Work Text:
A long time ago, Knuckles threw away his childhood. His joy when playing, his imagination and wonder.
When his father never returned, and neither did his feeling of home...
Until now.
Now he"d made an unbreakable promise to the hedgehog, and the fox. The humans provide him with safety, and Mother Whipple especially is an honour to visit. And despite his "grounding" being extended to a month after the quest to the Reno, it was worth the victory, it was worth the realization of having a home, worth helping his apprentice/ally/it"s complicated but good.
And now he"s ungrounded, and his main human caretakers (Which Knuckles does not need! He simply rests beneath their roof to protect his word and his family team.) are now on their... anniversary... trip. Because one ceremony of martial status was not enough, apparently.
And the Whipple, Wade, was left to watch over the children and Knuckles. Knuckles excludes himself from being called one of the children, because he"s not a child. He"s a warrior.
And he will proudly reward himself for his trumpets as a warrior, even if it is beating the hedgehog in a final round of the go-cart game within the television box. And then lunch, with grapes!
"-And, cool ranch doritos. Because, I"m cool enough to not give you boring lunches." Wade said as he served bowls onto the table. Sonic was provided a chilled-y hot dog. And the fox was given a sandwich, made of nuts, butter, and jams. Knuckles, who clearly succeeded at Lunch the best today, had a bowl of grapes and cool ranch doritos. A mighty combination indeed!
"Oh, thanks!" Tails exclaimed, using a pathetic tiny butter knife to cut his flavourful bread and additions. Sonic didn"t even speak, just digging in. The Wade was making himself the noodle cup, and the echidna hummed in approval. "Yes, you are very. And now, i will enjoy my meal with great pleasure." With a crunch from one of the crisps, he seemed satisfied.
While the mircowaver was whirling in the background, a sound that mildly annoyed the Echidna, and once resulted in the box being punched—The Whipple spoke up again.
"So, I"m thinking, after lunch? I"ve got the whole Star Wars trilogy on DVD to blow your minds."
Sonic, (who was talking to Tails about sleeping in the hammock tonight, saying it was "cooler" for the Wade and team Sonic sleepover) made a little gasp, shoving the rest of his food in his mouth. "No way! I"ve only seen them like- twenty times! We have got to show the others, there"s no way their minds won"t explode with epicness!" He replied to the man, who finally retrieved his cup and relieved Knuckles... ears...? Of that horrid sound.
"Eh, sci-fi is cool, but not sure it"s my thing... I might just tinker-" The fox interrupted himself with silence at the sight of the hedgehog"s face morphing into a pout, Tails gave a soft chuckle. "I mean...! What"s the harm? If the Sonic likes it, it can"t be bad! Right?" And the blue one, plus Wade, cheered. Sonic jumping up, buzzing with excitement, going on and on about how awesome this would be.
Awesome would be said alot, wouldn"t it?
The Whipple took a large bite of his own lunch, before turning to Knuckles. "It"s got like, action. And fighting and warriors in it, I think you"d like it, amigo." He said with a hint of confidence.
Having finished his bowl of greatness, Knuckles looked up at him. "I shall join you in your movies of warriors then. Witnessing our protagonists take down their weak, mortal enemies with blood as their trophies!" His voice quickly grew with his own excitement, fist slamming on the table at the end of his sentence. The whole room went quiet for a second.
"Woah, easy big guy. But- I like your spirit." Sonic chuckled out. And Wade, saying he"d go get it started, rushed into the living room with a smile on his face. The hedgehog and fox following. And Knuckles got down from his chair, walking in their wake.
The living room was dim, and the second movie was on. While Knuckles was focused on the different forms they used, the way the action scenes were shot, the way it was all crafted together. Both Tails and Sonic had long since fallen asleep, possibly the fact that they stayed up all night previously to talk.
Wade however, was attentive as well. He sat right next to Knuckles, occasionally talking over the movie to point out a cool fact, give context, or just to shush himself if a "good part" came up.
This, despite the violence that was within the TV box, was peaceful.
Knuckles... could not remember the last time he had peace like this. Well actually he can, it was two months ago, according to earth"s calendar days. And those were short lived. There was always a threat looming in the back of his head, never truly peaceful. Strange men and woman making loud noises around the Wachowski fortress, and his instincts to protect flared up like a burning fire of passion in his chest.
