Art inspired by one of the promotional arts for the last season of Attack on Titan. I was watching the SNK and Sonic Prime finale at the same time, and I saw several similarities (or something like that) between Nine and Eren, so I decided to draw Ninen parodying Pigeon Yeager (Yes, I was holding back this idea for almost 2 years)
Happy Nine Day! I wanted to finish another August AU prompt but long story short—I'm swamped at work and other things, so here's a rough WIP from NBNBR's sequel!
Essentially, Sonic chose to take Nine to Green Hill and he's currently living with him and Tails. It's been about three weeks since Nine arrived and Sonic is currently away on one of his runs. He was getting antsy after making sure Nine settled in a bit, so he forgot to check the weather as thoroughly as he normally would.
It's late at night and Nine is woken up by a thunderstorm, having fallen asleep working on a project. On his way to bed, he hears whimpering and crying from Tails' room. He remembers Tails' offhand comment that he's afraid of thunder (from when Tails helped him during a bad PTSD flashback) and finds himself in a dilemma.
--
What could he do though? Should he text Sonic? No, it was late. He was probably sleeping wherever he was, and it strangely felt like giving up if he begged for Sonic’s help the moment things got awkward. Tails hadn’t asked for help when Nine freaked out. He’d taken charge so effortlessly and knew exactly what to do to help. What kind of person . . . no, Nine had to show Sonic that bringing him to Green Hill wasn’t a mistake.
He could handle this.
Besides—as much as he hated to admit it—he owed Tails. This was a perfect opportunity to get out of being indebted to him.
Nine carefully opened the door to Tails’ room and the whimpers grew louder. He could faintly make out a shape on the bed, shaking and huddled under a blanket. The sight was painfully familiar, and it strengthened his resolve. Nine stepped into the room and unbuttoned his shirt to remove the harness around his torso. His metal tails had made things a little awkward in the workshop, so he’d rather not deal with them.
(And if the house came under attack, Nine’s neural link was strong enough he could trap an intruder in the tails until he had a chance to grab a weapon. He knew Tails well enough that odds were he had a weapon or two hidden in here)
It was a testament to how out of it Tails was that he hadn’t stirred at Nine entering. He finished removing the harness and belt, and placed the contraption in a defensive manner at the foot of Tails’ bed.
There was a clap of thunder as Nine started putting his shirt back on. Another anguished cry was ripped from Tails’ throat and Nine paused, his arms halfway through the sleeves. He glanced over at the lump that was Tails and his nose twitched. When Sonic and Tails comforted him, Nine’s face had been pressed into their chest.
The fur had tickled his nose, but it was . . . well, Nine wasn’t quite sure what the word for it was, but it had been . . . nice? It was such a raw, strangely intimate (but not?) moment. Nine had been a bit too preoccupied each time to really reflect, but now he could.
And well . . . if Sonic comforted Tails the same way he did Nine, that meant if Nine were to do the same with a shirt on it wouldn’t feel right. Nine stared at his chest for another moment, then dragged a paw down his face.
“You better appreciate this,” he mumbled.
The room lit up with another flash of lightning and accompanying thunder (it was nearly overhead now). The raw terror in Tails’ cry melted away some of the embarrassment. Nine dropped his shirt to the floor before he could change his mind and kicked off his shoes. He crept over to the side of Tails’ bed, feeling strangely exposed with his bare chest. Tails still hadn’t noticed him yet, and Nine reached out to grab the edge of the blanket Tails was hidden under, but stopped.
Tails had mentioned he used to bite, and if Nine startled him in this state? He knew how sharp those teeth were thank you very much, and he’d rather not spend the rest of the night bandaging bite marks. And while yes, technically that would likely succeed in distracting Tails from the storm, that would be a pretty shitty move on his part. Nine might have never comforted anyone before, but he had a feeling that was a bad idea.
He waited for the next thunderclap to finish. “Move over,” he said, surprised at how gentle his voice ended up being.
Tails yipped! at the noise anyway. “N-Nine?” He slowly peeked out from under the blanket like he expected to have been hearing things. When Tails saw Nine was indeed in his room, he sat straight up and the blanket partially slid off his head. “Wh-What . . . why—”
“Yeah, I know I’m not your first choice.” Nine shooed him and grabbed the edge of the blanket. “Scoot.”
“Did I wake you up?” Tails sniffed and quickly wiped his eyes. “I’m sorry!”
Nine tried to ignore the obvious tear tracks in Tails’ fur and sat down on the bed. The pillows were haphazardly pushed against the headboard so Nine fluffed them up a bit. He wasn’t quite sure how to move forward from here.
“You don’t—no really, I’m okay!” Tails gave him a wobbly, super fake smile that for some reason made Nine angry. “I was just—you don’t have to—”
BOOM!
Tails shrieked and latched onto him. Nine figured it would happen at some point, but he still tensed. He could feel Tails shaking like a leaf, so he sighed and wrapped his arms around Tails before he lost his nerve.
“So, um . . .”
What was he supposed to say? Why are you scared of thunder? Nine’s first instinct was to spout facts to show such a fear was unfounded, but Tails was smart enough to knew about electromagnetic radiation and air expansion, so that wouldn’t work. How did people do small talk anyway?
“Uh, nice weather we’re hav—fuck!”
To his shock, Tails choked out a laugh. He loosened his grip around Nine and rubbed at his eyes. “Wow, you’re r-really bad at this.”
Nine let go of Tails and buried his face in his paws. “Shut up,” he mumbled.
Who was he kidding? He couldn’t do this! He was all sharp edges (literally, when he had his tails). Why did he think he could comfort someone when he’d never been—
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Sorry to cut it short, but hope you enjoyed it anyway! I refuse to miss out on showing how much I love this silly little fox. He deserves all the love he can get and I'm eager to see what others have made!
