Chapter Text
The spider exhibit was quieter than Sonic expected, which somehow made it worse.
Glass cages lined the walls, each one holding something small and still under soft lighting. Labels underneath. Facts beside them. Everything was neat in a way that made it feel more like a lecture than a field trip.
The teacher stood near the front with a group gathered around her, pointing toward a larger enclosure.
“—spiders rely on vibrations rather than sight in many cases,” she said, gesturing toward the enclosure. “Their sensitivity allows them to detect even the slightest movement—”
Sonic could only roll his eyes. Most of the class had already drifted toward the center of the room, leaning in to look at the spider in the glass cage. He listened for about ten seconds before his attention drifted away completely.
His eyes moved across the room instead. The ceiling tiles, the exit sign, the reflection of the cages in the glass, and then at the far side of the room, where a side doorway sat slightly open. Half hidden behind a display panel.
Sonic tilted his head slightly, still staring ahead for a moment. His eyes flicked back toward the teacher, then to the rest of his classmates clustered around the exhibit. A faint smirk crossed his face, like he’d already decided something, without bothering to explain it to anyone.
Sonic waited a moment. The teacher was focused on the glass enclosure. Most of the class had drifted closer to see.
He then stepped back casually, letting the crowd block him from view. Another step. Then another. By the time anyone might’ve noticed, he was already slipping through the side doorway.
The room on the other side felt different immediately.
Sonic noticed a few glass cages, similar to the ones in the room he’d just come from, but these ones were larger, more reinforced, and noticeably better secured.
A slight curve formed at the corner of his lips as he took in the room. He stepped forward slowly, eyes scanning the different spiders in their cages as he looked them over.
He looked up and noticed more cages attached to the ceiling. He figured those were probably more valuable than the ones on the tables. His eyes lingered there for a moment, genuinely intrigued.
“Holy shit,” he muttered under his breath.
He walked further into the room, clearly taken in by what he was seeing. His eyes moved from cage to cage, stopping briefly whenever something caught his attention.
Sonic leaned down slightly to get a closer look at a spider with red markings along its body.
“Cool,” he said quietly, almost absentmindedly.
But almost immediately, something in the corner of his eye pulled his attention away.
He immediately turned his head, trying to figure out where the light was coming from. His eyes scanned the room before landing on a faint glow coming from a table at the far end.
He tilted his head slightly in confusion and started walking toward it.
As he got closer, he leaned down and realized it was a spider, outside its cage.
Sonic leaned in further, studying it more closely. The markings on its body stood out immediately, brighter and more unusual than anything else in the room. It gave off a strange glow, almost unnatural in how vivid the colors were.
“Hey, little bud,” he said quietly to the spider.
It didn’t react the way he expected. Instead of backing away or freezing, it moved closer to him, like it already knew where it was going. Most spiders would’ve frozen, backed away, or tried to disappear.
But this one didn’t.
Sonic raised an eyebrow as he watched it. “Where’s your cage?” he asked, slowly holding out his hand.
In a matter of seconds, the spider crawled onto his fingers.
Then he brought his hand closer to his face, studying it properly this time. The faint glow caught along the edges of its body, reflecting slightly in his eyes as he turned his hand a little to see it from different angles.
Sonic smiled faintly as he looked at the spider, still studying it like he was trying to figure out where it belonged. His gaze drifted away for a moment as he scanned the room, checking the cages along the walls, as if he could just spot its place and fix the situation.
A sting hit his hand.
He flinched on instinct, eyes snapping back down.
The spider had bitten him.
His brows pulled together in a small frown, more annoyed than anything else. He gave a short exhale through his nose, like it wasn’t worth making a big deal out of.
With a quick flick of his fingers, he knocked the spider off, sending it back onto the table.
As Sonic was about to walk away and head back to his classmates, he paused and glanced over his shoulder at the spider one last time.
That was when he noticed it, the glow was gone. The color that had stood out a moment ago had dulled completely, like someone had drained it out of the thing in real time.
Sonic’s eyes widened as a sudden rush of panic settled in, catching him off guard.
His eyes flicked around the room, quick and tense, like he could somehow undo what just happened. If that spider was part of the exhibit, then it wasn’t just some random thing left out, it was probably something important. Something valuable, especially because of how it looked.
He walked back to the table where the spider’s body was still lying.
Sonic ran a hand through his blue hair, trying to think through it properly, but nothing was coming together fast enough.
His eyes moved between the spider and the rest of the room. “I could probably just throw it away, right?” he muttered to himself, the thought coming out more like a guess than a plan.
He paused.
“Shit… that won’t work,” he added under his breath.
There wasn’t really a good option. Not one that didn’t make things worse. His gaze dropped back to the table, then shifted to the pocket of his uniform.
He looked back at the spider again, and this time he caught it, a faint trace of glow, weak but still there.
Still alive. Sonic didn’t hesitate.
He quickly scooped it up and slipped it into the pocket of his uniform, careful enough not to crush it, but fast enough that he didn’t give himself time to think about it.
He straightened up, standing there for a second longer than necessary. Then he exhaled, quiet, a little shaky, and turned away from the table, walking off like nothing had happened.
He slipped back into the classroom, the teacher’s voice still carrying through the air, steady and distant as she continued explaining something about spiders.
Sonic kept his posture loose, trying to look like he’d never left. Just another student standing at the back of the group.
His hand stayed close to his side, the pocket of his uniform feeling heavier than it should’ve.
He listened for a moment, eyes on the front of the room, while his mind kept circling back to what he’d just seen.
If it was part of the exhibit, then someone was bound to know about it.
He just needed to bring it up casually. Subtly. Like it wasn’t important. Like it hadn’t just bitten him and changed color in his hand.
Sonic’s gaze flicked toward the teacher again as he settled into place, already thinking about how to ask without making it obvious
He stayed near the back of the group for a while, pretending to listen.
The teacher was still going on about spider behavior, something about how different species react under stress and how some can change color slightly depending on the environment. Most of it blended together into background noise.
He waited for a pause in her explanation, just long enough for it to feel normal to speak up.
When it came, he stepped forward slightly.
