Warning: Sickness and vomit in bound. Not detailed but faint of heart should beware

– plus this suffers from 'my fingers doing the work than my brain' – enjoy :3

- Is to save him from himself

He smiled brightly to himself as he lifted the hood above his head, scrunching up his nose from the smell of burnt metal. It only lingered for a couple of seconds before the fumes disappeared and mixed together with the other gasses in the air. With a satisfied sound he placed the nozzle on the table, running a careful finger over the seam he had closed with the welder.

The crankshaft had suffered a good deal of damage since their last adventure, having noticed a 'clanking' sound emerging from the engine on their way back home yesterday. Upon checking, he had suspected that he had put too much pressure on the engine since the pistons had created cracks in the metal, their movement getting turned into rotary motions, one of the most essential parts of an engine. He had somehow carried it over to his workbench without the hedgehog's help, his best friend immediately running out after they had landed.

He hadn't seen him since yesterday and wouldn't expect him to for a couple of days. Sonic liked his freedom, and despite the adventures being just as adrenaline riddled and fun as taking a run and get into all kinds of trouble, it wasn't the same as him just being able to run and chose his way. He decided the pace, decided when he could take breaks, when he wanted to eat, and where he wanted to sleep. He liked his alone time, something that the fox could relate to in a weird way.

He didn't essentially want to be left alone like Sonic, not necessarily Of course, you have the moments where you want to tinker by yourself, make blueprints and build a new device or something that was interesting to the young inventor. But other than that, he liked company, having known what it was like to be left alone by yourself all the time and therefore could relate to the concept of being lonely. As time had passed, he had felt less and less alone the more he had been around Sonic. Being younger before the house, he was up against the hedgehog's side every single day.

Spending every day with him, traversing one zone to the next, meeting danger upon danger, avoiding spikes, arrows, water, badniks, sawblades, plasma balls, bullets, fire and so much more. Either scavenging or buying food, finding shelter in caves, trees, or the occasional motel room when the weather was bad or cold. They had rubbed against each other for approximately two years of his life, having gotten used to the idea of even owning a home at this point.

But now it was over half a year old and he had pretty quickly liked the idea of having stable ground, enjoying having the workshop and enjoyed being able to actually have time to build and tinker to his heart's desire. Being here, he had seen Sonic less and less, a state of reality that he had needed to get used to, but with time he had learned that no matter how long gone the hedgehog was he would always come back for a visit. Despite it being days, weeks, or months apart. And more often than not, he had a whole arsenal of stories to tell, from one adventure to the next, something that he more than eagerly listened to.

He nodded to no one but himself, being satisfied with his welding on the crankshaft, the work being good enough that he wouldn't mind having others see it. Granted, the crankshaft was inside the Tornado, meaning that no one would see it but him, but a good weld meant that it lasted longer. He took off a set of thick industrial gloves, reaching past his elbows since he needed to avoid the sparks that had flown around to catch fire on his fur. That was painful.

Packing away the welding mask and his extra attire in a separate box and pushed it aside onto the shelf, he pushed the welding laser out of the way as well, turning off the valve on the gas canister. Now that the crack was fixed, he could get to checking on the pistons as well and test the cooling system, having already thought of an idea to upgrade the latter.

He was rather glad that Sonic in the first place had allowed him to start welding, something he hadn't been allowed in the beginning, though upon more frequent visits to the mechanics in Metropolis, when more times than none they had a bullet hole that needed welding, the hedgehog had given in. A nice older rabbit had taught the fox, learning him the basics of welding and taught him how to keep safe, since mobians were more prone to get caught on fire than humans, due to their fur or feather coats, no matter how thick. From there, Sonic had seen that he kept to the safety regulations and welded really well, and therefore he had more or less let the fox do as he pleased in the workshop now, since the hedgehog himself most likely had a hard time keeping up with what he was doing in there in the first place.

Satisfied with his progress, he put his hands on his hips and looked at the crankshaft, suddenly feeling a rumble in his stomach, having completely forgotten about lunch.

As if the hunger could call upon a saturation Chaos guardian of sorts, he saw in his peripheral vision a blue streak pass by the landscape outside, having the hangar door open. He blinked puzzled at the afterimage, thinking that it couldn't be true, but no longer than a second later he heard the front door upstairs getting kicked open.

"Hey Tails! I'm back! I brought donuts!"

