Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Agent Stone walks into the lab, carrying the usual lattes for him and his boss. He enters with his signature smile, excited to see the doctor, and is surprisingly greeted with said doctor kneeling down, talking to a small child. The agent clears his throat to announce his presence to Robotnik.
“Good morning doctor!”

Robotnik stands up and the child quickly hides behind his legs at the words, peeking out at Stone, curious but cautious. Stone waves to him, and receives a small wave in return.

“Who’s this, sir?” Stone gestured to the kid, who couldn’t be more than nine. Robotnik reaches behind him and carefully pulls the child in front of him.
“Agent Stone, I have a bit of a... different task for you today.” He gestures to the kid, “You’re going to watch him for me.”
“That doesn’t quite answer my question, sir.”

Robotnik glares at him, “That’s because it’s none of your busin-” 

The kid slowly steps forward, interrupting him.
“I’m Oliver, Mister Stone.” He reaches his hand out to the agent, who kneels down to shake it. 

“Nice to meet you Oliver, can you tell me what you’re doing here?”
The doctor opens his mouth to answer, but Oliver speaks first.

“Doctor daddy said I had to come to work with him cause the babysittin bot broke.” 

Stone’s eyes shift immediately to Robotnik in surprise at Oliver’s first two words, and Robotnik stares him down, daring him to say something about it. Stone considers for a moment before accepting the silent challenge, too curious to stay silent. He speaks without breaking eye contact with his boss, his mouth forming a slight grin.

“Doctor daddy said that, huh?”
Robotnik’s stare becomes more deadly and Oliver nods, now seeming more comfortable with the agent.

“Yes sir, Mister Stone. He said if I behave well, he’ll teach me how to reprogram the vacuum to give me rides around the house!”
Agent Stone laughs softly as Robotnik huffs and walks off to busy himself with a machine, assured that Stone will take care of his son. 

“So, Oliver, what would you like to do?”
The boy screws his face up in thought for a minute before breaking into a grin, “do you have any cookies?”

Stone grins back, “you know, we do happen to have some, buuuuut…” He glances over at the tinkering doctor before whispering, “they’re the doctor’s so we’ll have to be quiet and sneaky. Can you do that?”

Oliver nods quickly before zipping his lips, awaiting Stone’s directions. The agent drops to a crouch, Oliver copying him. The two slowly creep over to Robotnik’s desk, Stone keeping an eye on the doctor, who is currently preoccupied under a badnik. He points to a cabinet under the desk and Oliver nods, crawling forward to open it and grabbing a box out of it before closing it. Agent Stone gives him a shit-eating grin and a thumbs up before the duo scurry out of Robotnik’s sight.

The two sit on a bare patch of floor, eating oreos out of the box they “borrowed” from the doctor’s stash. 

"So, Oliver, tell me about yourself."

Oliver cocks his head slightly, "tell you what, Mister Stone?" Stone shrugs.

"Anything you want, what you like to do, your favorite color, anything really." Oliver's face scrunches in thought for a bit before answering.

"Well sir, favorite color is blue, and I like playin with my robots and listening to doctor daddy read to me, and gettin rides around the house on his back."

"Sounds like you enjoy spending time with the doctor."

Oliver nods, "yes sir, he's the best doctor daddy ever."

Stone smiles at him,and reaches over to tousle his hair. Oliver looks surprised and touches his own head, making a confused noise.

“What was that for, sir?” 

Agent Stone shrugs.
“Just because”

Oliver shakes his head at him.

Stone eats an oreo while Oliver looks at his own in his hand, contemplating. Stone looks amused by this,

"you put it in your mouth and chew it up"

Oliver startles before sticking his tongue out. Stone does a mock offended gasp before copying him. Oliver giggles, doing it back again and then eating his cookie. He looks at the agent, head tilted slightly.

"Doctor Daddy said I'm not supposed to tell you this but I think you're trustworthy enough, Mister Stone."

Stone raises an eyebrow, "ah? what makes you so sure?"

Oliver reaches over and pats the top of Stone's head.

