Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Sonic just quietly listened to the sound of Tom and Maddie talking to the commander he's never met.

“You haven't, by any chance, been in contact with a certain alien creature since the incident, have you? Uncle Sam would love to have a chat with him. Very casual. Brunch, perhaps.” Sonic overheard the commander ask, staying hidden behind the couch as he watched Tom and Maddie glance at each other knowingly.

“Oh, you mean the little blue guy? No. No, nothing. No.” Tom quickly said confidently as Maddie hummed in agreement, nodding her head.

 “Doubt we'll ever hear from him again.” Tom adds as he slowly starts to close the door, Sonic trying not to snicker that the old man was trying to peek into the house to see if the blue blur would be in view before the door closed completely, Tom shoving the olive garden card into his pocket with a smile.

 “To be honest, I'm pretty pumped about the pasta bowl.” he quipped as they both came into view of the living room, Sonic poking his head from behind the couch, grinning to each end of his muzzle

 “So, do you guys wanna watch a movie or what?” he asked, giddy with excitement as the human couple lightly laughed.

“Sorry, buddy. It's a school night. It's time for you to go back to your cave.” Maddie said gently, although that made Sonic’s mood tank, but he didn’t let it show as genuine sadness, masking it slightly

 “What?! It's 3:00 in the afternoon!” he moved to flip over on the couch to sit on it, Ozzie joining him to receive some pets from the alien, and Tom just smiled and put his hands on his hips “You know how you get when you're tired. Come on.” Tom gestured for him to get up as Sonic stood up, walking over to the front door 

“Me? I'm not like anything. Ugh, you guys are so uncool!” he complained as he put his gloved hand on the door knob, but Tom's voice cut through the silence that Sonic was surrounding himself with.

“Hey, buddy, where you going?” he asked, Sonic turning to see the two human beings, his hand still on the doorknob.

 “You said I have to go back to my cave.” Sonic pointed out, and Tom and Maddie just smiled 

“We did.” Tom commented simply as he gestured for the blue hedgehog to follow them both upstairs, watching as Maddie pulled the small string to let the latter come home, climbing up herself as Tom and Sonic quickly followed, the three of them now in the fully revamped attic made into a bedroom, with a decent amount of the items from Sonic’s cave scattered around, making it feel like home.

“Oh, my- Are you kidding me? I can't believe it. How did you- It's- it's all here.” Sonic started to ramble as he ran around the room, looking at every nook and cranny 

”Look at this! Are you kidding?! And the beanbag?! No way! How did you even get this?! And you got it all the way over-!” and he continued until he ended up on his new bed, doing a small dance he DEFINITELY will cringe at later before flopping onto the mattress.

 “I love it, I love it, I love it, I love it!” Sonic cheered as he watched the two humans join him on the bed, smiling warmly as Sonic moved to sit up himself to get a good look at the two humans, both of them smiling at the alien’s reaction.

“Well, welcome home.” Maddie finally said, making Sonic’s smile soften from the excitement and slowly melted into being content.

 “Thank you, so much.” he smiled, before his attention turned to the dog Ozzie managed to get into the attic as well, barking as he tried to get onto the bed as well, making Sonic grin

 “Oh, no, you don't! No second-best animal friends allowed in my room!” He quickly said to the dog, who didn’t listen, moving to just start licking the hedgehog “Wait, what are you doing? Stay away from me! Stop it! I'm warning you, I've got nunchucks! Hey, stop! Okay, you can stay!” he laughed, finally relenting to pet the dog.

Sonic spent the rest of the day mapping out the house to his memory, pacing around to take every room to memory to make sure he could run around the house without a care in the world, although Tom did notice.

 “What’cha doing buddy?” Tom asked as Sonic made another loop in the kitchen he and Maddie were painting, and Sonic grinned “Just remembering the house’s layout so I don’t cause any property damage donut lord!” he grinned as he continued his rounds, earning a laugh from Maddie.

