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“Sonic.”
Tails gently flicked his brother’s ear, earning a half-hearted groan as the ear flicked and the hedgehog rolled onto his side, turning away from the two-tailed fox. Tails smirked a little at the action, but the smile fell when Sonic didn’t move. “Sonic, c’mon, I know you’re awake.”
He rounded the foot of the racecar bed so he could face his brother again when he realized that no, Sonic was not in fact awake. He’d already fallen fast asleep.
Despite knowing why, Tails was still worried. Stopping the Eclipse Cannon three days ago and his fall to Earth completely drained the cobalt hedgehog of his usual never-ending energy. Although Tails had to give him some leeway, because it was early in the morning, and Sonic was not a morning hedgehog.
The fox himself was wide-awake after listening to a call recording from Maddie. Since the kids had used their last ring to land safely in Green Hills and return home, they had no way to get back to London where their guardians were. But Maddie had called super early that morning to leave a voice message, explaining that the hospital in London would allow Tom to fly back to the Green Hills’s hospital to be closer to home, and so Maddie could look after the kids. Apparently G.U.N. had pulled some strings, too, as a favor for the Wachowski family saving the planet.
They were already on their way to the airport when Maddie called, meaning—according to the airport’s flight time and when Maddie left the message—they’d be back in eight hours.
Tails had informed Knuckles as soon as the echidna woke for his morning exercise, and Knuckles suggested that they should try to tidy up the house and prepare food for Maddie’s arrival that evening. Tails readily agreed—they could find a recipe for some easy food, he was sure—and now had the task of informing Sonic.
“Sonic,” Tails complained. “It’s nine in the morning. Get up, sleepyhead.”
Sonic grumbled under his breath and waved his hand dismissively towards Tails. The fox watched, unimpressed, as it fell heavily back onto the bed. “G’way,” the hedgehog mumbled. “’s too early.”
“I’ll go only if you stay awake and listen to what I want to tell you,” Tails offered.
Interest piqued, Sonic cracked open an eye.
“Mom said she and Dad could fly back today,” Tails explained. “They’ll be in Green Hills tonight.”
Sonic’s eyes widened and he slowly sat up, rubbing his head. “Seriously?” He demanded, more from excitement than disbelief. “Sweet!”
Tails beamed as the energy visibly returned to his older brother upon hearing the news. “Yeah! Knuckles said we should get the house ready for them.”
Sonic’s face fell and Tails giggled. “Cleaning?” The hedgehog whined. “But we just saved the world! Can’t we get a break?” As if to emphasize his point, he broke into a massive yawn and stretch, then winced when he moved too much.
“It’ll be easy,” Tails encouraged. “For once, the house didn’t get destroyed.”
Sonic’s lips quirked upwards at that. Instead of fixing bullet holes or tears in the wall made from him flying through the structure, all they had to do was tidy up the living room from Tom and Maddie’s extensive hobbies, clean the floors, and check to see what food was still edible.
“Fine,” the hedgehog mumbled, swinging his legs over the side of the bed.
Tails could tell that he was secretly elated to have their parents returning.
Sonic swayed slightly when he stood, but just as Tails noticed it, the hedgehog stilled. “Race you downstairs?” Tails offered hesitantly.
His brother smiled thinly. “Don’t think I’m up for a race, bud,” he admitted. “Sorry.”
Tails filed that information in the back of his mind but waved off Sonic’s guilt. “All good! Probably wouldn’t work anyway,” he added with semi-forced humor, trying to make Sonic feel a little better—and gauging his reaction. The hedgehog nodded wordlessly and followed Tails downstairs.
They had work to do.
Knuckles ended up cleaning the floors while Tails searched for a dinner recipe and Sonic sorted through the various hobbies in the living room. It was Tails’s idea to split them up as such. He wanted to give Sonic the only task that let him sit down, because he didn’t know how well the hedgehog could handle standing or walking around without a break. Not that Sonic would’ve complained—Tails knew his brother well enough by now to know that Sonic would rather work quietly and collapse than complain about being tired. But the fox wanted to make sure that Sonic didn’t have to sacrifice his health for his pride.
“How did they even do all of this?” Tails heard the hedgehog mutter. He glanced over from the cookbook open in front of him to see Sonic holding up a small knitted sweater, blue with gold accents. “We weren’t gone for that long.”
“They must’ve really been bored,” Tails replied as Sonic tried on the sweater. None of them were big on clothing, but they knew Tom had made it. Perhaps Sonic was feeling sentimental. “We do attract unwanted attention.”
Sonic continued looking through the knitted works, indifferent to the one around his body. “Can’t argue with that,” he huffed.
