Feeling Blue: A Smurfs Fanfiction

Chapter Twenty-Five

The smurfs had eventually fallen into a tense sleep, knowing they couldn't save Papa if they were overly exhausted. All of them except Brainy. Once everysmurf else had fallen asleep he had snuck to the windowsill and was staring out at the night sky through a crack in the curtains. The lack of as many stars that there should have been was weird but last time he had been here Patrick had explained to them it was a result of 'light pollution'. Brainy wasn't entirely sure what that meant but he had decided he didn't like it. Papa's telescope was to the side: Patrick had gotten it out before heading to bed in case it could serve some use. It was cold and Brainy was beginning to get pins and needles from remaining locked in one position for so long. He was shivering slightly but refused to go move under the blanket in his corner of the sofa. He still was trying to go over how he could have done things differently and how he could make sure things didn't go wrong again.

The door opened a crack and Patrick tried to sneak through to the kitchen with an attempt to not wake up the sleeping smurfs. He jumped slightly when he noticed the brainiac still awake.
"Want anything?" he offered, keeping his voice low.
"No thanks," Brainy replied, keeping his gaze locked out of the window. Patrick frowned in confusion. He had only been around the smurfs for a few hours but Brainy was drastically different than the smurf he had met before. He as less of a know-it-all, looking like any moment he expected to be yelled at. Before having Blue he agreed with the other smurfs at how annoying Brainy was but after Blue was older he began to see more and more of the signs of bullying.
"Are you sure?" Patrick asked, concerned as he took in the determined slump of the shoulders and bags under his eyes. "We have hot chocolate."
"I'm fine," Brainy replied, finally glancing away from the window at last. "I don't want to be any trouble." The second statement was significantly quieter than the first but Patrick still heard. He made one anyway and set it on the sill next to Brainy before sitting in the chair by him.

"Couldn't sleep?" he asked.
"Not really," Brainy replied, turning to face Patrick, He didn't like making eye contact but he didn't want to be rude, especially when Patrick was being nice to him.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing you need to worry about," Brainy said with a lose shrug.
"Worried about Papa?" Patrick pushed, but gently. The same way he would the many times Blue came home from school upset.
"Yeah," Brainy admitted, taking a small sip of the hot chocolate. The sweetness helped slightly and sighed. "Pretty sure that is the case for everysmurf though. Me being worried doesn't matter."
"It does if it is limiting your sleep," Patrick noted but he didn't add that the eye bags heavily implied it was more than a little sleep he was lacking. "If you're low on sleep-"
"I know," Brainy cut in. "But sleep is often easier said than done. You're still up, you should know...especially given how worn out you seem."

Patrick froze in surprise slightly. Brainy had definitely changed, seeming more concerned about others now.
"That obvious, huh?" he asked.
"Not too obvious," Brainy said with a shrug. "So what's wrong?"
"Just work being stressful," Patrick said shortly.
"Want to talk about it?"
"No," Patrick said a lot snappier than he intended. Brainy instantly fell silent, staring at his feet with a dejected expression. "Sorry. I didn't mean to snap."Brainy remained silent. "I just don't walk about work much,: it's a lot."
"It's fine," Brainy said. "It wasn't any of my business really." The flatness in his voice very much gave away he had gotten used to this kind of thing.

There was a long silence.
"Well...goodnight," Patrick said, drawing an end to the conversation before things could get worse.
"Night," Brainy murmured. Once Patrick left Brainy returned to staring out the window, drawing his knees up to his chest. He shivered but still was determined to stay up until he had some kind of plan to save Papa.

