Wachowski Family ONE-SHOTS (Sonic the Hedgehog SCU)

Garbage Day

It was supposed to be a nice, peaceful Thursday morning.

It started out as that. Maddie's shift didn't start until later in the day, and Tom was off, so they were all able to sleep in. The boys went to their parents room and snuggled with them for a little bit. Everyone stumbled downstairs for breakfast. Maddie carried Tails with his head on her shoulder; the little guy was still half asleep. Tom got out the waffle maker and started putting together the batter while Maddie sat on one of the stools and gently swayed back and forth, wanting to let the little fox sleep just a little longer. Holding him, cuddling him, feeling the love and trust radiating from him through his simple action of sleeping in her arms, was one of the best feelings in the world.

Sonic perched himself on the stool next to her and told everyone his dreams from the night, which were something about Indiana Jones and a giant floating broccoli.

Knuckles sat quietly, observing Tom as he finished making the batter and poured it onto the waffle maker, then closed the lid. He frowned. "Father, will that not ruin the abbed pancakes?"

Tom snorted in surprised laughter. "The what now?"

"Sonic informed me—"

"Waffles are just pancakes with abs," Sonic broke in, wearing an impish grin. "Makes sense, right?"

Tom just shook his head, grinning. "In answer to your question, Knux," he said, turning back to the echidna, "no, this will turn them into the . . ." He snickered. ". . . abbed pancakes. I'm using that all the time now, Mads," he added to his wife.

She rolled her eyes with an amused smile.

He made enough waffles for them to begin their breakfast. Maddie finally nudged Tails awake and sat him in his seat. Their morning conversation ranged from the upcoming school year to the weather to more weird dreams from Sonic (and occasionally Tails, who had laughed himself more awake at hearing the bizarre things Sonic dreamed about).

It was nice and generally quiet and soft, until they heard it.

The sound of a truck, a very specific truck driving out near the road. Driving and pausing, driving and pausing.

Tails took a mouthful of syrupy waffles. "Ith dat de ga'bage t'uck?"

"It is." Maddie hesitated, glancing around the table as she tried to remember the events of the night before. "Did . . . did we take the trash out last night?"

Mild panic flashed in Tom's eyes. "Uh . . ."

The truck's noises grew louder. It was getting closer to their house.

In an unspoken collective decision, the entire family scrambled out of their seats and tore elsewhere in the house, frantically tearing out full bags from around their home and tying knots in said bags.

Maddie had gone for the kitchen garbage, but it was by far the heaviest. Knuckles pushed past her, declaring, "Let me assist, Mother!" and easily hefted the giant bag out of the can.

She grinned, and leaned down to give him a quick kiss on the forehead. "Thanks, baby!"

He beamed with happiness for a moment at her praise and affection, then hurried off to find more heavy bags.

Not too long afterwards, they all stood by the front door around a pile of four bags of varying sizes. "Is that all of them?" Tails asked anxiously.

"Did someone get the garage?" Tom asked.

There was a bright flash of blue and a whipping of air, and Sonic suddenly had a medium-sized bag in his hands. "Yep!" he replied proudly as he tied the bag into a knot.

Everyone jumped as the sound of the garbage truck suddenly came from the end of their driveway.

"They're here for it!" Tails shrieked. Sonic snatched up every single bag and tried to run them out to the outdoor garbage dumpsters, but the weight of the kitchen bag caught him off guard and ended up making him trip down the stairs.

"Oh, come on!" he yelled, then grabbed the other four bags and vanished in a flash of bright blue.

Knuckles hopped down the steps and grabbed the giant kitchen bag, then raced to join Sonic at the dumpsters. As soon as all the bags were deposited in said dumpsters, the two boys grabbed the handles and shoved them to the edge of the driveway as fast as they could— which was pretty darn fast.

And the yet the garbage truck was already pulling away, having not seen anything.

Tom, Maddie, and Tails could only stand on the porch and try to hear what was going on down the street. They heard Sonic holler, "HEY DUDE, WAIT UP!" then a shouted explanation from Knuckles that they couldn't make out. There was a beat of silence, another shout from Sonic— "HERE? NO, HERE? OKAY!" then the sound of the truck dumping their trash into itself.

The three Wachowskis heaved a collective sigh of relief, and Sonic and Knuckles came barreling back towards the house. "We did it!" Sonic cheered, and they all clapped.

"Back inside, everyone, our waf— our abbed pancakes are getting cold!" Tom announced. As they shuffled back through the front door, Sonic giggled hysterically and Tails took to the air in an attempt to make it back to the table first.

"Happy Thursday, everyone," Maddie laughed.