#sonic fic

[havensake]

the earth experiencing itself

The air over Westopolis has never been clean. It’s incredibly dense, the way a cloud of smoke is — hard to breathe. It’s been this way for as long as Shadow can remember.

Even the tallest buildings don’t offer much reprieve. Among the rooftops, the only twinkling lights are that of skyscrapers; their thousands of windows, helipads, and cell towers. No stars. Light pollution was never something Maria mentioned, despite her talk of man and the cities they built. Maybe it’s for the best, he thinks. She would’ve hated it.

Tonight, he isn’t here to escape smog. Or to desperately seek a star.

The first scream was from a woman on the street. She pointed up at the sky with a trembling finger, eyes wide, and those around her followed suit. Panic began quickly. Shadow pushed his way through a terrified crowd to find the highest vantage point he could.

—

From here, he can see everything. The sky without stars. The moon. And the shade that eclipses it.

It’s devoid of anything warm. A large stain in space. He’s never seen anything like it, not even the ARK. His first instinct, his first thought, is to wonder: where is —

A golden mote of light.

“Sonic…”

Shadow stares up at that flicker, shining so brilliantly in the darkest dark, in direct opposition to what looms above. There’s something else, fighting alongside him. It’s too far.

“Of course,” he thinks. “You’re there.”

He can see a star in the sky after all.

keep reading on AO3.

#sonic the hedgehog #sonic #shadow the hedgehog #sonadow #sth #sonic fic

[corffee]

Some fanart of son1c’s fic, Falling Stars AU cause I adore them

#I RECOMMEND READING THIS FIC!!! #falling stars fic #falling stars #sonic the hedgehog #shadow the hedgehog #sonic fanart #sonic #sonadow #sonadow fanart #sth #sonic fic #sth fanart #digital fanart #digital art

[max-nico]

Sonic has been called an "overprotective big brother" over the years many times. Not his fault that Tails is small, impressionable, and reckless. He's known the kid since he was a toddler, if anyone else had been around that long they would understand too.

Or at least he thought they would, but it seems he was wrong because his own two best friends–Amy and Knuckles–are the ones who call him overprotective the most. This is a huge betrayal on their part, especially when they bring up valid points like Tails' intelligence and skill, because how could he disagree. Sonic has the coolest, most awesome and amazing, little brother ever. 

With that being said, Sonic is pretty sure he has the right to interrogate the little fox this time. He's like 90% sure his panic is warranted when he sees his little brother load and cock a very real and deadly gun. Because that kid is 9. He is 9, and he is putting on his watch and his plane gear to leave, and for some reason he needs a weapon wherever he's going. Sonic thinks he has a right to exercise at least a little big brother privilege here, honestly it would be negligent to not at least question him. 

"Hey bud. Whatcha up to?"

Tails' ear flicks toward him as he packs a few things into the Tornado. "You remember that hard drive that GUN thought they stole from me, but I actually knew they wanted it so I lowered a few of my defense systems so that they could grab it and leave me alone?"

The answer is no, Sonic has no recollection of that happening at all. Though he supposes it's his own fault for only half listening when Tails was talking. He's really gotta break that habit.

"Sure do." Sonic lies.

"Well, I actually have a little bit of data on there that I forgot to back up to another hard drive since I didn't think I needed it, so I'm going to go get it."

"And you need a weapon for that? Why don't you just ask Shadow?"

Tails finally turns to face Sonic, floating down off the Tornado and in front of Sonic. He stands with his hands on his hips, leaning just a little into his personal space. He takes the chance to absentmindedly scratch behind his little brother's ears, making him push his head into his hand.

"I did, actually. He's the one who told me to bring some weapons, he said he wants to help me improve my stealth techniques."

"Huh, and he didn't even bother to text me about it." Sonic huffs. It comes out playfully, but he won't deny being a little peeved that Shadow didn't message him. Tails is a genius and can make his own decisions, sure, but he's also not even in double digits. Sonic is literally his guardian, he feels like he should've been consulted about this. "I find that quite rude."

Tails smacks Sonic with one of his tails. The fur gets trapped in the small quills on his face, which makes his brother giggle.

"Then how do you find that, hm?"

"I find that the person who did it has another thing coming."

Sonic is so gonna fill his pillows with quills and shaving cream again. The fox constantly complains about not being able to get his quills out of any furniture, but he also got his fur stuck on Sonic's face, he figures this is pretty good retribution.

"Sure I do."

This is what Sonic means. Where did his wholesome brother go? Ignoring the fact that he has been a little menace since they first met, this is obviously team Dark's fault. Their devious ways are corrupting his little brother, who has obviously only learned nice things from him, like dad jokes and spindashing.

Tails has been constantly hanging out with team Dark for a few months now. After spending time with Rouge on Amy's last birthday he seemed to acquire a sort of childish fascination with them. Honestly, Sonic didn't really see it as a bad thing at first. They got Tails to spend more time out of his lab, and they always seemed to take care of him so Sonic had no qualms as long as Tails was having fun.

Then the habits came. Habits that Sonic had managed to completely purge a couple years back. Sure, he's not building bombs willy nilly anymore (as far as he knows anyway), but a few weeks ago Tails showed him the Empire nuclear launch codes just because he could.

Just yesterday they were having a conversation about a grocery store in station square. Amy had apparently told him that the cashier was kind of rude, so he asked if she wanted him to "blow up the entire store". She laughed and said no thanks, but when Sonic just shook his head at him Tails had the audacity to say "he'll make sure there's no one in it", as if that was the problem with what he said.

Sonic will not claim to have clean hands. He will not say he's never killed anybody on purpose or on accident, but is it so much to want to spare his brother from the same fate? Sonic still has nightmares over things like that, and even if his little brother is joking, he just can't find it in himself to laugh.

It's obvious Sonic will have to talk to Shadow and Rouge soon, he would talk to Omega as well but the robot honestly just does whatever he wants. Sonic can respect it. He cannot, however, respect Shadow and Rouge teaching his kid brother bad stuff, like how to get away with murder and other things of the like.

"I'll be back before you know it, Sonic, I swear!"

It's obvious Sonic has just missed most of the one sided conversation Tails was just having with him, he zoned out again. Damn it.

"And I'll have my communicator on me so if anything goes wrong, you'll be the first to know! I'll stay safe, Shadow will be with me."

Tails says that as if it's any comfort to Sonic. He may trust Shadow with his life but he does not trust him with children. He's sure Tails will come out physically unscathed, but mentally? This is going to be a trainwreck.

Sonic sighs. He already knows he won't be able to convince him not to go, at least not in the small timeframe he has, so he just pulls the kid in for a hug instead. "Call me as soon as you're able, okay?"

"I will, promise!"

"And if you're not back and not answering in 24 hours, I'm coming to find you myself."

"Yes, Sonic." Tails says, pulling away.

"And I'll give Shadow a piece of my mind if I have to, you know I will."

"I'm leaving now."

"And so will Knuckles and Amy!"

"Goodbye!"

"Remember what I said about calling!"

"I can't hear you anymore!"

Sonic smiles as Tails starts his plane, the kid will be fine, he knows it. After all, he's sure Shadow and Rouge know the consequences if he's not.

woe, the brothers be upon ye I wrote this in like two sittings and its barely been edited, I'll probably put this on ao3 later after I've looked at it again lol. you're welcome to hit me up in my dms or askbox, but if it's a request I would prefer my ask box lol. Remember you have to be nice to me forever and ever and ever if you decide to talk to me btw

#sth #sonic the hedgehog #miles tails prower #shadow the hedgehog #sonic fanfiction #sonic fic #wholesome sonic and tails wednesday #wsatw #sonic and tails #sonic #tails and sonic #tails #tails the fox #sonic and shadow #team dark #i have the mic #<- that is my talking tag but trying to think of a music themed tag for my fics #you're welcome to give me ideas if you have em #this is adhd sonic the hedgehog propaganda btw #posting things to tumblr gives me stomach ache but here I am stomach ache and all

[tillytilli]

art trade with @pajulammas of his au Chivalrous Devotion!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! old man yaoi

#my art #sonic the hedgehog #sth #shadow the hedgehog #sonic au #sonic fic #medieval au #art trade #chivalrous devotion #lansoni #sonadow #kalle

[myymi]

tail wags

Sonic’s ear flicked at the sound of grass rustling behind as he rolled up the two sleeping bags. He was trying to rush so they could get on the move again, having gotten up and moving pretty late today. It had been a lazy morning for the two of them. Instead of running and flying down the road, the two had cuddled up and spent the early sunlight talking about whatever came to mind. Neither of them were really up to being too active today, but the hedgehog knew better than to stay in one spot for too long.

So he forced them up, but let the kid sit out of packing up to stretch his tails before they moved out. It was strange how hard it was to get on his feet this morning, the weight of the kid on his chest more comforting than he ever thought it could be. He didn’t like touching other people. He tried not to let it show around the kid, but physical contact made him want to physically curl away and bolt. He didn’t really get why, but it just wasn’t for him. Or– he thought it wasn’t for him. But somehow that kid managed to blow his mind again. It was insane how often he did that, but he supposes that’s just a trait you have to have in order to keep up with the fastest thing alive. There was more rustling, so Sonic decided to turn around and look at what was the cause of it. His brow furrowed as a confused smile curved his muzzle as he found the cause of the gentle noise.

Tails had his tails pinned against the ground, face scrunched up in annoyance. He hadn’t noticed the tween was looking at him, his attention fully on the two fluffy appendages. His ear flicked a few times, showing he was trying to solve something. "Whatcha doin, bud?" He asked, snorting when the fox jumped. The kit’s ears swiveled before focusing in on Sonic, his head soon turning to look over at him. "My tails aren't listening." He said, lifting a hand to point at his namesakes which allowed one of them to slip free. It started wagging behind him, causing him to huff and reach around to try and catch it. "Whaddya mean they aren't listening?" Sonic asked as he stuffed the sleeping bags into the backpack. It was a tight fit with the two of them, but he learned how to work around it. When they first started traveling together Tails had insisted he slept on the ground, but the tween refused. He lent his to the kid for the first few weeks until he had saved enough money to buy another. Sometimes he would still find loose fox hair in it. "They keep moving when I think about you even though I’m not telling them to!" The fox complained, having successfully recaptured his rogue tail. He held it and the other to his chest, but they still twitched excitedly against him. "Awh, kid.” A fond laugh was pulled out of the older as he walked over to the kid. Tails’ ear flicked as he approached, “They're wagging. Just means you're happy" He explained, reaching down to affectionately muse the kid’s bangs. "But it's never happened before," Tails said, frowning at the appendages. “It’s weird.” “Nah, it’s happened.” Sonic shook his head. He imagined it hasn’t happened much in the kid’s life yet, but he’d definitely caught the twin tails thrashing giddily behind him. “I’ve seen ‘em do it.” That got him to look up, brow furrowed as he soaked up the new information. He was like a little sponge, though squeezing him wouldn’t get him to let go of all the things he’d learned. You’d probably have to pry it straight out of his brain. “What about you? Does your tail ever wag?” The kit asked, head tilting enough to cause his ears to flop over. Sonic shrugged, reaching out to tug at one of the ears despite the swats he received from the younger’s hands. “Sure it does,” He said, snorting when the kid shook his head to free his ear from the hedgehog’s hold which caused it to hit him in the face. “You just haven’t seen it cause it’s small.” “I’ve never seen my tails wag.” Tails pointed out, glancing back at the mentioned appendages. His lips pursed as he considered the new information before turning to look at the tween again and pulled a face. “Are you lying again like you did with the Easter Bunny?” Sonic laughed at that, having forgotten about the times he tried to tell the kid about the usual holiday characters. No matter how hard he tried, he just couldn’t convince the kid things like the Tooth Fairy existed. The first time Tails lost one of his teeth Sonic had tried to swap it out for a few mobiums. It took quite a while to even convince the kid to put it under his pillow, but the promise of mint candy got him to comply. Sonic had done a good enough job at being quiet when sneaking around to his sleeping bag, but no amount of silence could get that tooth without waking the kit up. The second the tween had touched his pillow, Tails shot into a sitting position as if expecting it to have been a badnik. There was just no way to get that kid to believe in them. It didn’t help that he held pretty much all the logic in the world in his tiny, 5 year old brain. Every time Sonic tried to make up a lie for one of Tails’ questions he’d get debunked.

