FOR THE REVIEW LEFT TO ME (I can't find it anymore, but I hope you read this!:

¡No lo entendí, jajaja! Pero lo resolví bastante rápido. Perdón por la traducción tosca. Estoy usando el Traductor de Google. Es muy difícil encontrar buenos fics de Sonic. Estoy de acuerdo. ¡Pero gracias por darle una oportunidad al mío! Soy un fanático de las expansiones de escenas y golpes. Todas se libraron de caer a través del maldito ESPACIO con demasiada facilidad. Sé que, al fin y al cabo, es una película para niños, pero aun así… Créanme, Sonic se derrumbará eventualmente, pero no de la manera que creen. Hay al MENOS otros seis capítulos de infierno para nuestro chico.

NOW, for the fic!

Tom gets ready to go back to work before he should. Sonic plays off his weakness as exhaustion. The two clash lightly over their shared desire to sleep - neither willing to let the other know they're still suffering.

Sonic liked to pride himself on his general etiquette. He was (nearly) always on time, always looked together, his quills were always smoothly back, his shoes were always shiny, and he was always respectful… usually.

It took some adjusting when he first moved in with Tom and Maddie, but he took it within his stride. What brings these thoughts on is simple. Sonic had been struggling to sleep. His mind often spun when he was overexerted or emotionally drained - both of which he was suffering with big time. He'd been up sporadically all night long, nightmares swirling around his skull, phantom pains from his date with the sun, and splitting skin from his burns. As the (self-dubbed, granted) protector of Green Hills, that was his job. He was the quickest hitter and the only one with real battle experience in the Eggman department.

It made accepting Tails and Knuckles hard. Sonic had been alone for a decade, surviving and depending on nobody but himself.

Teamwork was hard. Especially after Shadow hurt Tom… His dad.

The birds were singing as the smell of coffee wafted into Tom's bedroom. He shot awake, peeling away a sheet of paper, thanks to his late-night rendezvous with his paperwork. Today was the day he was finally allowed to return to desk work at the station! It's not that he didn't love his boys and wife; he did, but they all needed some separate time. Well… all except Ozzy and Tails, but they latched onto each other, so it was fine. He stretched widely, sighing as his back popped. He yawned, glancing out of the window. The sun was high, higher than his usual wake-up time...

"SHIT!"

He grabbed the papers and hobbled, not caring if he'd even remembered socks. Nobody would be looking at his feet anyway. He skidded to a stop just outside of the backdoor, kicking on his shoes and rubbing his eyes to rid them of any residue of sleep. "Whoa." A high-pitched voice said. "I didn't know your hair could even do that." Tom narrowed his eyes, thrusting the papers at his wife. He grunted. "Unlike some people, I was working all night." He yawned again. "Can't we tell?" Maddie giggled, putting the papers onto the windowsill. Tom leaned against it, pinching the bridge of his nose tightly. "Donut Lord!"

He repressed a sigh. "You do not look well... did you sleep soundly last night?" Tom sighed softly and forced a smile onto his face. "I slept." He lied. Knuckles narrowed his eyes slightly. "Are you sure, Donut Lord? You look exhausted... perhaps you should miss today's work." He put a firm hand on Tom's shoulder. "I'm OK to work, buddy. I filled in the last part of my paperwork a lot of the night. I can't sleep when my brain wants to be busy." Tom shrugged. "I promise I'll sleep tonight. I've got no plans to do anything." Knuckles sighed softly. "If you ever need assistance in sleeping, I know plenty of meditation rituals to achieve ultimate relaxation." Tom smiled and patted his hand. "Thank you. I might just take you up on that."

Tom lasted all of four hours at work before Wade pulled rank and sent him home. Despite being Sheriff again, as per his orders, Wade was to remain ultimately in charge of anything out of the station. Tom only drifted off once! He mooded the entire way home but was secretly glad to have his feet in slippers again. The house to himself for the first time in a while! Maddie was back at work, Knuckles and Tails were out in the forest testing stuff, and Sonic was… somewhere. Probably with the others.

He thought.