“Uh,” Sonic cleared his throat. “Quick question.” he started, like he hadn’t really planned it out.
A few students glanced back at him. The teacher turned her attention toward him.
“Yes?”
Sonic shifted his weight, stuffing one hand into his pocket without thinking about it.
“So… you guys have like, spiders here that glow?”
There was a brief pause as the teacher took a moment to process what he meant before responding.
The teacher blinked once. “Glow?”
“Yeah,” Sonic continued, keeping his tone casual. “Like… faintly. Kinda weird colors. Not like the ones in the front.”
He didn’t look directly at her when he said it. Instead, his eyes drifted briefly toward the exhibit room, like he was trying to make it sound like a random observation.
The teacher frowned slightly, thinking.
“We don’t have any species on display that naturally glow,” she said. “Bioluminescence doesn’t occur in spiders the way it does in some marine organisms.”
Sonic nodded slowly, like he was processing that, but it didn’t match what he saw. He kept his expression neutral anyway.
“Right, cool.” he said. “Just wondered.”
He stepped back into place, like that was the end of it. But his hand stayed a little closer to his pocket than before.
—🕸️—
After spending the entire day trying to ignore the spider in his pocket, Sonic finally made it home.
Miles was passed out on the couch, curled up awkwardly with something still playing quietly on the TV. Sonic paused for a second at the doorway, the tension in him easing just a little. He smiled, brief but genuine.
Then he remembered.
The feeling came back just as fast, tight, restless, sitting under his skin. He didn’t stick around.
Sonic moved past the living room and headed straight for his room, quicker than usual, like stopping for even a second would make things worse. He shut the door behind him a little too fast, the sound sharper than he meant it to be.
He let out a slow breath, his hand hovering over the pocket of his uniform as he hesitated. For a second, he just stood there, debating whether he actually wanted to see it again.
Then he pushed past it.
He shoved his hand into his pocket and pulled the spider out, holding it carefully by one of its legs. Sonic didn’t look at it right away. He just moved over to his desk and set it down, like getting it out of his pocket was already enough.
Once he let go, Sonic turned his head back toward the desk. The spider didn’t move. It just lay there, completely still.
“…Shit,” he muttered, then again, quieter this time, “shit.”
He leaned in a little, like getting closer would change something. His eyes stayed on it, waiting for any kind of movement that didn’t come.
Sonic reached for a pen beside his notebook and used the tip to nudge it gently.
Nothing.
He nudged it again, a little more insistently this time, like it might suddenly react if he did it right. The faint glow that had given him even a little hope earlier was gone. Now it was just dull. Lifeless.
Dead.
Sonic stepped back from the desk, dragging both hands through his quills in frustration. “Uh… it’s— it’s probably fine,” he muttered, like saying it out loud would make it true.
He looked around his room quickly, like a solution might just be sitting there waiting for him to notice it. After a second, he grabbed a small container from his shelf, the one he used to keep his secret stash of candy in, and brought it over to the desk, using it to hide the spider away.
Sonic placed the container back on the shelf, tucked far enough back where he knew Miles wouldn’t go looking.
He sat down on the edge of his bed, taking a few steady breaths, trying to get his thoughts to slow down. “I’m so dead,” he muttered, dragging his hands over his face.
Everything felt too fast all of a sudden. Too much at once. He leaned back and let himself fall onto the bed, staring up at the ceiling for a moment before shutting his eyes, trying to force himself to sleep.
Sonic finally woke up after sleeping through the entire evening the day before. He sat up slowly, his blanket already kicked off onto the floor.
Something felt off. He noticed it almost immediately. The room wasn’t louder, but it felt louder.
The birds outside sounded sharper than usual, like they were right by his window instead of somewhere in the distance. Footsteps from the hallway outside their apartment carried too clearly, each one distinct instead of blending into background noise. Even the ceiling fan above him, something he never paid attention to, now filled the room with a steady, annoying hum.
Sonic squinted, dragging a hand over his face before rubbing at his eyes.
“…Okay,” he muttered under his breath.
He exhaled, trying to shake it off. Probably just him. Maybe he was still tired. He yawned, blinking slowly as his eyes landed on the clock.
7:14.
Sonic dragged a hand down his face before kicking the pile of clothes off his bed, letting them drop carelessly to the floor. He shifted forward and sat at the edge for a second, elbows resting loosely on his knees.
Then he stood up,
Too fast.
His body moved before he really meant it to, like it skipped a step between thinking and doing. The sudden motion made him pause, his balance adjusting a split second later.
He straightened, rolling his shoulders slightly, trying to shake the feeling off. Everything felt lighter. Like his body wasn’t matching what he expected from it.
Sonic exhaled through his nose, brushing it aside. “Guess I lost some weight,” he muttered. Sonic stretched, arms lifting behind his head as he let out another yawn.
He took a step forward and paused. A dull ache settled in his head, sudden enough to catch his attention.
It wasn’t sharp. Not enough to make him stop completely. A light pressure, like something sitting behind his eyes that didn’t belong.
He brought a hand up to his temples, rubbing them slowly, trying to ease it. It didn’t go away, instead, it lingered, faint and stubborn, like it wasn’t planning on leaving anytime soon.
Sonic groaned lightly as he crouched down, digging through the pile of clothes he’d kicked off his bed earlier.
His eyes landed on a black shirt that looked clean enough. He reached for it, but the moment his fingers brushed the fabric, he paused.
It felt different. Like he could actually feel the texture instead of it just being there. Every thread, every slight roughness, all of it way more noticeable than it should’ve been.
“Huh.”
He turned the shirt slightly in his grip, like that would explain it. Then he shrugged it off, probably nothing. He pulled it on without thinking about it again.
Sonic straightened his posture and walked over to his desk, scratching the back of his neck as his thoughts drifted back to the spider again.
He let out a slow breath through his nose, trying to push it out of his head. Then he reached up toward the shelf.
The container was up there, he knew exactly where he left it, but the shelf was high enough that he couldn’t really see what he was grabbing.
Sonic wasn't aware of what he was touching, so he moved his hand along the shelf, feeling around each corner for the container.
