OK! Here's a Sonic and Knuckles one-shot! This one is made especially for: Midnight Lullabye! For commenting on "What Friends Are For" I'm gonna start doing more Sonic and Knuckles brotherly and friendship story's cause I like them like that too! Thank you SO much! I look forward to hearing from you again! You too: Knuxnbat!

~Trinity

Ehem! On with the show!

Sleep Over

Knuckles sat at the top of the shrine, starring down into the endless sky. It was a beautiful day on Angel Island, not a cloud in sight. And everyone's favorite Echidna seemed to be enjoying the nice quiet day. A warm breeze blew gently through his dread locks making them lift harmlessly in the air a little.

Birds in the forest and sky chirped playfully as they flew in front of Knuckles. The young guardian smiled slightly, as he watch them play.

Even though he was enjoying himself he could not help but feel lonely. He wondered what Sonic and Tails were doing right now. Maybe they were down at the beach. Nah...Sonic does not like water...But then again, Tails does. Maybe he went down there for Tails. Or maybe, he they were on a mission. Saving the world. Or maybe perhaps on a date with Amy?

"That's a LOT of 'maybe's'" Knuckles said out loud.

"Talking to yourself Knuckle-head?" came a voice. Knuckles looked down slowly, finding Sonic coming up the stairs to him, an ever cheerful smile planted on his face. Knuckles frowned. He had not expected Sonic's company all of a sudden. Then again when has he ever?

"Uh, hi..." Knuckles said slowly. "What's up?"

"You're island. That's what's up!" Sonic laughed. He meant it as a joke, but Knuckles was not amused and only rolled his eyes. Could this hedgehog ever give a proper greeting? "Anyway Knux, I came to see if you wanted to take some time off and come down for a bit."

"Sonic, you know my job's up here I can't just come down ALL the time." Knuckles said stubbornly crossing his arms. "Unless there is an emergency, I'm staying here."

Sonic thought for a moment. Then grinned mysteriously.

"Oh, but Knux! This IS a emergency!" Sonic said putting on a 'somewhat' serious face.

Knuckles arched a brow. "Oh really?"

"Yeah REALLY!" Sonic said continuing. "See...uh...we have this 'mission' that we really need your help on down in Central City! 'Life or Death' you could say !"

Knuckles did not look convinced. "Are you sure? Or are you just saying that cause this 'emergency' of yours is about Amy coming after you..?"

"No! That's SO not true!" Sonic blinked. Then under his breath: "This time anyway."

Knuckles shrugged. "Okay, I guess it can't hurt to check it out."

"Great! Let's go!" Sonic beamed, grabbing Knuckles by the arm and dashing away.

"Slow down Sonic!" Knuckles yelled.

When they arrived in Central City, Sonic automatically took Knuckles to his house. ((Sonic's house))

"Welcome to my home, Knux! And for tonight, its you're home too!"

"What? Why did you bring me to your..." Knuckles looked around before continuing. The place was a mess. It looked as though somebody came marching through here and ransacked the place. Only they did not find what they were looking for. "House..."

"Oops, sorry Knux!" Sonic grinned sheepishly, running around fixing up his house. "I'll have this place straightened out in a sec!"

"Sonic..." Knuckles grumbled, flexing his fists.

"I can explain." Sonic laughed, coming to a halt. "Well...I got this idea about inviting my two best buddy's out for a change so I just figured--" Sonic was interrupted by the sounds of Tails walking into Sonic's open door. A bag of candy in one hand and a sleeping bag in the other.

The young fox looked as cheerful as ever. "Sonic I brought the snacks for the sleep-over!" he called, rushing into the living room to join Sonic and Knuckles. "Oh I see you convinced Knuckles to come also, huh?"

Sonic's face went pale, as he put his finger to his own lips in a pointless effort to tell Tails to be quiet or Knuckles was gonna hear. Too bad for him Knuckles already heard...

Knuckles muzzle turned as red as his fur, as he shot a dirty glare at Sonic. "'Sleep-over'?! 'CONVINCED'?!" he spat, raising his voice ever so high, Tails almost dropped his sleeping bag.

