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Nothing says ‘Today’s gonna be a great day!’ quite like a fresh explosion to Charles. He watched excitedly from his chopper as an entire wing of the building his two favourite people had infiltrated blew apart in a glorious blaze of red flame and black smoke. A normal person might have been more concerned, but a normal person was not partnered with the infamous Henry Stickmin and Ellie Rose: master ex-criminals who specialized in infiltration, espionage, and overall ass-kicking. A little explosion was nothing to them.
“So much for being subtle.” Ellie’s calm, collected tone came through the headset. She was always so cool under fire, and her voice still caused Charles’ heart to stutter despite all the time they spent together. “Henry, how are you holding up?”
From his position in the helicopter, Charles couldn’t see their third teammate, but he could imagine Henry giving a spirited thumbs up. It was very rare he was up to talking, but Henry had survived worse things than a meager explosion. At this point, Charles was half-convinced Henry was invincible. He was without a doubt the strongest, bravest man Charles had ever known.
They were his best friends and his soulmates. Charles couldn’t think of two better people to be partnered with.
A brief moment passed, then Ellie came back on the line. “We’re good then. Charles, where’s our guy?”
Their current target had a long, obnoxiously pretentious name. During briefing Charles had jokingly called him Mister Bigwig, and the nickname had stuck. These last few weeks the team had been spent meticulously burning his bridges and cutting his lifelines, preparing for today’s operation to finally take down his endangered animal smuggling empire and bringing him in. They hadn’t quite expected him to blow up his head of operations to throw them off, but, well, that was special operations for you.
Charles flickered through the cameras, eventually catching the tacky orange suit of his target on one of them. “Found him. He’s heading south, towards the helipad. I’ll swing around and cut him off, you two keep on his tail. Hurry up though, I wouldn’t want to get all the credit for this arrest.”
With a smirk, Charles pulled his helicopter around to head off their target. Over the headphones Ellie’s voice came again. “Promise me you’ll be careful, Charles.”
“Uh, aren’t I always?” He replied casually.
“Actually, no, that’s why I have to keep reminding you.” Ellie retorted, expertly weaving both sarcasm and concern into her voice. She worried too much about him, honestly. The both of them did. “I mean it Charles. Don’t do anything stupid.”
He huffed, but acquiesced. “Fine, fine. No crashing for me today.”
Over the radio, Charles heard Ellie tell Henry, “Honestly, that idiot’s gonna be the death of me-” before it clicked off.
With Henry and Ellie preoccupied chasing after their mark, Charles swung his chopper around to the helipad. His initial plan had been to land and barricade the door, then sabotage the guy’s escape vehicle, but he had apparently underestimated the distance between that camera and the helipad. Or maybe he’d underestimated how fast the guy could run. Regardless, Mister Bigwig, with his slicked back hair and his piercing orange suit, emerged from the building and began making his way towards the helicopter.
Well, shoot. Now what?
Charles considered his options. He could always crash his helicopter into the guy. Would certainly prevent him from getting away. But nah, he’d already promised Ellie he wouldn’t do that. Besides, it’d been six weeks and three days since Henry’s last nightmare about him or Ellie horrifically dying. The last thing Charles wanted was to trigger Henry and break his streak.
Okay, so that plan was out. Well, Charles could always remotely control the other helicopter. It would be amusing to watch this pompous wanna-be gangster desperately attempt to wrestle control of his machine while Charles flew him straight to HQ to be processed. But… flying two ‘copters at once would be a real pain. He’d be lucky if he managed not to crash at least one of them. Put that one on the back burner, then.
It only he could prevent the chopper from taking off at all- Oh, idea!
Charles’ fingers danced across the various buttons on his dashboard before gently pressing in one that was labeled with a picture of a piece of gum. The machinery hummed, his helicopter’s gun lowered, and then it launched a single grenade at the enemy vehicle. The grenade hit the ground, bounced once, then exploded, coating the rear rotor and landing gear in a pink sticky substance.
Mister Bigwig stared slack-jawed at the mess made of his escape vehicle. With a grin, Charles leaned out the window of his helicopter to call out to him, “Sorry, looks like you’re flight’s been delayed!”
...and immediately ducked back in as Mister Bigwig pulled a gun from his sport coat and fired blindly in Charles’ general direction. His aim was absolute garbage, but the sound of the metal bullets hitting the broad side of his baby made Charles grit his teeth. Man, and he’d just given her a fresh buff, too!
