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takes place immediately after the hurricane in 1x08
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As nice as it is to sleep between both of his parents, Blue still wakes up to the sun poking through the boards near his bedroom. Plus, with the blankets and their bodies, he's seriously sweating. His throat cracks a little, and his lips have lines that he can trace they're so dry. So he wiggles his way out from between them and straight on out of his room towards the kitchen.
Everything's quiet in the house. Nobody else wakes up as early as Blue. Aunt Vi used to have water near his bed so he wouldn't have to leave so early, but she probably forgot with the storm happening. Her door's shut tight too, so she must still be fighting with Hollywood. Or maybe she just kicked him out so he wouldn't snore so close to her anymore.
But, when Blue passes through the living room, Hollywood's not snoring or anything. He's just sleeping, taking up three different cushions on one side while Aunt Nova takes up two on her side of the couch. There's another open part of the couch, but nobody's there right now. Everyone will probably sit there when they wake up, and they have breakfast all together. They won't need the table because they have to watch the news and cartoons. It'll be a big breakfast too, with Cream of Wheat and the good sausage and the rest of the biscuits that Aunt Vi has in the back of the fridge so they don't go too quick.
Blue counted them yesterday. There's enough for everyone, even Mr. Remy.
But Blue hasn't seem Remy yet this morning. He's not on the couch, and he wouldn't be upstairs in the room with Aunt Charley or Micah. Maybe he's in the nest. The real comfy chair by the door that Blue's not supposed to sleep in because he has a room now and a bed that's made just for him. Maybe Remy would like the nest because then he gets his own space instead of having to smell Hollywood's feet in his face.
Blue skips getting water to check for Remy and finds him sleeping in the nest. Only Remy's not alone; he has Aunt Charley all snuggled up with him. The chair's kind of small, so they're super close, like they're one person instead of two and they fell asleep sharing secrets and stories with each other. Aunt Charley even seems relaxed, which never happens anymore.
He tries to step back without waking them, but Charley moves when he does. She turns a little in Remy's arms, and her eyes start to move real quick before they pop open. Blue kind of jumps a little, but not because he's scared. He just wasn't ready for her eyes to open. And she doesn't seem ready to have them opened and see Remy, or Blue either. Her eyes get as wide as they can without falling out of her head, and she starts to pull herself out of the comfy hold.
She puts a finger to her lips, which is for Blue, and lifts up Remy's arm so she can get out of the chair. Then Remy moves too, and his eyes open to look into hers, and hers look back into his, and then she turns all her attention to Blue.
"Morning, you."
Blue takes another step back. "Morning, Aunt Charley."
She asks in a whisper, "Where's everybody else?"
And he points upstairs. "They're still sleeping. I wake up first." Aunt Vi used to call him an alarm clock. But he sleeps better than he used to since he doesn't have to worry about loud sounds or new places anymore.
Charley smiles better at what he said. Sometimes, she gives him that same smile that Pop does when Blue does something really right.
"What'cha doing then? Getting water, because I could use a drink right now."
Blue bounces on his feet. "Me too!"
Charley nods. "How about you go get some and bring a glass back for me?"
He's not allowed to use the good glasses, but he can bring a cup back. "Okay! Does Remy want one too?"
Charley's face doesn't look as happy, and Remy shakes his head as he sits up.
"Nothing for me, Blue. Thanks though."
"Okay, I'll be right back."
Blue rushes off to do that, and he can't quite hear them as they start whispering to each other, but he doesn't think he's supposed to. He's probably also not supposed to look at them, or see the way Remy tucks the blanket back in around himself and Charley's fingers fidget against the sides of her pants. It's probably another grown up thing that he's not supposed to know about. There's a lot of those these days.