The Underground Game – a 50 Phrases collection


"We all need a little trauma"

DISCLAIMER: I am technically cheating because I haven't finished anything for this story since the last post. I have, however, written stuff for real life, and mostly finished 44, except I think I'm going to rewrite it. Aleena wants to keep rambling and Sonic's clearly over the conversation, so I'm going to destroy it. Mwuahaha.


When Tails had been younger, it hadn't been that unusual for Sonic to wake up with a body curled against his side. He hadn't really minded, and on the rare occasion it happened these days—usually because of an electrical storm—he just grumbled to himself and lifted an arm for Tails to curl under.

So when he woke up, not immediately remembering the night before, to feel a warm body curled against his, his first thought was that Tails was probably starting to get a bit old for this. Not because Sonic had a problem with it, personally, but eight was kinda getting there.

His second thought was that he shouldn't comment, given the position of his arm, and that his head was resting against…

It trailed off there, as his fingers twitched against the head on his shoulder and realised it wasn't fur he was feeling.

Slowly, as he opened his eyes and lifted his head, the day before began filtering back. The fight with Eggman, the explosion, the dinner afterward, hanging out on the couch with Tails and Amy to talk it all out… falling asleep with…

Amy was still out. Her headband was missing, and Sonic vaguely remembered dropping it over the side of the couch because it was digging into his cheek. Why he didn't mind her ear still tickling his lips, on the other hand, was apparently a different matter.

Whatever. Sonic really wasn't one for a whole lot of self-analysis.

So he didn't question it when his hand gently smoothed down her quills a few times, or the soft smile he could feel on his face. He carefully untangled his left foot from her right and began pulling himself out. When she mumbled, jostled by his movement, he paused and lifted his free hand to gently support her head. If his thumb slid across her cheek a few times, a little unnecessarily, as he pulled his other arm free, he didn't notice it.

In the same way, later, he didn't remember brushing his hand down her arm and smiling at her sleeping face before heading out and down to the kitchen.

Tails was already at the table, drinking coffee and eating a plate full of bacon. Sonic raised an eyebrow.

"Aren't you a little young to be drinking that stuff?" he asked, snagging a piece of bacon as he walked past.

"Don't you find it a little weird, a hedgehog eating bacon?" he shot back lazily.

"You'll stunt your growth."

"I'll still end up taller than you."

That one actually made Sonic falter when he reached the fridge, because it was disgustingly true. Between the fact he was a hedgehog—naturally small and all that—and his lousy eating patterns when he was a kid, he was pretty sure that at fifteen and a metre tall, he'd gotten as tall as he was going to be. Tails, on the other hand… He huffed out a sigh and ignored Tails' snickering as he pulled out the orange juice.

"You're up early," he noted eventually. "Don't usually see you before ten."

"Yeah, I couldn't sleep. Still jazzed from yesterday," he said with a shrug. "I gave up a few hours ago and started working on some projects."

"Fair enough." He sat down opposite him and grabbed another piece of bacon. Tails frowned at it, but he still had a few more pieces, so he just pulled his plate a little further away and didn't say anything.

Until he suddenly smirked, and Sonic raised his eyebrows. "What?"

"I might've had trouble sleeping, but you sure didn't."

He blinked, then tried not to blush as he realised what Tails was getting at. "Um."

"Thought you didn't like Amy like that."

"I don't," he said immediately. "I don't know what you're getting at."

"Mmhm…"

"What?" he demanded. "You sleep next to me all the time and it's nothing."

Tails lifted his mug and rested his chin on the back of his hands, still grinning.

"Seriously, Tails, get over it," he said, and buried himself in his orange juice, refusing to look at him anymore. "It's nothing."

"I've been thinking," he said, as if changing the topic, "that you could totally run away from Amy any time you wanted."

He shifted to the side in his chair, pretending to ignore him.

"You dodge bullets and lasers all the time, but you can't get away from one little girl? Mm… kind of weird, for all your complaining." He leaned forward a little, his canines glinting in the morning light. "Knuckles always says you string her along…"

"C'mon, Tails, Amy's my friend, I'm not going to disappear every time she shows up," he said, but Tails' smile didn't even twitch.

"So you don't like it when she glomps you?"

"Of course not. It's practically physical assault," he said firmly. "That's why I do the run around."

"Morning!"

They both jumped and watched Amy walk into the kitchen, surprised. She just smiled at Tails, then jumped forward to grab Sonic around the shoulders in a tight hug. "I slept sooo well, how about you?"

He grunted, then groaned when she kissed his cheek before letting go. He swiped at it with the back of his glove, but when he looked back at Tails, he realised his friend was only grinning wider, and then noticed the small smile pulling at the corner of his own lips.

He hesitated, then shrugged and went back to his orange juice. "What? We all need a little trauma."

Tails just snorted and went back to his bacon.


This is a challenge to myself, inspired by my friend Jkateel, who told me to stop complaining about how I can't write anything and just do it.

And so, at least once a week, I will write a fic based around one of the 50 phrases. I will post it, whether I like it or not (so sorry for the spam). And to further force myself, I'm going to say it will be in my head canon of Sonic Underground merged with the Sonic games, because that's a canon that's stayed with me for years, so it's not like I'll lose interest.

I'm not actually doing it on LiveJournal because for one, I can't find the community again, and for another, I don't think I'm actually matching the rules. I just copied down the challenges once and still have it.

No restrictions on length. It does not need to have a point. Just a story or a thought. And the phrase, of course.

Because fanfic should be about fun, not whether it's fabulous or not.

Also, as always, calm down shippers, this does not reflect my stance on any of Sonic's potential love interests anywhere but the games. Including Underground. Keep breathing, people.