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guardian-of-da-gay · 4 months

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Family Ties

Read it on Ao3

Tails slid the rental skates off his feet. They were just a bit too small. He’d have to ask Mom to get another pair. That was probably okay, though. She had said to let her know if the size was wrong. It wouldn’t annoy her if it wasn’t. Probably.

He looked up and watched as she handed Knuckles his own pair of skates. Tails noticed right away that the skates had laces. Knuckles looked at them and Tails could practically hear him thinking ‘what am I supposed to do with these?’ He looked between her and the skates and back, but she was sitting down and pulling on her own.

Knuckles looked out at the rest of the skaters and Tails did too. There were only a few other families (who were obviously trying not to stare at them), but as far as Tails could see, everyone else's skates had laces. But there must’ve been non-lace shoes, right? Mom had just accidentally gotten the wrong kind for Knuckles too.

Tails watched closely. If Knuckles pointed out the mistake, he could probably tack on that he needed different skates as well. He felt more comfortable with that. Knuckles opened his mouth to say something when–

“Sonic, wait! You have to switch your shoes first!” Mom got up and hobbled off wearing only one skate.

“I wanna see if I can run in place on the ice!”

“I think you’re just as likely to run right into the side of the rink.” Dad steered Sonic away from the ice.

“Aw, come on. Just one lap? I’ll go so fast they won’t even see me–”

It looked like this was going to wind up being a debate, Tails thought.

Knuckles watched them, fiddling with one of his backpack straps. That had been a debate too. Mom was worried if he carried the Master Emerald out on the ice he’d fall and hurt himself landing on it. Knuckles refused to leave it behind or even far out of sight. In the end, she’d allowed him to carry it in a backpack in exchange for him giving in to their other debate: whether or not he should wear a coat. (Tails didn’t mind having to wear his own jacket and scarf though, it was chilly here and he didn’t have his winter fur yet.)

Knuckles glanced his way. He watched as Knuckles’ eyes slid down to the skates in Tails’ hand. At least they were in this together. Maybe they could solve the problem together too.

Tails hopped down from the chair, sliding his shoes back on. “Um… I’m going to get some different skates,” he said before he could overthink it. “Do you want me to ask for snap shoes for you?”

Knuckles scowled and stood. “I can ask myself,” he grumbled.

But Knuckles let Tails lead the way from the stands back up to the rental counter. Which was weird. Usually it was Tails following as Knuckles loudly declared to the cashier: ‘My brother requested NO pickles!’ Instead, Knuckles kept looking around, which made Tails feel like he had to look around too. One thing he noticed: no one was wearing snap skates.

Tails hated talking to cashiers or… any customer service kind of person. It made him anxious. But since Knuckles was being weirdly quiet, it was up to him to do the talking.

“E-excuse me,” he asked, standing on his tip-toes to see over the counter edge. “Can we swap lace skates for some snap skates? And switch sizes?” He set his skates on the counter. He hoped that was okay.

Humans always either acted like Tails was some weirdo freak… or that he was really cute. The guy behind the counter smiled real wide and Tails knew that here it was the latter.

The clerk leaned over the edge of the counter so Tails could step back and didn’t have to stand on his toes. “Hey, little guy!” He said in a candy-sweet voice. “You said you want ‘snap skates’? What’re those?”

“Oh, um… you know… like snap shoes?”

The clerk looked confused.

“Um… button shoes? They’ve got little magnets in them?”

Now he looked even more confused. Tails hadn’t expected this. He glanced back at Knuckles.

“I think they do not have any,” Knuckles said. “It is alright.”

Tails wrung his hands, his tails twisting around each other. That wasn’t right… Knuckles never gave up when Tails said he’d just wipe off the pickle juice. Tails couldn’t give up now! He turned back to the clerk. “Aren’t there any skates without laces?”

“Oh, like velcro? Sure, little guy. What size do you need?”

Both of them perked up at that. Tails looked excitedly back at Knuckles. His big brother stepped forward, holding up his laced skates. “I require an adult human male’s ‘size twelve’.”

“Oh.” The clerk leaned back and looked at Knuckles in surprise. He wasn’t giving him the ‘I think you’re a freak’ look, but he definitely didn’t think Knuckles was cute either. “Uh… sorry, man, we only have velcro skates in kid sizes.”

Knuckles’ shoulders slumped along with Tails’. “Um… you don’t have any other kinds of no-lace shoes?” Tails asked.