"Calm down bud! Let me expl--" Sonic began but Knuckles roughly brushed pass Sonic and began to head for the door.

"No need to explain!" Knuckles made a huff. "I have no need for something as trivial as a sleep-over!"

Sonic shrugged and quickly zoomed over to the door, blocking Knuckles path. "What's the matter, Knux? Afraid your gonna wet the couch or something?" he teased, playfully.

Knuckles swung his fist, getting ready to punch Sonic's lights out. "No. Would you if I punched you in the gut?!"

"Okay-Okay!" Sonic sighed. "If your too shy for a sleep-over we understand, right Tails?" he asked, turning to the yellow fox. "After all a sleep-over is a lot harder than it looks. We don't wanna force you to do something to difficult, do we?"

"Yep." Tails smiled, as Sonic stood outta Knuckles way."I guess we'll see you around sometime, Knux."

"OK! That's not true!" Knuckles yelled, standing his ground as he slammed Sonic's front door shut and turned stubbornly at Sonic and Tails. "Fine! If I have to prove how NOT scared I am of some sleep-over! Fine, I'll stay!"

Sonic and Tails exchanged glances. Both of the smiling slyly. 'Told you it would work' Sonic whispered to Tails as Knuckles walked over to sit on the couch.

'That's our buddy Knuckles alright!' Tails agreed quietly.

As the sun started to set Knuckles quickly began to grow used to the new surroundings. Both he, Sonic and Tails were quite enjoying the evening.

They watched a few comedy movies and one scary movie. Naturally the only one scared was Tails, who, during the movie ducked behind the couch, clinging onto the back end. Poor thing. Sonic had to go back a few times and get him.

Knuckles did not laugh that much when they watched the comedy movies. He could have cared less. But when he did laugh, he laughed HARD! So much or so Sonic could have swore the ceiling was shacking. A goofy grin crossing his face seeing Knuckles cheerful face for a change.

To a certain point did Sonic and Knuckles fight, but it was over a bag of popcorn.

"Give it here!" Knuckles barked, tugging on one half of the bag. "Don't be such a 'popcorn-hog'!"

"NO!" Sonic yelled back. "Why don't you try to 'butter me up' before you go taking MY popcorn!"

"Guys, take it easy." Tails blinked. "Or else you're going to rip the--"

Suddenly the bag ripped in two, and popcorn went flying everywhere. Covering the whole living room. Sonic and Knuckles both eye balling each other. The smell of popcorn and butter was everywhere.

"Bag..." Tails finished.

Around 8:35 the trio sat down to eat. Thing was...Sonic was the cook. And what did he make?

"Alright, guys! " he announced proudly bring out a huge plate filled to the top with Chilly Dogs. "Dig in!"

Tails and Sonic together must have ate half of the lot of chill dogs that were there but Knuckles could not even swallow one. He stared down at them with discuss.

"What's wrong, Knuckles?" Sonic asked. "Are you not hungry?"

"Don't you know what's in these things?" Knuckles said poking the chilly dog a few times with his fork.

"The-There's something else in them...?" Tails gulped, Looking down at his chilly dog. Sonic shook his head and waged his finger at Tails, meaning for him not to go there, and it was OK to eat. Tails shrugged and continued to eat.

"No. And I don't want to know." Sonic rolled his eyes. Sonic knew Knuckles was not going to eat them, but he had to eat something, both he and Tails could hear his stomach growling. He did not want Knuckles to go hungry so he thought quickly and got up and took out a plate of grapes, and other such fruits. "Here ya go Knux. You have been eating these your whole life right? It's probably gonna taste a lot better, right?"

"Y-yeah...t-thanks." Knuckles said surprised, Sonic nodded and smiled gently as Knuckles finally started to eat.

At 10:05 they sat back down in the living room and began telling scary story's.

Needless to say Tails to not enjoy them too much and hid in his sleeping bag. Two tails sticking out and shacking slightly as Sonic told his story. Knuckles crossed his arms, glaring at Sonic.

