Work Text:
Of all the things in the world, Sonic had never before expected that he’d become a dad.
It just isn’t his forte. At all. Because, really—Sonic? Having a kid? Raising a kid? He, who’s always on the move and never able to stay put for ten minutes, being a dad? It shouldn’t make any sense.
Well, what else shouldn’t make any sense? Sonic being stuck in an alternate world with alternate versions of all of his friends, and then being crowned king in said world. But here he is, having been there, done all that. Having a kid is just the cherry on top.
Now, maybe that’s misleading, because he didn’t have a kid. His knight-with-benefits has one, apparently, and because he has such benefits with said knight, of course he’s going to help him raise the kid. Support single fathers, or whatever.
On that note, he isn’t a dad. He’d just volunteered to raise the kid alongside his knight-with-benefits, because… courtesy. That’s all. So, he’s basically almost a dad.
What’s especially odd about it all, though, is that his knight-with-benefits’s kid’s got a striking resemblance to Silver, which is a second cherry on top. Not to mention, his knight-with-benefits looks near identical to Shadow—but Sonic has already moved on from that. The two are entirely different people.
It doesn’t matter. None of it does. Not right now, at least, because he’s sitting in the chambers of his knight-with-benefits with a mini Silver in his lap.
(He makes a mental note to stop calling him mini Silver. It’s irreverent.)
“Lance,” Sonic says, feeling more than a little awkward, “what should I do? Any, uh, pointers?”
“He is five, my liege,” Lancelot says, seemingly as exasperated as he is fond. “Simply… entertain him.”
Sonic blinks. “How?”
“He enjoys playing pretend. Perhaps you can try that.”
“Pretend?” Sonic tilts his head down at the child before him, only to have the gesture reciprocated. It might actually be the cutest thing he’s ever seen.
“Indeed.” Lancelot nods, his eyes gentle as he crouches slightly to kiss the top of the child’s head. Now, that actually might be the cutest thing Sonic’s ever seen. “Galahad, I shall be at the training grounds soon. I will not be gone for long, but enjoy King Sonic’s company in the meantime.”
Galahad beams in turn, waving his tiny hand. “Okay! Bye, papa!”
Lancelot gives a faint smile, already moving towards the door and picking up his sword. “I’ll be off, then.”
It takes Sonic a second too long to process the words, because he’s a bit too focused on Lancelot’s eyes and his lips and his smile and—“Wait, what? Lance, don’t leave me here! I have no idea what I’m doing!”
“Galahad is a good child. I trust that you will do wonderfully,” Lancelot assures, and Sonic swears that his voice is a little smug. He doesn’t know whether he should feel good about the fact that Lancelot is finally coming out of his shell, or offended that he’s being so very cruel to him in his moment of weakness.
“Lance—”
“Best of luck, my liege,” Lancelot says, before pulling his visor over his head and shutting the door behind him.
Sonic feels his shoulders slump as he stares at the door. He sighs as he looks back down at Galahad, and really, Galahad isn’t the problem. In no world would Galahad be the problem, because from what Sonic has seen, the kid is all sweet and curious and just plain adorable. The issue, really, is that Sonic has absolutely no clue what he’s meant to do.
Yet again, he’d never exactly expected that he’d have to play the role of a dad. So, naturally, he’s a bit lost. It’s sort of embarrassing, given the fact that he’s usually pretty good with kids, but go figure.
Maybe it’s just the fact that this is Lancelot’s kid. He’s gotta do a good job. Totally no pressure.
That’s not to say that Lancelot would cuss him out for making one wrong move or anything. No; Sonic just really wants to impress Lancelot. Yeah, yeah, sue him.
“…Hey, buddy,” Sonic starts, a crooked grin on his face as he stiffly pats Galahad’s head.
Galahad smiles up at Sonic, all bright and cheery like the epitome of joy. It’s adorable. “Hi!”
Sonic can’t help but smile back just as warmly, scooping up Galahad from under the arms and feeling his smile grow wider at the sound of the child’s laughter. He sets Galahad on the ground and crouches down to meet his level. “Your dad’s gonna be busy training for a couple hours, so I’ll be takin’ care of you.” He musses the fur atop Galahad’s head and gets yet another giggle out of him. “So, whad’dya wanna do? Got any favorite games?”
“Dragons!” Galahad exclaims.
“…Dragons?” Sonic repeats.
Galahad nods his head vigorously. “I like playing dragons with papa!”
“Yeah? How do you play dragons?”
For a moment, Galahad looks up at the ceiling with his little hand pressed against his chin, deep in thought and all—who knew that toddlers had the brains to ponder for so long?—only to grin and say, “You can be the dragon! I’m the knight!”
