What Do They Know?

by Rain_isnice21

Summary:

Sir Pentious binds improperly and is in pain

Notes:

bro doesn’t know trans people are allowed
Don’t worry, if I update this, I’ll make him find out and he’ll get hugs

Chapter 1

The sun was glittering, and the sky was clear! All perfect indications of an absolutely wonderful morning in Charlie’s opinion. She had gotten up to find Vaggie still sleeping, and she knew the last couple of days had been a lot, so she gently swept a piece of hair out of Vaggie’s eye and softly shut the door behind her.

She tiptoed down the stairs, just in case anyone was still sleeping, and made her way to the kitchen to prepare breakfast for her wonderful residents.

She could say she was shocked, but that would be a lie, to see Pentious up so early. The snake was often up at the crack of dawn, eager to seize the day. Or, he usually was eager; now he just seemed upset? He stood there, a cup of coffee clenched tightly in his hand, slumped over the kitchen counter, with his eyebrows knit together.

Sir Pentious was in pain, to put it simply. His ribs ached, and he could barely get a breath in without a jagged pain flaring up and down his chest.

He had slept in his bindings again! He was still paranoid that someone would come in the middle of the night and discover his shameful secret.

And he couldn’t have that! Oh no, he had just gotten the members of the hotel to trust him again, and for them to discover he was faking his identity as a man? Preposterous idea, thank you very much. He wouldn’t not be doing that.
He was so caught up in his pain that he didn’t notice Charlie sneaking right up behind him; he did, however, startle as she tapped him on the shoulder.

He wasn’t exactly proud of the loud yelp that escaped him at the sudden contact.

“Hey, are you alright?” Charlie asked, hesitating as she scanned him for any obvious signs of distress.

“O-oh, perfectly fine, Charlotte! Why do you ask?” He said, putting on his bravado and big toothy grin.

“You just seem unhappy, is all,” she said, a frown tugging at her face. Oh, she looked so sad. Shit, do something!

“Why, the great Sir Pentious is always happy! I’m just… ” Think, think, think!” ”…S-sad we haven’t done any redemption activities in a while!” He lied, a fake smile adorning his scaly face.

Charlie’s face lit up almost instantly. Really! If that’s it, then let’s do one after breakfast!” She squealed in that usual tone when she had solved a problem.

“I’m so excited already. We’re going to have so much fun!” And just like that, she’d forgotten about breakfast and scurried out of the room to go prepare streamers or something; who knew what she was getting?

Sir Pentious sighed; he hoped it wouldn’t be something terrible.

He shifted his weight to his other elbow, staring down into his coffee, but all he could see was his reflection staring back.

He poured out his mug after that.

Pentious headed for the stairs, slowly clambering up them one by one. His chest ached in pain at every point, but he persevered, with only minimal discomfort showing on his face. He went into his room and woke his Egg Bois. Surely they could help him get through the day?

“Oooh, Eggies!” He hummed

Slowly each of their little eyes opened up as they rolled over to stare at the source of the noise.

“Good morning, Boss!”

“Boss!”

“I had a dream I was the god of time!”

A cacophony of voices rang out, each individually greeting their master.

“Good morning, my minions! Now, I have a very special task for you today.” He said, lowering his voice at the last part, “I have slept in my special garment once again, and my ribs are hurting. Could you help me rest?” The Eggs knew, of course they knew; they slept in the same nest as him, for goodness' sake. But he still tiptoed around the terminology so their little broken brains couldn’t spill his secret on accident. For instance, his binder, which he aptly called his “special garment,” which none of his eggs are to wear, as the pressure would surely crack them.

“Alright, boss!”

“We’ve got you, boss!”

“Slay, girlboss, yas queen!”

They all chirped in response; one egg ran out of the room while the others started fluffing up the pillows in their nest. Another pulled out a box of painkillers he had for exactly this reason. He quickly gulped them down with a glass of water on his nightstand. The other egg rushed back into the room with a cup of piping hot tea. Something that they knew helped him relax.

Now all he needed was to rest as much as possible in preparation for the interactions he’d need to have later. Easy. Simple. He could do this!

He slowly settled into his nest, nursing the hot cup of tea, his eggs slowly lying around him. He would be lying if he said this wasn’t where he felt happiest. Surrounded by his eggs, in the safety of a nest.

He didn’t even realise he was dozing off until a loud banging on his door startled him awake

“Penny? Charlie wants us for an activity. Get down here, eggs for brains!”

Dangnabbit!

Chapter 2

Summary:

He gets a little bit hurt!!!!!!!

Notes:

Uhhhhhh, I hope this doesn't suck. For the life of me, I could not figure out how to continue this. But nonetheless, if all goes according to plan, there will be another chapter.

The tacky wallpaper of the hotel passed them by as the two men walked down the hall. One was noticeably walking slower than the other, if you could even classify slithering as a form of walking, that is.

The latter’s thoughts were both sluggish and racing. The former unaware of the other's turmoil.

Pentious’ ribs still ache like hell, (hah! I love punsss!) and even walking was making his ribs ache. If only he were a true man, then all of this wouldn't be happening. He thought of his time alive, the deceit, the loneliness; he threw away his dresses and became someone else, someone new. He was hired as an inventor; it was the happiest he’d ever been. Everything after that was... a blur.

