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the weekly checks were embarrassing, but it was sweet that sonic cared.
he checked them every sunday, pushing their fur aside to reveal skin, making sure they hadn't been harming themself.
the first few times, sonic had only been checking their arms; that was their typical site.
but eventually, after sonic noticed how itchy tails seemed to be around their ankles, and how their wardrobe changed so that they wore longer socks...
sonic checked everywhere, from then on.
but... it helped. quitting cold turkey was hard, but they were doing it.
-
one night, it got to be too much. tails' thoughts drifted to darker corners, and they began to feel the familiar itching need to press a blade to their skin. they couldn't resist it anymore.
they stumbled over to their toolbox, reaching for their blue box cutter.
quuckly drawing it to their wrist, they applied pressure. blood trickled down their fur as they hissed in a mixture of pain and relief, blood hitting the floor with soft drips.
they kept cutting until they were satsfied, then flopped into bed. tomorrow was sunday.
they had some things to get done, so they'd better get to sleep.
-
there was a light knocking on the door, as there was every morning.
"tails, breakfast!" the voice of their brother called through the door. tails woke up, groggily blinking.
their sheets had a few splotches of red.
damn. thatll be annoying to clean up.
"coming!" they replied, covering the stains with a blanket.
there was dried blood caked to their fur, and they grimaced. before heading to the dining room, they scrubbed it off as best as they could.
they sat down across from their brother, who had already begun prattling on about something.
"...anyways, you ready to check-up after breakfast?" it was more of a politely phrased command, rather than a question.
"wh...?"
"it's sunday, remember?"
"o-oh." their eyes shot down to their plate, their apetite swallowed by a pit of dread.
"hey, bud, you okay?" sonic's voice took on a gentler, concerned tone.
"yeah..." they scraped the fork against the plate, before taking a leap of faith. "do we have to? i mean, i've been doing really good, and maybe we could stop." they suggested, quickly, and almost desperately.
"i know you've been doing good, pal, but it makes me feel better. i like to know that you're okay..." tails suddenly grated their fork across their plate harshly.
"do you not trust me, or something?"
"no, tails, it's nothing like that--"
"then why can't you just stop it!?" the silence was deafening, before sonic spoke up.
"tails... did something happen?"
"no, i-- i just want my freedom back." they mumbled; but their brother could smell the lie from miles away.
"come here, please." his tone was cold, worried.
tails stood up shakily, walking towards their brother. sonic stop up, gently grabbing tails' arms and tugging their gloves off.
he began to brush the fur aside, searching the skin of their forearms before--
"oh, buddy..." he was met with the sight of angry, red slashes.
"i'm sorry, sonic, i don't want to make you mad--"
"i'm not mad, tails. i'm just worried." he tugged them into a hug, resting his chin between their ears. "i know you aren't okay right now. but it's gonna get better. i love you, tails. i'm not mad."