Well. That wasn’t exactly an answer, but in Galahad’s defense, he’s five. “Alrighty,” Sonic agrees, placing his hands on his hips and puffing his chest out. “I’ll be the ferocious dragon!”
Something about that makes Galahad burst into hysterical giggles, so Sonic hopes that he’s doing something right. “You’re a better dragon than papa!”
Oh? Now, Sonic is curious. He hadn’t considered it before, but he can picture it now: Lancelot, acting all silly in contrast to his usual gallant behavior, playing the role of a dragon, getting slain by a mere toddler…
And Sonic is better at it! Ha! It’s his first day on the job, and he’s already nailed it. Lancelot will never hear the end of this. I’m a better dragon than you, Lance, Sonic will sing. Galahad said it himself.
“King Sonic? Um, King Sonic?”
Galahad’s tiny voice snaps Sonic out of his dreams of triumph, and he blinks himself back to reality. “Huh? Oh! My bad.”
“It’s okay!” Galahad says, holding up two little thumbs-ups, and Sonic smiles fondly.
“And just ’Sonic’ is fine, alright, buddy?” Sonic adds, winking and holding out a fist.
“Oh, okay!” Galahad gives this big, toothy smile that sort of just melts Sonic on the inside, before bumping Sonic’s fist. “Can we play dragons now, Sonic?”
“Sure thing, O great knight,” Sonic teases, tousling Galahad’s quills. He can’t believe he’d thought that taking care of this kid would be hard; it’s a piece of cake. Galahad’s got a wild imagination, after all.
With that, Galahad seems to just… lock in, as if his five years on the planet have all led up to this very moment, and Sonic wonders momentarily how a toddler can look so determined.
“I captured the dragon!” Galahad proclaims, pointing directly at Sonic with his eyebrows furrowed deeply. “I have to kill it before it gets away!”
Woah. Violent start, but okay. “You can’t defeat me that easily!” Sonic snaps back, making his voice all rough and gruff.
“Ha! You’ll see what I can do!” Galahad scurries off to the corner of the room and digs through a certain chest, tossing a bunch of random toys onto the ground in the process—yikes—before pulling out a small wooden sword.
For dramatic effect, Sonic lurches back in fear, letting out a loud gasp. “No! Don’t tell me…”
Galahad erupts into exaggerated laughter, holding his toy sword up high. “It’s the strongest and powerfullest sword! You can’t escape now!” he says proudly, running back and pointing the sword at Sonic. “Any last words?”
Because Sonic is the absolute best at playing the dragon, he gets theatrical with it and makes a show of crying. “I’m so very sorry, O great knight,” he weeps remorsefully, holding his face in his hands. “I’m awful, just awful! Will you ever forgive me?”
“Hmm… it’s too late now!” Galahad says boldly. When Sonic peeks through his fingers, he sees Galahad’s face all scrunched up with the sword held high above his head, and Sonic braces himself for impact.
That is, until the tiniest hits imaginable land upon the top of his head. Frankly, Sonic hardly even feels it.
“Hi-yah!” Galahad yells, smacking Sonic’s head so very lightly and yet making the most dramatic gestures. “Ka-bam!”
Typical five year old behavior, Sonic muses. And, of course, it’s his royal duty to play along. “Ow! Noooo!” Sonic cries, all exaggerated as he throws his arms up in the air and slowly drops down onto the ground with a thump.
Galahad lets out a shrill gasp before he bursts into giggles, hopping up and down a couple times. Sonic squints one eye open and sees Galahad doing that stereotypical hero pose, hands on his hips and chest puffed out. It’s honestly adorable.
“I finally slayed the dragon! The kingdom is safe now!” Galahad announces to an audience of none.
Sonic groans overdramatically, making a show of dreadful pain. “Curse you, knight,” he rasps, raising a shaky arm into the air before dropping it back down.
With that, Galahad laughs once again, clapping his hands. He then plants himself onto the ground and leans closer to Sonic’s ear. “Don’t tell papa,” he whispers loudly, even though it’s only the two of them in the room, “but you’re the best dragon ever!”
Sonic can’t help but grin. “Oh, yeah? Are you saying Lance is bad at being the dragon?” he quips. “I might have to tell on you, buddy.”
Galahad is quick to gasp, his little hands flying to his mouth. “No! Papa is a good dragon, too! Never mind! Both are good!” he blurts out frantically.
As it seems, Galahad is straight up allergic to not being the sweetest kid on the planet at all times. Sonic snickers and sits up, ruffling Galahad’s fur once more. “I’m just playin’ with you,” he assures, before smiling a bit more playfully. “But don’t think I still won’t tell him.”
“No!” Galahad whines. “What if papa gets sad?”
Ah. So, that’s what this is about. Galahad really is sweet; of course he is, having been raised by Lancelot. “He won’t,” Sonic promises. “If he does, then it’s my fault.”