“Nah, this one’s true, keed.” He shook his head, reaching around to poke one of the tails. It twitched in response, “You’re too little to keep all your happiness in ya, which causes your tails to wag.” Sometimes it was odd to teach the kid things outside of breaking badniks. It shouldn’t be. He was 5. He was at the age when kids would go to school to start their journey in learning what they needed to know as they grew up. Tails hummed, searching the older’s face to try and find something that would indicate that he wasn’t telling the truth. “That seems.. weird.” He decided, face scrunching as he tried to work it out in his head. “I have a way to prove it to ya.” Sonic grinned, knowing that Tails would really not like this idea. But curiosity blinded him of the mischief brewing in the older, his head tipping to the side in a silent question. They usually didn’t ask or say things that were obvious in their body language. Neither of them saw the point in it. “Tickling.” His grin widened. He enjoyed messing with the kid, being purposefully dramatic to get any sort of laugh out of him. Really, he just enjoyed hearing it. He wasn’t really sure why, but it was a more calming sound than anything nature could provide. “No!” The fox’s reaction was instant. He was in the air in a second, out of the hedgehog’s reach. Sonic laughed up at him, rising to his feet while holding his hands up in a mock surrender. “Alright, alright, I won’t.” He promised, nodding at the kit to land back down. Tails’ eyes narrowed, but he did as he was told. His feet softly touched the ground a few steps away from the tween for good measure, but it didn’t really matter when you considered the older’s speed. But Sonic was a hedgehog of his word, so instead of poking at the kit he settled for a hair ruffle. His hand was still swatted away with a pout anyway, but the twin tails swayed happily behind the kid. “See?” He pointed at the appendages, smiling as the younger blinked at them. “You just don’t realize when it happens.” Tails considered them for a few moments more before frowning. “I really don’t think they used to do that.” He mumbled, watching as his tails wagged. Sonic frowned as well, how could a kid go so long without ever feeling happy enough for his tails to wag? They shared a silence for a few seconds until the kit suddenly beamed, grinning up at the hedgehog. “Maybe they were broken and you fixed them!” And oh, if that didn’t make his heart swell up in the most painful way. Nothing about this kid was broken. Being born a little different wasn’t a bad thing and he hated that this poor kid had been convinced it was. If anyone was bad or broken it was that stupid village. They were the ones who tormented a child because they didn’t like that he stood out a little. But he didn’t mention it. Tails never did like talking about Westside, so Sonic tried to avoid it whenever he could. “I’unno. Maybe they just now figured it out.” The kid shook his head at that, smile still bright as ever, “They couldn’t have, I didn’t even know they were broken in the first place. Well— I did, but not like that.” “Okay–“ It was Sonic’s turn to shake his head before crouching down to be at eye level with the fox. “They weren’t broken, kiddo. They just needed a second to catch up.” He said, voice firm as he placed a hand on the younger’s shoulder. Tails’ head tilted again as he thought those words over, “..Like me on our runs?” “Exactly!” Sonic grinned, he didn’t even think of making that connection. “Nothin’ wrong with it, they just needed time.” The fox pursed his lips and nodded, satisfied with that answer so the tween ruffled his bangs as he stood back up. With his hands on his hips, he glanced around at what remained of their little campsite.

He had packed up everything, but the light indents in the grass still outlined where everything was. “Speaking of our runs, I think it’s ‘bout time we blow this joint.” He said, turning to look back at the kit with a hand outstretched, “whaddya say, keed?” Tails beamed back, his smaller hand immediately grabbing the older’s with a large smile, “Let’s speed!"

happy wednesday

#miles tails prower #sonic the hedgehog #sth #tails the fox #sonic #unbreakable bond #dynamic duo #sonic and tails #wsatw #wholesome sonic and tails wednesday #wholesome wednesday #myydrabs #sonic fic #sonic fanfic #sonic drabble #drabble

[nb-hedgewolf]

Will the whole world know your name...?

I'M NEVER STOPPING 'TIL THEY KNOW MY NAME!

check out my fic, it has three chapters now :3

#digital art #sonic art #sonic fanart #sonic fan art #infinite the jackal #sonic au #artists on tumblr #digital drawing #sonic fic #sonic forces #sonic forces au #|| biau || #Broken Illusions au #infinite sonic

[number-one-shadisper-shipper]

There had to be something wrong with him.

The two tails were the most obvious. But there had to be something more. There had to be something wrong with him.

Why else did no one want him?

Little Miles curled up in the small cave he'd found for himself, burrowing in a pile of leaves he'd gathered up for a nest of sorts. The cave was far enough away from the village that no one should be able to find him here.

Why did they hate him so much?

He'd taken a few things, but that couldn't be the reason. They were mean to him before that. He only snatched scraps of food when he was really hungry because no one would give him anything and he couldn't find anything in the woods that was edible. And they'd already chased him away multiple times before he'd gotten that hungry that he'd risked sneaking back into the village to grab some food.

It had to be something else. Was it just the tails? Why? He loved his tails. They were warm and good for snuggling. He loved them. Or, he could love them. If it wasn't for everyone else telling him why he should hate them. He could never really hate them.

Maybe he was just a bad kid.

Bad kids took things. Bad kids got in the way. Bad kids weren't wanted.

Even his own parents didn't want him. He had only vague memories of them now, of golden-brown fur a little darker than his and loud voices that were angry a lot. He remembered them telling him to stay and wait, and then never coming back.

Maybe... if he'd waited just a little longer, just a couple more days, they would've come back. Maybe he was just a bad kid like that.

Maybe that's why no one could care about him.

Darkness was falling outside, separating his cave from the rest of the world. The night was always so empty and quiet, with no one around to protect him. He curled his two tails closer around himself, hugging them against his chest.

Was he always going to be alone?

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

"Tails?"

The fox glanced up at the sound of his favorite voice. Sonic was staring at him, head slightly tilted as he studied his face. "You okay, pal? You zoned out there for a sec."

"Yeah, yeah! Just got distracted."

Sonic chuckled and ruffled his bangs. "Imagine getting distracted," he said with a laugh, leaning backwards to lie on the picnic blanket. "I, for one, am ALWAYS focused."

Tails chuckled as he shifted. "Yeah, right."

He glanced around. It was a beautiful day in Green Hill, perfect for the Restoration (and friends) picnic that they'd set up as a celebration of foiling yet another world-ending catastrophe together. Amy, sitting on Sonic's other side, gave him a smile before returning back to whatever she and Sonic had been chatting about a minute ago. Knuckles was leaned back against a tree looking almost peaceful, until Rouge came and started poking at him. All of Team Dark had actually shown up, even Shadow, although he was sitting at the very outskirts avoiding conversation. Cream served out slices of cake to everyone. Her mom was cutting the slices while chatting cheerfully with Vector and the other Chaotix. Silver was showing off his telekinesis for Blaze by making a kite fly even though there was no wind. The Restoration girls; Whisper, Tangle, Belle, and even Jewel and Lanolin; had found all spots in the grass where they were chatting.

Sonic gave him another look, before stretching out his arm and patting the empty spot beside him. Tails grinned and shifted over next to Sonic, curling up into the spot that fit him perfectly. He rested his head on his brother's chest, hearing the soothing thrum of his speedy heartbeat. A comforting sound. The sound of safety, of home.

"You sure you're okay, little bro?" Sonic asked quietly.

"Yeah. I am."

He was more than okay, he realized, as he looked around at his friends. His tribe. His family.

He wasn't alone anymore.

AO3 link here

#wholesome sonic and tails wednesday #wholesome wednesday #wstw #COMBATING THE DEATH FICS WITH HAPPY ENDINGS! #angst with a happy ending #drabble #hurt/comfort #sonic the hedgehog #baby miles tails prower #miles tails prower #classic tails #sonic #sonic fanfic #sonic fic #ao3 link #also on ao3 #writer #my fanfic

[jeysecretive]

Okay, okay, I steal ideas, I quickly fall in love with fanfics... Please please take this for what it's worth, because I love what pops into my head and I can't not share it!

So, this time to suffer fic by @weirdozjunkary (MVA), and I'll write nonsense because I haven't watched Monsters vs Aliens from the word at all, and am following a completely my own plot that will unfold after the second part of the fanfic.

(Part two!)

(NOTE: I WROTE THIS IN ANOTHER LANGUAGE, AND DECIDED TO REQUEST IT IN A TRANSLATOR TO AVOID REWRITING IT ALL OVER AGAIN, SO THERE MAY BE MISTAKES!(THOUGH WITH MY LEVEL OF ENGLISH YOU'RE UNLIKELY TO FEEL THE DIFFERENCE LMAO))

ENJOY THE SHOW!

It was a cloudy day in May. It was dank and damp outside, and anyone who needed to go out for business in such weather was sure to wrap themselves in a raincoat or scarf, snorted now and then at the dampness and unpleasant wind.

Sonic, Tails and Shadow were not happy about the weather, so they sat in the GUN base and settled down on Sonic's bed and watched comedies on a homemade movie projector that the fox had made from a ruined microwave (Barry had given it to them). What better way to brighten up a dull, rainy day than with a funny movie and a bag of chips?

Knuckles refused to be entertained, disappearing into a roadside café, eating mugs of delicious hot cocoa and cakes prepared by the owner of the place. Guys did not insist on his choice, and decided to have fun in their own way. And now they watched movies with laughter, exchanging ideas or news every now and then.

But the cozy revelry was suddenly interrupted by General Acorn entering the room.

"–Enough of this nonsense, boys!" she exclaimed nervously, "I have something interesting to show you."

"–Uuuh, we've stopped at the most interesting scene..." Sonic grumbled unhappily, taking his equally frowning friends in his arms and following the chipmunk on his heels. He didn't want to go out his room at all, as the very realization that it was raining outside made him drowsy and drowsy. But he didn't want to disobey orders, and with the thought that GUN it would be worth it to hold off on all sorts of things, Sonic and company entered the observation room.

The General hurried to one of the monitors, giving an order to one of her subordinates.

Plumping herself into a chair, she began clicking hastily on the keyboard.

Finally finding what she needed, she brought up the image on the main screen hanging from the ceiling, large enough for Sonic to look at.

At first, nothing could be seen there but a desolate area: a small lake surrounded by sparse undergrowth. It was taken from a distance, but Sonic recognized the place - it was not far (though one has to figure out what "not far" means to a giant hedgehog...) from one of the small towns west of the GUN base. When he wanted to bask in the sun, Sonic would go there and bask on the soft grass that grew near the pond.

Now the place looked rather bleak, and judging by the swaying trees, it was also windy. Sonic shuddered at the dank sight. The last thing he wanted to do right now was to be there. Shadow and Tails seemed to share his feeling, shiver at little times.

But suddenly guys noticed a strange beam of light coming toward the clearing. It seemed to be some kind of meteorite or comet, but the light grew brighter and brighter, and it was already apparent that some object was flying from the sky at an oblique angle straight toward the waters of the lake. Finally, it crashed into the sand right next to the water, raising a huge column of mud and causing the lake to become very agitated and overflow its banks. At the same moment, the image began to glitch and shake, and finally went out.

"–We installed this camera a week ago so that Ollie" - Sally waved her hand toward one of the employees nervously monitoring some sort of signature on small work computers - "–could monitor the soil conditions in this county, since there have been repeated sightings of sudden flooding or ground instability. But ten minutes ago, we received this video from him."

"–I beg your pardon, ma'am!" shouted one of the soldiers running by "we've just been notified that the object MIGHT be emitting Chaos energy, causing interference throughout the area, but that energy is highly variable, and NOTHING like the signatures of the Chaos Emeralds."

The General looked worriedly at Sonic.

"–Okay Ron, I'll take that under advisement, you may go."

"-Yes, ma'am!"

She turned back to guys again.

"-The object in question may not be an emerald, but we have an obligation to find out its origin."

"- Is there any chance that it was an ordinary meteorite?" Shadow asked.

"Absolutely not. Meteorites have completely different radiation levels, and even if it was one of them, there would be no trace of the lake. Besides, the meteor shower hasn't been predicted for the next four months. I want to send the three of you away to inspect this scene in detail."

Hearing this message, Sonic groaned unhappily. The last thing he wanted to do was go outside in this weather, much less look for anything.

"- Ma'am, why don't you ask someone else to do it, say, send out a search party?"

The General looked at him sternly.

"- No one knows what we'll be facing. Besides, if it's not even an emerald, no one knows how to deal with Chaos energy better than you."-Sonic opened his mouth to speak-"... AND I WON'T TAKE NO FOR AN ANSWER! NO ONE CAN HANDLE IT BETTER THAN YOU BOYS, SO LET'S GET TO WORK!"

All three of them left the room and headed down the corridor towards the exit.

They were followed by "...- And please don't forget to take a couple good pictures!!!"

"And why does it have to be us, in this weather?" Sonic said indignantly.

Tails and Shadow silently shared his opinion. They both knew how much the hedgehog hated the cold. Truth be told, they didn't want to run out in the rain to some mysterious meteorite, shivering in the cold and pissing their feet in puddles.

"- Well, at any rate, the sooner we get out, the sooner we get in! We should try and just have a quick look around the place, and we'll be back home.... Unless, of course, something happens..."-Tails broke the silence.

Shadow nodded in agreement.

Ahead of his friends, fox cub went into his workshop. Sonic and Shadow stomped curiously at the entrance, watching him rummage through boxes of junk, sneezing from the dust.

Finally, his face brightened.

"-Hooray, I found it!"-Tails raised the device, which looked like a game joystick with a screen, high above his head.

"-Very good, buddy, but what is it?" inquired Sonic.

"- It's a handheld device for tracking more or less powerful energy sources. It can be used to search for the energy signal of the Chaos Emeralds! I built it for just that purpose, but I haven't had to use it yet. Now I'll tweak it a bit, and we can easily find what we need."

On the occasion of the bad weather, Shadow and Tails had donned raincoats with warm linings. Looking at them, Sonic was quietly envious since GUN hadn't taken care of his warm clothes for such occasions. Seeing his dejected face, the fox cub comfortingly patted the big guy's boot.

"-Let's make this quick and get back home."

Sonic nodded his head.

"-Okay, you're right! There's nothing faster than me anyway."-he hummed.

Stepping outside, hedgehog whinnying as a hail of cold drops rained down on him. Gritting his teeth, Sonic put his friends on his shoulders and sped off.

