Archive of Our Own ^beta

For a while, Stone had Wade, and life was good.

More specifically, life was good for a good, long while, and that was because the Doctor was with him. Stone lost him, and life was bad, at first. It consisted of little more than mourning a lost love and plotting his revenge, revenge that he was ordered not to pursue, and a whole host of people telling him he sounded like Robotnik. That only rubbed salt into those too-fresh wounds, and by day 46 of his isolation, he had a coffee shop to run, away from those people and everyone else. By day 51, he met Wade for the first time, talking to him and putting up with that goofy, harried way of speaking, and he regretted it immediately. By day 128, almost three months later, he didn’t anymore. He succumbed. He sat back, relaxed, and let himself be loved. In time, he loved Wade right back, and then life became good. 

There. For 115 days, life was good. It was simple. Stone’s life had no direction, still trying his best to find the Doctor, but Wade was at his side. Wade made life a little easier, turned off his inhibitions, and let him regrow the real, human personality that he denied himself for so long. For what it was worth, he loved Wade, he loved him from day 128, maybe even sooner. Sure, there were always those remorseful little twinges of guilt over the Doctor, the man he knew would come back eventually, not his first love but certainly the most captivating, but he wasn’t there. Stone had enough room in his heart to love two people, and he supposed he’d either be rejected by him or dragged to the top of the world when he returned. Either way, Wade would be safer. He had no reason to fear, and he could tell himself that this was just… biding his time. It was reconnaissance. 

If Stone needed to lie to himself, just to soothe his guilt, he could. Tom was Wade’s best friend, and with the Wachowskis came Sonic, their blue alien son. They didn’t hear a word of Stone’s past, even if he had spilt it all to Wade almost immediately, and he stopped being Agent Stone when he was invited over to dinner. With them, he was just Aban, Wade’s barista boyfriend with an amazing set of reflexes and an award-winning smile. Maddie loved him, Tom at least loved having a better spotter at the gym from time to time, and Sonic… Stone couldn’t stay mad at Sonic. He was just an underdog hero of a kid, and Stone was the lesser head of an evil, high-tech hydra. He did what he had to in order to survive, and now Stone got to go to lunch with him and his parents and Wade and pretend like he was collecting information to capture him when Robotnik came back. Life was good. So very good. Too good.

How long had he been with Robotnik? Ten years? Fifteen? However long it was, it still laid in him, latent and natural, just as normal as breathing. He picked up habits. Little ways that Robotnik showed his atypical love, and he mimicked them without thinking. He obsessed and tinkered, thriving for improvement in his work and self, losing track of time in his efforts. He could only keep his act on for so long; at his core, he was evil, having breathed and lived in Robotnik’s poison gas for so long, and it was difficult to hide. 

Wade knew. Even if Stone didn’t tell him or give him the full extent, he knew. He hadn’t been around another human in such a long time, and eventually, his mask slipped. Whenever it did, Wade worried, and he never wanted that to happen. Stone hid it, then; separation of Wade and work, not allowing them to intersect after his former love seeped into every single aspect of his life. Robotnik was his life, once upon a time. Stone had to relearn how to live.

By god, life was boring. 

He was used to being berated, but every day, he did the same thing, day in and day out, and got chatted with and yelled at by people who could have been his drill sergeants. He went to work, blacked out, saw Wade, and went home. Rinse. Repeat. Pour sugar and whipped cream on it. Help Maddie pick out new curtains because Tom was useless (or red/green colorblind, he couldn’t remember which), framing his choices with Robotnik’s tastes in mind. Think about Robotnik. Think about Robotnik. Think about Robotnik.

That life sat far out of reach now, some other dimension or vast vacuum of space, his gun laying unused on his dresser next to his favorite tie most days. He couldn’t get to most of the Doctor’s tech, and the government saw him as obsolete. As unstable, just because of his association to Robotnik. They were right, of course, but where did that leave him? His days of being a high-profile government agent were behind him, and when that’s all he knew, all he remembered, how was he supposed to move on? To live purposeless and outdated, misunderstood and hollow to what he once was? He was happy, he was so unbelievably happy, and Wade was so kind to him; why did he continue to lust and want and yearn for what he once loved and lost?

Stone missed the feeling of his back against the wall, of delicious pain lacing up his spine with every cruel, unyielding look. He missed being so wildly connected to someone that they breathed in sync, stepping in time and communicating with passing glances. He missed his love being taken from him roughly and unapologetically, not asking, never asking, just someone getting what they want and leaving him with the repercussions. Another man would have folded; he never did. He couldn’t. Stone missed the way that Robotnik loved, and he’d do anything to get it back. He craved it. He needed that cruelty like he needed a hand on his throat: seldom for some, not for everyone, but he liked it that way.

Why, then? Why did his body lock up when he got that first text?

It was astounding how easily three little words could send him into a complete spiral, and it was even more incredible that he managed to hide it from Wade on their Saturday night in. For schedule’s sake, that was his and Wade’s date night, the one that they held to rigidly, and he’d had his head in Wade’s lap for the better part of a Lord of the Rings marathon, Wade’s fingers tangled in his short-cropped hair with the lights off. He loved being there like that, comfortable and cared for, but his heart sank when he saw the text. He didn’t understand. He should have been giddy, clamoring to his feet, but he didn’t feel excited in the least. He couldn’t even find it in him to move until Wade leaned down to read over his shoulder. “That’s a lot of emojis.”

“Right!” he blurted, sitting up and holding his phone to his chest. In an instant, all of his senses came back, too much to deal with. “He does that! Wade, I’m sorry, I have to go.”

Wade’s eyes went wide, and he paused the movie. “Like, right now?”

“Yes, right now, I just- something came up. I’ll be back, not tonight, but- I don’t know when.” He got up as he spoke, grabbing his jacket and his shoes. He pulled them on with more urgency than he would have liked. “I’m not kicking you out, and you can text me if you want to. I should still have my phone, please keep an eye out and be as careful as you can.”

“Aban, is this a government thing? I thought you quit.”

Stone didn’t stop moving, trying to ignore the way Wade got up to trail after him. He wanted to sit right back down and continue where they left off, but by then, he was well aware that he’d made his choice. “You never really quit that job. Besides, I got fired, and I got rehired right now. It’s important. Please don’t make this harder than it has to be-”

“Is the Doctor back?”

Wade found the exact right thing to say, or perhaps the right tone to say it, right as Stone’s hand hovered over the doorknob. He froze up again, letting out an odd, strangled sound as ice flooded his veins, and the feeling overtook him entirely. He took a breath, then turned, meeting Wade’s concerned expression with purse-lipped remorse. He didn’t speak for a moment. He couldn’t. “I’m sorry.”

“I thought he was awful to you,” Wade said, putting a hand on Stone’s arm. It took all he had in him to keep himself from shoving him right off.

Wade hadn’t gotten the full story. He didn’t need to know the full extent of what they were, not when Robotnik was still alive somewhere and Stone still loved him. Wade knew that some of Stone’s more self-deprecating and destructive habits were a result of his time with the Doctor, and he knew that Stone still missed him, albeit in the quiet way that Stone expressed most of his emotions. Awful? Sure, but Stone preferred it that way.

He didn’t tell Wade that. “It’s more complicated than that,” he replied instead, and Wade didn’t reply, furrowing his brow further instead. Stone’s chest tightened. “I have to. Whatever’s happening, it’s much bigger than me, and it’s so much bigger than whatever happened in the past. I promise I’ll be safe. I’ll come back, and we’ll finish the movie.”

