Star-crossed Lovers

Chapter 1 – Chaotic Renovations

It was a normal evening in the Team Chaotix home. Vector was chilling on the couch, watching TV on his brand new television and Charmy was buzzing around in his room, trying to find something better to do. Espio, however, wasn't anywhere around the home at the moment. He had been leaving the house a lot lately during the evening, and Vector has caught him once coming back into the house later in the night. Vector didn't like it that he stayed outside for so late, but he didn't question why he did it.

Until this evening.

Charmy came flying out of his bedroom and headed into the den where Vector was TV. Charmy, out of slight boredom, asked him, "Hey Vector, do you know where Espio is? I wanted to know if he wanted to play with me."

Vector continued watching the television for a couple of seconds and then muted it using the remote control. "I wish I could tell you, Charmy, but Espio has been sneaking out of the house a lot lately, and he goes somewhere at night without telling me."

"Hmm… that's weird."

"Yeah, I'm going to confront him one of these days and ask what his problem is."

"Yeah."

"And besides, it's late. Aren't you tired or something?"

"Not really." Charmy yawned. "I just need to rest my eyes for a little bit."

"Get to bed, Charmy. You can ask Espio to play with you in the morning if you want to."

Charmy yawned. "Don't worry, I'm fine. I'll be fully energized in just a minute, just you wait." Charmy then flew out of the room and into his own, closing the door behind him.

"Man, Charmy needs to know his limits. He can't stay awake nearly as long as I can."

Vector unmated his television and continued to watch it for several more hours.

At around 1 PM, Vector was beginning to get a little tired, but he tried to keep himself awake. Espio hasn't exactly been himself around Vector lately, and Vector wanted to get to the bottom of it as soon as possible. He just didn't want to think that Espio was upset with him and had intentions of leaving. After Mighty left, Vector would not be able to take another person leaving the team.

Thirty minutes passed, and Vector was about to give up and go to bed. But, that's when he heard a very faint sound coming from the entrance of the home. The den was between the door and Espio's room, so Espio would have to go past there eventually.

It took a lot of close listening, but Vector was about to hear very faint footsteps go past the den. Espio was clearly invisible and was trying to tread on the floor stealthily. Unfortunately for him, the floor was made out of wood and was quite squeaky.

Vector muted the television again and cleared his throat really loudly. "Espio, I know you're there, and I know you're invisible. Please, just come inside."

Vector then heard a slight sigh and then, at the door to the den, Espio appeared. He entered and stood in front of Vector, crossing his arms. "You want to talk about something?"

"Yes, I do. Espio, is it really necessary for you to be sneaking around the house at 1:30 in the morning?"

"Is it really necessary for you to be up this late watching television?"

"I'm up this late because I was waiting for you."

"Really? Because it seems like that TV of yours has been your highest priority lately."

"Why would you say that Espio?"

"Vector, I have been observing you. I have always been observing you. In fact, I am observing you right now."

"Your point?"

"Ever since you have called me in here, you have turned your head approximately 14 times to see what was on the TV screen. Judging by the way you were about to fidget your head in that direction again, I can assume that I can make that count 15."

Vector then stopped for a moment and thought about what Espio had just said. He didn't even realize that he was so distracted. "Is the TV why you've been sneaking out at night?"

"No, but it is apart of the problem. You don't spend a lot of time with me or Charmy, and you don't do a whole lot of detective work anymore either. I'm pretty sure we are called 'Team Chaotix', not 'Sit-around-and-do-nothing Chaotix'."

"Oh… I had no idea that that was such an issue for you."

"Well, it is. And if it continues, then there is no reason for me to stick around. If you want to fix Team Chaotix, then fix it. Or I'm leaving."

That last line put Vector into perspective. Normally he was the big boss that shows how the entire team will be ran, but now he was being controlled by Espio. It wasn't until then that he realized he relied heavily on Espio as both a team member, and as a friend.

Espio was about to walk out of the room, but Vector grabbed his arm and pulled him back. Vector turned off the TV, the only light in the room, leaving them in darkness. He then pulled Espio in for a hug.

"I'm sorry, Espio. I guess I haven't been a good boss… or a good friend. Can we start from scratch or something? I don't think I would be capable another team member, especially somebody as important as you are."

If the lights were on, Vector would've noticed that Espio cheeks were turning a little pink. "It's alright, Vector." The two of them separated from their hug. Although the room was dark, they could faintly see the outlines of each other. "Why don't we get some sleep? It's been a long night."

"Alright, good night, Espio."

"Good night, Vector."

Vector then heard the floorboards squeak as Espio walked out of the room. After he heard Espio's door close, Vector exited the den and went into his own room, closing the door behind him. He slipped into his bed and took off his headphones and placed them on the adjacent desk. He then shut his eyes and fell asleep.

