Author's Note: Also posted to Ao3!
"Last few dishes for you," Flo announced as she pushed through the door to the kitchen of Mo's Oasis Diner, "I'll wipe the counter down, and then we can close up, okay?"
"Got it," Chuck rasped in his slow but markedly improving English.
It was just the two of them here. Kid never stayed long past his last delivery, and Jo was… Not entirely reliable as of late. Fry and Hamburg had already finished cleaning their stations and left for the night (Or, well, what the crew at Mo's Oasis considered to be 'night', as their little patch of desert drifted through a vast and unchanging expanse of Space. Luckily, most of their clocks and watches still worked, so they could keep some semblance of an Earth-like circadian rhythm).
Flo set the small stack of dishes down where Chuck would be able to reach them and turned back towards the door. Her hand rested on the push plate, but she hesitated. She looked back over her shoulder at Chuck. He was hard at work, as always. But something had been nagging at her about that.
"If you don't mind me asking…" she began gently, "Why do you spend all your time cooped up in the kitchen?"
Chuck placed a plate on the drying rack and grabbed another without looking at her. "I like… Washing dishes," he replied. His tone was casual, but somehow Flo didn't think it could be that simple.
"You're a hard worker, that's for sure. But washing dishes isn't a personality," she insisted, walking back over. She crossed her arms and leaned back on the counter. "It's all you do anymore, and… I'm worried it's not healthy."
"I wearing gloves!" Chuck insisted, sparing a three-fingered hand in a stretched rubber cleaning glove to show her. The two unused fingers flopped around. "Hands fine."
Flo shook her head, "No, no. I mean mentally. Wouldn't it be nice to get out every once in a while? Even I take a day off occasionally." She cracked a rueful smile, "And Kid and Jo are gone more than they're here some weeks. The only person that never leaves the café is you."
Chuck set the second plate down with a more noticeable clink and grabbed another. He didn't answer aside from his brow furrowing and his antennae beginning to flick.
"If I didn't help you close up and walk you to the motel every night, I'd be worried you sleep in here," Flo pressed, despite his change in demeanor.
"Don't even need much sleep. Not like humans," Chuck huffed. He threw his free hand up, "I no need own room, but everyone insist!"
"Just like you never need a break, huh?" Flo asked, her suspicions deepening. "What about helping the others look for Cosmic Stones? It would be a change of pace, and you'd still be getting something done."
Chuck pointed below him, where his torso ended abruptly. He'd lost his legs in some sort of incident involving Jo's portals, back when he had been a villain. Though, the Klaxian was insistent that his species didn't strictly need them. "Hard to get around," he answered flatly. He waved a hand between passes on the plate he was polishing, "Just hold Kid and others back."
"That never seemed to stop you before. And you and I both know that they'd take you with them if you insisted," Flo countered.
Chuck had helped them defeat the Biker in Black and return the Cosmic Stones to their rightful owners. In fact, the Local Heroes probably wouldn't have been able to do it without him. He had more than proven himself and earned a place on the team. He just… Never seemed to want to go with them anymore.
There was another soft clink as Chuck placed the meticulously clean plate onto the drying rack.
Flo examined the Speed Stone, glued to a washer and worn as a ring on her finger. She frowned. "I was here both times they brought a new stone back, too, you know. They gave you first dibs, and you turned them down immediately. Why?"
"No need extra arms or super speed," Chuck grumbled. He moved on to the silverware. "Wash dishes just fine without."
"Chuck…" Flo sighed. He was clearly determined to spin the conversation in circles.
"If there's another reason you shut yourself in here washing dishes all day, you know you can tell us, right? And if it's too hard to say in front of everyone… You can tell me. I just want to make sure you're doing alright."
There was a long pause, only kept from full silence by the hum of the fluorescent lights and the gentle splashing of Chuck dunking his dish rag in and out of the sudsy, grey water in the sink.
Another several minutes passed. Splash and swish. Clink and hummmm. It started to seem like Chuck wasn't going to reply at all. Flo shook her head slowly and got up to leave. She'd tried, but she couldn't force him to talk.
And then, just before she was out of earshot, she heard him slowly mumble something in Klaxian.
She paused.
Chuck thought for another moment, his eyes flicking back and forth as he mentally translated. His mandibles twitched like he might begin speaking again, but then his shoulders drooped like he had decided against it. "Just go. Too hard to say," he dismissed.