"You SO cannot tell a scary story, Sonic." Knuckles said with a 'Tsk' sound.

"Oh, yeah?" Sonic glared back with a uneasy smile. "Fine! Then you tell the next one!"

"I think I will!" Knuckles agreed. "Hand me that flash light." ((The lights in the house are off and Sonic's been using a flash light to help tell his story.))

Sonic gave the flash light a toss, and Knuckles caught it with ease, then he cleared his throat before starting the story.

"Once there was a..." Knuckles began.

Ten minutes later...

"And the next thing he knew...they were eating the flesh off his very bones, as he fell into a blood thirsty scream, as he lay dying on the floor!" Knuckles finished.

Tails was sitting up nodding off on the couch, and Sonic well...

"Where did you get that from ? A book?" Sonic asked crossing his arms.

"And if I did?" Knuckles asked.

"Dude...I've heard it before." Sonic laughed. "That story was so boring it put Tails to sleep."

Tails eye snapped open. "I'm awake!" he said with a snort. "Umm, funny story Knuckles! I liked it."

"It was not supposed to be funny...."Knuckles grumbled.

"Oh..." Tails sweat-dropped.

Around 11:45 Tails had fallen asleep on the floor in his sleeping bag. Sonic took quiet steps to be sure not to wake him as he made his way over to Knuckles.

"Time for bed, Knux." he whispered. Knuckles nodded and got on the couch. Knuckles seemed not so eager to sleep as the other two. Of course Sonic thought maybe that it was just cause he was not sure if the Master Emerald was safe or not, and was just getting worried. "You feeling OK?" he asked.

"Yeah...I just..." Knuckles stopped, staring down at the spikes on his gloves. "Nah, I'm okay...good night." Knuckles lied down.

"Okay then." Sonic nodded, and head for his room. "Good night, buddy."

It was only a few minutes but Sonic came back out with a few blankets and a pillow. He did not want Knuckles to catch a cold sleeping without something keeping him warm like Tails. However, when he got back out into the living room Knuckles was no longer there.

'Where did he run off to?' Sonic thought to himself. 'Then again...he might have took this chance and headed back for Angel Island.' Sonic sighed and headed back for his room. But as he passed the kitchen he found the red Echidna sitting at the table eating one of the left-over chilly dogs.

Knuckles sat there eating quietly, one hand to his chin, looking as though he was in deep thought. It took him a while but he soon turned in surprise the moment he saw Sonic, who was staring back at him, amazed.

"H-hey..." Knuckles said uneasy.

Sonic smiled putting the blankets down and walked over. At first Knuckles thought Sonic might have been angry. But the blue hedgehog merely went to the fridge and pulled out a chill dog himself and sat down with Knuckles at the table.

"Still hungry..?" Sonic chuckled. "I mean I know you have been eating fruits your whole life, but--"

"That, and I was not sleepy." Knuckles interrupted. "And I figured I'd try at least one of these things for you guys..."

"And..?" Sonic pushed on. "How do you like it? The chilly dog?"

"It does not have quite enough cheese on it and it could stand a little less ketchup ." Knuckles replied, taking another bite. Sonic flattened his ears. "But other words..." Knuckles went on. "It's great. A LOT more filling and more taste to it then grapes alone."

"Glad you like it." Sonic sighed. "Have you...have you had fun tonight?" he asked hesitantly.

"Yes. Of course I have." Knuckles face grew dark. "Except for went you tricked me into coming here in the first place."

Sonic smiled sheepishly, putting a hand behind his head. "Heh, ye-yeah...about that..."

"Ah, don't mention it. "Knuckles laughed.

The two continued to eat, once they had finished Knuckles looked up at Sonic. "I uh..." he began. "Never thought living in a house would feel so...so comforting. I'm so used to living out in the wild, with no roof over my head, I guess I did not realize on how much I'm missing out on."

Sonic looked at Knuckles quietly, waiting for the echidna to continue.

