Turned out, even super advanced hearing aids didn't take well to getting jostled around like maracas at the speed of sound by a hedgehog, getting blasted through an interdimensional portal they hadn't been tested for, and crashing loudly and violently into Toadstool Tartarus. In fact, the left one went into tinnitus mode and the right one simply shut down completely. It made crawling out of a crashed aircraft much worse than it already would have been by default.
Once he was out and had enough distance to not get blown to smithereens or showered with shrapnel should his aircraft decide to explode, both hearing aids were promptly removed from his sore ears.
"This will put a damper on whatever plan I will begin hatching as soon as I get my bearings", Doctor Robotnik said to himself, already hating the likely long lasting silence, especially when that included his own voice.
He looked around and all he could see as far as his eyes could reach were mushrooms. Big mushrooms, small mushrooms, mushrooms growing atop other mushrooms, mushrooms hanging from other mushrooms, and of course a few floating mushrooms, because why not at this point.
He hoped there weren't any talking mushrooms, because that might pose a problem unless he managed to fix at least one of his hearing aids. Without any resources. Jolly good.
ooooo
He completely understood the deaf people who chose to eschew hearing aids and embrace the silence. Having an easy way out of having to put up with the inane chatter of imbeciles was a very valid want to have. Not having to hear screaming babies in public, listen to the thumping of your upstairs neighbours' bed when they bumped uglies in the evening, or pay attention to the voices of the people talking behind your back when they thought you're out of hearing distance were all things he could get behind.
He could understand the silence when it was a choice one made. Even a permanent one and not just an occasional whimsy. And of course sometimes it wasn't a choice and one just got used to it and learned to live like that.
Good for those people. More power to them.
But Robotnik hadn't made that choice. When he lost his hearing, he made the choice to acquire hearing aids asap, and then he made himself more advanced ones as soon as he figured out how to go about it. Then he learned sign language as a failsafe so he could always communicate with those that deserved his words. He didn't want silence.
And not hearing anything when you're stranded on an alien planet completely alone was frankly maddening.
Especially because his new Agent Stone didn't have hands to sign with. Not even when he was tripping on the blue shrooms.
Robotnik made a rude hand gesture at the mute moss monstrosity and dug out his faulty left hearing aid from his pocket. He carefully inserted it into his filthy ear and listened to the tinnitus while staring at the mushroom covered ground wordlessly.
He missed the real Stone. The real Stone would bring him new, working hearing aids and a latte, and then talk to him about his neighbour's dog getting loose again. Or at the very least the real Stone would tap his shoulder, smile at him brightly, and then sign to him about the dog. He would take either option.
He would even take Stone just being there in the silence with him.
Robotnik blamed the approaching rain clouds for the droplets falling onto the ground before his eyes.
ooooo
The hearing aid's battery died eventually. Robotnik resorted to dragging Agent Stone over any rocky surfaces he came across to produce a loud screeching sound that he could just barely hear if he focused.
Getting screamed at was better than being alone.
ooooo
He stopped bothering with noises when he stopped wandering around trying to find… anything other than mushrooms, really, and instead made himself a camp by his crashed aircraft. He figured out he could polish one of his aircraft's side panels to the point it could act as a primitive mirror, and then he could sign at his reflection. Reading mirrored signs was a fun little brain exercise too. Well, it was almost fun anyway. If he ignored the part where he knew what he was signing without needing to really look at the hands of his reflection.
If he had blue shrooms, it sometimes worked as intended.
He weaved Agent Stone a net basket that he could sometimes hang on the mirror at face level, and then he took off his gloves and signed about the neighbour's dog making a racket at night and how that was the reason Stone looked so tired today. Hard to sleep with a dog barking all night.
If he had blue shrooms, it was sometimes almost convincing.
He should buy Stone a new place. One without a dog nearby. One where he lived as well, preferably. If Stone wasn't against it.
He needed to finish his SOS beacon and get out of here. The real estate market in the Chanterelle Acheron was terrible. The neighbours were even more unsociable than he was and the supermarket only stocked mushrooms and water. The power was cheap, there was that. It wasn't good enough for Stone though, he deserved better. He deserved everything.
Robotnik wished he hadn't told Stone he wouldn't miss him when he was gone.
ooooo
The red alien creature towering menacingly over him glanced at the glowing quill in his hand and presumably asked him a question.
One he couldn't hear.
