Work Text:
Robotnik wiped the sleep from his eyes, taking a moment to look at the two forms next to him. His daughter tucked between himself and his husband. He gently brushed a hand through the young girl's hair, trying to brush out the curl in her bangs only for the hair to immediately spring back. He smiled and leaned forward to kiss his daughter's cheek, before he slowly extracted himself from the bed. The doctor walked around the opposite side of the bed where he tucked some of his husband's hair behind his ear, allowing him to kiss the man's cheek before he stood and headed off into the lab.
As the doctor sat at the main console writing a letter, he thought about recent events. he had been in contact with some people at GUN for the last few days, a fact of which he kept secret from his dear sycophant. Which, to be clear, he knew wasn't the recipe for a healthy marriage, but he also knew about the night terrors his husband suffered from at the mere idea of GUN finding them, so he kept it under wraps.
He had negotiated with the contact to have a simple old fashioned duel, they were to meet in a clearing of the woods, draw their positions, count to 10, and either shoot to the sky, or at the opponent. The genius knew his odds of not being shot were low, hence why as he exited the lab, all the badniks (aside from Orbot and Cubot) were following him. The mechanic hedgehog at his side.
. . .
As Robotnik arrived at the clearing, he kept most of his machines behind a nearby tree. Only keeping a set of about 17 drones around him as he greeted Rockwell and her posse of agents.
“Let's get this over with, I have better things to be doing.” the doctor sighed.
“And what would those “things” be?” Rockwell sneered.
The doctor chuckled.
“Like I'd tell you. That wasn't part of the deal.”
The Doctor and Director turned their noses up at the other as they drew their positions.
Robotnik faced east as he readied his machines. The watched the sun as it slowly began to rise above the horizon, the memory of watching it set the night of his and Stone's wedding making his chest feel fuzzy. He spares another thought to the note he wrote for his husband, thinking of how he could have written better.
The count to ten begins.
1
He hopes everything goes to plan.
2
He fiddles with the buttons on his gloves.
3
He spares a quick glance towards the hidden bots, spotting Metal peaking out from behind the tree.
4
He pushes up his glasses.
5
He feels the agent's eyes burning into the back of his head.
6
He thinks about how easily his husband could take them out.
7
He thinks about how this was all based on nothing.
8
If Rockwell shoots, she’ll be the one in the wrong.
9
His last thought was of Stone and Sage, hoping he can get back unharmed before they wake.
10
The doctor spun on his heels, ordering the drones around him to aim towards the sky.
He hears one of the agents shout, but can't make it out as he staggers back, a hand coming up to cover where the bullet had entered his chest.
Time hadn't slowed like it did the last 2 times he nearly died. One minute he was standing, and the next he was on the ground, the world around him quickly fading to black.
. . . .
Stone bolted awake at the sound of alarms blaring. His heart instantly started racing, he grabbed at his hair and gasped for air. His body completely shutting down, despite him wanting to move and protect his family.
He sat there completely frozen until a small hand tugged on his sleeve.
“Baba?”
Stone sucked in a breath as he looked down at his daughter, who was still wiping sleep from her eye.
“Baba what’s happening? I’m scared…”
Stone pulled Sage into his arms.
“I'm not sure, Pebble.. But, it's probably alright, your father has this place fortified to the moon and back..”
Sage pulled back from her dad to stare up at him, giving him her best puppy dog eye and pouty lip. The former agent laughed softly and kissed his daughter's forehead.
“I’ll go check out what's happening, you stay here, alright?” he soothed a hand over his daughter's head.
Sage nodded, simply just watching Stone as he got up, pulled on his pair of control gloves and headed towards the door, at the last minute he turned and activated Orbot and Cubot as well as turning off the alarm.
. . .
Stone walked into the lab and was greeted by the sight of the doctor's shirtless form, laying on top of the main console, a few med-niks hovering around him and treating the wound on his chest. Metal stands off to the side, his arms out stretched in front of him, the doctor's sweater draped over it, a very same one that Stone had crocheted his husband the very first Christmas they celebrated together.
