Work Text:
It takes Sonic a month before he decides- in that typical kid way- that he doesn’t want to share a house with two other critters. Especially, apparently, because he’s been left as the middle child and being the middle child ‘sucks majorly’. Mornings go from trying to get Sonic and Tails to stop playing games and get ready for school, to trying to get Sonic to stop leaving Tails out. Afternoons are no longer filled with baseball games and ice-cream, and instead end up as frantic search parties for Sonic who runs off whenever he decides he’s had enough of Knuckles. Having to check the attic every night because the boys keep sneaking in to have sleepovers is now a thing of the past because Sonic refuses to let them even put a single hair or quill over the doorway.
And maybe the hardest part of all- Sonic stops calling Maddie and Tom, mum and dad.
Maddie ends up being slightly more okay about it than Tom. She says it’s because unlike him, she didn’t grow up as an only child. She remembers days where she wanted Rachel to disappear, where she prayed that she could be the only one her parents loved.
“It’s heat of the moment stuff,” she says over morning coffee. Breakfast had ended badly, with Sonic storming off and Knuckles accidentally breaking a glass. They’ve only just sat down after clean up to talk things through. “It’ll blow over. It always does. One second we were pulling each other’s hair and then the next we were yelling at mum because she tried to separate us.”
“I dunno,” Tom says, because he doesn’t. “I’m sorry to say this, but isn’t this different? The boys, they’re not…they haven’t known each other for long. They haven’t grown up together. It’s easier for them to break apart, right?”
“Give them more credit than that,” Maddie says, not unkindly but with an edge that hints she’s upset at his doubt. “They saved the world together. That means something, even if Sonic doesn’t want it to right now.”
“I just feel like we have to do something,” Tom says. He stares out the window into their backyard where Sonic is currently doing something (probably dangerous) with a baseball bat and a bottle of soda (definitely dangerous). Tails is nearby, identifiable only by the tips of his orange ears sticking out from a patch of long grass Tom really should get to cutting. He clearly wants to join Sonic, but every time he goes to make a move, Sonic shifts so his back is more clearly pointed at the kid. Knuckles isn’t around, something Tom knows because he can hear heavy footsteps from upstairs that speak to frustrated pacing.
“What can we do?” Maddie asks. “If we try and force it, things will only get worst- trust me.”
“I do,” Tom says easily, because he does. “But I feel useless. They’re our kids, and right now one of them doesn’t want to be. That…”
That hurts.
“He’s still ours,” Maddie says softly. “No matter what. We just need to be here for when he remembers that. I promise you, it’s just a rough patch. We’ll get through this.”
The thing is, Tom wants things too quickly. He’s impatient (sometimes) and eager (all the time). Both traits Sonic shares- both traits that had initially helped the two bond so quickly. He doesn’t want to wait for Sonic to start calling him dad again. He wants it to happen now. He misses his son, and he wonders if Sonic feels the same. He wants to ask him, only he knows Maddie is right. They can’t force this.
Though…perhaps some gentle nudging could work instead. If he can be subtle enough about it.
“I think I’ll get the boat out this weekend,” he says thoughtfully.
Maddie sighs and sips her coffee, but when he meets her eyes over the top of his own mug, he can see she’s smiling.
Even though Sonic doesn’t like water, and even though he’s angry enough at Tom to stop calling him dad so soon after he first started, when Tom asks him to go fishing, Sonic says yes. Maybe it’s to do with the fact that when Tails and Knuckles also express interest in the offer, Tom gently shuts them down. Sonic probably thinks he’s got Tom on his side in this non-existent game- where Sonic is making up rules and he doesn’t realise nobody else is playing. He’s not in any danger from them as a unified threat, but it’s how he sees it and so Tom isn’t going to not take his feelings seriously.
Unlike the last time they went out, Sonic is wide awake and jittery as they cast their rods into the depths below. The boat rocks gently from the occasional ripples of the water. Whatever noise happens on the shores of the lake is too far away from them to hear. It’s quiet- but not silent. There is the flutter of wings as birds soar past them, and there is the occasional splash as a fish jumps.
Though Tom is desperate to start a conversation, he knows if he opens his mouth before Sonic is settled then all he’ll get is angry retorts as Sonic’s abandonment issues manifest. He just has to wait patiently, as patiently as he waits for a fish to bite.
