Auhtor's note: Takes place before Sonic Adventure and after Sonic and Knuckles 3 - enjoy :3
Waiting for a friend – part 1
In the tropical and temperate climate of Mystic Ruins it was difficult to understand how it could snow. The summers were always really hot, making the plants in the jungle wish for water, reaching towards the sky and the smallest of worries lose to dehydration. It was a difficult concept, how the temperatures could reach below freezing point and make the rain turn into small snowflakes, that floated towards the ground, creating a blanket of white and hiding the grass underneath. The concept was simple enough as the air was so cold that the water turned into the white substance, though how it got so cold was the mystery in it all. That mystery belonged together with a lot of other mysteries that resonated in the ancient old zone.
The jungle stretched far into the horizon, and with every steep that you ventured deeper and deeper into it, you would eventually get lost. The vegetation was so thick that you can't look past the tree crown, see through the plants for a pathway and the jungle's many sounds of animals and birds over shouted the sounds of any rivers you wanted to follow. The only people who ventured in there was archaeologists, students as well as professors who wanted to study the temples that was inside. A lot of echidna structures were hidden within the deepest parts of them, age old temples that held together some of the history that has been left behind. Although most of them got lost before they could reach it, alongside tourists who thought Mystical Ruins were just an ordinary jungle and a quick hike through it couldn't hurt.
No one lived here, as the weather conditions were unpredictable, the jungle was thick and unlivable, and you were far away from society. With that being said, there was one house that remained in this zone, close to the train station and situated on the outskirts of the jungle with the ocean as its backyard. The occupant there didn't mind the weather chance, the jungle was a mere adventure track for whenever they were bored, and they sought privacy more than anything.
With the hero of Mobius visiting the place quiet often he enjoyed it being secluded and didn't mind that not everybody knew the address. Although it wasn't his house, but his best friend's who lived in it practically every single day, head stuck in projects, machines and Eggman surveillance, only making an appearance when he needed to do errands and whenever he was invited somewhere. The latter rarely happened as the friends they had where just as much on their feet as themselves, and it was rare that all of them were seen together.
But they didn't mind – their friendship with each other were silent, meaning that there could be months even years where they didn't see or talk to each other, but when they someday would meet it was like time had never passed. But that didn't mean that they didn't want company, that they didn't want to interact with each other and ask how they were doing. In this day and age, it was just difficult, being the people, they were and had the jobs they did.
One was someone who was never off duty but never ever wanted to go off duty, another was someone who busied themselves with everyday tasks like sewing clothes and making conversations with whoever and the last were someone who watched Mobius' back from the madman himself. Although, the last task practically every else also had. But, for Sonic the hedgehog, that task was his main priority and more times than one he was more capable than ever to take care of it himself. He took care of a lot of things by himself, enjoying his privacy and running around the world just plainly exploring.
This he did a lot, days after days, weeks after weeks just running around and doing his own thing. Being his own self, enjoying the life on the road not thinking about the consequences that could happen. His shoes could break, he could find a place where there was no food, water or shelter and he could run into some really bad trouble. But he didn't mind as the problems were merely just a part of his adventure.
Tails knew this, and that was partly why he wasn't mad when he took off without him. When he was left alone in the workshop, he spends most of his time just being here. It wasn't that he was scared of going outside or didn't want to talk to anybody when Sonic wasn't around, it was just that he didn't want to do anything else. It wasn't fun running and racing by yourself, it wasn't fun doing reconnaissance in the Tornado without somebody commenting on every single thing and it wasn't fun to run through a badnik filled zone for the adrenaline alone.
With Sonic gone, he did the one thing that the hedgehog couldn't do with him: Working on the Tornado, building new gadgets and gimmicks, improving some sort of household item, and doing some chemical experiments. The latter the fox had almost just gotten the approval of doing, therefore his head had been deep into chemical compositions, trying to invent his own fuel for the Tornado, though that had proved way harder than he could ever have imagined. He reconsidered trying out chaos energy, using rings as fuel instead, but his ever-curious mind wanted to figure out if he could make some sort of fuel at all – the thought was too intriguing to be left alone.
Normally that was what happened day in and day out. Waking up, getting something to eat, go down in the workshop, get some more to eat if he remembered, dinner, maybe some TV watching otherwise back to the workshop and then bed. The only interruptions he made himself was whenever he needed supplies or groceries and did it quickly so he could get back home to continue on his thoughts.
