It was a quiet afternoon at the Chaotix detective agency. No calls had come in since yesterday, so with his newfound free time, Vector was taking a nap in his desk chair, no doubt dreaming of swimming in money.
Charmy had spent most of the day coloring and playing outside with Espio. He had promised the chameleon that if they played for half of the day, the bee wouldn't bother him the rest. But unfortunately that time was now so the bee was bored. He tried to pass the time with a puzzles or video games, but got distracted and wanted a snack. He dashed to the kitchen, ready to fill up on junk food to take upstairs; that was his plan for a dinner anyway.
"VECTOR! WE'RE OUT OF CHIPS!" The young bee screamed across the house after flying up to open all the cabinets in the pantry and so forth. "Vector!" He called, hovering threw the kitchen and into their main 'living room' that also served as the crocodile's office. Charmy flew directly onto the reptile's long nose, and began shaking it, "Vector wake up! There's an emergency!"
"Huh!? Wha- Whats wrong? What happened!?" He sprang up from his chair at the last word but after he noticed nothing hurt, broken, or on fire, he eyed the little boy.
"We're out of chips!"
Vector sighed, "Kid, that ain't an 'emergency' emergency."
"But we're out of chips and all of my snacks!"
Vector yawned, lightly pushing past the bee as he started walking upstairs, "Look, I had a busy day today kid, we can go to the store or somethin tomorrow."
"All you did today was draw stick-figures over the completed case files."
"Exactly, that was tiring, so this detective is ready ta hit the hey a little early. Tell Es I said G'night."
The bee blew a raspberry as he watched his boss yawn up the stairs. He threw himself onto their patched-up green sofa, and began to pout. "This is stupid! I hate being broke!" He tossed and turned angrily, his growling stomach not helping his temper.
After he sat back up, he looked ahead and noticed Espio had snuck down to the kitchen and was making something. Charmy's face lit up as he flew over to him "What'cha makin?"
The chameleon didn't even flinch when the hyperactive bee popped up over his shoulder as he finished pouring water into a strange cup, "Instant ramen. Would you like some?"
"What's that?"
"It's Japanese flavored noodles." Espio ripped open one of two small packets, pouring its contents into the cup and stirring it a bit with a plastic fork.
Charmy made a disgusted face, "Ew! I don't like noodles."
The chameleon tucked in the cup's lid, putting it in the microwave for a few minutes, "You like Mac and cheese. That's just noodles with cheese overtop. And I remember you loving the spaghetti at that one restaurant-"
"Those are different!" The six year old pointed out, "those aren't made in like, two minutes."
"It's 3 and a half minutes but fine, more for me then." Espio leaned on the counter, eyes closed as Charmy's stomach started to grumble. The bee glared at the smirking teen, crossing his arms and mumbling something.
"What was that?" The reptile teased.
"Nothing!" The bee climbed up onto the counter opposite the microwave, not looking at Espio and mumbling a little louder.
"I couldn't quite hear you. Say that again?" Instead of a normal reply, Charmy's stomach spoke instead.
The chameleon sighed, "you want me to make you something for dinner?"
Charmy grumbled I'm defeat, "Maybe."
Espio moved over to the fridge, opening it and scrutinizing it's contents. "We really do need to go to the grocery store." There we're only a few bottles of sause, Vector's half-empty milk carton and soda pop can, a few leftovers from a Chinese place, a carton of eggs, and a few slightly bruised vegetables and fruits in the bottom drawer. "I could make you an omelet or I can reheat the leftovers? There's also some canned food I could cook up."
Charmy had wandered over to the refrigerator as well, disappointed with its items. He looked back at the pantry, remembering the other noodle cups he saw in there earlier, "Well, I guess I could try your ramen. It does look kinda interesting."
"Alright," Espio closed the fridge and stopped the microwave right at one second left. He took out the cup out and stirred it up before pouring in the other packet. He then set it aside on the counter to cool and opened the cupboard. He grabbed another unopened cup, the same cup that was currently on the counter cooling down, "you can have that one, I'll make myself another."
Charmy was too hungry to protest the offer, scrambling to sit back up on the counter and try this new food. "Careful, it's gonna be hot." The teenager warned, going threw the same steps as before to heat up another cup.
"I know I can feel it threw my gloves." The bee said, holding up the ramen to eye-level to read its packaging until the steam lessened significantly. He then twirled the noodles with his fork before eating it. His face was a dead giveaway that he was pleasantly surprised. "Oh woah. This is good!" Charmy beamed with a mouthful of noodles. He swallowed, "Thank you, Espio."
By this time the chameleon's ramen was finished and he joined Charmy beside him on the counter. "Your welcome." He smiled down at the bee, happily eating his dinner and asking curious questions about the noodles, which Espio would either answer plainly or I don't know. Either way, after their dinner, the bee soon became sleepy.
"I'm not tired!" Charmy protested.
Espio tossed his empty ramen cup and chopsticks in the trash bin, "you are yawning as we speak." He got up off the counter and ushered the six year old upstairs. The bee yawned and sleepily flew over to him as the chameleon led him to his room. Charmy immediately plopped on his bed, so Espio tucked him in and turned on the night light.
"Goodnight Charmy." He whispered, as he was closing the door, but he heard a small voice before fully shutting it.
"Goodnight big bro."