Chapter Text
Suffice to say, Sonic’s day started as innocently as it always does.
He had woken up. That’s a good way to start the day, right? Not only had he woken up, but he’d done so in his own bed in his brother’s residence. No alternate universe, no time jumps, no apparent abduction, and zero egg-face to be seen. By all means, his day had been promising right from the get go. Tails was awake before him, per usual, and Sonic went about his morning routine. He pulled on his shoes and went for a run in the woods for about an hour, came back, and then brought his little bro to Amy’s for some grub around lunch time.
Amy’s house was where his troubles had begun. Her house was a bit more unkempt than usual, and she confided in the two that she was rearranging her space. She asked the eldest for help while Tails set out to determine whether any of her rooms would hold enough outlet-sourced electricity to efficiently power a hot tub. Sonic doubted that fantasy of hers would come to fruition before she realized how straight-up inconvenient it would be to have a hot tub in her carpeted downstairs. If she planned on remodeling the floor somehow to accommodate for that, then as much as he loved helping his friends, he would much rather pass on that kind of busywork.
Sonic spent his afternoon moving bookshelves, couches, loveseats, and even once or twice, a bed. He shuffled back and forth, around rooms and between them. This went on for… well, for a while. Two hours at the very least. He sent Tails home after the first, not wanting the kit to get restless and attempt helping. By the end of it all, he was aching and actually quite ready for resting up. The only problem lied in the fact that the sun was still high in the sky—it was about evening, by then. Sonic was not one to waste daylight.
He bid Amy farewell, stretched a bit to be kind to his already smarting muscles, and set off in a sprint. Maybe if he got a nice hit of endorphins he could enjoy the rest of his evening in an eventful way.
The plan was just that: Run until he couldn’t feel the ache anymore. About ten minutes into the run, Sonic became a little bored with the mostly empty path he’d chosen. Growing daring (or impulsively stupid, as Amy would call him), he decided to take a detour through the next city. He zipped onto what he recognized as Main Street, taking the stretch of pavement with exhilaration and weaving between boughs of angry, exasperated, and reluctantly fond drivers. A few offered waves or high fives that he took generously, of course. He would never turn down a fan.
A blur of familiar white had the hedgehog abruptly skidding to a stop. He backtracked, peering around the corner.
In the city square, sitting on a park bench and seemingly enjoying the atmosphere, was none other than Silver the hedgehog. It didn’t seem that anything was terribly wrong—he was relaxed, which was rare—but Sonic wouldn’t pass up an opportunity to talk to a pal. It might also be nice to just double check the world wasn’t about to be destroyed and fate wasn’t in Sonic’s hands or something.
“Silver!” The blue blur took off again, this time skidding to a stop just a foot shy of running straight into his friend. Silver jolted out of his previously cool demeanor to look at him with wide eyes. “What’s up, dude? No catastrophes I should know about, right?” Sonic asked as casually as he could without betraying his anxiousness.
Silver’s eyes lit up with clarity. “Oh! Hey, Sonic—no, no, nothing’s wrong. At least, I hope not. I suppose I didn’t take into account the fact that my presence might be kind of a bad omen to you all. Sorry about that,” he chuckled sheepishly. A hand rested on the back of his neck.
Sonic put his hands on his hips and peered closer. Well, that was good news, at any rate! No world-ending today. He’s had enough of that for a lifetime already(though he had a feeling he may not be completely done with that shtick yet). Despite the good tidings, this still raised another question. “What are you doing so far out of your time if not on business, then? Not that I mind you here!” He added the last part as an afterthought, not wanting to scare off an ally he so seldom sees. “It’s really pleasant, actually. Just…”
“Unexpected? Out of the ordinary?” Silver filled in the blanks with a large smile of understanding that showed off the gap between his teeth. Sonic had always been a bit jealous of that charming grin. “I get it, don’t even worry. I just kind of decided that, well, everything that goes wrong seems to stem back to this spot in the progression of time. I decided it may be good to visit more frequently and keep things in check.”
Sonic nodded, rubbing the underside of his nose absently as he looked around the city square. There are some posters up about upcoming events. He should look at them before he leaves. “All back here, eh? I suppose I haven’t heard of any worldwide catastrophes in the pre-Eggface century. Or maybe Shadow’s right and I just attract trouble.” He laughed at the thought. Shadow would probably seethe at the thought of Sonic even agreeing with him even for a joke.
Silver seemed to miss the context by a hair. The white hedgehog’s eyes shot wide and his quills fluffed a bit as if he were distressed. “No!” He insisted, throwing his hands up in a placating gesture. “Not at all! That isn’t what I meant. You shouldn’t think that way. What bad people do is never your fault, Sonic.” It was said with a passionate conviction, yellow irises stern and determined in their statement.
