A/N, Feb. 2017: I was going through some older writing of mine, and I found this thing from late 2015. It used to be the first chapter of a longer fic. Later on, I scrapped this scene, and there are some references that no longer fit into my canon. Still, I liked this little domestic moment. I hope you do too.

-Blurry

"Synergy Scrap: Rainy Day/Anniversary"

It was pouring. Actually pouring, cats and dogs and frogs and whatever else that wasn't a blue hedgehog, like somebody had replaced the shower head with a fireman's hose, and he was stuck here with the nutty girl who said she was his girlfriend. (She certainly wasn't, and though she acted like he was going to ask her out, he didn't intend on asking anyone anytime soon.)

Granted, this was Tails's other workshop in Central City. So it wasn't that bad— Tails was here. And he always has a good stock of hot cocoa, Sonic reminded himself as he fingered the pale blue mug in his hands. But there were still two problems remaining: firstly, this living space was much, much smaller than the one he and Tails shared in Mystic Ruins, even though the building itself was quite large. Tails only lived here, on the upper floor, when he absolutely could not be torn from his work, so there was a tiny kitchen, a bathroom, a battered couch where Tails slept, and a low table. Normally—or more accurately, rarely, since Sonic didn't stay over often—that was fine, since sleeping on the floor was nothing new. But the fact remained that Amy was here as well. Yes, she had been getting better about fangirling over the past year, but the way she was hovering now wasn't doing wonders for his mood. Seriously, he wasn't going to catch pneumonia from thirty minutes in the rain. (Which was the 120 miles from here to the house in Mystic Ruins and back. But still.)

"Sonic, are you sure you're not cold? Because it's almost dinner time anyway, so I could heat up some chicken noodle soup, or maybe chili soup? Or—"

"Amy. Stop. I'm fine." Sonic rolled his eyes as he leaned forward to place his mug on the single coaster on the table. "Besides, Tails isn't worrying himself sick over me." He then swung his bare feet over the arm of the couch and placed them next to his wet socks, gloves, and shoes on top of the humming radiator.

The aforementioned fox, who was sitting on floor, fiddling with half of a machine, looked at the two hedgehogs with an expression that was supposed to be gently admonishing. (It came out with a slight edge because of the lightning.) "Don't put your feet up there."

With a huff and an expression that was significantly drier than the weather outside, Sonic took his feet off the radiator and swung back into a normal sitting position. Immediately he missed the warmth that had been blowing through his toes, and he tugged the Spagonia University blanket tighter around his slight frame.

"See, you are cold. Now, if you would let me—"

"No."

"Well, actually," Tails interrupted again without looking up, "I'd like some chicken soup…"

"No problem, Tails." Amy sailed off to the kitchen, and soon there was the sound of the tap running.

Sonic huffed again, sliding lower into the couch as he did so. He glanced at his still sopping wet clothing on the radiator.

"Tails, did I leave any spares by any chance…?"

Tails looked up again. "You took your last pair the last time you were here, remember? I'd use the dryer, but it's kinda…" He gestured at the mess of parts lying on the carpet and table around him.

Sonic sighed. "Sorry, kiddo."

"It's not your fault. About the dryer, I mean. But what on Mobius were you thinking, going out into the weather like that?" His tone was scolding, but Tails followed it with a lopsided half-smile that made Sonic just a tad happier.

Then, with a loud FZZZTT!, they were plunged into darkness.

"Rrgh, where is that—?" There was the sound of fox toes hitting wood table legs. "Ouch—oh, here." With a click, the flashlight beam flooded the room. "Amy, stop screaming!"

She did, and the room was silent besides the rain pounding on the roof overhead.

"Right. The spare generator should kick in a moment…"

So saying, with a second, softer, SHH-FFZT, the lights returned, albeit at a much lower setting.

"Cool. Only took about five seconds this time," Sonic said.

