Archive of Our Own

Sonic doesn’t usually mind, though his signature could use some work. (Tails wishes it was easier to forge, mainly – it’s got way too much personality for him to replicate it, and the stamps he’s been drafting up never quite get the angle right.) 

Sonic is half awake, which is surprisingly the best time to get him to sign things. Mostly because he has absolutely zero interest in any of what he’s legally agreeing to. Last month, Tails got him to sign a permit for some of the deadliest explosives known to man, and has been storing them in the basement for safekeeping despite Sonic signing that they’d keep it in the ideal conditions at all times.

It’s not that he thinks Sonic wouldn’t still sign for this stuff, but Tails has a feeling he’d be at least a little more discerning on some of it if he was more awake. Though, over the years he has gotten a lot more lax with Tails’s particularities and schedule, compared to way-back-when. Like the way he used to occasionally ask if Tails had eaten a vegetable recently, or gone to bed on time, versus now when Sonic checks the fridge and sticks his tongue out at all the fruits Tails stores there, and is usually the one taking a nap at 2:30PM so he can stay up until 4AM on a run. 

But now that Tails has a house (...legally Sonic’s) and pays bills (...using what’s legally Sonic’s bank account) and has legal patents (...under Sonic’s guardianship until Tails turns 18), things feel different. Tails realized last year that he’s the only one who cares about those things. It’s not horrible that Sonic doesn’t, but it does mean that Tails has to be really on top of it if these things are going to get done. But Sonic makes it easy enough; Tails just needs a signature, and a couple of good articles on all the terms he’s agreeing to. 

As he expected, when Tails gives his brother the forms, Sonic barely looks up. Instead, he yawns and grabs the pen, tracing his signature in all the right spots. He doesn’t even glance at the contract itself, until he’s almost to the end of the full signature spots. 

But after another yawn, Sonic wakes up, just a little.

Shoot. Was this just a nap, rather than a full night’s sleep? Maybe this wasn’t the ideal time to have his brother sign off on his weapons munition license…  

“It’s still really funny that they have me sign all this stuff,” Sonic says, and Tails taps his fingers together behind him, hoping against hope that Sonic’s not reading the fine print. “I mean, I started signing it when I was fourteen. Pretty sure none of that was even legally binding. I wonder if sixteen is actually old enough to sign this stuff either, come to think of it…” 

Tails’s eye twitches, just a little. At least Sonic’s not reading, right? But this is almost worse.

Tails tries not to think of the thousands of hours he’s spent researching whether his legal guardian is technically allowed to be so. He’s googled “can a minor adopt a minor” enough times to know the answer is a pretty resounding no. But at least the government and GUN aren’t prying too much. And Vanilla has only threatened to call CPS once, before Vector talked her down. So they’re probably fine. 

“I don’t really think they look too closely at these things, when it comes to us,” Tails says, hoping to speed Sonic through the rest of the document. But he’s not lying, either; it has to be true, given that they’ve never once called Sonic to verify what he signs. “They just need a signature, and everyone knows I’m yours, so…” 

“I dunno, pal. The resemblance is kind of weak,” Sonic continues with a teasing grin, oblivious to Tails’s pressure to finish this one up. “You’re the yellowest shade of blue I’ve ever seen, even if you did turn out even cuter than me.” Sonic winks. “But I guess I’ll keep you as long as you stick around.” 

Tails puffs his cheeks out, already feeling them warm with embarrassment. Somehow, complimentary (egoistic) teasing is almost worse than playful teasing. But, as long as it’s not in front of anyone, it’s okay. Tails is working on his street-cred, after all. He’s eight now, he has to start stepping it up if people are going to take him seriously. “Soniiiic…”

Sonic grins and rubs his nose. “Either way, you know I never mind signing these things, pal. Keep them coming. Wish there was a better word for it though. Guardian… Yeesh.” 

Tails tilts his head to the side. 

He wants to tell Sonic to just hurry up and sign the final line, but he’s got to be careful now that he knows Sonic is reading at least a few words. “Er… What do you mean?” 

“I mean, you’re super important, and I guess I keep you safe in battle when you come with me into more dangerous scrapes, but it’s super weird to put it in the same category as ‘parent.’ I’m not really sure I work as either, yeah?” He rubs the side of his neck. “I mean, I was okay at sitting around watching you when we were little, but I mainly liked how well you kept up with me. I’d be super bad at it now. And you don’t really need watched all that closely anymore anyway. But hey, like I said, half these things don’t seem legal since I’ve been signing them way before I was old enough, so it’s probably fine. I just think they’re kinda funny.” 

