Author's Note:
Here's the next chapter! The last part of it may be a little bit rambly / disorganized, but hopefully not too much! I just seem to get like that with my writing, haha
Review Replies:
SuperTailsFan0812 - Thank you so much for the kind review! Tails is definitely my favorite too! I was really excited to incorperate some of his fear into this fic, and there should be more of that later as well haha
Your idea suggestions are great! I will definitely try to put those ideas into this story, thank you!
mercan . melike . 2001 - thank you for the review! i'm glad you think that his reaction is realistic, i've been super hesitant with writing these fics due to the fact that i haven't been sure how to make sonic react well enough, so this makes me happy that you think so!
Now on to the chapter~!
Feelings of uncertainty and shock and distrust were whirling in Sonic's mind, so much so that he just stood there, gaping.
That is, until another strike of lightning caused the whole room to light up, so close that the ground seemed to shake slightly. The ball jumped, squeaking in fear, and tried to press himself back further underneath the table, rustling a small crate of objects next to it.
The little fox whimpered, continuing to shift and try to curl up more than it already was.
He was afraid. This mobian was a child, younger than himself, probably not sure where he was, and afraid.
The realization pulled Sonic out of his shock, and started moving towards the kit, putting aside his own bad feelings about seeing someone from his old home for the moment. "H-Hey there," He spoke quietly, unsure, but wanting to help.
"Is that..?" Tom's question didn't finish, but the two of them both knew what he was asking. "Yeah, I uh.. I think he might be from where I'm from? ...He looks really young..."
Sonic approached very slowly, until he was in front of the table. He pushed the fallen over box with his foot out of the way, crouching down in front of the kit.
"Be careful," Tom warned from a little bit behind, inching closer too with the flash light, but not taking charge, probably assuming Sonic knew what he was doing when it came to his own alien-species.
Sonic eyed the mobian, getting a better look at him. Closer up, he realized, that it wasn't just one tail curled around the shaking form. It was two. Two giant fluffy tails, on this young kit.
It had been a long time since he'd ever been to his old home, sure, but he's pretty sure that's not a normal thing for mobians to have.
As Sonic was inspecting this from his spot, the fox's eyes popped up again, noticed Sonic had gotten closer, and visibly flinched.
"Hey, no, it's okay," Sonic was quick to try to console him, not wanting to be something the vulpine was afraid of. "Don't be afraid." He forced himself to relax his quills as much as he could, to look as non-threatening as possible, even if the thoughts in the back of his head were telling him to keep them raised.
The younger was able to understand him, it seems, because he lifted his head a little bit curiously, ears lifting ever so slightly from being flattened against his skull, but his body hadn't stopped trembling. He was still damp from the rain, so it was unclear whether that was from being scared or being cold.
"Do you know where you are? Do you need help?" Sonic asked. The kit's ears twitched, but he didn't reply right away, staring back at him for a moment, and then shaking his head.
"I-I d-don't know, I don't k-know," His voice is high and a little raspy, broken by a hiccup. He seems ready to burst out into serious crying within seconds, so Sonic tries to shush him a little, inching closer and holding out his arms.
Understandably, the vulpine did not go to the open armed hedgehog, but he didn't flinch back from the movements either. Instead his nervous eyes flickered towards Tom, and his ears flattened to his skull again.
Catching the kit's gaze moving to Tom, Sonic spoke again. "That's Tom. He won't hurt you."
Moving ever so slightly closer and kneeling down, Tom lowered his flashlight a little bit as to not blind the fox, and allow the other to see him better. "That's right. We're here to help."
The rain outside pattered down on the roof extra hard. Another flash of lightning broke across the sky outside, lighting up the room and causing the fox to once again hide in his tails with a yelp. His shaking increased.
Sonic turned and exchanged a worried look with the human next to him. "Let's get him inside," The man stated, after a moment, figuring that in the warm house would be a lot better than sitting out in the dark, cold garage. And Maddie might be able to help them once inside, as well.
The hedgehog shuffled a few steps back when Tom began to move closer, the cop reaching under the table slowly. Pausing, he turned to Sonic for a moment to hand him the flashlight, and then returned to reaching under the table.
"I'm going to pick you up and take you inside the house, okay? It'll be much safer there for you. " He says to let the kit know what he's doing, since spooking an already scared animal is never a good idea. Probably not a good idea for an alien animal species, either.
Those big blue eyes peeked out again, watching warily when Tom shifted, but let the adult pick him up, unwrapping from the little cocoon of safety that were his tails, which moved to surround the boy's hips instead, tail tips flickering with unease.