Knuckles had already turned and walked away before the clerk could finish apologizing again. Tails wavered between following and staying to mind his manners and thank the man before he remembered he needed to switch his own skates. As soon as he had the new size he hurried back to the stands, feeling extra aware of all the strangers glancing his way.

Knuckles was sitting with the family again, his skates on the floor beside him. He watched Mom watch Sonic tie his skates. “Remember to get them good and tight,” she said. “It’ll hurt your ankles if they’re loose. And tuck the extra string into the lower straps–yeah, like that–that way you won’t accidentally trip on them!”

“Yeah, yeah, I got it Mom.”

Dad looked up from tying his own laces and saw Tails standing there holding his skates. “You need help, bud?”

“Oh! No, I’m okay.” Tails hopped up to sit next to Knuckles and pulled off his shoes.

He thought Knuckles would ask for help. Or… more likely Mom or Dad would offer. But Knuckles didn’t say anything and–

“Last one on the ice is a rotten egg–and it’s even a fair fight ‘cause I cannot run in these things!” Sonic yelled.

“Hang on, let me put my purse in our locker.”

“Should we put our shoes in there?” Dad asked.

“Oh yeah!” Sonic said. “I was just hearing on the news about this ‘Stinky Shoe Bandit’! Better be careful, Dad!”

“I doubt anyone is going to steal anybody’s shoes. And even if they do, we can always buy new shoes! But my wallet is definitely getting put away.” Mom hobbled off toward the lockers and Dad hurried to follow Sonic.

Nobody remembered to check on Knuckles.

Tails stared down at his socked feet and the skates with their long, skinny laces. He realized with mounting dread that he might need to offer Knuckles help. Knuckles! He was good at pretty much everything… except anything to do with technology. But other than that, he could do anything! Except… he couldn’t tie laces.

But some species just weren’t built for stuff like that! Their fingers were too short or their claws too long or they had webbed fingers or… whatever! The point was it happened plenty on other planets and there were usually other options available. Apparently not here though. Here, it looked like it wasn’t something people really thought about. Maybe that was why Knuckles was being so quiet… across the galaxy, people would look at his mitts and his snap shoes and know.

Here Knuckles had to admit he needed help. And he never needed help. He was the one who gave help. That’s probably why Mom and Dad hadn’t thought to offer… and why he wasn’t asking now. And why he’d probably just get annoyed with Tails if he tried to help.

His conflicted thoughts must have shown on his face. “What is wrong?” Knuckles asked.

Tails looked up in surprise. “Uh…” A perfect lie suddenly hit him. “I need help!”

Knuckles perked up. Always ready to assist.

That thought had Tails plucking up his courage. “Tying these skates is kind of tricky…” he said. “Could I practice with you first?”

“Oh.” Knuckles frowned slightly. Tails could see the gears turning in his head. Was tying skate laces really that much different from shoelaces? After a second, Knuckles shrugged. He didn’t know enough about tying laces to call Tails’ bluff. “You may practice on me,” he said.

Tails hopped down from his seat, breathing a subtle sigh of relief. Knuckles snapped the magnetic tops off his shoes and pushed them aside with his foot. Then pulled on his skates. Once they were on his feet, he stopped and looked up at Tails.

“L-leave it to me!” Tails replied, standing up straight and proud before he knelt down and got to work cinching the laces.

He pulled the strings tight around Knuckles’ ankles just like Mom had said. “How’s that feel?” He asked. “Too tight? Too loose?”

Knuckles rolled his ankle a little. “It is sufficient,” he said.

Tails got back to it. It was a little weird tying shoelaces from this side of the shoe. Plus Knuckles was watching him like a hawk the whole time. Tails had to restart once, which probably helped sell his lie that he needed practice. He managed to get the first skate tied before there was a loud thump! on the dasher boards across from their seats.

“Wait, Knuckles, is Tails tying your shoelaces for you?” Sonic cried as his face popped over the top of the boards. “Oh my god… can you not tie your shoes?!”

Knuckles’ quills bristled. “Of course, I can!” He said too quickly and too loud. He was such a bad liar.

“Wait, what?” Dad asked as he came up behind Sonic.

“It is nothing,” Knuckles said at the same time as Sonic announced:

“Knuckles can’t tie his shoes!”

“He can’t?” Oh dear, Mom was back too.

Knuckles crossed his arms with a huff.

“You can speak like a billion languages but you can’t tie your shoelaces?”

