Trip Trip Fall In Love

by BambixRonno

Scourge finds himself trapped in a cave (which, for the record, was totally not his fault) with Sonic - a version of him, at least - and now they need to find a way out without killing each other. It's surprisingly easy, considering this Sonic is a dick. Fleetway (Sonic the Comic) Sonic/Scourge, pre relationship

"This is all your fault."

"My fault? How is it my fault?"

"You're the one who caused the cave-in by spindashing those rocks! How is this not your fault?"

"You dragged us in here to hide from the guards instead of letting me kick their asses. What was I supposed to do?"

"I wouldn't have had to do that if you hadn't provoked the guards after I told you to leave them alone!"

"I didn't see you coming up with a better plan-"

"A plan we wouldn't even need if you didn't need me to bust you out of there! Aren't you a criminal? You should know how to break out of handcuffs by now."

"Well I'm sorry for not keeping a saw up my ass at all times, Mr. Vibrates Outta The Cuffs. Who the fuck decides to vibrate their hands to break out of cuffs?"

"It worked, didn't it? You're just pissy because you didn't think of it."

Scourge scowled, even though Sonic couldn't see it in the darkness. He was mad he didn't think of it, but like hell he'd admit it.

"Well, if you hadn't-"

"Don't try to pin this on me when you were the one who-"

"That flamingo came outta nowhere!"

"Just shut up and help me find a way out."

"Shut up and help me find a way out," Scourge mocked under his breath, feeling along the rocky wall. "Look at me, I'm Sonic the Hedgehog and I have a stupid accent and say shit like 'chewsday' and 'schewpid' and-"

Something caught his ankle, and he fell forward with a yelp, banging his head against the ground.

"Watch your step."

"Did you just trip me?"

"Of course not," Sonic said, sounding exactly like someone who'd just tripped someone else and wasn't the slightest bit ashamed. "You must have tripped over a rock."

Scourge wasn't sure whether to be impressed or offended at the audacity. Not many people had the balls to trip the (ex) King of Moebius and lie to his face about it.

He'd just pushed himself up when a foot collided with his torso.

"Ow!"

"Was that you?"

"No, it was the fucking tooth fairy - yes it was me!"

"Sorry. That one wasn't on purpose. I didn't know where you were."

A hand awkwardly patted his ear, then his face.

"What the fuck are you doing?"

"Trying to help you up."

"How does hitting my face help me up?"

"I'm trying to find your arm. And I'm not hitting you. Give me your hand."

"I don't need your help." Scourge shoved Sonic's hand away and pulled himself back up. He took one step forward, tripped again, and knocked over Sonic on his way down.

"Ow."

"Fuck."

"I didn't do that, that time. It was actually a rock."

"... Please tell me I'm lying on your leg."

"You're lying on my leg. Now get off before you break it. You're heavy."

Scourge pushed himself up onto his feet for the third time, dusting himself off and not bothering to offer to help Sonic up. If he got out of here and found out his jacket was dirty because Sonic decided to be a dick, he was going to kill him.

"Any other rocks I should know about?"

"Dunno. If there are, I'm sure you'll find them. You seem to have a talent for it."

"Ha ha, aren't you a fucking comedian- what the hell are you doing?"

This time Sonic's hand patted his chest, then his shoulder, then slid down to curl around Scourge's wrist.

"Holding onto you," Sonic said. He almost sounded exasperated, like it was obvious what he was doing and Scourge was just trying to irritate him, instead of asking a perfectly reasonable question, because seriously, what the fuck. "Because if one of us trips again and the other doesn't realise, we'll get separated, and that's the last thing we want in here."

"Aww, is the big brave hero scared of being alone in the dark, spooky cave? How cute," Scourge cooed. "Do you want me to hold your hand so you don't get lost?"

"I can and will leave you in here to rot."

"No you won't. You're too much of a goody two shoes."

"Keep that up and I won't be."

"Sure, keep tellin' yourself that."

They continued to walk through the cave, stumbling blindly in the dark. Scourge did trip one or two times, but so did Sonic, and neither of them fell again, so Scourge considered it a victory. Their footsteps echoed through the cave as they walked, the only indication they were still together besides the firm grip around Scourge's wrist. They didn't speak, which was fine by him. This Sonic was still a talker, but he was a lot less chatty than Prime Sonic, and he appreciated the lack of mindless small talk that existed solely to fill the silence.

The hand around his wrist suddenly jerked backwards, nearly pulling him over before it let go. He heard Sonic stumble away and waited almost eagerly for the thud of him tripping over his own feet and falling to the ground. Sadly, he was left waiting.

"What now?"

"Something touched my face."

"Like, an animal, or-?"

"I don't know. A web, I guess. Probably a spider web."

Scourge squinted through the darkness. He could barely make out Sonic's form, never mind make out his face. "You nearly pulled me over because of a spider web?"

"I wasn't expecting to run into one!"

A small smirk crept onto Scourge's face. Sonic's voice was high, almost defensive. Unusual for the "my only emotions are arrogant and irritated" bastard.

"You're not scared of spiders, are you?"

"No!"

"You are!"

"No I'm not! I just don't like them!"

"Uh huh. Sure." This time it was Scourge who reached out to Sonic, flinging an arm around his shoulder and leaning on him. "I totally believe you. They don't bother you at all, right? Crawling over your shoulder so you don't notice them until they're right by your face, with their hairy legs and giant eight eyes and nasty fangs full of poison…"

Sonic shivered. It was a tiny shiver, but there all the same.

"Aww, don't worry, Blue. I'll protect you from the big, bad spiders."

"For the last time, I'm not scared of-"

Scourge pushed him hard into the spider webs.

A shrill shriek rang through the cave, quickly accompanied by Scourge's laughter. He could faintly see Sonic flailing wildly at nothing, stumbling to get away. He wheezed, bending over and resting his hands on his thighs. Sonic's shrieks were glorious, easily the best thing he'd heard since arriving in this dimension, and he wished more than anything he could see his face right now. He was never going to let him live this down. Watching him freak out over spider webs was the funniest thing he'd seen since-

Sonic knocked into him in his attempt to get away, and Scourge, who hadn't been ready for a screeching, flailing hedgehog to crash into him, fell over. For the third time that day, he hit the ground, pain shooting through his back. A heavy weight collapsing on top of him followed, punching the air out of his lungs, and smacking another head against his.

Both hedgehogs laid there, stunned. Scourge's head dully ached from being whacked against both the ground and the side of Sonic's head, and quills poked at his chest. Sonic's weight pinned him to the floor, digging the rocks into his throbbing back.

For a long moment, neither of them spoke.

Then, a snicker. Then another. And then Scourge was howling with laughter all over again.

"It's not funny!" Sonic snapped, scrambling to get up.

Scourge couldn't get himself to respond. Every time he tried to start a sentence, it dissolved into another peal of laughter. Without Sonic crushing his lungs, he gasped noisily for air between laughs, and it was breathy and ridiculous, but he didn't care. Sonic was ranting, but he couldn't hear the words over his howls. Tears streamed down his face, and his cheeks felt flushed and hot. He laughed harder than he had in years, slapping his hands on his thighs, entire body shaking with the force of his laughs. When he finally managed to pull himself together and push himself up into a sitting position, his chest was aching, he had a stitch in his side, and his cheeks hurt from smiling so wide.

"Are you done?" Sonic asked, and that nearly set Scourge off all over again.

"Fuck," he gasped, clutching his stomach and wiping his eyes, a stray chuckle still escaping every now and then. He could feel Sonic glaring at him. "Oh, fuck, just gimme… fucking hell, hold on-"

He reached into his jacket and pulled out a lighter from one of the inside pockets, flicking it on and holding it out until he could see Sonic's unimpressed stare. He was scowling down at him, arms folded over his chest. He was trying to be intimidating, but it looked more like he was pouting than anything. It was almost endearing. Laughter bubbled up in Scourge's throat again, but he managed to keep it down.

"You had a lighter this whole time?" Sonic demanded. "You mean we could've been using that instead of stumbling around in the dark and walking into spider webs-"

Scourge wheezed, doubling over and pounding his fist against the floor.

