It's been a week.

Sly wakes up with his cheek pressed against cool, golden metal. It's been a week of cradling his dad's cane and trying not to cry himself to sleep every night. He sits up slowly, rubbing his eyes as he holds out the dwindling hope that when he opens them, he'll be in his real room at home and his parents will come get him for breakfast.

He opens them, and is disappointed once again.

Same tiny room. Same bland walls and ugly carpet and empty space with none of his old things. The raccoon takes a deep breath, steeling himself. A week of pretending everything is fine so he can just get through the next day. He stuffs all his emotions down deep until he can barely feel them anymore, and tucks the cane under the covers before climbing down the bunk bed ladder. It's getting easier to do that, and he's not sure if it's a good or bad thing. Probably a good thing, cause at least now he's functional.

The instant his feet hit the floor, a shadow falls over him from behind. It doesn't scare him anymore, and he turns to see Murray standing there, giving him the same shy wave and the same awkward smile as every other time they interact. Sly grimaces as he sidesteps him to get changed out of his pajamas. A week of a roommate who just can't seem to get the hint that he doesn't want to be friends. He sees the hippo slump out of the corner of his eye and pretends not to have noticed it.

He doesn't need friends. A thief doesn't need friends.

They go to the cafeteria together, and then the raccoon avoids Murray all through breakfast, finding his usual hiding place to eat and watch the room and make sure his feelings are still buried. His eyes follow a group of obvious bullies finding an easy target at the other end of the room, tormenting them as the staff doesn't even glance their way but finds the time to scold another kid for making a mess. A week of avoiding kids looking for someone to scare and something to prove, and adults with nothing better to do than enforce stupid rules to feel important.

That part has been the easiest to achieve. He's been using all his dad's thieving tips to avoid attention from everyone, and it's been a blessing. His dad is still looking out for him even now.

The bell rings, and everyone hurries to class. Sly slips into the crowd in the hallway like a fish swimming through a river until he finds his little school locker, and pulls out his books. They don't trust any of the kids to have their own backpacks, so everyone has to cart around all their stuff in their arms.

A week of stumbling in a daze through classes that he doesn't care enough about to pay attention to, waiting for the clock to get to the end of the hour so he can move to the next one. He stares out the window, where he can see the rest of town way down the hill, and imagines he's at the playground in the park, or in the toy store on main street, or on the high beam of his gymnastics class.

And of course, it's been a week of everyone using that stupid -

"Sylvester!"

- name.

Sly jolts to attention as a ruler smacks down hard against his desk. It's by some miracle that he doesn't fall out of his chair, but that doesn't stop the chorus of snickers all around him while the teacher stands over him with annoyance.

"If you're confident enough to daydream in my class, Sylvester, I'm sure you're confident enough to answer the question on the board."

The teacher points his ruler towards the whiteboard at the front of the room, where a science question waits in red ink. The words blur together the longer he squints at it, completely unreadable. Sly swallows.

Out of the corner of his eye, he sees that kid, Bentley, waving to get his attention. From behind the teacher's back, the other boy lifts his notebook with an answer that the raccoon doesn't even recognize. Bentley taps at the page, frantic.

Well, it's worth a shot. Slowly, trying to keep his gaze on the adult as much as he can, Sly writes out the word and holds it out. The teacher's lips press into a thin line.

"Correct," he concedes, looking irritated by the admission, "but I don't want to see you zoning out again. Are we clear?"

The kit nods, fast and nervous, and breathes a sigh of relief as he's finally left alone. He mouths a silent "thank you" to Bentley, who bobs his head and turns back around in his seat. The turtle didn't have to stick his neck out for him, but he did, and Sly decides he'll find a way to make it up to him.

The other boy has been maybe the only good thing about this entire place this week. They've only just met and have been doing "French tutoring" (as Bentley calls it) for a few days, but it's been keeping Sly from losing his mind in this awful place, and he's incredibly grateful for it.

The moment they're dismissed, he makes a beeline for him. Bentley jumps as he appears at his side without a sound, and seems surprised when the raccoon holds his hands out in an obvious offer to carry his school stuff for him.

"Uh, thanks," the turtle says, watching how easily Sly hefts both of their stacks as they leave the classroom. "If this is in exchange for earlier, you don't have to trouble yourself. I don't consider it a debt."

Sly shrugs as best he can with an armful of books. He doesn't have the words to explain that it's what a gentleman thief is supposed to do, and he doubts he'll understand, anyway.

"Well, if it makes you happy, I guess…"

Bentley trails off as they turn a corner to see four of their classmates standing in the middle of the hallway. The moment they notice the two boys, everyone straightens and begins approaching them. Sly tenses. Bentley makes a nervous sound.

"Hey, nerd," a rabbit calls out, locking eyes with the turtle as she pops bubblegum between bucked teeth. "What was that all about?"

Bentley shifts anxiously from one foot to the other. "What was what about?"

"You. Helping him." She juts an accusing finger at Sly, who stares her down without so much as a blink. "You've never helped any of us in class before. What's the big deal?"

The turtle clears his throat, avoiding stares from the group of kids who are starting to surround the two of them. "W-Well, well, uh, you see, we have a mutually beneficial -"

"Ewww, nerd talk! Stop doing that!" Another boy yells, causing Bentley to flinch and tuck his head a little further into his shell.

"Yeah, stop pretending you're so smart." The ringleader rabbit steps forward, folding her arms and looking smug about the effect she's having on him. "Just cause you're a teacher's pet doesn't mean you're better than us. So tell us why this weirdo gets special treatment and not us."