 “like when we first got Ozzie” she joked as Tom nodded, agreeing as they watched Sonic make his rounds, although he WAS shedding quills everywhere, which he to his credit would pick up, only for another to go loose which was a reminder of the poor eating habits the alien had, alien or not he still got the habits and symptoms for certain things earth hedgehogs had.

Once Sonic mapped out the house in his head and picked up all the quills that fell off his head and put them in the trash he joined Tom and Maddie in the kitchen, who were finishing up the paint job for the kitchen, honestly Sonic could barely tell it was shot up.

 “looks good!” Sonic smiled as he made his presence known, moving to climb the bar stool they had in the kitchen, kicking his legs he watched the two of them clean up the paint buckets and rollers, putting them up before making some tea and grabbing some cake from the 2nd cake that Maddie bought, and Sonic looked confused at it.

“Why have this cake if you got the job donut lord? Even if you gave it up for one amazing hedgehog!” Sonic smiled as he gestured at the cake, then himself. Tom laughing as he cut a square and passed it to the hedgehog. 

“You always have to be prepared for both outcomes” Maddie chimed in, adding sugar to the tea before passing Tom his mug, and a smaller mug to Sonic, it being a simple blue color

 “its green tea” she smiled as sat down, taking a sip of her tea, Sonic mimicking her before yanking his head away, sticking his tongue out as he blew on it 

“Hoth!” Sonic carefully set the mug down to fan his mouth, before pausing and staring at the mug, taking another sip and being able to actually taste it and now he could enjoy the taste.

 “I didn’t think these came hot unless the bottled ones stayed in the sun!” Sonic chirped happily as he drank his tea, not noticing the quick concerned glance between the two humans as he enjoyed the snack with the two of them as he chugged the tea and ate the cake in basically two bites, a testament to how hungry Sonic just realized he was, but he didn’t make any moves to eat anything else, simply hopping off the stool

 “I’m gonna go on a run! See ya later!” he grinned and zipped out of the house, leaving the couple in the dust with the unknowing bombshell he just said.

“...Give the little guy bigger portions?” Tom commented simply and Maddie nodded

 “Give him bigger portions”  She agreed as the two took care of the plates, watching as several times blue streaks of lightning past the house, probably Sonic doing laps around the small town openly now that green hills knew he existed and Sonic was taking advantage of that, finally able to run around without the unneeded stress of being hidden, eventually returning home when Tom and Maddie were both making dinner together, it being a cream colored soup with bacon chopped into it, sparking Sonic’s curiosity.

“Never saw a soup like that before” Sonic mumbled as he moved to be on the counter, his shoes slipped off so no mess was made, leaving him in the socks jojo gave him, Tom made a mental note to buy more socks and gloves for the hedgehog as he watched Sonic move his gloved hands to keep his quills back to smell the soup, moving to get off the counter as his ear flicked, Maddie coming back in the room with Ozzie’s food dish now full of the kibble they fed him

 “Checking out the dinner selection?” Maddie asked the alien, having to lean down just a little to properly hear him and he nodded.

 “I’ve never seen soup like that in the windows of restaurants or comic books before! What is it?” Sonic asked with a smile on his face, although out of his line of sight Tom looked like he got a punch in the chest but tried to play it off as he cleared his throat.

 “It’s baked potato soup” he managed a smile while explaining, although internally Tom wanted to grab the alien and give him a hug he held back “it's exactly what it sounds like, they just put the things that make a baked potato into a soup” Tom explained as Sonic looked up at the pot, with his signature smile on his face

“Sooooo we can put chili in it?” he grinned and Maddie sighed while Tom laughed.

“I mean you COULD but it wouldn’t taste right, how about just extra bacon and green onions?” The adult man smiled, making it seem like a suggestion as the hedgehog nodded.

