Judas Chapter 5: Sneak

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"Ungh, huh?"

Ringringringggriiiingg

Sonic rubbed his eyes and slipped out of the tussled blue bed, letting Amy sleep for now. He yawned, scratching himself in such a way that if he'd been seen in public doing so, it would be considered rude, and gave himself to speed as he lifted the phone from the receiver and stopped on a dime.

Just because he'd been running just now didn't actually mean he was awake just yet. He was still groggy and in a state of half-dreaming. "Yo, Rose residence," he managed to speak through a yawn.

"Oh, so you admit it's Amy's house, huh?"

Sonic ceased scratching himself and started at the voice. "Knuckles?" He wondered, incredulous as he looked at the clock. "What the fuck, man? It's three AM."

"Sorry, we're three hours off here." Knuckles explained, and Sonic imagined the comical look crossing his red rival's features.

"So I see." Sonic yawned again, balancing the phone between his cheek and shoulder as he stretched his limbs out to kingdom come. "Which reminds me, I forgot my midnight snack." He smoothed a hand down his tan belly. "Yup, I'm starvin'." He chuckled, taking the phone in hand again as he reached into the pantry for a snack.

Knuckles laughed. "Only you, Sonic. Only you."

Sonic huffed indignantly. "Oh don't start! If you had my superpower, you'd be starved thin as a pencil, too!" He whimpered out the last part, realizing that he held a weight that wasn't his usual crummy late-night hunger. What have I been doing?

"Speaking of your superpower, that reminds me why I called." Knuckles chuckled audibly. "What makes you think I owe you a favor, TB?"

"Lots of things, R&R. And, I'll say it again: that doesn't stand for rest and relaxation, two words that don't exist in 'Knuckles' World'." Sonic air-quoted 'Knuckles' World' as he said it, popping two store-processed chocolate cupcakes into his mouth.

"For instance, like what?" Knuckles' voice receded, showing he was reclining against something on the other end.

"Thhor meh gething th otherths—hey!" Sonic snapped his fingers, swallowing as his speech impediment as he spoke. "Even on your side of the planet, it's late! I mean, I can tell Amy I had my midnight snack according to some timezone, but usually I wake myself up for—anyway, getting to the point. Why are you up? I never thought you were a fridge raider."

Sonic couldn't see the flush cross Knuckles' face, but he knew his friendly rival all too well for him to be incorrect about this. "Erm, well…Rio never sleeps, got it?"

"For a month?" Sonic was skeptic as he devoured a small pastry, still feeling his body's sugar levels to be dangerously low.

"He just won't stop crying this week…can't tell why." As if on cue, Sonic heard a loud cry from Knuckles' end. It was enough to make him cringe away from the phone.

"Yipe! A troublemaker!" Sonic teased.

"I know. He's got the personality I'd expect from your son."

Sonic bark-laughed. "Pssht! Really, Knuckles, you know Rouge used to be quite the troublemaker. Remember the early years? She never pounced, but she did keep you guessing."

"Makes me wonder—which would you prefer in a girl, now that you've seen both?"

Sonic swallowed down a swig of soda. "Hmm, probably the pouncing. It's annoying, but at least there's no guesswork."

"Ha ha! Well, so I still owe you, huh?"

"Yeah, but you can forget about it. I'll put it your 'owe me' tab." Sonic cringed away from the phone again as Rio let out another ear-splitting cry. "Damn! How can you stand that?!"

"You tend to just block it out after a while. I can almost sleep through it." Knuckles responded.

"Lucky you. With my sleep habits, I'd be awake all night!"

"Indeed you would. If I invited you to spend the night, you'd never return!"

"Hmmm. Hey Knux?"

"Yeah?"

"Amy's starting to gain a little weight."

Sonic, never one to miss fear or tension in another's voice—particularly a friend's voice—couldn'tve missed Knuckles' tone when he next responded. "Ha! Really?" Tension. Worry. The fear of being discovered. It was all there, just in his tone of voice. "What's the matter? You gonna dump her cause she gained a few pounds?!"

"What? Hell no!" Sonic laughed nervously. "No, I'm not that shallow!"

"Yes you are."

"Okay, you got me. But I'm not gonna dump her, I love her. I'm just worried, cause I know she diets like crazy…not that I'd mind if she went off it once in a while, but…"

"I getchya." Knuckles soothed. "Chill out. She's probably just enjoying her own cooking too much." There was a slight peak in the echidna's pitch—one that Sonic did not miss.

I knew it! He's hiding something. But what? "Ah, so true, so true. I'd probably be, like, fifty pounds overweight if I wasn't superfast! I frickin love her cooking! I think I'd die without it!"

"Okay, don't tell me you were planning to propose just because she makes irresistible chilidogs that even I'd eat." Knuckles detested chilidogs with a strange passion, not unlike Shadow's own hatred for the food.

"We went over this." Sonic's tone wagged a finger, but inside he was scheming. Gotta find out what the secret is… "So…any idea why she's getting pudgy?"

"Rouge is calling me." Knuckles hastened. "I gotta go! Bye!" Bzzzbzzbbzzznnnnnnnnn

Sonic swallowed the last swig of soda in the can and swiftly returned to bed. He didn't know exactly what Knuckles was hiding, but he wasn't going to cease prying until he was inside the loop.

His next plan? Sonic rolled over and snuggled closer against Amy's naked body.

He was going to do what he'd somehow always been able to do—at the risk of getting a concussion from her piko piko hammer.

He was going to trick his future wife.