Sonic chuckled as he gripped the joystick in his head, his upper body hanging upside-down on his hammock; extra challenge, he figured.
He paused, then looked at the time. "Oh, Egghead's scheduled to attack in a little bit. That'll be fun," he muttered, a bit of sarcasm in his voice.
Ah well. I'll enjoy this while it lasts.
Suddenly, there was a thud just outside his hut. Followed by a familiar voice groaning.
Sonic jerked his head over at the sound. He paused the game, then got up and sped outside.
"…Knuckles?"
Knuckles shook his head, his eyes seeming a bit unfocused. "I, uh…" He chuckled sheepishly. "Hi."
Sonic raised a brow, then helped Knuckles up, noticing that his eyes seemed to have a different tint to them. "What happened to you? You're even clumsier than usual," he said with an amused smirk.
"A-am I?" Knuckles replied, smiling nervously. "I-it's nothing…" He realized he was squinting and quickly tried to hide it.
Sonic frowned, crossing his arms. "Knux, y'know you're a bad liar, right?" he asked.
Knuckles sighed, staring down at the ground. "Yeah, you're right…"
"Just tell me what's up," Sonic told him. "What, have you been playin' with the Spinning Blades of Death again?" he asked. "I thought Tails took that thing apart…"
Knuckles hesitated. "My…my contacts expired," he mumbled, clearly embarrassed.
"You wear contacts?" Sonic asked, not knowing the fact. "Y'never told me…"
"Oh… I-I guess I didn't…" Knuckles sighed. "I guess I was just too embarrassed to have everyone find out that I can't see very well."
Sonic shrugged. "It's no big deal to me," he said. He then thought of something. "Hey, wait. Don't you have a pair of glasses or something?"
"Yeah…" Knuckles replied. "But I don't really like having to wear them when it's all the time. They make me look silly!"
Sonic tilted his head. "Is that all you're worried about? That you'll look 'silly'?" he asked. "You look sillier bumping into stuff and falling over." He didn't say it, but he was very concerned for Knuckles' safety. The guy could take a beating, but that didn't mean Sonic wanted him constantly injuring himself, even if unintentionally.
"I know, but…" Knuckles trailed off, sighing.
However, unknown to both of them, they were being watched.
"That gives me an idea…" Eggman said thoughtfully, stroking his mustache and grinning evilly. He knew just what he'd do when he attacked today.
Sonic frowned. "You don't really think any of us care if ya have to start wearing glasses, do you?"
"Well…" Knuckles hesitated. "I guess I thought you guys would laugh at me or something."
Before Sonic could respond, however, the sound of the Egg Mobile could be heard nearby.
Sonic jerked his head over, getting into a ready stance. "Here to lose, Eggface?" he asked in a mocking tone.
"Oh, but I believe I have an advantage over you this time!" Eggman boasted. "Behold…"
As he spoke, several robots walked onto the scene. However, they were quite different from his other robots. Instead of the red color that most of his bots were, these were blue; almost the same blue as Sonic. They were all roughly his size as well.
"Robots, attack!" Eggman commanded.
"Well, they're a nicer color, I'll give 'em that," Sonic joked before promptly spindashing into one of the robots.
Knuckles ran over towards the action and began punching the robots.
Unfortunately, due to his bad vision, he found that he was unable to tell the difference between the robots and Sonic. He realized this when his fist came in contact with something that definitely wasn't a robot.
"YEE-OUCH, GEEZ!"
Sonic backed away from Knuckles and placed a hand on his forehead, where he'd been punched.
Knuckles quickly realized what had happened.
"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry!" He rushed over to Sonic, following the sound of his voice. "Are you okay?" he asked worriedly.
"Y-yeah, fine, just…" Sonic grunted, staring around at the robots. "go sit this one out, alright? You're in no condition to fight like this and I can handle things myself."
He quickly sped away from Knuckles, spindashing a few of the robots.
Knuckles wanted to protest, but he realized Sonic was right. Sighing, he walked away from the battle, his head and shoulders slumping. He sat down some distance away.
After a while, Sonic had trashed all of Eggman's minions, giving a slight roll of the eyes to the doctor. "So, same time tomorrow?" he asked, smirking confidently.
Eggman growled. "I'll get you next time!" And with that, he flew off.
Sonic quickly turned his attention to Knuckles, walking over. "You okay, bud?" he asked, trying to ignore the intense stinging sensation in his forehead.
"Y-yeah." Knuckles sighed sadly. "Sorry, I didn't mean to punch you."
"I know," Sonic assured. "…Still think you can manage without your glasses?"
Knuckles was silent for a moment.
"B-but they look so goofy on me…" he mumbled.
"No they don't," Sonic argued.
He placed a hand behind his head, becoming a little sheepish. "I mean, I like it when you wear 'em…"
Knuckles was surprised. "Y-you do?"
Sonic shied his head away at Knuckles gaze. "W-well, yeah. I mean, it's not too much of a difference, but… your eyes have this deeper purple color without your contacts and it's… uh…" He grinned weakly. "…nice."
Knuckles blushed lightly. "R-really?"
Sonic placed his hands behind his head, feeling somewhat uncomfortable with the conversation. "Y-yeah, really!"
"So, u-um…" Knuckles reached into his hammerspace and pulled out his glasses, putting them on. "This… doesn't look silly?"
Sonic tried to hide his blush. "Y'don't look silly at all, Knux. You're fine."