Tails grinned sheepishly, raising a hand to rub the back of his head. "Eheh, yeah, I've been working on that since the last time…"

"Tails, could you turn the light on a little brighter in the kitchen?" Amy interrupted, poking her head into the room.

"Oh, sure. Just a sec." Tails walked to the door leading to the workshop itself below, put on his shoes, and began descending the stairs, the flashlight's beam and the low lighting casting his shadow about at strange angles. A few moments later, the lighting in the kitchen brightened and the rest of the upstairs dimmed.

Tails returned, now carrying the Miles Electric and a watch-like object. "I've been meaning to show you this, Sonic." He tossed the watch, and Sonic caught it with both hands.

Sonic examined the slim device, turning it over in his hands. It had a blank, black, circular face with a button on the right, and a blue strap with a yellow stripe running down it. "New wrist communicator, huh? Thought you scrapped 'em."

"I did. It's got a new operating system," Tails explained, pressing a button on the side of the communicator. The screen lit up with Tails's twin-tailed insignia.

"…So…?"

"So check this out." The names of the few contacts available appeared on the tiny screen, and Tails tapped "TAILS—MILES ELECTRIC". The screen shifted to two icons, with one of an old film roll and the other of a dial phone. He tapped the one with the film roll, and a moment later, the Miles Electric began beeping softly, displaying "SONIC" on the screen. He answered the call, and their two faces appeared on both the Miles Electric's screen and in miniature on the communicator's. "Hello," Tails called, and the communicator responded with the echo, "Hello, hello."

"Neat," Sonic hummed as Tails hung up the call. "And it can do all the normal communicating too?"

"Of course. That's the dial phone button."

Sonic fastened the communicator to his wrist, admired it, and gave a nod of approval. "Way past cool—"

"Tails!"

The two of them looked up to see Amy standing aghast in the doorway, using the chopping board as a tray for the three steaming bowls of soup. Sonic and Tails looked at each other.

"Ummm, yeah?"

Amy huffed. "Do I have to tell you everything? Clear this table! I refuse to eat with hair dryer parts strewn about all willy-nilly!"

Tails blinked in confusion but did not question her sudden bossiness, leaving for the workshop to get a box for the parts.

"You too, Sonic." Amy tsked. "It's like I know how to celebrate more than you two do."

Sonic grudgingly picked up his mug and coaster, set them in his lap, and shrugged. "I think he forgot. Again."

"Even with you dashing out? It's like you take turns forgetting! Why didn't you remind him?"

"Because his reaction is hilarious when he realizes it himself," Sonic snickered.

Amy rolled her eyes as she left the room to look for something suitable to use as a tablecloth.

In a few moments, Tails's "living room" had been converted into a makeshift dining area, complete with bottles of water, the three bowls of soup, and a "tablecloth" on the low table and pillows and blankets arranged like seats around it. Sonic licked his lips as he reached for his bowl (which of course happened to be blue with a red rim).

Tails blinked as he took in the sight and sat on Sonic's right. "…When was the last time you were here overnight, Amy?"

"I think around six years ago." Amy settled on the blankets on Sonic's other side. "You know, when we went after the Marauders?"

Lightning slashed across the sky, and thunder reverberated through the house, causing the windows and two-tailed genius to shiver.

"And now you're stuck here because of torrential rain. Great circumstances to visit," Sonic remarked around a mouthful of noodles.

Amy shrugged. "Well, at least they're peaceful circumstances this time. I can't really complain." She smiled adoringly at Sonic, causing him to scowl and Tails to laugh. "I'm here with you and Tails, Eggman's gone…"

"Speaking of…" At the mention of their adversary's moniker, Tails gained a pensive look. "I'm kind of… worried about him. I've been wondering if he's okay."

It took all of Sonic's willpower not to spit his soup all over the blankets.

"WHAT?"

"Not like THAT!" Tails waved his hands frantically upon seeing both hedgehogs' aghast faces. "I mean… It's been more than a year now, and we haven't heard a peep from him."