Tails furrows his brows. He can’t figure out what to feel – hurt, or a little proud. Proud, because Sonic clearly doesn’t see him as a burden, the way Tails always worried he did when they were younger. But hurt, because… well… was Sonic saying he wasn’t really his guardian? That he wasn’t the one who basically raised Tails?

He rubs at his cheek. No, that can’t be right. 

Right?

The scientist in him needs answers – and the little brother in him needs a tiny pinch of reassurance, too. 

“Sonic,” he says, a little slower. Trying not to let his feelings show. “Do you really mean that?” 

Sonic reaches for the pen again, and finishes signing a few more lines. “Well, yeah? I don’t keep a very good watch on you. That’s how you’re always giving me a lift when I get into a bad situation. You’re the best exit strategy I’ve got. Guardians probably shouldn’t have to be saved by their…” he glances at the word on the paper again, “signee, should they?” 

Tails tilts his head to the side. 

Something’s not adding up, but it’s so close to making sense that Tails is sure he’s the one who’s missing something. “I guess I see where you’re coming from, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t apply…” 

“Sure it does! Guardians are supposed to guard, so what am I doing if you go running off and I’ve got no idea where to find you?” Sonic says. “Especially when you’re the one finding me half the time! You oughta be my guardian, the way you can find me.” (Tails squints at him. The only time he’s ever had to be Sonic’s ‘guardian’ is when his brother ignores being sick or injured and passes out at Mach One.) “Boy, if I was a real guardian, I think I’d be a really bad one. I get bored and leave way too often. I’m not nearly responsible enough for that.” 

Tails feels like someone broke into his house and moved all his furniture three inches to the left. 

He feels like he’s bruised something incredibly tender from walking directly into everything he thought he knew. 

He also feels a little like crying. 

Meanwhile, Sonic is still scanning the contract for other things he needs to sign, and marks STH in all the right places. He continues, unprompted. “I gotta admit, I give Knuckles a hard time, but if I had to sit around guarding you the way he guards the Master Emerald, I’d be pretty miserable. Though I guess we’ve convinced Knuckles to come down from his Island from time to time, so maybe even ‘real’ guardians aren’t all they’re cracked up to be. Magical destinies sure are weird that way, huh?” 

The scientist in Tails suddenly lights back up. Just in time, too; the nervous little brother was getting really anxious. 

There’s a mystery just on the cusp of being solved. He just needs a little more data. 

“Sonic…” Tails says. Slower. “What do you think a guardian is?” 

Sonic looks up at him with trusting green eyes. “Uh… Someone who sits around guarding precious stuff. Usually ordained by fate and stuff, or some kinda mystical energy.” 

Tails’s eye twitches. Just a little. “Anything else that ‘guardian’ could mean?”

“Why?” he asks. “It’s the perfect name. You sit around and guard important stuff. Guardian of the Master Emerald, Guardian of the Chaos Emeralds, Light Gaia Guardian of the Earth, Guardian statues, blah blah blah…” 

“…Do you, by any chance, remember teaching me to read?” 

Sonic squints. “What does that have to do with anything?” 

“Do you remember homonyms? Or synonyms? Or context?” 

“Tails,” Sonic says, like Tails is the weird one being slow on the uptake. “I love you bud, but you’re kind of weirding me out.” 

Tails sighs and pulls out his phone. He looks up the definition of a legal guardian, tosses his phone at Sonic, and considers going back to bed at eight o’ clock in the morning. He hasn’t had enough coffee for this. 

(Sonic isn’t dumb. Tails is sure of that – Sonic’s actually a faster thinker than Tails, maybe even smarter than him when it comes to immediate emergencies. But man, sometimes Tails forgets that his big brother grew up alone on Christmas Island, and didn’t start talking until he was almost thirteen. Tails tries not to think about other disconnects Sonic might have about the world or language. But he does very much file this away for future blackmail purposes.)

Two minutes later, Sonic tosses Tails’s phone back to him with a slightly pinker face than before. 

“Well?” Tails asks.

“Well,” Sonic says, and rubs the side of his cheek, avoiding eye-contact. Is he actually embarrassed? “I did get one thing right.” 

Tails raises a brow. He’ll bite. “What’s that?”

Sonic grins. “Guardians — both types — look out for things that are precious and irreplaceable. That’s you, pal.” 

Tails blushes hard enough that he forgets his big brother is signing for an incredibly dangerous weapons contract. “Aw, Sonic…”

With a flourish, Sonic signs the last line, and starts handing it back to Tails with a wink. Halfway through the exchange though, his eyes catch a single phrase. “Hey, wait a minute, what’s this about ‘due to the lethal nature of this product-‘?”

Tails snatches the contract and quickly flies up, just out of Sonic’s easy reach. “Nothing!!! Thanksloveyoutoobye!” And then he speeds away to his workshop, hoping Sonic won’t ask too many more questions.