Charmy is 18+ in this request because, well, ya'll know why. It's just easier. So enjoy!

Charmy was sitting in the main office of the Chaotic Detective Agency, his older friends Espio and Vector were out doing the shopping, so he was left to handle the desk in case any clients came in. The bee was sitting in Vector's chair, legs up on the desk and bored out of his mind. No one ever came in, every day was slow, if not nothing, and he knew this was another nothing day.

The bee let out a sigh, checking his phone since he had nothing better to do. Scrolling through social media. The door opened, but the bee ignored it, assuming Vector and Espio had just gotten back home. The person walked over to the desk, looking over the bee's feet.

A (f/c) (a/t) gave the bee a smile, waving at him, "Hey Charmy."

"(Y-Y/N)!" The bee jumped, fumbling with his phone and dropping it, "I-I didn't know you were coming over today!"

"I thought I was welcome over every day." The (a/t) giggled slightly, tilting her head, "Are you busy?"

"N-No, definitely not." Charmy sat up, fixing the helmet that sat upon his head, "Uhh, what did you need?"

"Just company." The girl smiled, sitting in a chair on the other side of the desk. She looked around, her ears twitching as she took in the empty room, "Where's Espio and Vector?"

"Shopping..." The bee said, picking his phone up and dusting it off, "They should be back soon."

The girl nodded, giving him a smile. Charmy felt his muzzle turn red, he lowered his gaze slightly, scratching up under his helmet. He wasn't expecting the (a/t) to come over today, her random appearance had him running in circles in his mind.

(Y/N) was his closest friend, in fact, she was his crush. The bee had had a huge crush on her for over a year, but he was too afraid to ask her out. Vector and Espio both knew of his crush, and they always teased their friend for it. Charmy always did his best to make sure the two were never around when (Y/N) was, because he knew they would tease him and make it obvious.

But now he was hanging out with her, and they were nowhere in sight. It was like a blessing, he had a chance to spend time with the (a/t) without the fear of being called out, of being embarrassed beyond belief. Except... He didn't know what to do.

The girl sat on the other side of the desk, taking in the room around them, the photos on the walls and shelves, the ninja gear, a trophy, some old drawings. Even Charmy couldn't deny their main office looked more like a family home with filing cabinets everywhere. But it was something that didn't seem to bother (Y/N), in fact she was looking around with a smile on her muzzle.

Charmy's cheeks turned red when he realised he was staring at her, and he looked away. She saw him moved and glanced at him, tilting her head,

"So, you're manning the front desk today huh?"

"I guess so, but we never get work when I'm here." The bee said, leaning on his hand, "Unless you've come with a problem?"

"Well who other to help than the youngest, and therefore smartest detective." (Y/N) said with a smug smile, "You're mind won't be as slow as Vector's and Espio's."

"U-Uh... Yeah okay, so do you need help then?"

"With a small job, yes." The (a/t) said, "I'm prepared to pay as well."

"Oh no don't worry about paying. I'm not Vector and you're a friend." The bee waved his hands with a smile, "What's the job?"

"It's easier if I show you." (Y/N) said, standing and walking to the door. She glanced back at the bee, motioning for him to follow, "Come on."

Charmy blinked, before coming to his sense. He startled, before writing a note for when Espio and Vector get back, before jumping to his feet and running to follow his crush. The two left the building, the bee making sure to lock the door and hang a sign handmade by himself years ago. The sign read 'We're out but we'll be back!' with a sun wearing glasses in the corner and a shuriken in the opposite corner.

"That's cute." (Y/N) said, looking over his shoulder, "I've never seen that before."

"You've clearly never come over while we were all out then." Charmy said, chuckling and blushing slightly, "I drew this when I was 10, Vector through it was cute and laminated it, so it's all we've been using since."

"Vector really is a nice person deep down, isn't he?"

"Yeah, but still obnoxious and greedy."

The two chuckled together, and they left the home and headed towards the city. Charmy was silent for most of the walk, having gotten used to not flying around all the time, he was able to actually be next to his friend instead of buzzing around them. She lead him through the small town near their home, weaving through the tiny streets and housing full of families and unknown secrets.

The (a/t) kept walking until they reached the other side of the small town, walking into an apartment-like complex. She gave Charmy a smile, leading him up to one of the few rooms, opening a door,

"Welcome to my new home." She said, swinging her arms out, "I uh... I moved over the weekend, but I never got around to unpacking..."

She scratched her head awkwardly, before giving a lopsided smile, "Call it laziness, or an excuse to get a friend over to help me unpack."

"So that's your issue?" Charmy said, chuckling, "Alright, we better get into this, Vector and Espio will be home soon."

"Awesome!" The (a/t) smiled, pulling the other inside, "Then let's get to work!"