Sonic lacks this patience and soon starts to pace around the small space afforded to him by the boat. He takes care not to upset the balance of the craft too much, so Tom doesn’t tell him to stop. He knows Sonic has a thing about small spaces. He knows it’s only gotten worse since Hawaii.
“No, wait, you can’t just-”
Maybe Tom has a thing about small spaces too now. Nobody should see their son in a cage, especially at the hand of the people who are supposedly meant to protect you. The fury and rage that had risen inside Tom at the sight of Sonic throwing himself against cage bars had almost been enough to blind him. His vision had whited out and his blood had boiled and he wanted to dig his nails into the skin of his captors and rip it off.
“Donut Lord?” Sonic’s voice breaks through the memory. “You’re kinda holding the fish stick too hard.”
Tom takes a breath and forces himself to loosen his grip. “It’s a fishing rod, Sonic.”
“Fish stick,” Sonic shrugs. He’s abandoned his own ‘fish stick’ at the opposite end of the boat where it’s in danger of being dragged out and under. Tom probably should get up and rescue it before it inevitably succumbs to gravity, but he worries that if he stands then he’ll upset something.
The boat, or Sonic?
Maybe this is a bad idea. Maybe he should have listened to Maddie more and just waited things out. They have time, right? Time enough in the world- evil villain permitting. Sonic will come to them when he’s ready, just like he had done last time.
Except…
“No, wait, you can’t just leave him!”
“You know,” Tom says conversationally.
“I know,” Sonic nods- mockingly serious. It’d annoy most people, but Tom just hides a smile.
“In Hawaii,” he goes on, sees Sonic flinch and then sees him try to pretend he didn’t. “That was one of the scariest moments of my life.”
“Facing Randall and his muscley men?” Sonic jokes. It’s a cover for how much he doesn’t like being reminded of his time in Hawaii, and it’s one Tom is usually more than happy to play along with. Just not now, unfortunately. Not when it feels like everything they have is on the line.
“No, when they put you in that cage and no matter what I did, I couldn’t get you out. I felt like my heart was going to stop. I couldn’t remember a time where I was more afraid, or more useless.”
Sonic stares at him, pacing forgotten. The boat bobs calmly in the water- a contrast to the turbulent conversation Tom is starting.
“I wondered if you were as afraid as I was for you, but then I realised you weren’t.”
“How do you know what I was-”
“You were afraid for someone else.”
“No, wait, you can’t just leave him! Tails, TAILS!”
Sonic folds his arms and sits. His weight dropping finally upsets his fishing rod enough for it to start to slip but Sonic catches it almost automatically and sets it right again.
“I was scared out of my mind for you, and you were scared out of your mind for this little orange fox that as far as I knew, was a complete stranger.”
“Whatever,” Sonic says. There are no more secrets in this conversation now. It’s all out in the open. Sonic knows exactly why Tom brought him here.
“No whatever,” Tom says gently.
“Yes whatever,” Sonic shoots back. “That was then.”
“And what’s changed?”
“Everything!” Sonic yells. “Everything’s changed. You have new kids now and you don’t need me anymore, so why do I have to care about them as well?”
“You think we’re replacing you?” it hurts to hear it come from Sonic himself, and not from thoughts that keep Tom up at night, praying they’re just thoughts and not real.
“Duh,” Sonic says. “Of course you are. Why else are you letting them move in and making new rooms for them and trying to adopt them?”
“There’s no replacing, Sonic,” Tom says, willing him to hear these words. “We’re making space.”
“Yeah, by kicking me out!”
“We’re not doing that!”
“You are!”
Tom bites off an angry retort before he can say something he’ll regret. Sonic is just a kid- a kid who’s lost people before. He’s scared and he’s lashing out, and Tom is the adult here. If Sonic is afraid enough to think Tom and Maddie are abandoning him, then it’s up to Tom to listen to those fears and then soothe them.
“You called me dad after the baseball game,” Tom says. It’s such a break from the conversation that it shocks Sonic enough into just nodding. “But that’s not actually the first time you said it.”
“Yes it is,” Sonic said. “It was a whole big moment. Finale worthy stuff.”
Tom laughs a little. “I know that’s how you remember it. But you actually said it before that.”
“If you’re gonna say I said it in my sleep then that totally doesn’t count.”
“Actually,” Tom says. “It was in Hawaii.”
“No, wait, you can’t just leave him! Tails, TAILS!”
“Sonic, bud, it’s gonna be alright.”
“He’s hurt, you have to help him. Dad, you have to help him, dad!”