Sonic stared at his friend for a few awkward seconds, blinking away his shock as if he was just slapped in the face. “Um… I know, I just meant—“ his face cracked into a bashful grin. “Never mind. Er, thanks, bro.”
Silver nodded resolutely. “You have nothing to thank me for. …bro.”
Ugh. Sonic never thought he could be out-optimism-ed. That exchange brought a grossly warm feeling to his chest. Why are his friends so sweet? No, not even. This was just a Silver thing. He couldn’t imagine having this exchange with any other person. He said as much, too.
“Only you,” He muttered with friendly exasperation.
“What?”
“Nothing,” Sonic shook his head. A topic change was in order. “How has your day been so far, then? Having a nice time in the century of Sonic T. Hedgehog?”
Luckily, the younger one took no notice of the abrupt swerve in conversation. That, or he didn’t care enough to point it out. He scratched at his muzzle as he visibly revisited his day’s events. “Well…” His eyes found their way upwards in thought. “I woke up at a friend’s house. I suppose you wouldn’t know them—they live on the outskirts of the forest near Panchao valley. Real nice bunker, honestly one of the spiffiest I’ve ever seen.”
“Bunker?”
“Oh, yes, a really secure one too. Actually, can you just forget I mentioned the location to you? I probably shouldn’t have. Anyways, I went to the park, then I stopped in this really nice cafe until lunch time. Didn’t eat there, I don’t have currency or anything, I just really like the people. Baristas are very nice company when they’re not trying to make coffee while talking to you. Some of them get kind of angry then. I can’t blame them, I’m also pretty bad at multitasking in my opinion. They have very interesting things to say though.”
Sonic threw himself down on the park bench beside Silver, nodding along. It was slightly sporadic, but probably no worse than Sonic is at telling stories on a good day. Besides, fast was exactly his speed.
“Then I decided that I should probably eat at some point. I joined this trio of rattlesnakes that were doing a street show. I honestly don’t think I fit in that much, but they were very welcoming! And clearly the crowd must’ve liked it, because we got a fair share of money. The troupe gave me some of the earnings and I went off to this really spectacular sandwich place.” Silver looked around the square appreciatively, as though he were just now seeing it. Or maybe as if he were visiting an old friend. A strange fondness. “I actually came here to settle down and eat, but I haven’t left yet. It’s nice. It’s full of people.”
Sonic had to agree. It’s a very quiet spot for a city. Not too full, but definitely not empty. The bench makes for a rather pleasant spot to simply watch the passerby. Noticing the lull in conversation, he figured it was his turn. “Sounds eventful! I spent my day with Ames. House renovation seems to be the new fad with her. I spent all morning moving furniture around with her. She could have helped! She’s, like, the strongest girl I know! Don’t tell Rouge I said that. But she insisted on watching me do it from afar to see how it ‘changed the feng shui’. Her words, not mine.”
Silver laughed. At least someone is happy about his misfortune.
“Worst of all, I don’t even feel like I did something useful,” Sonic bemoaned. “The layout barely changed in the end! All I got are a bunch of sore muscles and wasted hours. At least she has some peace of mind, I guess, but what about my peace of mind? My health? The only thing keeping me standing right now is a nice bath of endorphins starring as pain relief.”
“I doubt that,” Silver said with a raised eye ridge. “I’ve seen you fight with cracked ribs. And a concussion. And probably some sprained ankles and torn muscles and… well…”
“Okay, well, you could just nod and agree with me next time.” Sonic crossed his arms and slumped in his seat. Then, because he just so happened to be the cockiest hedgehog alive (alongside the fastest), he tacked what he thought to be a very fair and truthful statement onto the end. “Besides, not like you’d get it. I mean, you do all your fighting and stuff with your brain. You probably just, like, get some headaches or something.”
Instead of sheepish denial or playful offense, the white hedgehog beside him only tilted his head in confusion. “What?” A miffed frown settled on his face.
Sonic blinked at him stupidly. Was he… insecure about that? Oh crap. “Sorry—my tongue just runs faster than my feet do sometimes. I didn’t mean that as an insult or something, just, yknow, we fight in very different ways and—“
“Sonic,” Silver interrupted, “I’m not weak.”
“No, man! I’m not saying that at all! Just—“
“Sonic,” Silver cut in again. “I work out.”
Sonic shut up. That, naturally, lasted only about 3 seconds. “Wait, seriously?” He asked incredulously. Silver nodded. “Every day,” the younger confirmed.
This was, twice now within five minutes, about to be one of those times that Sonic’s brain simply didn’t keep up with his mouth—for better or worse. He opened his big mouth and shouted that he should spar with him. Silver looked at him like he was deranged. No amount of pleading or prodding seemed to break him, either. Poking didn’t seem to do much more than make his eye twitch. Pinching an ear (lightly, of course) just got him an amused huff. The time traveler sat stoic with crossed legs and hands set patiently in his lap. That is, until Sonic cried in a last-ditch attempt, “Prove it, tough guy!”