 “Copy that Donut lord!” Sonic grinned as he zipped around the kitchen, setting the table in a split second, albeit slowing down with water so he didn’t spill any before eagerly watching the soup pot from the counter, his short tail slightly wagging behind him with excitement at the pot on the stove as his nose wiggles from it being used to smell the upcoming meal.

After around 15 minutes of Sonic impatiently waiting the meal was finally ready, Tom dishing it out into three bowls, even giving Sonic the same size bowl he and Maddie got as he watched the alien move to walk (with much difficulty considering the look on his face) to sit at the table, watching as the bowls got dished out and spoons getting grabbed, Sonic quietly watching how Tom and Maddie used them before clumsily imitating what they did, mentally making the two humans want to squeeze the hedgehog like a stress ball from how small he looked sitting at the table with a bowl meant for adult human beings.

Sonic’s eyes sparkled at the taste of the food as he started to wolf down the bowl, ironic considering since he was a hedgehog, and before he could even blink the bowl was already empty, borderline licked clean as the alien put the cleaned off spoon in the bowl before flopping onto the ground and laying on his stomach, sighing contently at the meal he just had before falling asleep on the plush carpet he plopped himself on.

Tom and Maddie stared at the sleeping hedgehog as they finished cleaning up, watching as Sonic slowly curled into a ball as if he was trying to keep himself warm despite not needing to, it being seemingly out of reflex than anything.

 “Tom you look like you're going to cry” Maddie laughed quietly as she looked at her husband, who DID look like he was devastated.

 “He's acting like that rugs the softest thing in the world” he moved his hand to cover his mouth as Maddie smiled as she rubbed his back.

 “He's just tired from eating so much it's fine” she tried to reassure her husband as he shook his head.

“He did this on our way to San Francisco too, he acted like those motel beds were heaven on earth” Tom rubbed his temple as he watched the sleeping hedgehog

 “He's just a kid Maddie, he's been alone the whole time he's been on earth, it had to be hard for him” Tom sighed as he looked over at his wife.

 “this is probably the 2nd time he's slept somewhere comfortable” he put a hand to his mouth, sick at the idea that Sonic lived in that cave by himself for so many years. In fact Tom couldn’t fathom it; Sonic was just a bright and social kid, it had to be torture for the poor alien.

 To try to NOT cry over the young alien sleeping on the floor Tom quickly moved to carefully pick up Sonic without waking him up, who subconsciously leaned into the hold mumbling something that was inaudible to him as he slowly moved to bring the alien to his new room, carefully tucking him in as Maddie watched, a smile painting her face.

“You're attached.” She joked as Tom just laughed and nodded,

 “I am now.”

Chapter Text

Sonic felt something warm wrap around him as he felt himself being moved, he was curious but at that point the hedgehog was too tired to bother opening his eyes to sate his curiosity as he felt himself being slowly set down onto an even plusher surface. The feeling Sonic now knew as a soft blanket wrapped around him, dragging out a small purr from him as his body visibly relaxed, letting him slip into a peaceful sleep for the first time after almost 10 years of trying to sleep despite the cold that would enter his cave.

The hedgehog stayed in a dreamless sleep for quite a while, before slowly waking up on a platform of some kind. Sonic looked around slightly confused until he decided to pinch himself, no pain.

 ( ‘oh ok I’m dreaming, never did that before’ ) he thought to himself as he stood up and dusted himself off, wandering before setting his sights on a duo, a young human girl and another alien, an alien that looked almost exactly like him. Sonic quickly hid, not wanting to disturb the pair he dreamed up as he heard the girl gasp in delight.

 “Wow. Look at all those stars, They're like diamonds.” she said, laying in the grass as she did so. The other Alien quietly listened as the human talked.

“My grandfather says it can take hundreds of years for the light of a star to reach Earth, and by the time you see it, the star might not even exist anymore, isn’t that crazy?” she quietly exclaimed as the girl looked at the other alien who opened his mouth and Sonic swore he just heard the most angelic voice he's ever heard in his life.