He watches Sonic remember. Watches his eyes fill with the memory of what he’d said in the heat of the moment, reaching out for Tails who lay slumped unconscious against the bars of the cage.
“In that moment, I was the most scared I’d ever been, but I was also the most happy. You called me dad, and not even some stupid government agent could ruin that.”
“Fine, I said it then first, what does that have to do with anything?”
“It made us a family,” Tom says. “And Tails was there, and he was a part of it.”
“No he wasn’t.”
“You called me dad because you were scared for him. You wanted me to be your dad, and his.”
“You’re making that up!”
“I’m not.”
“It doesn’t matter. I didn’t mean it!”
“Sonic, please,” Tom says, because he’s scared and sad and tired. “Why are you trying so hard to convince me that I don’t love you?”
“Because then it’s on my terms!” Sonic shouts at him. A buzz of blue energy crackles off him and swoops across the surface of the lake, stirring the water up the way a helicopter would if it hovered over it.
“Everyone tosses me out. You’ll do the same eventually. Everyone always does. Why can’t it be on my terms for once?”
These kids. Oh, these poor kids, who had people in their lives who left them. Tom isn’t enough for them to believe they’re loved. His words aren’t enough, and his actions aren’t believed.
“What about my terms?” he asks, trying to swallow back his tears. “My terms that say I love you and I want you in my life for however long I have left. What about those? Do they not matter?”
“You’re just saying that,” Sonic tries to shrug it off but Tom can hear the anguish in his voice that no amount of playing tough can hide.
“I’m not Sonic, I’m really not. I’ve never been more sure about something in my life.”
“But-”
“I know it’s so much for you all at once, having two new people in the house who are getting the same attention you do. But that doesn’t mean I have to split my love between you all. I just…multiply it.”
“That’s sappy and stupid,” Sonic says.
“It’s true,” Tom says simply. “I think we’re allowed to have enough love for the things we want to love. It’s not like when we’re born, we only have a certain amount of love that we have to divvy out like lunchtime snacks. Love grows inside us when we find the things that matter. Our body makes space for it. Just like we’re making space for Tails and Knuckles. I love all three of you so very much, and so does Maddie. She’s heartbroken that you feel this way. She loves you like the son you are, and she also loves Tails and Knuckles like the sons they are. Do you think other people have to try and split their love between their kids? No, of course not. They-”
“Multiply it,” Sonic echoes. His eyes are distant, unfocused. He’s miles away, processing Tom’s words. That’s fair. He had said a lot of them.
“They’re not threats to you,” Tom says. “They’re your brothers.”
He lets that last sentence hang in the air, as Sonic works through everything he’s been told. Something tugs on Tom’s line- either a fish or just a bit of lakeweed he’s caught on. Tom makes no move to try and reel it in. After all, this trip isn’t about the fishing.
“It’s just so different,” Sonic says eventually. “Having more people around. People my age. I…I’m not used to it. I don’t like it.”
“It’s change,” Tom says. “And that’s something we all have to go through, whether we want to or not. But it’s worth it, at the end of the day. You’re not alone anymore, Sonic, and now there’s even more people in your life to prove it. Tails and Knuckles love you, even if they’re not great at showing it yet. They want you to love them too.”
“I don’t even know them,” Sonic protests weakly.
“You know them well enough. And if you let them stay in your life, then that can change and you can get to know them even better. Please, Sonic, they want you in their lives. You have to stop pushing them away because you’re afraid you might lose them one day.”
Apparently that’s when Sonic decides he’s had enough of the conversation. He swings his legs over the side of the boat and is away in a flash before Tom can even call after him,
“Sonic, wait!” Tom tries anyway. “Sonic?!” He gets no reply. His son is gone, for now.
It’s a very long, very sad row back to shore.
By the time Tom is dragging himself up the driveway and towards the front door, he’s prepared speech after speech about what he’s going to say to Maddie about his conversation with Sonic. Each one he ends up scrapping mere moments after starting, because they never feel right. This isn’t the time for carefully thought-out conversations- it’s the time for action. If Sonic isn’t home yet, then Tom needs to go looking for him. If Tails and Knuckles are upset about Sonic’s behaviour, then he needs to comfort them. If-
It's then that he becomes aware of the fact that he’s too tired to think actually, and just gives up in favour of focusing on each step he gets his feet to make.
“Tom!” Maddie calls for him from the deck. “Hurry up. We’re just putting dinner down.”
We?
