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Tails lay in bed, rolling to his side, then the other, on his stomach, on his back. Letting out a grunt in frustration he sits up. Turning to his clock he could see it was already 3 am. He has been awake for 57 hours and still can't manage to go to sleep.
It was all thanks to his mind, he had 6 different projects, all of which he wanted to work on but couldn’t decide which one. On top of that, he had 5 ideas that he wanted to make. Thanks to these Decisions his mind hasn't shut up in days, making it hard for him to go to sleep.
He tried everything, sleepy tea, meditation, pills, exercise, music, literally anything he could think of, but nothing had worked. He was starting to go crazy, seeing things that weren't there or remembering certain conversations that didn't happen. He even messed up one of his drives and code farms because he was forcing himself to work on it, hoping it'll help but instead, he messed up his math and fucked the whole thing up.
Thanks to this he had lost all motivation. Too many choices that he couldn't decide on, overflowing his brain which was trying so hard to sort everything out. He didn't even have the energy to get out of bed again and it was killing him. This isn't who he is. He's an inventor, not a lazy fox who does nothing but sit around. His hands needed something but he couldn't get it until he slept, even a little bit.
It's gotten so bad that everyone has asked him if he was OK, and by the 4th time he almost couldn't take it anymore. It hurt him to see the concern written on Sonic's face. His brother was even left flabbergasted after he shouted out in anger at the group for asking if he was OK. Tails wanted to be left alone so he headed upstairs to his room where he tried to sleep and hoped once he did he would feel better.
Sonic did try to help but there was nothing he could do. It wasn't like Sonic could just blow dust and knock him out... THAT'S IT. Maybe if Tails goes and asks Sonic to knock him out then he will finally go to sleep. Getting out of bed he made his way through the upper floor of his and Sonic's house. Making it to the second master bedroom, Tails crept in. The room was dark except for the light that was shining in from the ocean's reflection of the moon.
Making his way to Sonic's bed, he saw his brother sleeping peacefully as he lay in the middle of his full-size bed. Crawling onto the bed he came to a stop next to Sonic. He felt bad for waking up his dear friend but he needed this, and unlike him, he knew Sonic would fall back to sleep shortly after.
Reaching a hand out he poked Sonic's shoulder but it didn't work. He tried again, getting a groan and by the third time Sonic's eyes shot open as he sat up breathing heavily he looked around before seeing it was just Tails. "Sonic," the two-tailed fox said in a small voice.
"Tails, oh my... you scared me" Sonic said as he rubbed his face, trying to catch his breath after almost having a panic attack. As he did he looked at Tails and saw that he had a tired look on his face, the same as the one he had for days now but every time he asked, Tails said he was fine. "What's wrong?" He asked.
"Um, Sonic... I know this--will sound... weird..." Tails says as he starts to play with his hands. He felt guilty that he was disturbing Sonic with something pointless, meaning he disturbed his friend for nothing.
"It's ok, Tails. Take your time" Sonic says, smiling at his brother. Just by the look of the fox he could see Tails was nervous, on edge even but for what he didn't know.
"Sonic... can you hit me" Tails blurted out as he looked away from Sonic, knowing what he just said was an odd request.
"What? Why? Tails what happened?" Sonic asks now, afraid Tails did something horrible and wants to get the punishment over before Sonic truly finds out. Even though Sonic was never one for hitting him except that one time their house almost exploded, and he tried to warn Tails that the device he was making was smoking but the fox said it was normal. But he never hit Tails before, just gave a hard lecture.
"Nothing happened just...please Sonic," Tails said pleading so Sonic did it. He hit Tails. Even if it was just a little hit to the top of his head.
"They're happy"
"No I mean, hit me harder"
Once again Sonic hit Tails but only with a little bit more force.
"Come on Sonic, I know you can hit harder, again"
"Tails, why do you want to be hit so badly?"
"Just do it. Please" Tails said this time he felt tears threatening to pierce the side of his eyes. He was so tired and he just wanted to go to sleep, to the point it was becoming overwhelming.
"No. Tails tell me what's wrong? Why do you want me to hit you so hard?" Sonic said with his voice full of concern. "I'm your brother you can tell me"
That was all it took for everything to fall apart. The tears in his eyes slid down his cheek. He tightly grabbed Sonics' comforter that was on his bed. Burying his face into the blanket he let out a small cry. The stress of being awake finally bore down on him, sending everything falling.
"I want to sleep, I want to sleep so badly," Tails said as he tried to breathe through his sobs.
"I've tried everything... I mean EVERYTHING and nothing's working." He continued as Sonic sat and listened to him.
"My mind won't shut up, I just want it to shut up, WHY WON'T IT SHUT UP" he cried harder.
After that he didn't say anything as he cried into his brother's blanket, wetting it with his tears, snoot, and drool. As he cried he felt as Sonic patted the back of his head, which helped calm him down as he was breathing heavily.
Once the crying came to a stop, he felt as Sonic got out of his bed. "Hum," he heard Sonic calling his attention. Looking up he saw Sonic standing at the side of his bed, his arms opened wide as he smiled at Tails.
Hesitantly he got up and made his way to that side of the bed as he wrapped his arms around Sonic's neck, getting a nice hug. As he did he felt Sonic wrap his arms around his Tails before picking him up off the bed as he slowly started to rock Tails in his arm.
"What are you doing?" Tails asked but didn't want to pull away.
"Rocking you to sleep, you know like I used to when we met a while back," Sonic said as he remembered the nights Tails had nightmares about his hometown or dreams of death. Sonic always rocked him and it seemed to work each time.
"But Sonic, I'm not a kid anymore," Tails said as his eyes started to feel heavy.
"Yes you are"
"Am not"
"Well I still view you as a kid"
"Hm"
With that Sonic looked over his shoulder he saw Tails was asleep. His arms now have fallen, hanging down at his sides.
"Good night Tails," Sonic said as he kissed the top of his head before walking to the fox’s room and putting him in his bed before going back to his room to continue sleeping.
_______
Tails woke up in his bed. He didn't remember falling asleep but boy did he feel well rested. Getting out of bed he headed downstairs. Reaching the bottom he saw Sonic in the kitchen. "Hey Sonic,” he said with joy as he walked up to him.
"Hey Tails finally decided to wake up, I see"
"Yeah, how long was I asleep for?"
"Well it's been two almost 3 days," Sonic said
"What really?"
"Are you sure you're good today? Not too tired?"
"No, why do you ask?"
"Just curious"
"Ok well I'm off to go work on a new device"
"Ok, dinner will be ready momentarily"
"Ok"
With that, he walked into his workshop and got started on his next project. Not noticing the proud smile on Sonic's face. He was glad to see his brother in high spirits again.