Chapter Text
[ONE WEEK AGO]
“...I wish I could say I’ve been to it. It sounds so beautiful!”
After Belle had given Trip upgrades to her helmet, she was guiding her through a crowd of people in the Restoration. All the people blocking Trip’s way were clearly overwhelming her once she got out of the machine shop, so the tinkerer took it upon herself to help her out.
…by holding her hand.
…and engaging in a deep conversation about Spagonia.
There were some weird feelings on both their ends, but AH, it’s probably nothing.
“N-now that I think about it, A-Amy did mention Spagonia a f-few times when she visited m-my island…” Trip said. “Sh-she always had nice things to s-say about it! Same with B-blaze when she visited it w-with Sonic…”
Belle pouted a little. “I wish one of them would take me…”
Trip was about to reply to that when she saw that they had broken out of the crowd. And in front of them was-
“A-amy! Sticks!”
The sungazer had spotted Amy and Sticks conversing with who seemed to be a green tenrec. All three of them turned their heads to the sound of her voice.
“Hey, Trip!” Amy waved cheerfully, while Surge and Sticks just looked confused, for different reasons. “I see you met Belle!”
“I-I did! She-!” Trip began. She and Belle both noticed they were still holding hands, and quickly pulled them away. “She m-made my helmet more c-comfortable to wear and cleaned it up!”
While Belle sheepishly rubbed the back of her head, Amy immediately noticed how different she looked from the last time she saw her.
“Wait a minute… Belle, what happened to you?!” she asked, stepping up to her. “You look so much different from the last time I saw you!”
Belle flinched a little. She had forgotten that only a few people she knew saw her with her new design. “It’s… a long story.”
While Belle and Amy talked, Trip put her focus on Sticks and the green tenrec.
And when her eyes fully landed on the latter, she could feel the intimidation radiating off her.
“Looks like Twig isn’t the only new face here,” she said. “What’s your name?”
Trip held her helmet out in front of her, as if it were a shield.
“I-I’m T-t-trip…” she squeaked out, failing to hide how nervous she was. “T-trip th-the sungazer…”
The tenrec’s eyes opened up a bit. “Sungazer? Huh, don’t think I’ve heard of one of them before.”
Oh come on…
“Well whatever. I’m Surge the tenrec,” she continued, putting her fist out and startling Trip. “Good to meet ya, Scaly.”
“S-scaly-?”
“It’s a nickname,” Surge clarified. “Don’t think much of it.”
That got Trip a teeny bit less nervous, so she meekly fist-bumped Surge. She was wondering why she called Sticks ‘Twig.’
Speaking of Sticks, she was staring suspiciously at Belle.
“...y’all got a robot here?”
“What is with you and robots?” Surge asked. “But… yeah. That’s Belle, or who I like to call, Marionette. Works in the machine shop and fixes things.”
Sticks rubbed her chin, not changing her doubtful expression. “Does she now…”
“Sh-she’s really nice!” Trip tried to assure the badger, waving her hands around. “Like I-I said, she upgraded m-my helmet, and-”
“SONIC DID WHAT?!”
The three of them jolted when Amy suddenly yelled out.
“I-it’s okay now, though! We talked, he apologized, and we’re on much better terms!” Belle tried.
That unfortunately didn’t do much, because Amy still looked pissed, and was clenching her fist hard.
“Wuh oh. That blue fuck is dead,” Surge chuckled. Trip and Sticks only looked at each other, as they were missing context.
“Oooh, the moment I see him again, I’m gonna…” the pink hedgehog growled.
“I-is everything… alright over there?” Trip asked.
Amy sighed and smiled sweetly at her, a stark difference to how she looked before. “Don’t worry about it. It’s something that isn’t my place to tell you two.”
Belle gave Amy an appreciative nod while Surge crossed her arms.
“Really?” Sticks put her hands on her hips. “Or is that robot bribing you to keep quiet?”
“Excuse me? What’s that supposed to mean?!” Belle exclaimed, offended.
“Oh for g- Sticks, would it hurt for you to keep your mouth shut?” Amy frustratedly asked.
“I’m just saying! All the robots I’ve come across aren’t very kind!”
“How can you tell I’m the same at a first glance?” the tinkerer asked, the annoyance in her voice very apparent.
“Because you’ve managed to wrap everyone here, and now Trip around your thumb. I know how you function!”
“Okay, ENOUGH!” Amy yelled. She put a hand on Belle’s shoulder. “I’m really sorry about that, Belle. Sticks… She doesn’t know how to approach people she’s first meeting. She was the same with Trip.”
Surge glanced at the badger. She actually looked kinda hurt, muttering, “I’m only trying to help…”
Again… what’s her deal? Surge thought.
“...aw man…”
Surge looked at Trip, who was facing the floor with her hands behind her back. “You say somethin’, Scaly?”
“N-no…”
-
[PRESENT DAY]
Trip was sitting at a swingset in Emeraldville, pondering to herself.