The former agent rushed to Robotnik's side, taking the unconscious man's hand, removing their gloves so he could check the other man's pulse, which was faint but still there. He frantically looked around at the surrounding bots until his eyes locked on metal.
“Metal, what happened?”
The robotic hedgehog marched up the console, standing to the side and stared pointedly at a piece of paper by the injured man's feet. With shaking hands Stone took the folded paper into his hands, it had his name written on the front. He unfolded it and started to read.
‘To, my syco-husband, Stone.
If you reading this then that must mean i- -’
Stone stopped reading and shoved the paper into his pocket.
“No. I want you to explain it to me, Metal. What did my idiot husband do to end up half dead?”
Metal let out a few beeps, his red eyes briefly turned to spinning circles before he projected a recording onto a nearby wall, Stone crouched next to him to properly watch.
The lighting and angle of the recording were awkward, by the light it was clear that the sun was just beginning to rise. A few figures stood in the clearing of the woods, when they turned to look at Robotnik as he strolled past Metal in the recording, Stone realized that it was Rockwell and a group of GUN soldiers.
The former agent's stomach dropped, he wrapped his arms around himself as he bent forward, his forehead nearly touching the ground as he gasped for air. Metal dismissed the recording, nervously looking around before shifting the sweater on his arms onto only one so he could run his hand down the now crying man's back.
“Why… haven't I been through enough??!” Stone heaved.
Metal fidgeted for a second before holding the sweater out to Stone, beeping to get his attention. He human sniffled and took the article of clothing, holding it out in front of him as he looked over it. There was a giant blood stain across the entire chest, the darkest spot just below the sternum. It was completely ruined, no way would the blood come out of the worn wool.
Stone hugged the sweater to his chest and wailed.
When a med-nik bumped into him and projected a screen to him, Stone takes a moment to clear the tears from his eyes before reading the info on it.. It was a medical report on Robotnik's condition. He has a bullet wound in his chest, no exit wound, and a minor concussion. The wound has been treated, and there's nothing much to be done about the concussion, aside from letting the man rest. He was in stable condition
Stone sighed, slowly rising onto shaking legs, handing the sweater back to Metal. He took his husband's hand once more, softly brushing his thumb along the other's knuckles. After a few minutes he raised the hand to his forehead as he let out another heavy sigh.
“Ivo, you absolute fucking idiot.”
The former agents lowered the hand from his forehead and looked at one of the med-niks.
“Is he alright to be moved?”
The med-niks all beep in approval. Stone scoops Robotnik into his arms and heads back to the bedroom.
. . .
When Stone walked into the room, Sage got up from where she had been playing with Orbot and Cubot and rushed over to him, latching onto his leg.
“Baba!!”
“Hey, little pebble..”
Sage let go of his leg and watched as her father laid the doctor onto the bed, and then just stood there with a somber expression on his face. She walked over and started scrambling to try and get on top of the tall bed, when she didn't succeed, Orbot hovered over and gave her a boost up. The young girl crawled around on the bed, before laying over the sleeping man's legs.
“What happened to father?” she inquired.
Stone didn’t respond, his eyes glazed over as he spaced out. Sage pouts, sitting up so she could wave a hand in front of his face. When that didn't get a response from her dad she took a deep breath in before screaming.
“BABA!!!!”
Stone jumped, snapping back to reality.
“S-sorry, did you need something, Sage?”
“What happened to father??”
Stone fidgeted for a moment, trying to think of what to say.
“O-oh, you know.. He just spent another early morning in the lab, and got a bit banged up, that's all..”
Sage shoots her dad a disbelieving look before settling back down across her fathers legs.
. . .
The rest of the day passed, a tension palpable in the air. Stone often ended up spacing out and needed to be shaken or yelled at to get him to snap back to reality, which upset his daughter. When he went to put Sage down to sleep in her own bed, the child started whining and throwing a fit, crying that she wanted to stay with her parents. Stone tried to reason with his daughter that her father needed to rest by himself and that it was best that she stay in her room for the night. (truly he was just worried of having the child in the room in case of the doctor's condition destabilising) but eventually he caved and scooped the child up before heading off to the master bedroom.