“You’ll call?”

“I’ll try.”

Wade sighed, giving him that little half-frown he did when Stone started regurgitating some of the Doctor’s old rhetoric. “Okay. I trust you, you’re the expert. If you need my help or for me to come get you or anything, I could-”

Stone didn’t let him finish, dragging him into a kiss before he could with both of his hands on his cheeks. He didn’t have it in him to leave all of that behind, not entirely; he’d be back, he promised. He had to, and this just sealed it all off and made sure it was true. Not once had someone offered to be there for him, truly, genuinely, and yet Wade always seemed to be there, prepared to move heaven and earth no matter what inhibited him. Stone couldn’t break away from the way that Wade loved so easily, either. 

The first words said- ‘I love you’, nothing more- were said in unison, followed by the usual cacophony of breathless giggles that happened when they did that. For a moment, they were there, not another factor of the world imposing upon them, just plain and easy and worldly in all the ways that he once lacked. A weaker man wouldn’t have been able to pull himself away from Wade, but Stone managed. Hell, he hated it, but he managed, pressing another kiss to his forehead. “I’ll see you.”

“Soon?” he asked. He hadn't taken his hand off of Stone’s arm; Stone had to do it for him, squeezing gently as he let go.

“Maybe. I can’t promise that, but I’ll be back.” He opened the door, the cool night air hitting him on the back of his neck when he turned around once more. “Don’t follow me. Just trust me. You aren’t getting rid of me this easily, I promise.”

“Oh, okay.” A smile. That’s all. “Okay, Aban. Please be safe.”

Stone didn’t correct him, didn’t tell him that there was no ‘safe’ around Ivo Robotnik. Every movement was a hazard to one’s livelihood, their career, to their very breath if he so decided to act on it. The Doctor personified imminent danger, all sharp ends and glaring flaws that could take a man before he had the chance to scream, but that’s what Stone liked about him. In a way, Stone needed danger, and that particular brand of danger needed him right back. It always had. It always would. Stone wasn’t sure what that made him, but he’d stay that way until his dying breath, guaranteed, silent and loyal to a fault. 

By the time the shop’s doors flung open, the Doctor’s latte was already set out and waiting for him while Stone made the final touches on his own uniform. He fucked it up when his head shot up to look at him, at the gorgeous, ominous silhouette in his doorway. His clothes had been changed, cleaned up and mended, and- oh, he was bald. He was completely bald, his mustache wasn’t trimmed, and he looked as though he hadn’t slept in weeks. Stone didn’t care. He was at Robotnik’s side in an instant, his voice dipping too far into the territory of unbridled adoration. “Doctor-“ 

“Ah!” he interjected, holding a hand up, and Stone snapped to attention. Robotnik waited, stealing Stone’s breath from him like he owned it, and after a notable dramatic pause, he flattened his hand out and extended it to him. “Agent, pull your head out of your ass. You know better than to talk to me before I’ve had my coffee.”

“I think I missed you more than I’ve missed anything. Ever.” Stone couldn’t help himself, the words spilling out before he had a chance to vet them. Robotnik smirked underneath that new mustache, the one that was quickly growing on Stone quite a bit, and he plucked the cup from his hands as he sauntered past. He took a sip, paused, then hummed. 

“Needs mushroom,” he said, putting himself behind the counter and in front of the computer screen for the first time in 243 days. Stone, confused and mildly hurt, was immediately pushed back into action by the badniks popping out of the consoles, just Robotnik’s favorites, and the gentle, cooing treatment he gave them as they swarmed him and chirped brightly. “Oh, my babies, how are you all? Daddy’s home, he’s not going away for a long, long time. Was the big, scary Agent mean to you?”

“They got sanitized and polished twice a week, Tuesday and Sunday, and they’ve been operating perfectly the whole time. Not too fond of the-“

“The polish, yes,” he finished, taking one in his hands and thunking his forehead against it a bit too hard for comfort. It still chimed, and he smiled. “They’re fickle. You know that.”

“Almost better than anyone else.” Oh, god, he missed that smile. Stone looped around the counter, standing face to face with his hands folded in front of him once the badnik moved. He let out a breath, then met his curious expression with a grin. “Please tell me everything. It’s all I’ve wanted to hear for months.”

The tangent began, and time started to pass in earnest.

Stone heard every word. Mushrooms, the quill, the energy surge, every single botched attempt in mushroom coffee. Stone met them with more lattes, takeout food, and a gentle hand placed over Robotnik’s as he spoke of his unwitting sabbatical. The sequence of events infuriated him to say the least, but he wasn’t there to be angry, not yet; for some reason, the Doctor had opted to settle, at least for a few hours, and Stone didn’t mind it. They’d ease in, he was sure, and Robotnik closed his story with a quick, dismissive description of how he pilfered a ring off some lower life-form. He fell silent, and per usual, the first words out of Stone’s mouth were, “Doctor, you’re incredible.”

“Obviously, Stone. Don’t look so shocked by it. Now,” Robotnik pushed himself to his feet, and Stone did the same. Neither stepped away from the table, but the badniks scattered, excitedly returning to their perches as Robotnik continued, “you must be wondering why we’re not launching clean into the new ‘kill that blue asshole and make his buddies into craters’ initiative.”

Stone wasn’t. He’d yet to think about the Wachowskis, and he was pleased to hear they weren’t immediately diving in. He nodded along anyway. “Of course.”

“Well,” he said, clicking his tongue, “naive, simpleminded Stone, my trusty sycophant, I was hoping you had information. A file, one that I want, and I. Know. You. Do.”

He did. Stone nodded again. “All you could want and more, sir. Take as much time as you need, I’m looking forward to hearing the plan.”

“Good. You haven’t forgotten where you belong in my absence, I see. We’ll continue once I’m settled.”

“No, Doctor,” he replied, then added, “no, I haven’t forgotten my place, and yes, whatever you want. You know I- I admire you so much, and I’m just so happy to have you back.”

Robotnik hummed. “I know. It’s been bizarre, not having you at my side for the first time in… what, ten years now?”

“Closer to fifteen.”

“I’m pretty sure it’s ten, Stone, don’t correct me.” 

“Yes. Okay. Ten it is. Sorry.”

They fell silent. Stood. Stared. 

Robotnik moved first. Typical. 

The table fell away with an unceremonious clatter as the Doctor tried to dive over it, failed miserably, and opted to press himself entirely against Stone as he kissed him instead. Stone stumbled backwards, half-shocked, half-not, until his hips hit the counter hard, most definitely bruising purple as the Doctor’s hands found his waist. He couldn’t bring himself to care. It would hurt, but who would see? Who would know, and without the commander breathing down their necks all the time, who would give a shit, anyway? 

Not Robotnik, that’s for damn sure.

In all those months, something hadn’t changed; the Doctor still kissed with all the passion of a man half his age, hot and heavy with too much tongue in a way that Stone found amusement in fighting back against. He still gripped his hips possessively, like he’d lose him if he didn’t, and Stone felt his body move on its own as his hands came to rest on his shoulders, holding him right back. All of it was old, familiar, all that filed-down evil growing right back at the taste of the residual coffee in Robotnik’s mouth.

Stone’s stomach churned. He missed this. He missed that beautiful, heady high that could only be generated by two incredible people getting far too close to each other for the earth to stand.