"It's not that funny, pack it in-"

"'Pack it in,'" Scourge repeated, wheezing even harder. "Fucking pack it in-"

"Prick." Sonic snatched the lighter from his hand. Scourge was too busy trying to control his laughter to protest. "Do you need a minute, or do you think you can get off your arse and keep walking without falling over again?"

"You pushed me over," Scourge corrected, swallowing back another laughing fit. He swatted away Sonic's offered hand and pushed himself to his feet, still chuckling.

"Why do you even have a lighter, anyway?" Sonic asked, holding it out to set the spider webs alight. It provided very little light, but it was better than nothing. "You don't even smoke."

"Sure I do."

"No you don't. You put a lollipop stick in your mouth and pretend it's a cigarette so you can tell yourself you look tough, but you don't actually smoke."

"... You can't prove that."

"There's lollipop sticks all over my place, and they're not coming from me. There's literally no one else it could be. Also, you're cleaning those up when we get back."

"Lichrally," Scourge mocked quietly, quickly stepping away to avoid being tripped again.

They started walking again, this time a lot quicker and with less stumbling now they could actually see what was in front of them. Sonic didn't reach out to hold onto him again, but they were still close enough that their arms brushed frequently. The lighter did an impressive job of illuminating the passage, considering how small it was, but it was still pitiful.

"Why can't we just spindash our way out, again?"

"Because if we do, we could hit the wrong rocks and cause everything to collapse. Crushing us in the process. We've already risked that enough today, thanks to you, and I'm not risking it again if I can help it."

"So your brilliant plan is to just wander 'round aimlessly and hope we find an exit?"

"Yep. So you'd better hope the entrance you blocked off wasn't our only way out."

"How are we meant to find an exit when we can't see properly? That lighter ain't exactly a flashlight."

"Torch."

"Flashlight. Torches are those wooden sticks you set on fire."

"In that case, why don't we use the stick stuck up your arse to light the way? If you can bring yourself to part with it, that is."

"I'm not the one with a stick up my ass-"

His foot hit something that felt like a pole, accidentally kicking it down the passage so it clattered on the ground. Sonic and Scourge both paused, glancing at each other.

"Did you find another rock?"

"Didn't sound like a rock. It sounded like wood."

"Why would wood be on the ground in a cave? I don't know if you've noticed, but there's no trees down here."

"Toss me the lighter and I'll find out."

Scourge moved to snatch the lighter out of Sonic's hand, but Sonic held it out of his reach and planted a hand on his chest to keep him away.

"Hey!"

"No way. I don't trust you to search properly. I'll look."

"But the lighter ain't even yours!"

Sonic ignored him, crouching down to better inspect the ground. He shuffled across the floor, moving the lighter left and right to see as much as possible. The cave wasn't exactly wide, but it was big enough to easily miss something in the dark, especially with how little light the lighter gave off.

"You look ridiculous."

"Piss off."

Scourge wandered ahead, hands cupped behind his head. He made sure he didn't stray too far, since Sonic had his lighter, but he refused to get on the floor and search. His jacket was nice, and he wasn't going to risk getting it any dirtier than it probably already was.

"Are you going to help?"

"You've got the lighter. You seem to be doing just fine on your own."

Sonic muttered something under his breath; Scourge didn't care enough to try and figure out what. He took another step, and trod on something that didn't feel like a rock. He rolled the object back and forth with his foot and picked it up.

"Found it."

"If it's a rock, I'm setting your jacket on fire."

"Touch my jacket and I'll kill you."

Sonic stood back up and walked over to him, holding the lighter out to get a better look at the object Scourge had found.

"Well I'll be damned," Scourge said, looking down at the stick of wood. "It's a torch."

Sonic frowned. "That doesn't make any sense. Why would a torch be lying on the floor in a cave?"

"Who cares? Let's just light the bitch up. I ain't wasting any more lighter fluid if I don't have to." Scourge snatched the lighter from Sonic, and in no time at all the end of the wood was alight, crackling merrily. He tucked the lighter back in his jacket, holding the torch away when Sonic tried to take it. "You got to hold the lighter. I'm holding the torch."

Sonic huffed, but didn't try again, and they continued through the cave, now with a much better light source. Sonic was quiet, but it wasn't the quiet from before, and the frown hadn't left his face.

"Are you sulking?"

"No."

"If I promise to set any spider webs we see on fire, will you stop sulking?"

"I'm not sulking. I'm thinking."

"Ooh, thinking. Never thought I'd see a Sonic who could think."

"Just because every other Sonic you hang out with is a dumbass-"

"I don't hang out with Sonic. He's an asshole and I'd punch him in the face if he was here."

Sonic chuckled. "Funny, that's what people usually say about me."

They fell silent once again. It wasn't as heavy, but Scourge could tell the torch thing was still bothering Sonic. Honestly, it was bothering him, too, but he wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth. If it helped them find a way out, who cared why a torch was lying in a cave?

After what seemed like hours, the passage widened. The torch illuminated what appeared to be a cavern, just as rocky and uneven as the rest of the cave, but with a lot more space, enough that Scourge could comfortably brawl without feeling cramped. A few stalagmites rose from the floor, some white ones broken and scattered across the ground, and…

Scourge came to an abrupt halt. Beside him, Sonic did the same. Neither of them did anything but stare in silence at the skeleton propped up against the wall.

"Well. Guess we've found what left the torch."

"Shit." Sonic immediately darted forward to inspect the skeleton, although what he was looking for, Scourge didn't know. "Shit."

"Why are you freaking out? It's probably just some explorer who got lost and died years ago."

"Not if they left the torch. The wood would have rotted away by now."

"Maybe someone else came by and just dropped it."

"Or maybe something picked this guy clean," Sonic muttered. The frown was back on his face.

"Come on, how is that more likely than some guy just getting lost-"

"Take another look around."

"Look at what, a bunch of rocks and… ah." Scourge held the torch higher. Now he was paying attention, he could see the white, broken stalagmites littering the ground weren't stalagmites at all. "That's a lot of bones."

"Exactly. Something was here."

"Maybe this is just a really common place to drop dead?"

"I don't think so. I've got a bad feeling about this place."

"... Right. So you think there's some kinda evil monster lurking around killing explorers, which none of the locals bothered to mention, just 'cause you've got a bad feeling." He pitched his voice up, mocking that stupid accent everyone in this dimension had. "Oh, you want to go exploring in that there forest, old bean? Jolly good, stay away from the evil fortress with shitty defenses, but there's some cracking caves in there somewhere you can pop into-"

"Shut up."

"-I should tell you there's a few sad sods who popped clogs in there, but if you don't mind that, there's some lovely rocks you can gawk at-"

"Scourge, shut up."

"-and if you're lucky you get to see the evil monster who ate them, although no one's ever seen it, and those who say they did have a lost plot, so I think it's all poppycock-"

"Shush." Sonic came up from behind him and clamped a hand over Scourge's mouth. Scourge grabbed his arm to try and pull him off, but Sonic held tight, and leaned into his ear and said, "Did you hear that?"

Scourge went still. Sonic's voice was low, and deadly serious; he wasn't joking. His fur bristled, ears straining to hear what Sonic had heard. He hadn't noticed it when they were talking, but in the abrupt silence, it was easy to pick out; some kind of scuttling, as though something very, very large was trying to creep up behind them.

Slowly, they turned around and looked up.

Oh.

That was an unnaturally big spider.

"Well, shit."

The spider stared down at them from the corner of the cavern, uncomfortably close to the passage they'd just come out of, and Scourge suddenly felt very small, because fucking hell, it was massive. Its body was gray with blue and white stripes, and long legs five times his size with claws on the end of each one. He could see all eight of its eyes, and its fangs were as big as his own body.

"This, uh… this normal in this universe?"

"No." Sonic, to his credit, did not look like he was about to pass out. Impressive, considering his earlier freak out over the webs. "It's not the first time I've seen a giant spider, but no, this isn't normal."

"Great. Cool. Awesome. Cool. Good to know I'm getting a unique experience. So what's the plan?"

