"Phew! What a shoot!" Jimmy yelled as he stretched his arms. "If I fine tweak the title and thumbnail and use the right metadata, this is gonna be a big hit!"

"Ok, seriously," Vector asked as a clean-up crew began clean out all of the props used for the latest video, including the giant beast-themed Death Egg Robo. "How do you afford all this?"

"Budgeting," the cat replied simply.

Tariq and Bailey walked over to the two of them. "Hey, Jimmy," Bailey said wearily. "Can we get, like, a week-long break?"

Jimmy tilted his head in confusion. "But you guys are integral to the team! Why do you need a week off?"

"Well, we-" Tariq began.

"I'm kidding!" Jimmy laughed. "Of course you guys can. I looked through some of that footage and with driving like that, I'd be asking for a break too!"

"I do not like being pestered when I drive," a voice said. "It is simple as that."

"Gah!" Jimmy leaped aside in surprise, only to see Espio standing beside him. "Sheesh, don't sneak up on me like that with your ninja tricks! You almost gave me a heart attack!"

"I have been walking with you two for the past thirty minutes," Espio replied simply.

"Don't worry Jimmy, you'll get used to it," Tariq said with a shrug. "Say, where are Chris, Chandler and Karl anyways?"

"Fanboying, from the looks of it," Vector said, eyeing off into the distance.

Not too far from them, Charmy, Mighty and Ray were talking to the aforementioned trio of Jimmy's friends.

"Are you sure you don't wanna join the DreamSMP?" Karl asked. "I'm sure you'd be pretty popular there!"

"Yeah, hard pass," Charmy replied. "I'd be down for appearing on Beast Gaming sometime, though."

"Hey, good idea!" Chris said. "Maybe these two could join us sometime?"

"I don't know Chris, they don't look like gamers," Chandler joked.

"Hey, I'm pretty good at Fitness Boxing, I'll have you know," Mighty retorted.

"Well, we mostly play Minecraft and Fortnight," Chris explained.

"What's a fortnight?" Mighty asked, confused.

"Two weeks," Ray replied with a smile.

"It's a battle royale shooter game with building mechanics," Charmy clarified, rolling his eyes. "It's popular with kids."

"True, but it also means a period of two weeks."

"Alright, that's enough out of you, mister," Mighty said as he playfully put his husband in a headlock and began ruffling his hair.

"H-hey! No fair!" Ray whined.

Everyone in their group but Ray laughed. A bit further away, Vector smiled. Something about seeing the bee, flying squirrel and armadillo interact with each other like that gave him a feeling that everything was going to be alright. For a brief moment, he and Charmy locked eyes. The bee seemed to go quiet and lose focus on the conversation he was having. Embarrassed, Vector looked away, scratching the back of his neck. He turned around to face Espio and Jimmy. "Hey, why don't you two chat?" the croc said to them, "I think I'm gonna go walk, get some fresh air. Catch my breath after such a busy week, you know?"

"Oh, sure!" Jimmy replied. "Of course, take your time! I've always wanted to talk one on one with a real ninja, anyways!"

Espio closed his eyes and shook his head slightly. "Yare yare daze…" he muttered.

Jimmy lit up with enthusiasm. "Hey, I think I've heard that before! What's it mean, what's it mean?!"

Vector chuckled at his chameleon friend's annoyance shortly before quietly slipping away, allowing his mind to wander as well as his legs.

Meanwhile, Charmy finally snapped out of his trance as the other four continued talking to each other, seemingly unaware of the bee zoning out. "Hey, uh, you guys mind if I stretch my wings a little?" he asked. "It's a nice day, and uh… I could use some sunshine, I guess."

"Ah no need to lie," Chandler joked. "We all know you just wanna hang out with your girlfriend! Nothing wrong with that."

Charmy blushed. "Ha! I wish… she's busy helping her mom hand out baked treats to all the staff as a thank you gift." He pointed to Vanilla and Cream in the distance, each holding a plate of cookies and pastries and handing them out to some sound technicians.

"What?! No one told me they were doing that!" Chris said in surprise.

"Dude, come on! We gotta get some!" Chandler added.

The two of them ran off in the direction of the two ladies, with Mighty shaking his head at them.

"Guess we better keep an eye on those two," Ray sighed. "We'll catch up with ya later Charmy, enjoy your little flight!"