It was at this point, that Tom had also finally noticed that the fox had two tails. He made a small "huh" noise, but didn't comment, rather focused on making sure he wasn't about to get bit, or clawed, or something else for picking up the child.
He used the time to look him over, and it was noticable that he was a bit too skinny, and very dirty.
Once reassured that it seemed the twin-tail wasn't going to try to do anything to get away, just watching with nervousness and a frown on his face, Tom pulled the kit to his chest and stood up. In turn, the kit grabbed onto his shoulder, holding on and huddling closer in attempt not to get dropped.
Looking at Sonic, who returned his gaze, he nodded towards the door. "You should go ahead of me and put Ozzie in a different room. We don't want him to get scared of the dog."
"Aye aye, Donut Lord," Sonic saluted, offering a strained smile. He hesitated, taking one look over the other mobian one last time in the dark before bolting off, taking the flashlight with him.
The speedster almost took the door off it's hinges as he entered, dripping water from the tiny amount of time spent in the rain. "Maddie!" He called out, but she was already at the door with him, keeping Ozzie from going out the now wide-open door.
"What is it?" Her gaze already grew concerned, because she probably could see the panic in Sonic's eyes as he kept himself together.
"There's someone. From my old home. He's small and scared, and I think he needs help, Tom's bringing him inside, and I gotta get Ozzie in the bedroom!" Sonic spat out quickly, in one breath. He pulled Ozzie from her grip, and began pushing him away from the door.
She seemed rightfully surprise, blinking at him as she watched him push the dog into the bedroom and then closing the door on the excited and barking canine, who must have thought Sonic was playing a game with him.
She didn't have much time to ask questions when Tom came in, holding the fluffball in question. "Hi honey, I got someone for you to look at," He said, gesturing as much as he could towards the kit in his arms.
It seems that this kind of crazy was just something that came with letting Sonic stay with them, and they had accepted it completely from the first day.
At least they weren't getting chased by a crazy government man this time.
"Uh, alright." She spoke quietly, watching as the orange fox gripped onto Tom's shirt strongly, shaking still, and glanced around in the house which was a lot brighter than the darkness outside, until his eyes settled onto her as she closed the door.
Sonic seemed to be jittering in place, looking up at the fox with too many emotions to place, and wanting to help.
Maddie took a breath, to calm herself, and then led them to the kitchen to allow Tom to place the kit on the table for better examination. While setting him down, the twin-tail didn't let go of Tom's shirt immediately, taking a little bit of coaxing to let go, sniffing pitifully.
"I didn't say it earlier by the way, I'm Sonic. What's your name?" Sonic's voice pierced the slightly tense air as she began to look him over, just by sight first. He hopped onto one of the kitchen chairs to get closer to the other mobian.
The two-tail's frightened(but slowly calming) gaze darted to him, but he didn't answer. "You don't know? Can I call you Tails, then?"
Eyes widened slightly, the fox became a little self conscious and pulled his tails into his lap, holding onto one. "Why?"
Sonic was happy enough that he responded, smiling now. "Why 'Tails'?"
A small, hesitant nod of confirmation.
"Because it's cool you have two. Don't worry, I come up with nicknames for everyone! Tom's Donut Lord, and- oh, she's Maddie by the way-" He gestured animatedly towards said woman who was gently starting to move an arm to get a better look at the fox's side as he was distracted by Sonic, "But I call her Pretzel Lady sometimes too."
"Ah, uh- okay, then... Y-You can call me Tails." The kit said, blinking as he took in the information, big ears lifting slightly from their seemingly permanent state of being lowered. It was very slight, but the ends of his mouth twitched up in a tiny smile.
Maddie and Tom exchanged a knowing glance; Sonic could always bring out the best in people, and make friends quickly, it seemed.
The twitch of a smile was enough to make Sonic grin back, other worries kept to the back of his brain for the moment, giving a thumbs up. "Okay, Tails it is!"
Author's Note:
Thanks for reading, let me know what you think! I was super excited to post this chapter
I had a little bit of a hard time figuring out a good way to sneak in the whole "Sonic nicknaming Tails" thing in, but hopefully its not too out of place? AND just in case yall were wonderin, Tails DOES know his name in this story, he just didn't say it in this chapter bc he doesn't like it. I'll probably have him reveal it to them later on
Also like I said last chapter, feel free to suggest things for this story / for Sonic and Tails to do later on and stuff if you want!
I've gotta come up with more ideas past the meeting part still so idea bouncing is appreciated