“How exactly should I prove that I work out? Is this a ploy to get me to flex or something? Because it won’t work. That’s kind of embarrassing,” Silver said while looking at him from the corner of his eye.
Sonic leaned away from him and turned his nose up. Snootily he commands, “If you’re so strong, then just lift something heavy!” He knew fully that there was nothing truly heavy laying around a park that could be lifted and walked away with. However, that was the humor of the rhetorical joke. The last thing he expected was an arm to be slid under his knees.
“Hey!” Sonic exclaimed, jolting away on instinct. He didn’t get far though. A white furred arm slipped safely around his quills to his back, and he felt gravity become topsy-turvy as he left the comfortable bench he was seated on. He squawked when he realized he was in the air, one strong hand helping him to sit square on Silver’s bicep, who apparently stood up just to show off.
As he stared at the ground through wide and apprehensive eyes, reality caught up to him. He gasped and whipped his head around to gape down at Silver. Silver, holding him—a roughly 91 kilogram man—on his notably jacked bicep. Holy crap. This is real? What the fuck?!
“Since when?!” Sonic squeaked.
Silver shrugged, ignoring the way the blue bur screamed like a little girl and pinwheeled his arms to keep from falling from the motion. “I guess visiting this era has helped a lot. I’ve really balanced out my diet, and I can hold muscle now! Not that it seems to make any difference.”
Sonic didn’t even know how to respond. The hero of Mobius was rendered entirely speechless at the revelation that the guy who could probably crush all of his bones with a single thought was also apparently capable of crushing him with just his hands. Or these polished guns he’s apparently been hiding, holy shit! Or—his mind wandered—maybe even some killer calves, or thighs… he shook his head to get rid of that thought. That’s approaching the no-homo category.
It was also just… very strange to be on this end of things. He doesn’t doubt that some of his other friends could probably hold him as well (Knuckles, Amy, or Shadow just off the top of his head definitely could), but no one had actually done so before. It felt very humbling. He felt uncharacteristically bashful.
“You good?” Silver asked.
Sonic jolted hard and fell to the floor with a shout.
“Ugh…” He groaned.
Silver winced with an awkward smile. “Oh. Guess not. Sorry about that. Was that too much? You got really quiet. It kind of freaked me out.”
Sonic stared up at the sky. What was he supposed to do about this information, now? Silver just so happened to be crazy strong. He could hold Sonic in the air on a whim, with seemingly no effort at all. Sonic could hardly stop him if he wanted to do so, too. That thought was dangerous. He shelved it for later and wondered. Should he tell someone about this? Would they find it as jarring as he did in the first place?
He huffed. A mischievous smile crept onto his muzzle. Everyone else will just have to find out on their own. He accepted the hand Silver extended to him with good grace. Instead of admitting any of the thoughts running through his head, he said, “That was awesome, dude! You’ve been holding out on me! You have to show me your routine next time we meet up. Do you have a number?”
Silver beamed. “Boy, do I! It’s so cool. I’ve never had a real, authentic phone before!”
And so, Sonic left with one more contact on his list. If he wheedled Silver into flexing just once and stole a photo to set for that number, then he would keep that knowledge to himself. When he got home, he said hello to Tails and sat on his bed. He only meant to plug in his phone and then go make dinner for his little brother and himself, but curiosity won him over. He opened Silver’s messages.
THE BLUE BLUR
yo dude why do you even need to work out? u ltrlly can throw cars with ur mind
Silvher, I Hardly Know Her
Why is that my name?
Anyways, I’ve always worked out! I can’t use telekinesis for everything. It’s very indelicate. If I need to rescue civilians from rubble for example, or fight in an enclosed space, it becomes very very risky!!!! I can’t always rely on mental power. You never know how it can be handicapped. Telekinesis is v complicated.
THE BLUE BLUR
oh. that makes sense lol
Silvher, I Hardly Know Her changed their name to Silver the Hedgehog
THE BLUE BLUR
lame
Silver the Hedgehog
shush
All of what I just said is true. But also…
THE BLUE BLUR
???
Silver the Hedgehog
It’s just really funny to see the looks on people’s faces when I prove them wrong. I don’t know why I look so skinny despite my muscle mass, but it’s pretty funny.
You checked out my arms a LOT dude. It actually made me feel very confident!! Thank you!
THE BLUE BLUR
YOU SAW THAT???
Silver the Hedgehog
I gotta go now, Blaze wants me back for dinner today. But it was fun to catch up!
THE BLUE BLUR
SIKVER???
Sjmevr
COME BACK
YOU CANT JUST DROP THAT
COME BACK HERE
SILVER
THE BLUE BLUR
r u still gonna drop the workout routine?