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The door swung open as the blue blur himself darted into the house, tracking a bit of dirt onto the floor from his sneakers. Tails paused his game and went to shut it before returning to his place on the couch in front of the TV.
"Geez, you never realize how much you're missing before you're forced to look at the same scenery every time you go for a run." Sonic complained from the kitchen as he washed his hands. "I mean, the Mystic Ruins are pretty and all, but it kinda gets old after the first couple of weeks."
Tails gave a small noise of agreement as he unpaused his game and continued where he left off. After a moment, Sonic finished washing his hands and joined him on the couch. Tails couldn't help but notice the blue hedgehog's unusual lack of energy. He sighed.
Sonic had been like this for the past few months or so. He hated being all cooped up with nothing to do, and being confined in the house for the most part had started to take its toll on the hero.
"You wanna join me?" Tails asked, eyes flitting over to where the other controllers sat.
Sonic sighed. "Nah, dude. Sorry. I'm just not really feeling it right now. Maybe some other time."
Tails frowned as Sonic sat up slowly and retreated to his room. He glanced after him, gears turning in his head. After a second, he turned the game off and stood up.
Fine! If we can't go outside and have fun, we'll MAKE our own fun! Tails thought, staring off at where Sonic had left. He felt his face light up in a grin as an idea formed in his head. And I think I know just what to do...
Upstairs, Sonic lounged around on his bed, feeling anxious. He was going stir-crazy, with nothing to do but run around the Ruins and play video games. The house felt impossibly small, and Sonic didn't like it one bit. He had a thing about small spaces.
He stared up at the ceiling, leg bouncing and mind racing. Once all of this was over, he'd run a hundred laps around the whole world, that was for sure.
Suddenly, the door slammed open, making him jump. Tails stood in the doorway.
"Tails, wh-"
"Get up! It's time to have some fun!" the small fox ordered, pointing a finger at the blue hedgehog.
"What do you-"
"We're making a pillow fort!"
Sonic blinked. "Really?"
Tails nodded, grabbing his arm and pulling him up from the bed.
"I... I don't know little buddy. I'm not really feeling it right now..."
"C'mon, I can't do this myself!" Tails begged, his stern expression suddenly switching to a pair of puppy eyes. He could practically see the sparkles in his eyes.
Sonic sighed and followed him out of his room. He couldn't say no to that. "Alright, fine. You got me."
Tails cheered and led him down the stairs, revealing a huge pile of seemingly every pillow, blanket and sheet in the house, ripped from their places and thrown haphazardly into a large heap. The couch had been moved away from the TV and slightly into the kitchen, leaving the living room mainly empty, with plenty of space for a grand fortress.
Strangely, Sonic felt himself already start to get excited. He could see his vision of the fort already begin to form in his mind. With a sudden burst of energy, he ran down the stairs and began to sift through the pile.
"Man, when was the last time we made a fort like this?" Sonic pondered as Tails joined him in the living room.
Tails glanced over at him in confusion. "We made one before?"
"Yeah? Remember, we camped out on Angel Island with Knuckles and made that lil' fort out of leaves and rocks and stuff?" Sonic recounted.
Tails gave him a strange look. "No...?"
Sonic was about to retort back that he had to remember that, but...
"Oh right, you would've been like... five." Sonic realized aloud, giving his brother a sheepish smile. "Sorry. Memories and stuff."
Tails just rolled his eyes and tugged a blanket out from under a large pillow in the heap.
And with that, they got to work.
An hour later, after much arguing and messing up and the entire thing collapsing and having to be rebuilt, it was done. Sure it was kinda of lumpy, and cramped, and certainly didn't look anything like the image they had in their heads, but they had made it. Without hesitation they climbed inside and settled down amongst the sheet walls and pillow furniture.
After taking a few moments to admire their work, Tails' eyes lit up. "You should show Knuckles!"
Sonic grinned and fished out his phone. Tails had forced him to get it a few years ago, although he usually didn't use it much. Nowadays however, he was glad he had it. It was the only way he could keep in contact with his friends.
He dialed up Knuckles' number in the video call app and waited for him to pick up. Knuckles had also similarly been bought a phone by Amy recently, saying that it would be easier to call him instead of having to hike up to Angel Island every time they needed to talk to him. He had reluctantly agreed, but Sonic was pretty sure he used it even less than he did.
It rang for a bit before the echidna's face appeared on the screen, looking slightly disgruntled. Sonic could see the green glint of the Master Emerald behind him.
"Hey Knux!" Sonic greeted, grinning. "Guess where we are!"
Knuckles' eyes squinted at the screen. "...A cave?"
Sonic snorted. "Not quite."
He moved around the phone to show off more of their surroundings to the confused echidna. After a moment of examining the screen, something seemed to click in his brain.
"Is that one of those... pillow fort things?" he questioned.
Sonic chuckled. "Sure is! Remember when we made one on Angel Island outta sticks and leaves and stuff?"
