#<- charmy wrote this

[impossiblefeat]

Interesting descriptions of Vector and Espio on the backs of these Jazwares Archie comic book figure packs from 2011... & Knuckles.

[team-chaotix-week]

*screenshot taken from IDW Sonic #28*

[sonic-takeover]

(Urgh the setup, now that Sonic's actually getting pushed around in the pool I'm more worried about the hooligans showing up in the middle of their fun time. 😭 The suspense is good but now I can't wait to see what happens. You'll have me checking every chance I get tomorrow if we're done playing for the night Mod, good stuff! Poor Sonic if they attack him while he's that vulnerable though, especially if they cause him to get pushed towards the deeper end of the pool. 😭)

Tails... Charmy... Go inside.

But-

Now, fox. Do as your brother says.

*Tails relunctantly nods and picks up Charmy, flying him inside since his wings are still wet* Okay.. Be careful! *They disappear inside the bigass house*

*Shadow helps Sonic out of the pool and climbs out of the water to stand next to him. Wave climbs out beside them, glaring at the trespassers. She's seen them before. Rouge and Silver get out of the pool on the opposite side, unsure if they're needed to handle the threat. Espio moves forward to stand in front of everyone else, squaring his shoulders as he stares down the enemy*

*At the edge of the backyard, three mobians stand shoulder to shoulder. On the left, Bean the Dynamite. The green bird is doing a goofy scowl with one eyebrow raised, tossing a fist-sized bomb up and down in one hand. On the right, Bark the Polar Bear. Towering above the other two, the silent fighter is rolling his shoulders and punching his fist into his gloved hand, his eyes narrow. In the center stands their leader, Fang the Sniper. He stands wide-legged with one hand hovering above the handle of his popgun, ready to draw. His lip curls in a snarl as he takes in the group before him. It's not a fair fight, but it sure is a showdown*

Well well well... What a mighty strange group of fellers we got here.

Yeah! Who's the Mister Grumpyface Broodington Edgelord of the Hot Topic?? Nice highlights, Dracula!!

What did you just call me, punk?? *Shadow growls and steps forward, fists clenched*

Shadow. *Sonic puts a hand on Shadow's check to stop him* Ignore him.

Hey!! Don't ignore me, that's rude!

*Bean gets ignored. Espio steps forward, his hands forming mudras as he calms his mind in preparation for a fight* We meet again, Hooligans.

Aaah yes. Team Chaotic. At long last we get a rematch.

Chaotix. What have we to fight over? You have no reason to be here. Our fight ended ages ago.

Yeah right! I know what you and yer fellas did to our tracker, ya yellowbellied bastard. Screwed it up is what you did! Now we've had to track emeralds down the hard way!

*Espio crosses his arms. He doesn't betray it very much, but there's a twinkle in his eye showing he's pleased with himself* Oh really. How unfortunate.

That bein' said, lizard, we're in the know 'bout yer emerald. Hand it over. Or things. Get. Ugly.

What emerald? *Espio stays cool and collected. Sonic and Shadow exchange a glance. Fang notices*

One of y'all has it and I know!! But I won't take an unfair fight. You, the emo, and the Blue Blur. You got to the count of three before the fightin' begins! Ready??

The what??

There's no emerald. This is pointless.

'Nuff talk! One! *He takes one step forward. His buddies follow*

You're making a fool of yourself, Nack.

Two!! *One more collective step*

*Espio sighs and calls over his shoulder* Prepare yourselves. They're being idiots.

THREE!! DRAW!! *He takes out his popgun and shoots a cork at Espio. He dodges it easily, letting it fly into the pool behind him and the others*

*Espio chuckles coldly as the rest of the group retreats to the side of the house, shrugging apologetically at the three left fighting. Shadow glares at Rouge. She blows him a kiss for good luck. He glares harder. He's brought back to the fight as Bark punches him in the cheek, sending him flying into the pool as his defenses were down. The fight has begun*

[randomnoddles]

Honestly, you know how most teenager’s in media have their own little rebellious thing they love to do like sneaking out or whatever. Well I believe Espio fucking burns incense, like he doesn’t smoke weed, or play loud ass music, but he burns incense (which Vector would argue is considerably worse). And when I say incense I mean that thick spiritual shit that stains your walls and leaves a smell in your carpet, except it only gets worse when he’s upset cus then he just fumigates the whole house to the point where Vector and Charmy have to evacuate to Vanilla’s.

[rutadales]

they fucking killed him before he got to see if sonic 3 (coming to theaters December 20, 2024) was a faithful adaptation of Sonic Adventure 2 (available on steam right now for 9.99) ....

[misty-lake101]

Chaotix Origins: Espio

Here’s some more of how the Chaotix came to be, only this describes Espio’s side of things. Little more lore here since I’m writing them having met on Dragon Island. Baby Charmy has more of a role here, so bonus points if you can pick up on that! 😉

Espio is from Dragon Island, an isolated land off the coast of Chun-Nan that's, which is home to many ninja clans, who are divided into different clans depending on their trade. Espio was born into a clan of assassins - the Shinobi. His parents were from rival clans.

He was very young when he started his training at the dojo. His upbringing was quite strict and disciplined as it would be when growing up in a traditional, matriarchal society where what your parents said was law and total obedience and loyalty was expected of their children.

Once Espio finished his training and officially became a ninja, he was sent back to his clan where he would actually train to be an assassin. It wasn't easy for him, as he was held to very high standards that he found he couldn’t meet.

Despite some rebellious tendencies, Espio was quiet as a child and a little soft-natured, by their standards. Because of this, he also had trouble fitting in with his clan’s warlike culture. Though he was a decent fighter, he couldn’t get behind the idea of using his skills to do things he considered wrong.

By the time he was 10, the clan wars were an ongoing problem and then came a new threat - Eggman and his robots. Under such desperate times, the mentality that only the strongest can succeed was heavily enforced, as did the expectations on Espio.

One day he was sent on a low level mission, but couldn’t go through with it. Instead, he saw a bee family being attacked and saved them from being killed.

That landed him in big trouble, because not only did he deviate from his mission, he had also interfered with another assassin’s mission. Espio’s parents were furious and gave him an ultimatum - either he do his duty or he wouldn’t have a place here anymore.

Already scorned by his family and seen as a weakling by the rest of the clan, it was pretty clear what Espio had to do. Unfortunately, this was bad timing. At this point, the entire region was destabilized because of Eggman. Some clans were wiped out while others either scattered, or were barely hanging on.

Espio was on the run, but quickly realized that being alone in a lawless environment with no clan to back him up made him an easy target for enemy clans. And the first one to come after him was the very assassin whose mission he’d thwarted.

He managed to evade them for a time and very nearly got caught but was saved by Vector - a brash foreign teenager who somehow got stranded here, doesn't know the language, doesn't know what the fuck is going on, but most of all what to do with this orphaned baby bee he’s found.

[abnormalcleric]

Charmy Bee is a Hedgehog

First, the physical facts of what Charmy looks like, to make sure we're all on the same page.

For now, let's just focus on the bee parts. The antennae, the butt spike, and the stripes.

We will be comparing all of this to both bees in the real world and apparently Saffron, who is the only other bee in the Sonic universe I can find somewhat reliable pictures of. (and I only found out about her while doing research for this post)

The only similarities here are the antennae, the wings, and the one eye. I forgot to label the button nose, but they both have that, too.

But we must consider that we don't know for sure that Saffron is, in fact, a bee. Charmy is also called a bee and I'm telling you he isn't.

Now some bee facts.

