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Four days.
Tails had been captured by Eggman for four days.
And he was still here.
This was the longest he’d ever been captured before, and also the longest he’d been separated from Sonic since they set out together. They had been battling Eggman for almost a year now, having settled down in the town closest to his base and enjoying a predictable routine of weekly fights with the crazed doctor. Obviously they’d been captured quite a few times before, but usually it was together. The couple of times he’d been alone it had only taken a few hours before Sonic had busted him out, so he really wasn’t used to this type of… isolation.
He had barely even seen Eggman while trapped here, and the robots guarding him didn’t talk, so the only social interaction he’d really had was when Orbot or Cubot brought him food. And those two barely passed the turing test.
He had of course tried breaking out on his own. Twice, in fact, but he seemed to be in a part of the base he hadn’t seen before, and there were badniks around every corner. The first time they’d grabbed him right when he stepped out into the hall, making quick work of disposing of the key card he had swiped and locking him back in the cell. The second time he’d managed to almost get into an air vent when one of the bots had hit him in the side with a round, knocking him down. Luckily, it was loaded with some kind of bean bag instead of real rounds, but it had still managed to knock the air out of him and leave a nasty bruise, which ached every time he took a breath.
He hated this.
He just wanted Sonic back.
He could feel a lump forming in his throat at the thought, and quickly tried to look around the cell to find something to keep himself distracted. There was still, of course, nothing new. The most he had to keep his mind off of things was the pillow and thin blanket that were next to him on the cot, and there wasn’t exactly much he could do with that.
He hated not having anything to do, it was why he worked and studied all the time. As soon as his mind wasn’t preoccupied with something, it started repeating all of his worst fears. There was one thought that he had been trying to avoid while here, a thought that had been lying quietly in the back of his mind but started bubbling up as his stay got longer and longer.
What if Sonic didn’t really want him around?
Maybe the hedgehog was tired of having to look after him all the time, of being slowed down, of him being annoying and clingy . Maybe he wasn’t coming to save him, and he was just going to leave him here to rot.
“ Just stop thinking, Miles… ” he whispered to himself, trying to block off those thoughts.
His eyes stung as he kept trying to stay optimistic, trying to counter the self-hatred that was seeping in by reminding himself that Sonic did love him, he’d said so after all, and he knew his hero wouldn’t lie.
But what if he was lying?
He wouldn’t really blame him, Sonic was so much better than he was at... Everything . The hero could take on an entire army of robots, and here he was, unable to even get past three on his own. Why would the hedgehog ever bother keeping him with him? It was probably just pity, but that had to run out eventually, and it seemed that this was it.
He curled into his namesake as he felt the first tears break, staining the fur on his cheeks. He choked back a sob, immediately regretting that as it sent a flash of pain through his side, making him cry harder, causing an annoyingly painful feedback loop. He tried to level his breathing to ease the ache in his side but found it near impossible through his tears.
He didn’t want to deal with this, he didn’t want to think.
He just wanted Sonic.
A light knock against the bars pulled him out of his spiral, as he jumped and quickly tried to wipe away any evidence of tears. He was expecting it to be one of the doctor’s henchbots there with food or something, so he was not prepared when he looked up and saw Eggman himself, standing outside the bars with an unreadable expression . It took him a moment to process it, but when he did he felt his veins run icy cold with realization.
Oh.
Crap.
Eggman had seen him crying.
Despite the waves of emotions that were still hitting him, Tails anxiously wiped at his face again, scrambling to sit upright and feeling a new surge of pain flower out at the sudden movement. Still, he managed to face the doctor and give the most convincing glare he could muster.
“W-What?”
* * *
Eggman stared at the crying fox in the cell, perplexed. He’d just gotten back from tearing down a part of the jungle - managing to narrowly avoid any interference from the hedgehog - and had received a report from Cubot that the pesky vulpine had tried to break out again . Fortunately, the fox had been knocked down by a turret before he could reach the vent. While those turrets didn’t hit very hard, only about the strength of a paintball gun, he’d figured it was about time for a little check-up with the two-tailed sidekick anyways.