“Uh, guys?” Charles spoke into his headset. “Doooon’t mean to rush ya, but will you be getting here anytime soon?”
“We’re almost there, had to get through a security gate- Wait,” Ellie’s tone suddenly turned serious, “is that gunfire?! Hang on, Charles! We’re on our way!”
Charles flinched instinctively as the next bullet got a little too close to the window for his liking. “Ah, take your time, no rush.”
Honestly, his saving grace was that Mister Bigwig was either too angry or too stupid to fire at his engine or rotor instead of attempting to take him out. Still, knowing he was protected by strong metal and bulletproof glass didn’t make being under fire any less unsettling.
Mister Bigwig paused to reload his weapon, and it was at this point that Ellie and Henry burst through the door. Ellie was first, her hair frizzed up like an angry cat’s, and she only paused to look around for the mark before charging at him with a closed fist. The resulting wham made Charles, if only for a moment, feel sorry for the poor bastard. Then Charles remembered he made his fortune off of killing endangered animals and selling off their body parts and decided he got off light.
“That was for trying to blow up my boy.” Ellie told him, fury burning cold. She then delivered a hard kick to his ribs. “And that was for trying to shoot my other boy.”
Charles brought his ‘copter in for a gentle landing. He immediately hopped out to help his two partners bring in their mark. “Nice work, guys!”
Immediately Henry ran up to Charles, holding his arms tight and looking him over with his frantic, gorgeous red eyes. Charles let him; no matter how much verbal reassurance he or Ellie gave him, Henry was never fully satisfied until he saw for himself that both his partners were unharmed. Once his Stickmin Inspection was complete, Charles helped Ellie pull their target up. She’d already cuffed the guy, so all that was left was dragging his sorry ass back to headquarters. With Ellie dragging him on one side and Charles on the other, they forced him into their helicopter, Henry following behind with both hands on his weapon.
“You’re okay?” Ellie asked.
Charles tossed her his best, most charming smile. “Aren’t I always?”
Ellie rolled her eyes at him, but seemed satisfied by his answer. “Well, all’s well that ends well, I suppose.” She decided. Then she smiled at him, her face crinkling with cute little dimples. “And you did great stopping that helicopter. Nice work.” She leaned closer to give him a kiss.
Her lips met Charles’ palm, placed halfway between their faces. “Ah, you know the rules.” He told her, fighting to keep his smile off his face. “Strictly professional on missions.”
“Oh yeah,” Her violet gaze pierced into Charles, leaving him with a lasting shiver, “You’re so professional.” A teasing twinkle lit up Ellie’s eyes.
The moment was ruined by Mister Bigwig making exaggerated retching sounds. “Ugh,” He groaned, “I can’t believe my private guard fell to this-”
Whatever undoubtedly sexist thing he was about to say was interrupted when he tripped and crashed headfirst into the cement. You’d expect the leader of a smuggling empire to be less clumsy, jeez. What? Henry was no where near the guy. His hand was certainly not on his back. That’s ridiculous; the bastard was just a klutz.
Inwardly, Charles snickered. Outwardly, he was the picture of stoicism as he pulled the guy back up on his feet.
“Yeah, yeah, whatever. I know my cohort took care of reading your rights, so just remember you’re welcome to exercise your right to remain silent at any time.” And with that Charles, pushed the man into his helicopter, turning around to be met with his two favourite people, staring up at him with mirror expressions of puppy dog eyes and sad, precious pouts.
God damn it.
“Fine,” He told them, putting effort into sounding more annoyed than he actually was, “You get one smooch each. Make them count.”
And oh boy, did they.
It took several hours for team Triple Threat to arrive at base with Mister Bigwig. General Galeforce, several guards Charles had seen around from time to time, and another high-ranking officer Charles was unfamiliar with, were waiting for them. Charles greeted them with a salute that Henry and Ellie echoed soon after.
“Excellent work, all of you.” The Capt’n told them, motioning for the guards to take custody of Mister Bigwig. “Tomorrow we’ll have Mister Big-” General Galeforce paused, then scowled, “Mister Cholmondeley transferred to a cushy four by four in a military prison. Not the Wall,” He immediately promised Henry and Ellie, “A more humane place. Still quite uncomfortable, but much better than the cages he’d transported his livestock in.”
The Officer standing next to the General nodded. “We’ve already made arrangements for his surviving wares to be taken to specialized wildlife hospitals before being released in specialized preserves. I cannot thank you all enough for your efforts in bringing Cholmondeley down.”