Sonic shifted into a defensive position. "Look around. Can you see any other way out of here?"

"You want me to take my eyes off the giant spider to-"

"I'm watching it."

"I wouldn't be!"

"I wouldn't let you die. Even though it's tempting."

"Oh, how reassuring," Scourge said sarcastically. "What a kind, selfless hero. I feel better already."

"Shut up and do it. The longer you whinge, the longer we're in here with it."

Heaving a heavy, long-suffering sigh, Scourge reluctantly tore his eyes from the eight-legged demon staring into his soul and looked around the cavern. The walls were jagged and painted in the occasional splatter of red, and a few spider webs lurked in the corners on the ground and ceiling, but other than that, the cavern was bare. Not even a crack in the wall they could slip into.

"Nothing. We might hafta tunnel our way out after all-"

"Move!"

Sonic shoved him with enough force to send him sprawling on the ground. He curled up instinctively, rolling to the right. And not a moment too soon; the spider launched itself at them, striking where they had both been standing a mere second ago. Scourge backed away, putting as much distance between himself and the spider as he could, gripping the torch with both hands as though he could use it as a weapon.

The fact that its prey had managed to escape its grasp did not slow down or confuse the spider. Almost immediately, it turned and swiped one of its long legs at Scourge.

"A spider," Sonic moaned from the other side of the cavern. "Why did it have to be a spider?"

"I said it was a bad idea to take my eyes off it-"

"I told you, I was watching! You'd be dead if I wasn't!"

"Dead because you made me look away!" Scourge dodged another strike and darted under the spider. He weaved between the furiously stomping legs and swiped its underside with the torch, disappointed when it did no damage. He skidded to a stop next to Sonic. "Now what?"

"We can't go back the way we came, so I guess we have to fight it. Shouldn't be too hard. It's fast for its size, but we're faster."

Scourge dove out the way of another strike. "Your plan is to just throw hands with a giant spider?"

"What? Scared you can't keep up?" Oh, he could hear the smirk in that bastard's voice. "You can always run back the way we came, if you really think you can't handle it-"

"Please," Scourge scoffed. "I'm Scourge the Hedgehog. I can handle anything."

"Then you'll do a great job of watching my back while I take this thing down," Sonic said, shooting forward to attack.

"Wha- hey!" Scourge yelled, charging after him. "Don't hog all the fun!"

The two of them sprung into the air, curling up and homing in with a spindash just as the spider struck again. A leg slammed into Scourge, knocking the wind out of him and sending him crashing into a stalagmite. His head slammed against the rock. Pain shot through his skull, disorienting him. It took him a moment to remember which way was up. The torch had flown out of his hand upon impact and clattered to the floor somewhere; where, exactly, he wasn't sure. He pushed himself onto all fours with shaking limbs, his back throbbing.

A furious screech made Scourge look up. Apparently, while he had missed his target, Sonic had not.

He sliced through the spider's abdomen, leaving a gaping hole along its side. White blood leaked from the wound. Sonic didn't give it a chance to recover, immediately bouncing off a stalagmite and barreling through its underside, letting even more blood drip to the floor.

He landed next to Scourge, but before he had the chance to make some smug remark, a grotesque squelching noise reached their ears. Eyes widening, they watched in horror as both of the wounds Sonic just inflicted stitched themselves shut, not even leaving behind a mark.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me," Sonic moaned.

The spider struck, mouth wide open, fangs gleaming dangerously. Scourge flung himself to the left, stumbling over the broken bones on the floor. Thankfully, the spider's attention wasn't on him. It was facing off with Sonic, who had snatched up the torch and was swinging it wildly in an attempt to keep the spider at bay.

"I don't suppose fire does anything to this thing?" he yelled to Scourge.

"Already tried that! It did fuck all!"

"Of course."

Scourge glanced around desperately, searching for anything that might be able to do damage to the arachnid abomination. But there was nothing. Just stalagmite after stupid broken stalagmite…

Scourge's gaze drifted to the ground, where a bone snapped in half was lying at his feet.

An idea formed in his mind.

"Are you going to actually help, or are you just going to stand there and wait for it to squash you?"

Scourge snapped up the two halves of the bone, darting out of the way just as a claw came crashing down where he'd been standing. He grabbed onto the leg that nearly crushed him and began to climb.

"What are you doing?"

Scourge ignored him, continuing to climb up the leg. The spider charged, nearly making him slip and fall, but he managed to keep his hold at the last second. Slowly, painfully slowly, he made his way up the leg until he reached the main body.

He hesitated. With the spider moving around so much, the top of the leg wasn't stable enough to jump up the rest of the way, but it was too steep to crawl.

The spider stomped again, forcing Scourge to cling on for dear life. He glanced down at the bones in his hands, then back at the spider's side.

Well, it was worth a shot.

He plunged the sharp end of one of the bones deep into the spider's body, pulling himself up. He did the same with the other half, higher up this time. His biceps screamed in protest; he was strong, but his speciality was not his upper body strength, especially not without proper support from his legs. Gritting his teeth, he stabbed the spider again and hauled himself up further. Slowly, but steadily, he climbed up the spider's side, using the broken bones to pull himself up.

Sonic must have caught on to what he was doing, because he stopped yelling at Scourge to help and kept the spider's focus on him. He tackled and spindashed the spider even knowing it would do no permanent damage, ran circles around it and ducked under its claws, threw himself left and right whenever the spider struck, anything that kept the spider in one place and as still as possible to make Scourge's job easier whilst simultaneously keeping the attention off him.

With a final heave, Scourge pulled himself onto the top of the spider. His biceps burned. It took him a moment to catch his breath. With a deep gasp for air, he started to crawl towards the head, one bone clutched in each hand. The jerky movements and slight curve of the body forced Scourge to move slowly or risk being flung off, which he detested with all his being, but it was still far more stable than the legs had been. So long as he was careful, he wouldn't have to do this all over again-

The spider lunged for Sonic. Scourge slipped, scrambling desperately at the spider's skin to stay on. He stabbed the body with one bone as hard as he could. Still, he slid down, the bone tearing the spider's skin as he went. From this close, he could see the blood slowly ooze out, and the skin ripple right before it knitted itself closed. The smell of decaying flesh and damp mold assaulted his nose. He gagged.

The spider stilled again, and Scourge stopped slipping down.

"Keep this damn thing still!"

"I'm trying!"

Growling in frustration, Scourge squinted at the distance between him and the top of the spider's body. He hadn't fallen as far as he'd feared, but it was enough. It wasn't steep enough to stop him from crawling up, but it was steep enough that any sudden movements could send him crashing to the ground without giving him the chance to catch himself. But pulling himself up was hard, and his arms were already aching, he didn't know if he had the strength to keep doing that…

Ah, fuck it.

"Keep it steady this time!" he yelled down to Sonic. He flattened himself against the spider and began to crawl back up to the top. A jerk to the side almost made him slip again, but he managed to catch himself.

"I said steady!"

"You try herding a giant spider!"

"You herd a giant spider," Scourge mocked under his breath, shuffling forward as fast as he dared. "It's fucking massive. How hard can it be to keep it in one spot?"

Slowly, painfully, he made it back to the top. He took a moment to catch his breath and glanced at his goal. Not far now.

He started crawling again, faster now he wasn't fighting gravity. To Sonic's credit, he kept the spider steadier this time; Scourge only nearly slipped once, and the sudden movement wasn't enough to make him need to catch himself with the bone again.

Finally, he reached his goal: the spider's head. Two eyes poked out of the very top, glaring up at him, but with Sonic keeping it occupied, the spider didn't have any legs free to swipe at him.

A perfectly vulnerable target.

With a loud war cry, Scourge raised the bones into the air and plunged them deep into the spider's head.

Two things happened.

The spider shrieked, the sound ricocheting off the walls and ringing in Scourge's ears. It sharply reared up in an instinctive attempt to dislodge the two bones impaling its head and eye.

And Scourge, who hadn't had a single thought in his head beyond "stab the head and see what it does" and decided to wing the rest of the plan, wasn't ready for the spider to react so strongly, and was promptly flung off its head.