Knuckles was also trying to hide a blush. "You…you really think so?"
Sonic hated repeating himself, as it just made him more flustered. "Yeah, I really think so…"
Knuckles blushed a little more. "Heh, th-thanks."
However, he took the glasses off. "They're kinda dirty though," he explained. "I'll need to clean them before I can wear them."
Then he remembered something. "Oh, right; how's your head?"
Sonic grinned weakly. "Ah, don't worry about it. It'll heal."
He placed a hand to the wound to rub it, but quickly retracted it, letting out a sharp hissing noise from the pain.
Knuckles frowned sadly. "Here, I'll make it all better."
He gently grabbed Sonic's head and leaned in, intending to give his wound a kiss.
However, his heart nearly stopped when he realized that he'd misaimed.
Sonic's eyes went wide, feeling Knuckles' lips against his own. His heart skipped a beat, and his mind was racing with a thousand thoughts. Why did he do that? Was it on purpose, or just his vision fooling him? Why…
…why was he enjoying it so much…
"M-mm…" He tried to pull away, but his body wasn't listening to him anymore, opting to wrap an arm around Knuckles and pull him closer. The other arm went up to gently cup the echidna's cheek, while Sonic's half-lidded emerald eyes were locked on Knuckles' deep purple ones.
Knuckles' face was flushed in embarrassment. But then he felt Sonic pulling him closer, and became confused.
…wait…is he…okay with this?
His face flushed even more as it finally sank in that he was kissing Sonic the Hedgehog.
Sonic didn't know where to go from there, so he just ended up holding the kiss. He knew that his face was probably bright red, but that wasn't his focus at the moment.
He was much more focused on the adorable red echidna in front of him, who was far too self-conscious about those glasses of his. If Sonic had been fully honest with him, he would've said that the glasses made him look absolutely cute, but his pride held him back; it simply wasn't his style.
Knuckles' face had turned even redder than he ever thought possible. He'd always had a bit of a crush on Sonic, but never would he have imagined that he'd get to kiss him like this–and have him be seemingly fine with it. He reached over and pinched himself, wondering if he was dreaming.
He wasn't.
Sonic pulled away slightly and smirked amusedly. "You're not dreamin', Knux," he confirmed.
Knuckles' face was still all red. For a moment, he was too stunned to speak. Then he cleared his throat.
"I-I, um… sorry, I guess I kinda misaimed there." He chuckled sheepishly.
Sonic's smirk widened. "I noticed."
He paused, then blushed sheepishly and looked away. "I-if anyone asks, I kissed you first."
"Huh?" Knuckles tilted his head. "Why?"
Sonic's blush reddened as he crossed his arms. "W-well, 'cause I've got my pride on the line. I can't have anyone thinking that you had more guts than I did."
"W-what do you mean?" Knuckles asked. Did he dare to hope…?
Sonic stared at him with an embarrassed pout. "D-don't make me say it…"
"S-say what?"
There's no way that can be what he means, Knuckles thought to himself. Don't get your hopes up, dude.
Sonic mentally sighed. "…Gimme a sec."
He sped off, leaving Knuckles alone for a few minutes, then came back, holding a rose out to the echidna. He shyly scratched his cheek and averted his gaze. "Does this answer your question?"
Knuckles would've blushed if his face wasn't already red. "I-is… that for me?"
"Don't see any other good-lookin' echidnas around here," Sonic replied quietly, smiling a little more genuinely.
Knuckles didn't think he could become any more flustered, but that did it. He hid his face in his hands, making a noise that sounded like a mix between a whimper and a giggle.
"Y-you think I'm 'good looking'?" he asked softly.
Sonic chuckled. "'Course I do! Wouldn't say it if it wasn't true."
Knuckles continued to make his whimper-giggle sound. "S-stop it…" he protested, though he was betrayed by a small smile forming on his face.
"Hey, you asked," Sonic said with a small grin, putting his hands up in 'defense'.
Knuckles couldn't take it anymore. "I-I have a crush on you!" he blurted out.
Real smooth, dude…
Sonic's ears perked, his blush returning at the sudden confession.
"H-heh, same from me to you, Knux," he admitted, though he imagined that it was already obvious.
That didn't sound nearly as cool as I'd hoped.
Knuckles' heart skipped a beat. "R-really?"
Suddenly, he rushed forward and went to hug Sonic. However, due to his bad eyesight, he misaimed slightly and ended up knocking them both over onto the ground, the red echidna landing on top of the blue hedgehog.
Sonic let out a small yelp, then looked up at Knuckles with an embarrassed smile.
"Careful, bud. We better get those glasses clean as soon as we can," he suggested.
Knuckles laughed sheepishly. "Yeah, you're probably right."
"I'll support you until then."
Sonic got up with Knuckles, then held a hand out to him. "Just hold onto my hand."
"O-okay." Knuckles shyly took Sonic's hand, blushing again. "What about your head though?"
"I'll be fine," Sonic assured. "'Sides, if it hadn't happened, we wouldn't be doing this right now, would we?"
Knuckles cracked a smile. "Heh, I guess you're right."
"So that makes it okay, okay?" Sonic asked, gripping Knuckles' hand a little tighter.
Knuckles squeezed Sonic's hand gently. "Okay."
The two then headed off; off to both clean Knuckles' glasses off and kiss some more... maybe not in that order.