The building was quiet and dark. It was almost four in the morning, and everyone had gone home hours ago. Well, almost everyone.
Christopher Thorndyke was busy typing away at a computer in his lab, running tests on the device he had been tirelessly working on for the past several months. He had felt perpetually on the eve of a breakthrough and had barely allowed himself rest, but he kept assuring himself it would be worth it once the portal was up and running.
Once he could see him again...
It had been six years since he'd last seen Sonic the Hedgehog. Six years to learn and grow. Six years to improve himself. But most importantly of all, it was six years that gave him a chance to think about what Sonic meant to him.
Back then he was just a child, and didn't understand friendship or relationships very well, let alone illogical things like...
"I knew I'd find you here, Chris," he was broken from his thoughts by a voice from the door, which made him realise he'd been blankly staring into space and reminiscing instead of actually doing any work for some time, "honestly, you're gonna work yourself to death one of these days."
Chris turned and saw his friend and co-worker Helen staring at him disapprovingly from the doorway as she drove her wheelchair into the room.
"A-ah, well, you know..." Chris scratched the back of his head and looked off to the side. He had repeatedly promised Helen that he'd lay off of work and focus on rest, so he felt a bit bad for all the all-nighters he'd been pulling. But he was so close...
"You aren't ever gonna finish this project if you don't take care of yourself," Helen scolded him tiredly with a sigh, pinching the bridge of her nose as she pulled up in front of him, "I know you're eager to see Sonic again, but do you think he'd be happy to see you stumble into his world exhausted and filled with more caffeine than actual bodily fluids?"
Chris glanced at the fifteen styrofoam cups that Helen was eyeing critically. He had been planning on leaving them in various garbage cans so she wouldn't see how much coffee he'd drunk, but that plan was shot.
Ultimately, he knew he had no defense. He knew he should be pacing himself, logically. He knew that he did better work when he was rested, logically. He knew that he might even finish the portal to Sonic's world faster if he took his time, logically. But some things just weren't logical...
"I know, I know..." Chris sighed, which turned into a yawn and him rubbing his eyes, "ugh, I'm more tired than I thought."
"Then you should go home and sleep," Helen said slowly, making sure Chris' sleep-deprived and coffee-addled brain could keep up, "come on, I'll drive you."
Chris sighed and shakily stood up, knowing that there was no point arguing in the moment. Definitely not when he was extremely tired and also on the wrong side of things. So instead he just followed Helen to her car and got into the passenger seat. His thoughts were entirely focused on that blue hedgehog from his past however.
"Want me to go fast?" Helen asked with a grin, noting the slight burst of energy in Chris' eyes at the mention of speed, "heheh, just kidding, put your seatbelt on."
Chris grumbled and buckled himself in as he realised he was being teased.
"It's not nice to mess with me when my brain isn't working right," Chris insisted with a frown, "my mind is wandering and I can't argue back right now."
Helen chuckled as she pulled out onto the road. While she definitely would prefer her friend find a healthy work-life balance, she was appreciating getting to mess with her friend while he wasn't able to snap back with any attitude.
The two of them let silence hang in the air for a while as Helen drove. It was late, and it was quiet, letting the two stew in their thoughts next to each other. After a few minutes Helen sighed and spoke in a gentle tone.
"You know, things really will go more smoothly if you keep rested," she said with a slightly pained look, "I know you already know this, but..."
"I..." Chris took a steadying breath, "I know, logically, that it's true, I really do, but..."
"But," Helen said with a sigh as she glanced over to him, "love isn't logical, right?"
Chris blushed and squirmed in his seat. He had trouble even saying it in his thoughts, but Helen could just blurt it out whenever.
He still didn't feel used to the idea, even though he'd worked out his feelings for Sonic years ago. They were feelings he couldn't possibly understood as a child, but as he grew he knew. It was love. And it was love that pushed him even know to try and meet the hedgehog he loved so dearly.
"I need to tell him." Chris said, repeating something he'd said many times over the years, "even if he doesn't feel the same way, I need to see him and tell him how important he is to me."
"Yeah yeah,. loverboy," Helen said with a warm smile, "just remember, it's been six years so for all you know he could be tangled up in something already."
"I know that!" Chris snapped back with a blush, "a-and I know better than to say anything if it's like that but..."
He trailed off, his hands clenched in his lap as his blush deepened.
"Buuut~?" Helen asked teasingly, though she already had heard him out on the subject many times before.
"But... I'm a man now," Chris said decisively, "I'm an adult, and so is Sonic, it's been six years and now that we're all grown up I can finally express my feelings to him!
"Man to hedgehog, no matter what the end result is," Chris continued, "I'll lay it all out honestly so I can have no regrets!"
Helen held back a chuckle at her friend's earnestness. It was pretty adorable how dead-set he was on confessing to Sonic.
She sighed wistfully as her own mind wandered and she glanced up at the stars.
Love really was truly illogical.