Straight into one of the spider webs in the corner of the ceiling.

"Is this a fucking joke?"

The spider, failing to rid itself of the bones still protruding from its head, turned its attention back to Sonic. With one target out of the way, it only had to worry about one threat, and although Sonic was fast, his speed alone wasn't enough to take it down. Not when it healed itself almost instantly.

"What the hell did you do that for?" Sonic yelled, leaping to the right to avoid the leg attempting to crush him.

"I thought stabbing its brain would kill it! The head is always the weak point."

"Seriously? Do you think this is a fucking video game?"

"Well excuse me for trying to be logical for once- left!"

Sonic rolled forward just in time to avoid a claw swiping at him from the left. He bounced off a stalagmite and sliced through the leg, and the squelching noise from before echoed through the cavern as a new leg sprouted from the stump before the old one could even hit the floor.

"Fat lot of good your logic did. Don't worry about getting down or anything, I'll just take care of it myself, as usual."

"Would it kill you to wait two minutes while I figure out how to get out of this thing?"

"Take your time. I'll be down here, doing everything myself, because apparently it's too much to ask for anyone other than me to be useful, for once."

"Like you had any better ideas," Scourge muttered. "Once I get down from here, we'll see how 'useful' you are with my foot up your ass."

He pulled his right arm experimentally. The webbing stuck fast, not allowing him to move more than a millimeter. He yanked harder, but to no avail. If anything, he moved even less. Growling, he braced his feet against the wall and tried desperately to pull away. No luck. The webs just clung to his fur and pulled him back.

Alright, fine. Plan B: cut himself loose.

Scourge flexed his quills, over and over, turning his head as much as he dared to get his quills to cut through the web without getting any other part of him stuck. At last, when he lifted his head, he managed to get it more than a centimeter up.

Fucking finally, some progress.

Unfortunately, because someone out there didn't want him to achieve happiness, when he attempted to curl up to continue cutting himself free, he found himself still stuck fast to the webbing. Only his head was free; the rest of him was stuck too well to let him curl up. And, most importantly, that included his jacket, which he absolutely could not leave without.

Scourge took a deep breath and tried very hard to not scream.

Damn it, if only he could get an arm free. Then he could just get his lighter and set the stupid web on fire. Or, well, maybe not, because that would damage his jacket, but he was running low on ideas, damn it. Pulling away from the webs didn't work, and his quills couldn't reach everywhere. He was flexible, but not that flexible.

Sonic yelped below him. Scourge leaned forward as much as he could to catch his eye - he'd never heard Sonic yelp before, like hell he'd pass up the chance to laugh at him about it - and finally, finally, some good news caught his eye. Only for a second, but he was sure it was there.

"Hey! Go back a sec! An' hold the torch higher!"

Sonic grumbled something, but obeyed.

Yep, just as Scourge suspected. A second passage, hidden away behind a clump of stalagmites. Just out of his line of sight from his last position on the ground, but perfectly visible from his place in the corner of the ceiling.

"There's a second passage!"

"A what?"

"A second passage! Behind you, on the left, behind those rocks!"

"Then why the fuck did you tell me-"

"Hey, I didn't know! I've only just seen it! Less bitching, more running!"

"I can't run, can I? You still haven't found a way down."

"So?"

"What do you mean, so? Am I supposed to just leave you?"

"Uh, yeah?"

"Did you forget the giant spider that wants to eat you alive? Of course I can't leave you!"

Huh. That was… almost touching. Or it would be, if it wasn't coming from a Sonic.

"Knew you couldn't bring yourself to abandon me."

"Don't make me change my mind. Hurry up and get down from there!"

"I'm tryin', I'm tryin'!"

"Well try faster!"

"Try faster, he says. As though he'd do something different if he was the one-"

Scourge cut himself off. He glanced at his arms. Down at Sonic. Back to his arms.

Ah, what the hell.

Hoping desperately he wasn't about to look incredibly stupid, Scourge clenched his fist and shook it as fast as he could.

At first, nothing happened. He gritted his teeth and tried to go even faster. It was hard, shaking his hand so fast whilst keeping the actual movement to a minimum. For one whole minute, Scourge didn't think it was going to work, because seriously, how the fuck was he supposed to vibrate his hand?

Then he felt it. The loss of resistance, a sudden increase in ease of movement. Scourge yanked his arm, and this time it came away, no longer restrained by the webs when he pulled it to his chest.

It worked. Holy fuck, it worked.

And most importantly, his jacket was completely unharmed.

Oh, fuck yeah.

Grinning, Scourge repeated the motion with his other hand, watching in fascination as the webs broke apart under the vibrations. With both hands free and the webbing behind them destroyed, he could lean his arms against the wall for balance while he tried to free his legs. It wouldn't take longer than a minute at most, then he'd be able to get down and-

The bones still protruding from the spider's head caught his eye. The bones that still had white blood leaking out from the wound that couldn't close properly.

Scourge's gaze flicked to the stalactites hanging from the ceiling.

Okay, new plan. Sonic was gonna be pissed when he realised he didn't think of it.

Scourge vibrated his legs faster. When they were free, he would finally have enough strength to push himself away from the webs. Then he could spindash the stalactites and cause them to fall and stab the spider. It wouldn't be able to close such big wounds with stalactites sticking out of them, especially not if it kept moving and jarring the wounds. It might even get pinned to the ground, if he was lucky, so it couldn't chase them when they made their escape.

He'd have to get Sonic to keep it still again. Reaching the stalactites was easy from his position, but he only had one shot, and he was not climbing that thing again if he missed-

Out of the corner of his eye, Sonic was flung across the cavern and slammed into a stalagmite, crumpling to the ground with a grunt. The torch slipped out of his grip and rolled away, still flickering, just slightly out of reach.

"So much for your precious reflexes!" Scourge called out with a laugh.

No response.

His laughter died down as he continued to watch. At first, Sonic didn't move, even when the spider let out a victorious shriek and started advancing on him.

It was probably a misdirection. Sonic pulled those all the time, appearing to be injured only to zip away at the last minute, both to humiliate and distract his opponent.

Scourge's heart rate spiked anyway.

Finally, movement. But it wasn't the burst of speed he was expecting. Sonic shifted, one hand clutching the side of his head, a clearly pained groan escaping him. He pushed himself to his hands and knees, his limbs shaking so much from the effort even Scourge could see it from the ceiling, and shook his head like he was trying to shake something off. He didn't look up. Didn't see the spider advancing on him. Wouldn't, if he was as disorientated as he seemed, until it was too late.

Scourge's legs were nearly free. Just a few more seconds and he'd be able to carry out his plan. One shot. He had one shot. If he did it right, he could injure the spider and buy Sonic time to move.

If he did it wrong, Sonic wouldn't be able to dodge.

Sonic shifted to his knees, still clutching his head. The spider was nearly on him. He still didn't look up.

A spindash would be quicker.

But the stalactites-

Sonic finally lifted his head. His eyes widened at the spider towering over him.

-the stalactites could take too long to fall.

Sonic scrambled to get up. He was still shaking. Too slow, he was moving too slow.

Scourge's feet came free.

The spider reared up.

Sonic flinched.

Scourge launched himself from the web and barrelled through the spider's body.

The spider shrieked, jerking away from Sonic. The squelching followed; he hadn't hit anything that would bring it down. Scourge bounced off a stalagmite, rolled along the floor, and snapped to his feet. He looked down at himself, grimacing in disgust. He was covered in spider blood and who knew what other fluids. It was dripping off him. Damn it, it was going to take forever to get it out of his fur, and if he ever salvaged his jacket, it would be a miracle.

At least he'd left his glasses behind. The glasses in this universe were hideous, and he'd have no hope of getting his own fixed if they broke.

Sonic managed to push himself up in the distraction, just in time to bolt out of the way of the spider's last minute strike and skid to a stop next to Scourge.

"Nice of you to join the fight."

Scourge scowled. Couldn't be that hurt if he had the energy to be a dick.

"I sacrificed my plan for you, show some gratitude."