As the poor turtle stammers and struggles to come up with an explanation that won't get him bullied for being "nerd talk", Sly sizes up each kid around them. Two on his left, one on Bentley's right, and the leader in front. Four against two. He's never faced more than two people at once sparring in his martial arts classes, and his acquaintance (...partner? Companion?) doesn't look like he can defend himself at all. These guys seem to be very familiar with that second part, and it makes his blood boil to see their intimidation is working.

"Since you're helping him, you can help us, too," the rabbit states, and holds out one expectant hand. "Give us your finished homework for all our classes today. I know you've already done it all cause you're a nerd."

Someone near Sly lunges forward to grab at the books he's holding. He swivels away on his foot, leaving them to swipe at empty air, and suddenly all four of them swarm. Sly dances backward as he's immediately ganged up on by three kids, trying desperately to keep Bentley's precious school stuff out of their hands and his own body safe from harm. The turtle presses against his back just in time to avoid the fourth from grabbing him roughly by his bowtie. Back to back, they have no way to escape the bullies and no way to fight back without risking their stuff.

The leader marches right up to Sly and wraps her hands around the stack, trying to jerk it out of his arms while he's fighting off her goons. He bares his teeth at her. She wrinkles her nose.

"You're such a freak."

Another kid shoves him hard, knocking him off balance, and he only manages to stay upright by his grip on the schoolwork. If he wasn't protecting this stuff, he could fight back. He could let go of it and pummel every single one of these jerks, and then they'd all be sorry! But the rabbit yanks at it again, and he yanks back, refusing to let go no matter what, because it's important to Bentley and that means it's important to him.

The shell at his back disappears just as the turtle cries out, and just as Sly turns his head to see Bentley being held up in the air by one of the bullies -

A shadow falls over everyone. They all freeze, tormentors and targets alike, and look up. A wall of pink stands over them, chest puffed and hands on hips.

Murray stares down at the group. The expression on his face is terrifying.

"Put him down!" He booms. His voice carries across the entire hallway.

The bully sets Bentley back on his feet instantly and takes a step back.

"Good, now, uh, give Sly back his stuff!"

The leader glares at him, straightening her shoulders and opening her mouth to say something, but all her bravery disappears under the full weight of his angry attention. Slowly, her grip on the books loosens until the raccoon is able to jerk them completely away from her, hugging everything close to his chest.

"Okay! Um!" Murray seems to hesitate a second, like he wasn't sure he'd actually get this far. Then he recovers with another puff of his chest. "Now go away!"

The bullies look at each other, clearly trying to figure out whether they can take on this hippo between the four of them. Before there's any shred of confidence for that idea, Murray roars.

"I said go!"

Four sets of shoes squeak against flooring as the kids take off running. The moment they're gone from sight, the hippo deflates like a balloon and flaps his hands nervously.

"Oh man, oh jeez, I wasn't sure they'd really listen. Oh man, that was so scary!"

Sly gapes at him. He glances at Bentley, who meets his gaze just as shocked. They look back up at Murray as he finally manages to come down from his delayed panic.

"Jeez. Gosh." He looks at each of them, suddenly worried. "You guys are okay, right? You're both okay?"

The raccoon and turtle nod simultaneously, still dumbstruck. Murray doesn't notice or care, because his face lights up with a smile.

"Thank goodness! I was so worried when I saw them pushing you around, and when Bentley got grabbed like that I knew I just had to say something even though it was so scary."

Bentley finally recovers from his astonishment. "You - wait, you know my name?"

"Yeah!" The hippo nods cheerfully. "You're Bentley Wiseturtle. That's such a cool last name. Was it always your name, or did you change it cause you're so smart? My last name is just normal. Do you think I should change it if I ever get good at something?"

"Uh…" Is the response as Bentley tries to get his thoughts together. "Right. And you're…Marley, right?"

"I'm Murray."

"Oh. Right. Apologies." The turtle coughs, embarrassed, but the other boy doesn't seem bothered by the mistake.

Sly looks back and forth between them. Murray catches the movement and rubs his head. He can't quite meet his roommate's eyes.

"So, um. I know you don't really want to hang out with me, but I've been kinda-sorta following you? Not everywhere! Just, y'know, when we've got free time and I see you hanging out with Bentley, I've just been kinda curious, y'know? I won't do it anymore if you think it's creepy. But you're so quiet and you seem really cool and I…"

He stops speaking as the raccoon steps towards him, eyeing him up and down. As much as he really doesn't like the idea of someone following him, he can't help but be…impressed, maybe, that the hippo has been doing this and he hasn't even noticed.

And okay, maybe it's also pretty cool that he saved them from those bullies.

Sly takes a deep breath and holds his hand out. Murray stares at it almost in awe, then takes it enthusiastically. Bentley looks at each of them, thoroughly confused but aware this is important, somehow.

It's been a horrible week in a horrible place. But maybe, Sly thinks, maybe it's not all horrible.

Maybe these two are alright.

A/N: Whew! We are back on track, folks! Laptop is back, this month of hell is over, and I am ready to jump back into the weekly fray again! Plus, I've come to an executive decision on where and how this fic is going to end, which is a lovely feeling.

Anyway, here they are! Our beloved Cooper Gang together officially for the first time! I've been waiting so long to get to this moment, and while I'm not wholly satisfied with the writing near the end, it's great to finally have our boys all together.

Thank you again for reading!