Robotnik’s hands came down to his belt, fumbling with the buckle and refusing to pull away to do so. It wouldn’t be their first time fucking on the counter; in fact, they probably did that back at the lab more often than they bothered to find a bed. In all their time together, they never really had sex. They fucked. There was no other word for it, not with how they usually got, not with who they were. They never labeled themselves, either. Stone was Stone, and the Doctor was the Doctor, so neither of them could be a boyfriend or a lover or a husband. They weren’t dating, but they spent a lot of time together, both in and outside of work. They weren’t friends with benefits, but Stone had dutifully gotten down on his knees for him plenty of times. They weren’t partners, but they were partners. Partners in crime, maybe.

Robotnik pulled away, if only briefly, muttering something he likely didn’t intend for Stone to hear as he started undoing his tie. “This is so much fucking better than the rock.”

He dove right back in, and Stone considered it with an open-mouthed hum of amusement. The rock. He’d been kissing something else, then? He’d really missed this so much that he’d resort to making out with a different person?

Wait. 

“Holy shit,” Stone gasped, pulling away abruptly and pushing the Doctor off. Robotnik fell off of him, snatched right out of his headspace as he snapped up to look at Stone. They both went to speak; Stone won. “I can’t. I’m sorry, Doc, I can’t do this right now.”

“And why not, Agent?” he replied testily, already straightening himself out. He listened, at least. That was a good start.

“I- look, I kind of- it’s a funny story, you’ll laugh-“

“You kind of did something or you did something? Where’s your eloquence?”

“I have a boyfriend!” He said finally, blood rushing to his head as soon as the words left his mouth. Robotnik’s eyes went wide, and when he didn’t immediately fly off the chain, Stone carefully went on. “We’ve been dating for about four months. I just can’t go around kissing other men when he’s at home, probably watching Lord of the Rings alone and pretending like I’m not doing stuff that scares him.”

A beat.

Then, “Stone, you do not. You do not have a boyfriend.”

“I assure you, I do.”

“Sure you do. Really, Stone? A boyfriend? What’s his name?” Robotnik pushed past him, pulling up a few interfaces and typing furiously away at them.

Stone signed. “Please don’t drone strike him.”

“I’m not going to drone strike him.” A pause, just so he could open a few more tabs. “Much.”

“Doctor-“ he followed him over, standing in his usual spot (diagonally behind him), and Robotnik smacked him on the shoulder when he got too close with a short, chiding bark. Stone stepped back.

“Don’t ‘Doctor’ me, Stone, how can you seriously expect me to believe that you- you, of all people- turned to someone else for romantic satiation in my absence? I haven’t even been gone for a year.” More typing. “Give me your phone.”

Stone didn’t. “It’s not like I made the first move.”

Robotnik paused, glancing back at him momentarily before continuing. “Forming a rapport with the townspeople and too well, then. Typical. There’s charming, like me, and there’s too charming. Phone, Agent.”

“No, sir. I will not be doing that.”

“Fine. Fine, make this harder for me, pretend like I can’t just pull everything up on my own because, hello! You’re on my network and tech!”

Stone was helpless to do much else than stare up at the screens. He knew that well, and Robotnik had done it to other people before, but not him. Not to his knowledge. “He’s just a civilian. He’s not even close to your level or even mine intellectually. There’s no chance of him compromising anything for us.”

“Low percentages still aren’t zero, Stone.”

“My god,” he muttered, and with one quick movement, he hit the lever to turn the screen. Robotnik pulled away from it with a sharp hiss as it turned back into the menu board, his fury entirely unmasked and ready to be let out until he saw Stone’s face.

The Doctor swallowed. Righted himself. Folded his arms behind his back, spoke through his teeth as he forced himself to calm down. “What, Agent?”

“What?” Stone echoed dryly, then flipped the screen again and gestured to the map of Green Hills that was centered on Wade’s house. “What, Doc? Please, tell me. He’s not even there right now, he’s at my apartment. He’s not any danger, I can assure you of that. I’m an adult. I knew you’d be back, of course you would, but you made it abundantly clear that we weren’t exclusive. We just never acted on it.”

He didn’t unclench his teeth as he spoke. “I thought you were better than unnecessary attachments. I wasn’t aware you were capable of that.”

The ‘like me’ went unspoken, but Stone heard it anyway. He knew, and he couldn’t even be mad about it. With a sigh, he went back to one of the tables, and the Doctor followed dutifully behind him. “I don’t know. I didn’t think I was either, but push came to shove, and we hooked up. I just… didn’t leave, and now I’m knee-deep into a relationship I didn’t expect to get into. I like him, though. A lot.”

Robotnik sat on the other side of the table. Stone mer his eye, unwavering and intense, only bearable after years of practice. He didn’t speak for a moment, just staring at him. “How long?”

“Four months.”

“You love him.”

It wasn’t a question; it lacked the inflection of one, and he knew Robotnik didn’t ask him things like that. Thus, it requires no response, and Stone didn’t offer one. He didn’t need to confirm that Robotnik was right. He just knew, all on his own. 

After a silence, Robotnik clicked his tongue like he was chiding a small child, looking away. “You’re dumber than I thought you were.”

“I know. You’re almost taking this better than I expected.” Robotnik raised an eyebrow. “Worst case scenario was you killing him immediately.”

“I tried.”

“That’s why I said almost.” Stone grinned, but it wasn’t reciprocated. It faded. “It’s not like I stopped loving you. You’re pretty unforgettable, Doc, and he’s, ah… different than you. You’d get it if you knew him, but I can’t like you both in the same way, and that’s fine with me.”

“If you’re still loyal to me, Stone, then why don’t you take the initiative and abandon him already? There’s no space for the three of us at the top of the world. You’re lucky there’s room for two. Besides, feelings are fishy, vestigial things that just get in the way of what matters, so it’s not like you’ll be able to keep him forever. People that aren’t us- like us- just get in the way.”

“If I’m going to lose him so soon, Doc, can’t I just have this for now?” Stone asked, reaching across the table to take his hand again. Robotnik didn’t fight him, but he didn’t reply, either, pursing his lips, and Stone’s heart sank. “A week. That’s all I need.”

Say no. God, please say no, find something in that heart of his and let Wade stay, to prolong this as long as they could. Stone couldn’t just leave him like that, he loved him, he hadn’t felt more human in- 

“A week,” he echoed. “Fine. I’ll plan and recoup for a week in one of the other home bases, and you get your shit together here while I do. You’ll come in on Sunday morning, and we’ll get back to work.”

Fuck. It wouldn’t be enough time.

Stone nodded anyway. “Okay, Doctor. Whatever you want.”

“That’s settled, then. You’re an idiot, Stone.” Silence. “You said he’s not a threat. You mean he’s stupid, don’t you?”

Stone shrugged, smiling down at the table despite himself. “Kind of. He’s… goofy. That’s a better word for it. Everyone’s stupid, he’s just funny about it, you know?”

“Yes, Agent, I know what it’s like to be endeared by someone dumber than me,” he scoffed, squeezing Stone’s hand lightly. After a moment of hesitation, he managed to find his voice again, strained and clipped as he spoke. “I’m happy for you, Stone. We’re just not made for it. You understand.”

“I do.” It didn’t have to be, but Robotnik would never hear that. He’d made up his mind already; it was a fact to him, and the things he decided were facts were inflexible.

“Good. No attachments except the necessary ones.” Another squeeze. “Makes things easier.”