"What plan?"

"I was gonna drop those rocks on the ceiling on it and let it bleed to death around them, until you ruined it by nearly getting eaten."

A leg smashed the floor between them. Scourge nearly jumped out of his fur, but Sonic leapt away almost absently. He stared at Scourge blankly.

"What? Quit starin' at me!"

Sonic looked up at the spider, then tilted his head up to stare at the ceiling. Scourge could almost see the cogs turning in his surprisingly bright head.

"Yeah, I had one shot and you ruined it, so thanks for that, can't get a good angle down here and I'm not climbing that thin-"

"That's it!"

"Wha-"

The spider lunged for Scourge. He almost didn't dodge in time. It was his turn to stare blankly at Sonic.

"Scourge, keep it distracted! And as still as you can!" Sonic ordered. He darted towards a leg and started to climb.

"Why the hell would I do that?"

"You kept saying it was easy, now's your chance to prove it!"

Scourge rolled his eyes. "Course it's easy. I'll distract it. I'll distract it so good you won't even realise it's being distracted-"

A leg swung at him, and Scourge nearly slipped on spider gunk in his efforts to jerk away.

"Less bragging, more distracting!"

The spider turned to the source of Sonic's voice. Clicking his tongue, Scourge snatched up a rock and launched it at the spider with all his strength. "Hey! Eyes on me, fucker!"

The spider snapped its attention back to Scourge. It bared its fangs and snarled, and fucking hell, Scourge was pretty sure normal spiders could not make half the sounds this thing made.

"Yeah, that's right, look at the pretty one," Scourge said. "You don't want any of those ugly eyes on the ugly hedgehog, do you?"

"Fuck off!" Sonic yelled down at him. He was balanced on the top of the leg, and just like Scourge, was realising it was too steep to climb. "Okay, bring it in so its side is close to that stalagmite. Keep it there for a minute."

"Who made you the boss?" Scourge grumbled, but did as instructed. He danced around the spider's stomping legs, luring it forward, closer and closer to the stalagmite Sonic had pointed at.

Then watched indignantly as Sonic leapt off the leg, bounced off the stalagmite, and landed high enough on the spider's body to crawl up.

Damn it, why the fuck didn't he think of that?

"Keep it distracted! But steady!"

"Oh, you bastard," Scourge muttered, sliding under the claw attempting to stab him. "You just wanted to show off."

He weaved around the stalagmites as fast as he dared, still trying not to slip on spider gunk, in an attempt to confuse the spider. It must have worked, because it stood frozen in one place, jerking left or right every now and again but making no move to charge.

Sonic's head popped up, peeking over the spider's head. "Now stay still and let it attack you!"

"You want me to what?"

"Just trust me!"

Reluctantly, Scourge stopped in front of the spider. It stared down at him like it couldn't believe it's prey had willingly made itself an easy target. Scourge couldn't believe it either.

"Get ready to dodge!"

"Great," Scourge said weakly as the spider reared up. "Good to know your plan doesn't involve sacrificing me."

Sonic stood up on the spider's head, grabbing one of the bones for balance. Scourge swore the spider was smirking as it opened its mouth wide, drops of venom rolling down its fangs.

For a moment, everything was still.

"Now!"

Sonic leapt from the spider and burrowed into the ceiling.

The spider lunged.

Scourge flung himself to the side, instinctively curling into a ball, and rolled away.

The spider screeched in frustration at once again losing its prey. Scourge shot to his feet, scanning the ceiling warily. Where did he-?

The cavern rumbled. Scourge froze; he'd heard that sound earlier. Even the spider paused.

And Sonic shot out of the ceiling, a waterfall of giant rocks chasing him and colliding with the spider.

One rock crashed into one of the spider's legs, pinning it to the ground. Another slammed against its head, making it screech and distracting it from pulling its leg free. Three more dropped onto its body as a fourth ripped off a leg, forcing it to the floor.

Within seconds, the spider was buried under a pile of rocks, still shrieking, a leg or two still flailing, but unmistakably trapped and being crushed under the weight. Not even its instantaneous healing could protect it from that.

"Holy shit," Scourge muttered. "Can't believe we didn't think to squish the bastard earlier-"

The ground rumbled again, harsher this time. Scourge stumbled, narrowly avoiding the rock that crashed into the spot he'd been standing in. Then another. Two more joined it, one just barely missing Scourge's foot. A quick glance up confirmed that yep, the rocks were indeed still falling and showed no signs of stopping.

"Oh shit."

Scourge bolted for the passage he'd spotted earlier. He didn't know how long he had until the rocks stopped falling, didn't know if they'd stop falling. He had to get out of here before-

But where were Sonic's footsteps?

Scourge snapped back around, frantically scanning the cavern. The ground was still shaking. It was hard to look around whilst keeping an eye out for falling rocks, especially when the abandoned torch only illuminated part of the cavern.

Then he saw him. A lump of blue pinned to the ground by a heavy leg.

"Sonic!"

"Getitoffmegetitoffmegetitoffme-!"

Scourge stumbled forward without thinking, grabbing Sonic's arms and pulling as hard as he could. The cavern shuddered dangerously. Scourge gritted his teeth and pulled harder.

"C'mon, c'mon-!"

He felt Sonic shift, and he popped out from under the leg with a speed neither of them were ready for, slamming into Scourge. The ground shook harshly at the same time, and the combination made Scourge lose his balance, sending them both crashing to the ground before he could get a proper grip on Sonic or regain his footing. The momentum rolled them along the floor, until Scourge finally collapsed on top of Sonic.

Well, at least he wasn't the one landing on the ground, for once-

Sonic gasped, eyes going wide beneath him. His arm wrapped around Scourge's waist, and he rolled them sharply to the left, just in time to miss the rock that crashed to the ground inches from their fur.

And Scourge once again found himself pinned to the ground.

Well, it was nice while it lasted.

"Get off," he wheezed, but Sonic was already pushing himself up, trying to pull Scourge up with him at the same time, with minimal success. "Let go, I can stand up by myself."

He pushed Sonic's hand away, staggering to his feet. Sonic stumbled up after him, one hand clutching his head - oh hell, that's right, he'd hit his head-

"Let's get out of here," Sonic hissed. He snatched Scourge's hand and yanked him towards the exit as another rock smashed to the ground behind them.

"The torch-!"

"Forget the torch! Worry about us!"

They bolted for the exit. Scourge pulled Sonic out of the way of a falling rock, Sonic steadied Scourge when another tremor made him stumble. They leapt over the clump of stalagmites and darted into the passage, where the glow of the torch failed to reach. Within seconds they were plunged into darkness, and neither of them could see a foot in front of their faces. Scourge hoped they wouldn't encounter any fallen rocks, or worse, get crushed by one they couldn't see coming.

They kept running, even once they couldn't feel the trembling ground anymore. Without a light source, they couldn't see danger coming, and although earlier they'd agreed to walk due to not being able to see a thing, now they were desperate to get as far away from the cave-in as possible. So they ran, faster and harder than they had dared earlier, until at last they were harshly reminded why they'd forgone their precious running earlier.

By Scourge's foot finding a rock that sent him sprawling face first onto the ground, his right ankle twisting in a way it wasn't supposed to twist.

And he didn't even get to drag Sonic down with him, because the bastard let go of his hand.

"Fuck." Pain shot up his leg when he tried to move it. Damn it, he'd gone the whole fight without getting too hurt! How was he supposed to brag about getting out of the cave uninjured if a stupid rock fucked his ankle over?

Granted, his ankles had always been a little weak, but his shoes were specially designed to combat that, damn it! They shouldn't roll over like a dog over something as stupid as a rock.

"Okay," Sonic panted. "We can… probably stop running now. I think it's stopped."

"Gee, thanks for telling me now."

"Don't bitch at me just because you can't keep your balance."

Scourge pushed himself to his feet, biting back a groan when his ankle protested. He put a hand out to lean on the wall. A bit too heavily, apparently, since he found Sonic's arm instead of the wall, and Sonic stumbled under the unexpected weight.

"Who's got shit balance now?"

