Chapter Text
Eggman hasn't left his lab in hours, only this is never a strange behavior from the genius Doctor as he was most certainly buried deep in whatever new mischievous creation he had come up with to take over Seaside Island and put an end to that blue rat and his colorful friends.
And buried deep the Doctor was, Eggman was at full confidence that this new weapon of his will be the one to achieve all of his goals, he had picked up chemistry as well as biology once again for it, focusing on more of the biological aspect in this attack than the mechanical one.
A biological attack is unlike him, which made it even the more perfect, they won't see it coming, Sonic won't be able to out run it, Tail won't outsmart it, Knuckles unbeat it...
The menacing laugh that had escaped him echoed throughout the lab, the thought of taking down his enemies was truly pleasing, the sound of his evil laughter was cut short with the lab's door sound being sled opened.
SWISH
His menacing laughter was replaced with a growl, "YOU TWO HAVE INTEREPTED A MOME-", The man turned his head around ready to insult his two usual helpers: Orbot and Cubot, only for his rage to fade away just as fast as it had appeared, when he was met with the most beautiful earth shattering brown eyes.
"Stone!", Eggman dropped the screw driver he had in hand to fully turn and giving his beloved his full attention, "I thought you were Orbot and Cubot", he explained himself feeling guilty to yell at the most gorgeous man his eyes ever laid upon, the poor man was frozen like a deer in headlight, his eyes darted away from Stone's, waiting for the wave of guilt to wash away, so instead they landed on the lattes in his hands.
"It's alright, dear", Stone soft spoke moving closer to his Ivo, "I know how frustrated you get when you are pulled out of your zone", he stopped only inches away from the other man, offering the latte in one of his hands, "latte?"
Ivo sighed a sigh of relief, he would rather have the earth being split open in halves and swallow him whole over hurting Stone.
"With stea-med austrian goat milk" they finsihed each others sentences.
Giving one another a warm smile, "thank you", Ivo took the latte, glancing at the adorable floating hearts in the drink's foam, while leaning forward placing a kiss on Stone's forehead, Stone chuckled at the gentle gesture.
They both took a sip of their lattes, the Doctor closed his eyes letting the warmth of the drink and its sweetness dance within him, as he felt it spread through his body, he had been way too much in his zone, that this is the first latte or anything that matter fact, he had in hours.
The ever most sentimental Stone, had stopped by to drop plates of food announcing its presence and where he had put it, but never staying for long, so he doesn't interrupt the Doctor's geniuses, he had been deep in his work he hadn't spent much time with Stone in the past few days, he will have to repay his lover later on, when he reopened his eyes, he was facing the desk at the other end of the lab by the door, as two plates still full of food sat there.
"What have you been making?"
"Huh?", Ivo stared back at the source of the question, Stone was looking at the machine behind him, nodding his head towards it.
He was so glad Stone is here now, that he didn't just give him the latte and left, be loved being around Stone, the best company anyone could ever ask for.
"It's a machine to put an end to all of our problems"
"Dirty dishes", Stone stated with sarcasm in his voice, crossing his arms as if his answer was the correct one.
"Think bigger, my love", Ivo turned around closing the gap between them, standing side by side, he threw a hand on the shorters man shoulder.
"With this machine I assure you", he paused, gently spinning Stone around to face him, "not only Seaside Island will be ours", pulling the man closer to him rounding his arm around his shoulder, "but the whole world", he waved the hand with latter in half circle around the lab, he pulled him closer letting their bodies click with one another like a puzzle.
Stone almost dropped his latte due to the fast grab, thankful for the training he had while he worked for the government, at no matter what pressure, sudden painful or not painfull movements, he should never drop what's in his hand, which mostly was his gun.
"That sounds lovely, dear", Stone left the arm wrapped around his shoulders, dropped his mug on the nearest desk, "but you still haven't told me what it does", he went on and rounding the machine like a shark with admiration in his eyes.
No matter how many times Stone had called The Genius Doctor Ivo Robotnik with various pet names in the many languages he spoke, each and every one will make him feel a fuzzy feeling in his chest, and the growing heat he felt in there was not from the latte.
"You're in luck, my Stone", The Doctor placed his mug next to Stone's, "one more step is left for it to be complete", heading away from the machine to a vault's steel door, not even the biggest bank in the wolrd has one like it.
He swang the door open after various typing, eye scanning, voice scanning, hand scanning, you named it, Stone only rolled his eyes at how much his lover has to be over the top with the smallest things, its not like he is hiding the codes to set of all the nuclear warheads in the world...does he?
Ivo disappeared from his view when he walked into the vault, only to return with a black sealed box.
Stone let out a small laughter, okay this is really over kill at this point, he thought with his curiosity growing bigger when the man in front of him put the box on the near table by the machine, and when it was opened with few clicks there and there, a fog came out of it, followed by a chill in the air, flickering mixture of light beaming out of the box.