“Right.” A beat. Stone needed to dissolve the tension before he exploded, and with a note of amusement, something came to mind. He grinned, looking up at him again. “Hey, did you make out with a rock while you were gone?”

“Stone, I swear-“

——

The week began an hour later, and despite all he had been through, it was the hardest week of Stone’s life.

He didn’t know what was worse: spending as much time as possible with Wade before he had to go away, maybe forever, without letting him in on that fact, or not following after Robotnik when he knew he was finally back. Stone found every excuse to be around Wade, as close to him as possible, prolonging the seconds as they slipped through his fingers and got away from him. Wade was none the wiser, just happy to be nearby, and he didn’t object to Stone asking him to stay in the shop with him in the days he wasn’t busy. He rolled with the punches so well, loving nothing more than to be let in, and Stone’s heart ached every time he smiled. That smile almost made him call it off so many times, telling Robotnik that no, he’d stay there, actually, sacrifice himself for one man and nothing else, making the dumbest possible decision that anyone in history ever had. 

He didn’t. He was loyal to a fault and diligent to the very end, and so he answered every request for information with the proper files. He was given the week off, but he still gave into every single one of Robotnik’s whims, just like he always had. There was no chance at breaking out of that spell, and there was no easy way to make sure his world kept spinning. 

Saturday was supposed to be their date night, the last they had together, and Wade stood him up. Wade never stood him up, even if he showed up late, he’d come in apologizing with his clothes all wrong and a bouquet of flowers in his hands. He’d continue apologizing all night, so beat up over forgetting or oversleeping or getting caught up that Stone would usually have to reassure him dozens of times that it was alright. That Saturday, Wade did not show up late. He didn’t show up at all. 

Instead, Stone set up their dinner at a bench in the park, the one they agreed on, and he waited. An hour passed. Two. It got dark. Stone ate on his own, then continued to eat. Three. Four. More than that, and midnight came before he finally got everything together, getting in his car and driving home with a brand new hollowness in his chest. His calls and texts went unanswered the whole time, and he was about to head to Wade’s place when finally, finally, his phone buzzed. Twice. 

One was an apology from Wade. He’d had an emergency out of state, apparently, and he had to go deal with that. He drove all day, and he was going to bed right after he sent that text. Wade said he loved him, and he’d see him as soon as he could. 

The other was from the Doctor. Noon tomorrow, at the base in Great Falls, and he was told to bring lunch for both of them. Nothing more, just the unspoken fact that Stone knew there was no Great Falls base; he knew which one he was supposed to show up to anyway. 

Calmly, carefully, Stone got back into the car, drove to the nearby lake, and hurled his phone into it as hard as he possibly could. 

He stopped. Waited. Realized that it was both waterproof and essential, unique tech, tech that was now sitting at the bottom of Green Hills’ most popular lake. It could wash up onshore at any time.

Thirty minutes later, he dragged himself out of the lake, phone in hand, and climbed back into the car. By two in the morning, Stone finally collapsed into bed, still soaked and reeking of lake water. To him, it didn’t matter, not anymore; he was leaving half of his stuff behind anyway, just to make it look like he wasn’t fleeing town, and who would share this bed with him anymore? Not Wade. Wade missed the boat, and Stone didn’t even get to say goodbye.

Two hours later, his alarm went off. He really needed to make better choices on his sleeping habits, he decided, or at least the habits that included jumping into a lake and having to rush a shower before he resumed his old life for the first time in 250 days. 

Just as he’d been taught, Stone took only what he needed, packing his life away in a suitcase and marking down what he’d have to replace later. Clothes, tech, chargers, emergency supplies, and some of the stupid little things he’d picked up on his previous travels all went in the case, and he must have debated with himself for the entire time he packed on if he should pack any of his gifts from Wade. Those wounds were still fresh, even if he wasn’t mad, and what was the point in hurting himself over someone he couldn’t see anymore? It was impractical. Idiotic.

He settled on packing most of them and one of the t-shirts Wade forgot the last time he stayed over. Sue him; he was allowed to grieve. 

With what was left of all his things, Stone began his favorite part of making himself disappear: staging the kidnapping.

How many times had he done that before? Every time he had to leave somewhere, he’d take such delight in making himself seem like an innocuous victim . Fake blood that would read as human, but not a real one, always came into play until Robotnik came along. Instead of going through the tedious synthesis process, Robotnik ensured that his blood would never show up on databases, and the case could go cold at the snap of his fingers. He’d left so many people and worlds behind, worrying so many ‘friends’ and making sure that they never forgot him, but instead assumed that he was dead, wherever he was.

Stone paused, a vase raised above his head in preparations to break it over the counter. It almost slipped out of his gloves hands as he did. Wade would probably have to investigate his apartment, he realized. It would destroy him.

Then, a second realization: they wouldn’t let Wade anywhere near that case. Too sensitive. Tom? Sure, Tom would, he liked Tom, but he could handle a taste of the real world for a little while. He’d have a bad day. Sucks to be him.

He brought the vase down, and the shards flew beautifully.

It wasn’t too difficult. His DNA was all over the house anyway, so a few more scattered pieces would be fine if he didn’t make any obvious mistakes. He knocked things over, broke others, made sure his shoes (which he would burn later) made visible tread marks on the floor. Conveniently, he cut his hand in the process of shattering a picture frame, so his blood was scattered across the apartment to sell the whole ruse. In the end, his place was thoroughly trashed, and he felt a little bit better. Breaking things did help, to his surprise, and he did some pretty excellent work. He’d believe it at a glance.

Right. Disappearing.

He snuck out under the cover of darkness, not a soul out to see him, and the cameras leading out of Green Hills were oh-so-helpfully disabled by the Doctor the second Stone texted him. No one would find his apartment in that state for a day, at least, so he was home free, setting off on the drive to the base. He turned the radio on and- 

Immediately turned it off. That was Wade’s favorite CD. He switched to the local channels, and one song that frequented Robotnik’s playlists for years flickered to life.

Yeah, sure. Driving in silence was fine. That was a totally normal thing people did, sitting with nothing but their thoughts and the sound of tires on asphalt for several hours.

On. A song about the end of the world, which Stone knew would be approaching sooner than he expected it to. Off.

On. A love song that he and Wade sang at the stop of their lungs like a couple of teenagers a few weeks ago. Off.

On. ‘Criminal’ by Britney Spears.

Maybe the radio was better left alone.

By the time he made it to the base, he’d rationalized with himself, at least to some degree. He had to get better at dealing with loss, at letting go of people, and Wade would have to be another hobby while he waited for his real life to resume. Yes, he loved him, but what did that mean? He’d loved other people before, not like that, but he had. He knew he belonged by Robotnik’s side, and he knew the Doctor would be back eventually. The plan was always to seize power, and a little blip of interdimensional travel wouldn’t stop them. That was just how things had to be, and he’d feel better soon. He felt better already, he told himself, and if Wade didn’t text him, it wouldn’t be so hard to deal with. He just had to stop thinking about Wade. It would be that easy. 

Stone stepped into the base dead at noon, food bags in hand, and Wade rolled out in front of him on a wheely office chair at the end of the hall, spinning rapidly. They both froze in sync, and Wade perked right up, beaming at him. “Hi, Aban!”

Of course. Yeah, that’s the way everything fell, and he shouldn’t have expected literally anything else. Why should he have?

He forgot to greet Wade in his shock, every nerve in his body alight with pure energy as he struggled not to start shaking. “Where’s the Doctor?”