Which is why he was now standing here, watching him cry.
It likely wasn’t from pain, as his bots hadn’t reported any visible injuries, and it had been several hours since he was hit. Not to mention how resilient the young fox was in general, he’d seen him break an arm during a battle and only pause for a moment before continuing to destroy his possessions, but maybe that was just the adrenaline of a fight. Still, he had a feeling that this wasn’t from the pellet. It likely had more to do with the fact that he had left him in here - alone - with nothing to do, for nearly a full workweek.
Clearly the kid had been getting restless, and he didn’t blame him. Typically he’d throw something in the cell to keep the little goobers distracted if their ‘visit’ was going to be longer than a day, but he was in between bases at the moment and had been too stressed to find anything. He was starting to regret not taking an extra minute to find a book or something, looking over the shaking sidekick.
Said sidekick hadn’t noticed he was there yet, so he took it upon himself to raise a hand and knock lightly on the bars. The fox jumped, peeking out from in between his tails, before realizing who it was and panicking, all crying ceasing as he wiped furiously at his face and clamored to sit up, clearly wincing as he did so. After a moment, the fox turned back to him with a less-teary glare.
“W-What?” He choked out, pathetically. He had seemed to have managed to calm himself down on his own, which certainly made things easier for the doctor. He just had to check for injuries, give him something to keep him occupied, and maybe keep an extra eye on him while he finished the rest of the dig site. Easy peasy.
He switched from the blank poker face he was wearing to his signature malicious grin - he had to stay in character after all - and stared down the fox in the cell.
“Soo, I heard you tried to escape again today! How’d that go?” He said condescendingly. The vulpine looked away from him again, staring dejectedly at the floor in front of him. He did not seem to be in the mood for comebacks today, huh. Maybe he just needed a bit more of a push.
“You know you can’t take an entire base filled with badniks on your own, right?” He teased, though he regretted it as soon as the words left his mouth upon his reaction. Something akin to shame flash briefly in the kit’s eyes, before he turned his face away completely, obscuring any emotions that were showing. The human sighed, scratching the back of his head as he tried to rethink his approach. He attempted to drop the smugness from his tone, choosing instead to get to the point.
“Alright, fine. Don’t talk. I’m just here because the report said you got hit, are you injured?” There was a pause, before the fox shook his head stubbornly, proceeding to immediately grimace in pain from the movement. It took Eggman all his strength to not curse him out right there, his patience already wearing thin.
“I can see that you’re wincing,” he said, crossing his arms as he glared at him. This finally got a reply from the fox, who wiped at his eyes again before glancing at him.
“...it’s just a bruise…” he muttered shakily. Eggman rolled his eyes, fiddling with the keys to the cell as he turned his attention to Orbot, who was standing on-duty a bit away.
“Go get an ice pack,” he ordered, watching the bot nod and float off towards the med bay. He turned back to the cell, stepping inside and striding over to the fox. He noticed the look of terror in his eyes as he approached, and tried to appear a bit less intimidating, relaxing his shoulders and grin a bit. It didn’t seem to help much, as the boy scooted against the wall and clenched his jaw, eyes wide but ready to fight.
Eggman knelt down in front of the cot, looking the fox over for a moment. He was tense as a bowstring, his eyes darting between him and the cell door, which had been left unlocked. Thankfully, he seemed to understand that he couldn’t reasonably make an escape right now, and made no motion to run.
Yet, anyway.
“Where did it hit you?” The doctor asked, after having no luck trying to gauge where the injury was through sight. The fox sat frozen for another second, likely still debating with himself over what to do, till he settled into a resigned look and pointed towards his left ribs. Eggman scooted closer and reached out, noting how the kit flinched when he touched him, and choosing to ignore it.
“Let me see…” He murmured, mostly to himself, as he pressed his fingers against the ribcage of the tiny mobian. Tails remained tense, barely even breathing while stuck on high alert. He wouldn’t have thought of the kit as this scared of him, and while part of him relished in it, he also knew that fear wouldn’t be particularly useful right now, so he did his best to appear more disarming, being as gentle as possible with him.
