The group had mostly settled in around the table. Metal cautiously took a seat next to Tails, who was talking to Sonic.
"Is Shadow coming? I want to make sure everyone is here before I fill them in on the last few days."
"I don't know. He never said for sure. We'll only know when we see him."
As Tails began to offer drinks, someone knocked on the door.
Sonic jumped from his chair to answer it. It only took one sentence to confirm Tails' hopes.
"Hey there Faker."
If Shadow responded, it wasn't audible. He looked around as he followed Sonic to the table. The sight of Metal made him pause. A rare look of confusion covered his face.
"There is an explanation for this, correct?"
Tails rushed over, trying not to spill the drinks in his hands, "Yes! I waiting for you to get here before I told the story."
He set the cup of Chaos Cola in front of Sonic and handed Amy her fruit punch. As he went to get Knuckles a cup of water, he asked, "What do you want, Shadow? I know you don't drink soda much."
Sonic interrupted, "Coffee beans?"
Shadow silenced him with a wave and responded, "Water is fine."
The dinner carried on as normal, despite the new presence of Metal Sonic at the table. The badnik quickly became the topic of conversation, although no one was really sure how to interact with him.
"You are gonna fill them in one the story, right bud?" Sonic prompted.
"Oh, yeah. Yeah. Metal Sonic's been hanging out with me now. He showed up a few days ago and Sonic and I stopped him. It was late when we defeated him, so we had to leave him outside. It was raining and he woke up. He woke me up knocking on the window."
"And you just couldn't resist a cool robot, huh?" Sonic teased.
"Yeah… but it turned out well! We made a truce and he let me help him. We've actually become good friends. That's why he was washing dishes, Amy."
Shadow's look of shock was a sight to behold.
Tails continued on, "He likes rock music and books about engineering." He smiled at Metal, "I hope you have fun with us today."
It was a little awkward eating dinner with Metal silently sitting at the table, but Tails was happy that he decided to stay. Afterward, Metal continued to help. He helped Tails clear the table and load the dishwasher. Tails couldn't hide his excitement.
"You've been such a big help Metal! We'll be done in no time! I know I keep saying it, but I'm really happy you're here."
The praise and genuine happiness gave Metal a strange warm feeling. That new feeling had washed over him so many times since he designated Tails an ally. Was this what it felt like to have friends?
He didn't have a chance to dwell on his musings before Tails had grabbed his hand and started guiding him to the living room. There, Tails' friends were debating what to do next.