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Growing up in various forests in all corners of the universe never allowed for fancy meals, even more so when being the last of your race was factored in. Constantly being on the run meant not having much time to enjoy “the finer things in life” as some would put it. Though he remembers seeing others feasting on what certainly looked like delicious meals, he himself never had the opportunity to partake in such things himself, instead merely peeking in from an establishment’s window, quickly ducking away and running once someone inside had spotted him.
Knuckles didn’t think he was missing out on anything, of course. It was how things had always been. Even when he was a child living amongst his clan, while the meals gave him a sense of home and security like no other food ever did, they were nothing compared to the large helpings he had seen so many Mobians indulging themselves in.
Living in the wilderness had given him one thing of enjoyment, however. Something that he actively had searched for, whether he was on the edge of starvation or simply looking for something to indulge on in a rare moment of peace: the echidna loved fruit.
No matter what world or planet he found himself on during his journeys, Knuckles had always been able to satiate his hunger with fruit. Many times, it was simply the only edible thing available. While some were less than tasty and others downright poisonous, Knuckles knew he owed part of his survival to the ever-present plants littered across the universe.
His favorite of these fruits, as he had found, was this small, round, and fleshy fruit. They grew in clusters, sometimes taking on a light-green color while other times appearing more purple or red. Eavesdropping on a conversation at a fruit stand in some rundown town let him know they were called ‘grapes.’
There were not many things that the echidna warrior could say he loved. He loved his tribe, (“had loved them,” he reminded himself), he loved the feeling of a gentle breeze, he loved the security of being burrowed in the ground, and he loved grapes. Call him simple, but he wouldn’t have cared if you did.
While his list of loves has certainly changed, what with the addition of these new tribe members he found himself so oddly attached to, he still loved the things he had enjoyed during his years of isolation, with a few added entries. Running water, for example, had been added to his list.
While the echidna was still very wary about trying new things, being naturally distrusting and nervous around things he had never seen or experienced, his new tribe was slowly teaching him about earth customs that could be trusted. Ice cream seemed to be the most prominent example.
A thrilling game of ‘baseball,’ as the hedgehog had told him, came to a close with his powerful hit. The fox had tried to convince the others that it did not count, but Knuckles knew better; he would not let them decline his fairly-earned victory.
Then came the suggestion of ice cream, which the echidna found himself clueless on. A quick question earned him the answer of “a dessert.” Knuckles, of course, only associated the word “dessert” with fruits, as they were the only naturally occurring sweet flavor in nature. The only one he had managed to find anyways. The thought excited him, however. A chance to taste this planet’s fruits sounded like the perfect way to celebrate his victory over the hedgehog, who had gloated that he would certainly win.
Knuckles couldn’t quite hide his disappointment when he was told that ice cream did not tend to include grapes.
Despite this disappointment, Tails seemed rather excited to get ice cream, enthusiastically telling him that there would be ‘sprinkles.’ Knuckles truthfully had no clue what sprinkles could possibly be, but the fox’s excitement was palpable, and the echidna suddenly felt excited on his behalf.
The journey proved to be exciting indeed. About 11 samples, 2 broken cones, and one brain freeze later, Knuckles found himself rather fond of this..iced cream. His fellow tribe members had enjoyed it as well, with Sonic having a flavor titled “rocky road,” which was a strange name for something intended for consumption, and Tails rather enthusiastically choosing a mint flavor. Knuckles had considered that one, being familiar with mint, but eventually had been coaxed into the supposedly simple flavor of vanilla. He had not heard the conversation in its entirety, but Lady Pretzel had mentioned something along the lines of needing an “easier flavor.”
It had not been his first choice, however. Once it was his turn to pick what he would like, Knuckles had promptly asked the worker for their finest grape-flavored iced cream despite Sonic’s earlier words at the field. She gave him a confused look before explaining to him that there wasn’t really such a thing as grape-flavored ice cream. Yet again, his face contorted slightly in disappointment. Grapes were clearly a dessert, so why were they not included with this iced cream?
The vanilla was good, though. Certainly a flavor he had never tried before, and one he surprisingly found himself enjoying. Perhaps on a different day he would be able to try this planet’s grapes.
That initial disappointment at the baseball field had not gone unnoticed, however, and a certain fox and hedgehog were eager to fix this problem.
Sonic and Tails were in the kitchen suspiciously early and looking rather guilty when Knuckles walked in. Tom and Maddie were away for the day which left them rather free to do as they pleased, to a certain extent of course. Knuckles had honestly expected Sonic to still be asleep and for Tails to be tinkering away at some gadget.
Instead, they were in the kitchen.
