Meteor Effect

It Takes Two To Tango 4: Tango's room

"Oh no," He whispers.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

A light flicks on from the hallway.

"Tango?" Bdubs murmurs as he pushes the door to his spare room open. The bed is empty. Frowning softly, Bdubs walks down the hall a bit more.

A soft sniff comes from the open bathroom door.

"Tango?"

Picking his head up he whimpers quietly.

"What's wrong?"

"My stomach hurts," He groans softly.

Moving his arm so his wing wouldn't get caught on anything, Bdubs sits on the floor and gently rubs Tango's back, "What's wrong?"

"I ate too much..." he whispers, "I feel like I'm going to throw up."

Bdubs takes a moment, "We can talk about that in the morning... you want some water?"

Tango nods, "Yeah."

"Can I pick you up?"

He nods again. Leaning against Bdubs he yawns and curls into his side.

Handing him a water bottle, Bdubs yawns.

"Do you feel any better?" He asks after a moment.

Tango nods, "Yeah."

"It's late, you want to go to bed?"

"Yeah," He sighs.

Smiling softly, Bdubs brings him into the spare room and sets him on the bed. As he turns to leave Tango catches the edge of his sleeve.

"Could you, uh, stay?" Tango asks nervously, not looking at Bdubs.

"Of course I can," Bdubs murmurs.

_____

The next morning Bdubs gets Tango on the couch, "Ok, can we talk about last night?"

Tango shrinks back a little, "Ok, what do you want to know?"

"If you get full you don't have to keep eating, you know that right?"

Shrugging Tango fiddles with the hem of his shirt, "I know... I don't really notice that it's too much..."

"How often do you do this?"

"Every time, almost," Tango whispers.

"Why?"

"Code food's aren't made for kids," Tango shrugs, "And when someone makes me food I don't want to not eat it..."

Bdubs frowns.

Seeing this Tango backs off a little.

"I'm not mad at you, I'm just thinking," Bdubs sighs.

"Oh."

"How's this? I'll give you smaller portions, and if you want more food you ask for more. And instead of code food we can give you snack bags."

Tango rubs his face and nods, "Ok... just don't tell anyone."

Bdubs stays silent for a moment, "Ok. Do you do this with everyone?"

Nodding Tango starts fiddling with a loose thread.

"Ok, just remember, you don't need to eat everything."

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Looking down at his hands Impulse looks at Zedaph, "Did you know?"

Shaking his head Zedaph bleats and falls to the ground, "We've hurt him and we didn't even know."

Tear tracks slowly drip down his face as Impulse flips to the next page.