“You good, Penny?” Angel’s voice snapped him back to the present.

Angel Dust had stopped walking, him turning to face Pentious. A teasing but slightly concerned expression coated his face.

“O-Oh yes! I’m perfectly well.” He smiled.

“If you say so, slimy. Well, we’re here.”

Pentious glanced around to reveal they, in fact, were in the lobby, where many of their activities took place due to its expansive interior. The vast room made Petious feel small, expendable even.

Pentious had failed to notice the cheery decorations strung about. One particular pink streamer, in fact, was thrown at his face.

He yelped in surprise. He looked around but saw no one until something tugged at his shirt. He looked down and saw one Nifty standing in front of him with arms full of colourful decor. She flashed a bright, toothy smile. Then scampered off without a word.

“Pentious! You’re here!” Charlie caught his attention from across the room, standing with Vaggie. “Great! Now we can start!” She skipped over to him and Angel.

“Today we’re doing something a little different.” She teased,

“I figured in order to do good, you would need to learn to protect yourselves! So you can fight off mean people and stuff!!”

She paused. “I mean, don’t fight people! But if you have to, that's what this is for!” After a brief stumble over her words, she regained her confidence.

“We got this!” She yelled enthusiastically beaming from ear to ear

That did not inspire confidence. Sir Pentious could think of so many ways this seemed like a bad idea; however, he didn't have the heart to tell Charlie that, so he settled on smiling and nodding his head vigorously, despite the pain in his chest.

Thankfully, Vaggie seemed to be taking a back seat on this one. He could not handle her intensity right now. He could barely breathe, for God's sake! He didn't need someone shouting at him. (Even if he new it was in good spirits.)

After that, Charlie set up Pentious, Husk, Angel, and Nifty to have their own little sections to spar. Charlie insisted that they go lightly, which he was thankful for.

He was slightly relieved in a way he was sparring Husk; he was always very nonchalant and didn't seem like he’d make fun of Pentious for ‘being a wussy fighter,’ as he’s been told.
Well, if he was a bad fighter before, what would that make him now that he could barely twist without pain shooting up his side? Whoever's the opposite of Jon Jones, I guess.

Charlie started shouting encouragement at all of them; he guesses that's the signal to start. He could never tell when people don’t just say what they mean. why couldnt anyone just say, ‘Okay! you can start now.’ How was he supposed to make the inference?

While he was debating the reasons why people sucked. He failed to notice Husk had walked forwards and readied a punch aimed square at his ribs.

He screamed; the pain was unbearable. It felt like his chest was on fire.

“Shit.” Husk muttered. Concern and regret etched into his brow.

Angel and Nifty (Who had somehow ended up on the floor already? It’d only been like 20 seconds!) stopped tackling each other and looked up from their positions.

Charlie’s head snapped to the source of the noise, a very hurt Pentious on the floor, lying curled up at the feet of a very surprised Husk.
She rushed over with Vaggie following behind.

“What happened?!” Her brow crinkled in surprise and worry.

“How should I know? I only punched him once; after that, he dropped like a fly.” Husk said deadpan, but still worried for his friend.

“Pentious! Are you okay?” She trained her expression on the very distressed, curled-up Pentious on the floor.

“Agh! N-no! Go away! Please!” He hissed, swiping his claws out in a futile attempt to drive the attackers away.

In Pentious’ mind, he wasn’t in the hotel surrounded by friends; he was back on earth surrounded by strangers who had found him alone one fateful night and decided to take matters into their own hands.
The blood, the harsh brick, the suit jacket.

Speaking of which, his writhing around had lifted his own suit jacket a tad too much and exposed a smidgen of ugly purple bruising covering his ribs.

Angel saw it and gasped, “What the fuck?” Eyes filling with concern, “What happened to his ribs? Husk couldn’t have done that even if he wanted to!”

At that, Charlie asked Vaggie to get a first aid kit. “Alastor!” She yelled desperately.

“Yes, princess?” He appeared in a puff of smoke and tilted his head innocently. He smiled wider at the scene around him. “Oh, now what’s happened here? Why is our resident serpent lying on the floor half comatose? Hardly seems like team-building to me.” He flashed a toothy grin.

“Could you please bring him to his room? He seems really hurt!” Charlie pleaded, eyes filled to the brim with unshed tears.

“Of course! I’d be honoured.” He said, snapping his fingers. In an instant, both he and Pentious were gone in a puff of smoke.

Vaggie arrived back with the first aid kit. “Got it. Do we need anything else?” She deadpanned.

“I’ll get some more bandages; his ribs seemed pretty fucked up.” Husk added and left to go retrieve them without a word. Charlie nodded as thanks. Before she could ask Angel something, he chimed in.

“I’ll see if I can find any painkillers in my room. I’m sure I’ve got something that’ll ease the pain in there. He said, walking out of the room a tad more briskly than usual.

“Thanks, Angel! Thanks, Husk!” She yelled out.
Good, now that the main danger was over, she could figure something out.

What the fuck happened?