It took him about 15 seconds to realize no one had said anything. Sonic was, unsurprisingly, the one to break that streak.
“Well, look who's decided to join us on this fine Friday morning!” The hedgehog started, quickly crossing the room to stand next to Knuckles. The echidna just cast a look his way, a bit confused at this odd behavior but not willing to stop his quest for something to eat. Perhaps an apple. Or maybe a banana, those were quite good.
“Hey, hey, not even gonna ask what we’re up to? No grunts of annoyance? No looks of disapproval at our inevitable amazing ideas that you say are stupid?”
“I do not say your ideas are stupid. That would be a disservice to the fox.”
Tails chuckled at that comment, deciding now was a good time to join the conversation. “While I’m flattered that you think of me that way, we have a new idea today, and it's one we think you will really like!”
Quest for breakfast momentarily forgotten, Knuckles turned fully to look at the two younger Mobians, immediately noticing the excited and eager looks on their faces. How had he missed that before?
“Is that so?”
“Sure is, red!” Sonic was practically vibrating with excitement at this point. “Aren’t you dying to know what it is?”
Knuckles’ face scrunched in confusion. “I am not dying. There is no reason for me to be dying at this moment.”
Quiet laughter told him that he had once again misjudged the meaning of a phrase. Earth cultures were not coming to him as easily as he had hoped they would. The echidna knew the two younger Mobians were not mocking him, however.
“No! We noticed that you seemed a bit upset that there wasn’t any grape ice cream, so..” The young fox fiddled his hands together a bit nervously. “We decided we could try and make some!”
The reveal of their “plan” had certainly caught Knuckles off guard. He didn’t know what he had been expecting, but it was definitely not this. He was…he was something. A warm feeling in the pit of his stomach formed at realizing they had not only noticed his disappointment, but gone out of the way to try and make him happy. It was nice. It truly was.
“Very well. Let us make the grape iced cream.” Try as he might, Knuckles couldn’t hide the slight excitement that laced his voice.
Making ice cream. This couldn’t possibly end in disaster, could it?
The three made their way to the counter where Sonic and Tails had already prepared a variety of items, including some sort of tablet that had a tab pulled up with the directions to make ice cream. Once all three were standing on their assigned step stools, Tails spoke again.
“Humans have made ice cream flavors using other fruits, so it shouldn’t be any problem at all trying to make grape ice cream!” The fox was noticeably eager to begin, always excited to do anything that involved building, tinkering, or creating.
Sonic chimed in next. “Seriously, what’s a strawberry got that a grape doesn’t?” Knuckles did not understand this comment, as strawberries had many things that grapes did not. For example, strawberries had seeds on the outside as opposed to within the fruit itself.
“If it can be done, then why does it not already exist?”
“Well, people have tried before, but apparently no one really liked the flavor. But I’m sure we can make one that tastes good!” Tails said, Sonic nodding next to him.
The recipe Tails and Sonic had found was, ironically, a recipe for homemade strawberry ice cream. Knuckles assumed they would be switching the strawberries for grapes, otherwise this experiment would not make much sense.
“What is this..list?”
“Those are the ingredients,” Sonic explained. “Lucky for you, Tails and I already got everything ready.” The hedgehog gestured to the various items on the counter.
Welp, here goes everything.
The recipe said that the first step would be to cut the strawberries into tiny pieces. With the first step already involving a knife, Sonic realized that this had the potential to be a bad plan very quickly, so he elected to do the chopping, making some comment about how he was the “absolute best at cutting fruits at the speed of light.” Tails chuckled at the remark while Knuckles disagreed, but neither was opposed to his suggestion, watching as the hedgehog sliced the fruits. Neither made any mention of how slowly Sonic cut, despite his previous claims.
“What’s next, lil bro?” Sonic enthusiastically asked once he had cut a fairly large amount of grapes. They needed enough for all three of them to eat, after all.
Tails grinned at being called ‘lil bro’ but quickly turned his attention back to the screen. “Next it says to mix the chopped fruit in a bowl with some sugar!”
“Great! How much?”
“Uhh…” Tails looked back at the screen, confusion etched on his face as he searched for the answer to Sonic’s question. “It doesn’t say.”
Well that wasn’t good. Knuckles merely watched on during this, knowing he was not able to contribute as he himself had no knowledge in making most any food, much less ice cream.
“Guess we’ll just have to estimate,” Tails finally suggested. The two older members shared a quick glance at each other until Sonic shrugged.
“Guess so! You wanna pour the sugar, Knux?”
The echidna was not expecting to be asked to assist during this part but was willing to help if it was needed. Nodding his head dutifully, Knuckles began to scan the ‘ingredients’ on the counter until he found the sugar. Or, what he believed to be sugar, anyways. The other two did not correct him, so he could only assume he had picked the right one.