"We've had longer stretches of peacetime than that," Amy remarked, more concerned with worriedly watching Sonic as he gulped down an entire bottle of water.

"Yeah, I guess, but usually there's a 'mini-boss' or something by now to distract from his 'main plan', right? The last time there wasn't—"

"The Marauders came and kidnapped Knuckles and we had to chase 'em into another dimension while Egghead built up an armada so when we came back we had to fight him off… Which ended with me going up into space but then he split the planet and turned me into a werewolf-thing and then we had to put the planet back together and restore the Emeralds working day and night and I had to fight off Dark Gaia in the core of the planet," Sonic rattled off, listing each event on his fingers. "Yeah, I can see why you're worried."

"We had to carry you to the Tornado-1 after the welcome home party," Amy added teasingly. "And even then, you needed another 'adventure'…"

"What-? I can't make this stuff up! I'd never make myself king!"

"Right. Just like you didn't have fever dreams that sent you to the One Thousand and One Arabian Nights."

"It was real, Amy. I'd show you the ring, but I gave it back to Shahra in order to free her—"

"—Anyway!" Tails waved his hands as if to dissipate the tension in the air. "You know what I mean, right? I'm not saying we should attack him, per se—just start looking for him so we know where he's at. Maybe get an Emerald or two. Then we can be ready when he does attack."

"Sounds like a plan," Sonic hummed. "Surprise him, kinda." He glanced at Amy and grinned. "And speaking of surprises… I got one." He hopped to his feet and hummed a little tune as he strode away into the kitchen, looking almost kingly with the blanket fluttering behind him like a cape.

Tails frowned. "What's he talking about?"

Amy's smile became strained as she tried not to sigh. "Tails, what's today's date?"

"Um, November—"

Sonic burst into the room again, singing as he carried a small cake, decorated with a yin and yang sign colored blue and orange. "'Cuz we're friends for life—"

"—And together we stay," Tails finished, blue eyes wide. "Chaos, that was today? Why didn't you remind me?"

Sonic burst out laughing as Amy facepalmed with her free hand.

"Happy anniversary, kiddo."

"Sonic."

"Sonic."

"Sonic."

The hedgehog, who was all too comfortable sleeping on his side in that moment, grunted. "What."

"Wake up."

Grudgingly, Sonic cracked one eyelid open to see his twin-tailed brother peering over him, namesakes quivering slightly behind him. "Lightning?"

Tails nodded.

Sonic sighed and closed his eye again. "C'mere, then."

As he had done many times in years before, Tails crawled under Sonic's blanket and curled inward so he could rest his head on Sonic's chest. He wrapped his tails around both of them while Sonic wrapped his arms around the younger. Already, Tails's quaking lessened, almost to nothing.

Without opening his eyes, Sonic murmured into Tails's head fur, "You're getting too old for this."

"I've been eight for the past twenty-two years."

"You know what I mean."

He did.

"You said so yourself: you've changed a lot since you started hanging out with me. You can't rely on me forever."

This also was true—fifteen years ago he'd said that. And in those fifteen years, he knew he had continued to grow. Had even drifted apart from Sonic for a while after 2006—gone to university, built new planes, conducted research and made friends among his scientific fellows—up until 2010 when they went into space together and Tails almost returned alone. He'd thought that going their separate ways would be a good thing, but all it had taught him was that he didn't really want that between them.

He didn't need Sonic's reassurances at every turn anymore. Lightning he could handle. Eggman he could handle.

It was things like the black hole.

The Space Colony ARK pod.

That gaping wound in the steady chest he was resting on, because even if it was another timeline, it had happened.

These he could not handle, and though he'd known things would happen since he'd committed to being Player Two so many years ago, it was these, more than any amount of thunder and lightning, that caused him to quake in his brother's arms.

"Exactly," he murmured, but Sonic had already fallen back asleep.

A/N: Should I continue to post things like this, or are they better left in the scrap heap? Let me know!