After a moment, something on the shelf shifted slightly out of place, like it had been nudged the wrong way.
A small object near the edge tipped over, wobbling for a split second before it started to fall.
Before he even realized it had fallen, Sonic’s hand shot out on its own and caught it mid air, stopping it just before it hit the floor. He paused.
His fingers tightened slightly around it as he slowly turned his head toward his hand, like his brain was a second behind the action.
“…What the fuck?” he muttered under his breath.
“How did I even…” he asked himself, trailing off as he looked at his own hand like it had done something on its own.
He shook it off a second later, focusing on what he was actually holding.
“…Perfume?” he muttered, turning the small bottle slightly between his fingers. “Didn’t even know I had this.”
He set it down on his desk with a shrug.
Then he turned back to the shelf, more careful this time, moving slower as he searched again for the container, making sure not to knock anything else over.
He finally found the container and pulled it down into view. For a moment, he just held it there, like he wasn’t fully sure he wanted to open it.
The spider was still there. Completely still, nothing that suggested it was anything but lifeless.
Sonic stared at it for a moment, expression tightening slightly as he looked closer anyway, like there was still something he might’ve missed. But there wasn’t. It was the same spider from yesterday, the one that had bitten him.
Now it just looked dull. Ordinary. Like nothing had ever been special about it in the first place. He shut the container again after a moment and held it there in his hand.
“Morning,” he said quietly, like it was still worth greeting. Then he crouched down and slid the container under his bed instead of putting it back on the shelf, pushing it out of sight.
Sonic stretched as he opened his bedroom door, rolling his shoulders like he was trying to shake off the stiffness from sleeping too long.
“Wonder what I’ll do today,” he thought.
Then, he paused mid step.
“…The hell-?”
His brows pulled together slightly.
“Huh?”
The thought didn’t fade like it normally would. It stayed there, too sharp, like he hadn’t just thought it, but actually heard it inside his head. Every word felt spaced out, solid, impossible to ignore.
He blinked once.
Then again.
It was weirdly loud. Not like it sounded loud, but like there was no distance between him and the thought itself. No buffer. No background noise in his mind to soften it.
“Why are my thoughts so loud?!” he thought again, and this time it didn’t even feel like thinking. It felt like the sentence just appeared, fully formed, already finished before he had time to question it.
Sonic frowned harder.
That wasn’t normal.
He tried to move again, but even that felt slightly off, like his body started the motion a fraction before he decided to. A half second mismatch he couldn’t quite catch properly.
“Shit,” he muttered under his breath, dragging a hand down his face as he rubbed his temples.
The pressure behind his eyes was still there from earlier, but now it felt more noticeable. Like something sitting too close inside his head.
He scratched at his eyes, trying to clear the feeling, trying to reset himself.
That’s when he noticed Miles standing in front of him. Miles had stopped too, mid movement, like he’d frozen when he saw Sonic. “Uh—” He started, hesitating. “You… you okay, Sonic?”
Sonic straightened up almost immediately, like he’d been caught doing something he couldn’t explain.
“Yeah, yeah. I’m good,” he said, waving it off with a quick grin. “Never been better, actually.”
Tails didn’t move right away.
He just stood there, looking at him for a second longer than usual, like he was trying to decide if that answer made sense.
“…Right,” he said, not fully buying it, but letting it go anyway. He gave a small shrug and started walking again. “You’re acting kinda weird.”
“Yeah? What’s new?” Sonic shot back lightly.
Tails huffed a quiet laugh and kept going, disappearing down the hallway.
Sonic stayed where he was.
The grin faded as soon as he was alone again.
He let out a breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding, dragging a hand over his face before pressing his fingers briefly against his temples.
“…Okay, what is that?” he muttered, quieter this time.
The feeling hadn’t gone away. If anything, it felt more noticeable when everything else got quiet, like something sitting just behind his eyes. He shifted his weight, trying to ignore it, trying to act like it wasn’t happening.
“I think I need more sleep,” he thought, a little too quickly, like he was trying to convince himself more than anything. He exhaled again, pushing off the moment before he could overthink it.
Sonic made his way down the hallway, the lingering pressure in his head still faintly there, but easier to ignore now that he was moving.
The smell of something sweet hit him before he even reached the kitchen. He leaned against the doorway, watching for a second before speaking.
“Cereal?” he asked.
Tails glanced up at him immediately, a grin already spreading across his face as he nodded. “Yeah.”
Sonic huffed a quiet laugh and walked over, reaching out to ruffle his hair lightly as he passed. “You want me to cook or something, or are you committing to that?”
“Nope,” Tails said, completely unfazed, already focused on his bowl again. “Cereal’s good.”
“Alright, dude. Your loss.”
Sonic grabbed a glass from the counter, filling it with water more out of habit than anything, his attention drifting for a moment as he watched Tails move around the kitchen.
He leaned back against the counter, arms loosely crossed, just watching him with a small, quieter smile.
There was a time where he didn’t have this. Where everything felt temporary. Moving from place to place, never really settling anywhere long enough for it to matter. Then he got adopted, but not in the way most people would expect.
The two adults who took him in didn’t try to act like parents. They didn’t hover or control every part of his life. They just helped. Gave him a place to stay. Made sure he had what he needed. Later, they adopted Tails too. And somehow, that was enough.
They let the two of them stay in the apartment, letting Sonic handle things on his own. The money from foster care was passed to him so he could take care of both of them.
Sonic glanced back at Tails, still focused on his cereal, completely at ease. “…Yeah,” he muttered quietly to himself, almost like he was grounding himself in the moment.
Sonic tilted the glass back and finished the water in one go, setting it down a little harder than he meant to.
He paused for a second longer than usual. Then his foot hit the floor and he was already moving, like his body skipped ahead before his brain caught up.
His body pushed forward before he really processed it, his foot hitting the floor with more force than necessary as he headed down the hallway. The second step came quicker, as if he wasn’t fully in control of the pace he’d set.
And then he was moving, way faster than he planned to. Weird part was, it didn’t feel hard at all. If anything, it felt easier than usual.