Or it was a sinister trickster. Someone who wished to gain his scarce trust to manipulate him into their own twisted desires... that was one of the few things to cause him this strange, non-phyiscal pain.
But currently, that wasn"t happening. The room was safe, so was the house, the home. The people he cared deeply for here within it"s protective walls, and no threat was present. It was just an ecening, with television and friends.
So for the first time in awhile, he felt peace...
And felt something else. A level of peace only his child self could"ve achieved.
What the hell.
Suddenly Knuckles shook himself back to reality, purple eyes scanned the room. No danger, just him, just Wade, just team. Yet he knew this feeling, it came out in the times long ago, when fear consumed him more than his will to protect did.
This didn"t feel... bad, nor fearful. Or, scary, as he"d put it. It was simply a light, fuzzy feeling. And he was feeling the side of Wade too, he hadn"t realized his subconscious movements to get closer to the safe person.
He was disoriented a bit, that was a little... spooky. But there was someone to hold on to, and the only thing he"s really let his guard down on was the movie.
Wade looked down at the Echidna who was burrowing himself the crook of the deputy arm. He looked almost as confused as Knuckles was.
"Hey, uh, buddy? You good there?" He asked with a sincere tone. "Cuz, uh, "cuz like if this is scary like. I get it, I mean, like I"m not, uh, like scared, of this part-" He gestured to the screen without looking at it. "-But like if you are, like that"s chill, man. That"s cool."
Here"s the thing, Knuckles wasn"t scared, despite this feeling of a lost part of him always coming out when he was. But the tone, the way Wade seemed... hm... was the Whipple judging him?
He couldn"t place it, but this suddenly did feel bad. And he needed to leave. He needed to escape from here, just this room and no where else in the house.
Without another word, he got up with a swift movement and awkwardly but speedily making his way up to the attic.
Whipple called out, "W-Wha-wait! bud? What"s wrong dude?" He tried to ask, which startled Sonic awake, which startle up Tails too. The two looking around and seeing Knuckles quick exit was a red flag. Despite the lack of context.
"What"s up with him?" He heard the concerned voice of the hedgehog ask, before he rushed into the shared room, and shut the door with force.
There was frustration within him for what he just did, abandoning their time together, their peaceful moment. It was all bitter and confusing now, and he wasn"t injured, no. But tears welled up in his eyes, and he took to laying on the floor, his legs immediately moving on their own, unhappy, bunny kicks.
His gloves went to cover his face, which were then damped by his unnecessary tears, this truly did, as Wanda Whipple would say, suck.
He did not appreciate his mind working against him.
And he couldn"t even have an emotional wrecking, because he was swiftly interrupted by the attic door creaking up, with two knocks on it after if was open, Sonic peaking through.
"Knuckles?—" He made a little hiss accompanied by his face twisting a bit, giving a nervous chuckle before moving down for a moment. Then Wade suddenly popped up in the gap of the partly opend door, Sonic patting his back. "Welp, go figure out what you did wrong, I believe in ya!" And Tails gave a thumbs up behind the two.
The two disappeared then, leaving just the human. And all Knuckles could do was hide. Curl up and hide himself from Wade.
"Hey... buddy. C"mon, what"s up man?" He gently asked, he sounded like he was about to come in. But a faint growl from the Echidna reminded him to ask permission.
"Is... it cool if I hang up here with you?"
Knuckles, he wanted to reply. Command the man to leave, but nothing left his mouth. It hung open for just a second, before closing it as his brows furrowed. He curled up tighter, in the fetal position essentially.
The latch door opened, but the other didn"t fully enter, just standing on the ladder. "Did uh... I say something? I don"t really no what"s wrong, but I didn"t mean to like, uhm, do this, bud..." He tried to clarify.
His agitation worsened, and the only form of communication he could muster was an upset grunt. He wasn"t even upset with Wade, just at himself. Which was stupid.
Wade"s face shifted into more worry. With caution, he invited himself in, walking around to try and see Knuckles face—The warrior just turned around. So he sighed, and tried again.... and again-
"Okay, okay-" Wade backed off as Knuckles legs gave him a weak shove. "Sorry, didn"t mean to uh, like upset you... Just, what did I even do? Was it lunch? I knew I shouldn"t have mixed Doritos and fruit!"
