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"Hey, Mighty! I got somethin' to show you."
After sending Tails and Ray off to play, Sonic bounces with excitement as he drags Mighty away from the rock he was planning on sitting against to keep watch. "Oh- Okay?"
Rocking on his heels, Sonic brings the armadillo close as if to tell him a secret: "Check out what I found around the human village!"
And from the mysterious pocket space of his quills, Sonic pulls out… something. It's rectangular, with a bunch of shiny parts and what look like buttons. Some kind of technology, though he can't begin to discern its function. It all looks the same to him, really. But he's certain he's never seen this specific thing before.
"What is that?" He asks.
"'s a thing that freezes time!" Sonic gives an expectantly vague answer.
Mighty can only tilt his head. "...Wouldn't that be a bad thing?"
"Not, like, real time! C'mon, I'll show you!"
"Okay?" Mighty chuckles nervously, his (possibly misplaced) trust in Sonic overriding any concern at the hedgehog's odd wording.
Sonic goes over and tinkers with the thing, propping it up on a rock and poking out his tongue in eager concentration.
Like a shot, Sonic is back beside him, but he doesn't even look at him, nor try to explain what's going on, what he's doing. He grins out ahead of him, directly at the device, holding a finger up in a signature pose.
Mighty, if he'd known the meaning of the word then, would say he's utterly perplexed.
"Why are you smiling?"
Mighty flinches as there's a sudden flash in his face, tears welling up in his eyes. There's a rush of wind as Sonic speeds off and comes back with the device. Mighty takes a moment to wipe his eyes, opening them to see Sonic swipe what appears to be a piece of paper from the mystery item.
"Here, see!" The hedgehog says, presenting the paper to his friend. "'s a picture."
Mighty blinks. "Oh," He says, taking the paper languidly, "Why didn't you just say that before?" He knows what pictures are. Never knew how to take one.
Sonic shrugs, not wanting to admit that he had forgotten the word.
Mighty scrutinizes the picture with a frown. One that's not unlike the frown present in the photo, dull next to Sonic's big, bright smile.
"I don't look too great in this. I didn't even smile."
Sonic snatches the photo away to reexamine it, blinking in surprise. "Oh! Guess ya didn't." He smiles anyway, tucking it into his quills. "Whatev'!"
"Don't you want to take another one?"
"Nah, don't need to! I like it."
"Even though I'm not smiling?"
Sonic blows a raspberry, flapping a dismissive hand. "It don't matter! Picture's a picture! If you don't like it, I'll keep it. Outta sight, outta mind."
Mighty considers that logic, finding little fault in it. Sonic has a way of compromising in ways that shouldn't really make sense. But if he doesn't see anything wrong with it, Mighty figures it would be a bit silly to take another picture for no reason.
"If you say so." He says at last, cuffing Sonic on the shoulder lightly.
Sonic giggles (though he'd never admit it), shoving him back, "'Course I do! I'm always right!"
"Better keep that thing in mint condition."
Sonic scoffs in mock offense. "What d'you take me for?"
"Reckless."
Sonic scoffs in actual offense. "I'm gonna mint condition this thing so hard you won't even recognize it!"
"You don't even know what that means."
Sonic sticks his tongue out at him.
Mighty laughs incredulously. "You still have that camera?"
Sonic tuts as he plays with its features. "'Course I do. This thing's my baby!"
"Like how that acoustic guitar was 'your baby'?"
"Hey! Not my fault electric guitars are cooler. I got a new one eventually."
"Eventually."
"Quiet!" Sonic demands, setting the camera up on a bench across from them. "We're gonna take a cool picture with my cool camera."
"Your camera that's been outdated since even before you got it?"
"Says you! Mr Off the Grid. Come talk to me when you can keep your phone from getting lost down a ditch."
Mighty doesn't pursue the argument, because he really doesn't care to. He actually does think Sonic's camera is pretty cool. It's just easier- and far more rewarding- to tease him about it.
Plus, he is right about the phone thing.
Sonic is suddenly at his side and holding up a peace sign. "Smile, frowny!"
Mighty rolls his eyes, bearing his best grin in the face of the lense.
Sadly, in his ill-informed haste, he makes the mistake of not waiting for the flash. Only after, when his face has fallen back to its resting expression, does the flash go off, indicating the shutter of the camera and catching him completely off guard.
Sonic returns with the processed photo before he can blink. He laughs, showing Mighty what it captured. "You look so upset!"
Mighty hides an embarrassed flush behind his hand. Indeed, his neutral face is a stark, muddying contrast compared to Sonic's toothy grin. "Of course."
"I like it. Really captures your serious side."
"Pictures are supposed to be fun."
"This is fun! In a funny way."
Mighty punches his arm, earning a cheeky laugh.
The situation feels oddly familiar.
"...Oh!" Mighty twitches an ear in recollection. "You still have that picture?"
"...That picture? Like a specific one?"
"C'mon, Blue, don't tell me you forgot."
Honestly, it'd make sense if he forgot. His brain has always moved even faster than his legs, it seemed. Mighty can practically see those speedy gears turning in his head as he grasps for the memory.
"Oh… OH!" Sonic gasps. "I'll have you know I do still have that picture!" He says proudly, winking.
Mighty swallows something that feels a bit like disbelief turning into captivation. "Yeah?" He chokes out.
"Yeah!" Sonic echoes. "It's on Tails's fridge, I remember. Had to fight 'im tooth and nail to keep it up there, haha."
Somehow, that checks out, Mighty thinks.
He huffs and smiles, completely, inevitably, endeared. "That means a lot, Blue."
"Aw, it was no problem, big guy!" Sonic waves that familiar dismissive hand. "It's not exactly mint condition, but. Nice to have mementos, y'know?"
"Never took you for a mementos guy." Mighty challenges.
"Well, I am! For real special people."
Sonic grips the bracelet around his wrist- a story for another day- keeping his eye on Mighty. It takes an embarrassingly long time to figure out what he means.
"...Oh," Mighty says dumbly, unable to smother the flush this time. "Yeah?"
"Yeah." Sonic echoes, so softly it feels surreal, before he snatches the photo Mighty had forgotten he was holding and tucks it, and the camera, into his quills. "If you don't like it, I'll keep it!"
Mighty's broken out of his stupor by the sheer audacity, shoving Sonic's shoulder with his own as they begin to walk off. "You've always been a softie, haven't you?"
"Not as much as you!" Sonic shoves him back, and the trip off towards the ocean is made up of play-fighting and laughter, two bantering voices carried sweetly along the wind.