(AN: Whoa it's weird and fun to get back into writing Vecpio after such a long time. I really enjoyed contributing to this collab and seeing my writing style's improvement over where I was at with the original, A Joint Venture. It's been a blast so far and I'm looking forward to writing more of this! Working with thehunterpersian has been great, he's a good pal and awesome to toss ideas back and forth with.
As a side note, this is gonna be the last fic that I post under this handle. I've had this username since high school, been vastly immature with it (I like to get into arguments on the Internet for some reason), and it's time to move on.
I'm going to make one new account for my slash fiction, and one other account for the stuff that's not slash, as I've been planning a big, adventure-y Sonic fic for some time now. Anyway that's enough about me, I hope you guys and gals enjoy our story. Now, close your eyes for a minute, drop your worries and your cares, your overdue bills and your nagging parents and just place yourselves in a different world for a bit. And when you're done, let us know what you think! Comments are vastly appreciated. Enjoy!
P.S. - Hunter wants to tell me that yes, this is the collab he teased at the end of Transfer.)
"Vector? Are you ready to go?"
"Hold on a minute, Espio… I'm just doin' some last minute things… I'll be there in a sec."
"Okay, I'll wait for you outside."
Vector could hear Espio's fleeting footsteps leave the Chaotix Detective Agency as he stared at the bathroom door. The crocodile looked himself in the mirror, and then at the small box he held in his hand.
"It's been a while since I took ya out… but now I think it's time…"
The large green reptile opened the box to reveal a ring. Taking it out, Vector held it close to himself and looked at his reflection in the mirror.
"I'm gunna propose… I'm gunna propose…"
Vector placed the ring back in the box and shut it, then hiding it under his glove as he made his way out from the bathroom and to Espio.
They walked through the jungles of Little Planet. Espio and Vector, two peas in an odd pod.
As they walked through, Espio took special notice of the gorgeous, metallic-looking, glossy spinning flowers that the planet was so well known for. They reminded him of a time in the past where he wasn't himself, so their beauty was bittersweet.
They came to a clearing.
"I noticed this place when I was here last time." Vector said, almost as if he sensed Espio's train of thought.
They sat down for a picnic, and the two reptiles ate away ate the things they brought with them, all while enjoying the sights and sounds of Little Planet.
But Vector's mind was elsewhere, trying to think of a way to do what he wanted to do. It was now or never. His heartbeats grew in force with each passing moment.
Once the two were done, they began to pack everything up. Vector stopped partway, ostensibly to stretch, but really to spend a few seconds mentally preparing for what he was about to do.
He watched Espio's graceful movements, cleaning up the plates and cutlery they'd brought, putting it all into their picnic basket. The chameleon was lithe and agile.
Espio paused, looking up at Vector. "What's up, dear?"
Vector froze. He'd planned on Espio being distracted a second or two longer, and he'd planned to speak first. The simple task of talking had suddenly become high-level physics he couldn't comprehend.
Vector fumbled, pulled a box out of his glove.
"What's this?" Espio asked.
The crocodile got back down to the ground, this time on one knee. He cleared his throat with strange difficulty.
Espio's eyes widened as he watched, in what felt like slow motion to Vector.
"Espio, will ya marry me? It's been a long time comin'." At least his voice was working properly.
The chameleon was taken aback. He froze, dropping the cloth he'd been folding.
Vector's anxiety ramped as time seemed to stop, waiting for the chameleon's answer.
After a moment, Espio replied.
"Yes... Yes, of course!"
He nearly tackled Vector with the tightest embrace they'd ever shared.
A FEW MONTHS LATER: ONE DAY BEFORE THE WEDDING
"I wanna bake the cake."
Espio stopped chewing his cereal and paused. He then proceeded to swallow pointedly. "I support you in all your endeavors."
Vector pouted. "Ya don't trust me!"
"Of course I trust you."
"I dun hear the trust."
"I- There was trust in that sentence. I heard it."