He continued to work in silence, feeling along the ribcage to make sure nothing was out of place, till he touched a spot that made the fox wince and hiss in pain. The doctor stopped the examination and carefully parted the fur to check the skin underneath, finding a nasty bruise blooming from a single point. He softly felt around the edges of it, trying to assess the size without causing too much discomfort.
“Hmm… no swelling, that’s good… Do your lungs hurt, or is it just on the outside?”
“J-Just outside,” he squeaked. Eggman nodded, continuing to examine the area. He couldn’t feel anything irregular, but he would have to remember to do an actual scan tomorrow if the fox was still in as much pain.
“Alright, doesn’t seem too serious. Orbot! Where’s that ice pack?” He called out, directing his attention away from the fox. The red robot flew in shortly, holding a fabric ice pack out to him.
“Right here, sir.”
“Give me that,” he yanked the pack from the bot’s hand before shooing him off, turning back towards the fox. He seemed to have zoned out during the wait, which became even more evident a second later when Eggman pressed the ice against the bruise and the kid nearly yelped in surprise. He had to keep a smirk off of his face, focusing instead on maneuvering the bag to best cover the injury.
“There, better?”
“Yeah, but… why are you helping me...?” Tails questioned. Eggman only half glanced at the kid, having known that the question would come up eventually.
“Oh, last time I ran into your annoying hedgehog friend, he said he’d kill me if you were hurt when he found you, and I’m not in the mood to test his word on that.” Eggman took the fox’s hand and moved it to the ice pack as he spoke, letting him hold it in place himself. He barely registered how the kid's eyes widened, staring him down with an owlish intensity.
“...He’s looking for me??”
Now that drew his attention.
Eggman looked up from the ice pack, staring into the bright blue eyes that were fixated on him. What kind of question was that?
“...Of course? He’s… we’re talking about Sonic , kiddo.” Both relief and guilt washed over the face of the young fox as he averted his gaze, playing with the fur on one of his namesakes. The doctor furrowed his brow, trying to understand what led to this reaction, when he suddenly remembered something Sonic had mentioned off-hand one time.
He had been bullied in the past.
There were probably some dormant insecurities that he had carried with him from those times, likely worsened by being separated from the beacon of support and self-love that was his brother. That meant…
“Did you think he left you here? Is that what you were… uh… upset about earlier?” His voice was as gentle as possible, an attempt to signal that he wasn’t intending to be antagonistic with this line of questioning. The fox only shrank in on himself more, shutting his eyes to avoid looking at him. Eggman waited quietly, deciding that he wasn’t going to let the kit get away with the silent-treatment again . There was a long, heavy pause between them, until the fox realized he wasn’t getting out of this question, and slowly opened his eyes again, still avoiding his face.
“Kinda... Just… It’s been four days , it’s never taken that long before and… He knows this base almost as well as you do, so I couldn’t see why else it was taking so much time. Plus I’ve been completely alone in here with nothing to do, so my thoughts sort of…. spiraled….”
Eggman’s eyes widened as he listened to the explanation, and he remembered something.
He’d forgotten to tell him.
He could feel a tiny glimmer of guilt rise inside of him, but he quickly swallowed it down in place of a light chuckle, making the kit look up in confusion.
“Did I forget to mention that we’re not at the old base?” The fox’s eyes widened as he shook his head slowly, and the doctor continued, “This is just a temporary hidden set-up I threw together while I’m gathering the materials for my new fortress. I need something with higher security now that you two are around... Point is, the hedgehog hasn’t been able to find it yet, that’s why it’s taking him longer.” By the time he had finished speaking, relief practically radiated from the young fox. He was barely containing a smile, and his eyes had started to glisten again.
“So… he hasn’t given up on rescuing me??”
“No no, if he wasn’t still trying to rescue you I would have just let you go! You’re only here as bait, after all!” The doctor said proudly. He was a bit too caught up in his thoughts to notice how the child’s face fell immediately.
“...Bait? ...For...for what?”
