Daycare Center

Part 21

PoV: Eclipse

  Knuckles yawned as he pressed his hand against the Master Emerald.

"Perhaps is you stopped playing video games before 3am you would have to be up so late for this," I handed Knuckles a cup of coffee. It was almost 4 am now.

"I'm fine, I~" he yawned again, "It was worth it. Sonic really whooped my ass tho. I owe him 3 chillidog dates now."

"Just tell the Master Emerald to heal him," I placed my hand besides Knuckles.

"Eh-"

"What is it?" I noticed the glow of the emerald faded quicker than usual.

"The Master Emerald has already healed him..." Knuckles got the emerald to glow again, "It's speaking."

  I waited patiently for him finish communicating with the emerald.

"What did it say?" I place my hand on his shoulder.

"It said, it will take full responsibility for healing Sonic's body as needed for reproduction. In exchange... it wishes meet him after he successfully lays a fertile egg for each of us," he answered.

"That may take some time-"

"I will wait for as many years as it takes."

I felt chills as I heard an unfamiliar voice beyond the glow of the emerald.

"Knuckles..."

"Of course Master Emerald," Knuckles bowed before yawning again, "Can I go back to bed now Eclipse?"

"Yeah. We're done for the night," I looked back at the emerald as we left.

   Just now... it must have been the Emerald. I vowed before taking my leave. We had lots of work to start. With the new school year starting it would be time to expand the living space above the daycare.

"Ah, I'll need to book a hotel room for us in to sleep in," I pulled out my phone, "I wonder of Sonic has any preferences to where we stay."

"Oh well, I'll ask him during breakfast."

PoV: Sonic

"Mm~!" I stretch as I got up out of bed. My body felt great. No aches, no more soreness. No more cramping in my hand, "It feels so nice to be healed~ Ah!" I got picked up one of the many projects I had ready on my table, "I can finally go back to work too. I bet Eclipse is already awake too."

  I went to the bathroom and cleaned myself up. Then I got dressed for work.

"Morning!" I walked into the kitchen. Mephiles was setting the table while Shadow was sipping coffee, "Eh, it's weird not seeing you guys cooking," the who room smelled of chocolate, "But it smells good~"

"Breakfast is almost ready. It's just baking in the oven," Shadow got up from his seat and turned on the oven light, "See."

"Oo, you guys are baking muffins! Thats great!" I couldn't wait to eat every day with those too in charge of cooking, "Have you guys seen Eclipse?"

"We haven't," Shadow answered.

"I think he may still be in his room," Mephiles checked the other door.

"He's usually the first one up," I walked to the door besides the kitchen.

"Wait, Eclipse isn't exactly fond of people going in there," One of Mephiles's tentacles grabbed my wrist, "He likes his privacy."

"I see... I was going to let him know that I felt good enough to work today. I'll tell him when he comes out," I sat down besides Mephiles at the table to wait for breakfast. I pulled his tentacle off my wrist. It was to interesting to touch. Firm, yet still soft. It felt slimy but not once did it ever leave any residue behind.

"Um... what are you doing?" He looked at me.

"Sorry, did that hurt?" I was afraid my fiddling had hurt him.

"N-no. I just... ... I've never met anyone willing to touch them before," his cheeks looked pinker than usual.

"I can stop if it bothers you," I quickly let it go.

"It's fine. You can touch them all you want-"

"Really! Er-" I quickly calmed myself down, "I mean... Thank you. I've never seen any other than on octopi and squids and stuff so I'm just curious is all."

  Idiot. Why the hell did you get all excited in front of him.

"Do you like tentacles or something?" Shadow asked as he took the muffins out of the oven. Along with something else that was baking besides then.

"Eh? I-I just think their cool is all. You can reach stuff off any shelf. Or grab something far away. It's kind cool..." I looked away.

"You really think their cool?" Mephiles' tentacle wrapped around my hand with a gentle tenderness.

"Yeah," I could have sworn he was blushing, "I like them on you. Even though they feel stick and slimy, they don't leave a mess. It doesn't feel like you have bones or anything to restrict their movement like snakes have."

"They don't, it's all sort of like muscle, but fluid I guess?" Mephiles seemed confused by his own explanation.

"Breakfast," Shadow sat besides me after he place a muffin and a slice of quiche on my plate.

"It looks amazing," I couldn't wait to eat, "Thank you."

"I'm always happy to cook for you," Shadow smiled... it was only for a split second but, it was a smile.

  We finished eating by the time Knuckles dragged himself out of bed. Apparently he stayed up longer playing videos games last night to try and beat all the new high scores I set.

  The odd thing was, as everyone when downstairs to start their shifts, Eclipse never came down...

"Sonic, are you coming?" Knuckles called back to Mr.

"Yeah, I just need to check something. Can you take this down for me?" I handed him the project I prepared for today.

"Sure thing. Don't take too long. The kids have been asking for you," Knuckles called back.

"I'll be quick. I promise," I walked back to the kitchen and knocked on Eclipse's door.

"Eclipse? It's time for work," the door creaked open and revealed another stairwell, "We have a third floor? Eclipse? I'm coming up okay?"

  I walked up the stairs to find another door. Another knock, but no answer... I cracked the door, "Eclipse? It's time for work."

His room was mostly empty. His bed was empty as well.

"Eclipse," I found him asleep at his desk, "Oh..." the broken egg... "She's beautiful."

  The light blue shell had been pasted together with gold. There was only one peice missing. The peice on my bracelet. I gently nudged Eclipse again.

"Mm..." he groaned.

"Are you feeling okay? I can make you some porridge," I finally gotten him to wake up.

"Why... why are you in here?" He rubbed his eyes.

"It's 9:45. You have work today..did you forget?" I helped him up and walked him to his bed, "Ah!"

"Mm... I'll start late," he hadn't let go of my hand when he laid down on his bed. I was on top of him. This situation cannot be work appropriate. I flinched as I felt a. Arm around my waist, "You smell nice..."

"Shadow made breakfast. We left a plate ready for you. I need to head to work now," I freed my hand and stood up. Eclipse was sound asleep again. I sighed and covered him in his blanket, "I'll see you at work later then."

   He must have stayed up all night fixing her... I'll thank him when he's not falling asleep on me.

  I left his room and went straight to work.

"I hope he gets some rest at least. Now then," I walked into the daycare and tied my apron around my waist, "We've got some little raskles to tackle."

~~~

01 - 19 - 2023