Knuckles tried to intimidate him away. But all that left him was a tiny, soft whine. No fearsome growl.
Wade blinked once, then twice at the noise. Leaning forward a bit to see Knuckles glossy eyes. There was this look in his eyes, this sorta... not sadness, but he was upset. And it seemed to be a type of upset that Wade understood well.
Wade kneeled down, getting a lot closer to Knuckles level, and his tone turned gentle. "Hey... buddy? Think I know what"s up, you don"t like, have to talk if you can"t, alright? I just wanna know if you"re feeling small."
Small... small? Knuckles never dared to try and identify, or even name familiar feeling. But small felt like it fit, he did feel small. He felt intimidated by the size of everything else, everything felt so unexplored and huge now.
He felt small, and gave a teeny tiny nod.
The man"s face shifted into a kind smile, and he spoke, "Yeah? You"re just a lil" guy right now, huh? Thats cool, I gotta be small too sometimes, you know?" In that welcoming tone, this guy just had a progressively more goofy smile the longer he was there. Before asking another question.
"You wanna just stay up here? Or, like can we go back downstairs? I think the movie"s still playing?" The echidna forgot about the film, but that was where he started feeling this confusing tinyness and peace, so he wouldn"t mind going back down there...
He just... didn"t wanna move himself.
He made a gruff noise, a sort of huff. Which seemed good enough for Wade, who begun to leave the room, taking a second to realize the warrior had not followed.
"You coming?" He asked, Knuckles looked at him with what could be described as a pout. Of course he was coming! He just, just- needed a moment!
But the deputy either had no time for this, or this was one of those human things. Because, suddenly, Knuckles was being picked up by the... surprisingly, strong Wade.
"For a guy whose like, "all muscle". You"re pretty light, heh." He said after adjusting the younger. Knuckles took a good five seconds to process that he was being not only picked up, but carried. Before his shoulders slowly stopped tensing up, and his little legs and arms wrapping around the older.
"There you go! Yeah, Just hold on, Kay? We"re gonna still have an awesome night."
Downstairs, Sonic was speeding through a homemade obstacle course, with Tails timing him while hovering in the air, cheering him on.
It was loud, Knuckles did not appreciate this for some reason. He was normally a fan of such antics, he"d even join in just to claim victory. But he didn"t wanna.
"Hey, hey guys! How about... oh, oh woah that"s uh, a big mess..." Wade mumbled as he looked at the rearranged living room. Sonic paused, looking at him with a smile.
"Well, yeah! I"m this close to beating my indoor obey-stacle course record!" He made an exaggerated motion with his index finger and thumb nearly touching. While Tails" head conked to the side.
"Uh... why are you carrying Knuckles?"
"Oh, oh yeah!" Wade cleared his throat, lowering his voice a bit. "Okay, so... like I"m not sure if uh... like all of you.... well, your guy"s type?" One of his arms stayed wrapped around the echidna, the other gesturing vaguely to the fox and hedgehog. "Like, do this? But uh, yeah, he"s kinda in this headspace thing? Uh... h-hang on how do I explain this? Not a bad headspace thing! It"s uh..." his free hand snapped his fingers as he thought, a struggling expression worn. That Knuckles watched carefully.
"Age regression?" Tails finished with a playful expression, he also just found it amusing at how bad Wade was at explaining things, he"s a good trier though.
"Yeah, that!" Wade points to him. And Sonic seemed lost. "Age- what now?"
"Age regression! It"s where you mentally go back to a kid again!" The genius explained. And Sonic made an oh sound.
Then Sonic gasps, dramatically. "Wait, so he"s like a kid!? Does this mean I"m the big brother!?" Joy and a bit of anxiousness was in his tone, and Tails nodded. And Sonic started talking at lightning speed, quickly cleaning up the mess (Wade breathed a sigh of relief at that) and running back and fourth, thinking of all the "big brother" things he could do, before Tails had to slow him down.
"Woah, easy, Sonic! We don"t know how old Knuckles is, he might just be a little young for all... that. Maybe we can play some games instead?"