Yet again, the fox felt more bewildered than before, glancing at the clock that hung in the workshop.

"You brought donuts at 3 in the afternoon?" He asked, as he made his way over to the stairs, going up the mentioned steps.

It wasn't long before he reached the upper landing, walking into a kitchen, dishes still undone in the sink and two empty glasses left on the table. And despite thinking that it was a hallucination, there he was, standing by the fridge, fishing something out of it, and on the counter beside it was a pink box, closed for now.

"A 'hello' would have been nice," The hedgehog emerged from his scavenging adventure for most likely a soda, closing the fridge door with his elbow and placed it on the counter, opening the tab.

Tails was still partly surprised that he was here, since he tented to be out and about for at least a week after an adventure like the one they just had, but let it slide and instead flashed the hedgehog a smile, being glad to see him nonetheless.

"Sorry – I was just surprised that's all. You don't usually bring back cake – it's more or less pizza or hotdogs," He shrugged, but didn't say no to any kind of food, another gurgling stomach reminding him that he had skipped lunch, unnoticed by himself.

Sonic was already opening the pink box he had brought back while his friend had been talking, picking up a doughnut with a chocolate glaze, yellow star sprinkles on top and took a swig of his Chaos Cola.

"Gotta do something different now and again right?" He said, was smiling at the fox and winked at him, taking another seemingly greedy gulp of his soda. Tails nodded as he made his way over to the box, ignoring the way that Sonic seemed to be guardian it like a dragon laying on its pile of coins and looked inside.

Seven donuts were left from the eight the hedgehog had bought, was quick to pick up a pink strawberry glazed one and opened the fridge to fish out some juice.

"Experienced anything interesting since yesterday?" He asked, as he was rummaging around the leftovers from yesterday, one large fox ear automatically turning around as the hedgehog most likely took out a chair from the table and sat down.

"Nah, nothing too crazy. I saw northern lights in Holoska last night though."

Tails picked up his head after finding the apple juice closing the poor fridge door with a kick this time.

"Really? You promised me the last time that you would bring me," He complained, half in mockery and half in truth, since he hadn't seem them yet, despite the hedgehog having observed the light phenomenon multiple times.

A chuckle could be heard from the table as he took out a glass from the cabinet, filling it up halfway.

"Sorry I forgot. I'll bring ya next time - they won't go anywhere" He answered, as the fox heard the fizz of the soda inside the aluminum can when the hedgehog took another sip.

"Actually, they do. Mobius has a magnetic field where solar wind travels towards the planet and through the atmosphere. It then makes the protons and electrons in the solar wind hit the particles on Mobius' atmosphere and then that energy gets released. This energy travels into light, and therefore creates the colors. It only occurs around auroral zones and therefore the lights aren't always there, meaning that yes we are somewhat on a time limit," He rationalized, having taken a sip of his juice and a bite of his doughnut in the meantime, strawberry jam almost getting smeared across his muzzle if he wasn't careful before turning around towards the hedgehog.

The excitement of explaining the scientific phenomenon, since he was always thrilled about explaining something to Sonic, disappeared when he caught his expression. He had paled slightly, was sitting by the table and looking out at nothing, the can of soda left on the table and the doughnut he still hadn't finished. Normally he would have been on his third one. He knew that the hedgehog didn't understand his technical explanation sometimes, but he had never seen him pale because of them.

Something else was amiss.

"Sonic?" His name caught his attention, small blue hedgehog ears swirling towards him, before the head followed suit. "You alright? You don't look to good."

He was quick to put up a smile which didn't hide the slight paleness on his face.

"Yeah I'm cool," He said, leisurely putting his legs up on the table and threw an arm over the other chair. Normally the hedgehog was casual like that, but his movements were too robotic for it to be done unconsciously.

Tails quirked a brow at him in question, felt his behind appendages whip from getting lied to, since both of them were terrible liars. But Sonic did nothing to elaborate, instead took another sip of the soda, albeit a much smaller amount than previously done, his brow furrowing slightly. His expression cracked for two seconds as he put the can down, the trained sidekick by now having trained his ability to read the hedgehog.

As a toddler he was oblivious from the pure fact that he had been four-years-old, but being six he had started to watch and observe the hedgehog besides the grinning and tough exterior that he had on his face. The truth of the matter was that the blue blur wasn't that different on the inside compared to the outside – generally he always did have fun, took things as they came and lived life one step at a time.