"Charmy, didja hear the trust?"
"Didn't hear the trust." Charmy replied, his bored tone hinting that he'd rather continue playing video games than participate in this conversation.
"Charmy! What did I tell you about taking sides in our arguments?!" Espio yelled.
"Never to take Vector's over yours?"
"N-no... Ha ha, you're very funny… What I told you was not to take ANY side!"
"But Vector doesn't yell at me when I pig out on candy, unlike you!" the bee argued.
Espio sighed, irritated, and turned to Vector. "When he's old and diabetic I'm sure he'll be on Team Espio."
"We'll see," replied Vector, still pouty.
"Dear, I do trust you to make the cake. In fact, I want you to make it." The chameleon tried his damnedest to appear convincing.
"Ya really mean it?"
"Yes."
"Heh, alrighty!" Vector grinned wide. "Ya won't be disappointed, Esp!"
THE NEXT DAY - WEDDING DAY
"Is that..."
"That's it. That's the cake."
Both reptiles stood dumbstruck.
"It's... it's nice." Espio managed.
"It's not. It's really not."
"Honey, it's not that bad," lied Espio.
Charmy then flew in. "Oh my God! What is THAT?"
The chameleon bit his tongue, his nice words erased by their ersatz son. "The wedding cake."
"It looks like it has leprosy."
"Startlingly accurate," mumbled Vector.
"Where... did you even learn that word?" Espio asked.
"That was a word on my vocabulary quiz last week. I spelled it right!" Charmy remarked proudly.
"A bit morbid for elementary-school English class..."
"We have a bigger problem, Espio," replied Vector.
"You're right. We cannot use this cake."
Vector cringed. "Hey! That sounds mean when ya say it!"
"Give me credit. This is a perfect 'I told you so' moment and I haven't partaken."
"Hmmph!" Vector crossed his arms. Espio kissed his cheek.
"Thank you, anyway. Really."
"I feel hella bad. We need to find a replacement, pronto."
"But where? No bakery is going to have a wedding cake ready quickly, and if they have premade ones, they'll be ridiculously expensive."
"I don't even know where I went wrong in the first place," Vector grumbled. "I guess baking just isn't my thing."
"Seems to me like you mixed up the quantities of certain key ingredients."
"Dammit… I shouldda known I did somethin' wrong… Great, now I went 'n screwed up today… And it was our weddin' too…"
Espio took Vector's right hand into his own. "Don't say that. We can still repair the damage. All we need is to work fast, and we'll get this cake done."
"Easier said than done, Espio. There's only less than three hours 'till the weddin', and we still gotta wait for Vanilla to bring the chairs and tables."
Espio looked at the clock on top of the stove. 11:24 A.M. It seemed that his crocodilian fiancé was telling the truth.
"But where can we get someone who can work fast? I can make a cake, but I'm not sure if I alone can do it in less than three hours…" The chameleon ninja thought. It was then that a lightbulb lit up above his head.
"I have an idea. Vector, come with me. Charmy, you stay here, okay?"
"Roger that, Espio!" Charmy replied, saluting. The two reptiles made their way out of the Chaotix Detective Agency, and soon outside.
"Oh my… that certainly does sound troubling," Vanilla commented upon hearing Vector and Espio's story.
"Ya'll help us, right Ms. Vanilla?" Vector begged.
"Yes, of course. I can't sit here idly while friends I care about are having an issue," The adult rabbit replied. She got up and grabbed her purse.
"Cream?" She called out.
"Yes, Mommy?" Cream replied.
"Can you come downstairs please? And bring Cheese and Chocola with you!"
A minute later, Cream walked down the stairs with the blue and brown Chao floating above her.
"What's the issue, Mommy?"
"Mr. Vector and Espio are in a very dire situation, and they need our help. Will you be willing to accompany us?" Vanilla asked.
"Of course!" Cream replied, bowing.
"Good. Get yourself dressed quickly, and we'll return to the Chaotix Detective Agency."