But for this evening, his thoughts had been everywhere else, going back and forth between the chemical reactions which he swore were on the right track and the blue hedgehog that wasn't around. It wasn't often that he thought about Sonic in his absence, as he knew that he could take perfectly care of himself, but sometimes he couldn't help but wonder.
A sigh left him as he placed a beaker on the table, the tube in front of him mixing from a purple color to a dark blue, which he frowned at. It wasn't supposed to do that. He glanced back in his notebook, looking through the different numbers, doing calculations and found another chemical and was about to put a few drops into the tube when he stopped himself. Looking back into the book, he widened his eyes and quickly put the chemical back. That reaction wouldn't have had a good outcome.
He was about to keep looking in his book when a yawn attacked him, making his eyes watery and a bit blurry. Wiping it away he decided that he had had enough experimenting for one night and closed the book, carefully shoving the beakers and the many tubes into the back of the table, in case some magical force knocked them down onto the floor. When he turned around his eyes darted over the Tornado, mentally noted that he needed to install that new propeller, before walking his way up the stairs, tails slightly limp from tiredness.
He closed the door behind him out of habit than the fear of burglars and laid his eyes on the clock in the kitchen. Half past eleven, somewhat late into the evening but not too late that he wanted to go to sleep just yet. He shook his head when his thoughts went back to his best friend having fun wherever he was, and instead distracted himself with walking towards the living room and slumped into the couch.
Picking up the remote, somewhat hoping that some kind of good movie was on, he clicked on the 'on' button, making the picture immediately light up, courtesy of the genius fox sitting in the cushions. Pulling his legs up to his chest, he wrapped one arm around them while the other were flashing through different channels until his eyes peaked up when something interesting caught him.
It was a documentary on the mysteries of Hill Top Zone and how the magma, earthquakes and villages worked together in seemingly harmony. Satisfied he put down the remote, and rested his chin on his knees, listening intently on how the magma kept the ground hot and therefore made it possible for plants to grow, although it was only some types of them.
To any other child this would have been boring, picking up the remote and switching over to some sort of cartoon but not for the two-tailed fox. He was interested in this kind of thing, curious, and if he wanted his questions to be answered then he needed to seek them out. Documentaries were perfect for his purposes, and eagerly watched it whenever they were on, even though he knew that Sonic thought they were boring and had too much narration and not enough action. The thought of the blue hedgehog crossing his mind made his ears fall down, and he let a sadden sigh escape him, only to shake his head and told himself to cheer up, eyes now highly concentrated on the pictures of Hill Top flashing across the screen, his mind now effectively distracted.
He was so dumb. He was incredibly stupid, completely ignorant, and totally foolish. An unintelligent and brainless individual. Walking through the crunching snow underneath his feet, he practically stomped his way through the forest, only to be out of it, his eyes annoyingly travelling over the scenery. Another shiver ran through his body, annoyingly thinking to himself why he irrelevantly and ludicrously had stood on the edge of the island thinking that nothing could possibly happen here.
The cold winter had completely penetrated his pelt, the entirety of his insides feeling like icicles as his fingers and toes were completely numb. He scolded himself, yelled at himself for being this stupid because he apparently didn't know how to keep his balance. Luckily, he knew someone who he could consider as an ally lived here, and had been trotting his way through the forest, half-way jogging to get some warmth going in his thighs.
The moment he had fallen off his island, he had foolishly panicked and tried to turn around and grab the edge, but the wind had carried him downwards and now he was stuck here, had only saved himself due to his gliding technique. Even if he wanted to get back to the island, he couldn't by himself – the only way he knew how to where to get ahold of the only two people he knew that could fly a plane. He was lucky that the island had been close to the Mystic Ruins.
He hadn't been here a lot, had only visited the place two or three times in the past as he hadn't known the people for that long. He considered them as someone who he could trust, but if they were downright friends he didn't know. But he recognized the train station in the back to his right, the wobbling and old staircase going upwards to the electrical train rails that led out of the zone, presumably towards Station Square where he had been less than in the house of his allies.
Turning his head to the left, he saw the house in question and grumbly walked towards it, started rubbing his arms with his hands before any of the two of them who lived there would see it. The teenager walked his way up the stairs, for a moment stood still to reconsider his options. He didn't like asking for help, he liked being independent and had been it all his life until two years ago, when he had first met that stupid and annoying hedgehog he was about to walk over to and ask him to take him home. But he knew he was out of options, as Angel Island was too high up in the sky for him to even consider jumping off out of a cliff and glide over to.