. . .
Stone spent half and hour tossing and turning in bed, every time he would get close to dozing off, a spike of panic ran through him and he’d sit up to check Robotnik's pulse, then all the adrenaline would drain from him and he would roll onto his side, then the cycle would repeat. Eventually he had enough, got out of bed, headed to the kitchen, where he grabbed his chair from the dining table and headed back to the bedroom, parking the chair on his husband's side of the bed. The former agent's hands rested in his lap, he fiddled with his wedding ring as he watched over his husband. Memories of him doing the same in the crab causing emotions to stir inside the man.
Eventually he managed to fall asleep in the chair.
. . .
When Stone awoke he immediately regretted his choice of sleep location, his back was stiff and he had a crick in his neck. He rubbed at the sore spot, trying (and failing) to soothe it. He sighed and slid on his control gloves to summon a badnik to scan over the doctor. His injuries were steadily healing but the report did advise to install an IV, so Stone did just that.
When Sage woke, Stone took her with him to prepare breakfast. Once food was acquired, she insisted they eat back in the bedroom, which Stone agreed to as he wanted to continue monitoring his husband's condition.
During breakfast, Sage inquired about the IV.
“Oh, that's just to make sure he's getting the proper nutrients he requires while he's resting.”
“Oh okay…”
The two took another bite of their food.
“Ya’ know, this isnt the first time I've had to install an IV in your father, heck, it wouldnt be the second.”
“Really??” Sage’ face absolutely lit up, she loved hearing of her parents' past.
Stone laughed softly.
“Yup, back when we were working together, he often refused to properly take care of himself-”
“Oh nnoooo!” Sage pouted.
“Yeah, so I came up with a compromise. He let me stick the IV in him, and I stopped nagging him about taking a break. He agreed, completely forgetting we had a meeting that day”
Sage giggled.
“You would not believe the shock on everyone's faces when they saw the doctor dragging along the stand. They all thought he was dying, which wasn't too far off i suppose..”
Sage gasped.
“He’s not dying now, is he??”
Stone shook his head.
“Hes in stable condition, he just needs time to rest and recover.”
The girl beamed, making her dad smile back.
. . .
2 days passed, Robotnik had moments of consciousness but he wasn't very lucid, and he’d often pass back out not too long. Stones dissociative episodes became more frequent, he’d just stare blankly at the ring on his finger until his daughter got Orbot and Cubot to roughly shake him back to reality, which really upset Sage.
Sage spent a lot of the days curled into Robotnik's side, rambling about anything and everything that came to her mind, which is a lot when you're the young daughter of the world's 2 smartest men. Whenever Stone would step out of the room, Sage would start picking at the seam of her fathers shirt while asking the sleeping man to wake up; bringing up how sad her baba was without him.
Currently, Sage was playing with her robotic brothers outside, leaving Stone kneeling next to the bed, his face buried in the sheets as he silently sobbed.
He jumped when he felt a hand card through his hair. He looked up to see the doctor softly smiling at him. Stone scrambled to his feet and cupped his husband's face in his hands.
Robotnik smiled wider, looked at the clock on the bedside table, seeing it as 1:06 pm.
“Good morning, my dearest barnacle..” the man's voice was a horse from lack of use.
Stone didn't respond at first simply just staring while running a shaky thumb back and forth on the other man's cheek. He leaned in close, their foreheads almost touching before suddenly Stone drew back and harshly slapped Robotnik across the face, causing him to suck in a breath through his teeth.
“Thats the fourth time…”
“H-huh?” the doctor brang a hand up to soothe his stinging cheek.
“That's the fourth time you left me!! And for what??”
“Stone-”
“No! No. i-i-i-” Stone took a step away from the bed, "I can't keep doing this, Ivo. you promised me that you wouldn't purposefully put yourself in harm's way, especially not without me there to protect you!!!” he frustratedly grabbed at his hair as tears spilled down his cheeks, “does all of this mean nothing to you??? Does our family really mean nothing?!”
