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Normally, Sonic could ignore the sound of thunder. If he was out on an adventure, the adrenaline rush was usually more than enough for him to push the rising feeling of fear in the back of his mind. And when he was at home, he usually had enough forewarning to prepare earplugs or some other way to drown out the thunder’s distinctive rumbling. This time, however, was different.
The storm came out sharp and suddenly, and Sonic was too reviewing a letter he had received earlier that day to notice the patter of rain against the walls of his home. It was easy for him to push the sound to the back of his mind, it was like white noise now to him- what wasn’t white noise, however, was the sharp crack of boom of thunder following a lightning strike not too far away. Sonic’s reaction was immediate- letter dropped, his quills spiking up, and breath caught in his throat. And when the second stroke of lightning came with another loud rumble of thunder, everything fell apart.
Sonic’s paws flew to his ears, and he curled up, toppling over off his seat but barely able to bring himself to care over the fear quickly ramping up within him. The sound reminded him all too much of far too many things- running away from one of Eggman’s ships as bombs dropped behind him, fearfully clutching onto tails as the wind rushed through his quills- though the grip of the young fox was painfully absent. Gunfire and strangled screams of gun soldiers as him and Shadow fought off black arms soldiers. So many smaller instances of sharp, loud sounds ingrained into his very being.
He felt he couldn’t breath- his lungs felt like they were being crushed tight by an invisible hand. Every crack of thunder sounded like another explosion behind him as he tried to save him and his brother from being blown to bits, every strike of a raindrop against his walls and windows a bullet ripping through the air from Shadow’s gun as Sonic fought off a black hawk from swooping towards a fallen soldier. It all felt too overwhelming, Sonic’s muscles were aching from keeping his quills on end, his lungs burning from his hyperventilated breath, tears streaming down his cheeks as he let out strangled sobs.
He couldn’t tear himself from the feeling, from his breath feeling like fire in his chest that raced across his entire body. It felt like years he sat there, forcing out sobs as his claws dug into his head, curled on the floor of his house. It was only when he heard the door to Tails’ workshop that he lifted his head somewhat, staring blearily through tears as a yellow-orange blur ran over towards him. He let out a strangled whine as it grabbed his wrist, tugging his paws away from his head, red droplets of blood following in the wake of his claws being tugged free- was he really gripping that hard?- the touch feeling like knives on his skin. However, the whine trailed off as a set of headphones was settled over his ears, the world suddenly falling away to the distant sound of muffled rain.
He spent the next few minutes sniffling and slowly coming down from his panic attack, catching his breath and slowly forcing his muscles to relax and let his quills settled back down against his body. Once he finally was able to get himself to move, he wiped some of the tears still streaming from his eyes and slowly lifted his head to see Tails sitting in front of him, frowning worriedly yet still sitting patiently waiting for him to calm down. Once Tails noticed Sonic looking at him, the fox pointed at his mouth with his head tilted in a silent question. Sonic understood immediately, opening his mouth to try and speak but being unable to force anything out. He shook his head, watching as Tails posed a second silent question by spreading his arms out in a hugging gesture. Sonic sat there a few moments, thinking about it before throwing himself into Tails’ arms, a second round of sobs escaping him unbidden from the still ebbing stress and fear built inside him.
Tails calmly ran a paw through Sonic’s head quills as the hedgehog sobbed, slowly relaxing as he finally felt safe. Eventually, Sonic’s snores filled the air, him not realizing just how drained he was from the experience until it was too late. Tails, meanwhile, simply kept holding onto him and stroking his head quills, his own eyes drooping to the sounds of now lighter rain pattering against the two’s shared home and his brother’s content snores. The two could discuss what had happened in the morning. For now, Tails didn’t want to disturb Sonic’s sleep- or his own that was rapidly approaching.
The sunlight would later illuminate the two, laying together on the floor. Sonic’s arms still loosely wrapped around Tails, his quills messy and cheeks still stained and wet from crying, and Tails still clinging tightly onto him, expression still somewhat creased with worry but still somehow content. The snores of the brothers filling the air together as outside the sunlight cast away any sign of the previous night’s storm.