Like his body wasn’t weighing him down the way it usually did. Like there was less resistance in every step, less effort in every motion. The hallway blurred slightly at the edges as he sped up without meaning to, momentum building faster than he expected.
The couch came into view, but he didn’t really think about it.
His foot hit the floor once more and then he was over it, clearing the back of the couch without breaking pace. He landed lightly on the other side, barely feeling the impact, his next step already carrying him forward.
The coffee table got in the way next, or should’ve, but he used it without slowing down, stepping off it like it had always been part of the route.
By the time he reached the bathroom, the movement finally caught up to him.
He stopped.
“…huh.”
The word came out quieter this time, more confused than anything.
Sonic stood there for a second, his breathing steady, too steady for how fast he’d just moved. He turned his head slightly, like looking back down the hallway would explain it.
“..Okay, cool.”
He frowned, rolling his shoulders once, like he could shake the feeling out of his body. There was still this restless energy sitting under his skin, like he hadn’t actually used it up.
Sonic exhaled and stepped into the bathroom anyway, brushing it off before it could turn into something bigger. He looked up at the mirror. Same as always, no visible change.
He dragged a hand through his hair, staring at his reflection for a second longer than usual before reaching for his toothbrush, still half expecting something to be off if he looked long enough.
Sonic grabbed his toothbrush and squeezed some toothpaste onto it before starting to brush, his eyes drifting back up to the mirror without really focusing on anything.
For a few seconds, everything felt normal. Then something shifted. It wasn’t a sound. Not exactly.
More like a sudden, tight pull in his body, his shoulders tensing, his grip tightening around the toothbrush without him meaning to. His focus snapped somewhere else entirely, like his attention had been yanked out of his own head.
Sonic froze mid motion. “…what-?” It didn’t hurt. It just felt wrong. Out of place. Like something was about to happen and his body had already noticed before he did.
The feeling vanished almost as quickly as it came. He frowned at his reflection, confused, but not enough to stop. He forced himself to keep brushing, trying to ignore it.
A second later, something shattered outside.
The sound hit sharp and loud, and Sonic flinched hard this time, immediately turning toward the door. He opened it without thinking.
Miles had stopped in the hallway, glass scattered across the floor at his feet. He looked up at Sonic and gave a small, awkward smile. “Sorry,” he said with a quiet chuckle.
Sonic raised an eyebrow at Miles but didn’t say anything else, just going back to brushing his teeth like it wasn’t a big deal.
After a while, he finally finished and stepped out slightly, leaning against the doorframe to look into the hallway. Miles was already crouched down, carefully picking up the shattered pieces of glass.
Sonic pulled the toothbrush out of his mouth. “Don’t worry about it, I’ll clean that up for you later.”
Miles glanced up at him and smiled. “No, it’s okay. I’ve got it. It’s my mess.”
Sonic shrugged lightly. “Suit yourself.”
He stepped back into the bathroom, turning toward the sink again. His eyes flicked to the mirror for a second before he reached down and set the toothbrush back into its holder, expecting it to just slip out of his fingers like it always did.
It didn’t.
Sonic paused without meaning to, his hand still resting there as if something about the motion hadn’t completed properly. For a moment, he just stared at it, waiting for the release that should’ve already happened.
“…Huh?”
He adjusted his grip slightly, loosening his fingers, assuming maybe he just hadn’t let go right.
But even as his hand shifted, the toothbrush didn’t fall or slide or even budge. It stayed in place against his hand, like there was a light resistance he hadn’t noticed before, like it was sticking on to his palm.
Sonic frowned a little, tilting his wrist and trying again, a bit more deliberately this time, like he was correcting a mistake rather than testing anything.
Still nothing.
“Okay, what?” He muttered to himself. The toothbrush remained exactly where it was until he finally broke contact more firmly, pulling his hand away like he was peeling it off something.
Sonic stared at it for a second longer than necessary, then gave a small, confused breath through his nose, as if deciding it wasn’t worth thinking about yet.
He stepped out of the bathroom and into his room, the lingering weirdness still sitting in the back of his mind, even if he was trying not to focus on it.
Sonic grabbed his backpack from under his desk, slinging it over one shoulder. As he turned to leave, his eyes flicked down briefly toward the edge of his bed, toward where the container was hidden underneath.
He paused for half a second, then looked away like it didn’t matter.
Sonic stepped back into the hallway, adjusting the strap of his bag as he walked toward the door.
“You heading out already?” Miles called from the kitchen.
“Yeah,” Sonic replied, slipping on his shoes near the door. “Gotta make it look like I actually care about being on time.”
Miles leaned against the doorway, arms loosely crossed. “You don’t.”
“Hey, I pretend to,” Sonic shot back, glancing up at him with a small grin.
Miles huffed a quiet laugh. “You were acting weird earlier.” Sonic paused for just a second as he reached for the door handle.
“Was not,” he said, a little too quick, before shrugging it off. “You’re just not used to me being this cool in the morning.”
“Uh huh,” Miles said, clearly not convinced.
Sonic rolled his eyes lightly, pulling the door open. “Lock the door if you go out, alright?”
“I know,” Miles replied.
Sonic gave him one last look, something a little softer slipping into his expression for a second.
“See you after school.”
“Yeah. Later.”
Sonic nodded once before stepping out, letting the door shut behind him.
—🕸️—
Sonic walked into school, trying to ignore the strange feeling that had been sitting in the back of his mind ever since he woke up. It wasn’t sharp enough to be pain, but it never really left either, like his body was slightly out of sync with everything around him.
He dragged a hand through his hair as he replayed the morning in his head without meaning to, the toothbrush, the glass, the sudden movement in his body that didn’t feel like a decision.
Before he could think about it too long, a group of students came walking straight toward him down the hallway.
He barely had time to react. The group of students crossed his path all at once, filling the hallway in front of him. And then, without him really deciding anything, Sonic moved.
A step to the left before one student could bump into him, a slight lean back as another passed closer than expected, and a small adjustment forward that put him just out of the way of someone else’s shoulder.
It all happened in pieces, too quick to feel intentional, like his body had already mapped out the space before he’d finished noticing it. By the time they were gone, Sonic was still standing there. Completely still, like he was catching up to himself.