But that's a worker bee. Charmy is (presumably) male. That means no butt spike. (Side note, I'm calling it a butt spike because I don't want to call it a stinger. Stingers are barbed and only present in female bees.)

The big eyes and the fat butt make more sense if you recognize Charmy as a drone, but the stripes are less noticeable. Actually, the patch on his jacket looks more like a real life bee than he does (if you ignore the fact that it looks like a cicada with a butt spike).

I'm not done! We also know that sometimes, his rings are concentric around the butt spike and other times they're centered around his actual butt. Therefore, I propose that the spike in an accessory that he wears over his striped pants. And they are pants. Unless he just has black socks (to match his glove cuffs) and those are his bare legs, but they're probably rolled up pants.

And here's the killer: Sonic's name is Sonic Maurice Hedgehog and everyone calls him Sonic the Hedgehog. We all call Miles Prower Tails the Fox and it's Knuckles the Echidna (yes, that's his clan name, but my point still stands). We call her Rouge the Bat and him Big the Cat. They're even Espio the Chameleon and Vector the Crocodile. But it's just "Charmy Bee". Not Charmy the Bee. Just. Charmy Bee. It's not his species. It's his name.

Okay, but now we've just proved that he's not a bee. Big deal. What makes him a hedgehog?

Well, what makes a hedgehog?

Charmy has a tan muzzle and arms

He has one eye

His tummy is covered by vest (may have a tummy circle)

His legs are either solid black or covered by pants.

He has a helmet covering where his ears and quills would be

The extended nose is not a requirement for hedgehogs. Amy has a button nose, just like Charmy. Of note, Amy is a girl.

But if you look at my last theory, Charmy may well also be a girl. (Full outfit, overdramatic, talks funny.)

Also, hedgehogs are the only major group known to consistently have one eye. Vector and Charmy are the only "non-hedgehogs" I can think of that don't have two separate eyes. But clearly, Charmy is a hedgehog.

What should I do next?

Vector is an alligator

Shadow and Silver are both tenrecs

Metal Sonic is Espio

[fastfists]

Honestly, as someone who owns a lot of the Archie comics (one day I'll go through them and sort them proper), anytime Pender wrote for any character was yikes. The ladies especially.

[niyana-the-ambiguous-mobian]

Omg, this was so GOOD!

Happy birthday, Tails!

"Fevers Can't Ruin Birthdays"

based on this post by @niyana-the-ambiguous-mobian :)

AO3 version

Sonic didn’t have to be a genius to know that Tails had never had someone celebrate his birthday before they’d met. The kid had been the littlest outcast there ever was, for the dumbest of reasons. He’d been shunned and abused for what Sonic in all seriousness considered to be one of the coolest things about him— his extra tail that let him fly. On top of that, Tails was an absolute genius.

Too bad Sonic had to be the first one in the entire world to notice all this. Or maybe not so bad, because that meant he got to keep him. Which was quite possibly the best thing that had ever happened to him.

They’d been with each other for years now. Things were familiar between them. Familial terms flew from both their mouths in reference to each other all the time without hesitation. Tails had grown so much and now had a level of sass that rivaled Sonic’s. And now the kit was approaching his tenth birthday.

Sure, Sonic had made plenty of efforts in past years to celebrate his little brother. He’d thrown parties, bought out hardware shops in the hopes that whatever he brought would be useful to Tails, and even once made a horrendous attempt at making a birthday cake. (He hadn’t tried again since that first time, although Tails had at least appreciated the thought.)

But this year? This year was extra special somehow. Not only was Tails finally entering double-digits, it was going to be his first birthday after coming back from his extended time of solo adventuring. His “going it alone,” as he’d told Sonic he’d wanted to do back on Starfall Islands.

Sonic had missed him to no end during that time, although they’d still texted most days. Now, Tails had been back for a few weeks. He hadn’t said a word about his upcoming day, but there was no way Sonic would ever forget it.

He’d made plans, alright. Conspired with Knuckles and Amy, Vanilla and Cream, the Chaotix, even Silver and Blaze (though that had been a bit of a challenge). He’d convinced Tails to head out to one of his live-in labs that was closest to all of their friends, to make it easier for them all to come together. He’d spent an entire week shopping (with help from Amy), looking for anything that Tails would even potentially like. Mechanical stuff, computer stuff, bags of mints, lego sets the size of a dining table, video games, a collection of tiny metal airplanes he found at a thrift store, etc.

He had the entire day planned out (which was something that he usually never did). He’d hidden the giant assortment of gifts in a bunch of random secret places and connected them all with strings (although the arts and crafts store had been pretty ticked that he’d bought out their entire supply of yarn). Amy was going to make a giant, absolutely gorgeous cake. Knuckles was helping Cream decorate banners and blow up balloons. Vanilla and Vector were helping him organize everything. Sonic was going to take him to all their favorite places and they’d have races and go sightseeing and maybe dive off a cliff or two. It was going to be perfect. Sonic was absolutely determined to make sure that fox knew exactly how much he was loved.

… So if he woke up on the morning of the long-awaited day feeling a little more lethargic than usual, if he had some kind of tension in his head and felt a little congested and a little rough in the throat, well, he would keep that to himself.

Correction: he would try.

—

“Hey, Taaaaiiilllsss.” The voice was teasing and familiar, but surprisingly gentle for being an apparent wake-up call. Tails barely stirred from his dream, making the slightest of humming noises in acknowledgement.

A hand gently shook his shoulder. “Happy birthday…” the voice went on to sing, albeit quietly.

Still mostly asleep, Tails barely rolled over and automatically finished with a sleepy, “To yoouuu.”

The voice— Sonic, no doubt— snickered. “Nuh uh, lil dude. It’s your birthday!”

Tails smiled as he finally started waking up for real. “To meee,” he corrected, opening his eyes halfway as he began pushing himself to sit up.

“There ya go!” Sonic laughed, reaching out to ruffle Tails’s already-messy bangs. “Welcome to double digits! Just wait till you…”

Tails paused in his climbing down from bed as his brother trailed off in his sentence, instead ending with a sneeze.

“Bless you.” Tails hopped off the bed and grinned.

“Eh. Thanks.” Sonic shook his head and smiled back. “Sorry. What was I saying?”

“Just wait till…” Tails prompted.

“Aw, yeah— just wait till ya see everything I’ve got planned!” Sonic dragged him in for a tight hug, then a noogie, and Tails squealed with fake protest.

Sonic let him go, grabbed the end of the yarn lying on the floor near the bed, and shoved it in Tails’s hand. “Just follow the string!”

Tails laughed, but obliged. “Wait, what? What is this, birthday edition of the Wizard of Oz?”

Sonic shrugged. “I woulda built a yellow brick road, but I didn’t think you’d appreciate me messing up your floors like that. Didn’t think the public would be much of a fan, either.” He turned his face away and sneezed again.

“Whaddaya mean the public? Bless you.” Tails frowned a little when Sonic didn’t immediately turn back towards him, instead reaching up to rub his nose, then his eyes. “You good?”

At the concerned inquiry, Sonic quickly snapped back towards him. “Yeah, I’m good! Now come on, your day awaits!”

Tails kept an eye on him even as he smiled and started walking alongside the string, which he now noticed was stretched out across the floor and tucked in random places out of sight. “Are you getting sick?” he asked Sonic, who scoffed.

“‘Course not. You know colds are too slow to catch up with me.” Sonic gave him an exaggerated wink. Tails rolled his eyes.

“Lame joke, but you sound all stuffy.”

