Discription: After another in a long string of all-nighters, Rouge takes it upon herself to get Tails to finally get some sleep.


It was so hard to tell when it was really morning from within the Resistance Base.

Being confined to the underground for so long, Rouge was only able to discern the times of day into being awake and being asleep. At least she was up now and that was all that really mattered at the moment. Surprisingly, she had always been the early riser of the Resistance team. With looks as stunning as her’s, she needed to be; as difficult to believe as it was, Rouge didn’t simply roll out of bed looking this perfect.

Her morning routine commenced as it normally did; shower, makeup, coffee.

And pestering the runt.

The Resistance inventor was, by nature, a workaholic. Countless hours spent on projects varying in form and function. Some meant to aide in their everlasting crusade against Mobius’s growing threats, others being more personal and experimental. He was apt at dividing his time. Just not at making time for sleep.

The spy mistress was far from surprised when she found him – in the exact place he was hours ago no less – while everyone was sleeping.

“Well, good morning to you, Foxy.”

Rouge’s low voice spurred him from his thoughts. There was a myriad of cords and metal parts littered around his workshop. She recalled him the night before explaining to her some project of his regarding a more efficient power source something or other. Sooner or later he’ll learn that his technobabble wasn’t as interesting to everyone else than he thought…

…and that she liked listening to his ramblings anyway.

“Hm?” Groggily, Tails looked up from his work; tinkering with the wires connected to the machine on his desk. He glanced up to meet the spy, clad in her favorite bathrobe and a hot cup of coffee. On the other hand, he was much worse for wear, holding more bags under his eyes than Rouge in a shopping mall. Small spots of dried oil and soot were littered on his yellow fur, no doubt from rummaging and digging through dirty old scrap all night.

This wasn’t even the worst he’s looked.

Rouge took a sip of her coffee. Her wide awake pleasantry juxtaposed with his…everything. “Someone had a long night.”

Tails’s gaze was unfocused and exhausted, yet still awake enough to shoot her an annoyed leer. “What are you talking about? It’s not morning yet.”

“You’re-you’re kidding right?” Rouge’s eyebrow raised. The subsequent silence and his befuddled stare seemed to answer that question. She didn’t know why she was surprised at this point. Her attention turned towards an electronic alarm clock residing on the furthest part of his work desk, no doubt ignored for the better portion of the night. It took only a glance at the time on the clock for Tails to respond with an embarrassed “oh”.

“You’re a real piece of work aren’t you, Foxy.”

Tails waved her off. “It’s just one night. My work is more important anyway.”

“So important that you need to work your fingers to the bone?”

“I don’t work my fingers to the-“ his attempt at mocking her response was interrupted by a groggy yawn. Another hard fought battle with the grasping hands of sleep began across his face, ending with a narrow victory that kept him from passing out in place. “-bone.”

“I’ll take your word for it.” Rouge took another sip. “So I take it you’re gonna keep yourself awake until this...