Sonic drove Sally home, and said an extended goodbye to her. He left for his home, but couldn't sleep. He called Tails, but didn't get a response. Getting a bad feeling, Sonic immediately drove to Tails' house. He knocked on the door, but he didn't show up. Sonic let himself in by using a spare key Tails gave him.
"Tails? Are you in here?" Sonic asked cautiously. He still got no response.
Sonic carefully walked around to find Tails, head buried in his knees, in the corner holding his favorite stuffed animal. He looked up at Sonic, holding the flashlight pointed at the ceiling.
"Tails, do you wanna talk?"
"I don't think I do." Responded a muffled voice. It was obvious Tails had cried a lot.
Sonic sat down beside Tails, rubbing his shoulder. "It's okay, buddy. It's all gonna be okay. I don't want you to be sad."
"I don't wanna be here! Can I go home with you?"
"You can't, Tails. But I've prepared to stay here all night. I'm not going anywhere."
Tails let go of his stuffed animal and hugged Sonic.
Sonic pulled Tails onto his lap and started petting his chest fur. "Does this help?"
"I guess it does. It feels good."
"You like this?" Sonic lightly tickled his fox brother.
"Mhmm! Keeeeheeee! Sooonic! That tickles!"
"Yeah, I know. You'll be getting lots of this until you cheer up!" Sonic rolled backwards to set Tails on top of him. He was barraged by Tails' cute laughter. "Hah! What do you think of that?" Sonic tickled him even harder.
Tails did not respond, but instead burst into a fit of wild laughter.
"Want me to call Zooey over?" Sonic continued tickling Tails so he couldn't say no. "I'll get her over here. I'm gonna also make emo boy apologize." He let go of Tails and called Zooey via his Communicator.
A very sleepy fox answered on the other side. "Sonic? Why are you calling me so late? Only Tails is allowed to do that."
"Yeah, I'm here at Tails' house right now. He's not doing so good right now, and it would make him so much better if you came around. Can you be ready to leave in ten minutes?"
"Ugh, fine. If it's to make him better, I'll do it."
"Okay, hang tight. I've got another call to make." Sonic hung up that call and rang Shadow, who answered surprisingly fast, with an unpleasant "What do you want?"
"I think you know exactly what I want."
"I don't want to cuddle you, blue boy."
"That's not what I'm talking about, punk! I need you to come over to Tails' place now and apologize for everything you've done."
"I didn't do a thing! What do you think you're talking about?"
"He's terrified of lightning. You wrecked his mind."
"I see. That's why it's called a dare."
"Aren't you sorry about it? He's traumatized."
"Slightly. I'll be over there. Give me five minutes."
"Fine. Don't make us wait too long."
"I don't intend to." Shadow hung up.
Sonic picked up Tails and set him on his couch, taking the flashlight with him.
"Tails, do you wanna talk about it now?"
"I don't want to. I'd like to sleep now if I can."
"Well, we've got guests soon, but we'll see."
Tails lay down on the couch beside Sonic. He sat in silence for a few minutes as Tails slowly fell asleep. Eventually, Shadow knocked on the door. Sonic opened.
"I better be here for a reason, Sonic." He groaned.
"Yes. I just remembered I promised Zooey I would be there. I assume that I can trust you with Tails while I'm gone."
"Yes. I think so."
"You're not dangerous, are you?"
Without a response, Shadow drew out two pistols from seemingly nowhere.
"I see." Sonic replied, staring dumbfounded at his weapons.
"You've got nothing to be afraid of. Fear itself is on his side."
"Your ego never fails me. Take care of him. Can I take your car? I ran here."
"Fine. Bring it back."
"I intend to." Sonic yelled, dashing out the door.
Shadow walked into the room with his perfect night vision.
"S-Sonic?" Tails weakly called out.
"Sonic went to get Zooey." Shadow explained. "I'm here now."
Tails slowly got off the couch as silently as he could to avoid Shadow.
"There's no need, Tails. I don't bite."
"How can you see me?"
"I've got perfect night vision."
"Like I would have if you let me use my goggles! Can I just sleep now?"
Shadow sat down on the couch, Tails sitting down next to him. "It's fine by me. Hold still." Tails did so more out of fear than obedience. In a matter of seconds, Shadow wrapped up Tails in a blanket like a sushi roll.
"Where did you learn to do that?" Tails asked.
"Maria put me to bed that way during the early stages of my development. She thought of me as her child. I memorized everything she did."
"I'll have to get out of this at some point. I don't want Zooey to see me like this."
"Very well."
Tails tried to get out of the blanket already.
"What are you doing?" Shadow groaned.
"There's something that needs to be done." Tails responded. "Can you get me that flashlight?"