He knew his own home and had made sure that no one could reach it from the surface alone, though he had never considered aircrafts to be a problem, as he generally didn't know that they existed. Letting an annoyed and quick breath escape him and walked the last steps up the stairs, the whole house now in full view. Light filtered through the bottom windows in the room where they cooked food, while the upper landing was dark, which told him that they were still awake.
Glancing up at the moon he quickly calculated that it was around eleven in the evening, pretty late for the youngest occupant of the house, although he might be asleep, and the hedgehog awake. Mentally preparing himself for the inevitably banter and teasing about how he could fall of his own island he walked up to the door and lifted a knuckle. He had seen the hedgehog do that before he went into someone else's house and despite him not wanting to take advice he did the same, letting his hand smash against the door twice.
No one answered, and he briefly wondered if they just forgot to turn off the light when going to sleep before he knocked again, this time a bit more forcefully. When nothing happened yet again, he let a sigh escape him.
"Sonic, open up it's me!" He had gotten enough of the cold, just wanted to get the teasing, and joking over with so he could get back. This time, when his voice filtered through the wood, he heard shuffling on the other side of the door and quick steps towards it. Something clicked on the other side, before the door opened up, a small individual with wary blue eyes looking at him. They relaxed though, the minute they recognized his red form, and opened the door fully.
"Knuckles it's you! I'm sorry I didn't open up before, Sonic told me to not open for strangers," He said, started scratching the back of his head with a sheepish look on his face. He was temporarily set back by the voice that came out of the fox's mouth, as it had changed in the time, he hadn't seen him. The high-pitched sound of a toddler had definitely deepened, not in the sense of someone hitting puberty far from, as the voice was still layered in the higher notes.
He might have gotten a bit taller he wasn't sure, but his tails were definitely more bushy than last time said appendages waving slowly behind him. Large ears twitched in the small sounds around them, while his face hadn't changed dramatically, the same childish features littering it with cheeks half-filled with healthy baby fat.
"What brings you here?" His next question brought him out of his temporarily stare, briefly wondering why he answered the door, and then opened his mouth to answer when it got stuck. He knew that Tails wasn't going to tease him in the same manner that Sonic would, but the proudness in him made him completely halt, thoughts going haywire about why he had come for help. When the fox's head tilted slightly in question, making him realize how stupid he must look and shook his head, deciding that he was going to ignore the issue for now.
"I – I was freezing," He decided to tell him, as it wasn't a lie but not the reason why he had come and resisted the urge to shiver when reminded about the coldness in his skin.
"Oh, then come in," The fox quickly said, stepping aside to make room for the echidna, gesturing into the house. Knuckles realized what he had just said, but instead of declining he took a couple of steps inside, the fox closing the door behind him. "And what is the real reason you came?" He had been rubbing his hands together when his head turned back to the six-year-old, a small amused grin on his face.
He shrugged and walked over to what he recognized as a counter while saying: "I know that you're too proud to come and ask for warmth. Something wrong with the Master Emerald?" His face had a bit more serious edge when it turned back to the echidna. He was set back again at the accuracy of it all but shook his head to get out of it.
"No, nothing's wrong. I just got-," He bit his lip. "Pushed off the island," Tails' face was alarmed at his sentence, his namesakes whipping once, and his ears perked up towards him.
"Pushed off? By who?" His alarmed expression stayed on his face, surprising Knuckles that the fox was actually worried about the Master, as he thought that he was the only one around who was. He crossed his arms over his chest and saw the blue eyes relax as he turned his head down towards his feet, realized that he had brought snow inside and had created a small pool around his soles.
"The wind," He mumbled, and immediately took of his sneakers to do something about his statement, mumbling even lower something about that there was water on the floor. He saw the large yellow ears perk up to hear him, before a small smile fixated onto his face, the alarm completely gone. He then chuckled for a bit before grabbing some sort of fabric beside him and threw it at the echidna who caught it.
"I see," He said, while Knuckles bended down and wiped the water away from the floor. "Well, I'm more than happy to fly you back Knuckles, though I would like for you to stay for a bit and get some warmth back in you. You're shivering a bit from the looks of it," The echidna immediately stiffened, trying to hide it when he realized. The warmth creeping into his skin, had made his body realize how frigid it had been, feeling his fingers starting to tingle from the warm house.
At first, he didn't say anything, when he stood back up, the fox walking over and took the fabric from him placing it in the sink. In reality he just wanted to get back to the island as quickly as possible, but the prospect of staying here and getting warm lured him a bit. He knew how to keep warmth up on the island, starting fires like a pro and knew where the best spots for sleeping and shelter were. But this winter seemed to be a lot colder than usual, as he had been freezing quite a lot in a couple of days.