"It really has been a lot of fun." Knuckles smiled. "It really feels like...like I have a family. And I was just wondering...can we have another sleep-over some time?" It must have taken a lot for Knuckles to say that. Even in the dark Sonic could see him blushing from embarrassment.

"Of course we can." Sonic smiled back. "Glade you like it bro."

"Bro..?" Knuckles blinked.

Sonic got up and made a wink. "It's short for brother."

Knuckles sounded like he'd wanted to say something else but a oncoming yawn stopped him.

"Great..." Sonic sighed. "NOW you want to sleep."

"Better now than never..." Knuckles said, yawning again. Re-grabbing the blankets Sonic followed Knuckles back to the couch, and handed them to the tired Echidna.

"Here you go Knux." Sonic whispered so he did not wake Tails.

"Thanks." Knuckles whispered back.

Sonic turned to leave and came back yet again carrying another blanket and pillow, and sat himself down on a chair also in the living room and wrapped himself up.

"You're not sleeping in your own room?" Knuckles asked. Sonic merely shook his head.

"Nah, what kind of host OR brother would I be if I let you guys sleep by yourself out here?" Sonic chuckled, then made a yawn. Getting in to a comfortable position Sonic began to slowly start to fall asleep. "Good night, Knuckles..." with that sonic drifted to sleep.

Knuckles smiled and turned to go to sleep as well. He did not just have good friends...family too. At this point Knuckles had realized he had completely forgotten about the Master Emerald. And he did not even seem to care. It should be safe for now. One day and night should not change anything. "Good night...brother." Knuckles called back softly, falling asleep.

Knuckles woke up to the morning sun streaming thought the window of the living room. For a confused second he nearly forgot where he was, sitting up as fast as he could. Then he remembered. Senses coming back Knuckles could smell something being cooked in the kitchen.

He headed for the kitchen, realizing Sonic was missing. Tails still lay quietly on the floor sleeping soundly.

When he got there he found Sonic by the stove making...Pancakes?! Knuckles stood there with his jaw dropped. Sonic turned and smiled when he saw Knuckles.

"Morning!" he greeted as cheerfully as ever. "Hope I did not wake you up."

"No. You did not." Knuckles blinked, staring at the pancakes as Sonic flipped them.

"What?" Sonic asked confused seeing the look on Knuckles face.

"You're making PANCAKES?" Knuckles answered. "Am I still dreaming or WHAT?"

Sonic put his hands to his hips. "OH come on!" he sighed. "I do eat other stuff BESIDES chilly dogs!"

"This is a first for me..." Knuckles shrugged.

"Me too." Tails answered coming in through the living room to join Sonic and Knuckles, rubbing his eyes.

"You have got to be kidding me!" Sonic raised his voice from embarrassment.

"Sonic eating something other than chilly dogs...this is something new for the books." Knuckles chuckled.

"I wonder if anyone else knows..." Tails said, putting a hand to his chin.

"Y-You guys!" Sonic yelped. Knuckles and Tails broke up into a fit of laughter. Sonic in the end could only raise his hands in defeat and continue to flip the pancakes before they burnt. Afterwards they sat down enjoying a nice calming breakfast, which was fine for a while....That is until--

There was a sudden know on the door. A loud one too. Tails got up to answer it.

"Wait, Tails!" Sonic yelled. "That can only be--!"

BOOM, went the door.

There at the doorway stood a pink hedgehog holding her Piko-Piko hammer.

Sonic's face went pale. "Oh no..."

Knuckles eyes widened. "Uh...Sonic not that this has not been fun, but I think I better go home now..." Knuckles said fearfully getting up to his feet and backing up. The pink Hedgehog named Amy looked angry. Tails retreated from the living room and coward behind Sonic.

"SONIC! YOU FORGOT ABOUT OUR DATE!!!" Amy roared. "You're ALL gonna pay!!!" Amy charged right for them, leaping into the air to attack.

Even from outside the house people from within Central City could hear the trios loud screams as they hopelessly attempted to get away.

But somehow even amongst the panic, Knuckles could not help but still feel at home.

END!

RR~

Trinity ^^