Tag 55 – The Mobius 5000
Title: Unwelcome Gratitude

"Thank you again, Sonic. Really, I hardly know what to say. If Robotnik had shut down the orphanage . . ."

"Don't mention it." Sonic grinned, and the orphanage matron's grateful smile grew a little. "Car or not, what's a race to me? I'd be lying if I said it was trouble. Heck, it was fun."

"Well, all the same, I still wish there was something I could do to repay you." The orphanage matron fell silent for a moment, and a pensive look crossed her face as she looked away. Sonic followed her gaze to see that she was watching Tails and a group of orphans around his age as they kicked a ball around. "You know, actually . . ."

"What?"

"If you wanted . . ." The orphanage matron looked back at him, and Sonic met her gaze with a raised eyebrow. "It would really be no trouble for me, really, especially seeing as how he's such a sweet boy—"

"Ma'am, you know I'm doing my best to be polite here, but I don't have all day . . ." Sonic interrupted, and tapped his foot a few times to accentuate the point. The orphanage matron laughed, though her laugh sounded a little nervous.

"Right. Of course. Well, I was only saying, I know what a busy life you lead, how hectic and often times dangerous it is, and so I was thinking—if you wanted to find Tails a safer place to stay, to grow up-we would accept him with open arms."

Sonic stopped tapping his foot. In fact, he stilled altogether, and it was if he was buried beneath the avalanche again, for how much his veins felt like ice. "What?"

"It's only that, you know, he is a little boy, and while you aren't a child you are only about fifteen yourself—"

"I'm sixteen," Sonic said, and the ice in his veins was starting to give way to fire, his heart pumping faster. The orphanage matron nodded fervently.

"Right, sixteen, but you are still so young, and we don't normally allow most to adopt until they're eighteen, and even then that's only in very special, select circumstances—"

"I'm going to adopt Tails when I turn eighteen," Sonic said, and he didn't want to be rough with her-didn't want to be cold, even though his temper was starting to heat up-but he couldn't help his tone. "Officially." The orphanage matron gave him an uncertain smile.

"That does sound like a plan, but in the meantime—I don't mean to be offensive, Sonic, I truly don't, but I know it can't be easy for you, taking such a young child on your journeys, and it can't be easy for Tails, either. What do you do for steady meals? Steady lodgings? What about when he falls ill? And before we spoke to you about needing the money for the orphanage, I know you were in a bar, and if I'm not mistaken from what I saw through the window it looked as though you were having him help you hustle pool—"

"So? What's wrong with a little game between bros?"

"Sonic, he's four—"

"Five."

"—and hustling pool is illegal."

"It's only illegal if you gamble for money, and we weren't. We were betting on lunch."

The orphanage matron sighed. "I know this can't be easy to hear, but it was just a suggestion, and I just thought that—if I could help—"

"You can help by ending this conversation," Sonic said, and the orphanage matron flinched. A little bit of guilt wormed its way through Sonic, but he ignored it. "Look, lady, I get that you're just trying to be nice, but I'm not gonna leave Tails at your orphanage. That's never gonna happen. What kind of brother would I be if I did that, huh?"

The orphanage matron opened her mouth to respond, yet then closed it again. After a moment she said, "Well, the offer stands if you ever want to consider it."

Sonic stared at her unhappily for a second before he turned away. "Yeah. Okay. Tails!"

Tails looked up, the ball sailing away from his kick, the other orphans rushing after it. "Yeah, Sonic?"

"We're leaving." Sonic bolted to him and grabbed his wrist, and before Tails had a chance to say goodbye to the other orphans, they were long gone.