A hand touched his shoulder. He flinched at the unexpected contact and looked up to see Gutsy.
"Hey Laddie. You okay?"
"I'm fine," Brainy said.
"Hmm," Gutsy said, unconvinced. He sat beside the brainiac, shoulders almost touching, expression noticeably concerned. "Patrick was right, you do look worn out."
"I'm fine," he repeated. I have to be fine: I need to stop showing so much weakness. Gutsy leant slightly against him.
"Jeez, you're freezing!" he exclaimed, noticing finally the shivering. "Right, off to bed." He stood back up, offering a helping hand up. Brainy hesitated a moment then, realising there was no chance that Gutsy would let him stay up all night, took it. He stumbled slightly as the pins and needles worsened but got his balance back. Brainy returned to his corner of the sofa but instead of Gutsy returning to his he sat beside Brainy. He wrapped the blanket around them both, somewhat surprised the others were still asleep.

"You need to get some sleep," he stated. "You look so worn out."
"Not tired," Brainy muttered, yawning slightly. "Oh. Well maybe a little tired."
"I think it is more than a little laddie," Gutsy said. "Have you slept lately."
"What counts as 'lately'?" Brainy asked. Gutsy gave him an unimpressed look. "Okay fine... I'll take a quick nap..." Each time he blinked his eyes stayed shut for longer. Gutsy fell silent with the hope the quiet would make him fall asleep faster. Within a few moments Brainy dropped off. His head was resting on Gutsy's shoulder and his glasses had been knocked slightly askew. Gutsy blushed slightly as he looked down at the slightly smaller smurf, trying to not think about how cute he found him. It didn't work. He gently took of Brainy's glasses, putting them to the side. He rested his head on top of Brainy's and closed his eyes for the night.

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"Should we wake them up?"
"No! Look how cute they are!"
"Think they are finally gonna end up together soon?"
"Hopefully. It is so obvious they like each other."

Patrick and Grace watched in amusement as Star, Grouchy and Clumsy debated the two sleeping smurfs.
"Want to wake them up for breakfast?" Grace asked.
"May as well. I hate lying in," Grouchy grumbled. He walked over to Gutsy, giving him a sharp poke on the shoulder.
"Ow!" Gutsy exclaimed, eyes flying open. "What in the smurf was that for?"
"Time to wake up," Grouchy deadpanned. Brainy remained asleep, far enough out of it to sleep though escalated noise. Gutsy rolled his eyes and gently shook Brainy's arm. He blinked sleepily up at Gutsy, squinting slightly.
"Here's your glasses," he said, passing them over. Brainy put them on, in his sleepiness they were more lopsided. Gutsy gently adjusted them without thinking about it. Brainy, slowly regaining his train of thoughts, realised where he had slept.

"I ended up sleeping against you...I am so sorry," he murmured, burying his face in his hands.
"Hey, it's fine," Gutsy tried to reassure. "I didn't mind in the slightest." That didn't help with the embarrassment and also sent Gutsy into unexpected shyness. The others tried to suppress snickers.

In an attempt to relieve some of the awkwardness now filling the room, Grace flicked on the TV. The news was on and it grabbed the smurfs attention, not yet used to the modern amenities.

"-long missing magician Gargamel has returned." The timing was a good one and instantly everysmurf was alert. "On the 31st July, 2013, the wizard Gargamel went missing during his time in Paris. Earlier today he was discovered again, along with a magical creature he described as a 'smurf'. The being is blue and only a few inches long. He warns there are more here and that they can be dangerous. After his long disappearance his shows will be restarting, beginning this time in a week. They will start in London. More information will be released shortly."

"That complicates things," Brainy murmured as the news story ended, dread knotting his stomach. "If we're no longer unknown then if we're spotted we'll be assumed to be the bad guys." The others noticeably flinched at that, realising Gargamel has managed to make things much harder. "How far is London?"
"A direct flight? About seven hours. Connecting flights are much longer though," Patrick replied, gnawing his lip. "Grace, get Blue's and our passports: I'll book the flights."
"On it," she agreed. Patrick logged into his laptop, knowing that balancing work and this had amplified in difficulty but knowing this was the only thing they could do.

Gargamel, yet again, had the upper hand but they had won before. Hopefully they could do it again.