That was the general hedgehog, but from there you had to look deeper when something bothered him. Sonic was a master at camouflage, being able to pull whatever face he needed to do to convenience everybody else but his closest friends that he was fine.

And right now, he had realized that the hedgehog was putting up a façade, hiding something, and through the expression that cracked he saw his eyes squinting a bit as he leaned forward, a painful surge briefly flashing through his irises. Then it was gone, and it might as well not have happened.

The fox sighed, thinking that he was going to do this as he put the glass down and left the doughnut as well.

"What's bothering you?" Sonic blinked at him, trying to pull a confused expression though it was so overdone that everyone could tell that he was well aware of what Tails was asking about.

"Nothing bud. Just wanted to pass by that's all – what've you've been doing in the workshop?"

Tails looked back at him, a grin glued onto Sonic's muzzle, was still trying to hide something behind it. The fox wanted to continue and make him tell, since he didn't like the thought of Sonic feeling unwell or something, but another part of him made him quiet.

He was well aware of the fact that if the blur was stuck in a situation, he was uncomfortable with or didn't want to attend then he would just run off. Running was his preferred method of escape, leaving the problem behind and maybe pick it up later if he felt like it. It was a bad coping method, but somehow the thirteen-year-old had learned to solve his problems by doing that, and he knew that if he pressed on that Sonic would get annoyed and run off.

Which he didn't want him to, since he didn't look the best and despite the hedgehog's beliefs, a run couldn't fix anything. Therefore Tails concluded within the span of a couple of seconds that if he wanted him to stay then he needed to let it slide and instead sighed, turning around to pick up his doughnut, mildly annoyed.

"I've just been fixing the crankshaft, doing some welding and was about to check on the pistons when you came around," He picked out some white muzzle fur from the doughnut before taking his second bite. "I considered changing them out. Getting a new set of pistons would make the engine so much faster. I wanna build my own, but I need more aluminum – I could go buy it tomorrow if you want to come?" He asked, turning around again after finishing his doughnut, somehow keeping the jam at bay.

Yet again, he was almost stunned by Sonic's expression, since the paleness was still there, but now he looked nauseous, his green eyes staring into the wall while it seemed like he was swallowing spit, his breathing seemingly stopped.

Tails blinked at him, opened his mouth to ask again, when he instead was flushed backwards by a gush of wind. The chair fell to the floor as the dishes rattled behind him, blinked into the now empty kitchen while he saw the afterimage disappear up the stairs. A door was slammed open seconds later, and no later than that, the fox had to pull his ears into his skull since he had full hearing access to the hedgehog retching before something left his stomach.

It lasted for a couple of seconds, before the sound disappeared, leaving the workshop in an eerie quietness.

Tails' ears found their erect position again, merely looked at the stairs that was in front of him for a second, contemplating on what to do. He wasn't worried about a half-dead hedgehog, far from, it was rather if he made it to the toilet or not.

With foreboding resting in his body, he made his way up the stairs, slightly concerned that no sound at all was coming from upstairs, as he made it to the upper landing. Luckily, he saw that it was the bathroom door that had opened, the knob making a nice fitting hole in the wall.

He took the last steps to the room, putting a hand on the doorframe as he looked inside their simple restroom.

The hero of Mobius was keeled over the toilet, his head facing away from him, while his cheek was resting on his arm that was resting on the toilet seat, his upper body slumped against the ceramic, deep breaths' leaving his nostrils.

"Sonic? Are you alright bro?" Tails asked, could feel the worry bubble up in him, from seeing the hedgehog lay like that.

He never got sick. It had been puzzling more than anything when he had seen Sonic become nauseous and pale since he was practically immune to himself and any other form of disease that exited on this planet. He didn't catch colds; didn't get influenza and he didn't suffer from any allergies. He was practically the healthiest person on Mobius – despite the fact that over half off his diet was junk foot, but that was burned thanks to fast metabolism and running for approximately seven hours a day, if not more.

When Sonic didn't react but was concentrated on something else, Tails crouched down and laid a hand on his back, his nose picking up a horrible odor and immediately flushed the toilet, made sure that he didn't look down into the water. The flushing water apparently woke the hedgehog from a daze as he lifted his head slightly and reached for the toilet paper, blowing his nose.