During her time off Northstar Islands, she met tons of new people. And she managed to get along well with a lot of them.
At the same time, though… There were quite a few couples. Amy and Blaze. Surge and Jewel. Tangle and Whisper. Espio and Silver. Heck, she was 90% sure the Restoration’s therapist and his assistant were also dating.
And for some reason, it made her heart burn. In a good or a bad way? She couldn’t grasp it.
Don’t get her wrong, she was happy for them. But at the same time… it also made her upset?
Why? They shouldn’t affect her in any way. What was it about couples that made her so… depressed?
There was another thing bothering her; Sticks and Belle were not getting along.
The sungazer had spent a lot of time with them individually. Whether it was offering to help Belle out in the machine shop, or just listening to Sticks rambling on, even if she didn’t make sense, she had a good time with them.
But then there were the times all three of them were together.
Sometimes Sticks would try and keep Trip for herself. Sometimes Belle would do the same thing. Sticks makes an accusation towards Belle, Belle gets annoyed and calls her insane for her “outlandish claims.” Rinse and repeat.
She tried to put them on better terms. On the Black Oynx, she tried her best. No matter what, though, they just could not see eye-to-eye.
The thing is; why was she so desperate for them to be friends-?
“Well, look who I found!” a voice said from her side. “It’s been a while!”
Snapping out of her thoughts, Trip gasped. Was that…?!
She whipped her head to the source of the voice… and standing by a tree was a reddish figure, his palette being blocked by the shade.
He moved out of it, though, and it was none other than Knuckles.
“How’ve you been, Trip?” Knuckles asked happily.
And just like that, Trip’s thoughts were put on hold. Her pupils became big, her mouth got all wobbly, and…
“M-M-MISTER KNUCKLES!!” Trip yelled. She scrambled off the swingset, began to dash to him…
…and tripped, falling flat on her face.
A bit concerned, Knuckles hurriedly went up to her. “Woah, are you alright-?”
Fortunately, Trip wasn’t even phased. She immediately hoisted her face up and hugged the echidna tightly, sniffling.
“...guess that answers my question,” Knuckles smiled, putting a gentle hand on Trip’s head.
The sungazer took her face out of Knuckles’s chest and looked up at him with watery eyes. “It’s b-been so long!”
“It really has,” Knuckles admitted, pulling away. “Amy told me you’d be here, so I had to come find you.”
Trip grinned widely. “D-did she tell you ab-about Sticks too?”
“She did! But she was hanging at Cream’s house, so I didn’t get to see her just yet,” Knuckles answered. “But enough about me; how’ve you been?”
“I-I’ve been good!” Trip replied. “W-well, aside from th-that time where Eggman b-briefly took over the w-world… I did a-a lot of fighting to protect m-my island.”
“...you mean you and the other sungazers, right?”
“No. J-just me.”
That raised some suspicions in Knuckles. A six month war, and the only one that put in any effort on the Northstar Islands was Trip? Yes, she was being trained to be a guardian last time he saw her, but fending off robots and illusions with no help? Not even some guidance from her “Gramps?”
“Is that… not a little strange?”
“I g-guess? But it feels like it happened so long ago that it doesn’t matter anymore… anyway, what have you been doing?” Trip asked.
How quickly Trip changed the subject didn’t go unnoticed. But clearly, it wasn’t something Trip wanted to talk about, so he decided to just go along with it. The last thing he wanted to do seeing her for the first time in forever was make her uncomfortable.
“Just a bunch of adventures with Sonic and the gang,” Knuckles sighed. “That, and more of fulfilling my duty, guarding the Master Emerald on Angel Island,
“After a recent adventure, though, Sonic convinced me to ‘get out there and live a little,’ as he says. Which is why I’m down here right now.”
Trip looked a bit puzzled. “Th-that’s great, don’t get me w-wrong… but wh-what if the M-Master Emerald gets st-stolen?”
“I was worried about that, which is why you’re only seeing me now. But I did make a promise to everyone to come visit, and I’m not one to break promises.” He pointed at himself gloatingly. “And hey, with Eggman having a daughter now, I doubt he has a lot of free time to steal it.”
Trip giggled.
But then another thing got her puzzled.
Wait; daughter? Amy never mentioned that part-
“Oooh, did I hear that right~?”
Upon hearing that sultry voice, Knuckles immediately went on high alert. He whipped his head to a nearby lamp post…
…and standing on it was Rouge the bat, with a smirk and a hand on her hip. “Seems like I have an extra trip to make!”
And of course, that got Knuckles mad and flustered. “Bat girl, I swear, I will-!”
“Oh, cool your jets, honey. I’m messing with you.” Rouge hovered down to Knuckles and Trip, landing elegantly next to the echidna. “I figured after all this time, you’d know that!”
Rouge glanced at Trip and gave her a polite wave and smile. “Hi, Trip.”