Sonic rolled his eyes right back and put his hands on his hips. “Maybe your ears need cleaning out again.”

“Just like your immune system needs cleaning out?”

“Stop sassing me, or there won’t be any cake.”

“Fine.”

Tails knew Sonic was joking about the cake bit. He still wasn’t sure if Sonic was actually sick or not, but if he was, there was no way he was going to just admit it and go to bed. He was one of the most stubborn people Tails knew, and he hated to be vulnerable in front of other people.

So, deciding to hope that Sonic wasn’t lying and maybe was just sneezing excessively for no reason that morning, he went along with the plans Sonic had created, which admittedly were all pretty fantastic.

“Yooo, is this the newest game from AGES?” he squeaked as he flew up into a tree after the string and found the tenth gift tucked in the branches.

“You bet!” Sonic called from the ground, although his voice sounded extra raspy when he raised it. “Pre-ordered it ‘n everything! I dunno if you watched the trailers for it, but it looks sick. Hoped you’d like it!”

Tails hovered back to the ground, picking up the previous gifts alongside the video game case that he’d left at the base of the tree. Sonic turned his head and coughed a couple times.

“Speaking of ‘sick,’” Tails mumbled, eyeing his brother worriedly.

Sonic waved him off. “I’m fine, I said. Besides, there’s still so much left to do!”

Tails sighed. He was beginning to think that his initial intuition was right, but was Sonic going to care? Nope.

They headed into town next, and Tails finally understood what Sonic had meant earlier about the public. If they hadn’t been world-renowned, Sonic probably would’ve gotten in trouble with the local government for leaving string and random computer parts in cardboard boxes all over the parks and roofs.

The sun was high in the sky at this point. They met with a few of their friends in the streets, too many to be a coincidence, but Tails didn’t mind one bit. While all the effort was definitely heartwarming, it would’ve been easier to enjoy it all if he weren’t so worried about Sonic, who was looking more tired by the hour. Every now and then he’d catch him rubbing his head when he thought no one was looking, as if trying to ward off a headache, and every couple minutes Tails heard him sniffling.

They had lunch with the Chaotix, and Tails of course chose chilidogs. It may have initially been Sonic’s favorite, but his love for them had rubbed off on Tails over the years. The taste of them always brought warm, pleasant memories, and almost for the sake of those memories alone, they were one of his favorite meals.

And he would’ve had an easy time enjoying them now, but it was hard when Sonic was barely picking at his, in the seat next to him. He’d taken a small bite or two, but was now doing nothing more than staring at them with slightly glazed eyes.

Trying not to make a scene, Tails nudged him a little. “Not hungry?”

Sonic blinked and looked back at him, his eyes clearing. “Um. I dunno.” He picked up his chilidog, immediately set it down again, then twisted aside to cough again, as quietly as he could.

Tails caught Vector eyeing the hedgehog from across the table and winced. “You good there, Sonic?” their older friend questioned.

Sonic looked back at the crocodile, almost uncomprehending for a moment. Tails looked between them. Sonic waved a hand. “Not you, too. I’m fine,” he sighed, even though his voice cracked when he spoke.

Espio looked towards them, away from his whispered argument with Charmy that no, Tails was not obligated to share his three new lego sets with him. “You don’t sound well,” he pointed out.

Sonic glanced back at him, squirming under the sudden scrutiny of everyone else at the table. “Hey, quit staring,” he complained, then smiled way too big and nudged Tails. “This is Tails’s day. Give him all the attention!”

Tails gave him a look, deciding that it might be better to be upfront about this than to spare Sonic’s dignity. “I’m not the one who needs medical attention,” he said with a tiny shrug, smiling apologetically when his brother shot him a pleading look.

Vector sat up straight. “Wait, are you sick?”

“No,” Sonic protested, his ears flattening slightly.

Espio leaned down and started fumbling through one of their bags under the table. “I think we still have flu medicine leftover from when three of us had it a few weeks ago. You can take it if you need it.”

“Noooo, thanks.” His big brother looked like he wanted to disappear, although at this point Tails couldn’t tell if the redness on his face was from embarrassment or an oncoming fever. He looked meaningfully back at Espio and nodded, and the chameleon quietly slipped him the bottle under the table.

They managed to go the rest of the meal without bringing up the sickly elephant in the room, but Tails couldn’t brush off his worry. More and more he wanted so badly to just take his brother home, tuck him into bed, and take care of him until he was healthy again, but with the way Sonic was, such a thing would be immensely difficult.

“Ready for a hike with the gang?” Sonic asked him, with about as much energy as he could summon at the moment.

“A hike?” Tails echoed, brows rising. “Why don’t we just fly in the Tornado? Where are we hiking?”

Sonic laughed, then immediately started coughing again. It was sounding rougher every time it happened, and Tails automatically reached to put a hand on his brother’s back. “M’fine,” Sonic reassured him, trying and failing to clear his throat. “There’s this one spot out in the mountains nearby with an awesome view at the top. The hike is an hour or so, and yeah I know we could just fly, but I thought it would be nice to catch some scenery in the woods along the way. Knux and Amy are coming along, is that okay?”

“That’s— it’s fine that they’re coming.” Tails paused, trying to sort through his immediate concerns. “Um… I just think…” With a quick breath, he went on, “Sonic, this has all been awesome and the hike does sound exciting, but… I really think you need to go home and rest.”

Sonic sighed, glaring at the ground for a moment, before dragging his gaze up to meet Tails’s with a frustratingly relaxed gleam. “How many times do I gotta say it today, I’m fine! Nothing can keep me down for long. I’ve been waiting to do all this with you for months; please just let me have this?”

His brother wasn’t as good with the puppy dog eyes as Tails was himself, but it somehow worked— for now. Tails groaned, conflicted still but not knowing how to convince the stubborn hedgehog that walking around all day and hiking entire mountains and spending all energy for the sake of birthday fun was not going to let him feel better. Especially if he refused to take any medicine.

“Okay, but—”

“Awesome!” Sonic didn’t let him finish. “I told the others to meet us at the parking lot in twenty minutes or so— whaddaya say we beat them to it?” He swallowed with a grimace as he finished speaking, then sniffled.

Tails stared at him regretfully. “Okay.”

They made it to the parking lot in under five minutes. Tails decided not to say anything about how much easier than usual it was to keep up with the speedy hedgehog, who didn’t seem to be purposefully moving as slowly as he was. As they reached the sparsely populated lot, Sonic stumbled over his feet and all but fell against someone’s car, struggling to catch his breath as he started coughing again, even harder than before.

“Sonic?” His worry ramping up a decent amount, Tails hurriedly dropped down beside him. “You alright?”

Sonic gave him a tired grin, even as his chest heaved for air. “Just catching my breath,” he wheezed.

Tails stiffened, looking at his brother with blank eyes as a haunting memory surfaced in his mind.

“Just catching my breath,” Sonic tried to assure him, even though he was near entirely covered in flickering, red and black cyber energy, had just been coughing, was clearly in pain. Tails stared at his own transparent, glitching hands, realizing he had no corporeal form and could do nothing to help his brother feel better.

And then he’d spent the next few days watching Sonic get sicker and sicker, watching him limp tiredly around instead of run with his trademark smile, watching him hold his arm and his hip and his head until he could barely walk. Tails had come back to his real, solid form, only to find Sonic paralyzed, unresponsive, all but dead, because he’d cared more for their lives and their comfort than for his own health.

This wasn’t the same, he reminded himself in the present; at least, it wasn’t as dire. This was just a bug. Just the flu. And it was just a birthday.

