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sonorous-strings · 17 days ago

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The First Anniversary

“Hard to believe we’ve been married for a whole year now,” Sonar murmured. He and Carol were cozied up on the sofa in his studio, the one so graciously provided to him by Mayor Zao despite all the muttering about exorbitant costs, as if he didn’t literally need it to the job he was hired for. Carol sat in his lap with his arms wrapped around her front, and they clearly didn’t feel like getting up anytime soon. His ears were still ringing from the veritable blasting of heavy metal as Sonar played around with little ideas for Carol’s performances, but he didn’t mind. “It feels like just yesterday we were saying the vows.”

Carol let out a soft chuckle and he didn’t need to see her face to know a blush had spread across it. “Yeah, no kidding. Anniversary’s, what, only a few days from now? Sierra, what are we even gonna do for it?” She shifted a little, the better to settle a little more into his embrace. “We did the honeymoon thing already- I still can’t believe you got me to say yes to that, but I’m so happy you did- we can basically go anywhere we want already…”

Sonar shrugged. “A literal anniversary bash? Celebrate our unity by bashing the crap out of robots.” He smiled. “Imagine the hype we could generate, and all the hearts we could break by reaffirming our marriage.” Even a year later, saying the word “marriage” aloud to someone he called his wife was something that still felt just a little alien to him.

Carol giggled. “Hype? Yeah, right. Just makes me think of all the groaning and crying you got when you announced we’d gotten married. Felt kinda good to be the one they were groaning about, not gonna lie.”

“What if it was me they were groaning about?” Sonar laughed. “Hard to believe though, isn’t it? We got off on probably the worst foot possible, and look at us now: inseparable.” He hugged her a little tighter, memories of his former home coming back with the mention of their first meeting. “You even started a trend.”

“Come on, Sony, I said I was sorry,” Carol said playfully. She half-turned in his hold to look at him with a coy smirk before kissing him on the lips. “If me wanting to marry the coolest hedgehog in the whole universe isn’t apologetic enough, I dunno what is.”

Sonar grinned. “Hey, I didn’t say I was complaining. I was just lamenting that even my future wife wanted to kick my ass at one point, no matter how brief that sentiment was. But you do have a point.”

Carol turned back around and settled against Sonar once more, letting her head rest against his shoulder. “Do you… ever think about going back? Like… back to Mobius, just for a visit or something.”

“I try not to,” Sonar said with a sigh. “I met you there, and that’s basically the best part of it after… well, everything that happened before.”

Carol responded with a distant-sounding hmm and was silent for a few moments. Sonar didn’t need to be psychic to tell what was going on inside her head: all those memories she saw that painful night of just why he’d been so miserable up until he’d met the love of his life.

He’d almost given up then, had been out to clear his head and do serious thinking when she missed falling into his lap by a few scant feet. He unconsciously hugged her closer, the memory of Carol scrambling to her feet and calling him someone he’d never met and snatching his guitar from him- almost smashing it, even- causing him to chuckle softly.

Unknown to them both, the gem in Carol’s pocket began to pulse with a faint glow.

“Don’t you think that’d be an interesting way to celebrate our anniversary though?” Carol mused. She giggled. “There’s enough cheese between us to put on, like, a million pizzas or something. It’s perfect.”

“And go see the fireworks again? A real ‘us then, us now’ moment,” Sonar said, laughing. “We’ve really come a long way, haven’t we, babe?”

“And I never want to go back.” Carol turned fully now to face her husband, hands and knees on either side to prop herself up. “Back to how things were, that is.”

Sonar knew Carol saying that meant a lot. And he adored her for saying so. He pulled her into a kiss, the words “I love you” practically on his lips as they pulled back when he noticed the familiar green glow shining through Carol’s pocket. “Uh… C-Carol…”

“Whuh?” Carol followed his gaze, then bolted upright and off the couch, grabbing for the gemerald and holding it out like it was radioactive. “Oh, come on!” she cried. “I can’t have a moment with my husband now without this thing going haywire?!” The gemerald seemed to glow brighter at the mention of Carol’s sentiments. “Stupid piece of-“

The gem positively flared and for a moment Sonar thought it was just Carol that was being whisked away… until he realized he was experiencing the same sensations he felt whenever the blasted thing used to randomly teleport him to other dimensions. In fact, it was almost exactly like when Carol brought him to Avalice for the first time.