"Behold Stone...", Ivo got a glowing flask in both hands, its light reflecting on all that is around it, "The energy of the Chaos Emeralds"
Stone's eyes widened take in the beauty of what he was seeing, the flask held the energy with its seven colors flouting around it, of course his genius Doctor was able to harness such power even if so ever so little.
"H-how did yo-", Stone rubbed his temple a little confused, yes the doctor is capable of such a thing its the how he did it brought the confusion.
"I may have had the emeralds within my grasp for mere moments before that stupid echidna and the edgy hedgehog took them from me", he tightened his gripp over the flask at the mention of the sad events of him losing his precious emeralds, with venom in his voice, "but even with the little time I have got to spend with them, I was able to harness small fraction of their choas energy", his voice gone soft when he held out the flask to Stone.
Stone with his jaw still dropped took the flask ever so gently into his hands, still admiring the flouting glowing colors in it, dancing inside of it in harmony, so dangerous yet so beautiful to look at, just like his Doctor.
"For my final step", Ivo moved behind his machine pushing a red button, a small drawer slid open out of its side, "I want you to do the honor of completing it".
Stone's entire body reacted to what Ivo was offering him, he knew the final touche on his brilliant machines meant so much to him, it is the moment he loves the most about the whole process of making a new creation, not the blueprints, not the building itself, not the testing, but the final step is what matters most to him, as it allows him a moment of peace to admire his hard work.
Stone's face heating like an oven, his heart could jump out of his chest and tap dance at any second he was sure of it, and then...came the overwhelming feeling of not wanting to ruin this final moment, it means a lot to Ivo, he has to focus, not only not to ruin the final touch his Doctor has entrused him with but also the fact he had the most powerful energy within his hands, and he really doesn't want to blow both of them up.
"Just pour the energy in here for me, woul you?", Ivo tapped the drawer with a welcoming smile on his face.
Stone paid him back with a wide, ear to ear smile before nodding and putting on his serious face, he had to lock in.
Swallowing his pride for being the first person offered with such an honor from the future ruler of the world, Stone walked to the drawer taking a very deep breath as he slowly poured the energy the way he was instructed, the energy of the Chaos Emeralds didn't fall like water or honey or any other liquid, feather falling in its place was more accurate description, he kept the flask in place not moving a muscle till the very last glow was gone and moved into the machine.
Stone took a step back from it, hopefully he didn't mess it up, the machine stayed silent for a moment, and if it weren't for the soft hand placed on his back by the love of his life, he surely would've started panicking, that is untill...
The machine had started to glow, all the seven colors it had absorbed started to light the machines wires, beaming colorful lights coming out of the cracks in between the parts of the machine, a rainbow of colors breathed within it, a light shining reaching the ceiling of the lab, and every corner of it.
Stone let out a sigh of relief as this clearly a sign he hadn't messed up anything, he looked at his Ivo
The Doctor had his eyes admiring his creation beaming of light, the light reflecting of his face and glasses made Stone's heart beat even faster, he leaned into Ivo's touch in his back, admiring the dancing lights as well, untill...
WARNING! WARNING! WARNING!
The robotic voice came from the screens behind them, the bold word on each screen as it flashed in red, the whole room is in fact red now.
"Damn it!", Ivo cursed under his breath removing his hand from Stone's back leaving the man yearning for the warmth in the spot it left, Ivo moved quickly to the screens, flipping through one screen to another, still mumbling cursing words Stone couldn't hear.
He watched Ivo move fast trying to shut the alarms but also finding the cause of the distress of his lab, when the light in the corner of his eyes started to glow brighter and brighter.
Stone turned his head to the machine to see its light growing bigger by the second, the machine had started to make very unpleasant noises, instead of trying to run away from the clearly about to exploded machine, Stone just stood there frozen, thinking this is happening because of him, what could he have done wrong to make it act like that, maybe if it was Ivo to put the energy, this wouldn't have happened, then he wouldn't have to deal with the feeling of him letting his Ivo down.
Speaking of the Doctor, the growing warnings were too much, with each one he closed three others appeared, he turned around frustrated to see Stone still standing in the same place, "Stone!", Ivo called out for the man in a warning tone among all the chaos.
Except Stone clearly no hearing him still fixated on the machine as the light surrounding him had grown much brighter and the noises coming from the machine had become much louder than tha alarms, so he moved and he moved fast, reaching his hand for Stone, "ABAN STEP AWA-"
before he could even finish his sentence, a bright blinding light of an explosion came from in front of him, came from the machine, the machine Stone was standing few steps away from, his Stone.
When stone gained back consciousness, the very first thing he felt was a sharp pain in his chest, his heart felt heavy and so his eyes, the pain felt like a needle being poked on every organ in his chest, his head wasn't doing bettter either, is this what dying feels like?
But nope, it's wasn't dying, slowly but surely the pain had fully faded away, like it was never there, he let out a shaky breath, to get himself together and at least try to open his eyes.
