st, Tuesday.
Hm. Now, why did that sound… familiar…?
Tuesday, Tuesday.. Vector thought for a second, pacing around the room. Ehh.. last Tuesday wasn't anything interesting… It was a dry day— heavy contrast to today's rainstorm.
Oh! Rainstorm! Yeah, this was a pretty rainy type of month.
But… why did this familiarity strike him after his conversation with Charmy…?
Welp, looks like there was a small, internal case on his hands. He chuckled and rubbed his hands together.
Looks like he'll need to ask the one other witness he had…
THUMP THUMP THUMP THUMP
Vector then ran upstairs and slammed open the first door.
"What the—" A purple chameleon jumped up from his mat on the floor, backing away from his small table and stanced up while looking up at Vector. "Is there something going on?"
"ESPIO." Vector approached him and grabbed his shoulders, much to the chameleons confusion.
"…Yes..?"
"This is super important," Vector starred intensely at his eldest. "I really- and I mean really- need you to think."
Espio's brow furrowed, "…Ok?"
"Am I missing something today?" Vectors voice shrunk back into a kinder tone, "I don't know why, but something about today seems familiar."
Espio's expression dropped. He swatted Vectors hands off of him and backed up, "Are you serious?"
"Look," Vector began to pace around the room, "Charmy asked me about birthdays, right?"
"Alright? I don't see what this has to do with you forgetting a date."
"Just listen-" He cleared his throat, deepening his voice for dramatic effect. "While talking, he seemed to get upset when I told him we wouldn't know when his was…"
"Oh, true," Espio stretched a bit before walking back over to his floor mat, sitting criss-crossed, "We don't really celebrate birthdays anyways, do we?"
"We probably would if you told us your bir-"
"Not happening."
Vector snapped, "Worth a shot, anyways," He continued to pace around, "Then I looked at the calender, right? And I was thinking— today's April 21st, a rainy Tuesday…"
"..I mean, yeah."
"But it just sounded… strangely familiar to me.." He turned to Espio and pointed a finger at him. "And that's why I came to you! Our Chaotix-Information holder!"
Espio tilted his head, confused. "What."
"You have the best memory! So tell me," He then put his hand on his chin, "Why does a rainy Tuesday in April feel familiar to me AFTER I had that conversation with Charmy, huh?"
Espio stammered a bit, then stood up, "Why would I know why YOU'RE having weird deja-vu??"
"Because you're the brains of the team! I'm the brawn, your the brains-slash-stealth, and Charmy's our heart!"
"Wow." He crossed his arms, "Rare-Vector-giving-us-credit, I thought you decided you were the brains, like, last year."
"Not important right now." Vector backed up, leaning against the wall dramatically, "We need to figure out why today is so important…"
Espio sighed, "… did you file your tax return?"
"That was last week."
"Then I don't know," He walked over to Vector and began to shove him out of the room, "You're being weird, go eat."
"Wha- HEY!" Vector turned around and backed away, "I swear, Es, something feels weirdly familiar about today!!"
"I can't help you with your own memory, Vector!" He continued to try and push the crocodile out, only for Vector to stand his ground.
"But— GAH!"
Just then, Vector stumbled backward, hitting a shelf on the wall behind him. Two books fell down, hitting Vector in the head on their way to the ground. Espio stood straight before quickly diving to catch the books.
Vector groaned and leaned as he rubbed his head, "Owwwch… Geez— those are some hard books, kid-"
He paused once he caught the sight of Espio on the ground, his eyes locked on the books.
"Uhh.. kid?" Vector reached a hand out, "You're not like, hurt, right?"
He watched as Espio's shoulders shuffled a bit. He then heard small, muffled laughs.
"Espio?" Vector knelt down, looking over at Espio's face, then the book.
"Hmpg—hehehe—" Espio took his hand off the book, covering his mouth, "Kore, sugoku bakage teru…" he mumbled.
"Huh?"
Espio inhaled, attempting to regain his composure— then, pointed at the books page, still stifling a laugh, "It's— pfft— it's you, look."
Vector squinted at the page, "Uhhmm.."
Oh! That is kinda funny.
Vector laughed a bit nervously, reading out the romanization of the text below an image of a mustached character bumping his head, "..Dojina baka?"
Espio then burst out laughing, wiping his face a bit, "I can't believe this book has that!" He smiled, "It's literally you!"
Vector rolled his eyes and stood up, picking up the books and putting them back on the shelf, "Right, haha, so funny." He said sarcastically. He then turned one of the books around, examining the cover, "These were the children's language books we got you back then, aren't they?"
Espio nodded, standing up as he regained his composure, "I think we were given them by somebody."
"Eh, probably when we went to church the first time—" He turned the pages, "They were a bit weird about us, from what I remember."
Espio nodded, before suddenly standing straight, "Wait—" He jumped up, grabbing the book out of Vector's hands, "If I'm right…"
Vector watched as he turned the book to the very last page, looking at the writing on the back of the final page.
Espio read it out loud, "Ame ni nurasanai… yō ni shite kudasai- YES!" His eyes lit up as he turned to Vector, smiling, before quickly dropping his face back to a resting expression. "Ahem, uh, Vector, maybe you aren't as insane as I say you are."
Vector chuckled and crossed his arms, "Oh really? And what's made you change your mind then?"
"So," He pointed at the writing in the back, "Remember the lady who gave us this? She wrote this here because she had genuinely wanted me to learn."
"Well, I'd assume."
"She had wanted me to keep it out of the rain, Vector."
Vector perked up at this, "Oh?"
