"S-so w-we have t-two Dads?" Ray asks, more as a joke than anything. But still serious in a way. Espio sighs and then opens his mouth.
"Your only two years younger than me, and Mighty is only one, so no." Espio says. Mighty and Ray nods in agreement.
"What about Charmy?" Mighty asks and Espio looks at Vector.
"… I guess?" Vector says, shrugging a bit.
"You two are weird." Mighty says, joking and Ray laughs.
"What are we not supposed to be Charmy's Dads?" Vector says aggressively in a questioning sort of way.
"…You took Espio in, you two took us and Charmy in, stop taking in kids before the house gets overcrowded." Mighty states.
"Fine, then, you're going back outside." Vector picks up Mighty jokingly.
"Don't test me, Old man!" Mighty says and lightly taps Vector which pushes the Croc back a bit. But he regains his balance again and maintains his hold on the armadillo. Then he starts walking towards again, Mighty does it again. Then again. Then again. Then again. Until Vector gets tired enough and puts Mighty down and sits down himself.
"Fine, you win this time" Vector says. Mighty rolls his eyes and Ray laughs and Espio smiles at the scene.
After a while and all of that Mighty and Ray leave to go out adventuring again. Leaving Charmy and their new two Dads. Of course, Charmy has no idea what this means.
"Is what Mighty said true?" Charmy asks, Espio looks at Vector, who shrugs.
"Yes."
"Really? So I have parents now?"
"You always did! We're just together now!" Vector says, Espio nods. Charmy smiles at the prospect.
Ever since that day, it was Vector, Espio and Charmy. While Charmy would stay home, eventually the bee would come with the other two to solve cases. Making them a trio. The Chaotix. Every once in a while Mighty and Ray would be there or be associated with them but for the most part it was the three of them. For better or for worse.
One day, the three find themselves in a building. Attempting to get into another room with alerting anyone and being able to tell if there's anyone in there. Of course, Charmy wants to go and bust right through. But also like normal, he is stopped.
"Charmy, Stop." Espio commands. The bee rolls their eyes.
"No" Charmy snaps back, Espio gives them a glare. Charmy gives a small huff and crosses their arms.
"Charmy, don't go in there." Espio commands with more aggression this time. Charmy huffs again.
"I'm gonna and you can't stop me" Charmy sasses to him and starts to go the way
"Oh no you don't!" Vector comes out and grabs the bee, making Charmy unable to go into the room. No matter how hard the bee tries.
"Why can't we rush through it?" Charmy says when Vector puts Charmy down.
"Because it requires being tactical and sneaky! You can't just-" Vector begins to say
"Vector." Espio says.
"A second Esp, you can't move in and expect to immediately nail the enemy! It takes practice it takes skill, it takes-"
"Vector." Espio says again.
"What is it Es?"
"Charmy went into the room." Charmy has escaped as soon as Vector went on his little tangent.
"Oh Crap!" Vector rushes after Charmy, only to find the bee completely safe, holding some documents.
"Found em!" The bee cheers, Espio sighs and Vector gives a disappointed look at the bee, who doesn't seem to notice
"I don't get why I'm being punished, I got what we needed" Charmy complains while sitting in a corner.
"You can't just go in like that, Charmy! You could've gotten hurt or something worse!" Vector says back
"I can handle myself"
"Charmy your Five." Espio reminds the bee.
"And you're sixteen, and you've been doing it since you were nine! Why am I being restricted?" Charmy complains
"Because we were young and we had to do it, you don't have to, and we learned from our mistakes, such as rushing in." Espio says back, which makes Charmy uncharacteristically quiet. Vector feels bad for his child.
"It's okay, we were just worried, we didn't want you to be hurt… or worse." Vector says, with a sad look in his eyes. Which Charmy immediately recognizes.
"I'm sorry."
"It's okay, Charms, just be more careful. Okay?" Vector says
"Okay" Charmy says
"Atta Kid!" Vector says, Espio smiles.
Charmy learned their lesson. The three prepare and eat dinner. Then after a while of going about and doing paperwork and such, they all go to bed. Like usual, Vector and Espio tuck Charmy in. Then go to their own room.
Espio and Vector were supposed to be asleep a while ago. Of course, neither of them are. Vector, too worried about what could've happened to Charmy and Espio, thinking about everything that has happened and how the three got here, and in this situation.
"Do you think Charmy can handle being out there?" Espio asks Vector, not being able to sleep thinking about… everything.
"They're doing fine, the kid only needs to be less forceful and needing to learn not to blunt force their way through everything" Vector comments, this does not relieve Espio
"…Are you sure, Charmy's awfully young when we put them into this… are we sure that this is the right decision?"
"Espio, if this is about…"
"I'm sorry, I just… want us to be safe."
"…I wish we could be that too" Vector confides, he goes over and hugs Espio.
"I really wish we could"
Charmy always hears them talking. The bee usually sneaks out of their room at night and hears what the two have to say. They worry a lot. Sometimes about nothing. Sometimes about Charmy themself. Charmy knows they do a lot wrong. Of course they know, that's all they can think about sometimes. So Charmy hears what they say and thinks on it. Espio is concerned about their safety, Vector is concerned about Charmy, a lot. Charmy doesn't want to be babied but they know why Vector is like that. So Charmy keeps their mouth shut. No matter how many times they feel like absolute garbage after hearing everything they do wrong and how much their parents have to worry about them.