Oh god, she doesn’t know yet what Tom’s managed to fuck up.
“Wait, Maddie, there’s something you should-”
“Yeah, dad, hurry up!”
Tom misses a step and slips in the sharp stones that form his driveway, barely managing to catch himself in time. That voice…Sonic?
He runs the rest of the way up the drive and sure enough there he is in all his blue glory, hanging over the edge of the deck in a way that Tom has definitely told him off for at some stage. He waves so fast his arm becomes a blur and Tom has to blink away a brief moment of dizziness.
“Sonic…” he can barely believe it. “Sonic!”
He blinks and Sonic is in front of him, suddenly nervous and fidgety. In the background Maddie, Tails and Knuckles have taken his place at the railing. They watch quietly, except for the gentle thwip-thwip-thwip of Tail’s tails as they rotate fast enough to keep him hovering.
“Sonic,” Tom sinks to his knees and holds his arms out. “You came back.”
“I came home,” Sonic corrects, and takes a step forward. He still looks nervous, like he thinks Tom is angry at him. “If-if that’s okay?”
“Jeez kid, do you ever listen?” Tom breeches the gap between them and pulls his son in for a tight hug- quills be damned.
“I’ll take that as a yes,” Sonic’s retort is muffled, dampened by Tom’s shoulder as the kid buries his face there and clings back even tighter.
For a moment time stops and the world disappears and Tom just gets to breathe easy again as he relaxes with the knowledge that his son is home, safe and sound here in his arms.
It’s Maddie’s cheerful laugh that gets him to break away and shoot a reproachful glance in her direction.
“You’re late,” she chides. “Family dinner at six sharp, mister.”
“It’s not my fault I’m bound by my mortal body,” Tom says. “Some of us had to row the boat back in on our own.” He gives Sonic a smile to let him know that he’s joking. He’s not actually mad, just relieved.
“Only Sonic the Hedgehog could forget that dad can’t row as fast as he can,” Tails says. There’s none of the hesitation in his voice that was there this morning when he tentatively asked Sonic if he could sit next to him, only to have been cruelly ignored. In the time it took Tom to get home, something must have happened. He looks back at Sonic for a confirmation.
“We talked,” Sonic says quietly, just for Tom’s ears. “I said sorry.”
“Thomas should have called for me,” Knuckles puffs his chest out. He too seems more sure of himself than he had earlier in the day “I can row any boat faster than anyone in the whole galaxy.”
“The journey’s the fun part,” Tom says. He’s not just talking about a boat ride.
“Come on, get up here,” Maddie says. There’s a smile in her voice, and one on her face as well.
Normally that would be Sonic’s cue to zip from Tom’s side and up to where the food waits. Before Tom could so much as blink, Sonic would be tearing into the meal with a vigour that only the most enthusiastic of kids can manage. This time though, Sonic just waits for Tom to take the first step.
“You okay?” Tom asks. “If you’re still upset-”
“I’m not,” Sonic cuts him off quickly. “Well, not anymore. You said some cool stuff on the boat. I…I liked it. I think I needed to hear it.”
“Yeah?”
“And then mum told me if I didn’t say sorry then she’d ban me from chilli dogs for a month.”
Tom widens his eyes comically. “A month?”
“D-a-d,” Sonic draws the word out with a groan. “This is a serious threat.”
“Okay, okay,” Tom waves him off. “I hear you.”
Brief silence.
“Dad?”
“Yeah?”
“I didn’t really say sorry just because of the chilli dog thing. I really was-am- sorry.”
“I know, bud,” Tom says. “Thank you.”
“For what?”
“For the apology. And for coming home.”
“Thanks for making it one.”
Yeah, Tom thinks. He and Maddie did do that, didn't they. Just not without some help from their kids.
Together they turn towards the deck where the rest of the family waits for them, in the home they made together. Ozzy barks loudly from underneath the table where he will wait for snacks throughout the meal. Tails hovers in the sky, waiting, freely using the gift his birth gave him. Knuckles takes a deep breath as he sits down to the food Maddie is bringing out. Sonic watches it all with eager eyes, confident once more that he has a place among them.
It’s a big change, to go from no kids and a dog, to one kid and a dog, to three kids and a dog, but it’s a change Tom isn’t afraid to face. There's not much out there that he is scared of anymore- not when he knows he won't have to face it alone.
“Coming?” Maddie calls once more, and Tom finds he doesn’t even need to answer.
He takes the easiest step of his life.