"I can just tell"

Agent Stone nods once with a small laugh at that, and gestures for the boy to continue.

"Doctor didn't bring me cause the bot broke, it's workin just fine. He brought me cause I hadda bad dream that somethin happened to him at work and was scared it would come true. So, he said he'd take me with so I could save him just in case."

Stone's face breaks into a soft smile before asking, "why didn't he want you to tell me?"

Oliver rolls his eyes in a very dramatic fashion.

"cause he doesn't want you to think he's 'going soft'", he air quotes just as dramatically, somehow.

Stone shrugs and lifts his hands in a gesture of 'yeah, sounds about right'. Oliver grabs another cookie, and pauses momentarily before snatching another, shoves them both in his mouth at once before chewing, swallowing, and grinning proudly, an expression so reminiscent of the doctor that Stone does a barely noticeable double take before he grins back.

Oliver looks up at Stone thoughtfully, and the agent looks back at him, mimicking the expression before sipping his half forgotten latte.

"I like you Mister Stone, you're fun."

"I like you too Oliver, you're fun", he grins in return, "and you really don't have to call me mister, agent or just Stone works just fine."

Oliver nods in acknowledgement before speaking again.

"Did you know Doctor Daddy likes you?"

Stone chokes slightly on his coffee before putting it down and wiping off the slight spillage from around his mouth.

"I didn't, no. Are you... sure about that?"

Oliver nods again firmly, "yessir agent, he talks about you a lot, and says your name when he takes naps and louder at night when I'm supposed to be sleepin. and! sometimes when he's sad and he cries, he says he wants you and misses you."

Stone sits, face blank, processing the longest sentence of unexpected information he's ever received. Oliver waves his hand in front of the agent's face.

"Hello? Agent Stone? Are you broken?"

Stone snaps out of his thoughts, storing them for later, and smooths a hand over his hair, "ah, no, I'm okay, kiddo."

The boy gives a thumbs up, reassured that he didn't break Agent Stone, he'd surely get in trouble for that.

"Agent, can I ask you a question?"

"I think you just did"

Oliver sighs loudly, "a BETTER question"

Stone grins, "Sure thing, what is it?"

"Do you like my daddy too?"

Chapter Text

"Do you like my daddy too?"

--------------

Agent Stone pauses, taking a deep breath. Might as well, right?

"I do. Very much so."

Oliver nods once in approval.

"Good, I think you're good for him, he's been happier with you around him all the time."

"Really?"

"Mhm"

"That's good, he... he makes me happier too."

Oliver makes a noise of acknowledgement and promptly decides the cookies are more interesting than the current topic of conversation and eats, Stone joining him after a second.

They discuss what to do next, settling on colouring. They manage to find paper, a surprisingly difficult task in the mess of the doctor's lab. Oliver produces crayons from his pockets, handing one to Stone and they begin drawing, chattering loudly.

"I take it with your volume the two of you miscreants are enj-"

The doctor turns a corner while speaking to see them eating. specifically, "Agent Stone."

Said agent looks up at him, not quite meeting his eyes.

"Yes, doctor?"

"Are the two of you consuming food that belongs to me?"

Stone looks away a bit guiltily as he twists apart an oreo and licks the cream off, before nodding slowly.

The doctor scrunches his face in disgust and reaches down and grabs him by the chin and Stone squeaks softly as he roughly turns Stone's head to look at his face.

"Firstly, how many times must we go over this, Stone? You will look at me directly when I address you and you will answer all questions verbally, are we clear?"

The agent starts to nod before stopping and correcting himself, "yes doctor."

"Secondly-"

Robotnik is interrupted before he can continue.

"Hey! Be nice to Mister Agent Stone! He's my friend now!"

Robotnik lets go of Stone simply out of shock as Oliver stands there, crossing his arms at his daddy. Stone slowly smiles, unable to stop it at being defended by his boss's mini me. The doctor looks both surprised and... perhaps confused? He's not even sure. Whatever it is, it only intensifies as Oliver sticks his tongue out at Robotnik, coated in oreo crumbs and spit, to which Stone laughs quietly. Not quietly enough as Robotnik turns to him quickly and growls.