After only a few minutes, he stopped next to a large crater of sand and mud.

Lowering his buddies to the ground, Sonic began to shake off the moisture fiercely of himself. While he dealt with this procedure, Tales was thoughtfully twiddling one of the buttons on his miracle device.

"These are settings for the beeping sound for better search efficiency," he explained to Shadow, who was looking over his shoulder.

Before they could say anything, Sonic's sneeze rang out across the neighborhood.

"Sorry, guys, I couldn't help it," the hedgehog muttered in confusion. Tails chuckled "–Hey, at least you're wearing a jacket after all!"

The little fox, without answering anything, went back to his search device.

Finally finished, he solemnly moved the gray slider and smiled proudly.

              "BEEP--BEEP--BEEP--BEEP."

"- Wow, not bad for a meteorite!"- Tails even jumped up in surprise. "- I didn't expect the energy to be THIS strong..."

The fox slowly began to slide into the center of the crater.

"- According to my calculations, this energy could very well equate to the power of several emeralds!"

Finally finding himself in the middle of the crater he scratched the back of his head thoughtfully-"- Hmmmm.... Strange... It feels like the source of the signal is elsewhere.... And it's... Moving?!"-Shadow immediately landed next to Tails-"And what does that mean, fox?"

Foxy shook his head thoughtfully-"-I can say with certainty that there's nothing in that funnel."

"So you're saying that the meteorite grew legs and got out of here and went about its business?" Sonic laughed.

Both buddies frowned at him.

Sonic, realizing that his joke was not appreciated, pouted resentfully and walked away.

But suddenly he noticed that the sand around him was cut by a string of strange footprints. They were clearly Mobian, but they were extremely erratic, as if the person getting out of the funnel had been spinning or drunk. The footprints were already half-drenched in rain, but they were still visible. And they led toward the woods.

"- GUYS, I FOUND SOMETHING INTERESTING!"- Sonic took turns picking up his friends in a pinch and placing them near his find.

Immediately a dead silence hung around.

"-Hey guys, don't you think...?" whispered Tails.

Shadow slapped his forehead-"-WHY DIDN'T WE THINK OF THIS SOONER?! WHILE WE WERE GONE, ANYONE COULD HAVE GOTTEN IN HERE AND STOLEN THE EMERALD-"

"-No, wait!" Tails interrupted him excitedly, "This energy is nothing like Chaos! Maybe..."

All three of them looked at each other.

"Does Neo have any relatives?" whispered Sonic.

"LET'S GO FIND HIM BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE!" Shadow was the first to rush out of his seat. The others, after a moment's hesitation, rushed after him.

***

Were the aliens going to take over the world again? We'll find out next time!

#mva au #MVA #sonic the hedgehog #mv agusta #mva #monsters vs aliens #sonic characters #sonic #shadow the hedgehog #shadow #knuckles the echidna #tails the fox #fanfic #my fic #my story #sonic fic

[pastelspindash]

illustration for a very totally fun and pain free entire sonic forces rewrite fic i'm writing in which sonic is Actually tortured for months and shadow shows up to save him

i'll be posting the fic eventually on ao3 if you are interested and i'll post the link here

please vote in the poll about it if you're interested!

#my art #sonic the hedgehog #sth #sonic #sonic fanart #sonic fandom #shadow the hedgehog #sonic art #sonic forces #sonic fic #sonadow #<- if u want it to be #sonic forces au

[pajulammas]

12 and sonadow!!!!! :> for the fic prompt meme

(This accidentally became longer than I intended-)

12. ‘you could say I’m fond of you.’

Sonic and Shadow crossed the finish line at the exact same time. They kept pushing and tackling each other even after that, eventually both collapsing on the grass. Sonic couldn’t suppress a laugh as he spread his arms wide and gazed at the sky. He could swear he heard a quiet chuckle escape from Shadow’s lips in turn.

“I won, you know,” Sonic chuckled as he tried to catch his breath.

“It was merely a tie, you just managed to catch up to me at the last second by some miracle,” Shadow huffed as he sat up, dusting dirt off his shoulders.

“Nah, my nose was the first thing to pass the finish line,” Sonic said.

“Tch. Of course it was, when you have such a big one. And noses don’t count. The winner is whose chest first passes the line,” Shadow pointed out as he tried to catch his breath.

Sonic sat up and raised a brow as he eyed Shadow’s chest. “Then you’re cheating, since you’ve clearly backcombed your chest fluff to make it stick out more!”

Shadow hummed in amusement as he fixed his quills carefully, soon doing the same to his chest fluff.

Sonic couldn’t take his eyes off of Shadow – he was completely fascinated by him. Usually when they raced, his mysterious rival would leave as soon as they had finished. But lately, it had become more common for him to stay for a little longer. They never really did anything specific, usually they just stayed in each other’s presence. There were no words, just the two of them in complete and comfortable silence.

He had to admit that he really appreciated the company. Despite them being opposites in many ways, it often felt like Shadow just understood him. He didn’t question or criticize him and let Sonic do his own thing. Sure, sometimes he wanted to do things his way, and he rarely explained his vision. But there still was a certain unspoken respect between the two. And he never ceased to give him a good challenge; he always offered him a chance to better himself.

“Punch me if this gets too sappy or anything,” Sonic said with a grin, “But I gotta say I like being around you.”

Shadow glanced towards Sonic, his ears twitching, eager to listen.

“I’ve just noticed that you’ve started to hang out with me more,” Sonic continued casually as he rubbed his nose. “Heck, you’ve even agreed to race more often! Not to mention you’re not as angry as you used to be whenever you lose to me. Which is almost always, by the way.”

Shadow scrunched his nose and huffed. Originally, he wanted to race Sonic to prove himself, to show that the Ultimate Lifeform could easily beat the Fastest Thing Alive. The only thing that mattered was winning. The only thing he wanted was to beat Sonic. But the more they competed, the more he realized that the races could also be… Fun. 

Winning didn’t matter as much to him, although he did have several victories. The competitions themselves and – to his horror – getting to be with Sonic were what he was looking forward to the most. They were rivals and equals. Maybe it was okay to want to spend time with him. No one else could challenge them as well as they could challenge each other. And when they would team up against a common enemy, they were practically unstoppable.

“Hmh, well,” Shadow hummed, lifting his gaze towards the clouds in the sky, “You could say I’m fond of you.”

Sonic’s ears perked, unsure if he heard correctly. He looked away and smiled to himself, feeling his cheeks heat up. He hadn’t dared to dream that his rival could regard him in such a sentimental way. But at the same time, it simply felt natural – he was quite fond of Shadow, too.

Shadow got up.

“But I will beat you next time, hedgehog,” he added and walked away.

#Sonadow #Sonic fanfiction #Sonic fic #Sonic the Hedgehog #Shadow the Hedgehog #sonadow fic #sonadow fanfiction #my writing #my fics #my fanfiction #drabble #request #asks #komero-otus #a Soft fic prompt meme #Sonic #Shadow #Shadonic #Shasoni

[marinaiguess]

💜💜💜 “i’m sorry you had to see me like that” sonic + character of your choice 👀

Thank you so much for this prompt, Chaox! I started this today and I'm posting it now, without a second editing round bcuz I need to sleep but I wouldn't be able to sleep if I didn't finish this today :) Hope you like this <3

Sonic Forces inspired. 2k words.

.

He's getting out of control. Fists clenched so tight he's sure, weren't it for the gloves, he would have drawn blood. His mind is hazy, vision gradually blurring as he tries to shift his attention from the echidna in front of him to anything else.

He should do that right now; he should look away.

Albeit, he can't.

"Can you repeat that, Knux?" he says, his voice laced with venom.  

Knuckles takes note of the dangerous undertone—of the warning behind it—but doesn't quite grasp the severity of the situation. He crosses his arms, turning his head away from the other's interrogating gaze. Maybe he can't bear the look on his face, maybe he can't bear the fact that he's wrong. For just this once, he can't deny it, he should have been more careful. Yet another responsibility he had failed to take care of successfully.

"You heard me alright," He spits, anger boiling inside him. "He's not here, Sonic."

Knuckles can feel Sonic's gaze penetrating through his skull. From his peripheral vision, he is able to see the way he's staring at him, the way his jaw tenses and he realizes, it might have been a better idea to break the news in another, more tactful way.

Sonic takes one step forward and suddenly the air is thicker, denser; the room turns tenser.

Amy senses it and opts to act first by putting a hand on his shoulder. "Wait, Sonic, please--"

He yanks her hand away without even bothering to look at her. "Stay out of this, Amy."

"You're kidding," Amy scoffs and she’s not sure if she’s reacting to him ignoring her or to him expecting her to just stand and watch.

This time, he doesn't hesitate to turn his head to glare at her and his emerald eyes have never looked more intimidating before, not to her.

Yet, she doesn't back down. "This is not Knuckles' fault, you know that."

He laughs. There’s nothing funny or humorous about his laugh, but it emits from the depth of his soul, echoing in the room as he turns his attention to Knuckles once more.

"Tell me, commander, whose responsibility was it to look after him while I was gone?"

"Don't give me that shit, Sonic. We couldn't really keep an eye on him--"

Sonic's forearm connects to his neck, pushing Knuckles to the wall behind him. "You couldn't?"

He ignores Amy's pleas, putting more force into his grasp. "Where is he?"

"How should I know?" Knuckles growls. "He's been gone for three months."

Everything goes quiet. Even Amy's voice fades out of existence as Sonic registers Knuckles' words. Without really intending to, he backs down a bit, although he’s still holding Knuckles against the wall.

"What?"

When Knuckles tries to push him away, Sonic doesn’t give him a chance to even touch him and he slams his head on the wall as a warning, his forceful grip returning shortly after, despite hearing Knuckles coughing. Sonic knows he's strong, possibly stronger than him, under normal circumstances, so he understands, even in this state of mind, that Knuckles decides to not fight back.

Good. He doesn’t wanna go all out on him.

"Where is Tails?" he repeats the question.

"I don't know, okay?!"

Knuckles’ scream is the last thing that’s heard in the room, inside the Resistance HQ. Silence fills the void, until Sonic breaks it.

"I trusted you, Knuckles. I trusted you with my little brother's life. And with mine too."

Those words hurt more than Knuckles could have imagined.

But Sonic doesn’t relent, throwing more daggers right at his heart. "Maybe you're just not fit for the job. Or for any job. You shouldn't be taking responsibilities you can't handle."

Knuckles finds himself unable speak, so Sonic does it for him. "I'm gone for six months and you're telling me the war is still going? Great job, commander. On top of that, Tails is gone?"

Knuckles coughs again. "Stop it."

Sonic’s fangs show as a grin carves its way to his face and Knuckles can't tell if it's a sinister act or if it's a coping mechanism to hide his pain. "How does it feel to have failed at everything?"

"Sonic!" Amy intervenes, not courageous enough to properly stand up to him, however.

She's standing still, her hands balled into fists against her chest. It's probably the first time in a long while she's felt this scared. She's never witnessed Sonic lose control like that.

Knuckles meets her gaze and reads her like an open book, agreeing with her thoughts. No matter how well Sonic knows him—well enough to use just the right words to hurt him—in any other case, he wouldn't have gone this far. Something about him is off, his no-die, no-lose attitude is nowhere to be seen, his hopeful, full of excitement for the next adventure eyes are gloomy and dark, his logic is clouded by concern. Even if this is about Tails, this isn't typical of him.

Those six months imprisoned in space did take a toll on him, however much he tried to hide it once they rescued him.

"He's fine," he reassures, getting ahold of Sonic's forearm with both hands, ignoring the way he tenses and hisses. "You trust him, right?"

"Of course, I trust him." he barks, immediately. "But we're in the middle of a war, commander. Eggman might have gotten ahold of--"

"You're--" he scoffs. "You're not thinking straight."

Sonic bares his teeth, his jaw tightening even more. "Are you saying that me being worried is irrational?"

"Yes, it is. The kid can handle himself, Sonic."

"You said it, Knux. Kid. He's just a kid and he's been gone for—for three months?"

"You've left him behind for longer than that before." Knuckles notices out loud.

"It was to protect him!" he spits on his face.

Yet, Knuckles seems unfazed. "What's so different this time around?"

Sonic's mind short-circuits. His eyes widen when he takes in the sight in front of him. He doesn't quite remember how they got here.

"What would he say if he saw you like this?"

The final blow. Sonic had him against the wall but Knuckles had him cornered. He may be right but Sonic would rather not admit that, for the sake of his ego not getting wounded.

He takes a deep breath, letting his arms fall. Knuckles is standing firmly on both his feet now, managing to keep his breathing in check.

Until Sonic approaches him, noses almost touching as he jabs a finger to Knuckles’ chest.

"If there's a possibility, even a slight one, that Tails went through half of the hell I did, I'm blaming you."

Knuckles knows he meant every word, which makes him furious; knowing that he was calm and collected enough to say something like that. Calm enough to walk away after that statement. He can’t just stand there and take it like a champ, resulting in Sonic looking like the bigger guy in this quarrel.

And so, he breaks, guilt washing over him like pouring rain. "You know what, Sonic? You're not the only one who's had it rough. While you were gone, we were fighting our asses to keep the world safe. It wasn't an easy task."