Tails glanced again at the cookbook. The recipe he’d found seemed easy: homemade spaghetti and meatballs. Simple but tasty. According to the instructions, he should start an hour before he wanted to serve it, meaning he had time to spare.
The fox left the cookbook open and padded over to Sonic to help him with sorting.
By the time they had finished and Knuckles was satisfied with how clean the floors were, they had time for a movie before Tails needed to start making dinner. They chose one they’d already seen, and Sonic’s favorite: Speed. None of them really paid attention to it, instead simply enjoying each other’s company in peace. Surprisingly enough, Sonic fell asleep halfway through. Normally he was the one keeping everyone else awake to make sure they saw every detail of his favorite movie.
Only when the movie finished and Tails stood to make dinner did Sonic rouse from his nap. Tails set about collecting the ingredients he needed and mixing up the meatballs. He studied the blend of foods to figure out if they were thoroughly combined, then startled when someone tapped his shoulder.
“Sonic?” He blinked in surprise. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothin‘,” Sonic replied with a smile. “Just wanted to see if my best bud needed any help.”
Tails shook his head with a chuckle. “I’m good, I think,” he answered. “Just need to make these into little balls and bake ’em, then cook the pasta and sauce.”
Sonic’s brow furrowed slightly. “Seems like a lot,” he countered. “You sure you’re good?”
“I’m sure,” Tails reassured his brother. “Really. But you can stay if you want.” He gestured towards the kitchen island’s stools.
Sonic nodded and sat at one of the chairs, then folded his arms across the table and rested his head on them. He watched Tails drowsily as the fox continued to make the food.
He wasn’t paying attention to the time. Just as he strained the water from the pasta, someone knocked on the door.
Sonic’s head snapped up—apparently he’d zoned out—and he dashed to the door a little too quickly. Tails stirred the spaghetti sauce and meatballs into the pasta, pleased with his work, and brought out four bowls and a tupperware container. Tom couldn’t join them, but Tails could bring food to his dad.
“Hey,” Maddie’s tired voice echoed from the foyer. “Good to see you too, bud. How’re you guys holding up?”
“Great!” Sonic replied chipperly, as if he hadn’t been half-asleep a mere minute before. “Tails even made dinner!”
The fox in question portioned out the food just as Maddie rounded the corner. “No wonder it smells so good in here,” she complimented.
Tails beamed and placed everyone’s dishes in their usual spots around the table, complete with cutlery and drinks. “Just thought you might want some food,” he explained modestly.
“It’s exactly what I want right now,” Maddie replied with an air of fatigue as she ruffled Tails’s head. “Thanks, Tails.”
He tried not to flinch at the contact as Maddie accidentally touched some burns from reentering the atmosphere. Even so, she noticed.
“Tails, what’s wrong?” She asked, kneeling next to him.
The fox chuckled awkwardly and rubbed the back of his head. “Just a few burns,” he tried to downplay. “It’s nothing. They’ll heal.”
Maddie studied his head for a moment and noticed the burn cream he’d carefully applied to the wounds. “At least you treated them,” she sighed, taking her seat at the table.
The meal then mostly passed in silence. Maybe any of them would’ve questioned the lack of sound from their usual talker—Sonic—but all of them were too tired to care. Only when they finished eating and the dishes were cleaned up did the topic of Tom arise.
“Can we go see him?” Sonic asked without hesitation. No one had to ask who ‘him’ referred to.
“Of course,” Maddie agreed. She looked less tired after the food, restored of energy. “He’s waiting to see you guys, too.”
Tails gathered up the packaged pasta and met his brothers in the truck parked outside. Maddie followed shortly after and locked the house behind her.
“Is he okay?” Sonic blurted as soon as they started driving. His ears twisted back and he picked at the cuffs of his gloves, an action Tails had learned to associate with guilt. His heart twisted at the thought that Sonic blamed himself for Tom’s condition.
Maddie glanced at him through the mirror with a faint smile. “He’ll be fine,” she replied soothingly. “Worst injuries are a dislocated shoulder and two broken ribs. The doctors wanted to keep watch for a few more days just in case.”
“Just in case what?” Tails questioned. Tom hadn’t looked ‘fine’ when they’d wheeled him off in the ambulance. “What else was there?”
Maddie hesitated. “He had a collapsed lung,” she finally admitted. “But it’s healing now.”
Sonic’s eyes widened and he shrank back slightly. Tails bit it lip as his worry spiked. Knuckles remained still, but the glint in his eyes turned venomous.