Robotnik shifted to sit up.
“Our family means the world to me, Stone-”
“Then why meet with GUN?! Especially without, at the very least, telling me?!!”
“Stone-”
“NO! Shut up!!” Stone tries to pull off his gloves, growling in frustration as they get stuck, but eventually gets it and throws them to the ground and holds up his left hand. “You put this ring on my finger, and yet you refuse to acknowledge the meaning of it!!”
Robotnik reached for his partner, but the man pulled away.
“Y-you can't keep doing this. I can't keep doing this…”
Stone pulled off his ring and flung it at the doctor, scrubbing at his face to try and dry his tears as he stormed out of the room.
. . .
Once the door closed behind him, Stone turned around and rested his forehead against the cool metal as he took in a shuddering breath.
“Baba? Is everything okay??” Sage asked while approaching her dad.
Stone sighed.
“Yup, i’ll be alright, little pebble… you’re fathers awake, feel free to go say hi.. I- im gonna head out for a little bit, there are left overs in the fridge you can have for lunch and dinner if im not back by then…”
Sage pouted, Stone simply just ruffled her hair and walked off to the hangar. He stopped halfway down the hallway, turning around and shouted out to his daughter.
“Make sure your father doesnt strain himself, he’s still recovering!!!"
Sage gave him two thumbs up before walking into the bedroom.
. . .
When Sage walks into the room, Robotnik slid the ring he was holding into his pocket. The young girl smiled at the sight of her father and rushed over to the bed and made grabby hands up at him.
“Father!!!”
The doctor scooped her up into his arms and set her next to himself on the bed.
“Hey little sage leaf…”
“Oh.. you sound bad..”
Robotnik barked out a laugh, ruffling his daughter's hair before pulling on his control gloves and ordering a glass of water to be brought to him. While he waited he let Sage curl into his side, his heart aching slightly as she stared up at him with her big brown eye. When he got an alert on his gloves he pulled up the hangars camera feed just in time to see Stone peel out of the room on his motorcycle. He frowned and Sage pouted.
“Baba leaving…”
The scientist petted his daughter's head.
“He’ll be back, down worry..”
Just then a badnik zoomed into the room, a glass in its claw, it stopped in front of the bed and held out the drink to its creator. Robotnik took the cup and chugged down the liquid before petting the drone in thanks.
“Are you and baba fighting??”
“Yeah, but it's alright, couples fight sometimes. Stone just needs some time to clear his mind, when he comes back we’ll talk and make up..”
As the words left his mouth, the ring in his pocket began to weigh heavy.
. . .
Stone arrived back at the base in time for dinner, which he silently cooked up himself, and plated for himself and Sage. leaving the doctor to make his own plate while Stone left to eat in the hangar. As the father and daughter duo ate together at the dining table, Robotnik kept getting a sad look from Sage.
“It's fine.. Clearly Stone just needs more time to sort out his thoughts!!” he chuckled weakly. It felt as if the ring in his pocket had attached a string directly on his heart and was tugging at it.
. . .
This went on for 3 days. Stone would actively avoid/ignore Robotnik, he still hung out and played with Sage, he just did it while the doctor was absent. The rift between the two slowly widens. Robotnik tried to talk to Stone on multiple occasions but immediately got shut down by a glare from the former agent.
Seeing her parents fighting made Sage upset, so when she saw them in the hangar together she sneaked in, nabbed both pairs of control gloves (both men were working on something that required them to be off) and snuck back out. She pulled on a pair and after a bit of fiddling around with the functions, she put the hangar on lock down.
At the sound of the alarms, Stone pushed himself out from beneath his bike and stared daggers at the other man, who was sitting on the other side of the room.
“Doctor, what the fuck?!!”
“Huh?? You think this is my fault???”
Before the two could get into an argument, a voice came from the speakers.
“I'm not letting you out until you’re happy again!! And I mean it!! Make up or die!!”
With that, the alarms shut off, but the doors remained securely locked (not that either of them could open the doors without their gloves. The two men sighed.