"Piss off."

The words were unusually sharp, enough to make Scourge pause. It wasn't uncommon for Sonic to be blunt or snappy, but there was rarely any real heat behind his words. Mild irritation, sure, but that was as extreme as he got; the asshole was far too dedicated to his "cool and collected" reputation to let too much emotion shine through.

Scourge squinted. He could faintly make out Sonic's bent head, one hand still clutching where he'd hit it.

"What's wrong with you?"

"Nothing. I'm fine," Sonic said through gritted teeth. He didn't seem particularly inclined to move his hand.

"Bullshit. You've not moved your hand since you got smacked against that rock. What's wrong?"

"I said I'm fine. Mind your own business."

"Look, we can't see shit. If you drop dead in here, I'm not gonna know about it. Whatever the fuck is wrong with you, I wanna know now, before something happens and I don't realise it."

"Wow, I didn't know you cared."

"I don't, but if you drop dead, I'm suspect number one, and I ain't going back to jail just 'cause you decided to keep your big mouth shut at the wrong time."

"Charming." Sonic sighed. "I really am fine. I just have a headache."

Scourge glared at him. It wasn't very effective, since Sonic couldn't actually see him, but it was the thought that counted. And hopefully his disbelieving silence conveyed what his eyes could not.

"... And I'm a bit dizzy and feel a little sick. Nothing I haven't dealt with before. I've been through worse."

"Sure, whatever. So long as you're not gonna collapse on me."

"Your concern is heartwarming."

Well, at least it wouldn't just be Scourge stumbling in the dark this time. Maybe Sonic would actually fall over so he could laugh at him-

"Get your lighter out, then."

"Huh?"

"It's pitch black. Get your lighter out so we can see."

"Fuck no. I've wasted enough lighter fluid today. If you wanted to be able to see that badly, you should've let me grab the torch."

"Well I'm sorry for wanting us to get out of there before we got crushed."

"Yeah, in a cave-in you caused, you fucking hypocrite! I thought you said you weren't gonna risk that shit."

"I said I wasn't going to risk it if I could help it. And I couldn't help it back there. There was no other way to kill it."

"I don't wanna hear you bitching about the cave-in I caused earlier ever again."

"I had a practical reason to do it. You were just being a dick."

Scourge opened his mouth to argue - he had a very practical reason, thank you very much - when a hand grabbed his.

"What are you-"

"If you won't get your lighter out, we need to hold onto each other again."

"Why? This cave has just gone straight this whole time!"

"Well, how else will you know if I collapse? You know, so you know if you're going to be a prime suspect in my untimely death."

Scourge scowled. Was it worth pulling away? Probably not, Sonic would just grab his hand again, but damn it, they hadn't done this before Sonic found out about the-

Oh. Oh, that bastard. He was holding his hand to make him decide to use his lighter after all. Clever, but not clever enough.

"Alright then," Scourge said, a false cheeriness through clenched teeth he hoped Sonic could hear. He squeezed Sonic's hand. "Didn't realise you were this eager to hold my hand."

He could practically feel Sonic's scowl at his challenge, but true to his stubborn nature, he didn't back down, just squeezed his hand right back. Not painfully like Scourge expected, just firmly.

Challenge accepted.

"What about you? Are you hurt?"

"Huh?"

"Are you hurt? You wanted to know if I'm going to collapse on you, and I want to know if you're going to collapse on me."

Scourge's ankle throbbed. "Nah, I'm fine."

"Good." Sonic tugged his hand. "Let's go, then. I'm sick of this cave."

The silence between them as they walked - or, in Scourge's case, limped - was thick, both of them waiting for the other to give in and let go. Neither did. And really, now that he thought about it, it was pointless to expect otherwise. The one constant across the multiverse was apparently their stubbornness and inability to back down from a challenge. So they kept walking, hand in hand, and the only thing that changed was the silence growing lighter and lighter the longer they walked, instead of heavier like Scourge had expected.

Scourge hadn't expected a lot of things, though. Like getting stuck in a cave with Sonic and not strangling him within the first five minutes. Or fighting a giant spider and learning how to vibrate his hands. Or holding Sonic's hand and not completely hating it.

Wait.

Scourge reassessed that last thought. He half expected to have the urge to snatch his hand away in panic, but no, it was quite happy where it was.

To be fair, it wasn't awful. Scourge wasn't exactly a hand holding expert, but considering how much he'd disliked Fiona's attempts to hold hands, he'd expected to find it a lot more unpleasant. But Sonic's hand was warm, and fit nicely in his own. His hand wasn't twisted into an uncomfortable position, and their fingers weren't linked, which was by far the part Scourge had hated the most about holding hands with Fiona. She always wanted to hold hands like that, and the sensation of having another's fingers in between his rubbed him up the wrong way.

Holding Sonic's hand didn't feel like that. It was just a gentle weight, curled around his hand like the space between his thumb and fingers was meant for him. It didn't make Scourge's fur stand on end like most physical contact did. If anything, it was barely noticeable, and all too easy to forget.

Hm. Interesting. Hopefully that didn't mean anything he'd have to unpack later.

Scourge was so caught up in his thoughts he forgot to pay attention to walking. He didn't find another rock, but he did find a sharply uneven surface, one that made his ankle give way again and sent him tumbling into a still-dizzy Sonic. They wobbled, very nearly toppling over before Scourge regained his balance, instinctively yanking Sonic's arm to pull him upright along with him.

"You are hurt," Sonic accused.

"No I'm not."

"Yes you are. I knew you were limping. Why did you lie to me?"

"I'm not limping. I just-"

"Sit down. Let me look at it."

"Fuck off, I'm fine-"

"Sit. Down."

"Or what? You gonna make me?"

"Maybe I am."

Scourge sneered and started walking again. "I'd like to see you try. You're so dizzy you can't even walk in a straight line, never mind-"

A foot caught his ankle, and he toppled forward. Scourge squeezed his eyes shut, one hand shooting out in front of him for the millionth fucking time that day-

But this time, Sonic caught him before he hit the ground. He manhandled him to the floor as gently as possible and sat him up against a wall before Scourge had realised what was happening.

"Lighter. Now."

"I've told you to fuck off."

"Get the lighter out or I'll take it out myself."

Sonic didn't even bother waiting for a reply, already patting his jacket and searching for his inside pocket before he could protest. Scourge swatted Sonic's hand away, scowling as he reached into his pocket.

"Alright, alright! Just stop touching my jacket, I don't know where your hands have been."

"Your jacket is already ruined. You might as well throw it in the bin when we get out of here. It's ugly anyway."

Scourge threw the lighter at Sonic and took deep satisfaction at the quiet thunk of it hitting his head.

It took Sonic a few tries to flick the lighter on, long enough for Scourge to contemplate snatching it and doing it for him. But eventually the small flame flickered brightly between them, illuminating their faces once more.

"Hold this. And if you turn it off, I'll smack you."

Scourge took the lighter. "You know, for a hero, you're a bit of a dick."

"I know. Which leg?"

Scourge glared at Sonic. Sonic glared back.

"... My right ankle."

Sonic dragged his leg onto his lap and pulled his shoe off, rolling down his sock to get a better look. He poked and prodded Scourge's ankle, ignoring his hisses of pain like the dickhead he was, in an attempt to assess the damage.

"Do you even know what you're doing?"

"Sort of. I know the difference between broken and sprained."

That was a no, then. Scourge leaned back, head thumping softly against the wall, and tried to endure Sonic's examination as quietly as he could. Unnecessary prodding aside, he was surprisingly gentle, never squeezing his ankle, and when an attempt at turning his foot made Scourge hiss sharply, he didn't try again. A thumb brushed through his fur as Sonic squinted at his skin.

Staring at his hand, it occurred to Scourge he'd never thought of letting go of Sonic's hand and letting him fall when they nearly fell over.

"Okay, the good news is it's not broken," Sonic said at last, rolling Scourge's sock back up. "It's either sprained or twisted. I'll get someone to look at it properly when we get back."

"Is there a difference between twisted or sprained?"

