Author's note: This is a one-shot filled with angst and brotherly fluff, something that I've missed writing for a while
Hope you enjoy :D
In rage we trust
The descent was much faster than he would have anticipated. The ground was blurring underneath him, the wind ringing in his ears as smoke was making his eyes water up, his heart beating in his chest. Hands and fingers were frantically at work, pulling in levers, pushing buttons, heaving in a stick as he tried to keep control of everything.
This wasn't the first time he had experienced crashing.
The trees were coming closer and closer, the classical looking pine trees becoming bigger and more menacing the faster they fell towards the ground. The rain was hammering in his eyes, getting washed away in the wind as the pilot did what he could to somehow make the landing softer.
There was no way he was getting back into the sky, the engine in front of him was smoking uncontrollably, being the culprit of their current situation, the propeller halting as soon as the explosion had passed. His hands were shaking, he could both feel and see his fingers tremble as he turned one instrument from the next, both hands clutching around the yolk lastly.
"Hang on!" He yelled over the wind, hoping to Chaos the passenger was still holding on to the wing was hearing him. He didn't have the seconds to turn his head and look, merely hoped he was still there as he tried to push against it. The mechanics was forcing him to fight against the aerodynamic forces, the muscles in his arms shaking while gritting his teeth.
He closed his eyes, the last thing he could see was the treetops that was nearing the tip of the plane, as he pulled with all his weight. The yolk obeyed, making him able to pull back a little, opening his eyes only to blink the smoke out of them before seeing the biplane starting to level.
Though his speed was rapidly decreasing as he approached the ground, as he with a stone of regret and his own voice in his head screaming at him that this was a bad idea, he released the landing gear. He opened a small glass dome on the control panel and slammed his hand down on the red button. He pressed himself against the back of his seat to soften the sudden yank the plane would make hearing as the parachute behind them released. Despite his efforts from before, the air was knocked out of his lungs as the plane yanked backwards, the parachute getting released, a huge amount of speed suddenly decreasing, as he came closer and closer to the ground.
Gritting his teeth even more to prevent himself from biting his tongue, he let the plane descend itself as the wheels touched ground. It bumped on the ground, twice, thrice, before the plane careened along the grass, still with enough speed for it to be worrisome.
He pushed one foot down on the breaks, hearing as the wheels screeched and cried in the muddy grass, the rain still hammering down, could smell burnt rubber through the smoke in his face.
The plane began to turn, a sudden realization the pilot almost didn't realize since he could see the tree that he couldn't avoid hitting.
He closed his eyes, shaking hands clutching around the yolk as he awaited the inevitable crash.
What felt like millennials only lasted a couple of seconds as the entire plane came to a sudden halt as the side of it rammed into a tree. He rammed into the side of where he was sitting, his head hitting against the trunk of the tree as time suddenly stood still.
The engine exploding, the sudden descent, smoke, adrenaline, and the smell of burnt rubber suddenly seized to exist. The only sound that was left was the small pitter patter of raindrops that was hitting the needles around them, another symphony than the cacophony that had happened beforehand.
The hiss of the engine was the first thing he noticed, haven't even realized he had been sitting in darkness for quite a while, merely using his seconds to listen to the raindrops that had been falling around him. A groan from above pulled him out of the temporary shock, opening his eyes, still feeling his beating heart against his chest.
His right temple was pounding painfully, not a headache but a surface pain that reminded him he had greeted one of the trees in the forest. His hands were still shaking as he leaned forward in his seat, his legs feeling like jelly and was vibrating slowly.
"Tails?" His name made his ears flick, making an effort to take a couple of deep breaths, running a tentative hand over his right temple to assess the damage.
"Yeah?" He answered nevertheless, blinking one more time only to realize that the smoke he thought had been in his eyes was still appearing in front of him from the engine.
The sound of someone standing up on the wing, made him turn his head, a dark blue being jumping from the wing and landed on the ground beside him. It was mud that the red sneakers touched, rain still coming down from an open sky, the pine trees around them not giving enough cover.
The adrenaline was still coursing through him, he could feel it in his shaking fingers as the hedgehog turned around towards him, the quills in the back of his head looking more ruffled than they usually were, the face paler from the shock and the wind. It wasn't exactly warm temperatures that hit them in the face when the nose of the biplane was almost completely vertical.