Knuckles gave Sonic a dirty look, but before he could say anything, Tails piped up: “That’s not nice, Sonic!”

He immediately wilted as his whole family looked at him in surprise. Oh gosh… he’d scolded Sonic! He’d just been so surprised that Sonic would tease Knuckles about something he couldn’t change… But of course now he thought about it, Sonic grew up around humans. He probably thought it was a ‘knowing’ issue and not a mechanical one.

Ears folded against his head he dedicated his full attention to tying Knuckles’ laces as quickly as possible. If he’d looked up he would’ve seen the very pointed look Mom was giving Sonic.

“Uh… okay, point taken. Um. Sorry, Knux?”

Knuckles just let out a grunt. He was done with this conversation. But Mom wasn’t just yet:

“I’m sorry too, honey. I should’ve checked if you needed any help.”

“I don’t need help,” Knuckles said. “Tails was only practicing his lace-tying skills on me.”

“So… Do you know how to tie laces?” Sonic asked.

“Do you know how to shut up?”

“Okay, neither of you two talk to each other until Tails has his skates on,” Mom declared.

Oh gosh… Tails wasn’t sure if that put pressure on him to go fast or slow. He tied them quickly, just in case.

“Fine!” Sonic huffed and disappeared over the boards once more.

“Fine,” Knuckles grumbled. He stood from the chair. And nearly fell over.

“Oh, careful!” Mom sounded like she was trying not to laugh as she grabbed his arm and helped him stand upright.

“These are hard to walk in!”

“Yeah, they’re not really built for walking in, but they’re perfect once you’re on the ice!” Mom knelt and checked the lacing on Knuckles’ shoes.

“Good job, bud,” she said to Tails. She checked Tails’ laces too. With her back to Knuckles she met Tails’ eye and whispered. “Thanks for looking out for your brother.”

Tails flushed under his fur.

“What was that?” Knuckles demanded.

“I said maybe when we get home, we can all practice tying laces together?”

Knuckles frowned. “No, thank you,” he said. He didn’t elaborate further, just crossed his arms over his chest and looked at Tails expectantly.

Tails’ eyes flicked between Knuckles and Mom and back.

He didn’t say that Knuckles should explain a bit more to Mom, but he definitely thought it. Knuckles must have picked up on it; his expression shifted into a scowl. When he turned back to Mom his mouth was twisted into a grimace. He held up a mitt. “These are not really built for tying shoelaces… But they are perfect for punching! Also digging! And swimming and climbing too!” He bumped his fist over his puffed up chest.

“Okay…” Mom said. She looked down at Knuckles’ gloves and then her eyes slid to his discarded shoes.

Knuckles must have felt like he’d sufficiently proven echidna capability, because he wibble-wobble-walked off to the gap in the boards with his head held high.

Tails glanced back at Mom and saw her picking up Knuckles’ snap shoes curiously.

“Um… Are you coming, too?”

“Oh, yes. You go on ahead. I’ll be right there.”

There was a bit of a clog at the rink entrance. Sonic was taking a little bit of extra time figuring out skating. He clung to the railing while Dad ran through the basics. Knuckles stood at the threshold, listening in. Tails came beside him and realized that he couldn’t reach the railing. Uh-oh. Well, that was alright. He could learn without the figurative training wheels.

Knuckles let out an annoyed hum and Tails instinctively cringed. Was Knuckles annoyed that they’d been caught by Sonic? That he had to explain himself to Mom?

“You are too short,” Knuckles said. He grabbed the edge of the baseboard with one mitt and held out the other. “Hold on to me.”

“Oh… thanks Knuckles.” Tails took the offered mitt. Knuckles’ mitt was practically as big as Tail’s whole torso so his hand looked extra teeny tiny in his older brother’s giant fist. With Knuckles leading the way, they took their first unsteady steps out onto the ice. It was nice that Knuckles had offered to help. Made him feel… the opposite of how being scared of annoying him felt.

“Oh, Tails!” Tom called from where he was trying to get Sonic to stand right. “Do you want a bucket?”

“What?” Tails looked up to see another little kid scooting around the middle of the rink, using a stack of upside-down buckets to keep his balance. The kid was staring at them of course, but a sharp look from Knuckles made him stop.

Tails appreciated the ingenuity of the bucket but… he looked up at Knuckles who looked equally unimpressed with the technique. “Um… I’m okay,” he said.

“You sure?” Tom asked. “The bucket won’t fall down and take you with it.”