Cream nodded as she ran upstairs again. She soon returned with a red dress on, complete with a blue ribbon, and a flower.
"Okay, let's go." said Espio.
"Chao chao!" replied Cheese and Chocola.
The six made their way out of Vanilla's house and back to the Chaotix. No conversations were held between them, all focused on hurrying back as quickly as possible. However, at one point, Cream skipped out in front of Vector and Espio and commented that she was ecstatic that she was going to be the flower girl for the wedding.
"Heh, well, me and Esp knew in our gut it would be ya, Cream," replied Vector.
Finally, Vector, Espio, Vanilla, Cream, Cheese, and Chocola returned to the Chaotix Detective Agency. As they went inside however, Espio could hear a faint smacking noise.
"What's that?" he questioned as the chameleon walked to the kitchen. Espio froze at what he saw, and placed his hand on his forehead.
"Oh no, no no no no…" Espio repeated.
Charmy was standing over the ruined cake, eating bit by bit. As he moved his head to face the six, it was obvious in his facial features; the bee was having a major sugar rush.
"Oh, dear!" Vanilla cried.
"This could be a problem," remarked Espio.
"Bah, kids get hyper all the time. It'll wear off before the weddin'."
"But we still have to deal with it NOW!" the chameleon explained, a bit anxious.
Espio was right. The dilemma of the wedding cake, so close at hand, was constantly disrupted by Charmy's antics interrupting the conversation.
"Charmy… Charmy! Go say hi to Cream for a moment, while us grownups talk," Vector said.
"Aye aye captain croc! Full speed ahead!" Charmy exclaimed as he made a mad dash towards Cream, almost running into a wall.
"Oh boy," Vector said.
Vanilla looked around the kitchen. "Charmy made such a mess. We'll have to clean that up a bit."
"Actually, most of that mess is Vector's from making the cake," Espio explained.
Vector was taken aback. "That- That mess was all Charmy!"
"I saw the kitchen this morning. Charmy's only additions to the mess are the sprinkles on the floor and those cake bits on the... ceiling."
"So, what's our ingredient situation?" Vanilla inquired.
Espio checked the cupboards. "We've run out of flour, baking soda, eggs, and - sugar? But I just bought some the other day..."
"Yeah, and I used it all," Vector explained. "I wanted a really sweet cake."
Espio smacked his forehead. "Well, now at least we know what went wrong with the first cake. I stocked up EXTRA sugar so that we wouldn't be out of it when the cake was done, because I knew you'd want it for your coffee. All that additional sugar ruined the structural integrity of the cake, and caused it to collapse upon itself."
Vector's mouth formed an O, and he looked down, embarrassed.
Espio said, foot tapping, "We have two tasks at the moment. Getting the items from Vanilla's house, which we were supposed to have ample time for once the cake was to be finished. Add to that the task of remaking the cake!"
Vanilla started to leave the kitchen, long ears trailing behind her. "I'll go pick up the ingredients-"
Vector jumped up and rushed to her. "No no no no no! We have no time! We've gotta start the cake as early as possible, and that stuff will move a lot faster with three adults working. Let's just send the kids to get ingredients."
"I'm not sure I'd be comfortable with those two out on their own in the city, especially with Charmy's current... condition." Vanilla glanced over her shoulder at the bee, who was currently tying a complex knot with all of the wires behind the TV, while Cream watched.
"Relax, Miss, it'll be fine. Cream's gotta good head on her shoulders. She'll keep our Charmy in line, won'tcha, Cream?" Vector shouted the last part toward the living room.
"Yes, Mr. Vector."
"See?" The crocodile grinned unconvincingly. "Besides, it's about time those two started getting' some responsibility. Can't cocoon them in their youthful ignorance forever, now, can we?"
Espio sighed. "I must agree with Vector here; time is of the essence."
Vanilla sighed quietly through her nostrils, considering. "Very well. I hope you two are right about them, and that they'll stay out of trouble."