Charmy smiled. "Thanks guys. I'll see you later!"

"Oh, hey, before you go," Mighty said, "I just wanted to say good luck."

The bee looked at him with surprise. "What?"

"You can't fool us, Charm," Ray giggled. "We hope you and Vecky can hash things out."

Charmy blushed and looked away. "Thanks guys… I hope so too. I'll tell ya how it goes later!"

Charmy took flight as Mighty and Ray ran after Chris and Chandler to make sure they didn't get into any trouble. Before long, Vector heard a soft buzzing sound from behind him. He turned and watched as Charmy was not too far from him. "Hey…" the bee said awkwardly as he caught his breath. "Where you going?"

Vector shrugged. "Just thought I'd walk around, I guess. Not going anywhere in particular."

"You, umm…" Charmy scratched the back of his neck, unsure of what to say. "You mind if I walk with you?"

"Not at all," Vector replied with a smile.

The bee smiled half-hardheartedly, clearly nervous. "Great!"

The two of them walked together through the set. By now, they had opened the giant warehouse door to allow trucks to come in and clean up. As they stepped into the sunlight and felt the warm glow on their skin, Charmy struggled to find the words to form an apology of some kind.

"So…" Vector spoke up, breaking the bee away from his thoughts. "I'm guessing Ray and Mighty filled you in?"

Charmy nodded. "Yeah…"

"That's good, that's good…"

Silence fell over them again, before Vector let out a small sigh of frustration. "Look," he said, "I know I'm not the best guy. I get angry a lot, I yell at you, I make mistakes all the time, but…" He looked down at the bee beside him, struggling to hold back tears. "I'm still growing. I'm still learning. I'm doing my best to be a better person. No matter what happens, I'll always love you. I'm sorry if it ever feels like I'm pushing you away or that I don't understand you. I don't wanna lose ya, kid." He put his hand on Charmy's shoulder and looked him in the eyes. Vector hesitated for a moment, before finally saying, "I'm never getting the family that raised me back. I've accepted that. I don't wanna lose you too, kid. I love you."

Charmy stood there, flabbergasted. Tears began to well up in his eyes. "No… you shouldn't be apologizing," he muttered. "I should be apologizing to you. I didn't bother to hear you out or give you the time of day. If I had just done that from the beginning, this week would've been so much better." Tears began to flow from his face. "I always pride myself on being open and caring… but I've just been being selfish."

"Hey now," Vector muttered, "I haven't exactly been the best to you as of late now, have I? I can't blame ya."

"But… I just went and assumed the worst from you without letting you explain yourself. And… I don't know, I was jealous of how you acted around Jimmy."

The croc tilted his head in confusion. "Jealous? Why? I mean… aside from… On second thought, that might've been a dumb question."

Charmy let out a little laugh. "No no, it's a fair one to ask. It's just… you never seemed to care about my career as an influencer. You never took it seriously, you always complained about the internet bills, about how was wasting my life when I should be going to college, all that stuff. Then, here comes Jimmy, with all his money and suddenly… you're praising him for everything you'd never praise me for."

Vector closed his eyes for a moment. A smile crossed his lips. "OzzyRulezV20 asks… what inspired you to become a content creator?" he said, imitating the bee's voice.

Charmy blinked. "What…?"

"That's simple! Seeing all my friends like Sonic and the gang bring hope to others made me wanna bring smiles to people's faces. I'm not always the best at saving folks, no matter what the guys at the agency say, so I decided that being an entertainer might suit me better."

"Hang on… that's from one of my first Q&A videos, isn't it?"

The croc threw his arms up in the air in mock excitement. "Thanks so much to IronManTheSongIsBetter for the $300 donation! That pushed us over the goal and I can finally get a better mic! Let's goooooo!"

The bee blushed. "I remember that stream. My mic peaked so many times…"

Vector mimed like he was holding and pressing buttons on a game controller. "Boom! That guy's dead. Isn't it funny how they're called boomers? Given like, how that word is used these days? Speaking of, Vector is kind of a boomer with technology. He's always complaining about the internet bill and all that. I don't think he understands my job at all."

Charmy looked away, completely embarrassed. "Don't tell me you actually watched that stream…"

"But the thing is… I think that's what's pushing me to make more videos for you guys."

