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Tom stares at the trio of aliens sitting on the kitchen floor, along with a mess of snacks around them. The surprised expression on them at his arrival is priceless, but he maintains a stern expression.
The one in the middle breaks the silence first. "Go back to sleep, Dad."
"Mm, how about no? Do you mind explaining what happened?"
The trio exchanged nervous looks then nodded, apparently having gained telepathy at some point. Tails was the first to answer.
"Sorry for waking you, I was hungry. But I didn't want to go alone, so I got Sonic to go with me to get something."
Sonic continues. "But then we realized that we weren't tall enough to reach the cupboard, which by the way, why did you place the good stuff so high , but getting back to the story, we woke up Knuckles."
It was Knuckles' turn now. "I assisted the two of them in acquiring a midnight snack by carrying Sonic on my back, and Sonic carried the fox on his. Tails managed to retrieve a cereal box, but soon, Sonic began losing his balance, as his strength is not equipped to carry someone else."
"Hey, I'm plenty strong!" The hedgehog interjected. "Tails just went a little too far is all."
Back to Tails. "I didn't want to fall, so I tried grabbing onto the cabinet, but uh, I missed and accidentally knocked over the other snacks instead. And then we all toppled to the ground, and then you suddenly rushed down here."
Tom had listened to the story thoroughly, and noticed a hole in it. "Couldn't you have just flied?"
Sonic and Knuckles' face changed to show that they seemingly forgot about that, while Tails blushed and began playing with his namesakes nervously.
"Huh, right, why didn't we just do that?" Sonic questioned.
"I…like being carried by you guys."
Everyone's hearts melted at the answer, Tom's expression softening.
"Alright Tails, you can have a little bit of cereal, but not too much, we don't wanna spoil your appetite for breakfast. And no milk! After that, you three go clean up the mess, and go right back to sleep, alright?"
"Aye aye, Donut Lord!"
"Affirmative, Lord of Donuts."
"Okay, Mr. Tom!"
Tom kissed the three of them on their foreheads, Sonic protesting claiming he was too old for it while definitely enjoying it, and returned to his room.