"That was some great landing," the hedgehog complemented, emerald, green eyes averting away from the pilot to the still smoking engine. Tails looked at him for a bit as he swallowed something in his throat, still being oblivious to how Sonic brushed something off like this that easily.
His own hands were still shaking, and he wasn't sure whether or not his legs were going to keep him standing if he got out of his seat. He had experienced this before but that didn't mean he had gotten used to his trembling fingers and the fear of crashing and not surviving it making his heart beat out of his chest. It was a fear that wasn't there anymore when they were fighting badniks, being well aware what he was capable of doing and what he wasn't. Those situations he could control, he knew what to do and he could calculate the outcome of every attack.
When you were heading towards the ground with unparalleled speeds, he couldn't calculate the odds of survival other than listening to his heart and his sixth sense, being well aware that they only survived because of his piloting skills. That was a fact he knew he could hold on to. That still didn't mean that there wasn't a chance of him miscalculating in a situation like that. There were more factors that played into it than being faced against more than 50 egg pawns at a time – the latter option he could clearer see the outcome off than a smoking biplane headed towards the ground.
He followed Sonic's gaze towards the engine, a part of him already wanting to take a look at what had made it explode when he instead hissed at a sudden surge of pain going through his head, rubbing a hand against his temple. The sound made the hedgehog turn his head towards him, a quick and familiar elevator look was an attempt to try and find the damage himself first.
"You alright?" The question was as expected as they always were, a question which he had learned a long time ago not to ignore, as he looked back at Sonic.
"I hit my head against the tree," he explained, hoping that the hedgehog couldn't see his shaking hands "It was a tough landing," the fox exhaled leaning back into his seat while running his hands down his face.
As they dropped into his lap, he turned his head back towards the hedgehog, watching as his critical green eyes looked over his head as if he were determining if it looked bad or not.
"Tough landing or not, we made it didn't we?" He then smiled, concluding that there was either no visible wound or it didn't look bad. He instead pulled up that positive and encouraging outlook he had on every situation.
Nevertheless, it made the sidekick smile back at him, feeling as he started to finally calm down from the shock and the experience, reminding himself that he had done this before. And just like last time they had survived this one too.
"Yes, we did. Thanks Sonic," Tails replied, the smile widening on his lips from the praise, a familiar action he appreciated. The hedgehog gave him a small nod as he turned his head towards the engine, the smoke coming from the sides of the panel, still disappearing into the dark clouds above them.
"Still, that was weird. I've never experienced the Tornado exploding like that. Usually, it's Eggman's robots that gets a hit on us," the hedgehog explained, scratching the back of his quills, making him realize in the process how ruffled they were and made an attempt to smooth his spikes down again. It made a tiny grin appear on the fox's face, being aware what vanity really meant to his friend.
"Me neither," he agreed either way, pulling himself together enough to latch a hand on the edge of his seat, jumping over and out as he landed on the ground.
Luckily, his legs kept him standing, as he walked over to the smoking engine, frowning at the raindrops that were hammering down on both him and the hedgehog.
It had begun to rain as they had made their way over Sea Gate, their original plan being cast aside now, the two of them apparently not visiting Vanilla and Cream today. He knew they would be flying into rain on their trip, but the both of them had decided that they would rather fly today since a storm was rolling over the zones, they were supposed to pass. Though he had checked whether or not it was going to thunder, and the weather forecast had promised that the lightning would hold back until next week. A mere monsoon was passing, nothing more than that.
However, that still didn't mean that the two of them enjoyed flying in the rain and getting wet but being frequent travelers and having promised Vanilla that they would come, was a consequence they then had accepted. The engine exploding was another story entirely.
He lifted the hatch where smoke was coming out of the side of the metal, wafting it away with his hands while coughing as some of it travelled into his throat.
"Looks like we landed in Seaside Hill though," Tails only turned his ear at Sonic's comment, letting the smoke dissipate out of the hull, letting the rain get inside to cool the entire machine.
The explosion was either caused by a combustion or a mechanical failure, the fox frowning at either option since none of them should have happened in the first place. A tail slithered around his hip as he reached into the fur and found his trusty screwdriver, reaching a hand down into the mechanics as most of the smoke had disappeared from his vision.