"Thanks," He said, didn't like how that sounded timidly, though the fox only smiled before turning back to the counter, and opened a cupboard above him.
"Would you like something to drink? Hot chocolate?" He asked his eyes travelling back to the echidna, patiently waiting for an answer. Knuckles didn't really know what it was, though he had tasted chocolate before and remembered how sweet it was compared to the savory fruits that grew on the island. Tails apparently saw that he was hesitant, as he opened his mouth and asked: "Tea?" instead. The echidna had made tea many times before, one of the only warm beverages besides soup he knew how to make on the island and liked it on a cold winter evening as this one.
"If you don't mind," He said, the fox nodding to his statement before taking a bag out of the cupboard, closing it, and grabbed something that looked like it was made of metal, opened the top and turned on the faucet, letting the water go down into the thing he recognized as a kettle. He took another step into the cooking area, leaned awkwardly against the counter in the middle of the room as he didn't know what else to do.
Suddenly remembering that someone was missing, someone who surely would have greeted him, asked how the fluff he could fall of his island and would have opened the door, he turned his head back to the fox.
"Where's Sonic?" He felt confusion drift onto him when he simply shrugged, putting the kettle back on to where he found it and pressed a button.
"Don't know. He could be in Shamar, Rail Canyon, Metropolis Zone who knows," He said, while taking out some small brown almost see-through paper bags from the cupboard and opened the other bag he had taken out from it. "He's been gone for a while," He continued, taking a spoon out from a hidden compartment in the counter, and took out some small black grains from the bag and into the small brown one.
"Well how long?" The echidna found himself asking although he couldn't care less about where the hedgehog was. As far away from the island he hoped. But it was weird to think that Tails wasn't with him, knew that the fox was practically walking in his heels wherever they went – wherever the hedgehog was a little two-tailed fox was always tagging along.
"Three months," He didn't miss a beat, letting the echidna know that he had been counting. A wash of surprise went over him afterwards, while weird gurgle sounds came from the kettle, though the fox was calm, so he stayed the same. It was weird to think that Sonic would leave him behind like that, running around on his own adventures without him and briefly wondered why. Until his shook his head, reminding himself that it wasn't his problem, and that he shouldn't care. Although he found himself, wondering and began scratching the back of his head.
"So – you've been by yourself all that time?" Tails eyes moved from the small brown bags he had prepared and over to the echidna, eyes that calculated and analyzes the echidna's own. He had known him long enough to know that those eyes and that mind was never quiet, that he was always thinking and making conclusion on observations he made. Whether it was on a machine, the landscape around them or someone else. He shrugged again, his attention turning back to the kettle when it made a 'pop' sound.
"Pretty much. Though I use my time mostly in the workshop, working on different projects. I'm okay Knuckles," He stiffened at the last sentence, as the fox apparently had seen worry in his features. He grumbled, shaking his thoughts off of him and restarted his face. He didn't want to worry, or even think about the six-year-old who have been left alone by himself.
He didn't think about others, he only thought about the Master Emerald and the island, nothing else mattered. Those two things were the most important pieces in the world as they were the things that kept this world in balance. How chaos functioned and how it didn't tilt over and become dangerous. They were important, not his allies.
"I know you are," He found himself defending. "You're not as reckless as the hedgehog," Tails snort apparently told him otherwise, as he had found two mugs and were currently pouring hot liquid into them, the bags resting on the side.
"I've been experimenting with some chemicals. The other day I accidentally started a fire but I got it under control," Knuckles eyes widened a bit, his eyes travelling over to where he knew heat came from an electrical device that could cook food, but the walls weren't blackened and it didn't look like it had been recently burned.
"In the workshop," Tails chuckled, as he apparently had followed his gaze, took both mugs in his hands, and started walking towards the workshop, both tails wailing up and down in slow calm strides. Knuckles took it as an invitation to go into the other room, as he followed him, socked feet hitting against the floor while he felt his fingers and toes get their warmth back. The box with colors, TV he remembered, was on, some pictures going over Hill Top Zone apparently.
No sounds came out of it, though when the fox picked up the device that controlled it and clicked on a button, sound started to filter through which got quieter when he repeatedly clicked on another button. He sat down beside the fox, one tail in between them laying against the back of the couch, while the other slithered down the cushion on the other side of the small one.