He opened his eyes wincing at the bright light in his blurry vision, a bright light, a bright light was the last thing he remembers before, before...?
He blinked several times quickly waking up his eyes with him, once his sight was more focused he recognized his bedroom's ceiling, Bedroom?, Stone was fully sure the last time he was awake he was in Ivo's lab, and he was there with him...Ivo was with him.
"IVO!!", Stone forced his body upright pushing away the blanket that covered him, to only cover his lower half now.
He looked to his right in the room, he was laid down on his bed, everything felt very unfamiliar and gave him the creeps, his vision was messing up the proportions of everything surrounding him, he felt small, awfully a lot small, both physically and mentally.
Well that was the case untill he heard a small yelp coming from behind him, with the sound of a chair almost breaking under pressure.
He immediately turned not only his head but his full body to the left, surprisingly it was easy to do so, the feeling of unfamiliarity didn't only come from the room but also his body now, it came from everything except for one thing and one thing only.
The very familiar never to bring uncomfort to him man in front of him, sitting in a chair so out of place with the rest of the room's decor, Ivo had been asleep when he made his scream of horror, he can recognize the face of his beloved when he had just woken up in a very unpleasant way anywhere.
Ivo rubbed his eyes a little, Stone took in notice he wasn't wearing his usual attire, no glasses on, no red jacket, the goggles were messing too, it was the last thing he remembers the man wearing before he was was out of commission, he was now wearing some very casual clothing, grey sweatpants and a red turtleneck, his mustache was a mess, probably from the lack of sleep that led him to sleeping on a chair like always.
"Stone?", Ivo got up from his seat and knelt down by the side of the bed, eyes locked in with Stone's.
Is either Stone was having a concoction or Ivo had grown larger than the last time he saw him, no it can't be the second one, definitely the first.
"Ivo!", Stone stared at him trying to read his face, it was full of guilt, confusion and...fear.
"Ivo what happened?", Stone stated about to reach a hand to Ivo.
To his shock, Ivo backed away from him before he could even get his hand from under the blanket, this made his heart shatter into millions of pieces, his loved one just flinched at his attempt to reach out for him, and he had disgust in his face, no, no not disgust but fear, Ivo was afraid of him.
Stone felt the burning feeling in his heart moving to his eyes, "Ivo!", Stone's whole body shivering in how much confused and scared he now felt on stop of feeling small, he had no idea what was going on, what had happened in the lab, the last thing he remembers is a very bright colorful light, so how did all of this resulted in Ivo stepping away from his affection, he never did that before.
Ivo swallowed the lump in his throat and leaned back forward towards the bed, closer to Stone, "Stone, dear, is it really you?"
"Is- is it really me? wha- what huh what kind of questions is that, my love?", Stone answered Ivo's question with another one of his own, tapping a finger on his own chest, the touch felt weird but he needed to gesture its still him, still his Stone, his only and truly, and whatever had happened it won't change that fact.
But what had happened?, Stone felt his head hurt again trying to remember what happened, in the lab, bright light, Ivo was there, bright light, Ivo was there, he tried to remember anything else but the headache was only making it hard for him to remember or think straight.
"Aban, what is the last thing you remember?".
Aban, Ivo had used his first name, the name only used in dire situations or when they are making love, again, no it can't be the second one, definitely the first.
"I'm- I'm not sure! I can't remember anything"
Stone's headache came back with another annoying wave, he grunted at the pain shutting his eyes close to rub them with his hand once seated on his lap, his eyes felt heavy, his eyes were big, he has always been told that but gosh they definitely were not that big, it took insane amount of energy to rub them whole.
It only hurt his head more, so he moved his hand to the top of his head and that's when it made contact with something, something hard, he moved his hand away from it, as he froze in his place, opening his eyes looking at Ivo as he also been frozen in place.
His trembling fingers came back to inspect what was that, he was sure it was a hammer, flown by accident in the lab and now it's stuck in his head, that should explain the headaches but no, the hard thing on his head felt organic, he felt its texture, it was weird, this whole situation was weird, he moved his hand slightly to make another contact to the same pointy organic smothed textured with a curved thing, whatever was on his head, there is two of it.
Stone threw the blanket that had been covering only his lower half thus far away, he crawled out of the bed with only one gaol in mind, to make it to the full length mirror in the bedroom, he didn't care how much his bed felt bigger now, everything did anyways.
"Aban wait!", Ivo tried to stop his fast pacing that oddly enough had a clicking sound following each step, he didn't stop to anything untill he was standing in front of the mirror, and when he did.
What he saw in the mirror turned his stomach into a knot, ready to throw up all that had been inside of it into the mirror, he looked at the reflection on it, it was most definitely not his, panic grew more and more inside of his body
"Aban, I know-", Ivo's attempt in comforting him, was awfully interrupted by a loud glass shattering scream.
"AHHHHHHHHHHH"