"I see a hotel from here! We can rent a room for the night."
"Uh huh," Tails answered in automation alone without listening, being too concentrated on trying to figure out what had happened with the engine.
He could clearly see that the main part of the engine was beyond repair without replacements, most of the capacitors and especially the cooling unit was toast. A sigh made his bangs lift into the air shortly, as he checked the rest of the engine, still being unaware of what had caused it.
As his eyes travelled over the various components, he suddenly saw something being stuck near the fan, the frown deepening, as he thought it could be a piece of metal that got dislodged in the explosion. He poked it with his screwdriver, suddenly realizing that the smoke was actually coming from whatever that was, blinking to get the rain away from his eyes to get a better visual at what it was.
When he could make an outline of what it was, a deep, deep sigh left the sidekick, the equivalent of a haunted soul.
"Sonic?"
"Yeah?" The hedgehog was quick to answer, having apparently waited for the fox to speak, the former being aware that the latter often got too concentrated to talk.
Tails could already feel the annoyance build up in his stomach as he penetrated the completely black and sodded item with his screwdriver, hearing the crunch as the metal tip pierced through. He lifted it out of the engine compartment, knowing that it would burn his glove if he touched it, the thing still smoking as he got it out.
With a wiggle of the screwdriver the item fell onto the grass where it began sizzling on the wet ground, at the same time that Sonic had walked up to him, before stopping and looking down at the thing in front of his feet.
"What does that look like?" Tails asked clearly exasperated, as he left his hands on his hips, could feel his behind appendages whipping with an anger that was starting to boil inside of him.
He knew very well what that was. He could recognize the outline of well-done toasted bread, the hotdog charred to charcoal, as it was smoking and sizzling on the ground.
"That? That looks like a really, really burnt-" Sonic had been chuckling during his observation, before it suddenly dawned on him, his eyes widening just slightly before he bit his lip. "Chilidog," he ended, tapping at the burnt and inedible thing with his foot.
Another exasperated sigh left the sidekick, rubbing a hand against his forehead, as he looked down at the burnt piece of food.
"Are you serious?" He asked annoyed, waving his hand in front of the hedgehog's nose, as he could feel his tails whipping faster behind him. "How did you not know that you dropped a chilidog into my engine?!"
"Hey, relax bud, I didn't do it on purpose," Sonic quickly defended, waving his hands in front of himself in a calm gesture. Though a frown appeared from the question, one hand started to scratch his quills again.
"I think it might have happened yesterday. I was eating down in the workshop when I was looking for a battery. I could have – left it on the plane when I was looking," the hedgehog realized, biting his lip again as he slowly understood what the effect of him leaving his lunch behind had done to the engine of the red biplane.
Tails on the other hand blinked at him in pure disbelief, looking down at the burnt chilidog on the ground.
"What were you doing looking for a-" he let out a quick exhale. "You know what? Never mind, what matters is that you dropped a piece of food into the engine which inevitably made it overheat and caused the explosion. You made us crash Sonic!"
"Hey, hey chill litl' bro, we made it didn't we?" The hedgehog was quick to calm, leaving either hand on the fox's arms, looking into his eyes. "You landed the plane and made sure that we were okay. It worked out in the end, right?" He asked, tilting his head slightly with a lopsided grin.
Any other day, any other time the fox would have given in to the expression, knowing that Sonic hadn't meant it and would have forgiven him.
But now, he could feel the furry in his stomach from the entire situation, the anger and the thought that asked himself how someone could be that stupid as to do a thing just like that. They had fallen miles from the sky, heading straight towards a pine forest and it had only been by sheer luck that they weren't squashed to pancakes right now.
He clenched his hands to avoid making the hedgehog see them shaking, the sidekick having a hard time to forgive him for something like this. Sonic had owned this plane he should know that stuff like that could be life threatening! They had barely made it!
"Don't do that to me!" He wiggled out of the hedgehog's gentle hold, taking a step back as he pointed an accusive finger towards Sonic's face. "You should have told me that you did that! This could have ended much worse!" He knew he was yelling at him at this point, and he knew that he was being angry with him and kept repeating what he was saying.