Robotnik smiled at it, hoping he managed a friendly look despite his haggard state. Having a temporary ally would work even better than his original plan to run through the portal and figure out the rest after he saw what he was working with.
"I assume you're interested in the quill?" he asked, hoping it miraculously understood English or had an alien translator with it. "There's more where that came from. A blue menace crashing illegally on my home planet has a head full of them, ripe for plucking. I could show you the way. Oh, and for the record, I'm deaf and my hearing aids are out of order, so pardon me for being unable to hear you. Nod if you understood me."
He received a nod and a gloved hand extended palm up at him. He grabbed a hold with his free hand and got pulled up from the ground. Half of him was glad the creature had thick gloves and thus the entire shebang of touch was minimal, but half of him was internally screaming about the (not so) sudden craving for physical contact. Eight months was a long time to be alone.
He was really, really looking forward to seeing Stone again soon. Stone would give him a nice, warm, big hug.
ooooo
As much as Robotnik would have liked to drop by the hapless hedgehog's humble home first thing, he knew he needed supplies, and he needed to be able to communicate with his new ally. So, the first thing he did upon stepping into the familiar soil of planet Earth was contact Stone and hope he had found the manifesto and followed the instructions in it at some point. Minimum requirement he had expected had been establishing contact with his emergency storage satellite, and thankfully his loyal, helpful, and handsome assistant had managed that much.
He should kiss that man's happily clueless face when he saw him.
But first, a setback.
Of course his space storage egg didn't have a spare pair of hearing aids in it. That would have been too convenient. New clothes? Of course. Mouth wash? Yes. Moustache grooming robots? Sure, why not. His prescription medicine? Yes, but they had expired two years ago, so they weren't safe for consumption anymore; he'd continue to go without, he was eight months deep anyway. But something as vital as new hearing aids? Nah, why include that, obviously he would never need those, it's not like he'd lose or break them.
He needed to invent a time machine and go smack his past self the first chance he got.
He made a mental note that the next storage egg he sent up should also include some kind of a shower, q-tips, a toothbrush and toothpaste. Maybe nail clippers. Clearly short term sprucing up wasn't enough with the shenanigans life could spring at you.
"I'm sure you're anxiously waiting to go meet up with the hedgehog, my falu-furred friend", Robotnik said to the general direction of the alien whose name or species he still didn't know, "but we have a pitstop to make. My assistant will be able to interpret your words for me, and he is…"
Robotnik checked the coordinates pointing to the location of Stone's watch.
"Just around the corner, actually. Hop on, it'll be a short ride!"
ooooo
Stone (presumably) owned a cafe now. Robotnik hadn't known what to expect, but a cafe was fitting and would have been high on his guess list, had he made one. So, he could say that he had more or less expected it.
He brushed down his coat and made sure his moustache was still presentable, and finally opened the doors for his grand entrance.
'Hello, Agent Stone', he signed with a wide smile.
Stone took the hint and made no attempt to talk out loud. 'Doctor! It's really you. You look different?'
Robotnik pointed at his new moustache eagerly, glad his observant, wonderful assistant had noticed.
One delicious latte that kept his hands silent and made hugs have to wait, one vocal introduction that Robotnik obviously couldn't follow between Stone and the red thing, and one transforming cafe later, and he finally handed back the empty coffee cup to free his hands.
'My hearing aids broke, so you'll need to play interpreter until I can fix them', Robotnik said. He was about to continue when Stone lifted a finger up, a massive smile on his face. The coffee cup was set on the counter hurriedly.
'I have hearing aids for you!' Stone signed with so much eagerness that his speed actually matched Robotnik's. 'I took a pair from the lab for emergencies and I have them!'
Robotnik stared at Stone, his bright smile and radiant eyes and precious, precious face.
He grabbed a hold of the precious face with both hands and pressed their lips together with barely controlled force. Before Stone could react past the little jump – probably accompanied by a sound he sadly missed – Robotnik pulled back and grinned at him, then engulfed him in the tightest hug he had ever given anyone. Not that he was known for giving hugs, but that was beside the point.
He felt Stone's arms wrap around him and it was pure, unadulterated bliss.
He had missed human contact.
He had missed Stone.
Getting human contact from Stone was the ultimate pleasure that left even the latte from moments ago in the dust.
And Stone miraculously had hearing aids for him as the cherry on top.
The best assistant in the history of assistants. And potentially also his boyfriend or partner or something now too, but that was a discussion for later.