Flo scrambled for a way to help. "I-If you can't say it in English, we could always talk in something else! I'm becoming fluent in several languages-"
"English only language I learn. Klaxain use translator too much," Chuck interrupted. He looked away, "But language… Not problem. No like what I say, is problem."
"That doesn't mean I don't need to know what's bothering you," Flo insisted. "You're part of Mo's Oasis, too. You should be able to speak your mind."
Still, now Flo had an idea. Easing the burden of translation might, at the very least, leave one less barrier for Chuck to hide his feelings behind.
"I know it's hard to separate Tuna from the translator you gave him. That cat just loves to hear himself speak," she chuckled. "But with Kid running deliveries, and my friends in the UPX, I'm sure we could get ahold of another!" She pulled her order pad from her apron, "Is there a specific name for-"
"No!" Chuck shouted suddenly, dropping the handful of forks into the water and whirling around.
Flo took a step back.
"No same translator. Klaxian technology!" He elaborated urgently, jabbing a finger at her. He pulled back and looked away, "We look for it… They find us. They find Kid."
He scowled and turned to fish forks out of the cloudy sink basin and rinse them off. Finally, he gave up, pulled the plug, and watched the water gurgle and drain before adding, "They find me."
Flo tucked her pad back into its pocket and reached out. She put a comforting hand on his bony (exoskeleton-y?) shoulder and watched the water with him.
He shifted under her hand and crossed his arms on the edge of the basin in front of him. His rasping tone became decidedly bitter, "Don't want to see them again. And we missing Kid's ring. We problems with Jo and Queen Xhan. We no Biker in Black dogs to protect us. Klaxian Army kick when they see enemy down."
Despite shutting himself in the kitchen, Chuck wasn't avoiding the situation as much as Flo had thought. Admittedly, he had maybe put more thought into it than anyone else at the Oasis. Flo hadn't known him before he had joined the 'good guys' proper, but she had heard pieces of the story. Enough to know Chuck had been dangerously cunning when he had been working against The Local Heroes. Why wouldn't he continue to be one of the smartest members of the team?
"Klaxains take," Chuck continued, clenching his hand into a fist, "They no give what theirs. They see old translator, they destroy it, they destroy who take it in case they learn too much. They see me…" he stared pointedly at Flo, knowing he didn't need to waste his breath for her to fill in the blank.
"That's… Awful," was all Flo could say. Her hand fell back to her side.
The Local Heroes had long ago assumed the Klaxian Army and its Great Leader were no threat. Not after watching them run away. But then, Chuck was right. They hadn't run away from Kid, or even the Stones of Power. They had run from the Biker in Black. And now the Local Heroes were preoccupied with trying to collect the remaining Cosmic Stones before Fantos did, and unfocused under Queen Xhan's questionable leadership advice to Jo besides. Did they really have the strength to face a second threat?
"Told you, you no like hear it," Chuck pointed out flatly.
Flo looked up again to search his expression. "Do… You think they're in this part of Space?"
Chuck rubbed the back of his head. His antennae flicked as he thought about it. "No right now," he answered slowly. It sounded like more of a guess than anything. "But fleet travel fast."
His mandibles worked again as he thought of how to explain the next idea with the words he knew in English. "Real problem that other alien don't like meet Klaxian. Some customers give looks. And talk. If I come out kitchen too much, word get out I here."
"And if it gets back to your old leader… They'll come and try to hurt you," Flo finished for him.
Chuck nodded solemnly. "Try to hurt Kid and rest," he added.
He turned the water back on and rinsed the silverware he had dropped. Then he scowled and took off the hair net he insisted on wearing as part of his Mo's Oasis uniform, "Stuck Chuck stuck in kitchen. Wash dishes all I good for. Now you know."
Flo blinked. "That's not-" she began.
She was interrupted by a final clink as he threw the last of the silverware into the drying rack. He climbed down from his stool and tossed the hair net and gloves onto it.
"Chuck, wait," Flo called after him. He continued towards the door like he hadn't heard her. There wasn't a particular urgency to his movements, but it was clear he was done with the conversation, and that he wanted Flo to know it.
Flo had wanted to help, not hurt… She just wished Chuck wouldn't be so stubborn about it. She still had to finish closing the café, and no doubt Chuck was banking on that.