And yet, he couldn't forgive him, couldn't give him the benefit of the doubt of being so plainly stupid and not realize that being forgetful in that moment had created a life-or-death scenario. He could feel as the throbbing in his head increased with the anger, a surge of pain going through his skull every second he stood here, thinking that Sonic must've lost a couple of brain cells on one of his runs.
"Alright, alright," the hedgehog said again, making the same 'calm down' gesture from before. "If you want to be mad then stay mad. But I say that we rent a room in that hotel for the night, call Vanilla and figure out what to do tomorrow," he easily suggested, turning around, and nodding towards the building the fox hadn't paid attention to, looking past the hedgehog's shoulder.
He noticed that they were pretty close to the shore, and could suddenly recognize the islands in the horizon, a familiar looking area they hadn't visited for a good while. Ruins laid across some of the landscape, before it morphed into actual buildings, a tourist attraction for the mobians more than the humans.
The hotel Sonic was referring too was tall and housed seemingly many rooms, windows on windows showcasing every sight that the zone could offer, as it connected with some smaller shop-looking buildings, closing for the evening. He knew that Seaside Hill was a tropical area, but a rain shower just like this occurred every now and again, meaning that not a lot of tourists were around at these times. And that was most likely for the better, not being in the mood to deal with fans who wanted to get an autograph from the hero of Mobius himself. Sometimes it was tiring walking around with him.
"What do you say?" Despite Sonic having made his statement as if it were the plan, he wanted an opinion anyway, turning his head back towards the still fuming sidekick.
Tails let out a 'hmpf', only to let Sonic know that he was still mad, as he started walking towards the hotel, the two of them having crashed landed on a hill in the pine forest.
"Fine. I can't prepare the engine without any new components so we might as well," he concluded, as he started spinning his tails around to descend down the hill, not giving the hedgehog a ride.
If Sonic minded, he didn't voice it out loud, merely let himself glide down the side of the hill, his sneakers getting muddy in the rain. Tails let both of his hands run down his face, both to try and get the worst water out of his eyes and somehow dispel the painful surges that went through his skull.
It didn't take long for the two of them to make it down into the city, two completely drenched mobians walking inside the lobby of the somewhat high-class hotel. The red carpet they walked on got wet with rainwater and mud, a pair of sneakers leaving footprints behind and two pairs of tails getting dragged in their way.
It was a bit of a hazzle to make the receptionist give them a room as quickly as possible as requested, since the mobian needed to get past the anxiety attack of seeing Sonic the Hedgehog himself rent a room in the hotel.
A bedroom and bathroom, beautiful view towards the ocean, two beds and a TV were eventually their room for the night, as Sonic placed the chip in front of the pad beside the door, making it open. Tails hardly paid attention to the big beds, mattresses filled with foam, the ones which you drowned in, as he instead looked around the room and saw the entrance to the bathroom.
"I'm gonna order some room service. Anything special you want?" A scowl was still plastered over the yellow fox's face as he turned towards Sonic who had jumped into one of the beds, having no regard to the mattress and the blanket that got completely soaked as he had already picked up the phone.
"I don't know. A chilidog perhaps?" Tails suggested with a quick gesture of his hand, his tails starting to whip in agitation again. "And ask them to make it extra toasty."
"Dude would you let it go? I said it was an accident, I'm sorry alright?"
"Yeah, you're sorry. You should be sorry because you crashed the Tornado!" He yelled again, as he opened the door to the bathroom, being more than ready to take a hot shower to warm up and hopefully soothe his head.
As he looked back at Sonic, he saw the first irritated expression on his face as well, a frown appearing on his brow that indicated that he was starting to get mad at the fox. It only made the sidekick's frown deepen.
"Alright fine. If you're gonna be like that then we might as well not talk for the rest of the evening."
"Fine!"
"Fine!"
"Fine!"
The door was slammed into the frame as Tails locked himself in the bathroom.
There was a feeling in the pit of his stomach that woke him up. A warning sign, a kind of trepidation that roused him from slumber. He frowned as his eyes opened in the darkness, night vision working immediately as he faced a window in front of him.
From his position he could see the ocean, waves crashing and thrashing around, the rain making their usual movements chaotic. He could see the raindrops cascading down the big glass pane in front of him, the rain still hammering down in the zone. The rain had dimmed a little bit, his left ear squashed into the pillow, though his right ear was pointing upwards, the blanket pulled up to his shoulders as he could hear the rainstorm ravaging the world outside.