Vector gave a thumbs-up, tail wagging cutely. "'Course they will. We're all good parents."
Espio briefly remembered the time Vector had lost track of Charmy at an amusement park. The bee had gotten into a cotton candy frenzy and by the end of the day they were both kicked out, after a ferris wheel had become unhinged and nearly caused bodily harm. They both claimed to have had nothing to do with it.
"Yes. All of us are," Espio agreed.
They gathered their belongings; wallets, keys and the like. Vanilla and Espio distributed money to the children.
"You can get something for yourselves, too, if you like," Vanilla said, giving them a bit extra.
The bee and rabbit were ushered out of the small home, as Vanilla, Espio and Vector left, locking the door behind them.
They parted at the front of the house. The parents pointed in the direction of the bakery and told the kids they'd see them soon, turning to head off in the other direction.
When they'd walked down the street a bit, they stopped under a cloudless sky. Charmy revealed a huge chunk of cake he'd been hiding. He offered some to Cream.
"Mommy doesn't like for me to have much sugar..." Cream said.
"But they wouldn't want us to starve out here, would they?"
"Hmm... Maybe you're right." Cream reached for a piece of deformed, sugary failure cake. Eating it as they walked, the rabbit giggled. "I don't see why they couldn't have used this cake at the wedding... it's the sweetest thing I've ever tasted!"
"Man… this shift couldn't be over any sooner…" The cashier at the bakery said. He checked his watch and tapped his foot, wondering when his break would be.
The door to the bakery soon opened and the bell rang, breaking the cashier out of his trance.
"O-Oh! Hi, welcome to-"
He stopped as he saw Charmy and Cream, wide eyed and jittering intensely with grins on their faces.
"U-Uh… can I help you kids?" he asked. All of sudden, Charmy and Cream zoomed off as the cashier yelped.
"COME ON, COME ON! WE NEED TO GET THE INGREDIENTS!" The bee exclaimed as Cream quickly got hold of a basket and ran to Charmy, catching a few of the shoppers off guard.
"What's on the list, what's on the list?!" Cream excitedly said as she bounced up and down.
"Ok, first, eggs!" Charmy replied as he practically threw a carton of eggs into the basket.
"Wait, wait! Mommy said we always check eggs in case they're cracked!"
Cream frantically opened the carton of eggs and saw that none of them were cracked. In her jitters, however, she dropped one on the floor.
The gasp she let out could have been used as stock audio.
Charmy counseled her. "Relax, relax, it's just one egg! Put the carton back and get a new one – he didn't see."
"B-but, that's like stealing!"
"Not really. You're not taking that egg home with you, are you?"
"Even so..."
"Just imagine it's Eggman on the floor!"
She looked down at it and started giggling hysterically, forgetting why she'd been so upset.
"Ok, that's good. Next one, next one!" Charmy urged.
"Flour, baking soda, and sugar. Ohhh, boy, more sugar!" Cream exclaimed.
The two made a mad dash to the other side, grabbing two large packets of sugar.
"I… I kinda wanna eat it now…" Cream said.
"Y-Yeah… it's so tempting!"
Before he could think of anything else, Charmy had a realization.
"Wait, what flavor did Vector and Espio want the cake to be? The one we had was chocolate flavored!"
"Are you thinking what I'm thinking, Charmy?"
The bee grinned and nodded as the two children grabbed several packets of cocoa powder, then getting the final two ingredients; flour and baking soda.
Running past several more customers, Charmy and Cream slammed the basket onto the cashier counter as the cashier jumped in shock.
"H-How are you today…?"
Charmy and Cream simply stared at the cashier with wide grins and stars in their eyes. Getting creeped out, the cashier quickly rang up all the ingredients. Cream passed her mother's debit card to the cashier as he quickly bagged everything up.
"Here you kids go… now just… leave…" he said. Charmy and Cream grabbed the bags and quickly skipped out of the bakery.
