Chapter Text
“Okay, bud! Ready?” Sonic called out.
He was crouched by their house’s outside outlet, trying not to let his legs touch too much of the fresh snow around him. As much as he loved the stuff, he valued feeling in his legs just a little bit more.
He heard some clicking and shuffling from above him. The outlet was situated on the side of their porch, close and convenient for the sake of their cords. At last, Tails landed with a crunch in the snow, giving his big brother a thumbs up.
“Ready!”
“Alright! Here goes!”
The blue hedgehog inserted the plug into the outlet. They both watched as all the Christmas lights blinked to life. Reds, greens, blues, silvers, and golds lit up their small, one story house. A few light-up candy canes sat in their front lawn, glittering like pearls striped with ruby. (Could’ve also been the other way around, like Sonic could even tell the difference). Snowflake lanterns were hung in between the bunches of lights strung along the beams, glittering like pieces of icicles beneath the sunlight.
Tails’ twin namesakes wagged behind him excitedly.
“It looks even better than last year! Don’t you think?”
“It definitely looks different from last year,” Sonic commented, tilting his head to the side with a wry smirk.
Earlier that day, Knuckles had stopped by to help the boys with decorating. They had already finished the inside of the house, so while Sonic went out to buy groceries for baking, Knuckles and Tails handled the lights.
I swear, every time I let those two do the lights, it just gets messier.
Knuckles wasn’t one about precision; if the lights stayed on the hook, then he considered it a job well done, regardless of its lack of ‘prettiness.’ Hence why he decorated his own house the same way each year: a string of lights on the roof, an inflatable Santa that looked too drunk to stay upright, and an animatronic deer that sounded like Satan when it spoke. (Knuckles kept it that way so it could scare off some pesky neighborhood kids. And to mess with his neighbors). Tails, on the other hand, liked to switch things up. He liked experimenting, trying new methods and configurations. He was a little more organized than their echidna brother, but he was not opposed to the occasional mess.
This year, it seemed the two had gone for the ‘overgrown jungle’ look. Because that was the best way Sonic could describe the mess of green wires and colored bulbs that hung around the entirety of their porch. With a giant snowflake poking through every few feet.
Yeah. They were going to have a field day getting all that taken down in the new year; Sonic could feel it.
Still, he knew his brothers had fun, so he wasn’t about to spoil Tails’ good mood. He simply ran over to the fox’s side and ruffled the top of their head.
“Alright, whaddya say we head inside and warm up? Then we can start dinner.”
“Yeah!” Tails chirped, “race you inside!”
“Hey, that’s my line!”
Sonic laughed as he dashed by his little brother back into their house. Once they hung up their coats, they wrestled their way into the kitchen to start dinner. Since it was only leftover chicken, veggies, and potatoes, all they had to do was take their portions and warm them in the microwave. They decided to sit down in the living room while they ate, so Sonic put on some kid’s Christmas special to listen to.
He didn’t know why ducks were time traveling and having family drama, but he found himself mildly invested in the plot. He was also rather fond of the duck character the special put a lot of focus on, the one with a blue shirt. They were spunky; he liked that.
Tails washed down a big piece of chicken with his mug of hot water before speaking.
“Knuckles told me that Rouge flies in tomorrow. She couldn’t get any other flights that were before the get-together.”
“That just means she and Knux can spend more time together,” Sonic smirked, taking a bite of chicken, “I swear, one of them has to take the leap and commit. All this commuting back and forth is gonna strain their wallets.”
Tails laughed.
“Yeah. We might have to pitch in for him at some point.”
“More like intervene,” Sonic scoffed, earning him a playful punch in the shoulder.
Rouge was a bat Knuckles met during his first year of college. For the first few months, the two were almost always at odds. Sonic could still remember the list of complaints Knuckles had for his class ‘nemesis.’ Then, somehow, by some grace of Gaia, they started dating. By the time graduation rolled around, the pair were deemed best couple of the year by their peers. Sonic still had no idea how it happened, but he was happy for his brother. He deserved to have someone by his side. Plus, Rouge was fun to be around. She had a sharp wit that Sonic admired and could bounce off of. She also wasn’t put off by his ‘corny jokes.’
She even got along with Tails pretty well, so if the knucklehead ever wanted to take the next step…
Sonic snickered to himself. He loved constantly teasing the echidna about the idea of marriage, just so he could watch them flounder over their words. Rouge seemed to like it as well. She would often tag team with him to gang up on the poor echidna until he was fuming!
Of course, Sonic didn’t want to pressure his brother into anything. It was his relationship, his decision. They had plenty of time.
Rouge lived in Station Square, a rather expensive city on the coast, so she was used to living lavishly. Knuckles, meanwhile, preferred the countryside of Green Hills. She had a job in the fashion industry, and he was co-owner of the town’s gym. Neither of them were willing to give up their lifestyles, but they were head over heels for each other, so for now they were making the ‘long distance’ relationship work.
Sonic, Tails, and their friend Amy currently had bets on who was going to decide to move first. The hedgehogs thought Knuckles would make the move to Station Square while Tails thought Rouge would move to Green Hills. They also made a secondary bet on whether or not the two would announce the decision before New Year's.
The brothers watched another show’s Christmas special before finally getting up to put their plates in the sink. Tails washed the microwave cover and dinner dishes while Sonic dried them. They could have just stuffed everything into the dishwasher, but figured it would save more water. Also, both of them just felt the need to stand and do something for a bit.