He hesitated before pouring it into the bowl.
“..how much is required?”
There wasn’t an immediate answer, but Tails eventually spoke. “Well, we’re going to have to guess how much since this doesn’t tell us, so..pour it slowly and we can tell you when to stop!”
Knuckles was satisfied with this arrangement and began to do exactly as the fox had suggested, pouring the contents of the bag into the bowl very slowly. The sugar coming in contact with the grapes put off a very sweet aroma almost immediately. Not necessarily a bad aroma, but Knuckles found it to be a different scent that grapes had on their own.
He was beginning to get lost in his own thoughts when he heard a quick ‘stop.’ The echidna immediately stopped pouring the sugar, looking in the bowl to see that the chopped grapes were now slightly covered in the strange, white granules.
“Looks about good to me,” Sonic said, looking in the bowl as well. Realistically, he had absolutely no clue if this was a good amount or not.
“It’ll have to do. Let’s see what’s next!” Tails quickly skimmed through the next few steps. “Alright, this says we gotta let it sit for a few minutes to let the juice come out, so let’s move on to the cream part!”
The fox moved the bowl off to the side, putting some sort of contraption in its place. It appeared to have a bowl attached to it, which Tails promptly removed, exposing some sort of metal..thing.
“Ah..what is this?” Knuckles was realizing that he was asking questions rather frequently, but he did not really care at this moment.
“This is a mixer! It’s basically a machine that makes combining stuff a lot easier,” Tails explained, always eager to talk about machines and their functions. Knuckles had found it to be very helpful. “A lot of food can be mixed with your hands or a spoon, but things like mixers make it a lot easier, especially if you’re making a lot of things at once.”
“You should’ve seen dad when he was using the hand mixer one time. Looked away for about two seconds and BLAM! Pancake batter everywhere!” Sonic laughed. “Took him, like, 15 minutes to clean it all up.”
Knuckles certainly hoped they did not make such a mess like that. All their progress would be lost!
“Hopefully that won’t happen. Stand mixers aren’t as messy as hand mixers. At least, based on what I’ve seen, they aren’t.”
Tails looked at the tablet once more, telling Sonic and Knuckles what ingredients they would need for this next step, the two getting into a competition to see who could find and grab the item first. Sonic, unsurprisingly, won most of the ‘rounds.’
“That should be everything! Now we gotta pour them into the mixing bowl.”
“I believe the fox should have this task as he has not had the opportunity to place items into the bowls,” Knuckles suddenly said, crossing his arms in a way that said he would not take no for an answer.
“That’s a great idea, Knux!” Sonic rather dramatically scooted the heavy cream, half-and-half, and vanilla extract in Tails’ direction. “The stage is all yours!”
Tails giggled excitedly that he was getting to pour the ingredients this time, his eyes darting away in slight embarrassment. Needless to say, the fox was very precise, his measurements exact and not making a single spill.
Once that was all done, he started up the mixer so the ingredients could combine. Knuckles watched on in amusement at seeing the machine work while Sonic leaned over excitedly to watch, despite having seen the mixer multiple times by now.
After everything was mixed up, the boys set the mixture to the side, grabbing the bowl of grapes and sugar and bringing it back in front of them.
“Now we gotta squish these together to mix the grapes and sugar into a more combined mixture. It says a fork or a potato masher should work good.” Tails hopped down to get a fork, but Knuckles had other plans.
“No need, fox. My strong fists are surely capable of crushing these grapes.” He rared his arm back as he leaned up onto the counter, fully ready and willing to punch the grapes until Sonic quickly stopped him.
“Whoa, whoa, not like that, big guy!” He patted Knuckles on the shoulder. “These grapes are no match for you, ya gotta show ‘em some mercy! Plus mom would be pretty mad if we broke her bowls, so let’s leave the smashing to a smaller, weaker object, yeah?”
The echidna lowered his arm, nodding in understanding. “I see..very well.”
Tails snickered at the interaction as he walked back to the duo, fork in hand. He hopped back up onto his stool, pulling the bowl a bit closer to himself.
“Here’s how we gotta smash ‘em!” The fox quickly demonstrated on a few of the grapes, squishing them by holding the fork flat and pulling it so that they mixed with the sugar. After he was sure he’d done it enough times, Tails scooted the bowl to Knuckles and handed him the fork.
“I think you should have the honors!” He giggled as Knuckles took the fork, a look of pure determination on his face. Needless to say, the grapes did not, in fact, stand a chance. It didn’t take long for the fruit to be completely incorporated with the sugar, the faint aroma once again meeting his nose. It had a nice smell.