"Yeah? And how did that go?” He turns around to face him. “Ninety-eight percent of the world under Eggman's control and Tails lost,” He huffs a short-lived laugh, bitterness emitting from it. “Excellent work."

Knuckles wants to punch him, he wants to wipe that smug, sarcastic smirk off of his face to knock some sense into him (especially now that he seems he’s pulled himself together, at least a bit) but Amy steps between them, holding her arm out to stop Knuckles on his tracks. He could push her away but she knows he won’t.

"Knuckles is right," She states, locking gazes with Sonic.

For a single moment, she regrets it, upon witnessing the way something passes by Sonic’s eyes, pain written all across his face.

"Knuckles is what? He's right? By saying I didn't have it rough?"

"I didn't—"

Sonic cuts him off, waving his hand as he closes his eyes. "For once in my life I felt truly helpless but I thought you had my back."

Amy and Knuckles can only stare, jaws slack at Sonic’s confession.

"And you just… proved me wrong. I'm—"

His voice breaks, slightly, but of course, it doesn’t go unnoticed.

Knuckles’ face softens and Amy approaches him, just a little bit. "Sonic..."

Sonic ignores her as he sits on the ground, the reality of the situation finally sinking in. "Shit.”

He brings his knees to his chest, almost curling into a ball as he moves his hands closer to his face, inspecting them. Only now he realizes they’re trembling.

He starts rubbing his eyes with the heels of his palms, even if he’s using too much pressure it hurts.

Amy takes a few moments before she kneels next to him, a comforting hand making its way to Sonic’s back. He winces when it makes contact with his fur, arching away from the touch but one look around him persuades him he’s safe. With one long inhale, he decides to relax and accept the friendly gesture, despite it not helping that much.

It is sincere. That’s all that matters.

“We can work this out, like we always do,” She speaks after what feels like an eternity. “We will find him.”

It is wishful thinking more than anything, Sonic notes in his mind. If Tails doesn’t want to be followed, he knows how to hide his tracks. Especially with all the commotion thanks to the war happening around them, it would be ten times harder to get ahold of him or even a rough idea of where he might be.

But Amy’s right. They always win at the end of the day. Together.

Knuckles crouches next to him, patting his shoulder since he seems less tense now. “I’m sorry I couldn’t live up to your expectations,” He confesses and Sonic turns his head around so fast he feels dizzy. “You’re right, I wasn’t fit for the job. But it was a real mess, Sonic. We were lost and outnumbered. Tails felt lost as well, helpless.”

At that Sonic tenses but allows Knuckles to continue. “With you around, we might be able to fix things.”

“Yeah, maybe I—”

“Under my command, though,” Knuckles smirks.

“Aye, aye, commander,” Sonic pouts, playfully.

“And,” Knuckles looks at the wall in front of him. “I didn’t mean to make you feel like whatever you had to deal with back there was not rough. With the way you’re acting, I know it was really bad.”

“Meh, whatever,” Sonic waves a hand at him, grinning. “I’ve had it worse.”

Amy snorts and Knuckles’ raises a brow but they both decide to let it slide.

Sonic hugs his knees, his grin falling. “I’m the one who should be apologizing,” He says, taking a deep breath. “I'm sorry you had to see me like that.”

“It’s okay,” Amy reassures without missing a beat. “We know.”

Sonic looks at both of them, their smiles urging his own to appear on his face as well. If he feels his throat tighten, he ignores it. He feels like he’s cried enough the past six months; more than he should have allowed himself to. Good thing no one was around to see the mess the Infinite illusions had made of him.

“Alright,” he gets up, newfound courage flowing through his veins. “Let’s get to it.”

They get up as they nod when a slam of the door catches them off guard.

“Sonic!”

That voice. Sonic’s smile reaches his ears before he finds the source of the voice.

He’s safe. They both are.

He’s real.

“Tails!”

“I was so worried.”

“You worry too much, look! I’m perfectly fine.”

“Who’s gonna tell him he was losing his shit just a few minutes ago?” Knuckles whispers, which earns him a jab on his chest by Amy’s elbow.

#tehehehe yippeeee #this does remind me a bit of a chaox fic but:(this is not plagiarism i prommy #also . this was supposed to take a different turn #but here we are #hope you enjoy #sonic forces #hurt and comfort prompts #my ramblings #my fics #sonic #sonic the hedgehog #amy rose #knuckles the echidna #sth #sonic fic #fanfiction #long post

[sparkles-rule-4eva]

Posted this on Wattpad and AO3 a couple days ago and thought I'd share it with Tumblr as well! :3

Wachowski Family one-shots - "Going Shopping"

"Mother." Knuckles tugged on Maddie's arm, pulling her attention away from the book she'd been reading on the couch. "We have run out of grapes."

"Oh?" Maddie sat up a little, closing her book and flashing the echidna a quick smile. "Sounds like we need to hit the grocery store, then. I think we need more cereal, too."

"What has the store of groceries done to deserve our hitting it?" Knuckles demanded as she stood up and headed into the kitchen to find Tom and their other two boys.

"Figure of speech, hon." Maddie reached down and gently squeezed his shoulder. She glanced up again as she approached the kitchen and called through the doorway, "Hey, babe?"

She heard him call back, "What?" in something of a distracted tone, and walked in to find him rummaging through the cupboard, apparently searching for something. Sonic was sitting at the counter nearby, talking his ear off about his most recent baseball practice.

Tom looked over at her as she walked in, then immediately looked back at the cupboard. "I think we're running low on coffee. I can't find another bag."

"That works out, actually," Maddie replied with a grin, and he glanced back to her with a raised eyebrow. "I've been informed we're also out of grapes—" she flashed Knuckles a knowing smile— "and I know we definitely need more cereal. We up for a shopping trip? Or is it too close to dinner?"

Tom glanced at the oven clock, which read 4:02. "Nah, I think we can make it. Shouldn't take too long to just grab a couple things and go."

Sonic jumped off the stool he'd been perched on and was at Maddie's feet in an instant. He'd done this so many times now, Maddie no longer jumped when it happened. It was . . . a new normal, and one she didn't mind one bit.

"Can we pleeease get some more chili, too?" he pleaded, eyes sparkling. "Oh— and pizza! And guac?! Please please please please please!"

Maddie rolled her eyes with a laugh. "We'll see, sweetheart. For now, we're just gonna get what we actually need."

"Tails?" Tom called to the living room, startling the little fox from his fixation on the mini helicopter toy he'd been tinkering with. "We're all heading out. Make sure you put your stuff away where it's not going to get broken."

"Coming!" Tails scooped up his things and flew them upstairs to the attic, then flew back down a moment later to grab his shoes from one of the cubbies by the door (a more recent addition). Sonic had already put his shoes on, as had Knuckles.

As Tom locked the house up, the boys and Maddie headed for the car, with the trio making it a race of who could get there first. From what she could see, Sonic had definitely won, but then Tails protested something about they were supposed to touch the car door handle, not just the car, and Knuckles was demanding a rematch. With an amused smile, Maddie pressed the button on the key fob to unlock it so they could get inside.

By the time she and Tom had climbed into the drivers and passengers seats, Knuckles, Sonic, and Tails were all in their seats and buckled— Tails had to ride in a booster seat still, but he had no trouble buckling himself in. Occasionally he had trouble with unbuckling, but that was usually when he was rushing.

"Do you have, like, an actual shopping list?" Tom asked as he pulled out of their long driveway and started the five minute drive to the nearest grocery store.

"I'm pretty sure it's just those three things I mentioned." Maddie stole a glance in the rear view mirror to see their boys. Tails was fidgeting with something Sonic had left in the car from the other day, half listening to whatever Sonic was telling Knuckles. Or . . . telling himself. Knuckles was staring out the window.

It was hard to tell who Sonic was talking to at times. A lot of the time he just babbled to himself nonstop; a side effect still lingering from his prolonged isolation before he'd properly met her and Tom. It didn't seem to be harmful, so they hadn't made any attempt to stop it, but it did make them sad sometimes when they remembered the reason.

Maddie shook away those thoughts. Now wasn't the time to be thinking about that. Sonic— and the others— were okay now. She and Tom would love on them and be the parents all three of them had so desperately needed. They couldn't do much to repair the hurts in their lives from their pasts, besides try and make up for it now.

"That's good, then." Her husband's relaxed voice pulled her attention back to him. "With luck, this shouldn't take more than maybe twenty minutes."

In hindsight, they really should've known better.

Because honestly, even having the fastest kid alive, a child genius, and a warrior teen as their children, nothing ever got done fast.

It didn't help that the store they ended up at wasn't exclusively groceries. The second Tails saw the appliance and technology section, he was begging both parents to let him go have a look. And with the fox kit's big blue eyes, it was still difficult for Tom or Maddie to refuse.

(They knew they had to learn eventually. They'd never get anywhere with parenting this kid if he managed to get his way anytime he weaponized his own cuteness.)

Sonic had announced that he would find everything they needed in less than thirty seconds, but thirty seconds had long come and gone because every interesting thing on the way kept distracting him. It wasn't like he (or the other two) hadn't been to a store before, but for Tails and Knuckles, living on earth in a real family was still a new experience, and they spent most of their time treasuring every new thing they saw and felt. For Sonic, even though he'd now been living with Tom & Maddie for over a year, it still didn't feel long in comparison to the ten years he'd spent alone, watching the world from the hidden sidelines. Thus, to this day, he continued to relish every second he got to spend out in the open with no fear of being seen.

Knuckles was the only one who wasn't immediately drawn to go check out every new thing. Instead, he walked stubbornly by Maddie's side like a bodyguard (Tom had noticed he'd taken a special liking to her, as she had to him). Despite not joining his brothers, though, he still eyed them and his surroundings with a curious gaze.

Even though the presence of the otherworldly anthropomorphic children was not new to the citizens of Green Hills, neither Tom nor Maddie felt comfortable with the idea of letting one of them go off on their own. So, unable to resist the baby eyes, Tom ended up tagging along with Tails to the technology section.

Which was how Maddie found herself standing in the middle of the coffee and tea aisle with her entire family gone except for her eldest.

Knuckles peered up at her. "Would you like me to track down Sonic to ease your mind?"

"It's okay, hon." She smiled, trying not to betray the way her heart just melted at the kindness and consideration of the young echidna. "I can just call his phone real quick."

"I could call louder with my voice," Knuckles offered, but Maddie politely declined the suggestion and dialed her middle child's number.

"Hey, Mom, wassup?" Sonic's energetic voice picked up almost immediately. "You'll never believe what I found; remember that action movie series we watched a few months ago? They made a SIXTH one! Crazy, right?! Also I found a mess on the floor but I'm not sure if I should clean it up or not—"

"No, baby, don't—"

"Where are you, anyway? Oh! I was supposed to be finding the stuff we needed! What was it, again? Soup? No, cereal! Well, can cereal be a soup? Like a cold one that's sweet? Nah, that sounds like a dessert. Anyway, I'm coming!"

Maddie blinked several times at her son's rapidfire voice, and the next thing she knew, he'd already hung up.

Knuckles scowled. "He did not listen."

She shrugged with a little, knowing smile. "Your brother just isn't the best conversationalist. I think we know why."

The echidna's violet eyes softened, just for a moment. Then determination hardened them again. "I will find and bring him to you!"

"Wait, he did say he was coming—"

Maddie broke off at suddenly recognizing the voice hollering through the entire store: "MARCO!!!"

Her eyes went wide. "Oh, no—"

Then, a higher pitched voice: "POLO!!!"

A hyper giggle echoed from the direction of Sonic's voice, then he called "MARCO!" again.

Tails once again responded with an eager "POLO!" And thus their game went on.

Not sure whether to be humiliated or amused, Maddie chose to go find what they needed. She'd just grabbed the last thing when Sonic materialized at her side, giggling like a maniac, with Tails slumped over the hedgehog's head wearing an equally delirious smile of pure joy.

Tom was frantically running to catch up with them from further down the store, his eyes wide. "Not my idea," he panted as he arrived, and Maddie laughed.

"I knew that would work!" Sonic wheezed as he tilted his head and dumped Tails onto the tile floor. "Waaaayyy more effective than phones!"

Maddie narrowed her eyes, still internally battling as to whether this was acceptable behavior or not. "What, was this previously orchestrated?"

"No, no, no!" both Tails and Sonic fumbled over each other's words as they protested. Tails fell silent and nodded eagerly as Sonic quickly explained, "One of my teammates taught me that game at practice a couple nights ago! He said it was normally something that people play in pools, but his family sometimes uses it to find each other in places!" He trailed off, apparently uncertain as to whether he was in trouble or not, then quickly asked, "That's okay, right?" with just the slightest tinge of anxiety lacing his tone.

All thoughts of punishment had left Maddie's mind as he'd explained, and as she met Tom's gaze, it seemed he felt the same.

Having a family was still so exciting for Sonic. Hearing that he was trying out things with them that he'd heard other families did for fun . . . Well, something about that was just so touching.

So they didn't get back home till 6, and it wasn't a big deal. So their dinner was late and not as fresh as they'd been hoping. So what?

It didn't matter that things weren't perfectly orchestrated anymore. They'd done what they needed to do, their kids had had fun, no one had gotten hurt, and as far as they were concerned, the evening went just fine.