Galahad fidgets a bit, wringing his hands before he nods quietly. “Okay…”
“Alright,” Sonic says, sitting up a little straighter. “I dunno when Lance is coming back, so we’ve still got time to kill. Got anything in mind?”
Galahad hums thoughtfully, sitting like that for a good while before suddenly putting on a dangerous pair of puppy eyes. “Can we play hide and seek in the castle?”
Now, that’s just not even fair. The puppy eyes? Really? “The castle’s huge, buddy,” he says reluctantly. “You could get lost.”
In all honesty, if it were up to Sonic, he’d have said yes without even thinking about it. Except, again, this is Lancelot’s kid. He’s gotta think from Lancelot’s point of view, and that point of view is telling him absolutely not. Unfortunate, really, but it checks out.
Galahad pouts at Sonic. “But papa said you’re the king. And papa also doesn’t want me to play in the castle.”
See? Spot on. Sonic’s gotta be some kind of psychic. “Sure, I’m… king,” he says, shrugging dismissively, “but Lance is your dad. He knows what’s best for you.”
“But that’s not fair!” Galahad complains. “Papa is always in the whole castle all the time.”
Sonic sighs. He’d almost forgotten that, at the end of the day, Galahad is just a child not much unlike any other. That hardly matters, though. “Sorry, bud. No means no. But,” he says, smiling back at Galahad, “I’ll try really, really hard to convince him to let us play later. Okay?”
Just like that, Galahad’s face lights up. “Really?”
“Definitely.”
A bright smile finds Galahad’s face, and he swings his arms back and forth excitedly. “Thank you sooo much, King So—um, I mean, thank you, Sonic!”
“’Course, buddy!” Sonic ruffles Galahad’s fur for the nth time, earning a giggle out of him, before Galahad squeezes his eyes shut and yawns softly. “Tired?”
“No,” Galahad blurts out, only to yawn once again.
“Alright, nap time for you,” Sonic declares, lifting Galahad up in his arms and starting towards the bed.
“Noooo!” Galahad cries, flailing his legs around until he’s dropped lightly onto the bed. He pouts, rolling over just to yawn once more.
Sonic grins, raising an eyebrow and sitting on the edge of the bed. “Need a bedtime story? Or are you too old for that?”
“Um,” Galahad says, smiling all shyly, “uh-huh! I want a story, please!”
“Yeah? Well, buckle up,” Sonic sings. “I’ve got some real good stories under my belt.”
Galahad gasps softly and quickly tries to tuck himself into bed, eyes wide and sparkling. Sonic smiles, pulling the blanket over Galahad before clearing his throat.
“There once was a brave, awesome, super fast hedgehog…”
And so, he spends about ten minutes talking all about himself until Galahad falls asleep. Sue him, but the kid looked pretty invested, so it worked out.
It’s not like Sonic has much to do now. Obviously, he can’t just leave, but there aren’t many entertaining things for him to do in Lancelot’s room…
His eyes dart towards the mess of toys on the ground, and he decides that he should at least do what he can to give Lancelot an easier time.
He goes ahead and sorts the toys back into the box, careful with the fragile parts, and tidies up the shelves; it takes a lot less time than he’d thought it would. As in, approximately sixty seconds. Oh, well. With really nothing to do now, he supposes he should allow himself a bit of rest before he bores himself to death.
He exhales a deep breath as he slips into bed, careful not to wake Galahad. The kid is fast asleep, a tiny smile on his face and the most quiet puffs of breath, and it’s adorable.
Sonic is about to get all cozy, but his brain catches up to him right then. He hadn’t fully processed that he was laying here, in Lancelot’s bed, all comfortable like he owns the place. He’s almost ashamed of his own impoliteness.
That’s almost, because Sonic is totally sleeping here anyway. He knows damn well that Lancelot won’t mind.
He sighs and tucks himself in, smiling to himself. The moment he closes his eyes, he’s already out like a light.
“My liege?”
Sonic grumbles as he’s woken from his sleep, rubbing his eyes harshly as he adjusts to the bright lights in the room. “Eh… Lance?”
“Indeed.”
When Sonic finally manages to open his eyes, Lancelot is just beside him, standing next to the bed with his visor lifted and a ridiculously soft expression on his face. Sonic can’t help but smile cheesily, tilting his head to the side. “What’s up? What’cha looking at me like that for?”
Lancelot gently gestures towards Sonic’s side. Immediately, Sonic takes a look, and—
Ah.
Right against Sonic’s side is Galahad, curled up next to him and still fast asleep. When Sonic shifts slightly, Galahad follows, clearly unwilling to let go.
Sonic’s heart suddenly feels like it’s being squeezed.
“I presume that the two of you fared well in my absence,” Lancelot says, a faint smile on his face.