The next morning, Espio woke up to the smell of something unusual. In fact, he actually thought that something smelled pretty good in the house, which wasn't normal.

He got out of bed and opened his door, which intensified the smell even more. Espio followed the scent to the kitchen, and saw that Vector was wearing some crude apron making something on the stove.

"Morning, heavy sleeper. I never thought I would see the day that I wake up before you."

"Vector, what are you doing?"

"I'm cooking breakfast for you guys. It's almost done so go get Charmy from his room and sit at the table."

"Uh… alright." Espio went away properly, trying to shake away the grogginess in his eyes. Whenever he left the house to avoid Vector's ignorance, he normally would come back to the house at around midnight to go to bed, but when he came back at nearly 2:00 last night, it left him pretty tired.

Espio knocked on Charmy's door and he heard Charmy say from the other side, "Yes?"

"Charmy, Vector cooked breakfast for us. Come sit at the table and eat with us."

Charmy opened the door and flew out of the room. "Vector making food for us? Espio, you might want to check if it's poisoned or not."

"Charmy, Vector did something nice for you, so what do you say?"

"Thank you, Vector," Charmy said in a low, nonchalant voice.

"You're welcome, Charmy. Now sit down and I'll get you two a plate of pancakes."

Espio and Charmy grabbed a seat from their small circular table and sat down and waited patiently for Vector to prepare their meal.

Espio then said, "Vector, I didn't know you could cook."

"Yes, and there's a very good reason why I don't talk about my cooking that much."

"Why," Charmy asked. "Is it because your mom is the one who taught you when you were, like, 5."

Espio chuckled to himself and Vector's cheeks went pink. "Espio, don't listen to that brat. He doesn't know nothing."

Espio laughed a little harder. "No, I believe that Charmy knows exactly what he is talking about. But you're making breakfast for us, and I am grateful. So it wouldn't be right to make fun of you, right Charmy?"

"Right, I guess."

Vector chuckled briefly to himself. "Heh, thanks Espio. The things me and my mom do should be kept a secret, you know?"

"Yeah."

Vector then grabbed a few plates and placed one in front of Charmy, one in front of Espio, and then one in front of an empty chair where Vector would be sitting. Each plate had a stack of three pancakes on them, and they all looked delicious to both Espio and Charmy.

He put a bottle of syrup in between the two of them, and they were ready to dig in. Charmy ate so fast that it looked like he was about to choke while Espio ate his pancakes slowly and properly, as a shinobi ninja should.

As Vector sat down at the table, he said, "Charmy, slow down. Your stomach's going explode if you keep going that fast."

Charmy, with food in his mouth, said, "But they're soooo good." Soon after, though, Charmy was quick to stop eating and quickly clenched his stomach. He looked uncomfortable and his face was turning a little pale. "I don't feel so good anymore."

Espio got up from the table and walked over to Charmy and picked him up. "You should've heeded Vector's warning." Espio then lightly tickled Charmy's stomach. "Now you have a tummy ache." Charmy giggled lightly.

"I'm going to take you over to your bed. You lay there until the pain goes away. You can eat your pancakes later." Espio then entered Charmy's dirty disheveled room, and gently placed him on his bed as if he were placing a baby in a cradle. He then exited the room and went back to the kitchen table.

Vector smiled when Espio sat back down. "You treat Charmy as if he is your own child."

"He might as well be my own child," Espio replied. "He's been in this team since he was so young, and you're not around enough to exactly take care of him."

"You make it sound like you're still upset about last night."

"Well I was… but seeing you and these pancakes, it makes me think that you're actually trying to change. You did it so quickly."

Vector then sat next to Espio with his own plate of pancakes and said, "Yeah, after you threatened to leave last night, I thought that I should probably change myself a little bit. So these pancakes are going to be first of the things that I'm going to do to make sure that everything here is the way you want them to be."

Espio smiled and blushed a little bit, trying not to make the blush noticeable. "I didn't know that I meant so much to you. I guess I should be… flattered."

Vector laughed lightly to himself. "Yeah, I guess you should be a little flattered. That was a little bit of what I wanted to do."

Espio kept his smile. "Thanks." Espio finished his last bite of his pancakes and then went to place his plate into the sink. "I'm going to check on Charmy now. Hopefully he is feeling better now."

"Okay. Tell him his pancakes are still here if he wants them."

"I will."

As Espio exited the kitchen, Vector could help but examine his body as he smoothly moved his body. He saw that Espio had a very slight sway in his hips when he walked, and he thought it was pretty cute.

He wouldn't let himself think it, but he was falling for Espio.