But Sonic was still rejecting his health in favor of making sure that someone he loved was having a good time.

Tails wasn’t sure how to articulate his feelings on that to him right now. So he chose to step closer and throw his arms around Sonic instead, holding him tightly.

Sonic paused for a moment, evidently taken aback, then silently hugged him back. Pressed up against him, Tails could hear and feel the raggedness in the hedgehog’s breathing, and feel the unnatural heat radiating off of him.

“Whoa, are we interrupting something?” a deeper voice called, and immediately Sonic pulled back as if nothing had happened.

“Brother stuff, Knux,” he told the echidna, as Tails fought his internal annoyance at missing his chance of actually convincing Sonic to go home and go to bed. “You wouldn’t get it.”

Knuckles eyed the hedgehog ruefully. “I think I would, somehow.”

Beside him, Amy laughed. “You guys ready for this?”

“The view won’t compare to Angel Island. But I suppose it’ll be nice in its own way.”

“The scenery on the way is supposed to be really cool, too,” Tails put in, remembering what Sonic had said earlier.

“It is!” Sonic agreed, then pointed to a sign by the woods nearby. “That’s the start of the trail. Let’s do this thing!” Without waiting for a response, he half-ran, half-stumbled off towards the aforementioned sign.

Tails just sighed, shook his head, and ambled after him. As he did, Amy headed closer to walk beside him.

“Is Sonic… sick? Or something?” she whispered, looking concerned after their friend ahead of them. “He seems off, somehow. And he sounds all raspy.”

“…Yeah,” Tails mumbled guiltily. “He’s been coming down with something all day. I’ve tried to talk him into going home and resting, but he won’t listen.”

“Sounds about right.” Amy groaned. “I’ll help you keep an eye on him while we walk. If he still won’t go home to sleep by the time we’re done the hike, I’ll just drag him there myself.”

Tails couldn’t help a laugh at the mental image. “Thanks, Amy.”

“Of course!” The pink hedgehog beamed at him. “Now then— how’s your birthday been going, mister ten-years-old already?”

“It’s been good otherwise!” He grinned. “For the first half of the day he just dragged me around town following a string to all sorts of gifts. I had to drop them all off at the lab, or else we wouldn’t have been able to do the hike.”

“Ooh! What’d you get so far?”

“Mm, a lot of computer parts, three new lego sets, a couple new video games, a skateboard, a weighted blanket, a box of mint tea—”

“Wow,” Amy cut in with a giggle. “I helped him do some of the shopping, but he really went all out, it sounds like.” Tails nodded with a soft smile. “I’ll never get over how much he just adores you. How much you both love each other,” she added, watching the fox kit’s eyes shift to check on the hedgehog ahead of them.

Sonic had paused beside a tree, leaning heavily against it, panting with eyes glazed over again. “Sonic?” Tails called, hurrying ahead to catch up with him.

“What?” Sonic jolted upright again, eyes brightening but not clearing as they passed over Tails. “I’m fiiine,” he drawled, and staggered back onto the trail. Knuckles grabbed him by the arm to keep him from tripping down the hill on the other side of the path.

Tails glanced back to exchange a look with Amy, then sighed and tried to stick closer to his brother. Knuckles glanced back and gestured questioningly at Sonic behind the hedgehog’s back at Tails, who mimed coughing into his fist in response. Knuckles rolled his eyes, then silently exhaled and nodded.

All of them were unfortunately familiar with the way their friend would put up a front for them. As Tails had earlier recalled, it hadn’t been too long since they’d seen this kind of thing with him.

It fooled none of them.

The farther they hiked, the more it became abundantly clear that Sonic was getting worse, and the more Tails and the others worried. The hedgehog couldn’t walk in a straight line to save his life, instead stumbling in a sort of zig zag pattern back and forth across the trail, giggling here and there. He’d gone from being pretty quiet and tired out in the first half to jabbering nonstop in the second half, except it was almost pure nonsense coming out of his mouth.

“Looook, Tails,” he snickered, pointing shakily at a flicky in a tree nearby. “Toldja dragons’r real.”

“Sonic, that’s a flicky. And we’re literally friends with dragons. Remember Trip?”

“Ah, yyyyeahh!” Sonic laughed way harder than he should’ve, breaking into yet another coughing fit. “Y’know, I could probably breathe fire too, with how on fire my lungs feel right now.”

He staggered on ahead and proceeded to trip over a tree root.

Tails shot an anxious glance at Amy, then leaned closer and whispered to her, “Would you mind heading back and bringing the Tornado out here? I’d do it myself but I don’t want to leave him. Once you get it here, I’ll bring him home.” He bit his lip. “Sorry.”

“It’s okay!” Amy whispered back. “You got it. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

Amy wasn’t quite as skilled as he was with flying the Tornado, but he’d given her enough lessons that he felt confident at least trusting her to fly it out a short distance. It would be worth it, to be able to take Sonic back home with ease and make him get the care he so desperately needed, whether he wanted it or not.

“Where’d Amy gooo?” Sonic whined a few minutes after she’d hurried off.

“She’s just getting something for me,” Tails told him, patting his shoulder reassuringly, although he jumped at how hot to the touch his brother was.

“Izzit a surprise for youuu?” The hedgehog smiled deliriously. “Tha’s cool. Happy birthdaaayy!”

“Thank you, Sonic.”

“Yerrr welcome! Hey… did you dye your fur or somethin’? Ya look way more orange than usual.” He peered at Knuckles and his eyes blew open wide. “Whoaaa, you too!”

Tails facepalmed. “Dear Chaos, he’s even worse than I thought…”

Knuckles looked back and forth between them, having clearly never dealt with a person as sick as Sonic currently was. For Tails, it had been a while, but he’d definitely experienced things like this before. He’d known Sonic for most of his life, had seen him at his highs and his lows. He picked up his pace to match Sonic’s, and Knuckles dropped behind slightly.

“Sonic, you really need to rest,” he told him firmly.

Sonic giggled. “Yes, I’m a pest! Egghead agrees with that!”

Tails facepalmed. “That’s not even close to what I said.”

Abruptly, Sonic jumped and pointed excitedly at a patch of sunlight ahead in their path. Probably the end of the path, Tails figured, but instead of saying that, his brother exclaimed, “Look! A giant duckling!”

“…What?”

“Izzo cute.” Sonic all but dragged himself up to the patch of sunshine and fell over into the grass. “Can I keep ittt?”

“Uh.”

“Please? Hey Knucklehead, can I keep th’duckling?”

“There’s no duckling,” Knuckles said bluntly.

Looking genuinely disappointed, Sonic shoved himself back to his feet and staggered up to the boulder with the view, the end of the trail indeed. “Taaaiiilllss, canna buy a duckling?”

“Sonic—”

“Whoaaaa, lookit th’vieeww!”

He’d been right, the view here was spectacular. There was no shield from the wind up here; they’d passed above all the trees. They could see hawks soaring below them, and in the distance, they could see the town they’d been in earlier as nothing more than a silent, tiny setup of buildings with microscopic moving specks that they knew were people and cars. For a moment, Tails paused as he surveyed the view. It was fascinating to see something like this and not be flying somehow.

Sonic was grinning in absolute delirium as he whirled sideways to see them, eyes half-closed. “See, wasn’t it worth it…” He frowned suddenly, stumbled, then started swaying. “Whoa.”

