How to Tread Water
Chapter 4: Kitchen Conversations
Warnings: Cuss words again.
Notes: Yeah, I know, I'm late. So sue me. I have a life. And yes, I realize it's short. It's mainly filler anyway, though there are a few important details that are conveyed. Let's see if you pick up on them ;D

The rest of the day went by quickly, with Sonic and Knuckles working to clean the house in a comfortable silence of companionship. They moved quickly, Sonic zipping around the room to move little things back into place while Knuckles lumbered, picking up the heavier objects. The living room was spotless ten minutes later, only a few cracked and broken video discs a testament to the shambles it had been in before.

They crossed into the kitchen next, and it took them twenty minutes to clean it completely, because Knuckles had had the inclination to throw everything out of the cupboards before hitting the refrigerator, so various cookware was tossed around the room like confetti. Knuckles didn't know where any of it went, so it was solely up to Sonic to pick everything up and put it in its correct place.

Only problem was, Sonic didn't know where anything went either.

Sonic's kitchen knowledge expanded to include where they can opener was and how to operate the microwave, because the only things he ever cooked were chili dogs. Tails did a bulk of the cooking, because he enjoyed watching the chemical reactions or something… Sonic didn't really have a clue why Tails liked it actually.

So, he played the guessing game with most of the pots and pans. The plates were easy, as was the silverware. The glasses hit their spot seconds later, and most of the food was placed into the table for easy pantry deposit. Knuckles grabbed the cans off the table and walked them into the small food closet, placing them where he supposed they went.

While he was slowly doing that, Sonic dashed up the stairs, cleaning up the towels and other things as he went. Easily, he ran through the whole upper area of the house, checking for anymore wreckage. There was none, thankfully, and he was about to slide down the banister to go start dinner, when a small sound from the direction of Tails' room stopped him.

He padded up to the closed door, placing his ear onto the wood. Soft, classical music filtered through, but, it couldn't mask the sound of muffled sniffling from making it through to his finely tuned ears. Sonic felt his heart clench as he turned away, letting his little bro' mope a bit. He knew he was being hard on him, but sometimes, he had to put his foot down. Tails didn't take him seriously most of the time when it came to groundings, because he was a pretty laid back guy, but every once in a while, the little fox had to be punished.

Besides, he had dunked him into water.

Twice.

Sure, he had agreed to it, but that was beside the point.

With a sigh, he walked back to the staircase, trying to get his mood back up. He moseyed down the steps, hands laced behind his head in a pose of pure relaxation, ideas for supper spinning through his head.

Yup, he thought, chili dogs it is.

"Hey Knuckles," he called as he walked into the room. A loud bang followed by a thick round of cursing came seconds later. Knuckles crawled out of the pantry, rubbing his skull.

"What?" He snapped, voice sharp.

"I'm gonna make some chili dogs."

Knuckles glared, taking a deep breath to keep himself from yelling. "You startled me into hitting my head on a shelf to tell me that?"

"I'd startle you into cutting off your toe to tell you that."

"Smartass."

"Yup."

A short glaring contest developed after that, green sparking against indigo. After about five seconds, both looked away from the testosterone filled haze that had cropped up between them, rolling previously glinting eyes. Sonic turned away, heading to the fridge to grab some hotdogs.

"I don't like chili dogs."

Sonic froze, the refrigerator door swishing closed behind him. "I'm going to forget you said that." He started towards the stove, but Knuckles spoke again.

"I don't like chili dogs."

Sonic didn't freeze this time, but he did pause for half a second. "I can't forget something if you feel the need to remind me."

"There's no need to forget something that I'm just going to keep reminding you of." Knuckles stood, dusting off his knees and walking across the room to stare out the window. "I won't eat any stupid chili covered cow leftovers."