Henry flushed adorably at the praise, the way he always did. Ellie just smiled. Charles spoke on their behalf. “It was our pleasure, sir. Now if you’ll excuse me,” Charles immediately hopped off of the helicopter to head for the repair shed, “I have to make sure that prick didn’t break anything important.”
Everything proceeded as normal after that; Ellie and Henry joined him in grabbing some supplies from the repair shed, but made the wise decision to stay out of Charles’ way while the repairs were underway. They were his most trusted and beloved partners, sure, but this was his baby. They knew better than to mess with her.
It was while Charles had been messing with something inside that he heard Mister Bigwig’s loud, grating voice screech out, “YOU BITCH!” before his entire body stilled at the sound of a gunshot. Charles immediately dropped what he was doing and raced to peer out into the garage just in time to watch Ellie catch Henry and scream.
Watching Henry go down shut something off in Charles’ head. He wasn’t thinking anything at all as he raced to his partners’ side, helping Ellie put pressure on the bullet wound. Henry was conscious, thankfully, but he gasped breathlessly as he struggled through the pain. A part of Charles half-expected Henry to just get up and carry on, to laugh at Charles and Ellie for thinking he could be caught off-guard like that, to pull a bag of fake blood out of his shirt and squirt it playfully in their faces. But Henry stayed down, and the liquid pouring onto their three hands was very sticky and very warm.
“Henry- Henry, it’s okay, you’re going to be okay-” Charles’s mouth pushed out words borderline non-sensibly, desperate to fill the silence. “I’m here, it’s okay, you’re okay- you’re- you… Henry…”
It was then that he noticed there were only two hands covering the wound now – his and Henry’s. Charles kept babbling as his eyes darted around, searching desperately for Ellie- where was she, why would she just leave Henry like this, what was she doing-?
He heard her before he saw her; the scream Ellie made was feral; unhinged. A disturbed sound he hadn’t thought his calmest partner capable of. She pounced on Mister Bigwig, and the would-be murderer became her victim as her nails violently punctured his skin, tearing at his face. “BASTARD!” She yelled, her voice high and grating. Her entire body shook with her unbridled rage as she continued her assault, desperately attempting to tear Henry’s shooter apart with her bare hands. One of the guards, who looked very much like he didn’t want to be there, crawled away from her with unbridled terror on his face while the other guard attempted to pull Ellie off of him. Eventually several other soldiers came out of the woodwork and managed to separate Ellie from her victim, despite her screams and struggles.
All the while Charles watched, holding Henry as close as he could. There wasn’t anything else he could do.
“What do you mean I can’t see her?!” Charles asked, struggling to keep his frustration under control. The last thing they needed was for all three of them to be out of commission.
General Galeforce had the gall to look deeply apologetic as he answered, “I’m sorry, son. You know how it is. They’ll need to question her, run an inquiry… given the shock of what happened, and that he was an armed and active threat, I don’t think they’ll convict her-”
“Are you kidding me?!” Charles pushed away from the General and immediately began pacing back and forth, hands tangled in his hair and scratching at his scalp. His heart was hammering in his chest. “They already didn’t like how Henry and Ellie were criminals, they’ve been waiting for an opportunity to lock her up and throw away the key!” With each word, Charles’ breathing quickened and his words began coming faster. “Those bastards- think Henry and Ellie are worthless because of who they used to be- they’ve been waiting for something like this to happen...”
“Son- Son!” The General grabbed Charles by the shoulders, holding him steady. “Calm down. Operation Triple Threat brought down the Toppat Clan, the Bandanna Clan, Mister Bigwig’s smuggling ring… They’ve done so much good for the world. I will not let them break you up-”
Charles scoffed, pushing away from the General again. Tears prickled at the corners of his eyes, but they were not of grief. They were born from sheer frustration. “Oh, yeah, ‘cause they’re only worth something when they’re useful, right?”
That actual made the General reel back in shock. “Charlie-” The General started, but couldn’t seem to find whatever words he was searching for. All he could say was, “I’m sorry.” Silence passed between them, only broken up by Charles’ occasional sniffles. Eventually the General asked, “How’s Henry?”
“Still in surgery,” Charles wrapped his arms around himself as he begun to shake, “They- they said I can’t see him after. He’ll be in ICU, and only immediate family is allowed in. And I’m not immediate family.”