“Sonic?!” Fueled by panic and adrenaline, Tails realized what was happening, and lunged to grab the hedgehog by the wrist right before he keeled over— nearly off the edge of the cliff. Panting in suppressed fear, he pulled Sonic back up onto the boulder and sank to his knees, all but cradling his brother as he lay there, barely conscious.

“No more excuses. You’re burning up,” he said, hugging him close to calm his racing heart. “I sent Amy to bring the Tornado. I’m taking you home as soon as she gets here.”

Sonic blinked blearily up at him, then groaned and mumbled, “…Okay.”

Tails blew out a breath. “Good.”

“Jus’ one thing…”

“What’s that?”

“Can I still get a duckling.”

“…I’ll buy you one when it’s your birthday. Now stop talking and rest.”

Sonic grinned wearily, closing his eyes and resting his head down against Tails’s chest fluff. “Okay.”

—

Amy arrived shortly afterwards, and Tails carried his feverish brother up to the Tornado as it circled around them. He set him down in the seat behind the cockpit, then he and Amy switched out as Amy leapt back down to the boulder.

“We’ll head back on our own,” Knuckles called, waving to them. “Go on ahead.”

Tails waved back in acknowledgment, then set the course for the quick flight back to the workshop, barely a minute’s trip.

He thought he heard Sonic mumbling something behind him, but it was difficult to hear him over the wind. He hit a button to bring the overhead windshield over the seats (a feature he usually reserved for rainy days), and said, “What was that?”

“I’m sorry.” Sonic was slumped sideways in his seat, staring sullenly out the window.

Tails frowned as he returned his gaze to the path ahead. “Why are you sorry? You didn’t—”

“I wanted to give you a perfect birthday. After everything.” It was probably due to the sickness, but Sonic sounded downright miserable. “And I ruined it.”

Tails sighed. “You didn’t ruin anything. No one can control when they get sick. It was still a great birthday, Sonic.” He twisted around again and smiled, making sure Sonic saw him before he turned back towards the front. “Thank you.”

Sonic hummed a little in response, but said nothing.

—

They set down at the workshop, and Tails opted to leave the Tornado in the runway for a while so he could take Sonic straight inside and set to doing what he’d wanted to do all day: just taking care of him.

He settled him comfortably on the couch, brought him a couple blankets, made some soup, and brought him some orange juice and a couple slices of bread. After he’d eaten, Tails gave him some of the medicine he’d gotten from Espio earlier. Sonic still seemed kind of depressed, but he was looking a little better, at least, now that he was finally getting to rest.

As he nibbled on the bread, Tails sat down with him and handed him the orange juice glass. “You know,” he said slowly, beginning to smile, “I think I prefer this gift over the others.”

Sonic blinked at him as he accepted the glass carefully and took a tentative sip. “What… which… I haven’t gotten you anything since we got back.”

“Just…” Tails shook his head and smiled, then reached out and rubbed his head between his ears, like Sonic always did to him. “Just this. Being together. You letting me take care of you. I always like that.” Sonic stared back at him in surprise as he spoke. “You have no clue how much this means to me. How much I’ve wanted to do this, basically all day.”

The hedgehog sighed, but smiled back. “Sorry it took all this for us to properly hang out.” He shifted. “Although, as nice as this is… I’m not sure if you really wanna be this close. I might get you sick.”

In response, Tails scooted closer and hugged him tight. “I’ll take my chances.”

Sonic was still tense. “It’s on you if you do get sick,” he warned, although his tone was hardly serious and didn’t match with his affectionate grin.

“I know. Just shush it and let me hug you.”

“…Alright. You win this round, bud.”

💛-----------------the end-----------------💙

tagging, as requested, @star-stages and @yogacatdeskknit

[delight-angelsbliss]

How did everyone get admitted in?

"The road to hell is paved with good intentions" - Madonna in 4 minutes

Psst, Lend me an ear: Psychiatric hospital AU!! This post is the intro and will tell you how everyone got admitted in and how you will be admitted in<33 You can be any species you want but I wrote this with a fawn/deer in mind I also won't include metal, Eggman, cream since she's the sanest person in the franchise, vanilla, charmy, big the cat, vector and a few more because I don't see a reason of how they could ever land in a psychiatric hospital plus some don't even take people who are 20 or over also I would like to say that more will come after the reader gets admitted

Sonic: sonic got admitted because his peers weren't able to keep up with how hyper he were which made them encourage him to seek a psychiatric hospital even though he didn't need it. He's the only one who hasn't seen anything bad yet but is also the only one who doesn't know about how bad it is here this dumbass is also the only one who technically didn't sign the rules and whenever he gets in trouble he throws that out just for him to be forced to sign them

Tails: he simply followed sonic cuz he was bullied and picked on without him he also thought it would be a good place to try and find himself. He's gotten a few suspicions because some of the girls who left in a week were talking about one of the older men who regularly had a shift being weird and trying to touch them. He actually signed the rules and read through them and still does sometimes

Amy: her heartbreak of sonic not reciprocating her feelings became too much to bear so she seeked help but was the first to realize that this place was basically hell and does not help in any way she also reads through the rules when she's bored and found some loopholes and stuff to spend time with

Knuckles: his anger issues caused him to lash out at the wrong person which made him get admitted in through an ambulance where he tried to run away but was taken back in. He knows this is a bad place and is regularly kept it the blue room/freak out room. Since he was admitted on a whim he never got to sign the rules nor has he read them

Shadow: the grief of losing Maria was too much for him so through Sonic's recommendation he came here and landed in the 2.1 trauma station with everyone else. He doesn't have any suspicions yet but is wary and alert of what might come. Just like tails he read and signed the rules

[max-nico]

Y'all I got more of my random Sonic headcanons 🗣️

Silver loves to doodle, Tails can always tell if he's stopped by his workshop because he doodles in the corner of his blue prints

Shadow can't stand sleeping on his back because he was in stasis for so long, plus it gives him sleep paralysis

Charmy is a thumb sucker💔

Vector's been trying to break the habit but nothing seems to be working

One time Silver gave Amy a recipe from the future, when he got back all of his cookbooks with similar recipes changed in some way. Could've been the cover, title, or the recipe itself

For some reason, the new recipe was even better than the old one

Shadow, as the ultimate lifeform, has 30/20 vision somehow

Blaze is at least part wildcat. Whether that's a panther, lion, puma, or something completely different I know it is within her

Everyone listens to Vanilla. Everyone. Even the other adults

Espio is constantly putting himself in needlessly dangerous situations to 'see if his body can take it'. Nobody likes that he does this

Tails hates being referred to as Sonic's baby/kid brother. If anything, he's a sidekick or a little brother and that's only because Sonic is taller than him, not because he's a kid

Surge and Wave get really competitive on hoverboards, but it's all in good fun (mostly)

Tails is incredibly smart and incredibly gullible, like I know he's fallen for "updog" at least once, and has fallen for the "someone wrote gullible on the ceiling" joke multiple times

You will hurt his feelings if you point this out

No one in team dark can cook, they tried to get lessons from Amy and Vanilla (both together and separately) they are banned from both kitchens now

Dw !! Vanilla is still willing to give them lessons, just only at one of their houses from now on :) (her kitchen will never recover)

If Sonic is passing through town and sees some particularly cool merch of his friends he'll stop to grab it, if he has time

If Sonic doesn't know where Tails is sometimes they have a little bit of a scavenger hunt, or maybe hide n go seek is the better term

Tails will periodically send pictures of where he is, dropping hints if he thinks they're necessary, and Sonic has to find them (Sonic doesn't know Tails invented this game so Sonic keeps his tracking skills sharp during down time)

I wouldn't be surprised if some of the other duos or trios adopted this game as well. I imagine specifically team dark would get carried away with this

One time some stranger held a phone up to Shadows face out of nowhere and asked him about his political views. Shadow smiled and said "whichever ones you don't agree with" and then teleported away

And that's all I have for now I think... It's been a while since I posted one of these, but it's still just as fun to write lol

Feel free to give me more headcanons in the reblogs or whatever, and my askbox is always open (⁠◕⁠ᴗ⁠◕⁠✿⁠)

[bumblekastclips]

Happy Throwing Him Thursday!