It was instant, yet felt like hours, and that wasn’t good for Sonar’s stomach or his inner ear. The sudden thud of the two being unceremoniously dumped on the ground from a few feet in the air was an almost welcome change, though his back and stomach both protested at roughly the same time. Opening his eyes, he found fair, blue skies above him and the top of a green-furred wildcat. With the fog of his confusion clearing, he realized he’d landed first and Carol had landed squarely on top of him, groaning as she tried to reorient herself.

“Hi,” he said stupidly, with a grin he knew to be infectious. “Fancy meeting you here, Carol.”

“Fancy ain’t the word I’d give it,” she grumbled, looking up at him and letting her face twist into a grin of her own before rolling off. “At least we landed wherever together though, stupid foxtrottin’ paperweight…”

“Yeah, speaking of…” Sonar sat up and rubbed his head before taking a look around, a sinking feeling in his stomach becoming more and more pronounced as he recognized sights he thought he’d never see again for the past seven years. It was more than just the sights- it was also a feeling he couldn’t explain, almost like he belonged here. He sighed, feeling some of his confidence waning and swore under his breath. “Guess the gemerald thought your idea to come back here was a good one.”

Carol groaned and swore, much louder than Sonar. “And we’re stuck here for a few days while this stupid thing recharges!” She made to toss the jewel off somewhere in the distance, then thought better of it at by the time she pulled her arm back. She sighed and stared at it for a few seconds before resignedly stuffing it into her pocket. “Well… what now? Sony?”

Sonar didn’t answer, as if not hearing her in a rare moment of naked uncertainty. His brow was furrowed and his gaze cast downward as he struggled to think of what to do next. Yes, they were here like they’d been discussing (even if Sonar hadn’t actually agreed and they hadn’t planned on coming here yet) but it was all so sudden he wasn’t mentally prepared for it, especially being here for days. And with a flood of emotions and memories coming forth like an unplugged dam he found himself frozen in indecision.

Carol knelt beside the hedgehog and gave his back a soothing rub before kissing him on the cheek. “Hey, Sony, it’s okay,” she said as he seemed to stir from his reverie. Sonar smiled and gently took her other hand in his before standing. Carol nodded. “That’s more like it.”

“Yeah, it is.” Breathing out a sigh, willing the bad vibes away, Sonar looked around. Stone footpaths, grasses, benches, a few intersections for fountains, and the edge of a wooded area not far away… “Well, this certainly looks somewhat familiar. We’re in the park where we first met. Or if not it’s damn close.”

Carol perked up. “Hey… y’think we should try to find the actual spot?”

Sonar thought for a moment. “Jeez, hun, that was, like, seven years ago. I’m not even sure where exactly in the park we are anymore.”

“What, you don’t remember everything about us exactly?” Carol said with a pout, though it quickly melted into a grin. “Don’t worry about it, Sony. It’d be kinda nice to just… walk, ya know? We don’t really do that a whole lot on Avalice anymore, not ever since we moved into the palace.”

“At least we aren’t lazy.” Sonar mock shuddered before giving her hand a squeeze. “All right, let’s find the spot where we met. Should be fun. What a way to spend your anniversary, though. Whisked away to another world with zero preparation…”

Carol’s grin got bigger as she wrapped her arms around one of his as they started walking… really in any direction they fancied. “An’ we’re spending it together.”

“You’re such a dork.”

Sonar had to admit this wasn’t nearly as bad as he was expecting. It definitely helped having a cute girl on his arm as they wandered through the park. There was something else about coming back, though. Everything felt more… natural. The grass was greener, the sky was a deeper blue, and everything smelled just a little sweeter. Almost like it was missing a certain something on Avalice. Not that it was a big deal to him or anything, but going from one place to another and back again really made you realize things you didn’t before. Yeah, this was a lot easier than he thought.