The sungazer awkwardly waved back.
“Obviously I’d be wary! I can’t even count how many times you’ve stolen it!” Knuckles shot at her.
Rouge giggled, got close to his face and drew circles on his chest.
“Well, don’t be wary. I’ve got a mineral museum to look after now. Your emerald can wait another day~.”
Knuckles kept his head tilted up high, his muzzle as red as his fur.
“Wow, really?” he strained sarcastically. “I’m so glad.”
Meanwhile, Trip was slowly connecting dots. …they’re not. Are they-?
And her intuition turned out to be true. Because Rouge tilted Knuckles’s head back down by taking him by the chin…
…and pecking him on the lips.
And as if Knuckles had never been in the same room as a woman before, he scrambled backwards and fell flat on his ass.
“Ashgfdhdej DAMMIT, BAT GIRL!” he stuttered. “You know I hate your sneak attacks!”
“Sorry, sorry!” Rouge laughed. “I just missed you!”
Still on the ground, Knuckles looked down, hiding a grin.
“Whatever… I guess I missed you too…” he muttered.
Trip could only look back and forth between the two of them.
“A-are you two… are you t-two a thing?” Trip asked quietly.
The bat’s ear flicked up, and she faced Trip with a smirk.
“Oops. Did you not know?” she asked.
Trip clenched her fist. She was made aware of how Rouge worked. She knew she wasn’t mocking her, and yet…
“Tch, believe me, I find it unbelievable too,” Knuckles scoffed, getting up off the ground. “But, as much as I hate to admit it, she did manage to win me over a while ago.”
Rouge strutted to Knuckles’s side. “You were fawning over me too, don’t lie.”
“Oh, please! Yeah, I liked you back, but I wasn’t completely lovesick like you were!”
“Really now? Then what about that night when you showed up at my apartment with a bunch of flowers from Angel Island-?”
“I was feeling lonely!” Knuckles quickly interrupted.
“Lonely and down bad~?”
“You still haven’t told me what the HELL ‘down bad’ means-!”
A shaky breath interrupted their squabble.
The newly found out couple looked over at Trip. She was facing the floor and folding her arms over herself.
“Trip? Are you okay?” Knuckles asked.
The sungazer looked up, immediately changing her expression to a wide smile.
“I-I’m okay!” she assured the echidna. “I j-just remembered, I’m supposed to m-meet Blaze somewhere later!”
She turned right around and quickly walked off. “Bye, Miss Rouge! Bye, Mister Knuckles! Great seeing you again!”
“Wait, what-?” Knuckles started. But Trip was already getting farther away. All he could do was stand there, a bit confused.
“...wait,” Rouge realized. “I was told Blaze was busy with her kingdom in the Sol Dimension.”
-
Great going, Trip. Just phenomenal.
Trip had her back leaning against a tree outside of Emeraldville, her balled up fist buried in her face in regret.
You couldn’t keep yourself together, could you? You just HAD to make it about yourself, and make Mister Knuckles, someone you haven’t seen in eons, suspicious!
And what was really getting to her was that she still couldn’t figure out why she felt this way around other couples. What was her problem?
“D-deep breath, Trip. Deep breath…” Trip said to herself, breathing in and out. “Let’s th-think back. When did this st-start?”
She thought back to when Amy, Cream and Sticks came to visit the Northstar Islands. And back there, she got along especially well with the badger. Despite her weird theories, she still found her to be a delight, and found herself captivated in her rambling.
Then, Amy offered for Trip to come back to her homeland with them, which she gladly accepted. During the flight home (she still found it insane that Amy’s car could fly), she was getting sleepy, and Sticks, to her shock, pulled her closer and wrapped an arm around her, as she drifted off to sleep on her shoulder.
Then there was visiting the Restoration. More specifically, meeting Belle. She had modified her helmet to feel more comfortable to wear. So much more comfortable, in fact, that Trip got over-emotional and hugged the mousebot (was that appropriate?). And Belle actually accepted it and hugged her back.
And then there was when Trip was walking out of the machine shop, greeted by a crowd of people that she’d definitely get lost in. And Belle saw this, and offered to guide her to Amy while holding her hand. And when they did find her, Belle and Sticks didn’t get along so great. So Trip tried to help them come to better terms as time passed but nothing she did was really working and they weren’t compatible and it was just so frustrating and-
…
…wait.
Was that it?
Did she… like Sticks and Belle? As in like like them?
“I-is that why I get up-upset when I see couples?” Trip asked herself, barely above a whisper.
She put a hand on her chest. “Am I… jealous?”
But… that’s not how couples work, right? Back on her island, there were only ever two people in a relationship!
Was she wrong for feeling this way about two people at the same time? Was she… was she selfish for liking them, when they clearly didn’t like each other?
Trip firmly pat the tree, walking out of the shade and yet again revealing herself to the sun.
“I r-really need to think about th-this…”