KYLE CROUSE: Next question is from @rabbithaver. “In 2018, you wrote IDW Sonic #14, which contained panels of Silver being thrown by the ankle by Metal Sonic. On May 19, 2022, tumblr user @catgirlkirigiri posted those panels with the caption, 'Happy Throwing Him Thursday.' Now, every Thursday, Sonic Tumblr celebrates by partaking in throwing Silver. Each week, participants render their followers' dashboards unusable by reblogging those panels dozens of times in a row. People have drawn fan art. There are multiple videos of people throwing their Silver plushies, including one of him being hurled off a five story balcony. In celebration of the two year anniversary of the first Throwing Him Thursday, would you both please rank Sonic characters based on how far you think you, personally, could throw them?” [TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE: The balcony mentioned was seven stories, not five, which is much funnier.]

IAN FLYNN: [in exaggerated horror] Two years?! KYLE: [laughing] IAN: My poor boy has been yeeted for two years?! KYLE: He’s getting yeeted! He’s getting yeeted like crazy! IAN: I feel bad! KYLE: [laughs] IAN: I’m glad folks are enjoying themselves, but… what have I done to the poor boy? KYLE: [still laughing] Ah, well, I mean, the fandom got a— the fandom got attached to it. To be fair, you know. You did it once. [chuckles] IAN: And really, the credit should go to Tracy Yardley and the other artists for rendering it, but hm… KYLE: True, true. [chuckling] IAN: Half-tempted to sneak in a panel somewhere. [as Sonic] “Happy Thursday, Silver!” [as Silver, panicked as he’s being reminded of his trauma] “WHY?!” KYLE: [erupts into laughter, then as Silver] “What is this?!” [laughs] Man, if you made a reference to Throwing Him Thursday, I think the— I think there’s a lot of Tumblr people who would melt down. In a— you know, in a good way. IAN: [chuckling to himself] Shadow just puts him off a— puts him out a window. [as Shadow] “Huh, is it Thursday already?” KYLE: [laughing] Oh, man… IAN: Anyway, characters that we could throw on a Thursday — or any day, really. KYLE: Any day. I could throw— I could throw— I could take Charmy. [chuckles] IAN: Yeah, Charmy, Cheese… KYLE: But then I’d have to contend with not being able to throw Vector and Espio as they murder me. [laughs] IAN: [chuckles, then as Vector] “Nice arm there, Kyle! Wanna see how [unintelligible] it is?” KYLE: [laughs] Oh! IAN: And I imagine Cream, but only because she wants to, like, take off, so she’s already got her ears ready, and you’re like, out in an open field, and it’s like throwing a kite into the air or something. She’s having a grand time, just, “whee!” KYLE: Yeah, she can fly. [chuckles] IAN: Uh… how heavy is Tails, actually? KYLE: Eh, I don’t think Tails is very, uh, heavy, and he’d fly, so… you know IAN: I’m gonna look this up real quick. KYLE: You could throw Froggy a little bit— [stuttering unintelligibly] a little bit far. You know. IAN: [as Big] “Once.” KYLE: Once. [laughs] IAN: Huh! Actually Tails is like, over forty pounds! KYLE: Okay, he’s a… IAN: That’s not really a throw, that’s more of a heft. KYLE: He’s a beefy— he’s a beefy boy then, huh? Wow. [chuckles, then reading chat] I’m being told that Ray was born to be yeeted. [laughs] IAN: [chuckles] You know that’s what he and Mighty do all the time. KYLE: Of course! IAN: It’s kinda like— it’s like with Cream! KYLE: Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. IAN: [as Mighty] “Ready, little guy?” [as Ray] “Ready!” Woosh! KYLE: Yeah, pretty much, exactly. IAN: How much does Orbot weigh? KYLE: He’s pretty small, but he’s also a robot, so who knows how dense he is? Uh… IAN: If he even has an official weight… [Googling] Uh, he is— holy crap, he’s over sixty pounds! KYLE: Yeah, I was gonna say, he’s probably real dense. He’s got a lot in him. [chuckles] IAN: [sigh] I could probably pick him up and hmph, but yeah, I ain’t throwin’ that. Goodness. KYLE: The irony is that you’d think Cubot would be the dense one! IAN: [chuckles] Well, now I’m curious, if Orbot is sixty-six point one pounds… KYLE: He would be one really heavy bowling ball, at least. [laughs] IAN: Self-steering, no less. KYLE: Yeah! IAN: [Googling] Oh, wow. Cubot’s, uh, almost eighty-six pounds. KYLE: Oh! He’s dense— he’s even more dense! IAN: He’s a hefty boy! KYLE: [laughs] IAN: So, yeah.

KYLE: Nice. [chuckles] Yes. Ah, yes. [reading chat] Cubot, the honorable— or, Orbot, the honorable Whipple. IAN: [snickers] KYLE: Welcome to the Whipple family. [chuckling] I don’t know if we could really throw any of them? I mean, sure, a giant mech could throw Jewel, as we’ve established previously, but I don’t know if I could. She’s pretty— she’s pretty big for a bug. IAN: Yeah, I… she might need to be hefted, not really thrown. KYLE: Yeah, yeah. You could throw a chao. IAN: Yeah. KYLE: You can throw Marine, maybe. IAN: Well, now I’m curious, uh… Charmy’s like twenty-two pounds. KYLE: Why is he so freakin’ huge? He’s a bee! [laughs] IAN: And I would imagine Jewel’s at least that weight, so… KYLE: Y-yeah…? [stuttering] How heavy are pounds on Sonic’s world?! IAN: [laughs] I mean, you could still maybe throw Charmy, but you’d have to put your back into it. You’d have to, like, limber up first. KYLE: Yeah! IAN: And just because we brought it up, you know, the idea is Cream’s just kinda using this as an excuse to be thrown, but— [Googling] she’s twenty-six pounds. She’s barely heavier than Charmy. What in the world? KYLE: [chuckling] What? What?! IAN: But yeah, I could definitely pick her up over my head and kinda, fwoop, and then she’d flap and she’d fly, and she’d have a fun time. KYLE: Yeah, yeah… yeah, yeah, I think they’re all a bit too heavy. It’s that— it’s that dang Beach Ball Head Syndrome they got going on. [chuckles] Those giant heads, you know?

EPISODE THUMBNAIL by @kiimeranova (lines) and @nintendoni-art (colors)! Exclusive Throwing Him Thursday Variant HERE!

—— TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE: Please remember that nothing that is said on BumbleKast is canon! It’s just some guys and their opinions occasionally spitballing ideas. If you don’t like an answer, you don’t have to take it as Word of God or anything like that. It’s all just for fun!

[habitualcharmybee]

day 14! happy chaotix anniversary i wasnt able to get what i wanted done in time

sooo i wrote charmy angst :D

[skimmingmilk]

In Sharing Is Caring But We Never Learned How, I really loved how you wrote Vector Espio and Charmy. Even though they weren't the focus of the fic I wanted to ask if you had any ideas about them and their dynamic!