"BythewayIbrokeaneggSORRYSORRYIneedtogonowbye," Cream shouted behind her as she left, bells jingling as the door slammed behind them.
"I don't get paid enough for this job…" The cashier said, rubbing his eyes.
As Charmy and Cream fast-walked (or buzzed in Charmy's case) down the street, they passed by a street vendor. Stopping in their tracks, the bee and rabbit took a few steps back and stared at the vendor, looking through everything he sold; from snacks, to beverages, and to magazines. Charmy elbowed Cream and looked at her.
"Do you remember what Ms. Vanilla said? We can get anything extra!" Charmy almost yelled.
"I don't know… should we eat more sugar and snacks than we're supposed to?" Cream replied.
"They won't have to know…" Charmy responded with a mischievous grin. Cream's smile widened as her eyes grew, her first acts of disobedience tasting more saccharine by the minute.
And sure enough, five minutes later, multiple bags of chips and candy bought, Charmy and Cream were ready to return back to the Chaotix Detective Agency. As they walked up the dirt path, Charmy poked Cream.
"Tag. You're it."
Charmy giggled as he buzzed as fast as he could away from Cream. The rabbit smiled and laughed as she chased after the young detective.
She found herself enjoying this newfound freedom, running around with Charmy – she'd never gone out unaccompanied before, nor disobeyed her mother. She didn't exactly want to become a wild child, but caving in to temptation for a little while was nice.
Finding themselves at the front door of the Chaotix, Charmy and Cream took some time to catch their breath from how fast they were running.
"That… sure was something… *huff huff*…" Charmy said. "But still, we're back home, and I think all the sugar I had is pretty much out of my system!"
"Mine too…" Cream replied as she wiped her mouth with a handkerchief she had in her dress pocket, mainly so Vanilla didn't suspect her eating so much sugar while out.
"Okay, you can knock on the door, Charmy. No more evidence."
Charmy knocked on the door, but no reply. He turned the knob and sure enough, it opened.
"Vector? Espio? Ms. Vanilla?" he called out.
"Mommy?" Cream called out. The two placed the ingredients on the kitchen counter as they looked out the window to the backyard, seeing the crocodile, chameleon, and adult rabbit outside, carrying a large table and placing it on the ground.
"There they are!" Charmy exclaimed. He and Cream went through the patio doors into the backyard.
"We're home! And we got all of the ingredients!" The bee exclaimed. Vector turned around and waved.
"That's great!" The crocodile exclaimed.
"It is. Now we can start on the cake," the fuchsia reptile said. A bit farther down the backyard, they saw Vanilla, plus Cheese and Chocola, counting all the chairs that were aligned in a row (five in the left row, and four on the right).
"Nine chairs… that's the correct amount, right?" Vanilla said as she walked over to the Chaotix and her daughter.
"Sure is! Besides you and Cream, we invited Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Big, and Rouge!" Charmy exclaimed.
"Wow, ya memorized the whole guest list?" Vector questioned.
"Yup! And you told me it was a waste of time doing that…"
Espio chuckled and shook his head. "There there, there's no need for arguments now. Time is running out."
"Yer right, and there's still more things to be done. Alrighty, team change: Vanilla, can ya help Espio make the cake inside? Meanwhile, me and the kids are gunna get the rest of the things we still need that's back at yer place. The "carpet for the aisle", tablecloth fer the table we're gunna sit at, not to mention food as well."
"You're right, there's no time to waste. Vanilla, if you would be so kind?" Espio said.
Vanilla nodded her head. "I understand. Kids, be safe okay? Although with Vector, I doubt you need to worry."
She tossed Vector her house keys. He caught them in one hand.
"Okay, Ms. Vanilla!" Charmy said, saluting.
"Bye, Mommy!" Cream said, as she, Vector and Charmy headed to her house for the remaining few supplies, as meanwhile, the adult rabbit and the chameleon headed back inside.