"Pin yourself to the wall."

Stone sighs and walks to the closest wall, pinning himself to it, glancing at Oliver, who's watching in confused fascination. The doctor walks over with him, getting all into his personal space.

"I gave you a simple responsibility, one single task for today! And you went and stole from me, and taught my son to...", he pauses for a second in frustration, "to do that!" 

He points at where Oliver had been standing, but not seeing him there, he looks around frantically before seeing him right by Stone's leg.

"Are you mad at him because we ate your cookies, Doctor Daddy? cause, if you are, you gotta be mad at me too, i ate way more than him."

Robotnik's expression softens slightly and he sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose. 

"No, I'm not mad, he's just... in time-out for teaching you terrible etiquette", he glares at the agent before continuing, "as well as for eating the cookies in an unnatural and frankly disgusting manner, completely RUINING the perfect creme to cookie ratio by removing the creme from the situation entirely!"  

Oliver nods once solemnly before taking Stone's hand and looking up at him, "I'm gonna be in time-out too then."

Agent Stone glances down at him with a small smile, squeezing his hand gently as Robotnik sighs again and storms off back to his workspace, but not before grabbing a generous stack of cookies.

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When the doctor returns to their area of the room at the end of the day, he walks in to see Agent Stone eating a cookie in the same fashion as earlier, and grumbles loudly.
“Agent! What did I say about that?”
Stone looks up at him, “I’m sorry sir, do you want me to put it back?”
He sticks his tongue out, creme coating it. Robotnik makes a gagging noise before turning away from Stone, who starts laughing along with Oliver.
“Stone, I am going to fire you if you ever repeat that action.”
He turns back around to face them, a grimace on his face, and the pair with wide grins on theirs.

“Of course Doctor, won’t happen again.”
Robotnik sighs, reaching out his hand to Oliver, who stands and quickly walks over to take it. 

“You may leave, Agent Stone, I have nothing more for you to do today, and I need to get Oliver home for dinner and bed.” 

“Yes Doctor.”

Oliver starts telling his dad about the day, Stone not quite listening as he gets ready to leave, but he tunes in and almost chokes at what he hears.

“-said he likes you and you make him happy!”
Stone slowly turns to gauge the doctor’s reaction to see him standing there, frozen with his mouth slightly open, stuttering.

“Well uh, that’s…. n-nice of him, I suppose.”

The agent stands in slight surprise as Robotnik turns a light shade of pink and Oliver continues chattering on.

“Yeah! I told him you like him too and th-”

Robotnik leans down and covers Oliver’s mouth with his hand, very clearly attempting to avoid Stone’s gaze as his blush deepens slightly. 

“Okay, that is... quite enough, you can tell me more about things such as how you managed to find my food on the way home.”

Oliver nods and Robotnik removes his hand, still avoiding looking at Stone. Oliver turns towards Stone slightly.

“Agent, do you wanna come for dinner? My Doctor Daddy is a good cook.”

Robotnik steals a glance at Stone finally, “Oliver, I’m quite sure Agent Stone has his own p-”

“I’d love to if it’s okay with the doctor”, Stone cuts in.

Said doctor goes quiet for a brief second, before nodding slowly. Oliver cheers and bounces over to Stone, hugging him. Stone smiles down at him before hugging back. Robotnik nods at Stone before leading Oliver out the door, Stone following after closing the lab door behind him and locking it up.