You know, I was wondering if anyone was curious about them! I'm so happy you asked! :D

I like to imagine that Vector and Espio met while they were both in the foster care system. They're so young to be running a business and raising a small child, I figure it makes sense that they felt like they were on their own pretty early on. They ended up in the same residential treatment program when Vector was about 16 and Espio was 12 and hit it off surprisingly well, to the point that when Vector aged out of the system two years later, he took Espio with him (I need to amend Espio's age in Sharing is Caring btw, I meant to make him 15 since his ages have mostly skewed older than Sonic over the years, but I totally forgot since I wrote that note like two years ago xD).

Even though Vector's older, and technically the one responsible over both Espio and Charmy, he treats Espio as more of a partner with equal footing in terms of responsibilities, rather than as a son or younger brother. Espio definitely doesn't see Vector as any sort of authority figure beyond potential "boss" and that's mostly because he's more front-facing with clients and handles the finances, lol. And also Espio can’t legally be listed on any of the business' official paperwork until he’s 16 xD They do consider one another family, but since they weren't really raised from childhood together, their bond is hard for them to describe. It's why Vector's so keen to just call Espio and Charmy "his boys." It encompasses everything anyone needs to know about them both, lol. They're his boys!

Now Charmy is absolutely Vector's son xD Espio is usually more of an older brother figure to Charmy, but there are times where he's also better at disciplining Charmy than Vector is, lol. Of course, Espio will often take the “I told you so” route whenever Vector fails to rein Charmy in instead of actually helping. But there are times – moreso when they’re older – that Espio feels somewhat of a parental responsibility for Charmy. The lines of their little family unit are exceptionally blurred, but they don't really care. It works for them!

Espio is stern, but overall more patient with Charmy, while Vector tries to play "good cop" to Espio's "bad cop," but will lose his temper a lot quicker, leading to physical hijinks like grabbing at Charmy or sitting on him, but Charmy just thinks of it as a game. Pushing Vector and Espio’s buttons, to see how much he can get away with, is all part of the fun! Especially because he knows Vector is actually a huge softy at heart and would let Charmy get away with murder no matter how much he annoys him xD Overall, Charmy sees Vector as more of his dad than he does Espio, but he looks up to them both and will imitate certain traits of theirs that he admires. Usually it’s Vector’s business-savvy (or lack thereof, lol) and Espio’s ninja skills.

I want Vector and Espio to have met Charmy while on their first official case, I’m just not sure what that looks like just yet. But they found him when he was very young – only a year or two old – and couldn’t just leave the little guy on his own. Since Vector would’ve already been a licensed foster parent to have Espio with him, he’d be all set to take Charmy in, too.

There’s still more to their background and dynamic that I haven’t fully explored yet, but that’s the basis of what I have for them so far! Thanks for asking!

[honeyglazedcalamari]

why are u so sillay. may i pretty please hear some of your charmy headcanons puh LEASE - the urple pentagon

grun. side effect of the substabce!

ok charmy stuff

He was either taken in by Vector one of two ways, first being he was found in a box while Vector was dumpster diving to get food for him and Espio, or, Charmy was abandoned in Vectors arms. (One of Vectors jobs when he was younger was babysitting and one day the parents just. didnt come back.)

no matter what i mske his origin tho he basically grew up his whole life in the care of Vector like he was at most 1 year old when he was taken in

One of his favorite foods is fish but it isnt because he likes it its just because of his constant exposure to it. (Big is the main provider of jobs for the Chaotix but he pays in fish.)

He IS fluffy under the helmet and i will never deny it!!

When he gets older he is like the size of vanilla like he gets taller then espio (he has queen bee genes so as a result he gets bigger then most bee mobians)

quote from my friend: "I firmly believe that Charmy is several grades ahead in math, but no one pays mind to it cause Tails was making napalm bombs at his age."

thus bringing to . Charmy does the finance papers for the chaotix. he doesnt do like signing but he calcul8s. he is genuinlh good at math and science and all that but it never gets paid mind to

thus bringing to yeah no he doesnt really like tails that much. well not really tails but just tails' whole thing. like 1 hes the little brother to a renowned hero and charmys a six year old in the care of a poor household like obvi he's a bit mad with that but also like charmys just surrounded by so many people with powers and talent and hes one of the youngest ones but nobody really pays attention to his own accomplishments because tails can build a whole robot army and charmy is just the little kid of the chaotix. he doesn't like to hang out with tails because he is a constant reminder of the fact that there is always someone he knows whos better then him and cared for by alot more people

He was named after a brand (in gens theres a billboard in city escape labelled "Charmys Sweet Honey" and me and some friends thought it'd be funny if Vector named baby Charmy that)

he likes to nap alot, especially during winter. he'll fall asleep in weird places, also. like one day Espio will have idk Silver over or something and Silver opens a cabinet to get some food and screams because Charmy is just asleep in it. Vector goes to a laundry mat and as he puts the clothes in a washer he realizes charmy is asleep in the basket buried in the clothes and stuff

He enjoys really spicy things but can't really feel the pain from it he just likes he tastes

he starts to attend school at like age 11 because the chaotix couldn't afford it at all until then but charmy knows alot of things at an advanced level because the people he grew up with just taught him whatever he knew

he is not good at socializing with people his age and doesnt have many friends because of it (wrote my awesome fic based on this i love not focusing on schoolwork to write charmy bee struggling with loneliness)

despite being a bee he is allergic to pollen. which sucks for him because he likes to pick flowers and plants and make salads and does NOT want to stop just because of allergies. unfortun8ly espio is also allergic so when charmy comes home sneezing and sniffling he knows hes cooked

Shadow and Rouge are his most frequent babysitters so he mimics alot of things from them, like speech patterns and the way they move

he mirrors those he likes frequently so when he matches something with someone he doesnt like he'll like immidietly change that. go to the park and sees hes matching jackets with some kid he hates he takes the jacket off until the day ends

he's pretty sensitive to temperatures, but like cold wise. hes more cold then it actually is like it can be 76°F (like 24°C) and he would bring a sweater outside

ok i cant think of anyfin else :p uhm yeah ask me specific things if youd like ta hear mour

[0ne-shot]

night terrors as you rest.

bjsjshs could you tell i dont feel creative with fic titles rn ANYWAY my brain is still so so full from rereading the metal virus arc and a vision came to me of espio's trauma from that. nightmares are still abundant for the poor teen lol. so i wrote a small fic about it in like. a day. enjoy!

-------

…..

It appeared again.

After thinking those events from 2 weeks ago had finally left his mind for good…

It still creeped into his head.

The distorted images of Charmy and Vector’s metal-coated bodies didn't leave his mind, even in his sleep.

But everyone was cured..? Why was this burden, that wasn't even a result of his fault, still weighing down on his mind until it caved in?

It was an innocent inquiry.

Something that Espio would ask himself to cope with the notion that– oh no, no, he DID know why it was still there.

That heavy guilt and grief that Espio had been carrying in his heart—still after everyone was cured—stayed. Stayed with no intention of growing a wall around itself to let itself be forgotten and pulled back those past images of his friends -– no, family, still with their bodies wracked and coated with metal until there was no more trace of their individuality. Just mindless zombots. 

That’s what they were seized into during that time.

 Worst of all? 

He couldnt even fucking do anything about it except helplessly run around to safe evacuations until he himself became one with them. Maybe that was fate. The most comfortable fate there, really. Out of all the screaming, mercy-kills and trying to save others, he’d pick that time of himself being infected to relive. To pay for the same pain he couldn't save his friends from.