“Of course,” Sonic says proudly, pushing himself to sit up straight. He lights up then, recalling the whole dragon thing, and his smile morphs into a grin. “Hey, hey, Lance. Guess what?”
“Hm? What is it, sire?”
“I’m a better dragon than you.”
Lancelot stares. “Ah… pardon?”
“Galahad’s words, not mine,” Sonic says, clicking his tongue. “One of us isn’t the MVP of dragons, and I know it’s not me.”
“…MVP?” Lancelot repeats, perplexed. And then, with a huff, “Galahad told you that you played a better dragon than I, you say?”
“Precisely,” Sonic says, all dramatic.
Lancelot sighs, a small, fond smile on his lips. “It appears that I must hone my skills in that area.”
Sonic snickers, leaning back against the pillows before humming thoughtfully. “Oh, yeah. Sorry for taking your bed,” he says sheepishly.
“Ah. That’s no problem at all, my liege,” Lancelot waves off. "I don’t mind."
Called it.
“Though, I must ask, how was Galahad?” Lancelot inquires. “Did he misbehave, or give you any trouble?”
“Hm? No, no! Not at all,” Sonic says quickly. “The kid’s an angel, honestly.”
Lancelot’s eyes soften further, and his smile peeks out more clearly. It’s beautiful. So, so beautiful. “I’m glad,” he says, nodding lightly. “It appears that he has grown attached to you quickly.”
Sonic looks down at Galahad against his side, and it makes him smile. “You think so?”
“Certainly. I am sure that… you will be wonderful in raising him,” Lancelot replies, like it’s simple. Surely, though, he knows it isn’t, because the words come out slow and notably hesitant.
It’s… complicated, is all. It isn’t new. They had discussed this, had discussed Lancelot’s child and had discussed Sonic volunteering to help him out. It should have been that simple, like a mere polite offer, but it can’t be when the two of them have always been something more. Sonic had known that he of all people couldn’t just raise Lancelot’s child and call it chivalry.
They don’t have a label, and that’s what’s difficult about it. Sometimes, it drives Sonic crazy, but other times, he realizes that it doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter, because he knows that he loves the hell out of Lancelot, and he doesn’t need their relationship to have a label for him to do everything he can for his knight.
So, Sonic smiles, all warm and bright and only for Lancelot. “I’ll give it my all,” he promises. “To… be a good dad.”
Just barely, Lancelot flusters, his eyes widening slightly, but that fond smile returns to his face within seconds. “Very well. I trust you fully, my liege.”
“And I trust you,” Sonic says, grinning. “Galahad loves you with everything he’s got. I could tell. So, clearly, you’re doing great.”
A faint blush makes its way into Lancelot’s cheeks, and Sonic grins even further. “I see,” he murmurs. “I do my best, truly.”
Sonic sighs fondly, looking at Lancelot with maybe a bit too much affection. He’s totally giving his feelings away, but he really doesn’t care. “It’s great. You’re great.”
“My liege, it is you who—” Lancelot starts, before he pauses. His gaze shifts to Sonic’s side, and he clears his throat in embarrassment.
When Sonic glances down, Galahad is yawning, gold eyes fluttering open slowly. He smiles and lifts the boy up, finally smoothing down his fur. “Someone’s awake,” he sings.
Galahad blinks a few times before looking around. He smiles delightedly at the sight of Sonic, but full-on beams at the sight of Lancelot.
“Papa!” Galahad giggles, reaching out to Lancelot, who picks him up gently.
“Galahad,” Lancelot greets softly, pressing a small kiss to the child’s head. “Did you have fun?”
“Uh-huh!” Galahad nods happily, though is clearly still a bit too tired to talk much. Then, he pouts slightly up at Lancelot. “But I wanted to play hide and seek in the castle. And Sonic said no.”
Lancelot sighs. “I have told you, Galahad. The castle is remarkably large. It will be easy for you to get lost.”
“Lance, come on,” Sonic chips in, furrowing his eyebrows along with Galahad. “Please?”
“…My liege,” Lancelot says wearily, clearly exasperated, but also clearly weak to Sonic’s words. Checkmate. “You are grown.”
“Chaos forbid a guy wants to play hide and seek,” Sonic says woefully. “Do it for the kid.”
“Please?” Galahad begs, bringing out the lethal weapon that is those damn puppy eyes, and Lancelot looks like he could just about die.
“You two,” Lancelot mutters, pinching the bridge of his nose. “All right. Only once.”
“Yes!” Sonic cheers, turning to Galahad and lifting a hand. “Up top, buddy!”
Galahad giggles and gives Sonic a tiny high-five. “Yay!”
They’ll be alright, Sonic thinks. Not just in castle hide and seek, obviously—but in the long run.
The three of them will definitely be alright.