Chapter Text

Stone follows the doctor home, slightly surprised at the normal outward appearance. He gets out of his vehicle, walking up the driveway as Oliver opens his door and jumps out, slamming it and jumping up and down waiting for Stone to get to where he’s standing.
“C’mon Mister Stone! Walk faster!”
Stone laughs and jogs over to him, ruffling his hair once he gets there.
“Sorry buddy, I’m just a slowpoke sometimes, comes with being an old man.”
Robotnik shoots him a look as he gets out and shuts his door, grumbling something about ‘implying he’s an old man when I’m older than him, the level of disrespect’ as he strides toward the house. Oliver takes the agent’s hand, leading him to the front door, where they stand and watch Robotnik enter a code, scan his hand, and speak his name into a small and barely noticeable microphone. Stone silently rolls his eyes, the security definitely felt more like Robotnik than the house itself. He follows the big and little Robotniks into their home, unsurprised to see a badnik zoom by the instant he enters. Oliver runs after it after pulling his shoes off and tossing them to the side, the doctor sighing exasperatedly, shaking his head. Stone snorts at the display. Robotnik turns to him, gesturing to the living room where his son is playing some form of tag with the badnik.
“If you’d like to go and join him while I begin preparing the meal, Stone, feel free.”

The agent stands there for a minute, thinking.

“I’d actually like to help you make dinner, Sir, if you don’t mind?”

“I… suppose I could find something for your feeble mind to do. Come, Stone.”

Robotnik turns, his coat swishing as he walks off into a different room, the agent following close behind.

Robotnik starts pulling ingredients from the fridge and cabinet as Stone watches, awaiting instructions.

“Will he be okay in there by himself?”
Robotnik answers as he pulls off his gloves to wash his hands. “Agent Stone, all of the robots in this household are programmed to protect my son at all costs, including the cost of their own destruction. He’ll be fine.”

Stone nods, of course the doctor would take any and every measure possible to protect the boy. He stands, hands clasped in front of him, awaiting orders out of habit. Robotnik looks at him, snorting. He tilts his head towards the stove beside him. 

"If you're just going to stand there, you can at least start boiling water."

Stone nods before hurrying over, looking for a pot. Robotnik taps a cabinet door with his foot while chopping an onion. and Stone comes over, grabbing a pot from the kicked cabinet. He fills it partially with water before turning the stove on and placing it on top.

"What next,sir?"

"Stand there and watch it until I can use you again"

"Yes Doctor."

Stone stares down the water until Robotnik laughs, causing him to tear his eyes away from it to look at the doctor in confusion.

"Sir?"

"Agent, I was kidding, you're so easy to mess with."

Stone flushes slightly, embarrassed.

"Ah.. understood, Doctor"

Robotnik places the knife down to wash his hands, drying them on a hand towel. He pats the agent's shoulder before dumping a can of crushed tomatoes into a pot, turning on the burner. He puts the onion pieces in a small bowl and orders Stone to sauté them, tossing him a stick of butter. Robotnik gets garlic chopped, putting it in another bowl beside the onions while Stone does as directed after retrieving a pan from the cabinet. The doctor dumps a box of spaghetti into the now boiling water. 

Once it’s all done cooking, Robotnik puts everything into a mixing bowl, adding spices to the now-sauce. He hands him a wooden spoon and points to the sauce bowl.

"Be my stirring boy, will you?"

Stone nods, grabbing the bowl and stirring, as Robotnik turns the burners off. He turns from the stove to watch Stone, his face twisting into a grimace.

"Stone, what in the hell are you doing?"

"I'm stirring, sir, like you asked"

"Incorrect, you're attacking the sauce with a spoon."

He walks the short distance, grabbing both items from Stone's hands, showing him how to do it 'properly'. He hands them back to his agent, and watches as Stone attempts to mimic and fails. Robotnik makes a noise of annoyance before moving closer and taking his hands from behind, holding Stone close to himself and using Stone's own hands as an example.

"Like this, you idiot."

Stone nods, slightly in shock from the position. Robotnik lingers a few seconds longer than necessary before pulling away. Stone looks at him, noticing the subtle signs of him flustered, signs that wouldn’t be noticed if he didn’t know the doctor so well. Stone smiles a bit as he looks down at the bowl to stir correctly. Robotnik makes a noise of approval before going over to take care of the pasta. Once Stone finishes with the sauce, he leans against the counter, watching Robotnik strain the water from the pasta, place it in a large bowl, and pour the sauce over it. Stone follows the doctor into the dining room once he's done, where he places the food on the table, then gestures to a cabinet for Stone to grab dishes from. He does so as Robotnik puts his gloves back on, then calls Oliver to the table. 

