𝘿𝙚𝙫𝙤𝙪𝙧.

•𝐓𝐰𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐲 𝐅𝐨𝐮𝐫•

Sonic stood in the kitchen, his hands slowly working on cutting up some carrot sticks while he waited for the water on the stove to boil. His ears swiveled back every now and then whenever he heard a sudden noise from the living room, always straining to make sure everything was alright before he returned back to the snacks he was preparing.

"Vrrrr vrrooom!! Pew pew! ROARRR!!! KABOOM!" Sonic listened to the small voice of his son echoing from the living room where he played with his toys — a hot wheels car, two small playmobile people, a toy helicopter, and a large t-rex figure that Rouge had gotten him for his sixth birthday. Smiling faintly, Sonic finished with the carrots and slid them off of the cutting board, into a small bowl. He grabbed a smaller bowl and filled it with some ranch before he walked out of the kitchen and entered the living room. His eyes admired the photos that were hung around his living room walls, nostalgia filling the hero's heart at the sight.

"Zee, I have some snacks for you," he called to his small, albino son. Zero was holding the car. helicopter, and dinosaur, each in a separate hand. He looked at the bowl of carrots and a smile spread onto his disfigured features. "Snacks!" He shouted and stood up, scurrying over to his father once he set his toys down. His prosthetic leg clicked on the wooden floorboards as he made his way towards the blue hedgehog, golden eyes glowing with happiness.

"Thank you, daddy!" Zero smiled up at the hedgehog as Sonic set the bowls down on the coffee table. His son settled down on the floor, Sonic seated himself next to him, undoing the straps of the prosthetic and sliding it off of the small nub that remained of his right leg. They had taken to get it amputated not long after they had returned from Alaska, the damage that Sonic had inflicted upon it having been far too severe to repair. Zero had no memories of that however.

"You don't need this right now, right?" Sonic asked, holding the prosthetic up. Zero shook his head, crunching on a carrot. "No. It was starting to make me itchy," the small pup explained while he chewed. Sonic smiled and kissed the top of his son's head. "I figured." Six years already, huh? "I'm going to go start on dinner, okay? Call me if you need anything," Sonic told Zero after he had slid the sock that protected Zero's nub from rubbing against the plastic of his prosthetic off of Zero's thigh. "Okay," he smiled and chomped on another carrot.

The blue hero stood up and stretched. He stepped back into the kitchen. His eyes drifted to the pot of water that had begun to boil. "Alright, dinner." He reached into a cabinet under the counter and took a box of spaghetti. Spaghetti and meatballs was one of Zero's favorites. Sonic hummed softly to himself. He opened the box and emptied about half of it into the pot.

Zero's yelling made him jump, his quills instinctively raising defensively. "Papa, you're home!" The small child squealed, those words instantly calming his nerves. Sonic turned the heat on the stove down and left the kitchen to greet his husband. "I'm home," Shadow smiled down at the small boy balancing on one foot and raising his three arms up expectantly, his claw-like fingers opening and closing around his palms. Shadow swiped the little thing into his arms and nuzzle his forehead. "Aunt Rouge is coming over soon, she just wanted to get ready first," he told his son. Zero's eye lit up with delight. Shadow turned his head to look at Sonic, who was standing in opening to the kitchen.

"Hi," he smiled at the blue hero, adjusting Zero in his arms so he was sitting on his right forearm. "Hey," Sonic replied. Shadow stepped over the toys on the floor, Sonic meeting him halfway as the two shared a brief kiss. Zero's tail flicked around, his eyes screwing shut. "Grossss!" The dark hedgie looked at the smaller one in his arms and gave him a big kiss on the side of his face, just beneath his empty eye-socket. Zero yelped and began to giggle kicking his leg out. "Papa!" He shouted. Shadow simply smiled.

"I missed you," he said looking between Sonic and Zero. He set Zero down, watching for a moment as he hopped back over to the table and kneeled down in front of the carrot sticks. The agent sighed and returned his attention to Sonic, setting his hands on the blue one's waist and pulling him closer. "How was the Commander today?" Sonic asked, looking into Shadow's right eye, now gray and lifeless with a large scar over it. The first punishment he had inflicted upon Shadow for ruining his plans all those years ago.