“A light shines even though the star is gone.” he said softly, and just from hearing the voice alone made Sonic’s face go beet red, moving closer to have the chance to hear the other hedgehog again, having a slight disappointment that the human girl talked again

 “Yeah, it does, I wonder which one you came from, Sh-___.” a harsh screeching would be heard before Sonic could catch the aliens name, making him instinctively cover his ears, only to uncover them when he saw the ebony hedgehog open his mouth again.

“ I don't know, I don't know anything about my home.” he spoke in a wistful tone, Making Sonic suppress the urge to go up to him and ask what's wrong, not wanting the dream to end anytime soon

 “This is your home Sh-___, Earth.” The harsh sound that covered the alien’s name completely contrasted the soft voice of the human child but Sonic tried to listen as best as he could, inching closer to the pair as he saw the sad and doubtful look on the hedgehog’s face, making Sonic’s chest clench.

“Maria, do you think I'm... dangerous?” he said softly as he sat up, Sonic noting that he could hear the human girl's name, but not the hedgehog’s, watching as the human girl who he now knew as Maria sat up as well

 “What are you talking about?” she asked, leaning to hear the hedgehog better.

“The way the scientists look at me, I can tell they're afraid. Like I'm the horrible thing from that movie we watched.” he looked at the girl

 “I don't know... what I am.” the ebony hedgehog said sadly, his face conveying all the confusion and loneliness he was feeling plain as day, the clenching in Sonic’s chest tightening as he watched the two as Maria thought about the alien’s words

 “...You're my friend. And you can do or be anything you want. Not because of your powers, but because of who you are... in here.” she tapped on the hedgehog’s chest, the response clearly having an effect

 “I don't know what I'd do without you.” The hedgehog smiled gratefully as he and the girl joined hands and looked back at the sky.

Sonic woke up with half of his body hanging off his new bed, sweating and feeling his face burning as he rolled out of his bed, noticing the feeling on a plush carpet next to his new bed, sighing as he rolled to lay on his back, staring at the new ceiling before getting up, yawning as he moved to stretch, making sure he wouldn’t pull a muscle while running, just like Long claw would tell him to.

Sonic was greeted by the sight of Tom and Maddie downstairs, Tom on the phone with someone and Maddie drinking her morning coffee as Sonic entered the room, Tom glancing up and smiling

 “I know, get the paperwork and buy the books, I kinda gotta handle some things at home… yeah, love you too mom bye” he quickly hung up the phone as he moved to be next to the alien.

 “Morning buddy! How’d you sleep?” he asked, putting his hands on his hips as he looked down at Sonic, who grinned

 “Like a baby” he gave the man a thumbs up.

 “How do you manage to leave your bed so early? Those are WAY too comfortable” he asked as Maddie laughed from the couch.

 “It’s hard to I’ll tell you that” she took another sip of her coffee as she got up from where she was sitting

 “I’ll start making breakfast, you sit tight Sonic” She smiled as she moved to go to the attached kitchen, although that brought Sonic’s attention to the plastic bags on the table, zipping over to look in them.

“Oh! Yeah we got you some socks and gloves so you don’t have to wear the same pair, we figure those are like full clothes for us” Tom said as he watched the hedgehog rummage through the bag, snickering at the one funny pair, which had the world's worst pattern on them

 “And these?” Sonic grinned as Tom laughed.

 “sleeping socks, think of those like your pajamas” he smiled as he took off his slipper, showing off his own pair of bad socks, making the hedgehog laugh even harder

 “It looks like you're wearing arcade carpet!” he snorted as he put the socks back into the bag, looking over at Maddie.