Sonic placed a hand over his heart. "Chili dogs are not 'cow leftovers' as you so adequately put it." He spoke with feeling, briskly walking across the room to grab a can of chili out of the pantry. "They are a work of art and science. You have to balance the chili and the cheese perfectly, and you can't overload it with relish." He paused, voice shooting out of the closet. "Where'd you put the chili, you oversized mouse?"

"Woah now," Knuckles held up his hands as he spun around. Sonic's tone had been one of desperation and of anger, as if a can of chili was the equivalent of a Chaos Emerald. "It's on the middle shelf, to the left, Mr. Needlemouse."

Sonic stalked back out, a can clenched in his right hand. He marched his way up to the echidna, brandishing his chili like it was a sword. "Listen here, Knux, that was a nickname given to me by the good people of Green Hill Zone. I would appreciate it if you didn't tarnish it with your tone, mister." The hedgehog waved his weapon in Knuckles' face before pulling an abrupt about-face and ambling back to the stove to finish cooking.

Silence followed after that, thick and penetrating. The next few minutes passed quickly, with Sonic heating up chili and hotdogs and Knuckles setting himself at the table with the newspaper, catching up on surface news.

"Eggman hasn't attacked lately?" He asked, noticing how some wedding was taking up the bulk of the front page.

"Nah," Sonic answered, sipping at a chili covered spoon. "Won't be long now."

"Mm." Knuckles hummed, flipping the page. "What'd you think it'll be this time? Giant fighting robot?"

"He's already done that."

"Sonic-like android?"

"I've lost track of how many times he's done that."

"Tails-abomination?"

Sonic shuddered. "Never again…"

"Awaken an ancient, sleeping god?"

"Twice."

"What hasn't he done?"

"Um… Throw me into the sun. That one would be new."

Knuckles didn't have a reply to that, though he did crack a smile. "Suppose he did throw you into the sun? What would you do then?"

"Hm." The hedgehog scooped fully cooked dogs from the water they were boiling i, placing them on a plate. "Probably use the ambient Chaos Energies hanging around in the gases and go Super."

Knuckles fell over, filling the room with laughter. It was a loud, foreign sound to Sonic, who just stood there staring at the echidna. Holding his sides, Knuckles gasped out, "you're hilarious when you're talking out of your ass."

"What?" Sonic stared at him with his mouth in a little 'o' shape. "What'd I say?"

Knuckles opened his mouth to answer, but a soft pinging sound at the window caught his attention and stopped the phrase from leaving his throat. He pushed away from the table, sauntering towards the square pane. Easily, he raised a gloved hand, placing it on the glass. "It's raining…"

"Huh…" Sonic grunted, mixing the chili one more time before pulling it off the stove and setting it down on a hot pad on the counter. "You don't think it'll thunder do you?"

"Hm…" Knuckles intently examined the clouds floating past. "Well, I'd say ye-"

He was cut off as a loud boom pounded into the house, rattling the glasses in the cupboards and shaking Sonic to the core.

Upstairs, there was a loud yelp and a bang.

Sonic was gone in seconds, a streak of blue leading up the stairs.

Well, Knuckles thought to himself, turning off the stove, that's one thing I'll give him. He's an excellent big brother.

Well, cheap jokes, crap plot, and characters mishandled… This is an awesome fic! ((brick'd))

Anyway, fun fact: I wrote this while I was watching Looney Tunes, so, that's probably why it's so jokey…

So, review please? I'd appreciate it. Would help me get the inspiration to write faster next time.

Also, please go to mine and Yami-sama42's shared profile (Hikami42) and read the story we're writing jointly! Here's some info on it:

After Sonic has died, Tails puts his shoes on and through them, Sonic's spirit can talk to him. Eggman takes over the world, forcing our heroes into hiding. Years later, a young hedgehog named Nick is pulled in. Turns out, he's more than meets the eye.

Don't worry, it's not an angst or anything. It's actually more of a humor than anything.

Anyway, I'm done with selflessly plugging fictions. I hope you have a great day!

(P.S. The next chapter should have a companion to go with it!)

Review please?