Any pain– any sort of pain he had gone through or could’ve gone through then didn't amount to a speck when Charmy was punished for just trying to be a helpful child. Punished by being slowly dragged down a pool of zombots before he joined with that pool.

Or when Vector had to go through heavier grief for the loss of the kid, trying to preserve him before a cure could be found—all until Charmy escaped while infected and Vector had to latch onto him so nobody else could be put in danger. Then the door shut. And that was it.

Nobody else.

Nobody there with him.

His mind kept on tampering and entertaining situations of what ifs and gruesome outcomes of both his teammates – no, family, –  not coming out cured. Stuck like that.

And with it flashed Charmy’s infected body, how the youngest had to go first, how the little kid had to go through so much pain and agony while nobody was there to answer his cries—

``Espio..?``

..!-

Reality faded.

He wasn't sure whether it faded in or out.

But the ceiling fan he was suddenly gazing at and the small voice next to him proved the former.

``Espio!? Are you…?``

Espio’s head shot up as he jabbed his elbow to the mattress and sat up straight, breathing heavily and sweating as his heart pounded—ironically after rest.

“Rest”?

….

That wasn't rest.

He was better off not sleeping.

He finally turned his gaze to the voice and as he predicted; it was Charmy. Sitting next to his bed with fuzzy antennae drooped sadly and a worried look filling his bleary little orange eyes.

``Charmy!`` Espio frantically replied,  ``You’re…`` 

….

 It was… almost strange to see Charmy worried. Espio never got the chance to really see the bee’s face so genuinely somber and concerned.

It only pumped that guilt further and further into Espio’s heart.

But maybe that was worth the coming relief.

It wasn't real.

It wasn't real.

What you experienced. Was. Not. Real.

They’re still here. Still with you.

Espio took a deep breath and attempted to gather his thoughts.

``Why are you awake? I assume it's already late.`` Espio tried his hardest to speak in a calm, quiet voice to Charmy through the panic-induced rasp that was clogging his throat.

``You were breathing really, really fast in your sleep.. and I got worried.``

…

He was?

He assumed he was silent through that whole nightmarish sequence. But if he was actually hyperventilating enough to wake up and worry Charmy…

Gaia, did he disturb the kid’s sleep because of it?

``...I'm fine. It wasn't anything note-worthy. You should go back to sleep.``

Every feature on the ninja’s body screamed otherwise to being “fine”. His usually swirly tail was still stiffened straight with those images running through his mind, and his heart was pounding wildly in shock from that nightmare.

But, still. Espio didn't want to cloud the bee’s mind and remind him of what happened to him during the metal virus: he had already moved on. That was for the better. The kid didn't deserve to think about that again. But he knew Charmy was one to press on, evidently so. So, the chameleon could only silently pray that he would not ask anything that couldn't be avoided without an answer.

``Espio…`` Charmy muttered with that concern still lingering in his head, ``That’s not normal to do while sleeping. Were you having a nightmare?``

…

Shit.

Guess the universe wasn't feeling like answering that silent prayer.

There’s not many things in the world that can explain full on hyperventilation in sleep other than a nightmare or night terror…

Maybe if he just… could set aside what the nightmare exactly.. was…

``...`` Espio nodded in response to Charmy’s question, before trying to shrug it off.

``About..? It must’ve been freaky—I’ve never seen you so.. scared before.``

``I… It’s not worth noting.``

``Are you sure?`` The little bee pressed on.

Flapping his wings, Charmy flew over and climbed onto Espio’s bed, shuffling himself closer to the chameleon with his innocent eyes eager for an answer. He seemed to want to help calm down Espio with maybe a small side hug, or a pat on the shoulder, too; but the bee was hesitant with that decision considering Espio’s hate for physical touch. Especially when Espio’s stressed, like now.

``...I- It was just a night terror that.. isn't worth getting worked up on,`` Espio spoke through slightly panting breaths, ``and besides, I don't want to remind and stress you out, too.``

``It’s not gonna help bottling up whatever scared y— wait, “remind me”?``

…

Espio slipped out the very thing he was trying to avoid…

Realization slowly pooled in Charmy’s eyes.

``..Oh.``

…This should’ve been expected, huh?

He shouldn’t have tried hiding this.

Hiding this from Charmy, of all mobians.

…But before Espio could try and still save himself from this, he felt a small pair of arms cling around his own—doing what they feared to do before.

``...Espio.. It was okay to tell me, y’know?... I was scared during then, too.``

Charmy then cautiously nuzzled his head onto Espio’s shoulder. 

The ninja’s breath hitched.

He wasn't used to this. Used to having a younger one who you should be looking after, looking after you. Comforting you. It felt so alien to him.

It felt so alien with anyone comforting him, really.

It was mostly Espio’s fault for it, wasn't it? He’d always try to convince himself that walling off his vulnerability was the best thing for him; the best thing for everyone around him, too. Those emotions rarely seeped out, and when they did, every thought was cancelled out for one goal to get it together again and remain stoic once more.

The same thing happened just now, too.

The last part was the only thing that varied.

 His mind was screaming about how this wasn't right, and he shouldn't even have inadvertently told the bee—let alone burden him with his own fears and emotions. Charmy suffered more pain than he did, but he was the one soothing Espio? The chameleon felt so selfish for it.

…But his body said otherwise to his mind as he gently returned Charmy’s hug, wrapping his arms around the bee’s fuzzy, warm body.

His chest felt a little lighter.

He could feel Charmy’s wings twitch a little in shock when his arms returned the favour. It was clear the bee didn't foresee Espio actually accepting the hug—let alone hugging him back.

``...Charmy?``

``Mhm?`` Charmy’s eyes gazed up at Espio, face still nuzzled in his shoulder.

``...``

``Thank you.``

Espio didn't know how else to express it.

Words didn't do any sort of favour, really. But he just… needed to get it out somehow.

The ninja couldn't see, but he could definitely sense a small smile emerging onto Charmy’s face as he tightened his hug around Espio.

``No. Thank you.``

….

They stayed like that for a while.

It felt so soothing. Staying in that position as his breathing finally calmed down and his heart’s pace started to relax.

The images — those horrifying images — slowly faded away back into subconsciousness.

Espio would’ve remained so still for just a little while longer until Charmy’s small yawn reminded the chameleon of the fact that it was still past midnight, and now extremely late. Cases were waiting tomorrow, so was a long, long day. They should get to sleep now..

But Espio didn't feel like letting go anytime soon…

In result, wordlessly, he slowly adjusted his grip around Charmy before slowly lowering his body and putting his legs onto the mattress again as he rested his head on the pillow; now cuddling the fuzzy little body in his arms. He felt Charmy finally comfortable enough to nuzzle his head onto Espio’s chest as he let his eyes flutter shut in sleepiness. 

Espio’s chest felt a lot warmer now.

For a while, Espio’s eyes remained blinking blearily and his hands still stroked Charmy’s fluffy fur—the very thing that lulled the bee back to sleep in the first place.

He stared at the window beside him.

This was quite the long night, huh..?

Espio didn't think it’d turn out this way, but he wouldn’t have chosen anything else for it.

He wouldn't trade this moment for the world.

Exhaustion came to Espio eventually, and he let his eyes close and his hand rest still on Charmy’s head.

``G’night, Charmy…`` Espio slurred with tiredness.

A few more blinks, then his eyes closed.

And the world grew dark again as Espio finally let himself drift off.

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note: charmy ily <3 best bros ever