Abruptly, the hedgehog stopped moving. That déjà vu got a lot stronger once they rounded the bend and he laughed. It was another one of those things he couldn’t quite explain, but they were here.

Carol knew it, too. “Yup.”

“What, you a mind-reader now or something?”

“Nah, you just laugh like that whenever ya think about me,” she said, teasing him with a poke in the ribs.

“Ow, okay, okay. No need to brag.”

“Who’s braggin’?” Carol slipped away from his arm and moved towards that fateful bench, spinning on her heel as she went.

Sonar just watched her and couldn’t help but reminisce. “We were in such denial back then,” he said as he sat and reclined on the bench.

“Oh, definitely,” Carol giggled. “I remember when you told me how terrified you were of telling me you liked me. How long did you say it was? An hour?”

Sonar sighed, getting his revenge early by reaching out and grabbing Carol by the hand to pull her into his lap, eliciting a yelp from the wildcat as she fell into him. “An hour, love, yes, because I was afraid you’d kick my ass for being too forward or something. I’d only found myself thinking about the things I loved about you and had a minor panic attack trying to figure out what to say. So, I figured it out and surprised you.”

“Better’n me, at least,” Carol said, sinking back into her husband’s embrace. “You were cute, handsome, so awesome, everything a gal could want… so of course I had to deny it until you did something. I was so excited when you asked me out to go see the fireworks, but of course I had to try playing it cool. I’m pretty sure I nailed that part.”

It was a conversation they’d had before, at least a few times over the course of their seven years together. But it was so much fun to talk about what dorks they’d been… and what dorks they were now. Their laughter together was a wonderful sound. “I love you so much, Carol,” Sonar murmured as he kissed her cheek.

“I love you more,” came the response with an accompanying nuzzle.

“Oh, no, we ain’t doing that right now. We’d be here all day.”

“Killjoy.” They both chuckled and sat there, Sonar’s big guy to Carol’s shorter girl enveloping her as she sat in his lap for a bit before standing. Carol stretched, a couple of audible cracks making Sonar wince a little as he stood. “So, where to next?”

Sonar shrugged. “Hell if I know. Could try going back to my old place just for fun. Though, considering it’s been so long, someone else is living there, now. Could see if all the other places we went to are around though.”

Carol’s eyes lit up. “Oh, like that sushi place we went to on our totally not-first date? We should totally go there! I remember it being really good!”

“I remember the spicy sushi getting to me… and that belch you let out. You laughed really hard.” Sonar thought about it while Carol laughed at the resurfaced memory. There was no way that place was out of business almost ten years later. Could it? “Yeah, why not. Real Mobian cuisine, that. And if it’s not there anymore, well, nothing lost.”

“Yes! Oh, you’re the best, Sony!” And Carol was already pulling him by the hand in the direction of their old haunts. “C’mon, what’re we waiting for? Let’s go!” It wasn’t much of a surprise to Sonar that she remembered where to go.

Against all odds, the restaurant was still there. It wasn’t a particularly busy part of the city, but apparently just busy enough for the place to still be open. Sonar briefly had to wonder just how much time had passed since he left. Did time on Mobius pass more slowly, with seven or eight years in Avalice, one year here? There was a mental shrug, Sonar’s hand tightening around Carol’s for the briefest of moments as they made there way inside. The smells brought back a wave of nostalgia, and there was almost a sigh of… Sonar wasn’t sure what it was. The whole thing was bittersweet to him.

At least… until he saw her sitting at one of the tables.

Carol could practically sense the involuntary hitch in both his step and breath before he stopped dead in his tracks. She turned, concern on her face as she took his other hand. “Sony? What’s wrong?”

Sonar sighed, deeply, the sound of both distress and resignation. Some of that distress showed on his face for a split second before his gaze fell to the floor, his eyes shut. “It’s… well, the ex,” he said finally, his emphasis on the word telling Carol exactly who he was talking about.