“I will not fall!” Knuckles said, outraged.

He fell immediately. Then Sonic laughed so hard that he fell too. Tails avoided the pile-up only because Knuckles let go of him.

“Alright, we will try this again!” Knuckles said, determined. “Hold my tail and I can use my arms for balance.” He turned and pointed his funny crooked tail in Tail’s direction.

“Uh… won’t that hurt if I fall and pull on it?”

“Of course not!” Knuckles boasted. “The bend is for little ones learning to walk to hold onto!”

“Really?” Tom and Sonic asked as one. Sonic’s skepticism was undercut by the way he was slowly and unintentionally doing the splits against the boards. Tom rushed to rescue him.

“That is what my father said…” Knuckles trailed off like it’d only just occurred to him that might’ve been just a little kid story. “Regardless, my tail is very sturdy. Much stronger than yours. You can pull all you need.”

The little tip wiggled like it was waving to Tails to go on ahead and grab it. Tails hesitantly took hold. It felt like a rock covered in bristles… just like all the rest of his brother’s ‘one million percent muscle’ body.

“Okay, I think I’m ready to try again!” Sonic said. He pushed forward, moving along with half his usual grace. Tom kept close to his side, glancing back at Knuckles and Tails and looking around for Mom.

Knuckles took a few experimental steps forward, dragging Tails after him.

Tails wobbled and bobbed, his tails whipping this way and that as he tried to keep his balance. Knuckles glanced back at him over his shoulder and he feared for a moment that he was tugging too much. “You know, you do fly with your tails. They must be quite strong! Have you ever tried lifting weights with them?”

“Oh, um…” Tails' knees shook as he tried to keep his balance. “I’ve lifted you while flying, does that count?”

And then Knuckles actually smiled! Tails was so surprised–he could count on one hand the number of times he’d made Knuckles smile. Distracted, he stumbled and wobbled, trying to keep his balance while his feet kept moving without him. Even when he thought for sure he would fall, Knuckles’ tail was completely firm and still.

“Lean forward more,” Knuckles said. “And bend your knees a bit.”

“What he said,” Dad added. “It helps if you lower your center of gravity.”

Tails thought his center of gravity was easily the lowest in the whole rink, but he did what they said. It did help.

Knuckles focused his attention on the ice below them, taking smooth, short steps. Tails watched his feet and tried to move the same way. Knuckles’ movements became more confident, but Tails was still unsteady. He looked up at his big brother’s broad back and watched how his dreads swayed from side to side over the back of his backpack, purposefully shifting his weight with each step. Tails mimicked his movements, stepping in time with Knuckles. Immediately his movements felt smoother. He was getting the hang of it!

Mom skated up beside them. Like Dad, she didn’t need to hold the wall at all.

Dad looked over expectantly.

“I put Knuckles’ shoes in our locker.”

“Because of the Stinky Shoe Bandit?” Sonic asked as he did a funny T-pose shuffle across the ice.

“Because I realized his shoes would be harder to replace if someone decided they wanted to steal shoes–”

“Because they’re so stink–”

“Because they’re special shoes from outer space.”

Knuckles puffed up at that. “My shoes have received a place of high honor!”

Sonic rolled his eyes so hard he lost his balance and had to cling to the wall. “That’s literally nothing to brag about,” he said.

Knuckles huffed. “Well then, how about this?” He let go of the wall and pushed away, skating around Dad and Sonic and pulling Tails after him.

“Woah!” Tails cried out in surprise and delight. He hung on tight, keeping his posture like Dad and Knuckles suggested. Knuckles was going fast enough to blow his bangs back and Tails tummy flipped whenever his balance shifted too quickly. But it was fun! Like flying, but even easier!

When he realized Knuckles wasn’t going to return to grabbing the wall, Tails focused on copying his movements. It was just like dancing with Sonic–all he had to do was follow his brother's lead! Halfway around the rink, he had it down.

“What the heck, you hadn’t even heard of ice skating this morning!” Sonic said as the two of them passed him a second time.

“I am a fast learner,” Knuckles gloated without stopping.

“Tell that to our last two microwaves!”

“I cannot hear you because of how much faster than you I am going!”

The third time they passed Sonic, Tails felt confident enough to slowly let go of Knuckles’ tail. His older brother looked over his shoulder, slowing as Tails came up beside him. He wobbled a little, but stayed upright.

“You are a quick learner too!” Knuckles praised.

Tails flushed under his fur. “Heh, I um… I had a good teacher.”