 “Do you have crazy socks too Pretzel lady?” Sonic asked as she nodded, glancing away from the eggs and bacon in the pan she was using to make food 

“I got a lot of them! It’s one of the fun things about being a vet and having a uniform” She smiled as she watched the alien slowly inch closer to the kitchen, seemingly wanting to smell the food that was in a pan as she laughed 

“They’re almost done” she reassured the hedgehog as Sonic nodded, moving to help and grab plates, forks and three cups with insane speed before pausing in front of the fridge, hesitating before opening it to take out both milk and orange juice, something Tom noticed but didn’t say anything about it as the hedgehog set both onto the table.

“We’re ready to rock and roll pretzel lady!” Sonic grinned as he shot Maddie a thumbs up as he heard her laugh, moving to grab the plates to start serving as Tom moved to grab a handful of fruit so the three of them could take their own picks, before feeding Ozzie the dry kibble Sonic recognized from the bags they would buy when he would people watch.

And just like the dinner they had the other night Sonic tore through the meal with no problem, clearing the plate and ate 6 oranges in one sitting, finishing his meal before speaking.

“Do you guys ever dream about people you don’t know?” Sonic asked innocently, the two humans looking at the alien with curiosity.

“What do you mean by that bud?” Tom asked, moving subtly to have his full attention on the hedgehog as he took a sip of his coffee, Maddie also listening as Sonic ate another orange.

“I never had any dreams while I stayed in my cave, and last night I had a dream about two people I’ve never met, one of them looked like me… but bigger, and slightly older, and edgier” Sonic started trying to explain the dream he had last night, looking nervously at the two humans as they listened.

“The other one was this blonde girl, the two looked like friends” Sonic ate another slice of his orange as he remembered the dream of the two, trying to think about what could have happened to them earlier in their day to talk like that.

“I wonder who they are” Sonic mumbled to himself as he finished his breakfast, Tom and Maddie electing to just listen as they ate, Sonic’s face full of a mix of conflict and hope at the idea that there was another alien like him on earth, no matter where he was.

Chapter Text

Sonic spent the day watching Wade do paperwork at the Green Hill’s police station.

Not ideal for how the alien wanted to spend his day but Wade just passed the hedgehog his ps vita to play while he worked so the teenager wasn’t bored the whole day while waiting for Tom and Maddie to finish their own jobs.

( ‘Too young to stay by myself my foot, I’ve been able to handle myself being alone for ten years’ ) Sonic mentally pouted as he played the rhythm game that was already loaded on it, finding his super speed effect’s his reflexes even for small things like this, although his mind kept drifting to the ebony hedgehog he saw in his dream, he couldn’t help it.

He seemed fragile, needing connection that that girl he was with tried to provide for him. It only made Sonic even more curious on what the other hedgehog was like, maybe they came from the same planet, maybe even the same island.

“Soooo Sonic?” Wade grinned as he looked up from his paperwork, Sonic pausing the game he was on himself to look at the cop, the rest of the people in the office while not looking up as well, clearly nosy on how an alien hedgehog would act normally.

“Yeah what's up Wade?” Sonic grinned, his legs kicking in the air as he remained seated where Tom would have sat if he wasn’t in the sheriff office, the deputy smiling brightly at the response.

“Just gotta ask, real curious about it, how do those work?” he grinned, pointing at Sonic’s quills.

Sonic’s eyebrows raised as he moved a hand to his quills as he put the Vita onto the desk, thinking about it.

“That's… actually a good question! I didn’t think about it!” the alien grinned, moving a gloved hand to feel the spikes attached to him “I guess they're like hair to humans? That makes sense.” Sonic did his best to answer

Wade seemed satisfied with the answer as he nodded, going back to his work… which Sonic could tell was just a word puzzle he brought from home.

Sonic remained sat there for a while, playing on Wade’s Vita until around noon, the stations door opens ringing the small bell attached to notify everyone there that Tom was back, Sonic perking up instantly as he jumped off the chair and zipped up to the human, Tom jumping slightly before grinning down at the hedgehog.

“Hey buddy, feeling hungry?” Tom asked, ruffling the quills on Sonic's head as he nodded.