Wade frowned. “Woah, what’s wrong? You look like you just saw a ghost.”

“I did. What did he tell you?”

“Lighten up, Stone,” came a voice from around the corner, and with the same high, callous slickness he always had, Robotnik sauntered around the corner, pushing his goggles up onto his head. “Don’t talk to my guest like that. Where’s your tact?”

“Hey, Doctor?”

Robotnik held up a finger, and Stone didn’t get a chance to continue his question. He did, however, get a smirk from Robotnik, and he was dreadfully close to flying off the chain from the second he saw it. “Lunch first. Then we’ll talk.”

What the fuck. 

Stone couldn’t determine what he was more baffled by, the fact that Wade was there or that he and Robotnik launched into immediate, enthusiastic conversation the second they sat down. Stone couldn’t even eat until Wade started holding food up to his mouth for him, too dumbfounded to speak or move. They talked. Stone didn’t. Wade and the Doctor did, chatting away like old friends, like this was entirely normal and like Stone wasn’t two seconds from losing his mind the entire time he sat there. Maybe ‘friends’ wasn’t the right word: a god and his worshiper, though? Robotnik would regale Wade with old stories, ones of grandeur and technological miracles, and Wade listened in awe, asking questions endlessly and adding his own commentary when he could get a word in. More importantly, he managed to get a word in. When was the last time Stone saw anyone like that? He was fascinated, dragged right under Robotnik’s spell, and he-

He looked like Stone did once. How he did any other day around Robotnik. Wade was just as enamored as that young, wide-eyed agent that time had stolen away from Stone so many years ago. 

At that realization, Stone dropped his fork, interrupting both of them regardless of how indignant Robotnik would be about it later. “Alright, what did I miss here? I’m sorry, I don’t want to be a hardass, but I’m really not following, and I’m kind of freaking out, so-”

“Oh,” Robotnik cut him off, waving his hand dismissively as he turned back to his food, more mellow than Stone had seen him in years, “he’s fine. We talked it out, Wade and I, and I’ve decided we’re keeping him.”

Wade chimed in before Stone could get a word out, or perhaps it was before Stone could think of something coherent to say. “Ivo’s cool! He has been, at least. We, uh, met in the Walmart on Friday night. I was looking for something, he struck up a conversation, and hey! He’s charming! Very easy to lose track of time when you’re talking to someone in their car, you know, I think I even forgot to grab the thing for…” Wade trailed off, slapping a hand over his mouth when the realization hit him. “Holy crap, Aban, I’m sorry. I totally forgot, my phone was dead and I didn’t even think to ask for a charger. We’ll go out another night.”

“You call him Aban in person?” Wade perked right back up when Robotnik looked at him, and Robotnik’s lips quirked up at the corners. “That’s not his real first name, it’s actually-”

“Nothing that hasn’t been deleted from government databases,” Stone interrupted. His head was still drowning out the rest of the world as hard as it could manage, but he managed the usual reply to Wade. “Not your fault, Wade, calm down.”

We. More specifically, we’re keeping him.

Stone pushed himself away from the workbench they were using as a table, the one that had evidently been dragged out into the lounge and was already covered with takeout containers, and- oh, the couches looked like they had the remains of some sort of blanket pod. Wade liked those for movie nights. How lovely. “Doc, a word, please?”

And, miraculously, he listened. He followed Stone to the main workspace and sat across from him, ankles crossed, posture relaxed as Stone sat down. The first words out of his mouth, though? “You’re welcome, Agent.”

“You kidnapped him!” Stone’s hands landed on the table, feather light with the restrained force in his muscles. He whisper-yelled when he spoke, if only to keep quiet. “You kidnapped him, even if you were nice to him by some miracle, and now he’s four hours away from home! He has people who’ll miss him!”

Robotnik rolled his eyes, propping his cheek up on his fist. He looked like some sort of lazy king like that, all splayed out and waiting, and less than a year ago, Stone would have been on his knees for him. “Oh, please. Give me more credit. I’m not one to lie-”

“You’re screwing with me.”

“-but I am one to shove someone in my trunk and implant false memories before they wake up. It’s a lot less effort on my part.”

“You’re screwing with me,” he repeated, leaning most of his weight onto the table. “You changed his memories to be all buddy-buddy with him? Is that why he’s so friendly, and since when do you let anyone, anyone at all, call you by your first name?”

Well, he didn’t look so smug anymore, at least. His smile fell, and he cleared his throat, snapping his fingers and goading the closest badnik to bring him a glass of water that he didn’t need. He just held it. “Irrelevant. He’s here, and now I don’t have to deal with you moping around and killing our productivity. Problem solved, I can wash my hands of it.”

“He can’t stay, and- oh, can I have my gloves, please? Or a glass of water?” Both flew over to him with the press of a button, and Stone thanked the badnik (not Robotnik) as it flew away. For the first time in months, he slid his own set of gloves back on as he spoke, mildly comforted by the way they pressed into his hands. “Doc, I don’t know what your goal is right now, but even if we didn’t have to drop him back in Green Hills before anyone realizes that he’s gone, you’d have to watch me be all sappy with him. You’d have to be around him, and while I love him, I love him a lot, you won’t. Besides, people get in the way, right? Who said that one again?”

Robotnik’s lips pursed. “Don’t you trust me, Stone?”

“Yes, but you’re being weirdly quiet about your plans for once. If you had some kind of epiphany while you were gone, I’d love to hear it, because-”

“Maybe I can revise my hypothesis. Just this once.”

“Why, though?” Robotnik just stared at him, idly rolling one of his ankles. Stone went with his gut response. “This is because of the other night. If Wade’s fine with it, then you and I can continue to be-” his breath hitched, “-amorously affiliated with one another. That’s the philosophy, isn’t it?”

“It was.”

“Was?”

“Use your head, Stone, the other one. Some of us aren’t frequently romantically oriented.”

“Exactly!” He threw his hands up, then right back down. “I don’t get what else would make sense, because you’re a genius, Doc, and you know that I’m not so bad myself. You’d factor in the possibility of Wade’s presence from a logistical standpoint long before you’d consider having him around. No surprises. No weird plan changes, unless-”

Stone froze. Oh, god, he knew. He had to. Wade hopefully knew better to even think about the Wachowskis around Robotnik, especially Sonic, but it wasn’t a secret or anything. Stone had still updated his files diligently, including the vague descriptions of his afternoons spent with the four of them, and those would have been the first thing that Robotnik picked up. His boyfriend could very easily be used as a bargaining chip against Tom, and if they chose Sonic, Wade would die without question. It was too perfect. The revenge would be beautiful and heart wrenching, if not a bit out of Robotnik’s usual style. He’d toss some horrible machine in there somewhere.

“We’re keeping him,” Stone echoed, biting the inside of his cheek. “You set up the first part the second I left last week, and then the plans changed.”

“Yes. Glad to see you’re still sapient.”

“When?”

He leaned forward, taking Stone’s glass from him, tossing his own at the ground for a badnik to catch and clean up. He took a sip, and Stone’s hand hung uselessly in the air. “Just last night. He’s talkative.”

“That’s what I thought.” He sighed heavily, standing up and clasping his hands together. “I’m going to go get him a hotel room. We’ll keep him out of the way for the afternoon.”

“Fine.” That’s all he said. Just fine. Sure, maybe it was for him.