"I see." Without getting the flashlight, Shadow picked up Tails' stuffed wolf off the floor and gave it to him.
"You know too much." Tails whispered in a manner most people wouldn't find threatening. He took his stuffed animal into the blanket with him.
"Yes, you're right. I could sense your inner man senses kick in. I'm just trying to do what Sonic would do if he were here."
"There's something he would do that you wouldn't."
"Are you this needy?" Shadow groaned. He guessed what that thing was and picked up the Tails sushi and set him on his chest. "Is that better?"
"I'm not needy; I'm terrified." A roar of lightning proved that he had something to be afraid of.
"I can't shoot the lightning. Sleep tight, kiddo."
Tails hated being called a kid, but he accepted it. Shadow was strangely acting like a father figure. Perhaps it was his instinct to give back what Maria gave him.
They sat in silence for the next few minutes. Without warning, the front door slowly opened, then closed quickly. Only Shadow heard this.
Sonic entered the hallway into Tails' main room, and found a flashlight being pointed at his face. And behind that flashlight was Shadow with his K45 set on him. Sonic dove out of the way in fright. He heard Shadow burst into a low pitched laughter.
"What's so funny, Shadow?" Sonic grunted.
"You're so scared." Shadow roared. "And by the way, Tails is right here."
Tails didn't have time to get out of his rolled blanket before Sonic came in. "There you are, little buddy. I just wanted to clear the room just in case anything bad happened."
"Told you he was safe." Shadow reminded him, brandishing his K45 before putting it away. "Get out of the blanket now." He snagged the stuffed wolf from Tails' hand and hid it in a nearby cabinet before Sonic let Zooey in.
Shadow shined the flashlight at Zooey, who was wearing her pink silk pajamas. "Shadow? I didn't expect you to be here."
Before he could answer, Tails ran up to Zooey and hugged her. "I heard you had a bad time." Zooey whimpered. "It's okay, I'm here now."
"I tried to go to sleep, but I couldn't."
Zooey took Tails' hand and set her arm around his shoulder. "Perhaps it's time you tried again." She put out the footrests on every couch seat. "Why don't you take the middle, sweetie? Sonic and I will be on either side."
Tails did as he was told.
"Shadow, I don't think you're needed here anymore." Sonic pointed out.
Shadow knelt down beside the couch and put his hand on Tails' shoulder. "Tails, I'm sorry about this."
He yawned. "It's gonna be alright."
"Good to hear." Shadow left without saying anything more.
Zooey took the blanket off the couch and spread it over herself and Tails, overlooking Sonic. Since Zooey cuddled Tails, he took the extra half a seat for himself.
The storm raged on as each one slowly fell asleep. Finally, the morning came, and the storm cleared away.
Sonic was naturally the first one to wake up. He saw that both Tails and Zooey were still sleeping. He quickly made his way into Tails' kitchen, until he realized the power was out. Sonic managed to get out of the house, reconnect the power through the outside box, get back in, and get stuff out of the fridge without waking Zooey, the lightest sleeper in the world. It seemed like just minutes before he had made breakfast sandwiches for both of the foxes and one for himself. He walked back into the room where Tails was still sleeping, his head on top of Zooey's.
Zooey was just waking up now. She looked over at Sonic and understood he wanted her to wake Tails up. Zooey slid her thumb across his muzzle until he stirred and opened his eyes.
It was a relief for him to wake up to see his girlfriend and older brother figure. The first thing he did was hug Zooey, glad he made it through a rough night.
"Alright lovebirds, breakfast is ready when you are." Sonic teased.
Tails was annoyed. "Yeah yeah, we'll get to it, okay?"
"Very well." Sonic sighed. He wanted to yell back at Tails about being ungrateful, but he decided it wasn't best in front of Zooey. Tails gave him a hug to make up for it.
All three of them devoured their sandwiches within minutes.
"Mmph! That was delicious, Sonic! Thanks a bunch!"
"How you feeling now, buddy? Doing any better?"
"Yeah, I think so." Tails said as Sonic picked him up.
Sonic looked at Zooey. "Can I steal him from you for just a minute?"
She agreed. "Sure, but bring him back."
Sonic set him down. "I'll be sure to do that." He took Tails around the house, away from where she could hear them, and they sat down on the stairs. "How you feelin' Tails?"
"Much better. Having you and Zooey around is always good."
"Do you mind if I ask you something really personal?"
"What is it?"
"How do ya like THIS!" Sonic pushed Tails on his back, unevenly on the steps so he couldn't get up, and tickled his muzzle so hard, he didn't even laugh. He wanted to, but he couldn't.