"How should I know? I'm a hero, not a doctor."

"Then what was the point of that?" Scourge asked, pulling his shoe back on.

"I wanted to know if you'd broken anything. If you had, we'd have had to set it, and I'd've had to carry you out of here."

"Yeah, that wouldn't be happening. So now what?"

Sonic scowled down at Scourge's foot. "I'm pretty sure you're supposed to let it rest, but that's not an option right now. Unless you waited here and I left to get help-"

"No way. I'm not sitting here for hours waiting for you."

"And neither of us want me to carry you." Sonic tapped his fingers as he frowned at Scourge's foot. "So I guess you'll have to use me as a crutch."

"Fuck no."

"Look, I don't want you leaning on me either. You're heavy and I'm dizzy. But we don't have a lot of options, and this is the only one that keeps us moving that I'm willing to do." Sonic pushed himself to his feet and held out his hand. "Suck it up, buttercup."

For a moment, Scourge strongly considered telling Sonic he'd wait and hobbling his way out while he was gone. But eventually he sighed and took Sonic's hand, allowing himself to be pulled to his feet. He flicked the lighter off, tucking it back safely into his jacket, and draped his arm around Sonic's shoulders, biting back a comment about the arm around his waist.

"You can try walking again in a few minutes," Sonic said, like it was supposed to comfort him. "If you can do it without much pain, I can let you go."

Scourge grunted in response.

Their pace was painfully slow. Sonic told him off whenever he tried to bear weight on his foot - "The whole point of this is so you don't hurt yourself further, you idiot" - but not doing so slowed them down to a snail's crawl. Even Sonic was noticeably irritated by how slow they were going. He was one of the most impatient Sonics Scourge had ever met, which was saying a lot, and the speed was probably driving him up the wall.

Walking without putting too much weight on his ankle was a pain in more ways than one. Even without the agonisingly slow shuffle through the cave, every wrong move sent pain shooting through his leg. He frequently switched between outright hopping and leaning heavily on Sonic whenever he decided to try walking with his foot down. And then Sonic would sway or hesitate before taking a step, and Scourge would decide watching Sonic fall flat on his ass wouldn't be worth jarring his ankle when he inevitably fell after him, and would switch back to hopping. Rinse and repeat.

As for being forced to lean on Sonic, that was…

Well, honestly, Scourge didn't know how he felt about that.

It wasn't like holding his hand. Scourge was hyper-aware of every second he spent leaning on Sonic. He couldn't forget it if he tried. Every step, every minor shift of his shoulders, every sigh and huff barged into his mind and demanded his attention. He was close enough to smell him for fucks sake; fresh cedar and basil just barely peeking through the stench of spider blood and musty cave air clinging to his fur.

But. It wasn't terrible.

Scourge wasn't used to physical contact. It just wasn't a thing that happened on Moebius, especially not to him. No one laid a hand on anyone else unless it was to hurt or intimidate. Hands clamped tightly over shoulders from behind, claws digging into an arm so hard they almost drew blood, a harsh yank on an ear, those were the standard touches in his own dimension. The nicest touches anyone would give were a handshake that squeezed a bit too hard, or a pat on the back with too much force behind it.

Closeness was also foreign to him. The only time he was ever close to someone else was when he was in their face to threaten them, or vice versa. Fiona was a rare exception; she'd liked hanging off his arm, and it hadn't been unpleasant, but it was still weird.

Wanting to be in someone's space was strange. Wanting to be in someone's space without the intention of hurting them was even stranger. Scourge couldn't remember the last time he'd truly felt comfortable with someone else in his personal space. Usually it made him tense up and raise his hackles in anticipation for a fight. Closeness was a warning of a threat to come, not a meaningless desire.

But Sonic was warm and solid under his arm. He took Scourge's weight with minimal complaining, and Scourge kind of wanted to know how far he could push it. If he leaned his head on Sonic's shoulder, would he protest? If he collapsed into his side, forcing him to bear his full weight, would Sonic catch him? He probably wouldn't let Scourge fall, not after the fuss he'd made about his ankle - and wasn't that a novel concept, trusting someone wouldn't step away just to hurt him?

No, Sonic wouldn't do that. He wouldn't like it, but if Scourge stopped supporting himself, Sonic would do it for him anyway. He'd mentioned carrying Scourge earlier, if he really couldn't walk, and although Scourge still didn't like the idea, he had to admit the thought wasn't the worst thing in the world. Sonic would probably carry him on his back, arms supporting his legs while Scourge's own arms were wrapped around his neck, chin resting on his head, pressed so close to those flattened razor sharp quills that posed no danger to him.

Yeah, that was probably how it would happen. There weren't many other options that wouldn't jostle his ankle, so unless Sonic wanted to carry him in his arms-

Aaand that particular train of thought was getting weird, so it was time to put a pin in that to unpack later. Or never. Never sounded good. Never was a perfect time for him to remind himself exactly why being carried by Sonic bridal style was the least appealing idea he'd ever-

"Okay, you can try walking now."

Scourge jolted out of his thoughts so harshly he almost yanked himself out of Sonic's grip and toppled over.

"Your ankle," Sonic clarified when Scourge gave him a blank stare. "See if it still hurts. And if you lie to me I'll kick your arse."

"I'd like to see you try," Scourge grumbled. Gingerly he leaned away from Sonic, hand clutching his shoulder just in case, and took an experimental step forward. His ankle still throbbed, but the pain had dulled significantly, only a slightly sore ache as opposed to flaring pain. Was that the difference between a sprained ankle and a twisted one?

Eh, whatever. Gift horse, mouth, yada yada yada.

"Well?"

"I can walk."

"Good. Erm… let me know if it starts to get bad again."

"You know, for a hero, you're shit at being nice," Scourge said, taking Sonic's hand as they started to walk again.

"Like you don't break out into hives if someone so much as smiles at you. If I was nice to you I'm pretty sure you'd pass out."

Scourge frowned at the floor. A witty comeback didn't even attempt to enter his head. Damn it, Sonic was right, but he didn't need to say it.

Actually, no, he wasn't right, he was definitely being unfair. Scourge had never put up with so much niceness for so long until he got stuck in this dimension, and he'd handled it shockingly well, thank you very much. The rest of the freedom fighters were nice enough, smiling at him and offering help more times than he knew what to do with, and Scourge hadn't been a complete dick to them; at least, no more than they seemed used to, if the way they brushed off his asshole tendencies were any indication. Sure, there was snark here or there, but most of that was aimed at Sonic. It wasn't until recently they'd started aiming it at him, and even then, it didn't seem malicious. If anything, it was… friendly, somehow? Fuck knows how that was possible.

Either way, they'd been nice to him, and Scourge had handled it better than he'd ever thought he would. So there.

But then again, even though they were nice, Sonic certainly wasn't. Half the time he wasn't even that nice to his own friends, never mind Scourge, the outsider he still didn't completely trust. It was almost jarring, how different he was to the Sonic Scourge knew. This Sonic wasn't afraid to stoop to his level, to give as good as he got or more. He was rude, cocky, arrogant, and half the shit that came out of his mouth was stuff Prime Sonic wouldn't dream of saying. And that was just how he spoke to his friends.

Maybe that's why Scourge didn't find him as irritating as Prime. Prime was too nice, in a way that had to be fake, because no one could be that perfectly nice all the time. At least this Sonic wasn't afraid of being a dick. If he ever resorted to that constant, fake niceness, Scourge wouldn't be able to go two minutes without trying to claw his face off.

Damn it, Sonic was right after all, and man did that hurt to admit to himself, even in his own head. Scourge would hate it if Sonic was nice to him. He didn't know how to deal with niceness or kindness, and Sonic starting that shit would just piss him off.

… Although now that he thought about it, Sonic had been… was kind the right word? His actions didn't match what Scourge considered kindness, but he honestly didn't know what other word he could use. Not nice, but… well, letting Scourge lean on him was probably kind, right? Even though he'd been a dick about it. And he'd refused to abandon Scourge back in that cavern, even though it would've been so easy to run off and leave him. Much easier than continuing to stand and fight.