"That's horrible," He moaned, throwing the paper into the bowl, letting a breath escape him. "I forgot how much I hate it," –

"No one likes to vomit Sonic," Tails said in a matter-of-fact tone, making the hedgehog snort and turn his head towards the fox, still resting on his arm.

He was still pale, and his eyes had gotten slightly red from the involuntarily travel up his esophagus, the nauseous look temporarily gone. The fox thought for a bit, mentally preparing himself for how he should approach the matter since now both of them were on the same page that Sonic wasn't well.

"So, now that you have showed me that you are in fact not well," He said, with a smirk. "How about you tell me what's wrong?"

Sonic's eyes looked around his face, most likely contemplating whether or not he should say anything, before he sighed. Approaching the hedgehog jokester with banter was one of the most effective ways of making him stay and talk, making the situation less horrible and not overdo it to something much worse than it could be.

"Nothing. My stomach's just hurtin'," He said, while running a hand through his face, an attempt to both sooth the headache that he wasn't telling him about and to avoid Tails' gaze.

The sidekick nodded, making slow progress to a vulnerable hedgehog who could be running off any minute, since he knew that the hero of Mobius hated being fragile. Not in the sense like Knuckles, the hedgehog wasn't proud like that, but the pure fact was that if he was unwell then that meant he wasn't well enough to help his friends or fight Eggman, two priorities that he cared for.

"Alright. Did you eat something? A mushroom looking like a potato chip perhaps?" He snickered again, making the hedgehog give him an appreciative weak smile, being well aware what the fox was doing, Tails could tell.

Though he frowned a bit from something, before the sidekick practically saw the light bulb that lit in his head, sighing deeply and knocked his forehead into his arm two times, before the headache prevented him from doing it again.

"I bought a chili dog in Apotos for lunch," The fox had already opened his mouth, well-aware what he was going to say, but shut it again. "It wasn't exactly – sanitary or whatever you say, but the dog was cheap but tasted weird," He said, didn't have to say anymore in that regard, leaving his forehead on his arm, now well-aware that he had done something stupid. Still, the fox had to emphasize.

"And you didn't spit it out because…?" –

"I was hungry!"

Tails rolled his eyes into the ceiling. Go figure. And then the hedgehog had bought donuts to neglect the fact that his stomach was hurting and felt nauseous and therefore thought he had been more hungry, but at the same time knew something was wrong and came to the Workshop. Not to seek help but shelter, the fox knew. But the former he knew the hedgehog needed, despite not wanting it.

"Is your stomach still hurting?" –

"…A bit," –

"Then you most likely got food poisoning," Tails sighed, biting his lip thinking about what he should do.

None of them were expects on this kind of thing, as the duo rarely caught any kind of disease that needed medical help. But he was pretty sure that they didn't need to go to Station Square, as long as he could stand on his feet and didn't faint then he should be good for now. He generally wasn't experienced, having only vomited a few times in his life and was a onetime experience, but by the queasy look that was still glossed over the hedgehog's eyes, he could tell that his stomach wasn't done complaining. Even when thinking about food, other drinks or even medicine he came out with nothing, not knowing what Sonic could handle.

He eventually decided that he could worry about that later, as the first course of actions was to get the hedgehog to go bed, since that was always a sensible course of action for sick people.

"How about you go lay down or something? Then I'll look up on the Miles Electric what we can do about this," –

"I don't need you to baby me," Tails resisted the urge to sigh, instead shook his head slightly at the hedgehog. And so, it begins.

He remembered being younger whenever Sonic had caught a rare cold or something, that he was much more irritable than necessary. He didn't like getting cooped up in longer periods of time than necessary, hated standing still and hated the pure fact that he wasn't well. His behavior became slightly rude, throwing out comments that the fox knew he would regret later and more times than one let them slide until the hedgehog was well enough to realize what he had been doing.

Deciding that addressing it now would only make him more annoyed, and therefore instead shrugged his shoulders.

"If you wanna sit here all day instead, then be my guest," The sigh that left Sonic was more defeated than irritated, luckily, as he lifted is head from his arm, mumbling a 'fine' as he slowly got to his feet, flushing the toilet again.