"Here you go. I hope you like it," He kindly said, pushing one of the mugs towards him, which the echidna immediately picked up, cradling it between his hands, feeling the warm ceramic go through his mittens.
"Thanks Tails," He remembered, before taking a small sip. The earth dwellers tea was nothing like in the sense of the ones he made on Angel Island. His home had various amounts of different plants, fruits and herbs, life that you didn't find down here on the surface, and therefore he could make tea that didn't taste anything like what it did down here. Though the one he drank was a tiny bit bitter, while a taste of bergamot and a slight tone of orange hit his tongue.
It was good and warmed him all the way down his throat and could feel the warmth spread to his stomach. He completely zoned out the pictures that were on the TV, his eyes looking around uninterestingly as his thoughts couldn't be distracted away from thinking that Sonic left him here alone. He eventually pondered over something, as the place looked like it would have looked like if both of them were here.
"Do you clean?" He asked, the fox suddenly grinning and looked at him with what he counted as an amused glare.
"Did you really think that Sonic cleaned?" He grinned. "I like it when it's clean. I like to think that I'm not a hermit who lives in my own dust," If it had been Sonic saying that sentence then it had clearly been targeted towards the echidna in a teasing tone, but he could hear how much it wasn't. That it was a statement to his own living standards and not a claim towards the one person here who lived more isolated than the two of them.
For how much he thought Tails directly adapted the hedgehog's attributes he clearly was making a personality of his own. The toddler he had known from the beginning who followed around Sonic picked up a lot of his lines and his way of speaking like any other child would have, the only difference between them was the fact that the fox kit was extremely intelligent and knew how to sarcastically bit back at the hedgehog at his lame puns. The latter he enjoyed a lot.
This fox however was growing, and even though he hadn't seen him for a while he could tell that he was talking to Tails and not a copy of Sonic, something that he in the moment enjoyed a lot. He hated it whenever the hedgehog teased him about the emerald, the island and that he was an introvert who hated people, though he knew that it was only jokes. The fox on the other hand didn't, somehow understood where he came from and took his isolation as a sadden matter rather than a joking one.
His eyes travelled back to the fox who apparently were interested in whatever they said on the TV and wondered about the hedgehog again without his content.
"Don't you ever think that he-," – "Won't come back? Of course, I do," He was set back when the fox once again read his thoughts, though he blamed Tails himself as that sentence apparently had crossed his mind a lot of times before. He shrugged, before pulling his legs up to his chest and rested his chin on his knees, arms around his legs.
"But I know it's stupid. Every time Sonic leaves he promises me that he will come back. And he always keeps his promise. No matter what," He was set back once again, but not because of how he had said it but because of what he had said. He had no idea how much faith he had in him, how much he believed that he would come back home because he had promised him. Although, Tails wasn't dumb or young enough to not understand that there was a chance that he wouldn't. That the word couldn't go around and in reality, he was waiting for nobody.
"I know him like I know the back of my hand," He apparently continued, making the echidna focus back to him. "He loves running, feeling free and explore. That's what he enjoys, that's his hobby, the way he roles. The way I role is being down in the workshop by myself and building stuff that nobody understands what is. That he respects and let me do. Therefore, I should in return accept the fact that he sometimes goes and is gone. I don't wanna tie him down, that would make him feel miserable and I would hate to be the reason for him to be miserable. I know that he's going to come back so, he might as well enjoy himself, you know?" He half-said, half-asked looking back at the echidna, had apparently expected him to not have listened, as his eyes widened in slight surprise.
Knuckles said nothing in return other than nod, which was enough for the kid as his head returned to its position towards the moving pictures. He knew that Sonic enjoyed the rush, the adrenaline, and the sheer thought of going into a fight. That hedgehog never stood still and always wanted something to be going on, so for him to just run and keep running didn't stand out to him. Now he understood though, why the hedgehog was gone and why Tails was here.
It wasn't because he didn't like Tails or thought that he was a hindrance but merely because it was Sonic's thing. His hobby, his enjoyment in life to be by himself and run around and explore the world. Of course, he shared that whenever they were on adventures together but apparently, he also had a need to go by himself. Something that Knuckles in a strange why understood.
"How do you do it Knuckles?" His eyes focused back from the pondering, as the tone was slightly saddened, as he turned his head back to the fox. His ears had lowered, and he seemed like he had sunk deeper into the cushions. He bit his lip, feeling an uncomfortable emotion raise in his heart as he had no idea what to do if the fox was about to become sad.