Good thing she had recently been lent a superpower that allowed her to get a lot of things done very quickly.
Pink energy crackled from the stone of Power on Flo's finger. Chuck's progress slowed nearly to a halt as Flo she zipped through the diner around him, wiping down the countertops, taking out the trash, locking the back door, and flipping all but the very front set of lights off. She finally came to a stop at the front door, where the world around her resumed at normal speed.
She leaned over and held the door open for Chuck. "After you," she grinned.
He just rolled his eyes and hopped through.
Flo took a moment to check that the sign in the window was flipped to 'closed'. Then she shut off the front lights and pulled her keys from her pocket to fumble with by the soft, white light of the Mo's Oasis sign.
Chuck crossed his arms and glowered, but waited for her, nonetheless. With the Speed Stone, there wasn't much chance of beating her to the Motel and hiding in his room.
Finally, Flo found the right key and locked the old door with its ever-satisfying clunk. "You're worth more than dishes, Chuck" she asserted. "And everyone at the Oasis thinks so. I'm certain they'd love to see you out and about more often!"
"That why I no tell them," Chuck grumbled. "They see I not worth trouble. I danger to Oasis. I leave, but Kid no need lose another friend. No understand if I tell him."
"He… Really wouldn't," Flo agreed sadly. "But I don't think anyone else would want to see you go, either. They'd find a way to let you stay, even if it meant fighting an entire army of space invaders to do it."
Chuck pressed a finger to his forehead. "Local Heroes brave. They not smart," he scoffed.
Flo smiled and crossed her arms. "Would you have them any other way?"
Chuck could only make a noise that sounded like a defeated sigh. He turned to look out into Space, and Flo followed his gaze.
They stood together in the gentle glow of the road sign and stared out at the vast expanse just across the highway. There was… So much out there. Some of it dangerous, but then, so much of it full of beautiful strangeness and wonderful, kind people.
Finally, Flo cleared her throat again. "Chuck… If you weren't stuck here… Say your old army wasn't after you, and Kid and the rest wouldn't be upset to see you go... Would you stay?"
He didn't take his eyes from the void for a long time. "There… Time I want leave. I different Chuck then," he started slowly.
"But I realize I treat better here as enemy than by Great Leader as friend. Didn't understand at first. But I see Kid braver than entire army… I play Princessas with Rosa… I listen George and Tuna's too-long stories. Then I start understand. Chuck stuck here, or else he not Chuck. There good kind of stuck, too."
"You know… Those are all things you can't do when you hide in the kitchen all day. You've had me tell Rosa you're too busy for Princessas for weeks," Flo prodded.
"Wish I only good kind of stuck," Chuck sighed. "Good stuck at Mo's. Bad stuck in kitchen."
Flo brought her hand to her chin and thought. There had to be a way to make Chuck feel safe, to actually keep him and everyone else safe, without letting him make himself miserable.
"Listen. I can't do much about all of… Out there," she admitted, gesturing to the drop-off on the other side of the dusty asphalt. "But I want Mo's Oasis to be somewhere where everyone can enjoy themselves. Not somewhere they have to hide."
She turned to face him, "You don't need to leave the kitchen when you don't want to. But maybe it would be alright to come out during the off-hours for a few breaks, just so you can see everyone. I'll even have a talk with some of our regulars, if you'll let me, that word about certain things doesn't leave the Oasis."
Chuck laughed incredulously. "You trust them do that?"
Flo smiled and raised an eyebrow. "They will if I ask them nicely," she assured him. "I've got a reputation for hospitality. And wouldn't you know? Even some of the roughest folks in this corner of Space see that as a reason to be kind right back."
Chuck thought for a moment. "If I no see it, I not believe it," he mused. He looked back up at Flo, "But see it every day at Mo's."
"I wouldn't run the place any other way."
"Oh- Speaking of favors from customers!" Flo remembered. She turned to look at the rusty, old antenna jutting from the café's roof just behind the worn facade. "I did get an offer a few days back. It wouldn't fix things entirely, but it could help you feel less cooped up. And it would at least give everyone in the café something new to talk about."
Chuck blinked up at her, "Oh?"
She grinned, "I happened to meet a Carlaxian a few weeks back that said he could hook us up with intergalactic television channels in exchange for a recipe or two."