AO3 version

Wattpad version

#sonic the hedgehog #sonic #sth #miles tails prower #knuckles the echidna #they're brothers your honor #sonic fic #sonic wachowski #tails wachowski #knuckles wachowski #maddie wachowski #tom wachowski #wachowski family #the wachowski family #they're a family your honor #one shot #my writing #my fic #also on ao3 #also on wattpad #fluff #with just a smidge of angst but not enough to categorize it as angst haha #i love them #hope you enjoyed #family fluff #brothers fluff #adopted children #adoptive parents who are figuring this parenting thing out #movie sonic #movie tails

[tillytilli]

commission i did a while ago for @pajulammas of his fic DNA Collision!! pls go read it here!!!

#commission #sonic fic #sonic au #sonic alternate universe #sonic the hedgehog #sth #shadow the hedgehog #sonadow #shadonic #dna collision #my art #kalle

[myymi]

picture frame

Sonic sighed as he fell onto the couch, grunting when he landed on his tail in an awkward way that caused it to bend weirdly. He shifted to fix it, glancing over at the table as he did so. He wasn’t sure why he did it. His eyes landed on the picture that sat atop of it—the centerpiece, he thinks is what Tails calls it. It was of the two of them, Knuckles, and Amy. Back in their younger years, after their first adventure as a group.

Amy was in the foreground, one arm holding up a peace sign as the other stretched to hold the camera with a big smile on her face. Her quills had been a lot spikier back then. She started styling her quills to mimic a more human-esc haircut when she moved into Station Square, but the spiky style would come back if you saw her early enough. He’s not sure why she felt like changing from the green and orange combo to her red dress, but she probably had her reasons. Knuckles was a bit behind her, a confused scowl on his face as he stared at the camera. They hadn’t properly explained what it was. At least—not in a way the echidna would understand. His stance was stiff and awkward, still a bit unnerved by Amy’s presence. Couldn’t blame the guy, not after spending, like, 13 years alone on a flying island. Perched on Knuckles’ shoulder was Tails, the only one who could get away with touching the echidna at the time. Actually, that’s a lie. Sonic could get away with getting a good punch if he pushed the right buttons. The newly 6 year old had an even bigger smile than Amy, brown fur still fighting the gold to be the more prominent color as one of his arms looped around Knuckles’ neck to keep him up there with the echidna's hand holding his legs. His other hand was holding Sonic’s, who had his trademark wink and grin combo while his other hand was holding up a thumbs up. Tails had grabbed his hand because he had tried to do ‘bunny ears’ behind Knuckles’ head, and the little guy apparently didn’t want that in this photo. That’s fine—he got him a later time, anyway. Sonic sat up and grabbed the picture, running his thumb over the frame. It was very detailed, but surprisingly cheap. And when he says cheap he actually means free, because Tails had made it himself. He didn’t want their first group picture to be stuck in just any old frame. It had to be a good frame, you know? Most of the carvings were just thoughtless swirls and whatnot to fill the space, but a few emerald drawings were freckled around. The main focus was the corners of the frame, each painted their respectful colors. The kid had taken the time to carve out specific shapes that he felt represented them all well enough. A chili dog for Sonic, the Master Emerald for Knuckles, and a piko piko hammer for Amy. The fox was so focused on getting his friends’ symbols down perfectly he’d forgotten to carve out something in his own corner. And, well, Sonic just couldn’t let that slide. Tails was the coolest guy around and if anyone deserved a special symbol in a picture frame it was his little buddy. So one night, after making sure the kid had fallen asleep, the hedgehog snuck out the frame and carved out his two tails. It was a bit rougher than the other symbols. Sonic never was good with tedious things like that, especially when he did it with his hands. He struggled enough with writing, but it thankfully wasn’t too noticeable. Tails had been so confused by it when he woke up the next morning, but shrugged it off. He probably assumed he just didn’t remember craving it. Sonic kept quiet about it, because he knew if he told the kit he did it he’d try to give the teen credit for the entire thing. He didn’t understand it, but Tails had this thing where if he didn’t do something 100% by himself he didn’t think he deserved the credit for it. Even if he had done 99.9% of whatever project it is, he’ll claim whoever did the 0.01% was much more deserving of recognition.

this is a snippet from a bigger fic, but that may take a minute for me to finish so here you go

#sonic the hedgehog #miles tails prower #sth #tails the fox #sonic #knuckles the echidna #amy rose #unbreakable bond #dynamic duo #sonic and tails #brain and brawn #tails and knuckles #pinky lemonade #tails and amy rose #team sonic #sonic and knuckles #knuckles and amy #sonic and amy #sonic fic #wip fic

[undonerhapsodize]

Domestic Burdens

Sonic the Hedgehog Movie!Knuckles the Echidna x g/n!reader TW: cursing, implies violence, injury, blood, bruised limbs, much angst, comfort and fluff, happy ending, SPOILERS FOR THE SONIC MOVIES Word Count: 10.4K

Summary: You never thought you would find yourself living in the same house as a walking, talking echidna. Yet, as you adjust to this new life, secrets begin to unravel, for better, or for worse.

Side note: I write sonic the hedgehog fanfiction because I am mentally ill, I am not mentally ill because I write sonic the hedgehog fanfiction.

I cannot believe this is actually one of my better works of fiction.

Living with Knuckles was an… interesting experience to say the least. “Jarring” is the word you would probably use to describe it, along with “pleasant”. 

Never in your life had you ever encountered something like him. And with Knuckles being a echidna and all, that fact was pretty unsurprising. 

When you first met the guy, it took a lot of self control and convincing from Tom to not go and bash your head against the nearest hard surface. The hedgehog was one thing, he was a one-off. Tails was another, he was kind, kinda cute, and helpful so he got a pass. But another one? And he's big and scary? AND he can beat the shit outta you? Needless to say, you went home and took an ibuprofen.

Jokes aside, he was off-putting at the beginning. To you, at least. While Sonic felt comfortable in forgiving the harm the warrior had caused almost instantaneously, you weren’t so easy-going. Not that you had held any kind of long lasting hatred for what Knuckles had done, but rather it was simply a matter of time and understanding. And understand you did, with the help of Sonic, Tails, and even the echidna himself. It turned out that hearing it straight from the horse's mouth was an effective way of realizing the complexity of the situation Eggman had put the lot of them in, especially Knuckles.

And with that, and the promise of friendship between the hedgehog and the echidna, suspicions of Knuckles’ character disappeared just as fast as they arrived. You didn’t plan on holding his mistakes above his head (like it would do anything remotely close to helping relations heal), for his own past transgressions are just as permanent to him as they are to Sonic and Tails, and everyone else for that matter. Knuckles was a kind being, and you knew that now. Losing his way in his endeavor to protect the Master Emerald doesn’t change that.

Your friendship with him had started out of circumstance. After the fiasco with Eggman, the gang needed to find a place to safely keep the weapon. Tom and Maddie’s place was quickly rooted out as a station. Their home was too close to the city to house it properly. There would be too many strangers getting within reach of it every single day. An accident was bound to happen with that lack of security. There was also the issue with Eggman himself, if he were to ever return. The doctor knew of Tom, but didn’t technically know you. Yes, you were indeed present for much of the chaos, but you all had a feeling Eggman didn’t pay much attention to a random stranger whilst piloting a giant robot.

Lucky enough, you had your own home outside of city limits. It was much like a farmhouse, except for the farm. Wide open space, way out in the country, and no neighbors within sight. It was almost too perfect. Feeling generous and knowing there were limited options, you offered up your humble abode for Knuckles and his emerald to stay. He thought about your proposal for a while before ultimately accepting, saying something along the lines of “I accept your offer, comrade. Let us shake on this alliance.” 

You didn’t understand why Sonic had zipped up to you two, frantically trying to stop him from grasping your hand. Knuckles’ handshake was fine? Like yeah his hand (paw? foot??) is big, but it's not like it would crush yours or anything.

And with that, Knuckles became your new housemate, and you became the substitute Guardian of the Master Emerald.

At first, it was a bit… awkward. It wasn’t hard to tell that the warrior felt out of place, to at least some degree. He spent most of the time in his own designated area of the basement, quietly keeping to himself and no doubt watching the Emerald. He came out to get food, or use the bathroom, or perhaps borrow a book from the shelf in the living room. He did talk some, but not enough to you would like. Sometimes you would act more extroverted than you really were, going out of your way to ask the echidna some questions about Angel Island and his preferences on certain things. He always gave short, curt answers that went straight to the point. If you didn’t know better, you could think he’d be pissed at you for asking anything at all. If you had to pick a favorite, once you asked him what his favorite fruit was, only to get a bizarrely serious response. As Knuckles padded back into the basement, he stopped briefly, contemplating his answer for a second or two before glancing back at you.

“I enjoy grapes.”

He walked away right after.

Not letting Knuckles’ lack of social skills inhibit your progress, you still pursued. And steadily, you gained progress. First came simple things, like what the echidna liked to eat, or what he would do to pass time while watching the Master Emerald. Then, conversations started to happen, usually about what Sonic, Tom and the gang were up to. Sometimes you spoke about how work had gone for you, though in the beginning you usually held back on talking too much about that, since Knuckles never seemed to be listening. Later on, you were given a pleasant surprise. 

One time, as you stood at the kitchen’s stovetop cooking up something for you and Knuckles, who sat quietly on a barstool at the kitchen island. You had started to feel as if you were rambling on about this one incident that happened with your coworkers. With no response from the red mammal, you assumed your story was starting to become a bother. So you stopped about halfway through it, instead deciding to focus on the pan in front of you. He’s a battle-hardened warrior, why would he ever want to listen to some silly story about spilled coffee? Going back to the food, you were content to quiet down, despite that annoying feeling in your chest.

“Why did you stop?”

The question surprised you. It was abrupt, coming from behind. Turning, you look toward the echidna, who now had his eyes on you. The softer, smaller quills on his brow were furrowed in genuine confusion. Fumbling for your words a bit, you reply back just as confused. “S-sorry, I didn’t know you were listening.”

“I was.” Knuckles countered, tone lowered in his earnesty. He titled his head back down to the kitchen counter from once it came, folding his arms across the hard surface comfortably. “Continue. I was enjoying your tale.”

At that, you grin, going back to the stove to finish cooking you and the echidna’s dinner whilst you recount the events from this morning at the office.

Knuckles soon became a key person in your life. He was not one for words, but you soon learned not many were needed with him. Most often then not, he understood the silence was a natural part of company. A thing others could learn from him, including yourself. He even gave advice on the simple things that troubled you. His straightforward way of communicating never failed to speak the obvious when truths were hard to say out loud. Though your friendship with him had just started, you trusted him. And just maybe, he trusted you. He was always there, figuratively AND literally.

Though you planned on changing that last part.

It wasn’t often where you would descend to the basement into Knuckles’ domain. You never wanted to intrude upon his space, his privacy and security were important to you. Though once in a while, you would have to enter to ask a question or two.

He didn’t have a door, only a long set of stairs leading to the bottom floor. He could definitely hear you coming as you stepped down, down. The stairs weren’t exactly the quietest thing. As you peaked around the corner, you knocked firmly on the wood of the wall, just in case he was preoccupied and hadn’t heard you. You greet him all the same, knowing to announce yourself when he is on guard duty. “Hey Knux?”

There you saw the echidna, laying on an older model of a coach you had given him, head propped up on a cushion while reading a book. The master emerald laid on the other end of said coach. He moved the novel away from his snout so it wasn’t obscuring his vision of you, responding to the nickname you had given him like it was own with a simple “What is it?”

Given the greenlight, you asked your question “Where'd you put all the total paper?”

He seemed confused. It was an emotion that occurred to him often when dealing with things like this. He thought for a split second before asking his own question back. “From… when I helped you in storing the supplies?”

You nodded, assuring him he was right. “Yeah when we put the groceries away a few days ago.”

Knuckles looked deep in thought as he tried recalling the event, eyes in a blank stare seeing nothing at all as he dug up the answer. It would be fitting for a buffering effect to appear above his head at this moment.

He looked over, slowly turning his head as he drawled out his sentence. “I think… I recall… placing the package inside… the garment washing station?” It came out more as a question than anything else, holding little confidence. 

You blinked, still perplexed. You spoke to yourself quietly, not directly talking to Knuckles anymore. “The laundry room? Huh.” You paused, scratching the back of your head. “I already checked it. Guess I’ll look again.”

“Have I put it in the wrong location?” Though it was just a few words, you could detect a small amount of apprehension in his voice.

You wave him off casually, wanting to ease any guilty feelings that may be developing. “Nono you’re fine. That’s where I told you to put them. I’ll just have to take another look.”

He stared at your figure for a minute before nodding, picking up his book once more and getting comfortable. “Well, if that is all, then I shall return to reading.”

You chuckled quietly at the formality. Turning to go back up the stairs, you caught a glimpse of the wall of the basement. It was barren, completely. That’s weird. You look more, craning your head to gaze more at your surroundings. As you start to properly take in the atmosphere of the basement, it dawns on you. You’ve never fully realized it before, given you haven’t had the opportunity to until now.

Knuckles’ space was lonely. Extremely lonely looking.

There were the essentials, coach, table, bed, even a box tv, but not a whole bunch else. The space lacked any kind of personality or decoration. Almost like a default Sims room. There was nothing there to define it as Knuckles’ own space, completely empty of anything he could call his own. It bothered you.

“Is there something else that needs asking?”

The echidna looks to you, the same inquiring expression as before. Had he even glanced away in the first place, you didn’t know.