Stone stepped out of the workshop, and Wade was glued to his side in a moment’s notice, lacing their fingers together and following him to the car. “So, what’s up? You looked pissed. I’m still sorry for yesterday.”

“I told you, it’s fine,” Stone replied, and the words felt sticky on his tongue. He pressed a kiss to Wade’s temple in an attempt to remedy it. “I should have told you. Demand some more transparency from me, please.”

“Demand? Kinda harsh.”

“Ask me more oddly specific questions and badger me until I answer.”

“Now, that I can do,” he said, chuckling softly as he climbed into the passenger seat. Stone started off the second they were both in, opting to skip the GPS in favor of ‘getting lost’ while trying to find a hotel. Wade didn’t say anything for a moment, and Stone only realized he was failing at acting casual when he spoke up again. “Ivo’s nice.”

Nice. Robotnik. He’d shudder if he heard Wade say that. “He’s something else, alright.”

Silence.

Wade turned on the radio. The CD started from the beginning, and he hummed. Tapped his feet. Sighed a few times in a way meant to initiate conversation. Finally went on. “So, are we like, all going to dinner together later or something, or…?”

“I really wish you would take a little more concern with the fact that he just kidnapped you.”

“I’m trying!” he protested before Stone had even finished. “He’s cool, though, and it’s not like he was threatening me or anything this time, it just sort of happened, and then we talked about it on the couch! I don’t even remember the trunk of the car that well!”

Oh, Stone pulled over immediately, swiveling to face him with wide eyes as soon as they were parked. “What.”

Wade’s eyes were just as wide, almost as shocked as Stone was. “What? I said we talked about it. Nothing else. Nope.”

“You said-”

“Fine!” Wade relented before Stone had to press any further. “There was no Walmart, I just didn’t want to worry you and he didn’t wanna piss you off, so we made up a story! It was fine, it was a nice trunk, and I’m just sort of ‘meh’ about it! I mean, come on, it worked, and we workshopped that for like, two hours!”

Stone sighed in exasperation, sinking back into his seat and staring at Wade as he thought about what he could do. Not much, he realized. He could at least say something before Wade exploded. “I’m not mad.”

“Really? ‘Cause you seem kinda mad.”

“I’m not. Not at you. Look, he’s just… he’s trying to lure you in. He wants you to talk about Sonic so he can get more information about him. He’s just going to try and kill him again with whatever you tell him, or worse.”

Wade paused, his face blanking into pure confusion. “What? No, he doesn’t.”

“Whatever he told you, he’s lying, I promise. Wade, I love you, but what you’re dealing with-”

“Did he tell you what we talked about?”

“...No.” Stone cocked his head to the side, and Wade immediately started nodding like he knew something Stone didn’t. That was impossible. When did that happen? “I guessed. We’ve been around each other for a long time, so I figured I’d be able to assume what the Doctor’s thinking about by now.”

Stone’s heart immediately filled with dread the second Wade started smiling, fond as he recalled the night prior. Robotnik had really gotten to him, hadn’t he? “Aban, he told me everything. Like, ‘drunk girl in the bathroom’ style, everything. We seriously just talked about you, him, me… I tried to bring up Sonic and Tom, but he slapped a hand over my mouth and told me not to ruin the moment.

No, no he didn’t. He couldn’t have. That didn’t sound like him at all, and besides, he wouldn’t have admitted everything. Stone decided to check anyway, his voice getting a bit more meek as he did. It would never be any less strange to him that he could face Robotnik without any nerves, but not Wade. “What about…?”

“About Saturday?” Wade finished. Stone nodded. “He said he kissed you because he missed being around you. You pushed him off. He didn’t think I was real, then found out I was and told you that we had to break up. You asked for time, then a week, and then he tried to set it up so I’d end up in the base with you two.”

Stone’s vision started to blur around the edges from the moment Wade started speaking, and all he could do was nod along until he regained any brain function. “I should have told you. I’m sorry. You have every right to be very, very mad if you want to be.”

“For what?”

“For what?!” he echoed. “I kissed my boss! We’re dating! That is not okay!”

“He kissed you, didn’t he? I mean, I know you like him a lot, so,” Wade didn’t actually follow that up with anything, making a noncommittal sound and shrugging. “Y’know?”

Stone blinked. “No?”

“Just- hold on, let me get comfy if we’re going to be sitting here for a minute.” Wade shifted, pulling his legs up onto the seat with some effort and turning to face him fully. Once settled, he clapped once, his hands staying up while he went on. “You always looked upset when anyone brought him up, so I just assumed that it still hurt and that you didn’t want to talk about it. I asked him about it, and he immediately got the same look on his face. He said you had a history, and shoot, who am I to be able to tell you to stop?”

“My boyfriend as opposed to the boss I hooked up with for years because we mutually believed that we were incapable of forming human relationships.” Wade shrugged again. “I don’t understand what you’re doing here. Is this your way of telling me to break up with you?”

“Woah, woah, hey, no need to get hasty!” Wade’s reaction was immediate, and he sat up significantly straighter, then grabbed both of Stone’s hands. “Uh, no. Please don’t, unless you really want to, and then I guess I can’t really stop you. I just feel weird pushing you two apart. I think you really like each other, Aban, and I don’t mind if you like both of us.”

Were Stone’s ears ringing, or were there sirens in the distance? 

After a moment, he decided that it was all in his head, taking a break to register what Wade was saying. It couldn’t be. Nothing was ever that easy, not for him, not for Robotnik, and certainly not for someone as absentminded as Wade. He had to make sure. “You want to keep dating me.”

“Yes. Please.”

“But you also want me to continue whatever I have with the Doctor.”

“Well, yeah. Ivo’s nice enough, and I’m not really the jealous type as long as I’m not being left out and ditched all the time. As long as we talk about it, maybe do a couple of tri-dates or whatever, it’ll work. I mean, it’s just an idea, but I thought you’d like it.” After a moment of thought, he added, “I also got to see a lot of Ivo yesterday. Like, a lot. More than I probably should have. I don’t know what his deal is, but I want to help and see if I can’t make his life a little better. It worked on you, didn’t it?”

“Oh.” That’s all he said for a moment, swallowing the anxiety that had built up in his throat. He broke eye contact and looked down at their hands as he squeezed them. “I am. The jealous kind, that is. If you want to see other people too, then I’ll try to be okay with that. I’ll just need a little bit of time.”

“Really?” he asked, and without hesitation, he started laughing. “Aban, come on! The Wade’s a limited edition, and this one’s already taken by a cooler, hotter James Bond. I don’t need that. I like you. It’s not like I’m exactly a babe magnet or anything, so I’ve gotta make sure the one I have feels loved.”

“Damnit, Wade,” he muttered, then leaned in and kissed him. Wade kissed him right back, and Stone could have stayed there for hours, reveling in what he thought he’d never get back and what he thought he’d never experience to begin with. As far as he was concerned, Wade was perfect, and he suddenly couldn’t imagine a world without him all over again.
They started driving again at some point, their hands linked across the center console as Stone restarted the conversation. “You’ll tell me if anything comes up, right?”

“Define ‘anything’?”

“I don’t know, anything that upsets you? It’s suddenly not okay, or a boundary goes ignored, or if- if the Doctor does anything weird and invasive? I’m used to it, I like that about him, but it’s the things like probing, experiments, too much touching, or propositions for a threesome.”

A beat. “Starting from what date?”

“Literally any time you’ve ever met him. Yesterday included.”