Tom walked into the house, slightly surprised by the blue mass on the couch. He sighed heavily but silently. "Hey, buddy. What are you doing here? I thought you were off with Tails today." Tom took a gentle seat on the couch. Sonic snored lightly. Tom huffed, gently touching his foot. "Sonic?" He called. The former hummed quietly, stretching up like a cat. "Mmm, hi, Dad…" Sonic yawned. His eyes widened. "Dad!? Why are you back?" Tom shook his head fondly. "Wade has it covered. Said I could come back, so I did." He lied. Sonic's eyebrow rose. "Wade has it covered?" Tom raised his hands. "I know. He seemed pretty confident, so I thought I'd let him have it. People have been rather well-behaved since you guys did Robo-freak last year."

Sonic hummed. "Makes sense. I'm awesome, and they know not to test me." He raised his fists into a half-hearted Keanu Reeves stance. "If you're so awesome, why were you passed out at one o clock on a Monday morning?" Tom quizzed. Ever since last Monday, when Tom had apparently pushed Sonic too far, they'd tip-toed around the topic, choosing not to ask the other about any lingering tiredness - even if they were sleeping in broad daylight.

But Sonic was his kid, god damn it.

His kid who never slept when the sun was up.

"Oh. I guess I just cat-napped." Sonic waved off. "You'd think I was part cat." He joked. Tom laughed good-naturedly. Sonic swallowed back the part of him that was screaming for help. He knew something was wrong, deep down. "Well, I've got nothing else to do today, so what about we put Speed on, hm? You like a bit of Keanu, I seem to remember."

Sonic grinned and moved closer to Tom, pressing into his side as the latter put his favourite movie of all time on.

Sonic found it surprisingly hard to stay awake during the film. His head found relief by resting against the wall behind, something his sore neck was thankful for. Despite Tom rubbing his neck a week ago and taking small sneakings of Paracetamol (which helped to take the edge off), Sonic's entire body still hurt something chronic. His chest still hurt slightly, as did his ribs. He must've had whiplash.

Sonic's head dropped against Tom's shoulder as the movie continued. At some point, his eyes slid shut, though not of his own volition. He tried to keep them awake, but they burned. So he shut them, momentarily... only for...for a…sec…on…d…

At some point, he was somewhat aware of being moved, but nothing screamed danger, so he fell back into slumber.

It was several hours later that he finally woke up. There was a soft hand running up and down his arm. For a second, Sonic's heart panicked, thinking he'd been kidnapped. But there was no bitter feeling left in the wake of the hand, no hissing shadows, no dark room, just soft, comfortable silence. "Are you awake, buddy?" A soft voice whispered. His mouth felt dry as he slowly sat up, feeling incredibly disorientated. He hadn't even felt that disorientated after a particularly bad bout of stomach flu he had shortly after Knuckles arrived. He smacked his lips softly, licking them. He rubbed his eyes, stretching with a yawn. "I'm up, I'm up." He mumbled. There was a soft chuckle of laughter to his left. Sonic froze with his arms up high.

"I'm glad you had a good nap, but you still look really tired." Tom's hand moved to brush through his quills, and Sonic resisted the urge to slap him away. "Maybe you should get an early night tonight and sleep some more. You might have a bug coming. Maddie gets tired when she's sickening for something." Sonic refused to meet Tom's eyes despite his leaning forward. "Ah, man, I'm sorry. I- I didn't mean to fall asleep." He fumbled. Tom tutted and clasped Sonic's shoulder. "Breathe, Sonic. I'm not mad." He chuckled. Sonic swallowed again. "I know how hard you guys fought, and what you went through to save us all… so you're allowed to be tired."

Sonic rubbed his neck in embarrassment. "I'm not tired." He mumbled. Tom hummed disbelievingly. "I'm not buying it. Come on. Sleepy time for the baby."

"I'm literally fifteen. I can get a learner's permit now. I'm not a baby." Sonic argued, despite standing up. Tom scoffed and playfully shoved his shoulder. "Just because you can doesn't mean you should or are. I'm sure as hell not teaching you to drive."

Sonic huffed as he trudged up the stairs and then ladder into his bedroom, and Tom watched with folded arms. He sighed to himself, that ever-present whisper hissing into his ears that he was still missing something.