Despite living together since Triple Threat was formed. Despite Henry having literally no family out there. Despite everything they’d been through, it wasn’t worth more than some useless protein strands or worthless legal documents. Admittedly, Charles hadn’t reacted well to the news. He’d begged the doctor for an exception with tears in his eyes – Henry couldn’t be alone in there, he’d panic, he’d get anxious, he needed to see at least one of them – and was told to go home and get some rest. Instead, he’d come to see Ellie.
That hadn’t gone any better.
“What do I do?” Charles gripped a tuft of his own hair with one hand and pulled, clutching at the collar of his shirt with the other. “What the hell do I do?”
Both of Charles’ hands were gripped by the General. He carefully tugged the one pulling at Charles' hair away from his scalp and held them away from Charles. After a moment, the General told him, “You need to rest, Charlie. I know you’re scared out of your wits, but there’s nothing more you can do right now. Just wait. I won’t let them pull any bullshit with Ellie, and Henry’s a stubborn son of a gun. They’ll get through this. Just… have faith in them.”
Reluctantly, Charles nodded along, trying to get his breathing under control. Of course he had faith in his partners. But… nothing like this had ever happened before.
“I’m going to have Lieutenant Price take you home.” General Galeforce decided. “You just focus on taking care of yourself right now, okay? When I last saw her, Ellie was pretty worried about you.”
Hearing that, surprisingly, didn’t calm Charles down at all. In fact, it brought a new round of tears to his eyes.
God, and he’d thought this was going to be a good day.
Rupert took Charles home, and hung around for a little while in a fruitless and overall pointless attempt to cheer Charles up. When he finally, finally left, and Charles was alone in the apartment he shared with his two better halves, the first thing Charles did was go into their closet and grab Henry’s favourite leather jacket, adorned with the faux pilot’s pin Charles had gotten him as a souvenir.
Actually, Charles had bought Henry the jacket too, before they’d gotten together- hell, before Ellie had even entered the picture. There hadn’t been any particular intention behind the purchase, besides Henry had clearly wanted it and hey, Charles had a bunch of money he hadn’t been using, why not? Charles ran a hand over the patches on the sleeve – a snowflake Ellie had made him, and a lovely star patch that had been part of a set Henry had commissioned for them after their first mission together.
“Huh?” Charles peeked up from his comic book educational reading as he noticed Henry frantically waving his hands to catch the pilot’s attention. He was bouncing back and forth on the balls of his feet, practically vibrating with nervous energy. This… wasn’t typical. During their friendship he’d seen Henry paranoid, bored, frustrated… but not nervous. Not like this. “Henry? What’s up?”
“GOT A MINUTE?” Henry signed. Charles managed to read it first try, which made him feel positively giddy. There was still a lot for him to learn, but it was nice to know he was getting better.
When Charles nodded to the affirmative, Henry gestured for the pilot to follow him, leading him into the kitchenette where Ellie was already waiting. No food was out, which was good. After the Knife Incident shortly after they’d first moved in together, it had become a House Rule that Henry wasn’t allowed to be in the kitchen alone.
At Henry’s prodding, Charles took a seat next to Ellie, who greeted him with an awkward smile. They’d still been getting to know each other at this point, but they’d had great synergy on their missions, so even back then Charles had known they’d be great friends!
…Obviously the kissing bits came later.
Charles returned Ellie’s greeting with an enthusiastic smile, then had directed his attention back to Henry, who stood before both of them with a pensive expression.
“I.” Henry signed, then paused. “I GOT YOU-” He then used a sign Charles hadn’t been familiar with, though Ellie nodded in understanding. Curse her and her pre-Henry knowledge of sign language!
“Sorry, didn’t catch that.” Charles interrupted casually, then clumsily echoed the sign back. “What does that mean?”
Henry spelled out each letter for him. “G. I. F. T.” Then repeated the sign. “GIFT.”
“Ah, okay.” Charles nodded, doing his best to commit the new word to memory.
From there, Henry reached underneath the counter and produced a colourful box, made to look like a wrapped gift. Personally, Charles wasn’t a fan of using these pre-fab boxes for gifts, finding half the fun was wrapping it yourself and watching a person struggled to figure out how to undo your tangled messed. But, hey, to each their own, right? The box was laid in the center of their little kitchen nook, and Henry pushed it towards them both, then pulled back from it and tapped his fingers together nervously. Charles looked at the present, then at Ellie, who was looking back at him. After a long moment of neither of them making the first move, Charles grabbed at the lid and ripped it off like a band-aid.