He had no idea what time it was, though he guessed that it was in the middle of the night, given that it was completely dark outside. He blinked owlishly at the window, as memories started to reappear from the evening, his head still throbbing painfully.
It had been a tense atmosphere that had resided in the room, the duo sitting on either bed while they were eating their meals, without saying a word to each other. Sonic had tried to make conversation, but despite the fox having calmed down after his shower he knew he had still been a bit rude towards him. When the movie had ended, he had pulled the covers over his head and tried to fall asleep.
That affair had taken longer than he thought, since he repeated the incident in his head, getting mad over the fact that Sonic couldn't think that far ahead and had created a scenario which could have ended the both of them.
A part of him started to believe that he had woken up because he was still mad, classifying the feeling in his stomach as anger as he closed his eyes to try and drift back into sleep.
Until he heard it.
His eyes flung open the moment the rumble had seized, staring straight at the window in front of him, darting around the glass pane, hoping to Chaos that he had imagined things.
Then he saw the light. A single flash, engulfing the small zone into complete whiteness and only seconds later the sky split apart.
An explosion of a thunderclap made him curl together, gasped out loud as he stared at the window. His heart began beating in intensity, being well aware that electricity was attracted to water – and Seaside Hill was just beside the ocean.
But he had seen the weather forecast, he had specifically searched for the zones that they would have flown across, and Seaside Hill had claimed that there would be no thunder. No thunder!
Another rumble made him pin his ears to his skull, scooting a bit more into the other end of his bed to try and get away from the window as another lightning bolt appeared in the sky. He managed to cover his head with the blanket in time as the sky was ripped apart, gravity getting torn in a thousand directions as the deafening sound of thunder rattled his inner soul.
He couldn't help it. He could feel his heart beating, his hands starting to shake, resisting the urge to pull his tails between his legs, breathing sporadically. Another rumble made their presence known, making him whimper under his breath, biting his lip to prevent from letting that sound escape again.
He didn't see the thunderclap this time, letting out another gasp under the covers as the world exploded around him, felt his entire body shaking without his consent. He pinned his head against his pillow, the blanket covering him, as he tried to shove himself deeper into the mattress, getting away from the thunder, getting away from his fear.
The sound seized, the fox feeling his breathing becoming more sporadic, his lungs starting to hurt as the scientific mind held on to the fact that lightning sought out water to let out their electrical charges, making the entire situation ten times worse.
Another rumble made him squeeze his eyes shut, not wanting to cry over something as stupid as this. He licked his lips, trying to make an effort and took deep breaths, trying to figure out how to make his situation better. He curled in on himself, as the next thunderclap echoed in the room, reminding him that indeed this was Seaside Hill, the rumbling and the explosions sounding closer and closer with every strike.
As the rumbling quieted just for a bit, the shock started to dim as he let out a long deep breath, in vain trying to make the shaking stop. There was nothing that could stop it, he had tried to before, and this was just something he hadn't been able to deal with before. But he knew what could cure it.
With hesitation, he lifted the blanket off his head at the same time that he turned around and looked towards Sonic, the night lamp on the nightstand turned on, in a dim setting. The hedgehog was facing towards him, though the thunder hadn't woken him up one bit, sleeping on his side soundlessly.
Sonic hadn't seemed mad when he had gone to sleep, merely accepting the fact that Tails was angry with him and let him wallop around in it if he wanted to. That still didn't mean that Tails had forgiven him. He bit his lip as a great surge of hesitation went through his chest, not wanting to wake up Sonic.
Partly because he was still mad at him and because he didn't want him to be the one to take responsibility for his fear, nor should he be obligated to be here just because the fox was startled of a phenomenon. And at the same time, he remembered the hedgehog talking about the fact that he didn't care and that it was okay for him to be scared. He knew that Sonic wasn't going to be mad, but he didn't like the thought of him being dependent on him. Especially not now that the hedgehog had crashed a plane into the ground and almost killed them.
He only saw a white light in the room before he even had time to hide again, the sky getting torn apart at the same time that he let out a yelp in fright, the entirety of the room seemingly shaking, the glass panes rattling.