You kept your mouth shut as you mentally ran through your options, not wanting to say anything rude. You scolded yourself. Should’ve known better. Knuckles came from a completely different world. Did you think he brought anything with him? He owns nothing. The only exception being his own damn shoes. 

You feel you’re at a loss when suddenly, a lightbulb pops in your head. Oh.

You face Knuckles, finally answering. “Hey…” You start, a little nervy for his reaction. “What do you think about going to the store with me?”

He pauses, and looks at you as if you’ve grown another head. “The store?”

You nod.

Without missing a beat, Knuckles was once again, confused.  He sat his book down on the coach, sitting up upright. “Why?”

You shrug. “Thought you’d just want to go outside a little. You haven’t done that since you got here.” While it wasn’t lying, it wasn’t telling the truth either.

Knuckles shook his head. “No.” He declined. “I cannot. I am forbidden from leaving the emerald unattended.”

Humming, your feet shifted positions, angling you so you were leaning against the wall. “Aw come on.” You say, halfway between a whine and an exclamation of annoyance. But even still, Knuckles held his ground, a stern frown set on his face. “No. I must turn down your offer.”

You sigh, shoulders slumping.

The echidna notices. “I am sorry.” He turns back to the book that had been resting face down on the coach. “Now… if you’ll excuse me, I will return to the fox’s book…”

Your mouth dropped in the shape of an ‘O’, an idea hitting you at the mention of your mutual friend. “Wait.” You exclaim, regaining Knuckles’ attention. “What if Tails can watch it?”

He starts, brain slowing a little at the discovery of this new information. “...If the fox can act as guardian while I am away?” Repeating the sentence out loud to affirm it, looking to you to see if he had heard it right. You nod, practically on the edge of your seat, waiting for him to carry out his sentence. 

“Well,” He starts. “The fox can be trusted,” Knuckles looks deep in thought as he ponders this new option. “I suppose if the hedgehog does not interfere with Tails’ focus then, I guess it is possible.”

That’s all you needed to hear. “It would just be for a matter of hours. Shopping doesn’t take a whole day.”

Knuckles rubs his chin. He contemplates the idea of Tails taking over his position a bit more before he ultimately accepts, not having much reason to say no. “If so,” He makes eye contact with you, purple irises peering into your own a little intense for the circumstance. Yet, Knuckles is Knuckles, and he is determined. He speaks with that same formality he often does, “Then I do accept your offer, Y/N of house L/N.”

Oh yeah, forgot about that.

“It’s just Y/N Knux. I’ve told you that.”

It took about a week to organize you and Knuckles’ little shopping trip. Between your work schedule and Tails’ own experiments, it was somewhat difficult to arrange for him to come over. Yet, you were stubborn, and with some convincing for Knuckles, and reassurances for Tails, you got the fox over for your house. He didn’t need to do much, just keep an eye on the Master Emerald while you all were away. All it took was a quick tour of the house, showing him where the food and utensils were, a quick goodbye and you and the echidna were off.

Knuckles had asked before where you two would be shopping and what you would be shopping for. You did your best to wave him off, telling him what kind of stores you would be going to, but not so much your intention. As vague as it was, he chose not to question any further.

You took Knuckles to a variety of shops, Home Goods, Target, Home Depot. All shared one feature. Decor. Through the limited time you had spent with him, you had learned some things about his world. As confined as your knowledge was, you know it DID NOT look like the plain basement he was currently living in. And though he’d never said otherwise, it wasn’t hard to believe that the echidna could be a little homesick. You would be if you were in his position. You planned on making his home more like a home. Nothing less.

And so, you did. First, you tried looking for larger things. That way you could build a foundation, and work your way up with smaller items. This way, you could also fill up the otherwise empty space. You figured some blankets to make an overhang type thing and the hammock you found in clearance would do nicely.

“These would look really nice in your room, Knux. Whadya think?” You paused, catching yourself, a stutter falling from your lips. “I-I mean if you want to? You don’t have to- of course.”

Knuckles looked up at you. He blinked, eyes widening a slight fraction. You two were the only ones in the aisle.

“So.” He said slowly.  “This was your plan?” 

“Uh” You eloquently spoke. “Yea?” Reflexively averting your eyes from the echidna, you sweat dropped, waiting for Knuckles to react. How could you face him when he was gazing at you like that?

Though what you assumed was a look of offense, was actually of wonder, and even something of another nature.

Knuckles inhaled, turning toward the bundled up hammock on the rack, picking it up with a gloved hand. The silence was suspenseful. It usually happened this way: Knuckles doing much of his thinking in his own head while you stressed out internally. It would be funny if you didn’t constantly get the short end of the stick.

“Do you pity me?”

You were caught off-guard, head whipping back to the echidna. What? Why would he say that? “I- uh, no?”

He kept his gaze on the hammock as he spoke, each syllable low as he concentrated on saying them correctly. “Is pity the reason you choose to do things like this?

Mouth agape, you truly were lost. To say you had trouble finding words was an understatement. Did he- feel bad? That was the last thing you wanted him to feel.

You take your time choosing your next words, for they could either make or break this moment. “I- listen Knux, look at me? Please?” And so he did, standing a little slouched in comparison to his regular, straight posture. The lavender purple of his eyes had a guarded melancholy to them you had never seen before. Both changes spur you on to reassure your friend while also shake you where you stand. The range was astounding.

You cleared your throat. “N-No, not out of pity per say…” You trailed off, struggling to find the right words as Knuckles stood patiently, quietly, never once taking his eyes off you. “I just- the other day when I asked you about the toilet paper? Yeah I uh, I realized how unwelcoming and- plain your space looked and I just felt bad because you didn’t have a single thing a-and I wanted you to feel a home- I know it's probably really hard being launched into a whole new world with nothing but some shoes and I just-”

Knuckles reached out and grasped your hand, gripping it gently appit firmly. It pulled you out of your spiraling ramble. “Slow down.” He urged. “You’re not in a race Y/N, house of-”

“Ok, ok” You laugh a little, giggling at the return of the silly title and wrangling with the fact he had grabbed you in the first place.

You take a breath, inhaling deeply before starting again. “I just- want you to feel comfortable. And, I thought this was a way to do it.”

At that, Knuckles’ features relax, and he looks away, thinking. “I- You are a very kind human.” He concludes, dropping your hand to take a set back from you. “But,” He says, a hint of reluctance in his voice. “I cannot accept this.” He moves to put the hammock back, reaching up to set it back on the shelf. 

“Wha- hey! Wait, why?” You half shout, catching his hand and stopping his movement. Though he could easily muscle past you, he chooses to stop with you. “Because,” He defends. “I do not need it.”

You huff. “Well I know that, Winter Soldier.” You go to gently pry the hammock out of Knuckles’ hand. Again, he lets you, though not without a face that screams ‘what are you doing’. “But I want you to have it.”

The warrior detests. “I don’t-”

“Knuckles, bud.” You tenderly cut him off, smiling with a benevolence that you hope conveys your honesty. “I want to do this for you.” You lean forward to pronunciate your sentence, catching eyes with the echidna that widens more and more as you continue to speak. “I don’t mind buying this, or anything else for you.” You shake the item in your hand for emphasis. “Will you let me?”

Knuckles freezes momentarily. You swear you see a hint of pink on what you would consider his cheeks as he somewhat suddenly turns his head away, wrestling with himself and with your proclamation.

“I-” He’s stuck, and he has to give himself a mental kick in the rear to get him going again. “I guess… I would like the hanging blanket.”

You let out a sigh, relieved you both are on the same page. “Awesome.”

After getting most of the larger decorations, you then focus your attention on smaller things. What those smaller things would be is now up to Knuckles, who has grown more open to the whole ordeal as the hours passed. A large variety of things were considered, such as candles and fairy lights, even some abstract art pieces that would be fit for a garden. Though the things that were favored above all, and the things that you kept catching the echidna staring at, were the plants. His eyes would linger on the greenery, especially on some of the more exotic ones. Those didn’t take much convincing to let you buy, the warrior only giving a few words in approval: “This one will do…” “...Possibly this one as well.” It wasn’t hard to tell that Knuckles felt weird doing plant shopping of all things, he’s never done anything like it before. And because of that, you did everything with your power to talk to him, to make this as casual and as pleasant as an experience can be. Normalizing domesticity in one of the most powerful fighters in the galaxy may sound difficult on the surface, but as you two approached the end of your short adventure (store worker looking as flabbergasted at your friend as a person could), you found no trouble at all leading Knuckles to check out at the last shop with your abundance of wildlife greenery, and onto this new kind of life you’ll be sharing with the echidna from now on.

It didn’t take long to set all the decor up back at home. With Knuckles’ help, you all made quick work of it. The hammock came first, finding a secure way to hang the thing was a little tricky, but once you broke out the power tools, installing it went by with a breeze. Same case for the fort. You looked up some ideas on pinterest, but you quickly learned that there is actually some strange red mammal in the house who can make a really rad blanket fort by memory. You’ll have to ask him for advice sometime. As for the plants, the one space was filled right up, the emptiness being replaced with a vibrancy that definitely made you feel welcomed. As for Knux, well, he was happy. You knew it. Even as he tried to keep a straight face as he walked around admiring the hanging plants, which branches gracefully cascaded over the rim of their pots. 

“While nothing could ever replace my home,” Knuckles said remorsefully as he adjusted a small potted fern, angling it in the most eye-catching way, “This does make the space feel… different.” He trailed off, looking down as he thought of a history and sentiment not unknown to you.

“A good kind of different?” You ask with a hint of a coy tone.

Knuckles looks at you, your playfulness gone completely over his head. Instead, his face is pleasant, approving in some way. “I think so…” He remarks, words sounding confident to your ears. Though his expression changes to something more reluctant as the next thought pops into his head, slipping out his mouth before he can stop it. “You did not have to provide this…”

It takes a good amount of effort to steel yourself from rolling your eyes in the back of your head. You ‘tsk’ in frustration. “Knux, I know. But I chose to. Understand?”

He nods, though hesitant to fully accept the finer feelings, “Yes... It is a lot like the echidna’s honor code in battle.” Seeing your perplexed face at his random reference, he elaborates. “Even though my tribe held proud independent warriors, we helped our comrades at our own discretion. Whether they wanted the aid or not.”

At that, you made a sound of realization. “Ohhh okay, okay. I get it.” You smile down at your friend, who had seemed satisfied in how his room now appeared. It brought you great joy to see the typically stone-faced tank with a softer, more relaxed look. It gave you the confidence to ask one more borderline teasing question, “See, some things aren’t so different, now are they?”

Once again, the intention passes Knuckles by. “No,” he notes, too preoccupied with his own brain to give back any more of an answer. “No they are not.”

You take no notice, grinning in genuine joy for Knuckles. “Good.”

It's during the most unsuspecting moments in which the most unexpected events take place. Shouldn’t you know that by now?

What the fuck. I should go to the ER. No that’s a stupid idea. What the fuck are they gonna do, put ice on it? I can do that. What the fuck. Well I’ll probably need something more than ice. Ibuprofen? Maybe. A shot? Yeah. What the fuck. Why? Why did they do that? I don’t understand. To me? Why to me? I’m sorry. What the fuck. I’m tired. I wanna go to bed. What if I wait till the morning? Can I sleep like this? I can try. Probably not. What the fuck. Should I call my friends? No they’re probably busy. I can take care of it. What the fuck. Was it really that special? Was it worth that much trouble? I should’ve been more careful. How old was it? I’m sorry. What the fuck. That bitch. What a fucking piece of shit. I’m sorry. What the fuck.

The calculating rationality that most healthy-minded people would have in these situations was lost to you. Sometimes you thought of it as a gift from god himself: the ability to see things in such simplicity that the problem itself never even posed an ounce of a threat. Never in your life have you had that. Though, never in your life have you ever been healthy-minded, so the math kinda works out in a weird, twisted way.

The hole in your chest remained through it all. Never once subsiding in its outrage. It held every emotion possible as it freely expressed them all, only confined to your heart. Unwavering in every roar, it made such a ruckus. If only it felt just as exposed as you did, then maybe it would shut up. Maybe it would silence itself, just as you were now. Instead, you would have to deal with its burden, as well as the aching that started from your forearm, leading up to the triceps of your shoulder.

It was still daytime. The sun had not yet set, though it was about to. The sky’s vast shades of pinks, purples and blues lit up the darkening landscape of the range, the green and the brown of the earth ever so slowly growing into one cool shade of black. The air was as crisp as ever. It felt mocking in how pure it was, untouched by the will of others beyond its reach. It was the only thing pushing you to walk up your own porch’s stairs, for every bone in your body absolutely refuted the idea of entering your home in the condition that you were in. And only because of one thing. One, small thing.

Your melancholy seemed to express itself through the stomp of your shoes on the old wood. Bump bump bump. It was quiet, not wanting to be heard. Though it was, as there were no sounds to go with it besides the giggling of your keys and the distant sounds of crickets coming to life. Though the adrenalin had since worn off, the nerves had not yet seized. You’ve only got through half the battle. And who to say it had even begun in the first place?

The key was a little difficult to find with one hand. With a shaky arm, you plucked it from the batch, loudly shaking it to rid it of its neighbors. It was slotted in with a good push. You didn't have much trouble turning it. It was with a weighted heart you entered the house, stepping one foot, and then the other past the threshold, the door letting out a loud creak to welcome you home. You didn’t appreciate it. Just as quickly as you were cleared, you gripped the edge roughly, firmly shutting the door back up, locking it, therefore silencing it, for the night.