Carol stiffened and her head snapped around, eyes darting from table to table until she spotted the other woman. A vixen, brown-haired. Pretty in a sort of “dress to impress” way, laughing with the couple of friends she was presumably having lunch with. Seeing her in the flesh had Carol riled up in a fury she hadn’t expected to rise so suddenly and before she knew it, she was standing next to the vixen’s table, arms crossed. How dare she put Sonar through all that pain and emotional trauma. She wanted to slug her in the face just thinking about it. But that would only make things worse. Plus, she… didn’t want to cause too big a scene.

Instead, Carol cleared her throat, then a second time, more loudly, when the first failed to elicit a response.

There was a scoff and a roll of the eyes as the vixen was forced to acknowledge the newcomer. “Can we, uh, help you?” The voice, boiled down to one or two words, was downright aggravating. If there wasn’t an uh in that sentence, Carol could almost hear the like in its place.

Carol’s fingers tapped her arm, the wedding band as obvious as possible. “No, not really,” she said, not quite able to keep the utter contempt out of her voice. “But I did want to say something now that I’ve finally met you face-to-face.”

She leaned down, her hands coming down to the edge of the table. The girl and her friends leaned back. “I wanted to say… thank you,” she said, her voice artificially sweet. “If you hadn’t been such a heartless bitch to Sony, I’d have never met him.”

“Who the hell is Sony?” came the scoff again. “And who the hell are you, anyway?” The vixen’s gaze looked past Carol and she briefly locked eyes with Sonar, her eyes going wide for a moment in recognition before smirking and returning her gaze to Carol. “Oh, you mean Sonorous?” There was a giggle, full of mirth. “Considering he didn’t amount to much of anything back then, it’s only natural that some worthless guy would get picked up by a stray cat.” She leaned back in her seat. “I guess someone had to take him in… or did he take you in? What’s he get from you? Pity sex every night?”

Those four words were like a shock through Carol. Her eyes went wide and she stiffened before an involuntary snarl made its way through a bared fang, the furious blush coloring her face doing nothing to soften the expression.

Sonar could hear bits and pieces of what they were saying, especially the last bit. He fidgeted, hoping she wouldn’t bring that topic up. Carol was literally physically incapable of using the word without turning into a blushing and stammering mess even in a nonserious discussion. But to use it in a situation like this…? Well, he knew what was coming, and his prediction came true when Carol’s right hand came up and grabbed the vixen’s shirt, yanking her bodily to her feet with their faces mere inches from each other. Everyone else was forgotten.

“First off, we ain’t like that,” she said, managing to avert the stammers. “Maybe if you hadn’t been such an airheaded gold-digging bimbo, you probably would’ve been with Sony long enough to know what a sweet an’ caring guy he is.” She held up her left hand, making sure the other woman saw the ring. “Maybe you would’a found someone where this actually meant something.”

The hand came down, but remained clenched at her side. “Though I guess it wouldn’ta meant nothin’ at all, considerin’.”

“Look, bitch, I don’t even care anymore,” came the haughty reply. “He got boring, wasn’t going anywhere, and I needed to move on. Like I wanna spend my days with a loser wannabe, anyway.” She gave Carol a shove, trying to get the wildcat off her. It worked, mostly because Carol let herself be propelled back, letting go of the vixen’s top and causing her to stumble a little. When she regained her balance, she glared at Carol and Sonar in turn before turning to leave.

“Whatever. Your loss is my gain. You’ll never get what I got.” She walked back to Sonar and, on an impulse, grabbed him by the vest and pulled him into a kiss. The surprised hedgehog quickly melted into it, his arms going to her sides to hold her. It was clearly a way to show off to the other woman, but he didn’t mind. And neither did Carol. “C’mon, let’s get out of here,” she said to him. “We’ll get sushi somewhere else.”

The vixen scoffed. “And like that’s supposed to impress me or something? So you kiss him and he likes it. Big whoop; he likes the easy girls anyway.”