He had no idea if it actually had done that, all he knew was that he could feel his heart beating and his body shaking, survival instincts screaming at him to do something.
One more time, he looked towards the hedgehog, a great surge of hesitation sitting in the pit of his stomach, biting his lip in a failed attempt to make him reconsider.
And yet, he didn't want to stay like this, didn't want to be in a constant state of irrational fear, hoping and praying to Chaos that Sonic at least had forgiven him for being mad at him as he made a decision which made him feel four years younger, and yet there was a part of the fox who didn't care anymore. He untangled from his own blanket, bare feet only briefly stepping onto the carpet, since the socks were drying in the bathroom, before he crawled into the hedgehog's bed.
The weight shift didn't rouse the hedgehog either, making the fox pause and look at him for a second, contemplating on what to do. He didn't want to wake him up, a part of him feeling silly for his decision and a much smaller part of him wanting to go back into his own bed. Though the child inside had won the battle long ago, as he laid down and scooted over to Sonic, lying next to him.
As he leaned against his body and hid his head in the hedgehog's chest, the blue one let out a sound that indicated that he had been woken up. Though, instead of asking questions, instead of letting out a grunt of 'what are you doing?' he felt an arm being laid on his back, the hedgehog moving a bit, so there was room for the both of them.
"What's up bud?" His voice was hoarse and low in tone, almost a whisper, though Tails didn't dare look at him, feeling a bit shameful.
Instead, his ears were still pinned to his head as another rumble explained his actions, loud and deafening, rattling the fox to his inner core. He let out a squeak without being able to stop it, his heart racing and body shaking, doing nothing but shove his head closer against the hedgehog's chest.
An understanding 'aah' left the hedgehog at that, the arm on the golden back of the other pushing him closer.
"Ya didn't say it was going to thunder until next week when you checked the weather," the hedgehog chuckled lightly, no ill-littered tone following the statement.
Tails shook his head to the best of his ability, settling with the fact that he was now here, and he didn't want to move, merely gasping as another thunderclap exploded the world outside, could feel his body shaking without being able to stop it.
"Hey, hey, it's okay," the soothing words made the fox's ears turn towards his voice, as both arms wound around his back squeezing him tight.
The eight-year-old moved his head from Sonic's chest to his neck in order to snuggle closer, hands fisted as another rumble echoed in the sky, a small whimpering sound escaping his mouth before he had time to stop it.
Sonic moved a bit, his chin being left on the top of the fox's head, one hand starting to draw soothing patterns into his back, humming low in his throat. The next thunderclap was more bearable, merely shoved his head deeper into the hedgehog's neck, a dumb sense of protection easing him, since he knew it was ridiculous that he sought out the hedgehog's embrace to hide himself from a thunderstorm which couldn't hurt him.
He had always hated the fact that he feared it but hated it more that he needed Sonic's help to calm down. Especially now that he was supposed to be mad at him. But as of right now, those thoughts didn't settle too deeply in his mind, as the lightning continued outside, another white light filling the room, making him let out another gasp, trying to take control of his breathing.
He had his eyes squeezed tight in order to prevent the tears that wanted to escape, merely concentrated on the patterns that Sonic drew on him, listening to the quiet humming.
"This was not what we had planned huh?" Sonic chuckled, trying to lift the heavy atmosphere, the shaking fox doing nothing but remained in the embrace.
He swallowed something in his throat, moving his head a bit to answer him.
"No," he declared, as if he had answered a scientific question, going back into his hiding place in the crook of Sonic's neck.
He felt as the hedgehog took in a breath to either ask another question or say something else when a crack of thunder split the sky apart. The lightning bolt had hit the waves outside of the window, the night lamps turning off and engulfed the room into total darkness, as the sound made the fox's ears ring, even making the hedgehog he was up against jump from the explosion.
A muffled scream penetrated Tails' lips without being able to control it, his own arms flinging around the hedgehog's back, felt as his fingers got cut on the spikes, feet curling as he tried to shove himself closer. He felt his heart sitting in his throat, his entire body shaking and quaking as a couple of fat teardrops fell from his cheeks, his hands digging into the hedgehog's fur from the pure shock.