The house was just as quiet. The thunk of the shut door echoed through the house, disturbing the void. You found yourself unwilling to move forward. The feeling in your heart didn’t want you to. It weighed you down to the floor, outright sticking the soles of your feet to the carpet of the doormat. If it wasn’t for the consistency of your arm’s pain, it was possible you would’ve been standing there all night. It keeps you motivated, reminding you of its presence with every throb. 

You toe’d your shoes off where you stood, setting the keys down softly onto the table beside it. Eyeing the kitchen sink that was visible from the door, you padded towards it quietly, evading any spots prone to creek. One by the TV, another by the dividing wall, another by the knife drawer. You subconsciously counted them whilst listening to your quiet feet step one, after the other, after the other.

You nudged the water on with your elbow, the liquid coming out the tab in an easy trickle. Putting your hand under the stream, you felt the water for its temperature. You found it was tolerably lukewarm. That should be fine. Muscling the appendage up from its hanging position below the counter, you bent your arm at the elbow, angling your forearm to get the brunt of the water’s force. You winced when it made contact. It wasn’t pleasant at all. As soothing as it should feel, the area was still sensitive, even to the gentle stream. You watched uneasily as the sink was turned a maroon, the red coloring the once clear liquid. From there, you started to gently rinse off the wound, trying to wash away the blood that had since dried and scabbed over. It was a tedious and aggravating task. The blood was stubborn. You had to really scrub to get it to leave, irritating both you and your skin. You started using some of your fingernails when you became impatient, ignoring the pain that came with it. Anxiety started to bubble within you the longer you stood there, the old clock in the living room doing nothing to ease your nerves as it boldly ticked away. Tick tick tick. You swear this was sabotage. Karma has come to get you. If only this would go faster, then maybe you wouldn’t be out in the open so-

“You’ve returned early.”

Whatever you ate from lunch that day immediately tripled in weight, making your stomach drop at the sound of his voice. You stopped rubbing at your arm, freezing the movement entirely. Your posture went rigid, though you tried masking it with a shift in your stance. You refused to turn around to face him. You couldn’t. Not now, not here. You wouldn't risk it. You didn’t trust your poker face at this moment, which was too caught up in showing you trying to figure out a response that remained calm.

You let out a humorless chuckle. It was so unnatural and disingenuous it made you cringe. Not dissimilar to nails on a chalkboard. “Ha ha yeah, we uh- finished up pretty quickly.” You say this while still facing the sink. Though you were no actor, you felt comfortable resuming your washing, this time slowing down with slower, more deliberate strokes as to appear with a facade of calmness.

“I suppose that is good.” Knuckles shrugs as he says, “Based on what you said before you departed.” He begins to walk closer and off to the right, edging his way to your side, unaware of the person on the edge of a mental breakdown right in front of him. Hearing his footsteps grow nearer, you shift your weight to ensure your back is to the echidna, even as he tries to change that. It almost makes you forget what he had just said, not expecting the remark. “Oh- uh, right.” You say, feigning an agreeing attitude.

You recall the event. You loosely remember telling Knuckles you were heading out. When he asked you why, you didn’t want to lie to him. Poor guy has already had enough of that happen to him. So you told him the truth, adapt a vague version of it. “Just something I promised I’d help someone do. Ha ha… I mean, I don’t really want to, but I’d better.” He watched you leave, silently questioned your weird act as you begrudgingly gathered your things. Yet he knew the importance of promises, he himself taking them very seriously. So he let you go without much fuss, despite the twinge of suspicion in the back of his mind.

He seemed to be satisfied with the closed proximity. About 5 feet away from what you could tell just from your hearing. The sound of the water running still remained in the air, serving as the white noise to this one-sided conversation. You couldn’t even imagine how sore your jaw would be after this from how hard you’ve been clenched it. The emptiness laughed at you as the seconds ticked by. What you wouldn’t give to just seal it away, to just find some semblance of peace, to just be and exist normal in this moment without having to breathe fucking manually just to appear fine.

“How did it go?” Knuckles asked, taking up the mantle as the conversation starter. You would have room to think ‘hey he’s not so bad at it’ if you weren’t a little busy. Yet as it all things go, busy turns into anxiety, anxiety turns into panic, and panic turns into bad. Fucking. Choices.

“Fine.”

Fuck.

Now why did you say that? 

You could feel your face flare up with heat. Out of fear or anger, you couldn’t know. The only thing you did know, was the suffocating sound of silence that followed. It was so loud. You stopped your scrubbing a little bit ago.

“What are you doing?”

Fuck.

You hear the question, but not really. It’s odd coming from the warrior, you think. Though you don’t really think as you have to figure out something, and fast.

“U-uh, dishes.”

You spit it out before you really have a chance to think about it. You’re proud for a half-second at your white lie, but the celebration is short-lived when your insides move in sickening ways for the second time while in the conversation.

“I’ve already done them. There are none.”

Fuck.

The silence finds some way to be worse than before. It’s brutal. Never ending its assault on your hammering heart, and never yielding to the vulnerability of your mind. Oh my god could you please just-

“Is there something-“

“…”

“What is on your arm?”

FUCK.

The dread is immense. The impending doom of that singular question is incredible. All senses are blocked from you like a deer in headlights, unable to make out the true meaning of the ask. The hole in your chest becomes invigorated in its bloodlust, your own panic spurring it on to mobilize it while also paralyzing you.

“It’s nothing.”

“I don’t think it is.” You miss the way he says it. It’s calming, concerned. His eyes are careful. A completely opposite force to you. But it all completely passes you by in the current state you are in.

He takes a set forward, just one. You recoil, just enough for the echidna to notice. He doesn’t take another one as he continues to speak clearly, yet deeply and seriously. It doesn’t help ease you much at all.

“Let me see.” It's more of a demand than a request. It makes you shrink back, lip curled down in displeasure. You knew he meant no harm, but it doesn’t stop the back of your mind from taking it in a negative connotation.

“No! It-It's fine!” You grasp your injured arm, still futilely trying to keep it out of sight from Knuckles. Your heart beats away in your chest, boiling like a pot of hot water about to spill over. You’re scared, you realize that now. Of what, you haven’t got to that part yet.

He takes another step, undeterred by your protests, which spur him on further. “No, it is not.” He reaches a hand up, open and waiting to grasp yours.

“I’m fine. Knux, really.” You stress, your voice becomes wobbly as do you. “It’s o-ok, just-“

“No.” The echidna says, the tone he uses sounds final, yet soothingly firm. It makes you stop your panic, just a little. Every word that comes next feels like magic, doing almost supernatural things to your head to make you hear them, to really hear them, for what they are. Each is punctuated with a softness unlike anything your friend had ever used before.

“Y/N, let me see your arm.”

“Please.”

You stop. Taking a deep breath in, you take your time to let it back out. It allows you to see things the way they actually are. There, Knuckles stands. Arm raised, palm open. His stance is mostly relaxed, though if you look closer, a hint of anxiety is there. His eyes were kind, sympathetic, the crease of his eye wrinkled with a stress you’ve never seen from him. In battle it was a harder line, strengthened with anger and determination. Here it was nothing like that. It was fragile, gentle, and even looked painful to wear for long.

Moved by the look, you evaluate yourself as you were. As defensive as you are now, in hindsight, what were you defending against?

Slowly, you ease up. You wordlessly turn to face him, and without much thought, you lower your arm down and away from your body, and towards Knuckles’ awaiting hand. He takes it, tenderly turning it over to look at what he had seen a glimpse of before.

He freezes. His eyes widen, jaw literally dropping at what he’s seeing. Yet, he doesn’t say a thing. He’s just as frozen as you were a minute ago. Like a statue he just stands there, not moving an inch as all thoughts and movement cease. It makes you sweat, not doing much to quell your aching heart.

He doesn’t make eye contact, keeping his eyes trained on the sight of your arm before him. The quills on the back of his head and around his face start to raise, puffing out his features to make them appear larger. It seems as if he has a hard time saying it himself, as he grits out the question. Finally, he speaks. His eyes narrow, brow furrowing downward at his own word.

“Who?”

Though it was only one word, it didn’t fail in striking trepidation through your heart. You’re silent as the question hangs in the air, awaiting an answer that you never planned on giving.

But Knuckles still wants it, so he asks again.

“It was them… Wasn’t it?”

His voice lowers as he utters the phrase, even as he tries to keep an even tone. His anger builds as the seconds of silence tick by, seconds that do not deny the question. His mouth contorts at the ongrowing outrage, curling down into a snarl. Even he, who knows the repercussions of not keeping your anger under control, cannot stop the blooming, burning feeling so deep in his gut that it makes everything he’s ever said about remaining calm sound like a lie.

And without a response from you, there's nothing to stop the echidna’s rage.

Suddenly, and without warning, Knuckles drops your arm, which you pull back to you to hold. Then, he just… walks away, wasting no time at all as he makes determined strides to the front door. He’s mumbling words as he goes. If you listen closely, you could hear the more punctuated ones, such as ‘coward’, or ‘unworthy’.

“H-hey!” You stutter out, tripping over your own feet as you try going after Knuckles. “What are you doing?”

“Going to go deal with the problem.” He grumbles, making the situation sound oh-so simple. He’s halfway to the exit at this point.

“Hey wait!” You try again, “Where are you going?? I didn’t tell you where I went.” You take more steps to the door, not covering near enough ground to catch up with him.

“I’ll find them.” Knuckles flat out growls, getting increasingly agitated by the second. His fists tighten into intimating weapons of pure strength, just itching to get one good hit in.

An image plays over and over in his head. You, face pale at his discovery of your bleeding arm, the very real fear that showed in your body language. It angered him. Greatly.

He’s about to reach for the door handle before your feet catch up with your thoughts, legs propelling you forward. Your head spins at the possibility of Knuckles facing those responsible. That is the literal opposite of what you wanted. The thought of it alone is what gets you going faster.

“Don’t!” You shout, grabbing his shoulder to stop him from going any further. “Please don’t.”

“And why not?!” He yells right back, whipping himself around to fully face you. He sheered as he spoke, a grumble to his voice that made him appear more frightening than what he truly was. He used a booming voice that conveyed all of his frustrations pretty clearly. “They need to pay.”

“I-I know- just,” You take a minute to rub your hand down your face, already at your stress limit. 

Knuckles interrupts, unable to contain himself at what seems to him is your level of complacency. “It is inexcusable!!” He roars, refusing to back down. “I will not stand for it.” He tried once more to leave, turning away from you. You stop him again, overcome with your own anxiety. You feel the incessant need to fiddle with your hands as you put your foot down.

“I KNOW!” Your scream catches both you and Knuckles off-guard. The house becomes eerily quiet with the lack of noise, the sounds of the pipes and utilities on the edges of their seats as they watch on. You were never one to get aggressive to those you cared for, but desperate times call for desperate measures. And yes, you were, in fact, desperate. Your abdomen cramps, making it harder and harder to sooth the situation like you normally could if you weren’t so caught up in your own head. Your breaths are heavy, holding the weight of everything you have done and said up until this point. You’re sure your lungs are willfully unprepared to take up the burden of what you plan on saying next.

You soon discover you’re right.

“I know-w” you pant, shoulders crumpling in on the rest of your body. “Just pl-please, please dontgo, I donwanna-” It suddenly gets harder to speak, your throat constricting around itself, preventing the words from escaping you. Even it doesn’t want you to sound weak. “I-I’m sorry…” 

At this point, you’re at the end of your rope. You were frightened. Of what Knuckles could do, what they could do, what you would do… it all ran through your mind at a million miles an hour. You haven't even begun to rationalize with yourself the event that got you in this mess in the first place, and it was starting to catch up to you. You simply did not have the mental capacity to process all that it happened. And it showed on your face, lines of worry etched into what used to be smooth features. And suddenly you seem much, much older, The sheer pressure adding decades of age, your bones turning frail, matching the vulnerability of your headspace. Your eyes lowered to the ground, head drooping, ashamed of what you feel and afraid of what you've become because of it.

And Knuckles finally sees it all.

The echidna’s own worry lines grow at the realization, his own chest tightening at the sight of you. It’s a strange thing to him, a feeling he had trouble recognizing at first, seemingly forgotten from his younger days with his father. It confused him, and he didn’t exactly have anything to compare it to. How was the battle-hardened echidna supposed to know what it was? Yet with the help of his new family providing guidance and remaining patient, he was eventually able to figure it out, though only roughly. What he did discover, however, is that it often came with his anger.

He was worried. So, so worried. 

And that scared him.

He didn’t like feeling worried, not one bit. He detested the idea of him being worried the moment he comprehended he was. Knuckles the Echidna, worried? How ridiculous. It was a weak emotion, he thought at first. It would slow him down, make him vulnerable, and even, worst comes to worst, allow for him to get taken advantage of again. That’s what he told himself, at least.

When he saw your arm, he felt his worry come at full force. It struck through his heart, piercing it with a sharp, clean cut. What he left out of his explanation for his dislike of worry, was the deeper meaning that had apparently escaped all he knew, even his closest friends.