When he did eventually laugh, Zooey knew what was going on and rushed over there. "Am I missing all the fun?" Zooey asked rhetorically.
"Only some of it." Sonic replied.
Zooey tickled under Tails' arms, one of his most sensitive spots, causing him to giggle wildly and kick in every direction. Sonic had stopped by this point. "Good to see you still have your sense of humor, sweetie!" Zooey teased. She continued for 30 seconds, even when Tails turned on his back. Sonic was laughing his head off at this.
Zooey slowly kissed the back of his neck, causing Tails to thrash around more. "Oh, you like that, huh?" She razzed. Tails turned on his back, barely clearing Zooey's face with an intentional kick. "Don't you mess with me!" She added, picking up Tails by the arms and kissing his neck again. Tails really liked this although it tickled him. He laughed some more. Finally, Zooey quit and left Tails to catch his breath a little.
"Phew! You've really done it this time." Tails panted, regaining his breath. Zooey sat by him, leaning her head on his shoulder.
"Aww, aren't you so cute!" Sonic taunted.
"I… we are not cute!" Tails yelled back.
"You don't get it, bud. Your face is like an open book. I can plainly see you want to get back at one of us. If Zooey is gonna kiss up to you like that, it leaves only me. Come on then, bring it on!"
Tails jumped at Sonic as if to tackle him. Sonic prepared for this by catching him. "Gotcha!" He teased, carrying Tails princess style. Zooey ran at Sonic, both arms out, but he grabbed her wrists, and carried them both with one arm each. "Perhaps with you two lightweights out of the way, I'll be fine. I got control now, Tails."
"Why are you always so cruel?" Tails whined.
"I'll show you cruelty!" Sonic pressed Tails' lips against Zooey's. "Now kiss." He commanded in a lower tone, as if they were dolls. "Aw, come on. Don't pretend you don't like it." Sonic said, seeing Zooey and Tails push each other away. They both stopped, and continued holding onto each other even as Sonic stepped back. "Are we all good now?"
"Yeah." Tails sighed. "Can me and Zooey have some alone time now?"
"I don't think so, buddy. Not after last night."
Zooey motioned for Tails to stop talking. "Well, if you wanna continue on the theme of last night, how's a French kiss sound, Tailsy?"
"Could you please go, Sonic?" Tails begged.
"Haw haw haw, now that you're kissing, you want some alone time. Very well. Hope you're feeling better, Tails. I've got some powerlifting to do. Remember, you can't say no." Sonic petted his head one more time before leaving, which was annoying, but he allowed it. Sonic headed out the door, nearly running head first into Shadow.
"Watch where you run, Sonic." He grunted.
Sonic noticed he was hiding something behind his back, so he shut the door. "What are you up to this time? You're hiding something."
It was a gift box. "This," he explained, "is for Tails. It's another stuffed animal."
"I see. Tails doesn't want Zooey to find it?"
"Yeah. Where is he now?"
"He's not… accessible." Sonic stuttered.
"Can I reach him? Where's Zooey?"
"She's loving on Tails. Now's a bad time. Just leave it in his mailbox."
"Okay. Gonna go work out?"
"I hate to do it, since I don't even lift weights. But a challenge is a challenge. Plus I can get him to talk to some ladies in the gym. We're gonna torture each other so hard."
"Hahaha… Good luck."
"Thanks, I'll need it." Sonic dashed back to his house, a good four mile run to start off the morning. Once he arrived, he took his motorcycle over to Rouge's house, where he found Knuckles. Sonic drove Knuckles to the gym, where the real fun began.
They were both surprised to find that they were the first to arrive. The first thing Knuckles did was show Sonic the bench press, his personal favorite. Sonic watched as Knuckles added 75 kilos of weight on either side of the bar, and completed ten reps with ease.
"That's how it's done. I'll start you off with 60 kilos." Knuckles adjusted the weights evenly, 30 kilos on each side. Sonic managed to lift this relatively easily.
"Very well then. I'll add ten kilos to each side for 80. Good luck." To his surprise, he was able to lift this weight, but not without a struggle.
"Seems this one isn't your best. 50 kilos on each side for a total of 100." Knuckles adjusted the weights and lowered the bar for Sonic, but he was unable to lift it all the way. "Just as I thought, I'd always win." Knuckles taunted. He picked up the bar and set it back to its normal place. "The first of many for my winstreak."
"Hey, if you're speaking about winning, here come Staci and Perci." Sonic whispered. "You know what to do."
"How's it going, ladies?" Knuckles hollered from halfway across the gym. They ignored him. "Well, that one didn't work too well." He whispered back.
"Go up and approach them, loser."