He had no idea if that counted as kindness, though. He wasn't exactly an expert on the subject. Was it possible to be a prick like Sonic and still be kind? If not, what was he? Not nice, definitely not nice, Scourge wouldn't like him if he was nice. He was… he was…

Good. At least a little. Good, and selfless.

Huh. Strange how the thought didn't make him want to claw his skin off like it usually did.

"Scourge?"

"Huh?"

"Back in that cavern…" he could hear Sonic's pondering frown- "why did you help me?"

Scourge blinked. It took him a moment to remember what Sonic was referring to. "Whaddya mean?"

"You said you abandoned your plan for me. You thought it was our only chance to take that thing down, but you chose to help me out, instead. And no offence, but you're not exactly the nicest guy-"

"Oh, like you're one to talk-"

"-and you've told me you're not the hero type, so why do it? You could've easily dropped those stalactites on it and used that as a distraction. Why drop your plan and ruin your jacket for me?"

"'Cause-"

Scourge floundered, desperately trying to think of the reason. He didn't know. He hadn't thought of the "why" at the time. He'd just… acted.

"'Cause you didn't fuck off and abandon me," Scourge eventually settled on. He was thankful Sonic couldn't see his unusually warm face. "I didn't wanna owe ya."

The excuse was weak, even to his own ears, but, mercifully, Sonic didn't press further.

Still, Scourge had to bite back the words in his throat, the ones that wanted to say that wasn't true, he wasn't thinking about debts, he wasn't thinking at all, he just didn't want anything bad to happen. Words that suddenly sounded so very vulnerable, something he hadn't experienced in years, just because he didn't want Sonic to die.

Holy shit, he didn't want Sonic to die.

That was, by far, the weirdest realisation he'd had all day.

In fact, now that he thought about it, he hadn't even considered letting Sonic die, which was absolutely not normal for him. He would have left any other Sonic to his fate in a heartbeat, wouldn't have even thought about stepping in to help.

Actually, there were a few things he wouldn't have done for another Sonic. He wouldn't have pulled another Sonic out from under that leg. He wouldn't have told another Sonic about the exit. He wouldn't have stood still and stared up at a giant spider preparing to attack him just because another Sonic told him to trust him.

When did this Sonic become an exception for so many things?

"Besides," Scourge found himself saying, "you're not… the worst Sonic I've ever met. You're okay, I guess."

He couldn't see Sonic's face. There weren't many looks he could visualise for Sonic, since the only ones he was familiar with were his scowl and his smug grin, so he had no idea how he was actually looking at him.

Still, for some reason, he felt Sonic was smiling. A real smile, one he hadn't seen yet from this Sonic. A smile the darkness protected, shielded from Scourge's eyes.

"You're not that bad either, for a lookalike," Sonic said. There was a lightness in his words that made Scourge's stomach flip.

"Well." Scourge swallowed around the sudden knot in his throat. "Good to know we both exceeded expectations."

"That's nothing new for me." The smirk was back in his voice. "I'm always pushing to be better than the best."

Just like that, they were back on familiar ground. Scourge scoffed, bumping into Sonic just hard enough to make him stumble to the side. "Does the best always involve getting smacked head first into a rock?"

"Piss off. For the record, I could've gotten out of that myself."

"Thank you for saving my life Scourge, I am eternally grateful for your help Scourge, I owe you my life and I will be forever in your debt Scourge."

"Prick." Sonic deliberately bumped into him, and it was his turn to stumble. "Next time you find yourself stuck in a spider web, don't expect me to stall for time and wait for you to get out."

"Wow, rude. No need to be such a wanker."

Sonic bumped into him again. "You're saying it wrong, you prick."

"Fucking how? I'm saying it exactly like you."

"You're dragging the 'a' out too long. Waaaanker. It's supposed to be short so it packs more of a punch."

"If you can't make it pack a punch with a long 'a' that's your problem. I'm different."

"You're really not. You just sound like a twat."

"You're the one that sounds like a twat with that stupid accent."

"Okay, now you're just deliberately saying things wrong. It's twat, not twot. It doesn't have an 'o' in it."

The silence that fell between them was the most comfortable they'd had all day. Lighthearted and free of tension, nudging one another and feigning innocence when confronted. Scourge didn't smile, exactly, but it was the closest he'd come in a long time.

"Seriously, though," Sonic said quietly after a long stretch of silence. "Thanks. For what you did back in the cavern. It's… not often people actually help me in fights."

Scourge squinted suspiciously at the dark silhouette that was Sonic. "Okay, that was way too serious for my liking. What's up."

"I've been thinking. About that spider. I wasn't lying when I said it's not normal."

"I… didn't think you were? What's your point?"

"Giant spiders don't come out of nowhere. They're not natural, but they had to come from somewhere. And the way it healed itself like that…"

Scourge caught on. "You think Robotnik had something to do with it."

"I'm not sure," Sonic admitted. "This isn't his usual MO. He normally just throws people into badnik armour and calls it a day. But… he does know how I feel about spiders, and even if it's not him, someone else could be…"

Sonic's voice trailed off the more he talked until he was mumbling to himself, like he'd forgotten Scourge was even there. Scourge nudged him, and that seemed to snap him out of it.

"You'll probably figure it out soon. No villain in this dimension can mind their own evil business for longer than a week."

Sonic snorted. "That's true. One time, there was- wait, is that light?"

Scourge's head snapped forward. Sure enough, there was a small glimmer of light in the distance, one they hadn't seen in hours.

"Holy shit, finally."

They both sprinted to the exit without so much as a word to each other, no warning they were going to take off running, just an unspoken mutual decision to run. Within seconds the small light grew and widened into the mouth of the cave, and at last they found themselves standing in the sunlight, taking deep, gasping breaths of fresh air.

And, bonus points, neither of them tripped once on their way out. Score.

Scourge raised a hand to shield his eyes, squinting in the too bright light. He had no idea where he was, and he didn't know why he was expecting to. It wasn't his dimension, after all.

"Huh. We're two zones over," Sonic observed, shielding his own eyes and blinking rapidly to get used to the light. "The cave must've been a quicker, alternate passage or something."

"Great. So what does that mean for us? How far are we from that base of yours?"

"Probably about an hour," Sonic said, taking a step. "Maybe half an hour, if we really- erm, Scourge?"

"Yeah?"

In the light of day, Scourge could see the way Sonic's jaw flexed and tensed, and the faint pink that dusted his muzzle and the tips of his ears. Scourge couldn't help but stare; he'd never seen that look before.

"You can let go of my hand now."

Scourge blinked. Looked down. Yep, Sonic wasn't pranking him, their hands were definitely still intertwined.

Scourge snatched his hand away and stalked forward, resolutely refusing to look at Sonic when he followed. "Welp! It's a long run, we better get goin'. How do you feel about a race? I'll race you there. Winner gets to shower first."

"That's not fair. You don't know the way. I'd win too easily."

"You say that like it's ever stopped you before."

"Maybe I like having someone who can keep up with me, for once."

Scourge's risked a sideways glance at Sonic. Sonic, whose quills were clumped together with spider blood clinging to them like gel, the sunlight reflecting off those razor sharp eyes to make them even more piercing than normal. There was a cut on his arm Scourge hadn't noticed before, just scabbing over. His gloves, which had been pure white when they went in, were almost gray, and his fur was caked in dirt and spider gunk.

He was a mess.

Scourge's heart stumbled and stuttered.

Oh.

Oh no.

"Stupid spider," Sonic muttered to himself. He shook his head violently, and bits of gravel flew out of his quills. "It's gonna take ages to wash all this shit off."

Oh shit, he had things he had to unpack later.

"Let's get out of here. I need a shower."

Somehow, Scourge managed to force something past his closed up throat. "Not if I get one first."

"I'd like to see you try."

And then Sonic was off, and Scourge had to force that nice new suitcase full of things to the back of his mind so he could keep up. He could unpack that after his shower. Or during, if he got there first. It would be funny to listen to Sonic swear.

But first, he needed to give his racing heart an actual reason to race.

And hopefully not trip any more than he already had.