“…what just happened?” he muttered, quieter than before. A small knot started forming in his chest, he didn’t remember choosing any of it.
Sonic shook it off quickly and kept walking, a little faster this time, like speed could override whatever that feeling was.
The hallway opened up ahead of him, and Sonic already felt his mood drop before he even saw why. “Seriously?” he muttered under his breath, Scourge was there.
Of course he was.
Already looking in Sonic’s direction the second he came into view, like he’d been waiting for him specifically.
Before Sonic could even step aside, Scourge moved in, shoving him back against the wall with a rough push, one hand braced near his shoulder.
“Look who finally showed up,” Scourge said, leaning in slightly. “You’re acting weird this morning. Trying something new or just naturally annoying now?”
Sonic exhaled through his nose, already bored. “You done?”
Scourge’s grip tightened slightly, more for show than force. “Not really feeling the attitude today.”
A couple students nearby slowed down, watching but not stepping in. Scourge tilted his head, studying him for a second like he was expecting a reaction. “You usually talk back more. What’s wrong? Nervous or something?”
Sonic rolled his eyes. “You’re really committing to this whole ‘intimidating’ thing, huh?” That got a faint twitch of annoyance from Scourge. He shifted his hand and grabbed Sonic’s chin, forcing his head up slightly so they were eye level.
“Scared?” he asked.
For a moment, Sonic didn’t respond. Not because he was intimidated, but because something else was happening in the back of his mind again. That same strange pressure. That same split second awareness that didn’t feel like his own.
Sonic blinked once, expression flat again. “Get off,” he said simply. Before he could even think about it, his body moved.
His foot connected with Scourge hard enough to send him stumbling back, crashing into a row of lockers with a metallic bang. The hallway went quiet for half a second.
Sonic froze. He wasn’t sure he had actually meant to do it that strongly. Scourge slid down to the floor, dragging a hand through his hair as he recovered. For a moment, he just sat there, staring at his hands like he was checking if he still had control over them.
Then his eyes lifted, locked onto Sonic.
Sonic let out an awkward, short laugh without really thinking, already shifting his weight to leave. “I—okay, that was—”
Sonic took a step back, already trying to disengage from the situation before it could get worse.
But the moment he did, something in his chest tightened again, that same strange pressure he’d been ignoring all day. His focus flickered for a split second, like his body had decided to react before he fully processed what he was feeling.
He shifted to leave, and then stopped.His palm was still pressed against the wall. At first, he didn’t even question it. He assumed he just hadn’t moved properly, or maybe he was still mid motion from stepping back.
He tried to pull his hand away casually, nothing changed. His fingers tensed slightly as he gave a more deliberate pull, expecting it to release the way it normally would.
But it didn’t. It wouldn’t come off, like his hand had briefly “settled” into the surface without him noticing.
Scourge rubbed his temples slowly, like he was trying to process whether the last few seconds actually happened or if he just took a hit harder than expected. His eyes flicked from Sonic to the wall and back again, lingering a little too long this time.
Sonic was still there, still trying. His hand was pressed flat against the wall, fingers tensing and relaxing like he was testing for some kind of release that wasn’t coming. Each attempt looked slightly more controlled than the last, but nothing changed. The surface didn’t let go.
Around them, the hallway had started to shift. Students who had been walking past were now slowing down, some stopping completely. Low murmurs spread in uneven clusters, confused voices trying to piece together what they had just seen.
Sonic caught fragments of it, but it barely registered. His attention snapped back fully when he saw Scourge start to move.
That alone was enough to spike something in Sonic’s chest. A sudden, sharp kind of panic settled in before he even understood why. His grip tightened against the wall instinctively, like letting go wasn’t an option anymore, even though that’s exactly what he needed to do.
“Stop sticking,” he muttered under his breath, more like a command to himself than anything else. He tried again immediately after, pulling harder this time, shifting his shoulder and weight like that would help force it free.
His breathing started to change, less steady. Controlled effort slipping into something more urgent. Sonic finally turned his head, Scourge was closer now.
He walked forward with a slow, deliberate pace that felt heavier than it should’ve. His expression had shifted completely. Whatever annoyance or confusion he had before was gone, replaced with something sharper, almost amused.
“Didn’t know you could do that, Sonic,” Scourge said, a grin forming at the edge of his mouth. That was enough to break whatever control Sonic was holding onto.
His stomach dropped.
Speed was supposed to fix this. Speed was supposed to get him out of anything. That was always how it worked, move first, think later, be gone before it mattered.
But he wasn’t moving, he was stuck. And Scourge was getting closer.
Shit.
Panic hit before Sonic could fully think through what was happening.
His fingers curled tighter against the wall, jaw clenching as he pulled again, harder this time, like force alone could fix whatever was wrong. For a second, there was resistance, like his hand was reluctant to leave.
Then it gave, his palm tore free all at once. Bits of paint and plaster came off with it, clinging to his skin in uneven flakes.
Sonic stumbled back half a step, staring at his hand as if it didn’t belong to him. The wall behind him looked normal, like nothing had just happened, but his fingers still held pieces of it, stuck to his skin in small, rough fragments.
He slowly lifted his gaze, Scourge was still there. Watching him now with one brow raised, like he was reassessing the situation instead of reacting to it.
Then Sonic let out a short, awkward laugh, too forced, like he was trying to reset the entire moment. “Yeah, okay,” He started. “Not doing this,” Sonic let out a nervous breath.
And then he ran.
The second he turned, everything snapped into motion behind him. Scourge’s expression shifted immediately, the confusion dropping into something sharper, more annoyed. “Hey—!” he called out, already pushing off the ground to follow.
Sonic didn’t look back. The hallway turned into motion and noise as he moved through it, weaving between students without really thinking about it. His body reacted before his mind caught up, dodging a shoulder here, slipping past a backpack there, adjusting his path in small, precise movements he didn’t consciously plan.
“What am I doing.. what am I doing—“ He constantly repeated in his head. The slight pain in his head from earlier in the hallway hit him again, “Stop running, stop running, stop running—” But Sonic didn’t stop, instead, he rubbed his temples with his fingers with no intention of stopping his run. “Why are my thoughts getting louder?!” He muttered.