Inside, nestled among a little too much coloured tissue paper, were three little patches: a golden sun in a blue sky, a silver moon in the darkness of night, and a shining star on a purple background. They were all hand-crafted, with tasteful stitching and gorgeous colour. Ellie made a delightful little ‘ooh’ing sound at the sight of them, and Charles was smiling so wide it actually hurt his face quite a bit.
Nervously, Henry first picked up the one with a sun on it. “FOR CHARLES.” He signed, making a ‘C’ with his one hand and wiggled it around on one finger, similar to the sign for helicopter. This was the sign he’d come up with to refer to his favourite pilot. Then Henry handed it over, and signed nervously, “BECAUSE YOU ARE SUNNY. LIGHT. MAKE LIFE BRIGHT.”
Charles’ face went a little red as he quietly responded. “Oh.” And took the patch, running his fingers over the pretty yellow orb on the image. That was incredibly sweet. He’d attach it to his own favourite jacket later.
Then Henry picked up the moon patch and offered it to their red-headed compatriot. “FOR ELLIE.” For her name, Henry made an ‘E’ with one hand and kept the other flat, then changed the ‘E’ to an ‘L’ as he raised them both from his stomach to his chest like the sign for lift. “BECAUSE YOU ARE CALM. FULL OF MYSTERY. COOL. LIKE MOON LIGHT.”
“Wow,” Ellie’s cheeks turned a shade of pink that clashed with her hair as she took her patch. “Thank you, Henry.”
“Thanks, Henry.” Charles echoed absently, running his fingers over the patch for what must have been the tenth time.
The final patch Henry took for himself, displaying it proudly. “STAR FOR ME.” He signed. “BECAUSE I AM DISTANT AND HARD TO NOTICE. L. O. L.”
Given what Henry had signed last, that was clearly a joke, but for some reason it didn’t sit right with Charles. He immediately blurted out, “No way!” and when Ellie and Henry’s attention was on him, shook his head. “The stars DO suit you, Henry. But for entirely different reasons. They’re pretty!” Henry’s entire face turned red just as Charles realized what he said. Still, he persisted, too aware of his own reddened complexion. “The stars may be in the distance, but they’re bright and calming. We make pictures in the sky out of them, and even when we can’t see them they’re always there, watching over us. Just like you!”
Ellie chimed in. “There’s so much mystery and wonder out there in universe. The stars are amazing, Henry. They suit you well.” She smiled at him, that sincere dimply smile that, even back then, had made Charles’ heart skip a beat.
A twitching, embarrassed smile crossed Henry’s face, which was now entirely red from their compliments. He signed, “THANK YOU.”
The patch on Henry’s favourite jacket was now wet with tears. Charles took a moment to wipe at his eyes before pulling it on.
Once he had Henry’s jacket, Charles crouched down under the bed they’d all come to share and pulled out Ellie’s favourite bag. Much like Henry’s jacket, the hand-purse was usually kept at home on tougher missions due to the sentimental weight it carried. The snowflake patch she shared with Henry rest squarely in the center of one side, and her moon patch attached to another side. She also had a heart-shaped pin attached to the lid, a gift Charles had given her to ‘complete the triangle’ as it were. Charles, in turn, had a matching pin he tended to keep in his pocket.
With Henry’s jacket swaddling him and Ellie’s purse clutched close like a child’s doll, Charles retreated to the corner of the room and huddled down, finally letting the day’s stress out with horrible, desperate sobs.
Once his emotional outburst was done, a voice that sounded suspiciously like Ellie chimed through his head. Okay, let’s think this through logically: what’s the worst case scenario here?
Obviously, the worst case scenario was Henry dying. By now the poor guy should have been out of surgery, and Charles’ hadn’t gotten any calls, so he doubted anything had happened, but it was still touch-and-go while Henry was in the ICU. So Henry dies, and what happens to Ellie? The worst case for her was probably being sent back to The Wall, that horrible place. The stories his two partners had told Charles about it made him grind his teeth in anger. He’d absolutely break Ellie out if it came to that. He’d break her out from death row too, though he doubted her crimes would warrant that. They’d be on the run, and without Henry, but at least the two would be together.
Still, being with Ellie without Henry didn’t sit right with Charles. Henry had introduced them; he was the soul of their team, the glue that kept them together. Their inspirational spirit. Of course Charles still loved Ellie, he always would, and he’d stay with her no matter what. But they’d never really be complete again without Henry.
It went both ways, though. If something happened to Ellie before he could bust her out, he’d never forgive himself. She may have been the last addition to the trio, but Charles couldn’t imagine a day without her smiling at him, or whispering into his ear with that teasing tone of hers. She was his heart, keeping him strong and steady, and he and Henry would always be missing that piece of themselves if something happened to her.