It was the fact that his worry reminded him of everything he had failed to do. Every promise he broke, every vow he made to nobody but himself yet did not hold true. And even then, as he realized the how and the who to the backstory of your injuries, he failed again, once more not delivering on a promise he made to himself: to protect his protector. And oh, did it anger him. It angered him so much. To fail at such an extent, it was downright shameful.

It was easy for the madness to take hold, he often let it. And he did. He let his anger control him when he found your blood exposed to the elements, your skin inflicted with a bruise the size of a baseball. It coursed through his veins at an insane rate, setting his mind into overdrive, acting as a catalyst to every negative image that crossed his mind. A spark ignited within him, the flame erupting within his chest, the flame of revenge. “How dare they? How could they? You?! Of all people to attack? How weak, how pathetic. How dishonorable.”

And in that instance, he remembered his promise, and sought it out to hold it true, by whatever means necessary. It would be easy for him. Light work even, and he would definitely get immense satisfaction in absolutely pummeling your enemies. You wouldn’t even have to lift a finger.

Though easy does not mean right. And as much as he would find gratification in solving this problem for you, your health took precedence over everything. Even this. He knew that, it just took him a minute to fully remember. Your eyes sure helped, pleading, watery, bloodshot from stress, it all came together in a heartbroken concoction, like a liquid potion ready to persuade its victim of anything. And he had fallen for it, though willingly. It wasn’t hard, you were you after all.

He takes a deep breath to settle that smoldering fire within him. “Okay.” He speaks within a new tenderness that does wonders to calm your racing heart. “I won’t go anywhere, nor do anything.”

He grasps your arm carefully, beginning to lead you to the couch nearby. “Come,” he says “let's sit you down. Your wound needs treatment.”

You nod absentmindedly, not exactly understanding, but doing so nonetheless. You follow him one step at a time as you take your seat, Knuckles leading you down all the while. His touch isn’t something many would expect from the tough echidna. It was gentle, delicate, like a soothing balm to cover the sores on your soul. “Stay.” He spoke in a whisper, “I will return with the box of aid.”

“First aid?” You joke weakly, voice cracking with the effort.

Knuckles is either unaware of the gag, or chooses not to react. “Yes, that.”

Without another word, he quickly dashes away, returning just as fast with the kit in hand.

It took some mumbled guidance from you for the echidna to understand what to do. Though that was understandable, since the guy has never had to use the first aid kit before. 

He was uncharacteristically careful in how he treated your wound. Every time the pads of his fingers brushed against your skin, it was gentle, almost feather-like. Especially around the mangled tissue of your injury. Here, Knuckles’ touch was that of a ghost. There, but not really. Its presence was felt, surely, though not nearly enough for your senses to pick it up as something harmful. You could confidently say the warrior had not caused you any excess pain. Which was already monumentally better than you.

It was quiet as he worked. It was somewhere between a comfortable and uncomfortable silence. It was hard to tell which. So many things remained questioned, so many things remain unsaid. What could you say? What good will an explanation do? Well, some obviously. You of course knew that. It was still hard though, to say the truth. Even if you’ve known it for years.

As rough as you were, the wound was clean of any dried blood or debris. Knuckles knew as well, and went straight to wrapping it up. Placing a sterile absorbent pad on the bruise he secured it with some medical tape, which he probably used an excessive amount of. But you chose not to say anything. He also examined your bruise on your forearm, though decided there wasn’t much to be done about that. However, it didn’t stop him from putting a bandaid on the area. Again, you let it slide.

Knuckles quickly gathered up the supplies he had gotten from the kit, putting them back in the box haphazardly. I’ll fix it later, you thought to yourself.

The warrior chose to sit by your side about a foot apart from you. Not too close, not too far. He held his tongue for a minute, eyes kept trained on the floor beneath the both of you. Perhaps waiting for you to speak first, perhaps muddling over the same thing you were. It was not easy for anyone to read the echidna’s mind, not unless Knuckles himself said his thoughts aloud.

Which he often did.

“How come you didn’t tell me of this?” He spoke the question in a whisper, matching the delicate atmosphere with the tone of his voice. He looked to face you, eyes missing their usual luster of purple. You hated to be the cause of such a loss.

You had to think for a second. You yourself didn’t know the answer to such an ask, even though you would be the one person who would. You fidgeted with your fingers, picking at the skin of them as your mind twisted and turned. It took several more moments before you could come up with a conceivable answer, one at least an outsider could begin to understand.

“I… I didn’t know what to do.” You started. Knuckles sat to your right, as patient as ever, gloved hands propped up on the coach, which straightened his posture to attention. 

You continue as best you could, “I guess- I mean, I think I wanted to handle it?” It comes out in the question, not sure of yourself in the slightest.

“Why?” Knuckles butts in, quick to question the decision. His brows furrowed in confusion, genuinely not understanding.

“Why?” You say back, parrot-like. “Uh-h…” You had to think to yourself again. It’s astonishing how so much over thinking can go right down the drain when you need your excessive ideas the most. “Because uhh, I mean it’s my thing isn’t it?”

The echidna’s face doesn’t change, still frozen in trying to figure out what you mean, and it shows on his face. So you try again. “It’s… my responsibility.”

A deep frown spreads across Knuckles’ face, painting his features in a disapproving way. “Your responsibility?” He repeats. You nod meekly, taking hold of your injured arm to cradle it, still not knowing what to do with your hands.

Closing his eyes, Knuckles huffs out a breath. He stands, pushing himself off the coach in a smooth motion. Your heart jumps at the thought of him walking away and leaving you there alone, but the muscle soon calms to see him turn to face you, coming to stand before you. There you two are level. It's truly one of the only scenarios in which the both of you can see eye to eye, when the warrior can peer right into your eyes without having to look up or down. Just maybe, he chose this on purpose.

Knuckles reach down to your lap, oh so gingerly taking your arm into his hands to hold, looking at the bandaged injury whilst he says his piece, the smoothness of his voice just barely echoing through the home. “My father was a kind soul” he breathes out, “yet he had a habit of keeping the burdens that weighed on him all to himself.”

Your eyes grew wide at the mention of Knuckles’ kin. He’s talked about them before, though this is definitely the most personal it's ever gotten. 

“You remind me of him in this way” He looks up to you, eyes with a hazy focus, thumb brushing against the cotton of your bandage softly. “A protector that refuses to be protected.”

The silence is deafening as the two of you contemplate what has just been said. You more so. You’re shocked to say the least. The sentiment of Knuckles comparing you to his own father, someone he loves and respects extensively is… overwhelming. The weight of it seems to help ease your nervousness. 

“What role do you think I play in this tribe?” Knuckles asks, titling his head down to try to make eye contact with you. It kind of works, coaxing your own up to face him as well.

“Uh” You stumble, “A guardian?”

Knuckles does the echidna equivalent of a ‘uh huh’. “Yes. I am a guardian.” He continues, “What of the hedgehog and his fox friend?”

You look up to the ceiling, it now appears much more appealing as you think of a response. “Well they’re kind of protectors too.”

Knuckles nods, asking one more time “And Maddie and Tom?”

You’re on a roll, now feeling more comfortable looking Knuckles in the eyes. “Them too.”

“Right.” He says, satisfied. “In our tribe, we all have the role of guardian. And so, we all protect. Especially each other.”

Now you see where this is going. “Knux, I’m not sure if I-”

He interrupts. “Whatever you are about to say- it is wrong.”

“Knux I-”

“No. Wrong.”

“But I-”

“No.”

You give up, giving in to the echidna’s game. You swear you can see a twinge of a smile start to creep onto his face.

“But if I may,” He adds, voice suddenly becoming dimmer as he breaks eye contact to look back at your arm. “I do think there is one difference among us.”

“In what?”

Knuckles takes a breath, seemingly randomly getting anxious. You can’t fathom why. “As a guardian, I am meant to treat all I protect equally.” You nod, agreeing but not getting the point. “Though I do not.”

He slid his hands down to grip your own, head lifting to let his eyes peer into yours unwaveringly. They look to be dripping with his usual determination, along with something else you couldn’t place. Something kinder, something sweeter. “Though each of us were guardians,” he pauses, thinking for a moment “you have had a different duty ever since the EggMan’s defeat.”

You blink, trying to follow as best you can. Knuckles continues, “Your duty is dangerous. Fragile as humans are, I was surprised when you took up the task. It requires constant vigilance, not many could keep it up for long.”

His hands tighten around yours, squeezing momentarily before easing up. Perhaps a reminder for himself. The urge to squeeze back comes and goes. “I have since then grown a respect for you unmatched by any other. Both because of that, and because of your character.”

His pause invokes a special importance, pulling you in. It was captivating, doing its job in changing the atmosphere only slightly. “You are precious to me, as I have grown to know you. More so than the other members of our tribe.”

Your eyes widen, not expecting such a declaration. You have to keep your mouth from opening in shock.

Unperturbed, the warrior continues. The fiercest of his eyes growing with every passing moment. His grip becomes impossibly more gentle, every callous he ever had suddenly disappearing. “Though my focus does lie with the master emerald, it is you that keeps my attention and company Y/N, not any gem or jewel.”

“I don’t know why you would think that.” You blurred out, too caught off guard to think to hold back.

Knuckles takes it in stride, once again taking a breath, wanting to speak as clearly as possible. The effort from keeping his cool shows on his face, a little scrunched with the strain. He leans in to emphasize his next words, yearning to have you understand him. “I do.”

The staticky fog in your mind doesn’t seem so intense anymore. 

“You have commendable bravery, and a personality unlike any other. Attributes I now hold dear.” Knuckles returns your hands to your lap, taking the opportunity to straighten the fabric of your shirt, which has since been crooked. The neckline is quickly fixed back into its usual spot with a quick tug upward, letting it fall back into position naturally. He now spoke with a more annoyed tone than before. It would’ve alarmed you about 5 minutes ago, though now you’ve calmed, and know the warrior doesn’t point such frustrations to you, but to the third party in question. “Which is why it pains me to see you overwhelmed in this way. Especially by those who are meant to be closest.”

You worry your palms, growing tired at the lack of things you can actually answer. “I’m sorry” You whisper, “I should’ve told you.”

“It’s alright” Knuckles whispers back, in a way that differs from your own. A way that makes your thoughts coherent. That actually helps you understand that he's telling the truth. “I don’t know much of troubles such as this… but I do know they can be complex to you.”

He rolls his shoulders, instinctively resetting his posture. “But to me?” He shrugs, “Not so much.”

That earns a watery chuckle from you. 

The air feels tired, almost rung out of all energy it had. It’s breathable now, and it lets you digest everything, lets the both of you take a moment to grasp with the gravity of the situation. Lets Knuckles figure out what to say next.

“I want you to make a promise.” He speaks, crossing his arms in front of his chest with a huff.

“What kind?”

“My kind.” He responds.

You sit up straight, a little confused. Knuckles takes it as a signal to proceed.

“I want you to promise to ask for my aid if something like this were to happen again.”

You furrow your brow. “Knux, I don’t think I can-”

“Let me restate that.” He rehashes, cutting you off. “I want you to promise to try to ask for my help.”

You bite your lip, looking off to the side in contemplation. Could you? Realistically. It surely was a difficult question to answer, especially with every little negative thought poking into your brain to tell you no. If this question had been asked before, you probably would have said yes just in passing. It would be easy to say yes, just to get the question over with. But now, as you hold the spotlight, you can't lie. Not to him, not right now. It's neither the time nor place. And you don’t think it ever will be. 

But as you look at Knuckles now and into his stupidly sweet lavender gaze of his, your true answer starts to become more and more real. Him and that worried look of his does wonders in helping to encourage you to make that leap, to take that chance that you never knew you would be taking. It's so strange, you think, he could do anything, as mountainous as destroying death robots, or as simple as baking a cake with you on a Sunday morning, and it would all still come together into the nice little package of ‘good’ he had to offer. Nothing changed with him, even now, as that same sense of good comes in clutch to hull you away from your enemies and take on the burden instead of you. An honor like that is impossible to find, and irreplaceable once tossed away. You better remember that Y/N.

And that's when your answer becomes clear. Something so profound and special, so kind and gentle, will never be forgotten or taken for granted if you have any say in it. And it will never shake, nor ever waiver. You have a promise to uphold, and you intend to keep it. As a protector, as the protected, and as a roommate.

#rhaz’s works #sonic the hedgehog x reader #knuckles x reader #knuckles the echidna x reader #knuckles fluff #knuckles the echidna fluff #knuckles x reader fluff #sonic the hedgehog fluff #sonic x reader #sonic fluff #sonic fic #knuckles fic #movie knuckles

[number-one-shadisper-shipper]

A bunch of thugs kidnap the younger brother of the most powerful hero on Mobius.

They really should've known better...

LONG LIVE WHOLESOME SONIC AND TAILS WEDNESDAY!

#wholesome wednesday #wholesome sonic and tails wednesday #wstw #midnight is still wednesday #sonic and tails #unbreakable bond #they're brothers your honor #sonic is so protective #he'll burn the world down for the ones he loves #my fic #sonic fic #sonic fanfiction #ao3 link #ao3 #my writing #kidnapping #minor hurt/comfort #fluff #siblings!!! #mild violence #it's mostly “offscreen” #sonic the hedgehog #sonic #tails the fox #miles tails prower #i see your “tails has anxiety that sonic will abandon him” #and raise you “tails has absolute faith in sonic coming to rescue him” #both both is good #anyways enjoy #sth