“Don’t you KNOW it! What's on the menu, Donut lord?” Sonic grinned as his feet tapped on the floor, his posture just BEGGING to be let loose to go run around the whole town in 2 seconds.

“Well I was thinking we go back to the house and whip up something small really quick before I got back to work, how does that sound?” Tom asked as he took off his sun glasses, Sonic nodding eagerly as he quickly moved to follow Tom back to the house.

Tom spent time making a small lunch for the two of them, Sonic just watching with slight excitement before the two ate, and Tom could swear Sonic was a bottomless pit, eating his whole meal and several other snack items in the house, eating like it would be his last meal.

“Slow down, the food isn’t going anywhere buddy.” Tom laughed as he finished his own lunch, grabbing his things to get back to the station, Sonic trailing behind him as Tom looked down at the alien.

“Maddie should be getting out of work in around 2 hours, think you can stay with Wade for a little while longer?” the human asked Sonic who nodded and gave him a thumbs up.

“Wade says I’m making his account look more impressive! No idea how that thing can brag to other people but I’m glad to help!” Sonic grinned as they both made it to the station, Sonic returning to the chair he was in as Wade passed him his Vita again, pointing at a different game for the Alien to try.

Tom worked in his office for a while, swapping between his work as a sheriff and different legal avenues to legally put Sonic into his and Maddie’s care, having him live with them is one thing but Tom wanted a paper trail, he didn’t want the government trying to take Sonic the moment he's more adjusted.

He didn’t want Sonic to be taken away from the idea that he was a threat, sure he wasn’t human but even Tom could tell he was just a kid, he couldn’t do any REAL damage, nothing that couldn’t be fixed at least.

“Pretzel ladys here!” Sonic appeared into the office with light speed, making some of the papers on Tom’s desk fly up from the wind Sonic generated, the human taking this as his chance to pause this for now, he’d have to have a long talk with his wife about Sonic’s future in their family, one he hoped would be permanent.

Sonic slowly got into his bed, stomach full and comfortable, he didn’t miss the draft from his cave’s entrance at ALL.

He zipped around the room, brushing his teeth like how Tom showed him, turning off the lights, getting changed out of his normal socks and into the funny patterned sleeping socks and gloves Tom and Maddie bought him before eventually nestling into bed, a relaxed sigh leaving him as he drifted off to sleep.

Sonic woke up in a hallway he didn’t recognize, the sounds of machines whirling in his ears as he looked around, placing a hand on the cold metal wall, his mind filling in the sensation for him.

“Again…” Sonic mumbled to himself as he started to walk through the halls, feeling a pull to a certain path as he looked around, curiosity burning in his chest as he eventually paused at the doorway, peering in before a sudden jolt made Sonic stop in his tracks.

The other hedgehog he saw in his last dream, drifting in a giant tube with a green liquid in it.

“New hedgehog.” Sonic whispered, slowly stepping closer to the tube, staring in slight wonder and curiosity before slowly raising his hand to the glass.

Just before his hand could make contact the Ebony hedgehog's eyes snapped open, his gaze moving from expecting to slightly confused, his body drifting further away from the cobalt hedgehog, seemingly expecting something else instead of Sonic.

Sonic snapped out of his thoughts as he grinned, pressing his hands against the glass, grinning like an idiot as he shouted in case the other alien couldn’t hear him.

“Don’t worry new hedgehog! I’ll get ya out of here!” Sonic shouted as he zipped around the glass tube, the ebony hedgehog’s eyes widening in slight shock as Sonic skidded to a stop

“Huh… no latch” Sonic mumbled as he lightly tapped on the glass, the hedgehog inside just watching before Sonic’s eye lit up.

“Oh right! I’m dreaming!” Sonic grinned as he tapped on the glass again, forcing the tube to have a comically large glass attached to it’s surface, the other Alien looking slightly shocked as he made sure to float further away from it, Sonic grinning and cracking his knuckles.