"Easy, easy bud ssshh it's okay," Sonic was quick to get over his own scare from the lightning bolt as he sat more upright in the bed, dragging his sidekick with him. Tears of fright still fell from the eight-year-old's face as the hedgehog drew more soothing patterns into his back, leaving his cheek on top of the fox's head while humming again, an unrecognizable melody that tried to soothe the scared mind.
Tails ears were perked to listen to every tone, concentrating on merely the patterns that were being drawn, having no control over his own actions at this point as he merely clung to the hedgehog for dear life.
"I gotcha. It's alright, I gotcha," Sonic continued yet again, still hugging him, still comforting him.
He realized that his lungs were hurting from the sporadic breathing, slowly realizing that he was in the middle of mothers of all panic attacks, his body quaking and shaking as he merely clung to his lifeline. And Sonic let him, as he held him close and protected him from what couldn't attack him, though the big brother didn't mind. He was sitting here, letting all their disagreements aside as the fox felt his breathing come back under control, still shaking as he sniffled. He listened to the soothing words, merely let his mind concentrate on the drawings on his back, taking in deep breaths, in vain trying to make his heart calm down.
Minutes passed as the thunder continued its course outside, having calmed down just a bit, the two of them remained, one of them keeping the other protected.
Guilt started to slowly set in as the fear dimmed with the irrational thought of being safe in his big brother's embrace, biting his lip stubbornly, while trying to ignore the rumbling outside.
"Th-The-" he swallowed the lump in his throat and cleared it, taking in a shuddering breath. "The movie was bad. It was the most fake gorilla I had ever seen," he tried to say, though it sounded squeaked and forced instead, wanting to make some sort of conversation in the dark room, none of them thinking about trying to turn the lights back on.
The light chuckle that Sonic did made him feel better all the way into his core, as the other was still clinging to him.
"I knew you didn't like it. When do you start to see past the technical stuff and actually enjoy what happens?" The hedgehog mocked, tightening his grip around the fox as another lightning strike hit a tree near them, making the fox gasp.
Tails took a couple of deep breaths to try and calm himself, listening to the hedgehog's own heartbeat, being calm and collected.
"When the technical stuff doesn't work properly then the story doesn't work properly," he continued in an attempt to make himself distracted, though he knew very quickly that it wouldn't work, another rumble making him whimper under his breath, swallowing as another set of tears ran down his face.
Humiliating was the wrong word since he knew that Sonic didn't think of him in that regard, though he wasn't proud of hugging the hedgehog into oblivion while crying his eyes out. The chuckle that his brother let out was proof of that alone, another thunderclap making him somehow shove his head deeper into Sonic's neck.
He felt as the hedgehog's head moved from on top of his, one hand moving and calmly went through his bangs.
"Your head alright? Ya got a bruise there," Sonic suddenly asked, making the sidekick move his head a little bit.
He had forgotten that a blue and purple bruise had formed where he had hit his head against the tree, being able to see it in the bathroom mirror when he had exited his shower, though he hadn't given it any more thought.
"It's hurting," he said in a small voice, the painful throbbing still surging through his head with every heartbeat.
Another rumble made him curl his fingers tighter around the hedgehog's fur, forcing his tails where the tips of them had been between his legs to move out of position, curling around Sonic's stomach instead.
A sudden sigh left the hedgehog's lips, a sound which was filled with something he couldn't detect in the moment, though his ears fell into his skull from it.
"I'm sorry," The apology was so blunt and unexpected that Tails somehow lifted his head from its glued position, moving a bit to be able to look at the hedgehog.
An uncharacteristically sympathetic look was all over his face, full of care and comfort and yet he could see the apology practically plastered across his face.
"What?" He asked, as teary blue eyes met green, the water going down his cheeks as he blinked. A smile appeared on Sonic's lips, filled with as much affinity as his face held, the hand on his head moving.
"Sorry that I dropped that chilidog into the engine and made it explode. I should have done something about it before," the hedgehog explained as he gently whipped away the tears that sat on the fox's cheeks and muzzle, a shrug accompanying the action.
Tails bit his lip, their general argument being pushed far away in his mind, all antics of being angry or mad at him completely disappearing in the midst of the thunderstorm. He had practically forgotten and forgiven him at this point. A sigh left him as well, as he lowered his head again, landing on the hedgehog's chest.
