The rain lightly pitter pattering outside, Sticks the Badger was slowly stirred from her sleep. It was still dark out, and at first, she assumed that some otherworldly force had removed the sun. However, she then realized that it was still nighttime, and something had woken her up. It certainly wasn't the rain, so…

Sitting up and looking around, Sticks quickly caught sight of the huddled form next to her; Knuckles. He was curled up and shaking slightly, his back facing her. Worried, she lifted her hands up and placed them on the echidna's arm, staring down at his face. He seemed very distressed.

"H-hey," she said, her voice unusually soft for what was expected from someone like her. She then shook him in an attempt to wake him up. Knuckles didn't seem to respond. He did, however, let out a small whimper. The whimper soon turned out to be quiet sobbing. He began to shake even more as he cried in his sleep. Sticks jumped at the sobbing, then slowly crawled over to Knuckles' other side, placing her hands on his cheeks.

"Knuckles… Knuckles!" she called out, this time a little more loudly.

Knuckles began to stir. After a few moments, his eyes fluttered open. His face was stained with tears.

"Wh-wha… Sticks?"

Sticks frowned at him. "What happened? You were shakin' for a while," she asked, looking around around warily as if she expected some sort of spirit to have possessed him in his sleep.

"I-it's nothing…" Knuckles said nervously. His eyes shifted around, avoiding Sticks' gaze. "Don't…don't worry about it…"

Sticks frowned more sternly, getting a little in Knuckles' face. "You're lying." She poked his cheek in disapproval. "You're not hiding something from me, are you?" she asked.

"H-hiding something? No way!" Knuckles laughed nervously. "Everything's… f-fine…" His voice shook as he spoke. It sounded like he might cry again.

Sticks frowned, then wrapped her arms around the echidna's waist. "Don't you lie to me," she murmured, her voice lacking its original sternness.

Knuckles sighed. "Okay… I-I…I was having a bad dream. B-but I'm a tough guy, I can… handle i-it…" His vision began to blur as fresh tears formed in his eyes.

Sticks saddened, her ears flopping down at the sight. She thought for a moment, then stood up and reached above Knuckles' head, making strange hand gestures.

"Wh-what are you doing?" Knuckles asked. He sniffled, wiping at the tears in his eyes.

Sticks looked at him. "I'm banishing the bad thoughts surrounding you," she said, continuing to make the weird hand gestures, looking like she had no idea what she was doing.

Knuckles couldn't help but crack a small, sad smile at that. "Thanks, but I'm not sure that's going to make my bad thoughts go away."

Sticks frowned, sitting back down. "Then what happened?" She held his hand. "Did the government take over in your dream?"

"No, nothing like that," Knuckles replied. "I, um…well…ever have those dreams about things that actually happened? Like…bad things?"

Sticks was silent for a moment, then nodded her head. "Yeah. What about it?" she asked, raising a brow.

Knuckles sighed. "I was dreaming about…p-people calling me stupid and stuff…I tried to prove I wasn't, but…I just kept messing everything up…"

He hung his head low. "Maybe they're right…" Tears trailed down his cheeks.

Sticks' ears perked and that, and she quickly grabbed Knuckles' hands in her own. "Who said that? Who told you that!? I'll pound 'em!" she said, her voice nearly cracking from the intensity of her tone.

"A lot of people…" Knuckles sniffled. "I guess people have always been saying that about me."

Sticks let out a small gasp, then shook Knuckles a bit. "You better not be including me in that! What do they know anyway!?" She nearly screamed that, hating to see her boyfriend feeling like this. "Know what I say? They're the stupid ones, not you! We save the day all the time and no one'll give you the credit you deserve! It makes me so—!"

She paused, panting slightly from how emotional she was getting. She was silent for a moment, then softened her expression, her ears drooping down slightly as she pressed her body against Knuckles' chest.

"…You're not stupid, ya dummy…"

"Th-thanks, Sticks." Knuckles wrapped his arms around her in a hug. He let out the sobs he'd been trying to hold back. "Wh-why do I—" he hiccuped from crying so hard, then resumed, "Why d-do I always get so hurt by it? I-I'm supposed to be… the tough g-guy…"

Sticks grunted and lightly punched his arm. "You are tough, but no one can be tough all the time…"

She looked around, almost warily, then stood up and leaned close. "Even me," she whispered, as if she had just revealed the biggest secret in the world. She then licked one of his tears away and gave him a slightly awkward smile, hoping that she could succeed in reassuring him. She didn't believe that she was good at comforting others, as Amy always avoided the subject when she asked.

"Th-thanks, Sticks." Knuckles wiped his tears with one hand, then resumed hugging his girlfriend. "I don't know where I'd be without you."

Sticks put a hand to her chin. "Wouldn't you still be here? I'm not the one who found you in the first place and—" She paused, blushing lightly as she caught Knuckles' meaning, then hugged him back, letting out what almost seemed like a purring noise from the echidna's warm embrace.

"Thanks, Sticks. I feel a lot better now." Knuckles lightly kissed Sticks on her head. "I love you."

Sticks blushed a bit. If they were in public, she would've been a lot more disapproving of the gesture, but when they were alone, she had to admit that it was really nice. She could actually relax when he held her and not get all held up on her conspiracies.

"Y-yeah, I love you too," she said softly, relaxing against him.

After a while, Knuckles yawned. His eyelids felt heavy as his sleepiness caught up to him. "Well, I think we should get some sleep."

Sticks nodded, feeling tired herself, even more so since she lived out in nature for so long and found the sound of the rain outside to be relaxing because of it. "You'll be alright?" she asked. "I'm not gonna leave you to fight bad dreams on your own," she muttered, lightly poking his chest. "I'm staying right here."

"I'll be fine as long as you're here," Knuckles replied with a smile. He laid back down and got nice and comfy, then snuggled closer to Sticks.

Sticks let out a content hum, then snuggled back and slowly drifted off to sleep.

Knuckles gently kissed her cheek.

"Goodnight," he whispered. Then, he too fell asleep. This time, instead of nightmares, his dreams were happy and peaceful.