"From what I remember... we found Charmy shortly after." He smiled a bit condescendingly, "You aren't too crazy, I think there may be a reason you feel that," he did a strange motion with his hands, "Strange familiarity— over today."
Vector grinned, "Heh, told ya."
Espio scoffed, "I'll help you try to remember, I guess," He smiled a bit as he closed the book, putting it back on the shelf. "This 'case' is quite interesting…"
"I doubt the files will have anything…" Vector began as they walked out of the room.
"It must be sometime before May, too. It got really hot in May."
"Mmm.. by the end of it," They walked into the living room, pausing for a second.
Charmy laid asleep on the couch— the TV on some random kids channel. Vector smiled, before motioning to Espio to follow him as they stepped into the kitchen.
Espio leaned against the wall as Vector began looking through drawers, "I have a feeling you have an idea?"
Vector nodded, "Just.. lookin' for…." he opened a few drawers, scoffing every time he needed to close one.
"…for..?"
"I'm trying to find the, heh," He snickered to himself as he pulled a laptop out of one of the child-locked drawers, "Find the…!"
"Computer. Of course." Espio sighed as he walked toward Vector, grabbing the computer from his hands and typing in the password for Vector.
"I think looking at past calendars could help— oh, maybe forecasts, too."
Espio nodded, typing keywords quickly into the search bar.
"… huh…" Espio tilted his head, motioning Vector to come closer, "I didn't know Wikipedia had pages dedicated to specific dates."
"What?" Vector leaned down, squinting at the screen, "Oh, so it does. Click it."
"Already on it," Espio hovered the mouse over the April 21st page, looking at the sidebars.
Vector gasped, shoving Espio aside and pointing at one of the hyperlinks, "Look! Six years ago!" He grinned.
"Wha— move!" Espio shoved Vector back, "Six years.. oh! A Tuesday."
Vector rocked on his heels for a second, holding in an excited shriek (he had to behave like the grown man he was. Sometimes.) "We are gettin' somewhere, heh!"
"I suppose..?" Espio looked up the forecast for that day, all those years ago. "Hm, looks like the rain was pretty bad. I still feel as though it's just random deja vu, though."
Vector began to pace around the kitchen, clearly excited, "But it's all comin' together… c'mon, Vec, think…" He stopped and tapped his foot. "Six years, six years…"
"Vector, you do sound a bit crazy, I hope you realize-" Espio cut himself off. "Oh, hello, Charmy."
Vector turned around, looking down at the little bee standing in the kitchen entrance.
Charmy rubbed his eyes and yawned, "Wha…" He then looked at the computer, "Huh!? Are you guys doing a case without me?!" He flew up to Vectors face.
Espio shrugged, "Vectors idea." He chuckled a bit, "I think the rains making him insane."
Vector grabbed Charmy by his shirts collar and pulled him away, "I am not going insane!" He sat Charmy on the kitchen table, stomping over to Espio, "Six years ago! April 21st, TUESDAY!" He then put his hands on Espio's shoulders and began to shake him, "It has to mean something! Why did I specifically remember after that conversation!!"
"Gah— Vector! Stop it!" Espio attempted to back away, but ultimately failed.
"SIX YEARS AGO, ESPIO. WHAT HAPPENED!!"
Just then, Charmy put his hand up, leading the two older mobians to pause, looking over at the kid.
The little bee pointed to himself, "Uhm. I'm six, is that anything?" He tilted his head, then yawned again.
Vector and Espio both looked at each other, then slowly turned back to Charmy.
Espio sighed, then leaned back against the kitchen counter, "Ah. That's it."
Vector then grinned, pumping his fist up and laughed, "I GOT IT!!"
Charmy looked over at Espio, "Huh?"
The crocodile then ran closer to Charmy, patting his head, "You solved it buddy, good job!!"
"I did!?" His eyes lit up, "What did I solve?!"
"Your birthday, or— eh," Vector turned over to Espio, "The whole teams birthday, I guess."
Charmy gasped, "I have a birthday?!"
Espio sighed, "It's more like an anniversary, wouldn't it be?"
"Pshhh," Vector shrugged, then picked up Charmy, "What's a birthday if not an over-personalized anniversary?"
Charmy excitedly flew out of Vectors arms, tackling Espio, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ESPIO!!!!"
"Woah—!" Espio tried to back up, but was not quick enough. Charmy tumbled into the chameleons chest, hugging him tight. "Charmy—" He attempted to pry him away, "It's- it's not my birthday!"
Vector laughed at the sight, "May as well be both of y'alls, considering you won't tell me yours."
Charmy grinned, looking back at Vector, "How do we know it's our anni-verse-ary?"
"Because of our detective skills, obviously!" He walked over to the two younger mobians, picking them both up into a hug, "It's the exact same as the day we found you, Charmy!"
Espio tried to flail out of Vectors grasp, but to no avail. He sighed, giving up, "The day we all got brought together…"
Charmy giggled, "We're like twins then, 'Pio!!"
"Not… necessarily."
Vector squeezed the two tighter, "Awe, don't be like that! Today's our teams birthday, ya know!"
Charmy and Vector laughed as the crocodile carried the trio out of the kitchen, taking them into the living room. Espio stayed silent for a while, but soon enough, began to giggle along.
In the kitchen, a long-forgotten computer hummed.
After a while, the household had been filled with near-complete silence, the only sound being the TV and some snoring from a group of three piled up on the couch.
The crocodile laid leaned against the couches armrest, while a little bee sat between the crocodile and chameleon, leaning against warm, green scales. Right next to him, the chameleon slept upright, yet still wrapped his tail around his little brother.
Rain pattered against their thin roof.
What a lackluster birthday.
At least they knew what to mark on future calenders now.