Tails followed him in his movement but let him walk himself as they exited the bathroom, the hedgehog steering towards the bedroom with a hand rubbing his temple. The door opened soundlessly, the room being slightly dusty from underuse as the duo entered, Tails noticed that Sonic had put a few items away in one of the cupboards pushed up against the wall. He pulled out his yellow tablet from one of his tails as the hedgehog slumped down on the bed, kicking off his sneakers to every corner in the room before plopping down with a sigh.

Tails glanced at him with a worried expression, the hedgehog behaving differently than normally as he accessed the internet, doing a search.

"Alright," He started, just to fill the silence, walked over and sat on the edge of the bed, pulling up a website approved by the government. "Let's see… abdominal pain, stomach cramps, hmm vomiting, mild fever."

He glanced over at the hedgehog, the blue blur having shoved his face into his pillow, though his quills were glistening with sweat, despite the shiver that went through his body from the fever.

"Definitely there," He mumbled, was pretty sure that he had been right about his earlier assumption as he widened his search. "Foods: Bananas, rice, oatmeal, toast, meaning no chili or something that your stomach can't handle,"-

"That's advice Tails, not the code to disable a nuclear bomb," He sighed deeply, both because he needed to do it and because he wanted to remind Sonic that he was being rude.

"Forget it. Now medicine-" –

"No, I'm not taking anything," Tails frowned, more confused than anything before looking at Sonic, accepting that he was making contact with the back of his head.

"Sonic if you want to feel less miserable then-" –

"I'm gonna vomit on you."

The fox blinked, before scrunching up his nose and shook his head from the image.

"Ew," –

"Yeah. So how about you just leave and let me sleep," He looked at him again, had already opened his mouth to retort, but sighed it out, remembering to tell himself that Sonic still had the ability to run out the door. Pushing him any further could make him run off.

"Fine. Just holler if you need something then," He decided, getting up from the bed and closed the tablet, as a 'hmm' sounded from the furniture, the hedgehog pulling out the blanket from under him and over him instead.

Tails was about to walk out but stood in the doorway, casting a glance at the hedgehog into the room, could feel the worry sitting against his chest.

"I'm here for you, you know?"

The only answer he got was the blanket covering the spiked blue head, though he knew Sonic had heard him, and no ill-littered comment afterwards told him that he knew. The fox turned off the lights before he left the door ajar, thinking that he wanted to do some light tinkering that he could bring into the living room instead.

The hedgehog might be stubborn and not wanting his help, but he wanted to be here. In case he decided otherwise.

It didn't take long for the sidekick to realize that the hedgehog needed a bucket, hearing him practically run the last second from his bedroom to the bathroom almost every other hour, in pure neglect.

Doing some more research he also learned drinking water was important to stay hydrated, and had somehow persuaded the hedgehog to take small gulps of a bottle of water he had brought up with him, which he after a while swapped out with apple juice when the water became 'boring', thinking that as long as he got liquid then things should be fine, right?

In all honesty he was confused more than anything, not knowing if he did the right things if the research was done correctly and if Sonic was getting better. He supposed it took a while, though Sonic wasn't making it easier for himself as he stubbornly had said that he could eat whatever he wanted for dinner and had therefore chosen some of the donuts from earlier for only half an hour later they made their escape. With a grumbling hedgehog, the fox had given him some toast which he nibbled, kindly reminded him to keep drinking juice before he left him to himself again.

The hero wasn't fun being around, and all he wanted to do was stay away more than anything, locking himself in the workshop, but he couldn't bring himself around to do it. In a weird dynamic, he knew Sonic appreciated it even though he did everything he could to tell the fox that he was fine and didn't need him around.

Around the time he went to bed he had checked on Sonic only to watch him asleep, secretly glad that he had calmed down and let his body sort out the contaminated meat in his stomach. Refilling the water bottle and was very glad that Sonic had the courtesy of emptying the bucket himself and therefore had a clean one for the night, when Tails went to his own bedroom.

Sleeping was almost a hopeless affair, since he only managed to slip into the limbo and wake up every time he heard Sonic shuffling around in his room, when he emptied his stomach and when he went out to empty the bucket. Waking up almost every hour he fell into a deep sleep around four in the morning, and groggily opened his eyes and stared at the 9 AM that was blaring brightly at him from his nightstand. He sighed and rubbed a hand against his face, ignoring the small headache that occurred in his forehead and decided that he couldn't sleep either way and threw the blanket off him.

By the time he had persuaded himself to put on his shoes and throw some water in his face, he checked Sonic's bedroom to see him gone.