Knuckles nodded. "I had no idea what you were talking about. I didn't even know what a pillow was, heh."
"Haha, yeah."
"So what's up with you?" Tails asked, moving closer to the phone screen.
"Guarding the Master Emerald. Sleeping. Y'know. The usual." Knuckles shrugged. "What about you two? Sonic gone stir-crazy from being cooped up in the house yet?"
"Close to it, yeah." Tails giggled. "Last week he slept-ran up and down the stairs during the middle night. He hasn't done that in years."
Sonic made an indignant noise of protest at the slander, but didn't say anything. He wasn't wrong. He moved the phone away from Tails and back to him.
"You doing okay, by the way?" Sonic asked. He knew that there weren't even any other people on Angel Island, but he still couldn't help but worry. He just wanted all his friends to be safe.
Knuckles smirked. "Yes, mom. I'm doing fine."
"I know, I know! I just wanted to make sure." Sonic huffed. "Talk to you later, 'kay?"
"Sure thing."
With one last grin, Sonic hung up. As he put away his phone, he heard a strange rumble come from beside him. He glanced over at Tails, who looked down at his belly.
"We should get something to eat." the fox said as his stomach grumbled again.
Sonic's face lit up. Tails often made fun of his insatiable appetite, but when you were the fastest thing alive, you burned through energy pretty quick. He tapped on his phone to order something from the local pizza place, but Tails placed his hand on his arm to stop him.
"Aw come on, if we're stuck at home we might as well cook something ourselves!" Tails protested, gesturing to their little kitchenette behind the couch.
"Oh... okay?" Sonic's ears flattened slightly at the response (despite having eaten it for a majority of their days inside, he still was craving pizza), but he perked them back up and flashed his little brother a somewhat nervous grin. "I'm sure I've learned something from watching Amy cook... maybe. Oh boy."
And that's how Sonic found himself squinting at the instructions on a microwavable mac and cheese cup as Tails busied himself with setting the table as best he could. After a brief skim, Sonic was pretty sure he got the idea. He ripped off the top, tossed it in the microwave, and set it for the time written on the cup.
It would take a minute or two, so he wandered over to the table to help Tails. Everything was fine; they chatted and put out napkins and such, until suddenly Tails' nose twitched irritatedly.
"Do you smell something?" he asked uncertainly.
Sonic sniffed the air. "Huh. Yeah, something definitely smells weird."
Sonic glanced in the fridge, wondering if something might have gone bad, when Tails yelped behind him. He shot his head out of the refrigerator and looked at where the fox was pointing - the microwave.
Something had clouded up the entire interior, rendering the little window useless. Sonic gaped and without a word raced to the microwave, paused the timer, and opened it.
Immediately smoke poured out from the microwave, making their eyes water. Sonic ran over to the door and slammed it open, letting the smoke escape out of the house. After a moment, it cleared up enough that they could see the mac and cheese cup, singed and dented inside. Sonic gingerly plucked it out of the microwave and realized what he did wrong.
"...I forgot the water."
He and Tails shared a look before bursting into laughter.
"Y-You're such an idiot!" Tails exclaimed, lightly punching his brother's arm. "This is like, the most basic food someone can prepare! And you forgot one of the two steps!"
Sonic chuckled sheepishly and tossed the burned plastic cup into the trash can. "I guess we're having pizza after all."
One pizza delivery later (and after waiting outside for the smoke to air out), Sonic and Tails were finally sat at the dinner table, digging into their food. The house still smelled vaguely like burning, but it had cleared up for the most part.
They chatted in between bites about nothing in particular, but they mainly focused on their food. There was a comfortable silence, until Sonic swallowed a bite of his pizza and glanced at Tails.
"Hey. You... doing alright?"
Tails gave him a half-smile. Sonic had been asking him that pretty much every day for the past few months, checking up on him and forcing him to get out of the workshop to go for a run with him every once in a while. It was a little annoying, but he knew it just meant his big brother was looking out for him.
"Yeah, I'm doing fine." Tails shrugged. "I just miss our friends."
Sonic nodded. "I feel that buddy. I wish I could go up to Angel Island and spar with Knuckles. I wanna visit Amy, and Team Dark and everybody. It sucks that we can't."
"Well, we can still talk to them!" Tails pointed out.
Sonic smiled. "Yeah, I guess you're right."
They finished their pizza and cleaned up. After putting away the last dish, Sonic stood and glanced out the window, lost in thought. He pulled out his phone and turned to Tails.
"Hey!"
Said fox turned around, cocking his head to the side in curiosity.
"I've got an idea."
Sonic once again opened his video call app and tapped the "Group Call" button. He selected all his friends he knew weren't busy in other dimensions or distant futures; Knuckles, Amy, Team Dark, the Chaotix...
Tails squished against him to fit in the frame as one by one their friends picked up. When everyone's faces appeared on the screen, Sonic smiled.
"You guys won't believe what I did to our mac and cheese..."