It felt wrong, like he was moving slightly ahead of everything else. Someone stepped into his path at the last second, and Sonic barely registered it before he collided with them, stumbling half a step.
“Sorry!” he blurted out automatically, already pushing forward again before the student could even respond. He didn’t wait for a reaction, he just kept running.
Once he was outside the school building, Sonic slowed just enough to glance back. For a split second, he caught sight of Scourge still inside, closing distance, still following. Sonic sucked in a breath and pushed off again.
“Shit,” he muttered under his breath, picking up speed. He didn’t get far before it hit him again.
That same feeling from earlier, in the bathroom and in the hallway. It wasn’t just in his head anymore. His body reacted before he could even question it. A tight pull in his shoulders, the fine hairs at the back of his neck lifting slightly, like something had shifted in the air behind him.
This time, he didn’t ignore it, he slowed abruptly, and then he stopped. For a second, everything around him felt too sharp..
Sonic turned his head, and that’s when he saw it. A phone falling. Mid air, spinning slightly as it dropped from the third floor window above. A student leaned out from the window just a little too far, reaching too late, clearly realizing what had just slipped from their grip.
Sonic didn’t think, he moved. His body was already gone before the thought even finished forming properly.
He ran straight under it, timing it in a way that didn’t feel like timing at all, like he already knew exactly where it would land. His hand shot up, and the phone hit his palm cleanly, stopping dead in the air like it had been caught mid fall.
He froze for half a second, then kept moving on instinct, stepping to the side and pressing his back against the school wall, finally taking in a breath like his lungs were catching up to him.
The phone was still in his hand, warm from the fall. Sonic stared at it for a moment, then slowly lifted his gaze upward toward the window where it had come from.
“…okay,” he muttered quietly, more to himself than anything. Sonic didn’t even notice how steady his breathing already felt again, or how fast everything had just happened. “I’m fine.. it’s fine, right?” he mumbled under his breath.
He closed his eyes for a second, just trying to steady his breathing. The noise around him faded slightly, footsteps, distant voices, the lingering rush of everything that had just happened.
Then a wave of clapping broke through it, not loud or overwhelming, but enough to pull him straight back into reality.
Sonic blinked open his eyes.
Students had gathered at a distance, some watching, some still reacting to what they’d seen. He shifted slightly, suddenly aware of how many people were looking at him.
Before he could really process it, someone ran up to him, a student. They didn’t hesitate before wrapping their arms around him.
Sonic froze for half a second, caught off guard, but didn’t pull away. Instead, after a brief pause, he returned the hug, slightly awkward at first, then more steady as it settled into something surprisingly grounding.
He hadn’t realized how tense he’d been until that moment.
When they finally pulled back, Sonic blinked once, like he was catching up again. He held out the phone in his hand. “This must be yours?” he asked.
The student immediately nodded, relief breaking across their face as they took it back carefully.
“Yeah, thank you so much,” she said quickly, gripping it like she couldn’t believe it hadn’t shattered. “It’s new… my mom would’ve actually killed me if I lost this.”
Sonic gave a small, easy smile at that, scratching the back of his neck slightly. “Yeah, uh… try not to drop it next time.”
She laughed, still clearly relieved, before stepping back toward the others.
Sonic stayed where he was for a moment longer. The attention didn’t feel like pressure this time. It felt different. Like for the first time since the morning started, something in him actually settled.
Sonic waited until the crowd around the entrance thinned out, watching the last few students drift away in groups, laughter fading into the distance.
The attention from earlier still lingered in his mind. The clapping. The phone. The way people had looked at him like he’d done something worth remembering. It didn’t sit right.
He exhaled slowly, adjusting the strap of his backpack as he made a decision he probably shouldn’t have made. No more school today.
He turned away from the entrance and started walking, then broke into a run as soon as he was out of sight. Not the kind of run he usually did for fun, this one felt tighter, like he needed distance more than speed.
The buildings blurred slightly as he cut through the side paths, eventually reaching the apartment complex he shared with his little brother, Miles. He slowed only long enough to glance up at it, scanning windows and balconies out of habit, making sure no one was watching.
Then he slipped around the side of the building. The back area was quieter. Narrow space between concrete walls and the rear of the complex, shaded enough that most people wouldn’t look twice, but open enough that he could still see clearly.
Sonic stopped there, finally letting himself breathe, just for a second. He let his forehead rest against the wall, shoulders rising and falling as he tried to slow his breathing back down.
For a moment, everything felt distant again, the noise of earlier, the crowd, Scourge, even the weird reactions his body kept throwing at him like they didn’t belong to him. Sonic shut his eyes.
This wasn’t a coincidence. He wasn’t stupid enough to keep pretending it was. Something had changed since this morning. Something small at first, easy to ignore. Then it kept stacking, dodging in the hallway, the phone, the glass, and the way his body moved before he even decided to move.
He exhaled slowly through his nose, pushing himself off the wall just enough to look down at his hands. His palms turned slightly as he studied them like they might give him an answer if he looked long enough.
“Okay…” he muttered, quieter now, more uncertain than confident. “Probably just… glue or something, right?”
He flexed his fingers once, trying to make it make sense. Trying to find anything normal about it. Like there was some simple explanation he was just missing. But even as he said it, it didn’t feel right, not even a little.
Sonic let his fingers brush against his other palm first, just to be sure. But nope, no resistance, no strange pull. Just skin against skin, normal and unremarkable in every way it was supposed to be.
So why earlier? Why the wall?
His jaw tightened slightly as he looked down at his hands again, turning them over slowly like the answer might be hidden somewhere in the angles. It didn’t make sense in a way that was starting to get under his skin more than he wanted to admit.
If it was something on his hands, he’d feel it. If it was pressure, he’d understand it. But there was nothing. Nothing that explained why he’d been stuck there like that just minutes ago.
Sonic straightened a little, dragging a hand through his hair as he tried to steady himself. Calm down. Think. There had to be a reason. There was always a reason.
