Work Text:
Inside the kitchen of Mo's Oasis, Chuck was washing the dishes. He scrubbed a plate, sprayed it down, and set it on the rack to dry. He was about to repeat the process with another plate when he began to stew in his thoughts. Chuck stared at the sink full of water as he reminisced about the past month or so.
He had landed on Earth to gather the Cosmic Stones of Power, but Kid and the other Local Heroes had already taken them. He had fervently tried to get ahold of the stones, only to get stuck in the floor of Kid's trailer and then lost his legs when everyone escaped the UPX ship as it exploded, although this did not bother him since he had nothing important down there anyway. From that point, he was stuck inside the trailer, and he spent the following weeks hurling insults at everyone, especially Kid. The Kid was not bothered by his comments initially, but Chuck knew that he needed to dig deeper into the boy's skin in order to contact his so-called Great Leader.
So, after showing Kid the tape of Papa G being responsible for the robot army, Chuck began gloating and pointed out how he's not so different from the comic books that he had read, showing The Kid that newspaper clipping about his parents' deaths just to drive the point home. This convinced the boy to allow him to contact his leader, but it turned out that the "Great" Leader he had looked up to so fondly was actually a coward. Chuck swore from that point that he would be a good guy and help stop the Biker in Black, who had been spying on everyone so his team could take the stones for themselves.
The Local Heroes had forgiven him for his past misdeeds, and following the defeat of the Biker in Black, he was welcomed with open arms by the rest of the diner. Flo had even given him a job at the diner, which he greatly appreciated since he felt he had no purpose due to not being part of the Klaxian army anymore. However, even though Chuck was being treated like a good guy, he didn't quite feel like one.
He had paid no mind to what he said to The Kid. Klaxians did not have familial relationships like Earthlings did, so he held no sympathy for him. However, looking back, Chuck recalled the look on Kid's face when he taunted him about his parents and tossed that article in front of him: Staring at the paper miserably, shedding a single tear, and then scrunching his face in anger as he jumped at him for doing that. After everything that had happened, Chuck had finally recognized how personal this was to Kid and felt guilty about saying all those horrible things. He sighed in remorse.
"You okay, Chuck?" Flo asked while bringing in some dishes.
The alien looked up from the sink. "Yes. Chuck is fine," he claimed.
Flo set the tray on the counter and raised an eyebrow. "It doesn't seem like you're fine. Is there something that's been on your mind lately?"
Chuck was silent for a moment. "Well... Feel bad about... being bad guy."
"Oh, you don't have to be so hard on yourself because of that. You apologized, didn't you?"
"Yes, but... Chuck said really bad thing to Kid."
"Oh? How bad?"
Chuck looked back down at the sink. "Uh... Talk bad about Kid's parents."
Flo's eyes widened. "Oh, Chuck, you didn't..."
"Yes!" Chuck yelled in anguish, "Chuck said Kid suck at being hero... and used parents to get Kid to summon leader and... and..."
"Hey, it's alright, Chuck," Flo soothed, "Take your time."
Chuck calmed down and continued. "Kid was really sad. And really mad."
"Yeah, that's extremely personal for him. When the accident first happened, he didn't want to talk to anyone, and when Papa G tried to bring him to the diner for dinner to cheer him up, he threw his food all over the floor. Kid's gonna need a long time to come to terms with it, but comments like that will only make it harder."
Chuck suddenly felt immense guilt. The alien took off his gloves and covered his face with his hands. "Ohhhhhh, Chuck terrible person!"
Flo placed a hand on his shoulder, "Hey, hey, Chuck, it's okay!" she reassured, "That doesn't make you a terrible person. You made a mistake, but you're working hard to fix it. That's all that matters."
Chuck uncovered his face. "Really?"
"Yes, really."
The Klaxian perked up. "Okay. But Chuck still say sorry again. Want Kid to feel better."
"Alright, if you insist."
Back at the junkyard, Chuck walked out the door of Papa G's house and made his way to the trailer. He stopped at the door nervously, then knocked.
"Who is it?" Kid asked.
"It is Chuck," the alien responded.
"Come in."
Chuck opened the trailer door and pulled himself inside. "Hello, Kid."
Kid was holding a comic book and turned his head to look at him. "Hey, Chuck, what's up?"
"Uh... what doing?"
Kid sat up and held up his comic. "I'm reading an issue of Crawler."
"Oh. That good comic." Chuck walked to Kid's bed and sat next to him. He was silent as he looked at the floor. "Chuck come to... say something."
"Okay, what it is?"
"Uh... Chuck really sorry."
"Sorry for what?"
"Um... saying bad things about parents."
Kid stared at him and frowned. "Oh... that," he said, "You already said sorry for being a bad guy, though."
"Yes, but this worse than being bad guy. Chuck made you sad and should never have said that!" the alien drooped. "Chuck feel awful."
Kid teared up, "Oh, Chuck... It's okay, I forgive you." Kid wrapped his arms around Chuck, who returned the favor.
"Thank you, Kid."
"You're welcome, Chuck."
The two stayed in the trailer for a while and talked about comics.