Chapter Text
Being alone for 10 years and craving human contact but being unable to show yourself to anyone out of fear and the need to listen to your mom who was much much wiser than you does something to a hedgehog. The most noticeable thing is that, when the universe finally throws you a bone and your favorite human is forced to help you save the world from a madman, you can't get yourself to stop talking. You have lots of things to say in that head of yours and you finally have an audience who can understand and respond to your words. Okay, you weren't completely, utterly alone all those years, but conversing with bees, sparrows and lizards can only get you so far.
Sonic learned this the hard way. He could spend months learning the body language of a deer, but the understanding could only be one-sided since deer lack the vocal chords and brain to form words and tell Sonic their own life stories. Now, Earth animals did seem to like him a lot. They never attacked him and sometimes they'd willingly get close to him without being wary of him ("I was basically Snow White", said Sonic with an almost nostalgic smile when he was telling Tom and Maddie about his life in the woods). One particular fox liked him enough to sleep against him and let him pet her, if only for a few seconds on her back. Sonic loved how fluffy and sweet she was, how they'd boop noses from time to time. She was the closest thing he's had to a friend after Longclaw died. But one day she stopped showing up. Foxes only live for 4 years after all.
Once Sonic started "hanging out" with the humans who lived in Green Hills, one special man caught his eye. Thomas Wachowski. Sonic has never before seen a cooler human. His profession was all about helping people, but he took it one step further and also helped any animal he came across. Though he didn't really like raccons (Sonic felt bad for them when they got blamed for rummaging through trash when it was actually him who did it sometimes). He talked to donuts, he had a wife who had no bones (Sonic was shocked when she proved she did in fact have bones) and he had a dog. Deep down, he was extremely jealous of the dog.
After waking up at Rachel's house, Sonic was now face to face with "Tom's best friend", Ozzie. Sonic didn't agree with that title.
I guess he's kiiinda cute, thought Sonic as he told Ozzie he didn't understand his appeal.
He's fluffy too.. but if those are the only things he has going for him then maybe Tom is the weird one who-
But his train of thought was interrupted when Ozzie suddenly started licking his face.
"Eh- Bleh! That's super gross!"
But as gross as it was, Sonic almost didn't want him to stop. It's been years since someone groomed him, and even though this could barely even be considered grooming, he felt something similar to when he was just a hoglet who had to have his mom clean his fur and quills from dirt and tiny pebbles with her beak. He was even more impatient back then than he is now, and he cried for Longclaw to hurry it up so he could run around and inevitably get dirty again. What Sonic now wouldn't do to have her clean him all day long.
Sonic teared up when he saw his new room. Most of the stuff from his cave was here so it still smelled exactly like home. He sat on his awesome new racecar bed and thanked Tom and Maddie for what they've done for him. He knew he could trust these 2, but this was almost too much even for him. Ozzie's dog senses tingled and he climbed the stairs to the attic to join his hoomans and his new hedgehog friend. Of course, he went straight to licking his face and Sonic had to surpress a purr, but maybe he shouldn't have. When was the last time he purred?
It was when Tom tucked him in at that hotel. It was a very quiet purr, he doesn't know if he heard him. The whole day had been extremely stressful for both of them and Sonic was terrified the whole time, even at his happiest, but he never let it show. He finally had a friend he could talk to, like, actually talk to. And when that friend made him feel so loved and warm when he was about to fall asleep, he couldn't help but purr. He doesn't know if Tom heard it, he didn't mention it at all so he probably didn't. Did he really purr that quietly? The last time he purred normally was back when-
...
Sonic decided right then and there to never purr again.