Wade nodded. “Mmkay, then he proposed a threesome to me yesterday.”

“Hey, why?”

He made a noncommittal response in return, shrugging slightly, only going on when Stone didn’t say anything. “I told him I was worried about you. We started spitballing. That was his first suggestion, and he said he’d do it.”

Ah. Robotnik knew about the arrangement, then. Stone wouldn’t have to be the one to tell him, and thank god for that. “How many plans did you go through before you landed on this one?”

“...Thirty five.” Stone choked, slapping a hand over his mouth, and Wade immediately raised his hand in a gesture of defense. “It was a very lively conversation! I really wanted to work the robots into it, and he said I wasn’t allowed around the robots despite the fact that he was actively playing fetch with one the entire time, but he put those ideas on the whiteboard anyway!”

“The whiteboard?!” He repeated, absolutely incredulous, and he shook his head in disbelief. “Okay, sure, I know the one. You humored him, so he didn’t stop talking, and now he likes you because you listen to him and go along with whatever he says. Cool. Great. He has another yes-man.”

“Who’s the first?”

“Me! I am, I’m the yes-man, I’ve been the yes-man for years!” He pulled into the parking lot of the closest hotel, no longer worried about losing Wade, and he let his head fall onto the steering wheel. They were safe. He’d see him again soon. “Wade, you don’t understand what I would have given to see that.”

“I bet he has-”

“Has it recorded, I know, I’d just feel really, really bad about it. How did you get on a first name basis with him? He doesn’t even call me Aban.” Stone picked his head up to look over at him, already pulling his wallet out.

Wade was also pulling his out. Stone reached over and pushed it right back into his pocket. “Y’know how Tom and I play ‘completely normal cop, incredibly nice cop’ when Sonic’s done something and won’t tell Tom or Maddie?”

Stone was familiar. He’d been pulled into the game before, and it always played out in similar ways. Tom would ask Sonic about something, and Wade would be there to defend Sonic without reprieve, telling Sonic that he believed him and that they’d win Tom over. They’d both eventually agree that nothing happened, only for Sonic to get so consumed by the guilt that he confessed, not to Tom or Wade, but to Maddie. Maddie would handle it from there, aside from the two times that he came to Stone instead. It worked, sure, and they stumbled upon it by accident after an incident where Wade genuinely believed Sonic’s ridiculous story, but Stone was not equipped to handle a situation like that, especially not when it involved a pre-teen hedgehog. 

Still, the whole point of the act was to give someone the full benefit of the doubt, and Wade- well, Wade was good at that. “You managed to ‘there’s a good side to everyone’ into the Doctor’s good graces?”

“‘Incredibly nice cop’ is kind of my default. He kept saying he wasn’t wrong, and I kept agreeing because I didn’t really get half of what he said, and eventually he just started telling me super personal stuff. This was like, an hour after he let me out of the trunk, I think.”

 Well, alright. Wade accomplished in an hour what took Stone several years by the exact same methods, and Stone couldn’t even be mad about it. It seemed to him that the planet screwed up the Doctor a bit more than he was letting on, and he’d be more than happy to pick up the pieces after he teased him for it later.

With a sigh, Stone pulled out a wad of cash, handing it to Wade and making him take it when he tried to give it right back. “You amaze me. I love you, I wish I could stay, but I think I have to go help him blow shit up before he starts losing it. Get a room, we’ll drive back to town eventually.”

“Don’t explode!” he replied cheerily, taking the cash with a kiss to Stone’s cheek, and he got out of the car. Stone watched him walk away, pausing and turning on his heels before running right back to open the car door. “Sorry! Love you too!”

Then he left. Thank god for Robotnik’s habits; he wasn’t ready to leave all of that behind. 

A renewed pep in his step and a different set of questions on his mind, Stone walked right back into the workshop once he arrived at the base, sitting down in front of Robotnik and slapping his hands onto the table. Robotnik, who had his feet kicked up as he worked on a badnik in his lap, coat discarded, didn’t flinch, but he removed his goggles to glare at him. Stone smiled. “So! I completely misread the situation.”

“Tell me something I don’t know. He’s been texting me since you dropped him off, and he’s a frustratingly slow typer.” He took the screwdriver out of his mouth, if only to replace it with a bolt. “I told you, we’re keeping him.”

Stone waved a hand dismissively, immediately starting to organize the table out of habit once he noticed its state. “Yeah, yeah, I got that one, I believed you. I thought you were in it for Sonic, though, and I didn’t know how long you planned on keeping him. You didn’t even want to hear about Sonic. What happened?”

“Well, I- Stone, some of us have to be a little more tactical than plotting such a simple betrayal scheme, even if I considered it and it was perfect-” he rambled, going on as the bolt fell out and he ran out of excuses. When he did, he paused. Sighed. “I’m fuckiong old, Stone. Excuse me for wanting a break after doing nothing but physical activity and work on a foreign planet for a year straight.”

“A break? Seriously, you? All you’ve ever done around me was physical activity and work, and I think I can count the number of self-care days I’ve gotten you to take on one hand.” Stone never stopped smiling. He couldn’t believe it, not at all, and he was still waiting for Robotnik to pull out some sort of last-minute twist, maybe even tell him that Wade wasn’t even real. Far fetched? Sue, but it was Robotnik. That was precisely his style. It never came, though, and the pause that Robotnik held before he spoke again was nothing more than a pause.

“I looked at the files,” he said curtly. “Yours. There was an… emotionally charged way that you spoke about those rats, even if it was totally unintentional and only visible to my trained eye. Wade also started referring to them as ‘these people he knows’, and he lacks subtlety. I heard a lot. I saw camera footage.”

“And?”

“And that’s a kid.” Ah, there it was. “He’s an overeager, arrogant little shit, but that’s an actual, live, baseball card-collecting, prank-pulling orphan kid. He has a set of perfectly good parents now, even if I loathe them, a support system, friends of his own…”

Robotnik trailed off, falling silent. Gently, Stone reached out and put a hand on his arm, keeping his tone soft as he said, “I’m with you, Doctor. Whatever you pick, I’ll follow you, and I’ve never heard a bad idea from you.”

He sighed, pulling his goggles back down and continuing to work, but he didn’t push Stone away. “I’ll wait. Lie low. See what life is like when I’m not being pushed around by a pack of government hacks all the time, and that’s going to include leaving him alone until he’s at least a shithead teenager. Trust me. I’d love- love- to go decimate him right now, I’m still not sold on this idea, but y’know what, Stone? I deserve nice things and the option to bide my time. We’re going back to Green Hills, you’ll get to keep your boyfriend, and I’ll keep plotting until I can rule this miserable planet.”

Stone sighed dreamily, sinking into the table’s surface. “God, I wish you had told me that before I destroyed my entire apartment.”

“That sounds like a ‘you’ problem, jackass. Figure it out. I’m on vacation,” he snorted, right back to normal,and he grinned when Stone laughed. “No, but seriously, figure it out. I’m moving in.”

“I wouldn’t have it any other way, Doc. The bed’s big enough for two, maybe three.” Stone got up, planting his hands on the table. “I’m sort of looking forward to it. We can do so much mundane, evil crap together while we wait. I’ve been itching for it. I want to make up for lost time with you. You’re sure you can handle Wade?”

Stone already knew the answer, but Robotnik’s exasperated sigh just confirmed it. “What is that guy’s deal, Stone? He’s impossible to upset, and he- does he go around declaring to everyone that he’s going to make their lives better?”