“It’ll be okay,” Maddie reassured. Sonic flinched slightly at the words and Tails winced. “He’s healing.”
The rest of the car ride remained silent.
None of the kids spoke up again until the receptionist pointed them in the right direction, when Sonic stumbled slightly but hid it as he grabbed Maddie’s hand. “It smells like death,” he muttered, ears pressed flat to his head.
Maddie gently touched the top of his head but didn’t reply.
Tails couldn’t help but agree with Sonic. The hospital reeked of chemicals that barely concealed the odor of death.
Luckily, they didn’t have to walk far to reach Tom’s room. Maddie knocked once, then held the door open for the kids. Sonic entered first in a blur of blue, with Tails and Knuckles following right behind.
Tom turned towards them and his expression brightened. “Hey, guys,” he greeted softly. He patted the mattress next to him, and Sonic wasted no time climbing up and settling next to his dad’s side. “Oh! You’re wearing the sweater!” He grinned at the blue hedgehog, who nodded self-consciously. “Good to be back, yeah?”
“Agreed,” Knuckles replied. “It is comforting to know we are all back on our own territory.”
Tails presented the tupperware container of pasta to Tom. “I made dinner,” he offered. “Figured it’d be better than whatever they have here.”
Tom smiled and accepted the container, but placed it on the bedside table for later. “Thanks, kiddo,” he hummed. “Looks really good.”
Tails’s tails swished happily and he climbed up on Tom’s other side. After a moment, Knuckles followed suit, leaning against Tom’s feet. Maddie pulled up a chair and sat next to the bed, within arms reach but providing everyone enough space to move around. Tom chuckled breathily, but quickly cut off with a grimace. Sonic and Tails both worriedly glanced up at the sound.
“Just the ribs,” Tom reassured, running his hands over Sonic’s quills and rubbing Tails’s back. They both settled back down, the quiet and warmth peaceful for Tails.
It seemed Sonic felt the same, because his expression quickly smoothed out and his breathing deepened as he fell asleep. Tom glanced at him in surprise but kept soothingly stroking his quills.
“G.U.N. seemed pretty embarrassed by what happened,” Tom told them, his voice quiet on Sonic’s behalf. “It was funny hearing them try to come up with an excuse for the Cannon launching.”
“Hah,” Knuckles snorted. “That is what they deserve after not trusting us.”
Soft sounds of amusement rose from the awake members of the family. No one disagreed.
“So what happened to you guys?” Tom continued after a moment of comfortable silence.
“Well…” Tails laughed awkwardly. He glanced at the sleeping Sonic with a sheepish expression. “Sonic used the Master Emerald to go after the Cannon. We used a ring to get up there and saved Doctor Eggman’s life.” Tom and Maddie blinked owlishly at the information, and the former rested his hand on Sonic’s head.
“The fox and I used our superior strength to turn the station away from the Earth,” Knuckles added proudly.
Tails rolled his eyes. “We steered it,” he elaborated, “while Sonic and Shadow got in the way of the laser.”
“Oh,” Maddie whispered softly. “That’s what happened.”
“Wait—Shadow helped?” Tom questioned. “And they got in the way?”
Tails nodded.
Tom stared down in barely-concealed worry at the blue bundle under his arm. “Is he okay?” The sheriff demanded. Maddie, too, scanned over the hedgehog with new concern.
“He was weakened from the blast,” Knuckles explained solemnly. “But he is relatively uninjured.”
Tom and Maddie did not look reassured.
“Resting and taking it easy should be enough,” Tails added quickly. “He told us he didn’t want to go to the doctor’s.”
“That’s supposed to be our decision to make,” Maddie sighed, “but I can respect that.”
Tom nodded in agreement but wrapped his arm protectively around Sonic’s shoulders. “No more cataclysmic events for a while, please,” he requested with a sigh. “I don’t think I can get used to my kids being hurt.”
Tails smiled and shifted into a more comfortable position next to Tom, though mindful of his arm and ribs, and felt the sheriff carefully watching him. “I’d be okay with that,” the fox hummed, letting his eyes close as sleep pulled at them.
“I will attempt to stay out of danger,” Knuckles chimed in. “But I will not hesitate to fight if danger finds me.”
Maddie shuffled closer and patted Knuckles’s glove. “Wouldn’t expect anything less.”
Tails let out a huff of amusement at that before he settled into a more neutral and comfortable emotion, fully prepared to sleep.
In a quiet voice that was perhaps not intended for them to hear, Maddie whispered to Tom, “Are you good like that?”
Tails felt Tom’s hand land on his arm as the sheriff nodded. “Yeah. I’m okay.”
“I’m better than okay.”