Then a horrible thought occurred to him. What if they both died?
No. There was no way that would happen. Immediately Charles rejected the idea, because it- he- that just couldn’t happen. Henry was too strong for a bullet wound to take him out. Ellie was too tough for prison to put her down. They’d be fine, they’d absolutely be fine, because if they weren’t- if he lost them-
They were his heart and his soul. If Henry and Ellie both died, Charles’ heart and soul would die with them.
But it would never come to that. They’ll be FINE.
Charles clung to that thought desperately, repeating it over and over in his head like a prayer. He begun rocking back and forth, clutching Ellie’s purse a little tighter.
Sitting still and thinking about life wasn’t doing him any good, so Charles hopped up and begun pacing back and forth. Then he begun cleaning, just to have something to do. Normally the trio divided chores evenly among the three of them, depending on what they each had going on that week, with two exceptions: Henry never cooked and Ellie always handled laundry, because she was picky about how it was done. None of the chores had been done yet this week, so Charles ticked them off as he wiped, scrubbed, and swept, doing anything and everything he could not to think about Henry or Ellie or death. Kind of hard to do when literally every item in the apartment had some sort of sentimental attachment to them, but Charles could be very stubborn when he wanted to be.
While putting away random bobbles, Charles opened one of the drawers in Ellie’s dresser and paused. There was no clothing or jewelry inside; instead, the entire thing was filled with various pieces of paper; loose-leaf notebook paper, sticky notes, papers both printed and hand-written. Charles picked one of the little coloured squares up and looked it over.
Ellie: Taking Charles to the dentist. He’s being a total baby about it, so we’ll probably be stopping for ice cream on the way back. Love ya – Henry
Charles picked up another one, this time one of the loose leaf notebook papers. He actually recognized this one; it was a notebook page he himself had been doodling on during a boring phone conference. The face of General Not Galeforce had been poorly doodled and distorted, with his mustache spiking in every direction and his eyes bulging out. There was a reason the only one to handle Team Triple Threat was Galeforce, after all.
“Can’t believe she kept that,” Charles mumbled, and kept digging. The entire drawer was filled with things like that; little notes they’d left each other, Charles’ various random scribbles and doodles, a bunch of photos, half of which Charles hadn’t even remembered posing for… and there, at the very bottom of the drawer, was a fully detailed pencil sketch Charles had made. He’d drawn the three of them, sitting together, Henry in the center. His arms were around their shoulders, holding them tight, while Ellie and Charles held hands in his lap and cuddled into his side. He’d… drawn this before they’d gotten together. Thrown it out with the intention of never showing it to anyone. How had Ellie gotten a hold of it?
Charles slammed the drawer shut before his tears could ruin any of the paper, and continued cleaning.
He swept. He wiped down the counters. He swept. He cleaned the toilet bowl. He swept. He scrubbed down the shower. He mopped. He vacuumed the couch. He vacuumed the carpet. He swept again. He swept one more time, just to make sure.
Eventually, after cleaning the apartment top to bottom three or four times, Charles collapsed onto their too-small-for-three-people sofa and let himself breath. It was nearing midnight, and while he’d managed to exhaust himself, images of Henry and Ellie, cold and alone in those sterile, clinical environments, haunted the darkness behind his eyes. Charles dared not fall asleep like this. Is this what Henry felt when he had his nightmares? God, how awful.
He’s probably having nightmares right now. He’s tossing and turning in a hospital bed, and you’re not there to hold him. You’re not there, you’re not there, you’re not there-
Charles chocked down his tears and looked around for another distraction. Something, anything. Eventually Charles’ eyes rested on a picture hanging on the wall. It was something he saw everyday, but it was only now that Charles decided to look a little closer. The picture had been taken during Operation: Triple Threat’s official implementation. They were standing all in the line; Ellie to the far right, him to the far left, and Henry in the center. They were all huddled as closely as they could, with beaming smiles and excitement in their eyes. It had been Henry that had insisted on hanging the picture up, to Charles’ surprise. Until then, Henry had virtually no opinions on the décor of the apartment, which had made setting the space up infuriating at the time. This picture hanging in a place of prominence had been the one and only demand Henry had made.
“Is there some special reason you want it up here?” Charles had asked, not mad at all but slightly confused. They already had a table full of other pictures, so he’d expected to put the photograph there.