Carol’s fist tightened around Sonar’s vest. She quickly let go before she tore it, and turned back to walk straight back to the other woman.

The vixen’s head turned first. “What the fuck are you-“

“Bye, Felicia.” Whatever she had to say was lost as Carol promptly cold-cocked the woman with a right that seemed to start a mile behind her. The vixen crashed to the floor in a heap, with gasps audible from everyone in the restaurant, Sonar included. He hadn’t actually ever seen Carol hit someone that wasn’t a robot before… and to see her knock someone out cold in one shot? Not like he didn’t ever doubt she could, of course.

And she knocked someone out over him. A goofy smile spread across his face despite himself. Wasn’t that supposed to be his job? Punching someone out for insulting her honor?

Carol crouched next to the motionless vixen and gave her a poke to see if she was out cold. “Well, ya deserve it,” she said. “That’s for sayin’ I’m like you with all that talk about pity an’ shit.” She refused to say the actual word. She looked up at the vixen’s friends who shied away a step. “You can take her out,” she said smugly. “Prob’ly to the trash or something.”

She stood and walked between the vixen’s friends as they watched her in stunned disbelief. Carol took Sonar’s hand and led him back out to the street.

“So… holy shit,” Sonar said once they’d put a little distance from the restaurant, his voice actually trembling a little. He’d expected that to go a little differently, of course, but with the things the vixen said? “I can’t believe you punched her out like that.”

“’Course I did,” Carol said with a devious giggle. “After all the crap she said about ya? And what she implied about me? I wanted ta deck her right then and there when you told me who she was, but wanted ta save ya the trouble. Then she mentioned the pity-“ she coughed, her self-assurance disappearing almost instantly “-stuff, and I just couldn’t take it anymore. How could she be so wrong about you?”

Sonar started to answer but Carol put a finger to his lips to shush him and wrapped her arms around him. “Rhetorical question, hun. I know why.” He returned the hug, smiling. He could answer anyway, but it wouldn’t matter. It would’ve been irrelevant. And he was definitely a different person after meeting Carol. Falling in love with her. Marrying her.

“Your taste in women was awful,” came the snark from his chest to interrupt his reverie. “That’s why.”

Despite himself, Sonar started to laugh. His shoulders shook with hers and he held her tighter. “I love you so much, Carol Tea,” he said once he could catch a breath. “Clearly, you state the obvious, but I like to think with the power of hindsight that everything before was just a trial run for me to live and learn, and had that not happened I’d never have met you. I would literally have been in a different place and we’d never have met. And I’ve never been happier to have a girl literally fall on me from the sky.”

Carol giggled and looked up at him. “Well, you did break a painful fall. Wounded wildcats are bad for everyone.”

“You’re welcome.”

He bent down to kiss her but chuckled into it after a moment.

“What?”

“…how did you know that girl’s name was Felicia?”

“Shut up.” She jabbed him in the shoulder. “You fell in love with an airheaded twit named Felicia?”

“Well, you did say my taste in women used to be awful.”

Carol began to laugh. Hard. She was doubled up, hands on her belly as Sonar just watched her ruefully. “That’s amazing! I didn’t even think about what her name would actually be! Oh, when the stars align, or whatever.” She wiped imaginary tears from her eyes and wrapped her arms around his. “Well, it’s all right now. I’ve avenged you, ya know, so you don’t gotta think about her anymore. Unless it’s me punching her. Then that’s fine. And you’ve got the coolest wife ever that thinks you’re amazing, too.”

She began to tug him along. “C’mon, I’m still hungry. And we kinda need to get away from the place. I don’t wanna get arrested for punching out some bitch named Felicia.”

Sonar laughed. Stones, this was good. It was always an adventure with her. Even the most mundane was fun. “Well, there might be another sushi place around, but if not, there’s always pizza . . .”

#drabble #musical tea #holy BALLS this was supposed to be done in 2023 and it took me over a year to finish because of life #absolute wall of text #cw: sex mention #it's really only there to piss Carol off so there's nothing explicit mentioned AT ALL

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