“To keep that meddling hedgehog away from the part of the jungle I'm bulldozing, of course! You two keep wrecking my machines, it’s really quite annoying. When I’ve got you captive, he’s much too busy looking for you to worry about what I’m doing anywhere else! Quite an ingenious plan, I kno- uh...”
All of the pride died from his voice upon looking back at the fox. He had curled in on himself, the ice pack completely forgotten next to him, as his shoulders began to shake again. It seems he’d gotten too focused on his monologue again, and something within what he’d said had been upsetting, though he couldn’t really pinpoint what it was. How was this speech any different than the hundreds he’d given in the past?
“...Are you ok?” he asked, somewhat awkwardly. The fox glared up at him, tears starting to spill over his eyes again.
“Really?! ‘Am I okay’?? You’re going to destroy an entire section of the jungle all because I was too dumb and useless to escape on my own!!! All of the animals and biodiversity and trees are going to be gone because Sonic was too busy looking for me instead of helping people that actually m-matter!!!!” Eggman listened quietly as he broke down, watching his glare get more and more strained as he started directing his rage inwards till he eventually fell apart completely, hiding his face in his hands once again. He was still mumbling something about how it was his fault, though it was barely audible between the sobs. As Eggman stared at the child in front of him, an odd, barely tangential thought struck him.
He was starting to care about these little critters.
When that had started was uncertain, but he knew that if he had seen some fox kit break down crying a year ago he would have laughed at them. Now instead, he felt… what was it, remorse? Sympathy? He was disgusted at even the idea of it. And yet here he was, actually feeling bad for the fox before him.
Though all of that still wasn’t quite enough to make him regret his actions, as the kid would likely have felt this way whether or not he’d destroyed that forest. Clearly he had quite low self-esteem, so the only blame that could be levied against the doctor was that the isolation had exacerbated it. That didn’t stop his heart from twinging with every choked sob that escaped the kid.
He took a deep breath, pushing aside his revelation for later, there were more important things at hand, like how he would get him to calm down. There weren’t exactly any guides for ‘comforting your arch-nemesis's sidekick’ out there, and he didn’t have much practice with comforting kids otherwise, so he was entirely unprepared for this. Still, he could give it his best shot.
“Tails, this isn’t your fault. You’re not responsible for my actions,” He started, watching carefully for any sign that the kid was listening. When he noticed one of the ears swivel towards him timidly, he kept going, “And not being able to escape on your own doesn’t make you weak or lesser in any way. I’ve got about a hundred robots manning the exit routes, no one expects you to be able to fight all them off alone.” The kit looked back up at him with those wide, teary eyes, ready to protest.
“B-But Sonic is able t–!”
“The hedgehog is more than twice your age and has superpowers , of course he’s more capable in a fight. And even then, your current abilities are… well… actually quite impressive!” Tails looked a bit surprised, rubbing his arm nervously.
“...Really?”
“Definitely! Most 6-year-olds don’t even have the motor skills to tie their own shoelaces , and yet here you are, able to fly and maintain an airplane on your own!” That managed to coax a small smile out of the child, which he took as a small success. Still a bit unsure, he reached out an arm, hesitating for only a moment before placing it on the fox’s shoulder with a rare, genuine smile.
“And one day you’ll be able to commit just as much property damage as that blasted hedgehog, I’m sure of–Ah!!”
He was cut off by the kit pouncing on him, wrapping his arms around his neck and burying his face in his shoulder. The doctor almost fell over, –not from the force, the kid barely weighed more than a pillow – but more from how much he tried to lean away at first, expecting an attack. It took another moment for him to register what this was.
A hug.
He could almost feel a sliver of warmth inside at the realization, though it was mixed with an incredibly unsettling feeling as well. It had… been a little while since he’d last hugged anybody, and he wasn’t quite sure what to feel about it. Though this wasn’t something he needed to think about right now, so he shoved away those thoughts, choosing instead to roll his eyes as his arms hovered a bit away from the fox in uncertainty.