The two spent the rest of the day unpacking (Y/N)'s stuff. Charmy had to put together a desk and helped hang lights and posters on the wall. It took them the rest of the day, since the (a/t) had a lot of things to build and unpack and push into place. The couch was the toughest thing to move, but the two were lucky it was even in the room to start with.

Charmy asked (Y/N) how long her place had looked like this, and she admitted that it had been like this for half a week. The bee was shocked, asking how she could leave it for so long, and she shrugged, looking around. Without an answer, she got into setting up the things on her desk. Charmy tilted his head, wondering what was going on inside the (a/t)'s.

Either way, he dropped it for now and finished setting up the kitchen, recalling how she had it set up in her old house. He remembers visiting her a lot over the years, from being childhood friends, until now, and he couldn't deny the move was sudden news.

"So... Why did you move anyway?" Charmy asked, putting the plates away.

"Reasons." The girl said, before standing from the desk with a sigh. She made her way to the bathroom, closing the door behind her.

Charmy was now very concerned. Why wasn't she telling him her reasons? She always told him; she told him everything. Or that's what he thought, considering she was being so... Closed off. He frowned to himself, before walking over to the bathroom and knocking lightly,

"Hey (Y/N)? You can talk to me about anything, you know that right?" He asked, leaning his head on the door.

There wasn't a response, not for a moment. But then the door opened again, and the (a/t) stood there, looking up at him. He tilted his head at her and she averted her eyes, playing with her (h/c) hair.

"S-Sorry..." She said, "I haven't told anyone I moved, or why..."

"Why not? Are you in trouble?" Charmy asked, "Going into hiding or something?"

He wasn't surprised if that was the case, a lot of people they met either were in hiding beforehand, or had to go into hiding for safety reasons. It was all a part of being a detective that he knew that. But to think (Y/N) could be in danger, he instantly wanted to get to the bottom of this.

"No no, nothing like that." The girl said, facing him quickly. "I just... Needed to escape my family I guess. They don't even know where I live."

"Oh... It got worse?" The bee asked, stepping back to give the girl some space. She closed her eyes, nodding slowly.

(Y/N)'s family were... Grubs, to say kindly. Charmy had never liked her parents, and her siblings were even worse off. They were always asking the (a/t) for her money, her hard earnt wages, so they could spend it on stupid things like the parent's date-night, or a toy for one of her siblings. It was never about her, never for her, and Charmy had hated how they just... Used her.

Especially her parents. The bee had never had parents, he was lucky to have Vector and Espio as guardians, but even he knew parents weren't meant to take your work money, they weren't meant to continuously take and take and take and never give it back; they were meant to love and support and help save.

It had been happening since (Y/N) had started working at the Chaos Café, they would take even her smaller wages from the week, just so they could fill their own selfish lives with bullshit they didn't deserve. They had literally forced her to give them access to her back account, and when she threatened to go to the bank or the cops about it, they had played the guilt trip of being loving parents. It still makes Charmy sick to think about.

The bee stared at the (a/t), before reaching forward and taking her hand,

"Don't worry, your address is safe with me. But what if they try to contact you?"

"I've changed my number." She said, before fishing around in her pocket, "Actually, here it is. Give it to Vector and Espio too if they want."

She handed him a small and crumpled piece of paper, the digits neatly in a row. Charmy couldn't help but smile,

"Thanks (Y/N)."

"It's no problem." The girl smile, before stepping out of the bathroom, "And thank you, I could never have gotten this done in the time we did."

"Hey, when you've got the Chaotix on your side, there's nothing you can't do." The bee chuckled and gave her a thumbs up, "It must have been hard moving away from everyone and everything. Considering all your stuff, I'm assuming they know?"

"Not yet, or maybe." The (a/t) shrugged, "Packing was easier than unpacking, buying the furniture was the easiest."

He nodded in response, remembering their text conversation. (Y/N) had told him she was going to start lying about her working hours and she was going to make a whole other bank account so she could start trying to save her money. He wasn't sure what for, but now he knew.

"I'm sure, considering you've been away for a few days, that they know." He said, "But it's a small town, what if they find you?"

"They won't, I've spoken to the complex landlord, I told him everything was under a fake alias and gave him my details and the reason I had used a fake name. He's cool with it and if he sees my family snooping around, he'll immediately call the cops and let me know."

"Sounds like a cool landlord."

The (a/t) giggled and nodded, "Yeah, but he's nothing like a cool friend of mine."

Charmy couldn't help but smile, "You don't mean me, do you?"

The (a/t)'s tail started wagging and she leant up, kissing him on the cheek, "I'm serious, you've been a big help for me today. Thank you so much."

Charmy's cheeks turned deep red, he could mentally hear Espio and Vector laughing at him, "Y-Yeah, no problem..."