“So, she's got us in an emotional saw trap…” Robotnik commented while rubbing at his stubbly chin.
“Well, she is your daughter..” Stone replied, hiding his smile behind his hand when the doctor barked out a laugh.
Stone and Robotnik stared at each other for a moment before the former agent got up and crossed the room, pulling up a chair in front of the other man then plopping himself down into it.
“Are you finally going to talk to me?”
“Yup, and I'll even start.” Stone took a deep breath before grabbing a firstful of the other man's shirt and pulling him forward so their noses were nearly touching. “What the fuck do you think you were doing meeting with GUN?!”
Robotnik rested his hands on top of Stones, a calm expression on his face.
“It was an agreed meeting-” the former agent let out a low growl, “listen, they found out i was alive because the blue rat can't keep a secret to save his life. GUN contacted me, classic threats of violence if i didnt peacefully surrender myself or whatever, and i mean, rude?? I literally saved the entire world. Anyways, We agreed to meet for a duel, the old timey kind people did to settle our disputes. And of course I realized my chances of coming out of it unharmed were low, and that's why I took metal with me. I told him, if I were to get shot, he is to immediately return me to base, where my injury would be immediately tended to by the waiting medniks.”
“And what if you were to be shot in the head? This is GUN we’re talking about, they don't play fair.”
The doctor ran a thumb over the other man's knuckles.
“That was just a risk I was willing to take.”
Stone sighed, his shoulders sagging as he let go of his partner's shirt and rested their foreheads together.
“Why didn't you tell me…”
Robotnik brang a hand up to card through the others hair.
“Because, I know how much the mere idea of GUN finding us is enough to send you spiraling, and I did intend to tell you once I was healed, and I truly did not expect to be out for so long.”
Stone let out a sad sigh.
“You’re nearly 60, Ivo… of course your recovery time is going to be long..”
“Bleh. I hate being human.”
The former agent softly laughed, moving the hand still on the older man's chest to intertwine their fingers.
“Tell me, is GUN still going to be looking for you?”
“Probably, but that's just because they’re mad they fumbled the greeted mind in the universe!!”
Stone chuckled.
“I think the only person fumbling here is you, Doctor”
The genius gawked.
“Wha- Stone we are literally married????”
“Oh really? I don't see a ring on my finger…” the younger man smirked.
“What?! You literally- oh you conniving little minx. FINE.”
Robotnik took the hand that was carding through Stone's hair and put it in his pocket, where he pulls out his partner’s ring and presents it to him.
“Stone, the most loyal and dutiful assistant and partner I've ever had, will you marry me? Ugh- that was so sappy, never make me do that again.”
The former agent laughed, took his ring from his partner and slipped it back onto his left ring finger. He threw his arms around his husband's neck and pulled him into a quick kiss.
“I’d love to marry you, Ivo…”
Robotnik scooped his husband up into his arms as he stood.
“Great, now that all that’s sorted, I believe we have a daughter we need to go care for.”
Stone gasped.
“Oh! Sage could be out flower girl this time!!”
“What makes you think we’re having another wedding??”
Stone pouted, looking up at Robotnik through his lashes.
“Oh god- don't look at me, sycophant. Is that where Sage gets it from??”
The former agent bats his eye lashes.
“Stone- oh FINE. We can have another wedding.”
Stone beamed and kissed his partner's cheek, who sighs as the doors to the hangar opened and Sage came running in.
“Father!! Baba!!!”
“Hello, darling..” the two men say in unison.
. . .
The small family lay on a picnic blanket outside. Stone and Robotnik lay together, just basking in the sunlight. Sage, Metal, Orbot and Cubot all lay in a circle around a crossword puzzle, working together to figure it out.
“For three hyper intelligent robots, they’re spending surprisingly long trying to figure it out..” Stone comments.
“Eh. more like 1 hyper intelligent robot and 2 slightly above average intelligent robots. And they’re letting Sage do the writing.”
Stone chuckled.
“True. But I wasn't talking about the puzzle..”
the former agent grabs his husband's hand and rests it on top of his stomach.