There was a loud thumping and scuffing sound and they both looked over and watched as Sonic hurried across the center of the rink, pushing an overturned bucket in front of him. Halfway through he jumped up and sat on top, letting his momentum carry him.

Knuckles and Tails stopped as Sonic drifted to a halt in front of them. “I have decided,” he said magnanimously. “Since you two are both so slow off the ice: I will be a gentleman and let you take the W here.”

Knuckles shot Tails a cocky grin. “Perhaps I should teach Sonic now too.”

Sonic leaned back on his bucket with a frown. “How come I can’t tease you about the shoelaces, but you can tease me about ice skating?”

Tails suppressed a wince. Knuckles probably wouldn’t like the reminder. But Knuckles must have been having too good a time, because he actually answered: “Because my fingers cannot bend that way, but your feet work just fine.”

“Touche.”

“Also I was not teasing that time. I thought it might be more helpful to receive training from someone more similarly proportioned to you than Tom.”

“‘Similarly proportioned’,” Sonic repeated. He looked Knuckles up and down then looked at Tails. “Okay, maybe between the two of you.”

“Tails can help too!”

“I can?” Tails didn’t think he was that good yet.

“Yes, you are very good at being a helpful brother!” Knuckles smiled at him and there was a knowing gleam in his eye. Maybe Tails’ lie earlier hadn’t been that good after all. But Knuckles didn’t seem mad at all, he actually seemed appreciative!

“Alright, I’ll allow the both of you to help me. But first!” Sonic tipped his head to the side and Tails followed his gaze to see Mom and Dad skating along the wall, holding hands while Mom showed something to Dad on her phone.

Sonic shifted on the bucket so he was seated squarely and held out both hands. “You two can pull me!”

“And that will help you learn?” Knuckles asked.

“Nope, but if you pull me super fast and let go I’ll go flying and it’ll be awesome! But we aren’t supposed to do it so that means we can only do it once.”

***

“One more picture! Sonic demanded as they stepped off the ice.

Tails fumbled after him. It felt weird walking after skating so long!

“One sec!” Dad said, pulling his skates off.

Mom had already taken lots of pictures (some very sneakily while the three of them had been goofing off on the ice), but she and Dad seemed to be game for any photo opportunity where Sonic would voluntarily stay still.

Sonic was busying himself taking a bunch of silly selfies with the bucket when Tails noticed Knuckles sitting on the bench behind Dad. The corners of his mouth slipped down as he looked down at his skates. He probably couldn’t untie his shoes either.

Mom appeared, kneeling by Knuckles’ feet with a smile.

“Let me help you get those off,” she said.

Knuckles’ expression crumpled into a pout and for a second it looked like he was going to insist on doing it himself. Mom handed him his snap shoes. “Also here’s these back from the honored locker.”

“Ah! My shoes return, victorious!”

“What did they win?” Mom grabbed one of his skates.

“Most important shoes!”

She laughed, undoing the knot and uncinching the strings in quick, smooth motions. “Dad and I were thinking about getting some hot cocoa, what do you think?”

“I think that I like cocoa. And it will help to warm you up.”

“Warm me up?”

“Both of you! You fuss over us to wear these–” he pulled at his jacket “--over our fur when you have no fur of your own! I worry, you know.”

Mom beamed. “Thank you,” she said. “That’s sweet of you to worry.” She patted his ankles. “And you’re right, I could use some warming up! Get your shoes changed and we’ll go get in line!”

Knuckles looked down to see Mom already had his skates undone. He looked like he’d hardly realized when she’d done it. Honestly Tails was impressed, but Mom liked to tell stories about vets needing fast hands so he shouldn’t be surprised.

“Hey Tails!” Sonic appeared in front of him, pushing the bucket into his hands. In a second he was behind him, hands under Tails’ arms, and zooming the both of them over to Knuckles.

“One last picture!” Sonic ordered. “Us and Bucket Buddy!”

“I agree, we should commemorate Sonic’s noble steed.” Knuckles patted the top of the bucket. “Thank you for throwing Sonic into the wall.”

“I’m pretty sure that was you. Using your strength when I said not to–”

“I did not! It must have been Tails.”

“What?!”

“Alright, I’m ready,” Dad said as he pulled out his phone.

Sonic leaned in on one side as Knuckles leaned into the other. The air was quite cool but Tails felt very cozy with his brothers on either side.

“Smile!” Dad said.

And Tails did.