Henry had turned to him and answered in sign, speaking simply and slowly so that Charles could understand him easier. “REMINDER. IMPORTANT. BIG MOMENTS DESERVE BIG CHANGE.”
“Big moments deserve big change.” Echoed the pilot in a whisper. Yeah, okay. He couldn’t keep running away from this.
So, the worst case scenario didn’t warrant further thought, or he’d panic himself further. But what about if everything went alright? They couldn’t just wrap this up in a neat bow and pretend it didn’t happen. They’d almost been separated. What if something like this happened again? Their career was very high-risk. It was easy to think of Henry and Ellie as invincible, unflappable heroes, but today had shattered that reality for him. Henry wasn’t invincible. He could be hurt; he could die. If something like this happened again, Charles needed to find a way to be by his side. Ellie wasn’t completely calm in every situation. She could lose her mind just as easily as he or Henry could, and that could get her in serious trouble. He needed to find a way to support her if she ended up in trouble like this again.
But how could he do that? What did he really want here?
“I want them.” Charles said aloud, his voice quiet and small. “I want Henry and I want Ellie and I want us to be together. No matter what happens.”
Then it was decided. Charles grabbed his doodling notebook and got to work writing.
Charles jolted awake with a stutter and gasp. Shoot, when had he fallen asleep? It hardly mattered, though; nobody had ever bothered setting the clock on their oven, but the sun was beginning to peak through the window, so it was probably late morning or early afternoon.
Well, he noted as he looked down at what he’d spent the rest of last night working on, at least it was finished.
After a moment of just staring blindly down at his work, Charles pulled out his cell phone to give the General a call, only to find a large number of missed calls, and a fair number of messages. All of them made this morning. Charles’ arms shook, but he began to listen to them anyways.
“Oi, Charles, it’s Rupert. Just checkin’ in, makin’ sure you’re okay… call me if you need anything.” Message deleted. Thank you text sent.
“Charlie, it’s me. There’s no news yet-” Deleted.
“Mister Calvin, I’d like to ask you some questions concerning the events of-” Deleted.
“Congratulations! You’ve been selected for-” Deleted and blocked.
“Charlie? Son? Can you please pick up? I’m worried about you-” Deleted.
“Okay, son, I know I literally just called you, but I’ve just received news from the inquiry. Ellie’s case is being closed. Thanks to the testimonies of the soldiers working that day, she was found to be acting to protect herself and others. Her use of excessive force will result in some penalties, but considering the good will Operation Triple Threat has earned, she’ll get a slap on the wrist. I’m filling out the paperwork to get her out now. Call me back soon.” Repeat. Deleted.
“Mister Calvin? I’m calling on behalf of a Mister Henry Stickmin. He’s requested me to inform you that his condition is stable, and that he’s being transferred to Recovery shortly. He’ll be in room 123, and you can reach him at 999-999-9999, extension 123. Have a pleasant day.” Repeat. Deleted.
“Charles? Hey, you there? It’s Ellie, just got out. I’m at the hospital with Henry. He’s doing fine, by the way. Just being a baby about his IV antibiotics- oh don’t give me that look, you totally are! Heh, but seriously, hurry on over here! That holding cell was just awful, and I need both my boys. See you soon, love you! And Henry loves you too. But not as much as me- HEY! Give back my chocolate, Hen!” Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Saved.
Getting dressed and taking an uber out to the hospital where Henry was being treated simultaneously felt like time was both flying by and dragging on. The entire ride Charles fidgeted anxiously in his seat, constantly re-reading what he’d written last night, psyching himself up for what he was about to do. The poor driver constantly suffered through Charles’ anxious mutterings as he rehearsed what he’d written, or urged the traffic lights to change every time they had to stop. Even if he was still anxious about what was about to happen, Charles kept enough of his awareness to apologize to the man as he leapt out of the vehicle, and left him with a generous tip.
When Charles arrived outside Henry’s door, he paused to admire the view. There they were; Ellie’s hair was disheveled, and she’d been given a pair of plain clothes to wear, but she was still as radiant as ever; her violet eyes were shining with the force of her laughter, her smile wide and lovely as always. And Henry… he was absolutely beautiful, even with his skin still pale from blood loss and with his red eyes highlighted by dark shadows. The anxious tension Henry usually carried on his face and shoulders in these unfamiliar circumstances was momentarily absent as he watched Ellie giggle with blatant, unbridled affection.
They were safe. They were here, and alive, and safe.
