A lot of people thought they were stupid. Maybe they were – Crash's attempt at 'flying' had been a particularly bad example, or that time they launched themselves out of trees in the Continental Drift (they had a lot of poor tree ideas, it seemed) – but not completely. They were smart enough to recognise that Peaches hadn't been wholly invested when she and Ethan briefly dated, and they were the first to predict she would fall for Julian.

"No, that'll never happen," Manny had dismissed them carelessly. "Peaches wouldn't go for a guy like him."

What did he know, right? No more than they did, at least. They hadn't quite foreseen Manny and Ellie becoming a thing, but then again, neither had they. Diego and Shira didn't really count, since anybody with a pair of eyes could see that something was going on there. They had predicted that Louis wouldn't stick around, though, as upsetting as his departure had been. Manny and Ellie's anniversary was the first time the herd had seen him in over a month; they'd known he would fall in with another group since the moment they landed on the island, where Peaches had linked trunks with Ethan and accidentally left Louis on the ship.

The thing with being a jokester, or a pranker, was that one needed to know their audience. By proxy, this meant they spent an awful lot of time watching, figuring out who could take a prank and who was absolutely off-limits, and that meant they noticed a lot of other things. They noticed when somebody was acting differently, or not talking to the same people as usual. It wasn't always a bad sign, but they always saw it. Of course, being dismissed as the morons of the herd, their observations usually slipped under the radar for the others.

So when they finally returned home after the whole meteor fiasco, Eddie spotted straightaway that something was wrong with Sid. He had been laughing and chatting to Brooke the entire journey, barely letting go of her arm, and it was quite easy to forget that his grandmother had just left the herd. It was harder to forget, however, when Brooke skipped away with Ellie and Shira to see her new home, leaving Sid to sink quietly onto a rock and stare at the grass below.

Exchanging a quick nod with his brother, Eddie approached. "Hey, Sid. What're you doing?"

"Oh, you know…" Sid sighed melancholically, "just… staring at the ground…" He froze for a second, then hastily plastered a grin across his face. "Like I do when I'm having an awesome time! Obviously!"

"We're not buying it," Crash announced needlessly.

Another dramatic sigh, and Sid flopped back to lie on the rock. "I'm fine! Can't you see I'm perfectly fine?!"

"How long are you going to do this for?" Eddie inquired. "We'd kinda like to help you out here, but we have a schedule and all that."

It took him a couple of attempts, but ultimately Sid managed to heave himself up into a sitting position. He rubbed his face wearily, taking a moment to compose his words. Neither twin thought that was particularly necessary, but they were being nice for now, so they let him have as long as he needed. When he finally spoke, he didn't sound much like Sid.

"Okay… I'm happy that we found Brooke and her friends, and I'm glad that weird pool thing turned them all young again, it's just…" Sid dropped his face into his hands. "I just miss Granny."

The twins nodded pensively. "We thought so," Eddie revealed.

They climbed onto the rock, sitting each side of him and setting comforting hands upon his knees (it was worth the flea risk to make a friend feel better, they decided). "Tell us all about it," Crash encouraged him.

Sid's brow furrowed. "Why? It's not like you guys are therapists, or… or wizards or something. You can't fix it!" He hesitated, then added an uncertain, "Can you?"

Crash shrugged. "We can give it a try. Hit us."

"Not literally," Eddie clarified hastily. "Just tell us how you're feeling."

After another deep breath, Sid began to speak. "Well… Y'see, Granny was always kinda mean to me."

"We noticed," Crash murmured quietly.

"She'd say cruel things sometimes, and she would always leave with the rest of my family during migration, but I guess…" Sid hummed thoughtfully. "I guess we were always the outcasts together. The ones that didn't fit in, you know? The ones that didn't smell great, or didn't bathe enough."

Eddie nodded. "Yeah, we noticed that too."

He drummed his toes together. "I think I'm just down because… she's moved on, and now she's not an outcast. Now I'm the only one left." He threw his arms into the air. "She's even living in a bath! Everything's changed! I'm… I'm the only one that hasn't."

"Haven't you?" Crash questioned. "You have a girlfriend now."

"And you're not exactly an outcast anymore," Eddie added.

Sid blinked. "I'm not?"

"Of course not," they replied in unison.

With a sense of calm they didn't usually carry, they explained that Sid had a real family now, and he should know because honestly if they weren't a real family, how would they have just survived an actual space apocalypse together? That certainly made him listen. They drove the point in further by emphasizing all the other catastrophes the herd had made it through together, from the world flooding to a land of dinosaurs, and Sid seemed to be brightening a little.

"You know what," he mused, "maybe you're right!"

"We're definitely right," Eddie told him. "Trust us."

"You've got a family now, Sid." Crash patted his knee. "You're not an outcast."

"Thanks." He smiled, before his face pinched. "But what about Granny?"

Eddie shrugged. "Well, she's not an outcast anymore either. I'm sure she's happy, too."

"And we can go visit her, I'm sure Brooke knows the way," his brother added.

Sid rolled his shoulders, seeming a little more relaxed now. He thanked them both and promised to return the favour if they were ever upset, and then went in search of Brooke for a hug. The twins sat on the rock a moment longer, feeling satisfied and a bit smug. Another job well done, if they did say so themselves. Another situation resolved, and another friend happy. They could make a big deal out of this, if they wanted; create a fuss over their counselling skills. That wouldn't be the same, though. It was better this way. Their little secret.

Crash turned to his brother. "So, wanna go do something stupid?"

Eddie grinned. "Always!"

What? An Ice Age story by MusicRocks807? Is it 2013 again?

Seriously though, it was so weird writing these characters again after so long. Hope I did them some justice. I wrote birthday one-shots for the cast back in 2013, and worked out the other day that I missed a few of the characters, so I thought I'd finish it off for good. Josh Peck's (Eddie's VA's) birthday was actually yesterday, but I missed posting this because I was on a TMNT 2K12 marathon, since Peck also voices Casey Jones there. At least I'm consistently late with these, right?