A part of him wasn't surprised, well-aware that the hedgehog didn't like being cooped up and would have taken a run at some point. What worried him was that he had no idea when he had gone and if he would come back. In the back of his mind he knew he should be relieved, thinking that Sonic had felt good enough to go for a run, but he knew that it was stubbornness more than due to being more well

According to the website he had done his research on, it could take a couple of days before your system was fresh again, and despite Sonic's ability to be able to avoid diseases, he didn't remember him being that quick of a healer. In general, he was quick to recover from mild battle injuries such as blue bruises and mild scrapes within a two days' time. But having your immune system doing work was different than letting your body heal an injury. It required sleep and rest – according to the website – the former the hedgehog being fond of and the latter he only did when he wanted to. No disease was going to control him, the fox was aware.

That didn't make him any less worried though. He needed go grocery shopping, but he didn't want to leave the house in case the hedgehog came back, was almost following the clock every hour at a time, watching as the timer passed one in the afternoon. He didn't know what he was allowed to do – if he had the right to demand that Sonic stayed in the house once he came back, and didn't know if he had the authority of locking him in his room.

Growing up, Sonic had most definitely acted as the older and still was it, though the fox was maturing and he guessed that the older they got the more their age wouldn't matter, but right now he couldn't help but being stuck between a rock and a hard place. He would have tied the hedgehog down if he could, but he didn't want to – both because he didn't want them to be angry at each other and because he didn't want to make him more miserable than he already was.

Sonic loved running, and he knew that he was both miserable in here because he was sick and because he missed it. He had told the fox on many nights where a young fox couldn't sleep that he loved running, loved the wind in his quills and the entire concept of just being free. It created equilibrium, it gave him balance and it was something that Sonic used to make himself feel at ease. And now that was shattered under the impact of his own stupidity, something that Tails blamed him for.

But still, he couldn't be mad at him since he knew he was unwell, was glancing at the clock yet again as he had a screwdriver deep into the Miles Electric, as the loading speed on the websites were slow. That was most likely the WiFi's fault more than the tablet, but he wanted to check, if only to distract himself.

At exactly a quarter past one, both large fox ears swirled towards the still closed front door, the echo of a sonic boom sounding in the distance. His head whipped up in time that the door opened, a still nauseous looking hedgehog standing outside.

He looked back at Tails, briefed him a smile which could be anything at this point before he walked in, and went to the fridge.

"Hey bud. Slept well?"

Casual talk, a hedgehog wanting things to be alright again despite looking like he would keel over and throw up on the floor any minute. Deciding that he didn't want to pretend that everything was fine he put the screwdriver on the table and stood up, addressing the matter firsthand instead of dancing around the topic

"First, to answer your question, no I didn't. And second, you shouldn't be running," Sonic sighed deeply, hitting his forehead against the fridge door which he had closed again, looking like someone who was ready to go running again.

To negate that possibility, since he knew the hedgehog didn't like getting reprimanded, he quickly continued.

"I'm not trying to make you Sonic, I'm just worried about you," That made the hedgehog slowly lift his head, a still pale and queasy looking expression sent towards him.

"You hate being unwell, I know, I hate being sick to. But that's just how it is. So, if you can't stay and sleep for yourself then do it for me instead."

Sonic was still looking at him, eyes darting around the fox's face, said fox feeling somewhat uncomfortable.

He didn't like telling the hedgehog what to do, let alone forcing him into a corner like that, but he figured that if he didn't do something then he might be hurting himself more. A part of him expected Sonic to be angry, to tell him to get off his case and leave him alone but he didn't.

Instead he sighed again, before rummaging a hand around his face and through his quills, scratching some of them.

"Why'd you have to say that?" He mumbled, and despite the situation it made Tails smile. Making him remind him of his morals and the fact that he wanted to be there for his friends had been the perfect weapon

His expression stayed on the fox in the living room for a bit, before he opened the fridge and took out a carton of juice and a glass from the cabinet.

"Alright, you win bud. You got one piece of sick hedgehog staying and grumbling in his bed," He said, sounded almost defeated on an entire new level that Tails wasn't aware of. He blinked more in confusion than anything as Sonic put the juice away again and walked over to the stairs with his glass in hand, padded the fox's head on the way as if he was saying 'good job' and went up.