“Now all we gotta do is mix these bad boys together and pop ‘em in the freezer!” Sonic exclaimed, pouring the grapes into a pan which he quickly followed up with the cream mixture, albeit a bit messily.
“You know that means we gotta wait, right?” Tails asked. Sonic was quick to groan in frustration.
“Waiting is so slow ,” he whined, pronouncing the word with entirely too many o’s. He became a blur for a moment as he rushed to the freezer, quickly putting their creation inside. “I dunno about you two, but I’m definitely not gonna just sit around and do nothing while we wait.”
Knuckles was a bit upset; he was under the impression they would get to eat it immediately.
“I know! How about we play some games?”
3 hours and a few rather interesting rounds of UNO later, the boys bounded back into the kitchen, eager and ready to see how their creation had turned out. Reaching the freezer first, Sonic opened it up and pulled the pan out, holding it towards Knuckles and Tails for them to see as well.
“Well, it certainly looks like ice cream!” Tails exclaimed, his namesakes flicking excitedly behind him. Knuckles hummed in agreement, trying to hide his own excitement but not doing the best job, a slight smile on his face.
“What are we waiting for? Let’s try it!” Sonic put the pan on the table, running to find the ice cream scooper while Knuckles gathered the bowls and Tails got the spoons. Soon enough, the three were gathered at the table and had each taken a seat next to each other. They each took turns scooping their own helpings into their respective bowls, Knuckles taking quite a large portion in comparison to the other two.
The three shared a look with each other before taking their first bites. For a few moments, it was silent. That was until the silence was broken by Knuckles quickly getting another spoonful and plopping it into his mouth, a look of genuine contentment and satisfaction on his face.
The other two quickly followed suit, feeling rather surprised that this had gone smoothly.
“Wow, we actually did it!” Tails took another bite himself.
“It tastes good! Hah! I knew we could do it,” Sonic said around a mouthful of ice cream. “What do ya think, red? Does it live up to your expectations?”
The lack of response was all the answer they needed, the oldest of the three very clearly enjoying his dessert. He was too preoccupied to formally answer, but a satisfied grunt told them all they needed to know.
The minutes passed, the three munching down on their ice cream concoction, Knuckles and Sonic going back for seconds after they’d finished their first bowl (yet again, Knuckles portion was considerably bigger. He really liked it).
Eventually the boys were fully satisfied, the remaining ice cream being put back in the freezer and their dishes put away in the sink.
Outside, the sun had slowly begun to sink closer to the horizon, the sky turning a soft shade of orange and illuminating the inside of the house with a warm and comfortable glow. The three wordlessly made their way to the living room, sitting together on the couch. Tails and Sonic had sat on the two ends while Knuckles had somehow landed in the middle. They were sitting close together, but not so close that they were touching.
For a few minutes, there was a comfortable silence, a rare moment in the Wachowski household.
Surprisingly, it was Knuckles that broke this silence.
“I…” He paused, as if he wasn’t entirely sure what he wanted to say. Or rather, he didn’t know how to say it. “I am very grateful. You two have shown me much kindness today even though it was not required. You went out of your way to do something for me and I…thank you.”
His eyes were on the ground, a bit embarrassed. It didn’t quite make sense to him, how they were so kind despite him having been so keen to destroy them when they had first met. He had shown them nothing but malice and anger, and yet…he was so easily forgiven.
“That’s what brothers are for, right?” Knuckles turned to look at Sonic when he said this.
Brothers…
That sounded really nice.
It was about an hour later when Tom and Maddie returned home, the sun finally having set.
“Boys, we’re home!” Tom called out, very surprised when there was no answer. Sonic usually had dashed up to them by this point, and yet the hedgehog was nowhere to be seen. Neither were the other two.
Tom and Maddie shared a quick look of concern with each other, setting down their bags to search the house and make sure their boys were okay.
What they found stopped them in their tracks.
The three had fallen asleep on the couch, cuddled up closely to each other. Tails and Sonic had pressed themselves onto both sides of Knuckles, the oldest wrapping his arms around the two of them protectively. Each of them were sound asleep, a look of genuine peace and security on their faces.
The couple felt their hearts melting at the sight. These were their boys.
Seeing no reason to disturb the kids’ sleep, they returned to the door where they had dropped their bags, walking to the kitchen so everything could be put away only to be met with yet another surprising sight.
Turns out they had forgotten to clean up their mess in their excitement, excess juice and spilled cream still on the counter, a small mess of sugar, and an unwashed stand mixer left behind.
“Well, it looks like they had an eventful day.”