The bee looked up. He'd completely forgotten he said that.

"If I can prove this YouTube thing works, maybe he'll finally be proud of me or something."

Silence fell over them once again. This time, it was Charmy that spoke up first. "You… you actually watch my videos?"

Vector smiled. "Since day one."

"But… then why…?"

"I'll admit… At first it was concerned for your future. I didn't want you to be a screw up like me. But then I got curious. So I asked you that question."

"That was you?!"

"Of course it was, the name is praising Ozzy! You know I'm a Black Sabbath fan! Anyways, I liked that answer you gave. Made me start to realize maybe you had an idea what you were doing. I caught a livestream on another account of mine, saw I had some extra money and-"

"You gave me that donation for the microphone…"

"Again, my screenname was another Black Sabbath reference, hello! Anyways, I was gonna come out and tell you that ya had my full support, but after seeing that other clip… I didn't wanna take away that source of motivation for you."

Charmy stared up at the croc for a moment. "Are you fucking kidding me?" he asked bluntly.

Vector blinked in confusion. "Woah, okay, that kind of language is uncalled for!"

"Im sorry, I just- you saw that clip of me venting about you not understanding me and thought 'hmmm yes I should make him feel even less understood, that will make him feel better about what he's doing.'"

"…Ok well… I mean when you put it like that, it sounds like I was being an asshole, sure, but I had good intentions!"

"You're an actual idiot!"

"Hey, I didn't graduate high school, you know that!"

"Ok, well you still got your G.E.D. eventually!"

"Yes, but I was raised by Evangelicals, I was practically born to be an idiot!"

The two stared each other down for a moment. Suddenly, they burst out into laughter simultaneously. After they calmed down, Charmy smiled cheerfully. "Alright, you win," he chuckled. "I can't argue with that logic."

"If you'd dropped that on me, I'd be saying the same thing!" Vector laughed. He reached out his hand towards Charmy. "Are we cool now?"

The bee took his hand and nodded. "Yeah, we're cool." The two of them shook hands. "Oh but I'm still gonna move out. Not because I hate you or anything, just… you know, I'm an adult. Gotta spread my wings and fly, ya know?"

"Well… if you insist," Vector said sadly. "I'm gonna miss having you around."

"I'll still visit! I'll be staying there while I look for a place for Cream and I to stay- assuming she wants to join me, that is."

Vector lightly punched Charmy on the arm. "You treat her right, or I'll tell Espio."

The bees eyes shrunk. "Please don't, I promise I'll be good to her."

Vector let out a hearty laugh as the bee breathed a sigh of relief. "Hey," he added, "I should've said this along time ago, but… I really am proud of you, Charmy." He placed his hand on the bee's shoulder. "I love you, and I'm proud of you…" For a moment, he hesitated, almost as if he was scared to finished the sentence. Soon enough though, he did. "…son."

Charmy smiled up at the Croc with a sense of joy he hadn't felt in a while. "Thank you… dad," he replied.

The two of them embraced each other in a hug.

Off in the distance, Jimmy and Espio watched the two of them as they smacked on some of Vanilla's homemade pastries. "I'm gonna have the editors scrub out any moments of them fighting or throwing shade at each other," Jimmy said.

"Are you sure?" Espio inquired. "Would our family drama not bring attention to the video?"

"Maybe, but that doesn't sit right with me. The fact I helped bring them closer together, no matter how small of a role I played, is good enough for me."

The chameleon smiled. "You are not as bad a man as those online want to say you are, Mr. Beast."

Jimmy shrugged. "I try not to let those people bother me."

The two of them watched the crocodile and bee together in silence for a moment, munching on the pastries in their hands. "Should we tell them everyone here heard their conversation because of the echo in this warehouse?" Jimmy asked after a moment.

"What they don't know won't suddenly poison them resulting in an agonizing and painfully slow death," Espio replied calmly.

"R-right…" Jimmy replied nervously.

Out of caution, the cat took a small step away from the chameleon.

Author's Note: You know how Bojack Horseman used the f-bomb once per season? Same deal here. Felt like that would add to the comedic timing. Don't worry, won't happen again in this story. Hope you guys liked this chapter. It's all Tailamy from here on out. The end is getting near. Thank you all very much.