“Ok, ok… easy on the suit…!” He muttered, trying to sound at least a little angry about the situation. The kid only squeezed tighter, his namesakes wrapping around him as well as he nuzzled against the human’s neck. After another moment of contemplation, he decided that he could afford to let his guard down for just a minute. It’s not like anyone would see. He gently rested one of his hands on the kit’s back, still relatively tense. They continued to hug for another minute, and he slowly began to relax, petting the soft fur gently.
In spite of his mixed feelings on this, it was still… not terrible. He was starting to see the appeal of having friends.
His eyes widened when he realized what he was thinking. ‘ Friends’?! This was making him much too soft, he had to put a stop to it. He gave the vulpine a quick pat before lifting him off of him, placing him back onto the cot, noticing that winced from the motion. He picked up the forgotten ice pack and handed it back to Tails, who took it absentmindedly and started icing his bruise again.
“Alright, that’s enough of that. Have you calmed down now?” He slipped back into his normal tone quite easily, smoothing out his suit. The kit dried his cheeks with a soft smile.
“Mhm…”
“Good, good. Well!” He clapped his hands together lightly, “I’ve still got some work to do, but I’ll have one of my subordinates bring you a magazine or coloring book or whatever I can find in a bit. Don’t move around too much, don’t want that bruise getting worse.”
“I didn’t know you cared this much about my wellbeing,” Tails teased, namesakes flicking playfully. The doctor shook his head lightly, standing up with a grin.
“I already explained that I don’t, remember? Blue hedgehog, will spin-dash me into the ground if you’re injured? If it weren’t for that I wouldn’t have helped you at all! Anyways,” He reached out and ruffled the kit’s bangs gently, “You likely won’t be seeing me until tomorrow, so ‘night kiddo.” The fox raised an eyebrow, clearly unconvinced, but gave a nod anyway.
“Replant some of the trees? Please?”
“We’ll see.” He said noncommittally, turning and exiting the cell, making sure he heard the lock click as he closed the door. The kit waved at him, calling out a ‘goodnight’ as he left the cellblock.
Eggman breathed a sigh of relief once in the hall. Now all he had to do was find something for the kid to keep himself entertained for another day or two, and hope the hedgehog didn’t find an entrance before then. Piece of cake.
…Or so he’d thought.
Eggman had been woken up the next day by Cubot tugging on his mustache while shouting that the fox had escaped, having apparently swiped another key card from him. He really had to start securing those properly… though the escape wasn’t too surprising, the kid was frustratingly smart, so he’d assumed he’d figure it out eventually.
He looked over the recording on the monitor again, trying to pinpoint the exact moment where the fox had grabbed his key card. The brat was incredibly sneaky, he couldn’t even tell where he was hiding it until a few minutes after Cubot had come in with the science newsletters and coloring book. Even then it was only a glimpse, he had waited until after midnight to sneak out, using a page torn from one of the magazines to obstruct the badnik’s facial recognition and keep the alarm from going off. Clearly he would have to rework that whole interface…
“Sir?” Orbot said from the doorway, floating in slightly nervously, “We found this in the cell while we were cleaning.” He held out a folded piece of paper, which seemed to be torn out of one of the magazines, judging by the glossy texture. The doctor snatched it, unraveling it to find a rough drawing of a mustached egg –likely a charicature of him– along with a scribbled note. He leaned in a bit closer to read the messy handwriting.
‘Eggman:
Thank you for being nice to me, but someone still has to stop you from destroying that forest. I’ll see you on the battlefield, & good luck with the move!
–Tails
( P.S. I won't tell anyone about the hug if you promise not to tell anyone about the crying. See ya! )’
Eggman read it over again, a smile creeping onto his lips.
“One of the spycams followed them back to their shack, and they’re currently both asleep. Should we prepare an ambush?” Orbot asked. He thought it over for a second, looking at his inventory supplies, before shaking his head.
“No, let them sleep, they need it. Just work on gathering the rest of the resources we need for the new base, we can probably finish up today if we’re fast. Now get to it!” He barked, shooing the robot away from his desk.
Once the robot was out of the room, he glanced around cautiously before looking back down at the note, reading it over one more time. He grinned, folding it back up and slipping it into a jacket pocket.
“It’s a deal, kid.”