"I guess I should be thanking you," Sonic remarked as Rouge flew them far away from the burning Eggman base. He looked over her shoulder at the flaming building, feeling himself grin as he saw another piece of it crumble and fall to the ground.

"Of course you should be," Rouge returned, with only a slight teasing lilt to what was otherwise called 一 by Sonic, anyhow 一 her 'business voice'. "Saving you from certain death… now I'd say that merits a few favors."

Sonic shifted again in her hold, boldly flicking her nose; he was sure that, had he been almost anyone else, Rouge would have dropped him in response before catching him as a warning. "Yeah? And what about me saving you from those Eggpawns?"

Rouge clicked her tongue. "I could have taken them."

"It was a sneak attack!"

"I have good hearing."

Sonic winked at her. "But your reflexes aren't up to my speed."

Rouge almost huffed, and Sonic counted that as a victory. "Believe what you want to believe."

"I believe," Sonic said with a stretch, "that you owe me a favor or two as well."

"Not a chance, darling."

Sonic closed his eyes with a chuckle. "Worth a shot."

The feeling of the winds gently passing him by soothed him, like soft caresses as opposed to the cold sting of running at speeds too fast for most to fathom ever travelling. Sonic sighed, leaning closer into Rouge's hold, finding himself relaxing after their fights and missions becoming entangled. Rouge was warm and soft and strong, and even with the knowledge that they were far above the ground, Sonic felt safe.

"Tired, hon?"

Sonic grunted. "A little."

He heard Rouge let out a small giggle. "I'm not surprised. You spin-dashed around that room so much that I got dizzy just looking at you." One of her fingers brushed lightly against his back spines. "You ran all the way here too, didn't you?"

"Yeah."

"Right after a fight in a different city entirely?"

"...yeah."

Sonic heard Rouge's wings bat a few more times, before her body bounced lightly as her feet touched solid ground. The hedgehog reluctantly opened his eyes and slid out of her hold, standing on his own two feet and looking around, yawning absentmindedly as he tried to figure out which way to go to get back home.

"You look worn out."

Sonic waved the observation away. "Nah, I'm fine. Eight hours of sleep a night and I'm good to go."

A hand landed on his shoulder, and Sonic felt his knees almost buckle underneath the force of Rouge's ridiculous strength. "I mean it, sweetie. You look like you're a second away from tripping over your own feet and passing out in the dirt."

Sonic laughed. "You don't have to exaggerate it like that."

"I'm not. Do you even know which way to go?"

Sonic frowned, looking back out to the horizon, but the sun had already started to set and darkness was obscuring the landmarks he relied on. All the same, he was loath to admit it. Even to Rouge.

He just didn't want her to focus too much worry on him. That was all.

"Okay," Rouge cut in to his thoughts as the world around them only got darker and darker. "I'm cashing in one of those favors right now. You're coming with me to the nearest rest stop and you're getting your eight hours. Got it?"

Sonic smiled. "Well if it gets rid of one of those favors…" he acquiesced, though internally he was grateful for the excuse to go along with her to a place he could relax. Even as they walked, he felt his head ache with heaviness and his feet begin to drag.

He knew he had overdone it today.

And even if he hated that Rouge had noticed, he was also glad that she did.

"We need a room," Rouge said to the receptionist as Sonic forced back another yawn. "Or two. I'm not picky."

Sonic held back the urge to snort; that was a bold-faced lie, but he supposed that everything about this night felt like a compromise. They had gone to the first bed and breakfast they could find, which had happened to be a rather cheap-looking motel. Sonic, knowing Rouge enjoyed luxury more than anything, insisted that he could keep going on to the next one, but his protest had ended with a yawn so intense that he had gotten dizzy.

Rouge had pulled him into the establishment the very next second and Sonic didn't have the mental power to argue.

The receptionist's eyes flickered between them both in amazement, and Sonic could almost see #sonouge trending again on social media. Going in here was a bad idea, he could feel it, they needed to get out while they still could-

"Umm…" The mouse behind the desk pushed up his glasses, taking a look behind his shoulder at the key rack. "We only have one room left, and-"

"Splendid! We'll take it." Rouge was already holding out her hand for the key.

"I mean, um… ma'am, I uh…" The mouse looked like he was about to melt into the ground from nervousness. "M-Miss Rouge the Bat? I um… I think I should warn you that this is a single room… with just one bed."

Sonic was pretty sure that the people from across the street were able to hear the exasperated sigh that Rouge let out.

"Is there a couch?"

"N-No ma'am."

"Is the bed a double or a single."

"Erm… it's a twin, but-"

"Then it'll work. Give me the papers to sign or the key and stop wasting my time."

As the mouse scrambled to get everything together and apologized fervently, Sonic wasn't sure whether to feel sorry for him or grateful to Rouge.

Rouge was practically carrying him to the room a moment later. "Hon, when you said you needed eight hours of sleep, I didn't think you meant that you might actually collapse if you don't get it all."

"I don't," Sonic insisted through a fog of exhaustion. "I just… don't run good when I don't. Today's just…"

"You overdid it," Rouge decided, and Sonic couldn't argue with her. "Okay, sweetheart, let's get you into bed. Just one question."

"Mmm?"

"Do you move around a lot when you sleep?"

"Sometimes, yeah."

Rouge let out a displeased noise. "That's going to be a problem."

She let go of him as they reached their room for the night, sliding the key into the lock and opening the door, revealing a small, sparsely decorated room with just one bed, as was foretold. It was practically begging for Sonic to sleep on it, and he felt his feet shuffle forward without his permission.

An idea came to him, and the thought slipped out of his lips without his brain filtering it. "I don't move when I'm holding someone."

"...Come again?"

"Tails," Sonic clarified, sitting on the bed and resisting the urge to just fall backwards. "When he got nightmares we'd sleep in the same bed. When I was holding him I never moved."

There was a beat of silence as Sonic looked down at his shoes, the idea of removing them feeling like a herculean task.

"So what you're saying is..." Rouge said, "I have to cuddle you if I want to make certain that I get a good night's sleep?"

"Yeah," Sonic replied, finally starting to peel off one shoe.

"Oh, is that all?" Rouge replied with a shrug. "And here I got all worried for nothing."

Sonic let out an exhale that was almost a laugh. He had briefly forgotten that he was rooming that night with one of the few people in the world who insisted that hedgehogs were cuddly.

Either Rouge got ready for bed faster than anyone else in the universe, or Sonic was slower than a snail, but by the time he had flopped down on the mattress, Rouge was there with him, reaching out her arms and bringing him into her hold. Just like before, in the air, Sonic sunk into her warm, soft and strong embrace, smelling the faint remains of perfume that lingered.

"Nigh…" he croaked out as his eyelids grew too heavy to handle, and he barely registered her returned 'goodnight' as he sunk into oblivion.