“Hey, Charles!” Ellie called out excitedly upon noticing him, but then she paused and repeated, softer and gentler, “Hey, Charles. You okay man?”
Henry began to sign at him, a little faster than normal in his concern. Charles caught the questions, “ARE YOU OKAY? WHAT IS WRONG?”, but couldn’t bring himself to answer. Tears poured down his face.
‘You. Assholes.” Charles whimpered. He didn’t even get a chance to elaborate before he suddenly burst into loud, uncontrollable sobs. All the relief and grief came out all at once, and Charles couldn’t stop it. His knees buckled, but before he could collapse Ellie caught him and pulled him close to the bed so she and Henry could hold him tight. As he cried, Charles continued. “You can’t do this to me! You can’t just scare me like that! I thought you were both going to die! You promised you wouldn’t leave me behind! You promised!”
Henry tilted Charles’ head up, looking him deep in the eyes. Many found Henry’s silence unsettling, but those people were morons, because Henry spoke a thousand words with the glimmer of his eyes, the quirks of his lips, the lines of his brow. And even before he’d properly learned to sign, Charles could read Henry like an open book. With that one look Henry was transferring all of his love, and giving that gentle reassurance that it was okay to keep going, even if he was calling them assholes.
“I… I’ve never felt more helpless.” He confessed to them both, managing to speak through the constant stream of tears. “You were both in so much trouble, and I couldn’t do anything! I couldn’t visit Ellie to let her know it’d be okay, I couldn’t sit with Henry in the ICU, even though he needed me. It was like the world was falling apart, and everyone expected me to just sit back and watch. I never, ever want to feel like that ever again. I want to be able to be there when you need me, to be able to protect you both because, god damn it, that’s my job! I’m supposed to back you up. You both mean the world to me, and I never ever ever want to let you go!”
This hadn’t been the plan. Charles’ had spent the whole night writing a nice, heartfelt speech, but screw it. It was now or never.
Silence passed between the triad for a moment. Then Henry inhaled, and Charles and Ellie both snapped to attention. It was very rare when Henry would use his voice; the moment was always either incredibly dire… or incredibly important. The two others waited with baited breath.
“I…” Henry spoke, his voice soft and rough as always, “...want to pick out the rings.”
Sleepy green eyes blinked at Henry. “What?”
“You two have shit taste in jewelry,” Henry told them, blunt as a bat. “I want to pick out the rings.”
The words finally pierced through Ellie’s haze, and she scowled. “Um, excuse you, I have excellent taste in jewelry.”
“Yeah, if you want to look like a gaudy super villain.” Rebuffed the ex-thief. “I’d happen to prefer something a little classier for my wedding bands, thank you very much.”
“Wait, wait.” Charles looked back and forth between them both, utterly confused. “Was that a yes?”
It was obviously a yes, Charles realized as soon as he said it. But Henry only smiled patiently at him, tired but with gentle adoration shining in his eyes. “Charles, it’s you. And it’s Ellie. It was always going to be a yes.”
Still not entirely satisfied, Charles turned towards their female partner. “Ellie?”
“You two were already stuck with me for life.” She spoke matter-of-factly. “I don’t need some fancy paper from the government telling me what I already know. But,” She reached over to run her finger along his cheek, wiping some of his dried tears away, “I want whatever will make you happy, and I know this will. So I will absolutely marry the hell out of you. Besides, Henry would look gorgeous in a wedding dress.”
“DAMN STRAIGHT I WOULD.” Signed their bedridden partner.
Charles blinked away a fresh stream of tears and smiled so wide his face hurt. “Ah. Ah jeez. Ah wow. Can one of you please come over here and kiss me?”
Ellie barely needed the invitation before she dove in, pressing her soft lips against Charles’ and pulling him close to her for a breathless minute.
Sudden, fierce snapping broke them apart after a while. The source of the snaps pouted at them; Henry Stickmin, master thief and destroyer of the infamous Toppat Clan, was pouting at his significant others like an adorably small child being told ‘no’.
“NOT FAIR.” He signed crossly. “CANNOT GET UP.”
With a wet chuckle, Charles sat down and leaned closer to Henry. “Sorry, Hen. Let me make it up to you.” Their lips came together; Henry’s were always rougher than Ellie’s, but still just as sweet. And once he was done, Charles moved to the side so Ellie could duck in and exchange a smooch with Henry as well.
They were his best friends and his soulmates. Maybe they weren’t perfect, but they didn’t need to be. They just needed to be together.
And now they were. Until the end of time.