He stood there for a few seconds longer, eyes flicking between his palms and the nearby wall. The silence around him felt heavier now that he was actually paying attention to it.
A small breath left his nose. “…okay,” he muttered under his breath, like saying it would make it true.
Then he swallowed, the uncertainty sitting in his throat a little too clearly, and took a step closer to the wall. Slow this time, careful, almost hesitant. He lifted his hand toward it again.
His heart started picking up the moment his hand hovered closer to the wall, like something in him already knew what was going to happen before it did.
Sonic hesitated for half a second longer than he meant to, Then his palm made contact with the brick wall. Nothing dramatic happened at first, no visible change, but the simple press of skin against the rough surface.
But his hand didn’t come away, Sonic blinked. He pulled back lightly, expecting it to release the same way it always should, it didn’t move.
His brows slowly drew together as he tried again, a little firmer this time. The wall held onto him in a way that didn’t match anything he understood. There was no glue, nothing on his skin that explained why his palm felt like it had been quietly locked in place.
“…okay, no,” he muttered under his breath. He tugged harder, still nothing. That was when the calm started to crack.
Sonic shifted his weight and tried to pull his hand free properly, but it only made the sensation worse, like the contact was settling in deeper the more he resisted it. His breathing sharpened slightly as he forced himself to stay steady.
“Alright, that’s- that’s not funny,” he said, quieter now.
He reached over with his other hand, grabbing at his wrist to help pull it away. For a second, it felt like it might actually work, then his second hand hit the wall too.
Sonic froze. Both hands pressed flat against the brick now, stuck in place like the surface had decided they belonged there.
“Shit,” he whispered.
He pulled again, sharper this time, shoulders tensing as he tried to wrench one arm free, then the other. The effort only made his grip more unstable. It was like the wall was responding to him in a way it shouldn’t have been able to.
His breathing started to change, faster now. Sonic tried to step back, instinctively shifting his leg for leverage, pushing against the ground, and his foot connected with the wall too. Sonic stopped completely.
For a second, he just stood there, half-leaning into the building, both hands and one leg stuck fast, staring at the situation like it had to be some kind of mistake that would fix itself if he waited long enough.
“…great,” he muttered, voice tight. “Just what I needed.”
Sonic let out a slow breath, eyes closing for a moment like he was trying to reset whatever was happening.
“Okay… okay, just—figure it out,” he muttered to himself.
He shifted his weight, trying to use his legs to push off the wall for leverage. For a split second it felt like it might work, like he could force himself free with enough pressure. Then his other foot made contact, and stuck. Sonic went still.
His body tensed instantly, irritation flashing across his face as he tried again, harder this time, forcing his shoulders and arms to pull while his legs pushed. The brick didn’t give. It didn’t even feel like it was resisting anymore, it just held.
Like it had decided.
His breathing started to sharpen.
“Okay, seriously. what the hell?” he said under his breath, more annoyed now than anything else, but the edge in his voice was starting to slip.
He pulled again, harder this time, shoulders tightening as he tried to force some kind of release from the wall. His arms strained with the effort, but the sensation he expected, the slip, the break, or even the small moment of freedom, never came.
Instead, it was like his body and the surface had stopped negotiating entirely.
There was no gradual loosening, but resistance that stayed exactly the same no matter how much force he added, like the situation had already settled into something permanent.
He adjusted his footing instinctively, trying to use his legs to push himself back from the wall, expecting leverage to solve it the way it always did in situations like this.
But the moment his weight shifted, something about the contact changed. Just a subtle, uncomfortable certainty that his body wasn’t following the normal rules of movement anymore.
For a brief second, he tried to correct it, to reposition, to pull away properly, to reset himself like he’d done a hundred times before in situations where he’d lost balance. And that was when everything stopped feeling like a choice.
His orientation shifted without warning, not in a sudden “flip,” but in a way that made his perception struggle to keep up, like gravity had quietly redefined what direction counted as “down” for him.
It took him a moment to fully register what his body had done, because nothing about it felt intentional. There hadn’t been a decision to move, no clear moment where he had chosen anything.
Not a conscious movement. More like the direction of gravity had briefly stopped mattering the way it was supposed to.
Sonic’s stomach dropped as his position changed in a way that didn’t make sense. One second he was straining against the wall, the next, his awareness flipped with it. He realized, belatedly, that he wasn’t standing anymore.
He was upside down?
His eyes widened slightly as the world reoriented in his mind, the ground now above him in a way that refused to feel natural. His heartbeat kicked up again, sharper this time, not just irritation anymore.
“Nope!” he muttered, quieter, staring at the space below him. Sonic kept moving, not even caring about where he was going. He just focused on trying to let go of the brick wall.
“Stop.. sticking!” He muttered to himself. When Sonic looked down, well, what counted as “down” now, he realized something strange. The pressure on his hands didn’t feel like it was forcing him to stay anymore. It felt optional. Like he could let go if he actually tried.
His fingers twitched slightly. Then, carefully, he released his grip. For a split second, nothing happened, and then he noticed it.
He wasn’t falling.
He was still there, attached to the wall, but his body had adjusted in a way that made it feel less like clinging and more like standing. Except “standing” didn’t make sense, because there was no ground under him. Just brick, vertical space, and open air stretching out beneath him in a way his brain immediately hated.
His stomach dropped as he looked out.
The street was far below. Cars moved like small, distant shapes, completely normal, completely unaware of what was happening above them.
His breathing hitched.
“Shit! Keep sticking!” he muttered quickly, more like he was trying to argue with his own body than control it.
He shifted again instinctively, and this time it responded too easily, like the motion was already built into him. Another step carried him along the wall without him fully deciding to do it. Sonic expects stillness when he releases his grip.
Instead, there’s a brief, confusing beat where nothing goes wrong at all. contact continuing in a way his brain doesn’t immediately understand.
Then his weight shifts. It takes him a second to realize he isn’t hanging anymore the way he was before. His body has adjusted itself against the wall like it’s become a valid surface to move on, not something he’s clinging to for survival.
And the strangest part is how unforced it feels.
He isn’t pulling himself upward. He isn’t climbing in any normal sense. His movements are still his own, but they’re no longer obeying the idea that “up” should be difficult.