Oliver rushes in, flinging himself into a chair excitedly as soon as he sees the food on the table.

“Spaghetti!! Thank you Mr. Agent and Doctor Daddy!”

Robotnik gives him a single nod and a soft smile before sitting, while Stone gives him a thumbs up and sits in his own chair. The three eat in relative silence for a while, with Oliver going into excited rambles to Stone between bites, Robotnik admonishing him about talking with food in his mouth.
“But it’s more efficient!”
Stone muffles a laugh to the best of his ability while the doctor scoffs, “don’t you use my words against me, miniscule gremlin.”
Stone swallows his own bite of food before adding in.
“He’s quite a lot like you, Doctor. Right down to the cheeky grins of self-pride.”
Oliver brandishes a grin to prove the agent’s point, to which Robotnik grumbles and places his eyes and focus on his plate. There’s relative silence, until Oliver speaks up again, this time with a question.
“Doctor Daddy, why doesn’t Agent Mister Stone call you by your name? You’re not at work anymore, doesn’t he know your name?”

“I’m certain he’s aware of it, it was presumably in my file, which I have no doubt that he read.”
Both Robotniks look to Stone, who’s mid-way through chewing. He slowly slurps the rest of a noodle into his mouth, much to Robotnik’s dismay.

“I do, and I have. He hasn’t given me permission to call him anything other than Doctor or Sir, occasionally his last name. So, I haven’t.”
Robotnik nods in acceptance of his answer, while Oliver stares at Stone open-mouthed. "What?? I didn't know you needed someone's permission to use their name!" Stone shrugs with a smirk, "Well, you normally don’t, but your daddy here is a special case." Robotnik whips his head to look at him, opening his mouth to retort, but shutting it again when the agent raises an eyebrow at him to go along with the still present smirk. Robotnik scowls at him, “you don’t exactly need my permission, Stone.” 

The agent lays his arms on the table, leaning slightly towards him.
“I prefer to have it to avoid being pinned against the wall by my own hand.”

“Fine then, Agent Stone, you have my permission. For the night.”

“Thank you, sir.”
Robotnik gives him a look of exasperation, “so you’re not even going to use your temporary permission slip?”

“I will, Doctor, you just have to wait.”

Oliver watches the two go back and forth in slight fascination, before finishing his food and carrying his dishes to the kitchen. Stone grabs his own empty plate, and reaches out his hand for the doctor’s, who hands it to him, and Stone follows Oliver. He rinses the dishes, Oliver taking them once he’s done and putting them in the dishwasher. He looks up at Stone.

“If you love my daddy, are you going to kiss him?”

Stone pauses for a moment before crouching down to his level.

“Why do you ask?”
“Cause you and Doctor Daddy get along super good and you make each other happy, so, you should kiss!”

“That would be partially the D- Ivo’s decision as well. I can’t just kiss him out of nowhere.”

“Well, do you want to?”

“I-”

Stone’s words are interrupted by the sound of robotic chirping and Robotnik’s yelling, followed by the source of the chirping racing in, and hiding it’s metallic body behind Stone. Robotnik rushes in, hair falling slightly out of place, missing a single glove.

“Where are they?”

“Where’s who, Doctor?”

“Mars! They’ve malfunctioned yet again and stole my glove!”

Stone simply shrugs, and Oliver copies him. Robotnik grumbles and storms out, presumably in search of the mischievous glove thief. Oliver gestures to the robot behind the agent to come over, and they oblige. 

“Would I be right if I guessed that they’re Mars?”

Oliver nods, retrieving Robotnik’s missing article of clothing from the robot’s grasp.

“They’re silly sometimes, drives Doctor Daddy crazy. I like em, we play together a lot.”

Stone pats the robot’s head as he walks out of the kitchen after the doctor, Oliver following close behind.