“Not everyone,” Stone replied. “He just has a sixth sense for things he shouldn’t approach under any circumstances, and he ignores it. Trust me, it seems like bull now, but it’ll happen eventually. I’m stunned you two got along so well.”

He sighed, dipping his head a bit lower, and Stone could have sworn that he saw his face redden. “You aren’t confronted with many human emotions in a mushroom dimension. I was isolated for a year, and then I wasn’t. Then, I was isolated for a week again, and as mentally strong as I am, it was still… well. We’ll say I appreciated having someone real to talk to. He’s nice. Interesting. Likely trustworthy, but I don’t think he’s nearly as brilliant as either of us.”

“You could have called me.”

“I know, I know,” he replied, his hands stalling, and they slid down to the sides of the badnik and settled there. He waited before he spoke, low and strained. “I gave you as much of your time as I could stand. I want you to be happy, Agent.”

Well, it wasn’t the indescribable, bubbly evil he was expecting, but Stone was most definitely still in love with him. “Thank you, Doctor. I appreciate that.”

Robotnik didn’t say anything for a moment, his jaw setting. “You’ve discussed having him move in, haven’t you?”

“Several times, actually. I didn’t make it happen in case you came back and needed somewhere, or in case I needed to skip town all of the sudden.”

“By all means, Stone, don’t stall on my behalf,” he replied indignantly, followed by him muttering, “not like it’s stopped you before.”

Stone held back a laugh. “What was that?”

“That was a hearty ‘go make me a goddamn latte before I melt you into your suit,’ now get to it!” The badnik in his hands flared to life the second the panels were all pressed on, the light glowing right at him, and Stone didn’t have to be told twice.

Stone got the latte and came back. Robotnik hadn’t picked anything else up by the time he returned, staring blankly at the ceiling, and Stone kissed his cheek as he draped himself over his shoulders and put the cup in his hands. “You know you’re going to have to put in some serious effort if you actually want that threeway.”

A sigh. “I’m well aware. I’ve gathered. Bold of you to assume I wasn’t planning on doing that anyway, if you can bear the sight of it, you miserable bastard.”

“You get the appeal of Wade now, don’t you?”

Robotnik took a sip of his coffee, melting into his chair and Stone’s grip. “Fuck off, Agent.”

Stone smiled, only sinking into him further, and all his anxieties from the last week seemed to float off into thin air. “Happy to have you back, Doctor.”

----

“So, what? They just walk the entire movie? What’s the point of that?”

Wade sighed in exasperation, more frustrated that Stone had ever heard him. “It’s quintessential high fantasy! Come on, you’ve had all that time to yourself over your life and you’ve never touched any Tolkein stuff?”

“No, goddamnit, it’s nine hours’ worth of movies and an obnoxious amount of reading material for a work of fiction! Do you know what I could do with nine hours, Wade? I bet I could solve the ocean pollution crisis, hide it so no one ever finds the work, and set up a way to reap the benefits of it exclusively on my own. And then some. That’s what I could do with the amount of time I’m so graciously devoting to these movies.”

From the other room, Stone couldn’t help but smile. They hadn’t all been living together for a week, and yet every interaction those two had with each other made him fall a bit more in love with them.

Robotnik had not added himself to their date nights, not in the end; at first, he had, coming into the living room while Stone and Wade watched TV in the weeks leading up to when Wade moved in, trying to guess the endings and being right an obnoxious amount of times. He’d drop a theory, then leave. Eventually, he started sticking around for a little longer, watching the screen and pretending like he wasn’t interested the entire time, and the week prior, Wade had grabbed him by the wrist and pulled him down to sit with them. Robotnik complained, much less than Stone had been expecting him to, and he settled into them all the same. They still had their individual dates, especially since Robotnik couldn’t be seen much around town (and he had no interest in leaving the apartment anyway), but they liked having him there. They agreed on that almost immediately, and Stone was more than happy to be with both of them.

When he reentered the room, they were still bickering despite being intertwined with one another in the bizarre way that Robotnik often chose for himself: dressed in a combination of all of their clothes, limbs entangled in an awkward way that only became comfortable if the other person didn’t think about it, and touching in absolutely every way he could manage. When Wade’s head snapped over to him immediately, Robotnik rolled his eyes, mouthing an ‘oh, here we go’ that he didn’t really mean. “Aban, please tell Ivo that I will not be speaking to him until he gives the middle-earth canon the respect it deserves.”

Stone grinned. “Alright. Ivo-”

“Watch it,” he hissed, not letting Stone get a word out, but he accepted the cup that he handed him and let him settle in behind him on the couch, leaning back against him. “That’s ‘Doctor’ to you, Agent. Respect my authority.”

“And why doesn’t Wade have to?”

“Wade gets a pass.” With his free hand, he took Wade’s, the one that wasn’t draped over the back of the couch already. Wade forgot himself, lighting up and pulling it up to his cheek for a moment with a smile. “He might not get a pass after I get spat out on the other side of this nine hour series.”

“It’s actually more like seventeen if you count the Hobbit movies,” Wade added, letting Robotnik pull his hand away with an irritated scoff. “We’ll watch those, too. They’re important.”

“I hate this. I hate this, and I regret not blowing you up when I first learned of your existence.”

“Good to know! Aban?”

He shrugged, kicking his feet up on the coffee table in front of him. “I’m fine with this.”

“There we go! Majority rules, this is a democracy, I’m not going to hear anything else about it!” Wade grabbed the remote before Robotnik could let out a protest other than a groan, and with one click, the movie began.

It was sort of nice to be watching a movie he’d already seen the first half of. It gave Stone plenty of time to keep an eye on the two of them, subtly but intently.

Robotnik wasn’t truly pissed. They all knew what he looked like when he was mad, and if he was truly stewing, he didn’t show it. It was more of a vague annoyance that hung over him, his cheek pressed into Stone’s shoulder, and Wade noticed it within minutes. He stopped watching the screen, no matter how enamored he was with the movie, and turned to him, leaning over to him, and Robotnik ever-so-graciously accepted the slow, languid kiss that Wade pressed to his lips, kissing him right back just long enough for a bit of that tension to melt off. Wade pulled away, muttering something along the lines of ‘thank you for being here’ and earning a pleased hum from Robotnik in response. They fell right back into their spots, and the evening went right on. If Stone knew that all Robotnik needed to mellow out was more casual romantic affection, he would have started it a lot sooner, but now worked just as well; he could run his fingers along the grooves of his spine now, leaning into his weight right back and loving the warmth that he brought. 

Wade caught him staring at one point. Instead of admonishing him and nudging his cheek to make him look back towards the screen, just like he did when they first started watching movies together, he beamed. Even with the TV glowing and illuminating all three of them, Wade was still the brightest thing in the room, and Stone smiled right back. He brought his arm up to lay on top of Wade’s, kissing the back of his hand, and once more, life felt a bit too perfect again. He wasn’t bored this time, but it wasn’t so complicated that he had to worry about it being ripped away from him. He stopped counting the days, the ebb and flow of time seeming to matter a little less other than the way it acted as a conduit for their activities. It was an excuse for them to be together, in Stone’s eyes, and it was pointless to keep track of it when he could just live it. 

For a while, Stone had Robotnik, then no one. He got Wade, mourned Robotnik, got Robotnik back, and then assumed he’d never truly have either of them again. This was untrue; he had both of them, and life was truly good once more.