That’s when the realization actually lands, not as a thought, but as a physical awareness catching up to what’s already happening,
he is moving along the wall like it is a floor.
Sonic froze for half a second, staring at the impossible angle beneath him, before forcing himself to keep going anyway, because stopping felt worse than continuing.
“Holy—” he started, then cut himself off, swallowing hard as his gaze flicked between the wall and the drop again.
He kept his focus tight, refusing to look down for too long, but even without looking, he could feel how far up he was getting. Every step felt wrong in a way he couldn’t explain, but still worked.
“…I’m walking on a wall,” he said under his breath, quieter now, like saying it too loudly would make it stop working.
And despite everything telling him to panic harder, he kept moving upward toward the roof, one careful step at a time.
And this… This is where he dies.
Just kidding. Got you there, didn’t I?
My name is Sonic The Hedgehog. I was bitten by a radioactive spider, and for like two years, I've been the one and only spiderman.
Yeah, I know. Doesn’t really roll off the tongue the same way, does it?
I didn’t exactly plan for any of this. One day I’m just trying to get through school without getting into trouble, next thing I know I’m sticking to walls, dodging things I can’t even see yet, and apparently saving people’s phones like it’s part of my daily routine.
Took a while to figure it out.
A lot of trial and error. Mostly error.
Fell off a building once. Don’t recommend that.
Learned how to land, though. That helped.
And the whole “knowing something’s about to happen before it does” thing? Still weird. You’d think I’d get used to it by now, but nope. It just kind of… happens, and I go with it.
Most days, it works.
Some days, it really doesn’t.
But hey, two years later, I’m still here. Still figuring it out. Still faster than everyone else, which, honestly, makes this whole thing a lot easier.
And yeah.
I’ve gotten pretty good at it.
Sonic didn’t even slow down as he ran along the side of the building, one hand briefly touching the wall just to steady himself before pushing off again. The city stretched out beneath him, loud and constant, but none of it pulled his focus the way it used to.
He took one last look at the city before pushing himself off the ledge.
The wind rushed past him as he moved, swinging between buildings with ease, each motion practiced and effortless now. What used to feel impossible two years ago had become second nature, timing, distance, movement. He didn’t even have to think about it anymore.
Still, he kept his head low. Even after all this time, getting recognized wasn’t something he enjoyed. It only made things more complicated. So instead of dropping down to street level, Sonic angled himself toward the apartment complex, already knowing the fastest way in without being seen.
He slipped through his bedroom window like he’d done a hundred times before, landing lightly on the floor. For a moment, he just stood there, letting the silence settle. It had been a rough two years.
Not in a weird, “everything falls apart kind of way”, but in the constant, exhausting kind. The kind where nothing ever really slowed down, where every day came with something new to deal with, something new to figure out. But he always figured it out. He had to.
And he didn’t do it alone. Telling Miles had probably been the smartest decision he’d ever made.
At the time, it felt like a risk. Like he was dragging his little brother into something way bigger than either of them understood. But Miles wasn’t just “his little brother.” He was smart. Way smarter than Sonic ever gave him credit for.
Miles didn’t panic. Didn’t freak out. If anything, he got curious. He then got to work, the suit was his idea.
Not something overly complicated or flashy, but something that actually worked. A deep blue base layered with black accents that followed Sonic’s natural lines of movement, lightweight enough not to slow him down.
Thin red detailing traced along the arms and chest, not for show, but to help with visibility when it mattered. The mask fit snug, designed to stay in place no matter how fast he moved, with lenses that adjusted just enough to keep his vision clear without exposing his identity.
And the tech? That was all Miles.
Sonic glanced over at his desk, where bits and pieces of small devices were scattered neatly, things Miles had built, improved, tested. Web shooters adjusted to Sonic’s speed, compact trackers, little upgrades Sonic barely understood but used anyway.
It was kind of insane, Sonic couldn’t even build half of it if he tried. He rubbed the back of his neck, letting out a small breath.
“…yeah,” he muttered to himself, a faint grin slipping through. Miles really carried him sometimes.
But if he was being honest, Sonic didn’t even tell Miles.
Miles figured it out on his own.
It started with Sonic acting off, coming home at weird times, brushing things off too quickly, disappearing without much explanation. Miles didn’t say anything at first. He just paid attention.
Then one day, he went looking. Sonic came back to his room feeling like something had been moved, enough for him to notice. And when he checked under his bed, the container was gone.
That’s when he knew, Miles had already seen it. Seen the spider. Connected everything. So when Miles finally brought it up, Sonic didn’t bother denying it. There wasn’t really a point.
And somehow, that turned out to be the best thing that could’ve happened. Because Sonic realized he could actually do something with all of this. With what he could do, with his hands, his speed, and with Miles there to figure out everything he couldn’t.
Sonic never planned on becoming anything, he just started helping. One thing led to another, and people began to notice. Word spread, stories got passed around, and eventually, people started calling him something.
“Spider-Man.”
Sonic didn’t come up with it, but it stuck. So he just went with it.
He had only been fifteen when the spider bit him, which made everything harder than it should’ve been.
Sonic was still figuring himself out back then, late to everything, even puberty, so suddenly dealing with all of that on top of it didn’t exactly help. Nothing about it felt natural at first. It was messy, confusing, and way too much for someone his age to handle on his own.
But he managed, mostly because he didn’t have to do it alone.
To protect his identity, Miles made him a mask, something simple at first, but it didn’t stay that way for long. Knowing Miles, it couldn’t. He upgraded it over time, adding small pieces of tech that made a huge difference. The lenses adjusted to light, the fit stayed secure no matter how fast Sonic moved, and the voice changer made sure no one could recognize him even if they tried.
It was actually kind of impressive. Sonic still didn’t understand half of how it worked. But lately, things have gotten easier.
Summer break helped. No classes, no teachers, no having to pretend everything was normal while his life clearly wasn’t. He had more time to figure things out, more time to get used to everything without constantly looking over his shoulder.
Unfortunately, that wasn’t going to last. School started again tomorrow, and Sonic wasn’t exactly looking forward to that.