The Whipple nodded, "Yeah! Yeah that"s good, uh, like let"s not overwhelm him though, kay?"
Sonic gave two thumbs up. "I, good sir, will take good care of new little brother!" He proudly says, as Knuckles watches him and Tails go turn the TV to be on the gaming screen. How it works, he"ll never understand.
Wade pets Knuckles head, which surprised him at first. The human gave scritches between his quills, an oddly pleasant experience. The echidna gives a noise close to a pur, and the human snickered under his breath.
"Yeah, it"s nice, huh?" He went and sat on the couch, Knuckles clinging to him tighter, while Sonic got out two controllers, shaking one in front of the warriors face. "Ready to be crushed! Or urm, lightly squished!" He corrected. The challenge wasn"t appealing though, and also grapes and doritos were not a very filling lunch, because he wanted to snack on something now. So, combine hunger with a little disinterested echidna and a touch of disoriention? You get a whine, and a little face pushed into the safety that was Wade"s jacket,. Which resulted in a short awe as the human tries to stiffle his coo.
"Yeah... he didn"t seem to really like that, huh little guy?" Wade asked, still petting his head. "How about just us two for now?" The fox suggested. Sonic smirked and shrugged. "Eh, sure! I don"t have a perf for who I beat!" And as the two younger (older as of now?) Got to their game, Knuckles made some upset, somewhat frustrated fusses, pushing away from the human.
"Oh? Uh oh, someone"s not a happy camper." He shifted a bit to make sure Knuckle didn"t fall off the couch if he squirmed his way out. "What"s wrong? And you gotta work with me little man."
Knuckles looks up at him with a scrunched up face. And Wade sighed quietly. The two other boys where too invested in their game to really notice it.
"You uh... need to get some energy out?" No reply, just pout. "A-A nap? You need a snack? Or uh, oh. That it?" He noticed how Knuckles eased at the confirmation that food was indeed one of the options.
"We"re outta doritos, but I think we got some other stuff you can try." He said as he got up, carrying the little echidna into the kitchen.
So Wade took Knuckles into the kitchen, and sat him onto a chair (much to the red one"s dislike) before digging through the cabinet. Trying to find something Knuckles likes. He was... picky.
After a bit of searching, he pulled out all sorts of options for him. Anything from cereals to crisps were on the table. Out of them all, and after some internal debate. Knuckles pointed to the loaf of bread. His legs swinging from the chair. Then he leaned over, grabbing the carton of grape juice to show his current caretaker.
Wade gave a smile, "Nice chooses little man! You want that like, a sandwich? Or uh, toasted?" He looked over to the toaster Knuckles pointed at, and got to work with that.
Then getting a cup, he paused. Digging through the cupboards, he hoped there was a cup with a lid in there somewhere. Eventually, he found what looked like a sippy cup. He only mildly questioned why Tom would have one, before showing it to knuckles.
"Mkay Knucks. This, is a sippy. You drink it like this- super cool." He demonstrated how to sip it to the watching echidna. "And uh, doesn"t spill! So mess free, eh?"
Knuckles, bewildered by the sorcery that was anti-spilling mechanics, made a little gasp noise. And Wade snorted.
"Yeah, bud. It"s cool, right?"
Knuckles sat with his plate of snacking (Several slices of toast, cut up into bite pieces, and jam.) Along with his mini-mighty sippy cup of coolness, sat on the couch, held by the human, as he watched Sonic and Tails play their game. A look of awe on his face.
The way the game worked was now lost to the echidna, but the colours and music were very much appreciated. His tail wagging ever so slightly. Leaned forward a bit as his eyes trail the racing cars on screen. He mumbled out a low, "vroom vroom..." and Wade huffed a laugh, nodding.
"Yeah, cars go vroom vroom, buddy! Look at how fast they"re zooming." Wade points to the screen, and the invested echidna nodded along. Babbling out something not even the little guy himself understood, he just wanted to babble.
As he ate with his hands, Tails won, he thinks. And cheered, Sonic was absolutely devastated with his win streak now gone... for about five seconds. Before exclaiming, "Okay! What next?"