“See? I told ya I’d get you ou-” the cobalt hedgehog was quickly silenced when he opened the door and got hit in the face with the fluid, moving Sonic further from the tube and leaving him to cough.

“Oh that stuff is NASTY, I’ve eaten worse though” Sonic spoke to himself before the soft thunk sounds alerted him, looking up to see the ebony hedgehog stepping out of the tube, the fluid making his fur moist.

“...” the other hedgehog stared at Sonic, slight bewilderment and confusion on his face as Sonic got back up in a flash, dusting himself off.

“I didn’t think there were others like me on earth! I figure you're still here because this is a dream and this is a very earth-y place but It’s great to finally meet someone else!” Sonic rambled, running circles around the other hedgehog as the latter moved to fold his arms, trying to search for something in Sonic’s eyes, only finding curiosity and something Sonic didn’t even know what it was himself.

“...You're not Maria.” the hedgehog mumbled, Sonic stiffening up from the sound of the ebony hedgehog’s voice, managing a smile.

“The Blonde girl I saw last night? Yeah we don’t look anything alike.” Sonic snickered as he moved closer to the other hedgehog, wrapping his arm around the ebony hedgehog shoulders, making said hedgehog stiffen up from the contact.

“You're not supposed to be here” the other hedgehog added, Sonic now slightly confused as he folded his arms.

“Yeah I am! This is MY dream!” Sonic pointed out, the other alien now being just as confused as he shifted on his feet.

“No, these are my memories, not your dreams” the ebony hedgehog said back Sonic shaking his head before shrugging.

“How about we agree to disagree? Yeah lets do that.” Sonic waved the current situation away, taking a few steps away from the other hedgehog, who just watched the smaller cobalt hedgehog circle him more.

“So ignoring the weird way you're saying this isn’t my dream my name is-”

Before Sonic could say his name he abruptly woke up in his new bed, sweat drenching his body and hunger stinging in pain in his stomach.

Sonic tried to fall back asleep to no avail, sighing as he rolled out of bed, moving into the kitchen after the hunger got too bad to ignore. The hedgehog stopped in front of the fridge and moved to reach for the handle only to pause.

(‘ I probably shouldn’t touch that stuff, they aren’t here to see me take it ’) he thought to himself, his gaze slowly moving to the kitchen’s trash, his old habit of dumpster diving to get food itching his hands.

(‘ They won’t notice if I dig though there ’) he decided as his feet tapped against the tiled floor as he carefully moved with practiced silence before carefully taking the lid off the bin, taking a glove off to start rummaging though the contents, cringing at each small sound.

Just before Sonic could reach one of the edible items in the trash the light flicking on made him stop in his tracks, his quills flaring up as his head shot up, seeing Tom in his pajamas looking tired and confused.

“Sonic, what are you doing?” the human asked, his tone slightly confused instead of the anger Sonic expected as the alien quickly grabbed his glove with his covered hand and wiped his uncovered hand off, putting the glove back on.

“Nothing!” he quickly exclaimed, his voice a little higher than usual as his palms began to sweat, Tom moved closer to Sonic, examining what he was doing before shaking his head, putting the lid back on the trash.

“Just take something from the fridge or pantry ok? No more digging through the trash.” Tom told him as he ruffled the alien’s quills, Sonic relaxing at the contact.

“You're not mad?” Sonic couldn’t help but ask, Tom moving to get a glass of water, most likely the reason he was downstairs.

“More worried than anything but it's late, I’m too tired to be mad if I wanted to be.” Tom took a sip of his water before opening the fridge and pulling out another slice of cake for the hedgehog, “Don’t tell Maddie your getting this late, we’ll both get an earful.” The human smiled tiredly before going back to bed, leaving Sonic to sit at the table and eat his slice of cafe while thinking about the alien he dreamt about.