Knuckles grabbed him by the neck and pointed his other fist at him. "Don't you dare call me a loser again, muskrat!" Reluctantly, Knuckles walked over to the treadmills where Staci and Perci were running. "So what brings you here?"
"We're more here to maintain than build, so don't try to sell me on lifting." Staci explained, referring also to Perci.
"Okay. Putting in the work, I like that."
Perci understood Knuckles' flirty look and decided to flirt back. "Looks like you've put in a lot of work yourself."
Knuckles, not being the brightest one in the room, was confused by this. Was she flirting or being nice? He couldn't tell, so he decided to return the favor. "And you're looking pretty good, too."
Sonic was restraining himself from bursting into laughter. Was Knuckles really this good?
"Is that fulsomeness I hear?"
Knuckles was even more confused. "I… don't know what that means."
Perci had to tell him what was going on. "Basically flattery. You're definitely being flirty, so clearly you're interested."
"Lay down your best moves." Sonic whispered.
He followed up. "And you're smart too. I could use a smart person in my life."
Now Perci was confused. "What are you saying?"
"You wanna go out next Friday?" Even Sonic was shocked by his straightforwardness.
"You're being a little forward." Perci stuttered. "But yes, I'm interested."
"Perci!" Staci yelled, astonished by her random acceptance. "What's up with you?" Perci just looked over at her and discreetly smirked.
Knuckles rubbed his huge hands together as if making a deal. "How about that diner a few minutes from here? I've heard it's good."
"Looks like someone's got a hot date!" Sonic teased. "You still need me here?"
"Well, look what the cat dragged in. You're staying until you're done." Knuckles looked over at the twins. "I've dared him to compare to my weightlifting, and he's actually not too bad."
"I'll leave you to it." Perci took on a flirtatious look. "I'll be ready for you on Friday."
"Alright, should we meet in the town square. Should we say 8PM?"
"Sounds good to me!" Perci agreed, as she increased her speed. Staci did the same to catch up.
As Knuckles and Sonic retreated to the chest press, Sonic commended him on his acceptance. "I did not expect that. You're good at that! Well done. I sure hope Rouge won't be disappointed."
"Listen, keep this a secret. I once liked her back, but she wasn't interested, okay? Now things have changed and she has to learn to move on. She can have Shadow if she wants. Rouge can wrap any man around her finger. However, it's time for the chest press. I'll do a seemingly easy hundred kilos." Just like he claimed. Knuckles added fifty kilos of weight to both sides and pushed the bars forward ten times.
Sonic started his set with sixty, which was already a struggle. Seventy kilos was even more of a challenge. He could not complete a full ten reps with seventy five kilos.
"I'm kind of impressed. You weren't supposed to be doing this well." Knuckles said.
"Neither were you." Sonic teased, again, looking back at Perci and Staci, who were now fully sprinting.
"I'll let you off easy with something you're bound to be good at. I'll start myself off on the leg press for eighty kilos. See if you can beat that."
Knuckles did as he claimed. A set of ten leg press reps with eighty kilos.
"I'll cut myself a break. A hundred kilos." Sonic bragged.
After much of Knuckles' protesting, Sonic put on a hundred kilos. Just as he was about to complete his ten reps, he pushed the weights so quickly and powerfully, the cable snapped. "I'll get the manager." Sonic sighed.
Knuckles offered to help. "No, I got this." He ran over to a nearby desk with a mess of papers on it, opened the lowest drawer, and pulled out a new cable. He attached it back to the weights, and set Sonic up for 150 kilos. "Let's see you do this one."
Sonic performed ten reps with ease. Even when the weight was set to the maximum 200 kilos, Sonic cranked out ten reps seemingly easily.
Knuckles was dumbfounded. "You're the strongest at the leg press! Where did all of that muscle go? You still look like a stick!"
"I have no idea. Just because I'm thin doesn't mean I'm weak."
"So you didn't suffer as much as I hoped." He groaned.
"Neither did you. I was looking forward to seeing you get so uncomfortable."
"Neither of us got what we wanted out of it. But you've got your pride and I've got a date. Can we leave now?"
"Sure." They both left the gym as Sonic drove Knuckles back to his house.
"It's been good having you, Sonic." Knuckles concluded. "I look forward to working out with you again, but next time, less of a challenge."
"Maybe I'll try again. Enjoy your date." Sonic replied, getting out of the car.
"I'm paying!" Knuckles boasted. "I've got a windfall."
They had a 'bro hug' before Sonic left.
"Less suffocation. Perci won't like that." Sonic suggested.
"You're funny, Sonic. Never change. Goodbye!"
"See ya!" Sonic drove back home, passing Tails on the way, who was taking Zooey home. It made him think of Sally. He turned his car around to pay her a visit.