The Whipple looks at the time, a mild panic on his face. "Uhm... yeah, so... i-its probably time for bed, guys. I know, but, school night."
"Awe what? That"s lame! C"mon, five more minutes! Or ten- no, ten more minutes!" Sonic pleaded, Tails laughed and Knuckles gave a soft hum. Finishing his snack, the little echida was getting sleepy, yes. He yawned, and Tails nudges Sonic, saying something about maybe time to get ready for bed...
Knuckles was eepy.
Wade scooped up the little guy, bringing him up to the three"s shared room while Sonic and Tails went to go brush their teeth. He looked around, and had to to balance Knuckles on one side, his free arm trying clean up a little bit so he could lay Knuckles down. The echidna normally refused to sleep in a bed, or... a mattress of any kind for that matter. But he seemed too tired to really mind where Wade set him, and Sonic wanted to sleep in his hammock tonight with Tails sleeping in his own bed, so Knuckles could sleep in the racecar bed tonight.
He carefully set the sleepy little down above the covers, going to get one of the many blankets (this one was red, crochet, so weighted) in the room to cover him up with. Tails came up into the attic flying, Sonic carried by the fox as he dropped the hedgehog off somewhat quietly.
"Race you to bed!—Whoops, guess I won, hey, what if we play videos games in bed, that counts, right?" Sonic was talking to Tails, then switched over to Wade, who gave a chuckle.
"Sorry bud, I tried pulling that when I was a kid, and mom was not having it."
"Awe." Sonic deflated, while Tails curled up into a ball, his, well, tails as a blanket.
As Wade thought to himself, "Hey, I actually kind of have a handle on the situation!" Knuckles begun getting fussy, and woke up with a little heart breaking hiccup.
"Awe- hey hey buddy, shh, w-what"s wrong, little man..?" Wade sat by the bed, trying to sooth him by petting his head.
Knuckles didn"t like that, for whatever reason. Because he swatted Wade away and started crying silently. So now all sorts of alarm bells were going off, as he picks him up again, a rushed attempt to comfort him.
"Awe no no... c"mon, I thought I did everything right bud!" He whispered, Sonic looked worried because he"s never seen Knuckles cry before. "Whats wrong with him? Is he hurt? No, sick! Is he dying!?"
"Nobody is dying!" Wade retorted with a harsh whisper, bouncing the progressively more upset Knuckles up and down. The fox had already passed out and Sonic was panic pacing because, quote, "Why is crying so bad sounding!?"
Wade took in a deep breath, he had, literally no clue what Knuckles wanted. He"s been fed, maybe he had to use the bathroom? Or maybe he was afraid of the dark?
Whatever is was, by now, it"s been bothering the little guy for around five minutes. And after asking a couple trouble shooting questions, he got no where.
"Uhm..." Sonic snapped his fingers while he thought, using his speed to bring several items in the room. The sippy, (another) blanket, a controller, Knuckle"s hat, a jacket-
The hat, Knuckles glanced at it, making a whine as he reached for it. And Wade took it from Sonic, letting Knuckles see the, apparently, calming clothing item.
Wade, raising an eyebrow, was gentle as he put the hat on the little guy, and suddenly he stopped being so fussy... so... apparently he wants to sleep in his hat, huh?
That"s kinda adorable, a warrior, literal last of his kind. And in need of a cowboy hat to sleep.
With a sigh sigh relief, Sonic theatrically collapsed into his hammock, "Augh! Who knew little siblings were so much work!... he"s okay, right?"
"Oh, yeah... he"s okay." Wade smiled at him, "I think he"s more okay now then ever, even..."
So Wade put him to bed, for a second time. Tilting the hat forward a bit so it covered his eyes, and went to turn off the lights—Sonic almost stopping him, but Wade turned on the nightlight and gave a thumbs up. Sonic returned the gestured, and finally relaxed.
Wade Dat down by Knuckles bed again, rubbing his back until the small feel asleep for sure, before carefully tip toeing to get up.
"Night, guys." Wade said as he started climbing down the latter, taking om Las look at the three. Sonic was avid ready to lass out too, murmuring "night..." as he drifted off.
And maybe the three of them ended up cuddling together in the racecar bed tomorrow, but Knuckles, for once, didn"t mind.