A collection of rambling thoughts Sonic has while awake one night. Post battle with Eggman.

Disclaimer: Not ever mine...

When he first came to Earth, he never thought he'd become this wrapped up in the activities of a human town and it's sole protector known only as Donut Lord. To be fair, Donut Lord had an underling, but that underling wasn't much of an underling let alone a protector. Yeah, he knew they were called "deputies", but let's be real – protector was a much cooler job description. And who knew Earth was this far away from home? Using the rings, he had jumped through six other planets to get here, dodging all sorts of hazards and terrible creatures that inexplicably wanted his power. How long he had been here, he had no idea, only a guesstimate with the assortment of odd calendars he had collected over the years.

As for the one he called Donut Lord, he underestimated how much he followed the guy around. With the exception of Crazy Carl, he spent so much time with Donut Lord and Pretzel Lady that he was basically family. Well, he thought he was family. Apparently with not knowing he existed, Donut Lord freaked out and shot him with a tranquilizer.

And that was the first time he made him angry. Coming to in a doggy cage was not cool, and not being able to use his legs was even worse. But then Eggman came and threatened Donut Lord, and he couldn't let Donut Lord get blasted by that nasty drone. Donut Lord punched Eggman, which totally forgave him in Sonic's eyes. That was too cool not to give the guy another chance. Then Donut Lord tried to drop him off on the side of the road and leave him all alone. Not cool, dude.

That was the second time he made him angry. But how was he supposed to know that being a suspected terrorist could actually keep Donut Lord from remaining Donut Lord? And he tried to listen to Donut Lord, he really did. But the world's biggest rubberband ball and the stop at the gas station and seeing the biker gangs gather around and do cool stuff were all way too tempting to pass up. At least Donut Lord could be persuaded to stay over to help him with his bucket list, which gave him a reason to forgive. And… then he went and started the bar fight. Donut Lord tried to keep him safe, and he could respect that. He just wasn't fast enough to act, otherwise Tom would have emerged completely unscathed as well.

Tom was the one who got them a place to stay, and tucked him into his hotel bed. He. Tucked. Him. In. Good thing he was a guy – if he had let on to his true feelings, he might as well get big doe eyes and go into anime. Besides, it showed that Donut Lord really did care about him, deep down, and that meant that Sonic would never ever have to be alone again.

But then Donut Lord had to ruin it by abandoning him! THIRD time he made him angry. And okay, yeah Donut Lord was telling him this now instead of abandoning him forever without a word, but it wasn't fair. If Tom hadn't told him of the changes happening to his body, he would have let Donut Lord know exactly how he felt about being abandoned again. Not that they were great friends before this happened, or that Donut Lord even knew of him prior to the giant blue explosion, but abandonment was still abandonment!

Then they managed to drop the tank, the baby tank, and the one-wheeled robot, only for him to get stuck with a tiny bomb from the only cute drone available. Tom tried to get rid of it, but that must have been splashed with super glue or something because it was stuck on Tom's hand. If he hadn't moved fast enough, Donut Lord would have become a Donut Crater – just another hole in the ground but no fun to talk to. On top of that, he'd be alone again. So it really was worth getting blown up for that. Getting cuddled by Donut Lord was a plus (even if he didn't remember any of that) and being treated by Pretzel Lady a reason to forgive.

Fourth time he was angry came when he first met Ozzie, Tom's so-called best friend that he wouldn't shut up about. Honestly, what was the appeal of such a creature? He was better suited to be Tom's first best friend – from experiencing dangers together to being on the run to showing that he really did care about Sonic deep down – and he would prove it! But then Ozzie wouldn't stop licking his face. When he saw Tom standing in the doorway, Tom looked like he was trying to fight back a smile. Which failed. Because he was snickering. But that meant that Sonic had his attention instead of the dog, so it was Sonic – 1, Ozzie – 0. He couldn't be mad for long with a score like that.

Fifth time he was angry was having to marinade in Tom's duffle bag. It was so. GROSS. All sorts of grimy clothes that even he would pass on, and even though different pieces of clothing had different smells to them they still melded together INSIDE THE BAG. He couldn't breathe; it was that bad. But Tom still got him up to the top of the Transamerica tower and he got his rings back, so he could forgive Tom for that.

But then Eggman had to come up and threaten them all, and so what if he was preoccupied with trying to save the two humans he followed from his earliest days here on Earth? He couldn't lose Donut Lord and Pretzel Lady, even if Donut Lord had ticked him off and was getting ready to abandon him again. But then, Eggman was catching up to him fast, and all he could think about was that he wanted to see Green Hills and Donut Lord and Pretzel Lady one last time. If he hadn't been preoccupied, he wouldn't have been so knocked out.

But then Donut Lord came in and punched Eggman again! If he hadn't been so woozy, he'd have turned around to watch. Donut Lord could not be beat! … Well, okay, maybe he could, but then Eggman started ranting about wanting Sonic's corpse. Come on! He was way too handsome to be made into a lab specimen. But he couldn't get up, and from the silence he thought that… that Donut Lord…

"That little alien knew more about being a human than you ever will. His name was Sonic, this was his home, and he was my friend."

….

… Wait….

Donut Lord… Donut Lord was still alive?! And he thought Sonic was his friend?!

Then everything Sonic had gotten mad at Tom about just fell away. It didn't matter anymore. Donut Lord may have made him mad before, but he couldn't let him be hurt. And luckily, he knew just the hedgehog with amazing powers and devastating good looks to prevent that from happening.

Staring up at the star-studded night sky, Sonic breathed a sigh of relief. He had won against Robotnik. Donut Lord thought of him as a friend. He now had a home with Pretzel Lady and Donut Lord. Everything was all right.

Something nagged at him though. He couldn't place a quill on it, but there was something his gut told him was coming, whether he knew it or not. He couldn't worry about it now, and he chose not to. Burrowing underneath the blankets, he continued to stare up at the stars until he could no longer, eyelids drooping with the inevitable promise of sleep. His thoughts never strayed from that one track.

Donut Lord and Pretzel Lady were his humans, and he'd made sure no harm would ever come to them.