"Do what?" He asked, even though he didn't really want to know the answer. For a moment Tails hesitated, bit his lip and then a deep sigh left him.
"Not – get lonely," He almost mumbled it, but the echidna heard him perfectly well. An 'oh' echoed in his mind, almost reminding himself that whenever Sonic did something there certainly was consequences to his decisions. Lucky for him Tails had the same expression and wasn't going to cry or something that he had seen him do a couple of times as a toddler by Sonic's side. He really didn't know what to do if he was going to do that.
Instead, he thought about it for a second as the question was a good one, before his eyes returned back to the TV, thoughts eventually settled together for an answer.
"I guess that - when you're not used to having people around that you don't know how to be lonely," He explained, as he had never had that desire to go out and talk to people. He had never had the desire to fly off of his island and figure out what kind of animals or mobians where down on the surface. If it was his duty as an emerald guardian or the fact that, that was just who he was, that kept him up there, he had no idea.
He had been sipping at his tea in between his conversation, realized disappointed that he had almost finished, but noted that Tails hadn't touched his own mug. The fox looked at him from his answer, before his eyes returned to the TV, his sadden expression getting a bit deeper.
"I get it," He answered a bit more mumbled, his eyes darting over the pictures that moved, though it didn't look like he was concentrating as much on it. A yawn then escaped him, which Knuckles decided to ignore, hoped that whenever the pictures stopped that he decided to fly him home instead of going to bed afterwards. Taking the last gulp of his tea he placed it on the table in front of him and decided to listen to whatever was on the TV out of boredom.
He really didn't have any other answer for the fox, as the one he gave him clearly didn't comfort any thoughts that he might have occurred to him. He hadn't felt lonely before, enjoyed his own company rather than others, liked being by himself with the Master Emerald, daydream and walk around the island, making sure that everything is working properly. That the waterworks in Hydrocity isn't going over its edges, that Lava Reef is somewhat calm and that the mushrooms in Mushroom Hill Zone didn't spread out to other zones and choked the plants that lived there.
That was his life, his way of taking care of the island and his own hobby, job, something that he enjoyed doing. He didn't need people for that task, he didn't need company at all as he knew how to take care of himself and how to live in all climates. It was hard sometimes, that he had to admit, and meeting Sonic and Tails hadn't been the worst disasters of his life. He had learned a lot about the surface, how people lived and all of this technology that had been developed. Though none of that stuff was ever going to be on his island, over his dead body.
He moved his head when he though Tails fainted beside him, but realized that he leaned too slowly, and he wouldn't be moving his tails or legs separately if he had. He realized too late to stop him that he had leaned down and cradled his head with his arms on Knuckles' lap, legs resting on the couch and tails coming around and hugging his body. He couldn't see his face, but he could feel his upper body, the way that it relaxed and the deep sigh that escaped him after he had made himself comfortable.
Knuckles merely looked at him in disbelief, raised arms and was almost panicking as he had no idea what to do. Eventually he instead let out a short breath before putting his arms back down by his side, eyes still fastened onto the fox. In this moment, the six-year-old shined through more than the intelligent and independent individual that he knew, right now he was merely a child who hadn't had his guardian around for a while, and now he missed having somebody around.
Tails wasn't him, he enjoyed company and liked to speak to people, that much he knew from their adventures. That he got lonely he didn't blame, and therefore didn't shove him off the movement he had settled. Call it sympathy or stubbornness, as he would take this over crying any other day. But he agreed with himself that this was going to be the only time that he allowed it.
"I'm glad you're here," Knuckles looked back down at him, when his entire body relaxed, had apparently expected what the echidna had thought about doing. For a heartbeat he didn't know what to say as the sentence that had crossed his mind, he was too proud to say. But something apparently overcame him, if it was the childlike actions that waved their way into his heart, he had no idea, but he lifted his hand and padded the fox's shoulder.
"Me too squirt," He said, and realized that he had a smile on his lip afterwards. An utterly satisfied and relieved sigh left him at that, snuggling his head deeper into his own arms. With that, his eyes drifted back to the television, had eventually figured out that someone was telling him some stuff about Hill Top Zone, had been talking about how the villages harvests the plants that grows around the magma.
He frowned, a bit at that, thinking that, it should be no different than the plants that grew around Lava Reef. He then heard the fox's breath deepen and leaned forward a bit to see that Tails had closed his eyes. Rhythmic breaths went around his torso, as he clearly was asleep. Knuckles did nothing than smile, before picking up the mug the fox hadn't touched and took a sip at the now very bitter tea. But he didn't mind.