The sidekick followed his movements, heard seconds later the door to the hedgehog's bedroom shutting. A sigh of relief left him at that, sinking into the couch cushion behind him. Pretty quickly after that he was yawning and the desire to sleep was much clearer now that he knew Sonic would stay put. A part of him was convinced.

Two knocks at the door and a mumbled 'come in' made him slowly swing the portal open into the area. The room was warm, a beforehand fever-rich hedgehog freezing despite sweating, two pairs of old socks thrown into the middle of the small space. A pair of red and white sneakers with a golden buckle was kicked off at the end of the bed, covers halfway covering the dark blue being on the mattress.

Tails smiled, walking into the room and opened the window, letting some of the sick air and warmth out of the room.

"Morning'. Feeling better?" He asked as he looked over at the hedgehog. He almost didn't have to ask him; the paleness was gone from his face and he only looked slightly queasy. The pained look he had had in his eyes were dimmed, a better-looking hedgehog even sending the fox a brief smile.

"A lot," He said, a chipper tone added to his voice, yawning, and turned around to lay on his side, rubbing his eyes with his hands. "Looks like staying put for three days will make this much easier," The sidekick couldn't resist, rolling his eyes into the ceiling, thinking that it was the most obvious fact that had been at stake, but refrained from addressing it, was just glad that the rude hedgehog was somewhat gone as well.

As the days had passed Sonic had actually stayed in his bed, drinking water or juice, eating whatever the fox brought him and emptied his stomach soon after. But the vomiting had become less and less, and he had slept more than anything. Of course, he couldn't keep his desires totally at bay, had been going for a run, albeit only for half an hour or so before he returned to the workshop.

He had still been grumbly, asking why he was bringing him toast for the second time that day and complained that his room was too cold. But now, he seemed much better, the rude remarks disappearing and returning a somewhat normal hedgehog again. Tails was glad for his part, both because he wasn't going to be dealing with him as much anymore and because he was getting more and more well.

"Go figure," Tails mocked, making the hedgehog quirk an eyebrow towards him, though he shook his head from some sort of thought instead, chuckling to himself. "As long as you're feeling better I guess," He rationalized, walking over to the bed, glancing down at the bucket but it was empty, the bottle of water empty as well on the nightstand beside the furniture.

Sonic smiled at him, before he sat up in the bed and padded the edge of it, a gesture for the fox to sit. And he obliged, tails splayed across the blanket over Sonic's legs, a pair of curious blue eyes looking at the hedgehog. He scratched the back of his head, almost timidly laughed to himself before he spoke.

"I'm sorry if I've been a bit rude lately."

'A bit' was an understatement, but in all honesty, he was just glad that he got an apology.

"I guess I'm lucky that I have a little brother around who wants to deal with me. Thanks for having my back."

Tails felt a whole lot of warmth appear in his stomach from the statement, beaming at him more than anything as Sonic smiled at him, a truly appreciative thing that the sidekick felt proud of.

He smiled back at the hedgehog, was rather glad that whatever he had done had actually worked, before he shrugged his shoulders, fiddling with the edge of the bed as a loose thread had come loose from the blanket.

"You're welcome Sonic. If I didn't stay around you would most likely be dead," The hedgehog laughed at that, a giggle escaping the young fox, while a hand ruffled his bangs on his forehead.

"Most likely," He agreed, smiled at him again, that hedgehog he knew a couple of days ago actually seemed to be back. He merely looked at him for a bit, before a yawn stretched his muzzle, the fox having no general idea if the hedgehog had been sleeping or not when he came in.

"Now how about you leave a sleepy hedgehog be, so I can get fully well? I've been dying to get to back to Casino Night Zone," –

"Does it involve the new slot machine?" –

"Maybe."

Tails snorted, as he got up from the bed, while Sonic pulled the covers back up, not complaining about the heat or the open window.

Tails mentally sighed in relief, was very glad that the worst part of it was over and agreed with himself to finally go buy those groceries. The fridge was running thin at this point.

And despite reading that sugar wasn't good no matter what disease you had, he figured that some ice cream was in order, knew how much he liked the cold treat when he was sick himself.

With that thought in mind he walked out of the door, looked at the hedgehog with a smile before closing it again, thinking that sometimes times get tough. Tough in a way he hadn't imagined before, but even those times he could overcome and concur. He just hoped that Sonic didn't plan on getting sick.

Ever. Again.