"You didn't drop it on purpose," he explained, narrowing his eyes a bit as he sniffled. "I'm sorry I got mad at you Sonic. You didn't mean to make us crash," the fox muttered, feeling embarrassed about the entire thing now.
There was no reason for him to hold a grudge against him, they had survived it after all. In all actuality he hadn't been mad at him for what had happened but had been scared about the entire ideal. He just hadn't wanted to admit it.
Another electrical explosion temporarily stopped every thought in his mind, another lightning bolt hitting the waves outside and rattled the glass panes in the window. He yelped into the room, making his throat hurt from it and shoved his head into Sonic's neck yet again, fingers curling around his fur, a new set of tears appearing in his azure eyes.
His sporadic breathing picked up again with a beating heart, as his big brother drew new patterns on his back, the cheek landing on the top of the golden head again as he kept him tight in the second panic attack.
Minutes passed before his heart had eased down again, his lungs not hurting as he sniffled and let the tears remain on his muzzle, not wanting to let go of Sonic.
"Nah. It's alright bud. You love that plane as much as I love chilidogs," the hedgehog suddenly continued, another light chuckle escaping his lips. "Kinda funny isn't it?" Despite the entire situation and despite his body still shaking and quaking, he found that a tiny grin appeared on his lips, from the realization. It was a bit funny.
Sonic however didn't wait for an answer, as he instead scooted down to lay on the bed again, one hand leaving his sidekick as he searched for the blanket on the bed, pulling it over the both of them.
"Try and get some sleep alright? We need ya refresh and ready to repair the plane tomorrow or Vanilla will be worried," he explained, settling down into the bed, the fox still having his head in the crook of the blue one's neck, arms around his back.
"We don't want her to worry now do we?" He chuckled, the sidekick being able to hear the raised brow. The grin widened just a fraction before it disappeared from another rumble outside, curling a bit more against the hedgehog's chest.
"Sounds good," he answered either way, despite being pretty sure that there was no way that he was going to fall asleep under these circumstances.
With that notion, Tails let himself lay against the hedgehog, tense and shaking from the fear in his mind, trying in vain to stifle his sniffles and calm down when the thunder echoed. But with every crash, with every explosion and every light that lit the entire room Sonic was there – whispering nonsensical reassurance, telling him that 'he was here, it was going to be okay, it's alright, I'm here', humming unrecognizable melodies and shushing him gently. Tails figured that he must be getting tired as well, could feel as the hedgehog's grip sometimes loosened before straining again, realizing that he was falling asleep. Or lulling himself to sleep.
The thought made him grin, merely concentrating on listening to whatever words or sound left Sonic's mouth and either the patterns that were drawn on his back or the hand that went through his bangs instead. It was comforting, it was warm, and it was a sort of protectiveness he wouldn't gain from anywhere but here. And he appreciated it more than anything.
Despite the fox being angry, being mad at Sonic for no particular reason other than wanting to hold a grudge against him because he had been scared, the hedgehog would still be there for him. He figured that it was one of the personality traits that Sonic carried, one which was rare in all actuality and yet this softer side of him was shown in moments like these. Moments where the kid rather than the mechanical genius made its presence known, moments where the eight-year-old needed a guardian more than a caretaker. He had known Sonic as his big brother for four years now, and that was a title that would never get outdated.
He realized that the rain had dimmed greatly, the thunder had calmed as well, the rumbling and the lightning bolts getting further and further away. It made the first yawn penetrate his lips that evening, having no idea how much time had passed, and yet he didn't care as he closed his eyes in Sonic's embrace.
The hand drawing on his back had slowed in motion, indicating that the hedgehog was falling into the same limbo as him, and yet there was still a strong grip on his back. A comfort and protectiveness that would even be there subconsciously. It was a hero perk he figured.
And as the two of them settled down, the youngest mind calmed with tears dried and body finally relaxing, another atmosphere of warmth and tranquility remained. Deep breaths filled the room with two mobians who had adopted each other as their brother long ago, as they reminded one another that they would be there.
Even in rage, even in anger and grudge they still had a bond that seemed unbreakable.
One that would most likely hold for a long time.
Author's note: Want another one-shot featuring a scared fox and a big brother hedgehog? Check out my other fic 'Rippling sky' - it's a bit shorter but still as fluffy - shameless plug, I know :3