Chapter Text
💡⚙️🦊ꪱꪱꪱ
Sonic has a… problem.
And Tails has the front row seat to it. Watching in growing concern for his only family as Sonic appears to be going crazy, to word it politely. He doesn’t even know why his hero seems to be out of it lately. So it’s fully reasonable on why Tails is alarmingly worried for his brother's sanity. The moment things started getting too weird he had begun to list down all behaviour oddities.
It’s not like the fox hadn’t personally asked Sonic why he was acting so strange, but the first time he questioned anything about it, the older mobian looked confused.
A gloved hand pointed over to a dark corridor; “Don’t you see it too?”
The speedy hedgehog perked up and stared at seemingly nothing, then his expression grew into something of annoyance. Muttering stuff the fox couldn’t hear. A cold feeling creeped up on his spine. The young kit now prefers not to resort to asking questions.
Tails instantly jumps to the idea that it might be hallucinations. But hallucinations are only caused by either sleep-deprivation, bad mental health, illegal substances, sickness or just extreme stress. But that couldn’t be the case. Sonic can literally fall asleep almost anywhere, he’d once saw his brother sleep on cold, hard, rocks.
Can’t be his state of mentality either. Other than the unhinged conversations with himself, or staring into nothing, Sonic’s mental health is A-okay. Especially since Eggman hasn’t been present as much. Drugs were immediately crossed out. Never his brother. Sickness, the azure hedgehog has been in good shape, no visible symptoms of illness. Stress? Maybe. The fox cringes at many memories of Sonic looking completely deranged and furious, sometimes even a whole meltdown screaming.
Yeah, he was very much terrified.
The genius kit was frustrated, he could not, for the love of Gaia— figure out what was going on with Sonic. The night it all began was not less weird than the current predicament.
.
It began with a starry night. Tails was secretly still awake in his room, working with his contraptions as quiet as physically possible. Knowing the unbearable punishment he’d face if he were to be caught. Eyes drooping tiredly, but determined. The silence was disturbed with a muffled knocking. Too far to be his or Sonic’s room, who might be visiting them at this hour?
Tails hears a door creaking open, footsteps echoed through the halls, growing more muffled in the distance. The technician presses an ear against his door. Tails swears he’s just curious.
He hears utter silence.
“— are you doing here?”
Then his brother’s quiet voice, talking to… someone.
“‘Course it’s cold out there, it’s midnight! Why are you even here?”
Sonic sounds familiar with them, but then again, the hero can make friends out of anyone in just the span of a full 24 hours.
“What do you mean you don’t have a place to stay?!” The blue hedgehog exclaims incredulously.
Tails is already invested in the conversation, although he’s confused. He hears no other voice. Just Sonic’s. Maybe the kit should go check the ring camera feeds—
“YOU’VE BEEN SLEEPING ON OUR PORCH?!”
The young genius stiffens, eyes wide. Someone’s been sleeping outside their front door?
“What is wrong with yo— What do you mean there’s wolves out there?”
Tails is so lost, he presses his ear even harder against the door in an attempt to hear what the other person is saying. He still only hears his brother. “How are you even alive?!”
He hears the older groan, irritation clear. “No, I’m not just gonna ‘drop’ you a blanket!”
A moment of silence passes. No footsteps closing in to indicate that Sonic had gone back to his room. But he knows Sonic, and he wouldn’t leave someone in need. As if on cue, Tails hears this annoyed sigh that’s basically a sign the hedgehog is reluctantly giving in.
“…Fine, I’ll fetch you a blanket but the knife is a no deal.” Tails assumed the older would let the person in, which the kit would’ve been a little skeptical of, and since when were knives involved in the conversation???
Small thuds make their way into what the fox will automatically assume was their closet. Tails hears Sonic rummaging through it for the blankets. The quietest sound of a door clicking open and closing, Sonic must've handed the blanket to this mystery person. Last thing he hears is the unusually annoyed tone of his older brother’s voice.
“I do not need to hear the ‘thank you’ from you, creep.”
The very next morning, Tails checks the ring camera.
No one was there.
Only a horribly glitchy clip right after he sees the front door open.
Tails is very, very concerned.