“Don’t forget to take something out for Rudolph!” Tails said, rinsing off the last plate.
Sonic playfully saluted.
“Got it!”
He dried the plate Tails handed to him before putting it away and padding over towards the fridge. He scanned over what they had, humming thoughtfully to himself.
“Same as last night?”
Tails glanced out the window over the sink. The sun was almost completely gone, the night sky turning from deep orange to pink and purple. Stars twinkled overhead in dots of brilliant bright white.
“Yeah. Maybe throw in an extra carrot or two.”
Sonic took the leftovers out again and prepared another plate. He cut the chicken strips so it would be easy for an animal to grab by their mouth. Tails handed him the now clean microwave cover that they would simply rinse off after use.
Ever since the start of winter, some mysterious creature had been hanging around the brothers’ house. They could often hear it sifting through the trash cans, scratching against the house’s sides, and trampling some of the flowers in their flower beds. At first Sonic thought it was a raccoon searching for a few extra meals, or that some stray dogs were running loose during the night.
Tails had set up a couple motion capture cameras to try and catch the creature. They never found much, just some indication of movement and oddly shaped shadows. Then, one night, one of the cameras behind the house caught footage of antlers. The closest guess either brother could make was a deer had been loitering around their property.
Tails theorized that thanks to a blizzard that kickstarted the winter season, food in the forest might have been more scarce than usual. They decided to give the creature a hand by leaving out some food for them every evening. At first they put out small things like apples, carrots, or nuts on the edge of the porch. A quick but disturbing internet search revealed that deer could eat meat if protein was low, so Tails added canned tuna or chicken pieces to the menu.
Now obviously it wasn’t exactly a smart idea leaving a steaming plate of food outside where any animal could smell it, but Sonic didn’t think much of it. If the animals were hungry, they were hungry. He wasn’t going to stop them from eating. He was, however, going to make sure all their doors and windows were locked down to keep the more… curious ones out. Plus Tails had a few gadgets that could scare animals off, so they weren’t completely defenseless.
Tails had decided to name the mysterious deer Rudolph. Sonic had a feeling the name was chosen because of the fox’s liking for the stop motion Christmas special of the same name. That didn’t mean he was going to complain, however. He was actually starting to like the name. Now if only they could see the deer’s face…
They had been doing this song and dance for two months now. One of the boys would leave food out, then wait until morning to collect the empty plate. They never saw any sign of the creature. All they heard was some shuffling outside the house, and the squeaking of the porch’s wood. No hoofprints or anything. Sonic had to applaud this deer's stealth. They were like a ninja or something.
Once the food was done, Tails carefully grabbed the warm plate and headed towards the door. Sonic didn’t call him out for not wearing a coat; the kit’s winter coat had already grown in, and he was only going a few paces away from the door.
Even though he was standing all the way in the kitchen, Sonic shivered from a rush of wind that burst into their house. He heard Tails let out a similar noise before quickly stepping out to deposit the plate. In a few seconds, the fox was hurrying back inside and practically slamming the door shut. He gave a full body shiver, rubbing his hands up and down his arms frantically.
Sonic smirked in amusement.
“Did you see him this time?”
“No,” Tails sighed, ears drooping a little, “I thought I’d catch a glimpse this time.”
Sonic smiled at his little brother softly. He had been trying to spot the elusive deer for weeks. It never showed up on the cameras, and it only seemed to appear when they went to sleep.
“Maybe we’ll catch him another night. I’d like to see what he looks like too.”
“You think so?”
“Yeah. I do.”
Sonic honestly doubted he was ever going to see Rudolph, but that was fine. As long as the deer was fed, he was happy. Besides, it was probably for the best Rudolph never got too close; wild animals were wild for a reason.
The boys spent the rest of the evening talking about the upcoming holiday get-together with their friends and watching cartoons. Tails let out a long yawn during a commercial break, stretching his arms over his head. Sonic smirked. With one press of the remote’s button the whole TV’s screen turned black.
“I think it’s time to turn in, bro.”
“...’M not tired…” Tails slurred, eyes fluttering shut.
His head fell onto Sonic’s shoulder. The blue hedgehog giggled as he scooped the fox into his arms and padded towards the bathroom.
“Wash up first and then you can pass out.”
“...‘Kay…”
Sonic went back to the living room to turn off the lights. Before he left, he glanced at the Christmas tree tucked in the far corner. A rainbow of lights glittered within the now darkened space. They made spots and patterns show up on the surrounding walls. A few made their way to the windows: the one on the side as well as the one in the front that showed the outside porch.
The blue hedgehog glanced one more time out the window, searching for moving shadows across the snow. All he found was a reflection of Christmas lights that surrounded his distorted reflection.
Oh well. Rudolph would come when he was ready. Or she. Rudolph could also be a girl, or doe, as Tails one day told him. Apparently male deer were bucks and females were does.
Heh. The more you know.
With one last sweep around the living room, Sonic turned on his heel down the small hallway that led to the bedrooms. He stopped outside the bathroom first, poking his head in to check on Tails. Thankfully the fox hadn’t fallen asleep standing up again. A rather impressive feat, if Sonic was being honest. At least this time the toothpaste wasn’t leaking out of the poor kid's mouth in a foamy waterfall.