Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“So Doc, what’s the mission this time?” Surge stood in the dark, vacuous office of her master and she stretched her arms up with her hands folded behind her head. Starline’s chair looked like a throne in the dim lighting buzzing off his monitors. “You want me and Kit to Infiltrate another Egg base? Test out the Dynamo Cage?” As she said it she felt something tickle the back of her brain. Something was off. Was Starline’s office always this… cavernous?

“Kit?” The doctor puzzled. Surge glanced over her shoulder toward the little fox but for once he wasn’t waiting in her shadow. He wasn’t in the room at all. “No this mission is just for you.” Shit, she’d stopped paying attention to the doctor. Wait, who was she looking for again? Nevermind. She turned back towards her master.

“You are going to infiltrate the Restoration head quarters.” The words sent a surprising shiver down her spine. Something deep inside her recoiled at the way Starline said Restoration. As if it was a word she’d prefer he kept out of his mouth.

“You’re going to track down the Diamond Cutters.” He spat. No. She couldn’t do that. “And kill them all.” No!

Surge jolted up in bed from a knock on the door. Her eyes darted around the room taking in her surroundings lightning fast. The calendar on the wall with a months worth of days meticulously crossed out. The dart board she’d been allowed to put up. Kit’s cluttered desk and the boy’s bed wedged in the corner, covered in a nest of blankets.

She was- well, not home, but she wasn’t at Starline’s base at least. It was restoration HQ. Right. She was safe. Kit was safe.

*rap, rap, rap* again at the door.

She uncurled her fingers from where they clutched the front of her tank top and she slunk over to the door. She opened it just a sliver, and peaked out at the chipper lemur who’d come to fetch her.

“Lanolin says you need to get up.”

“It’s Saturday,” Surge said as if it was self-explanatory. They woke her and Kit up at 8 every workday, but Saturdays we’re supposed to be hers.

“It’s 1pm. You’ll trash your sleep schedule.” Weird. It was the first Saturday that they hadn’t just let Surge sleep through the day.

“Why do you care now.” She asked.

“We wanted to give you time to adjust.” Tangle shrugged. “But you also need to be a part of the team. Saturday is team time.”

Surge wordlessly pushed the door shut but a large furry tail pushed back harder. Surge stumbled back as Tangle sprang into the room.
“Come on, you get more Saturday if you’re awake for it.”

Surge looked over the lemur’s shoulder for the wolf but was surprised to find that Tangle had come alone.

“Where’s your bodyguard?”

“Eating lunch probably.”

“Your little girlfriend finally trusts me enough to leave you alone with me?”

“Well, it has been like, two whole months since you tried to kill us.” Tangled had, by now, gotten used to Surge’s threats. Or flirting? It was hard to tell some times.

“That attitude is why team Good Guy keeps taking Ls.”

“Come on.” Tangle grabbed Surge’s wrist. “Kit’s already up.”

Tangle pulled her, still in her pjs, all the way to the hall’s shared bathroom where Surge’s meager collection of toiletries lived. “Go on. Don’t make me wait too long.” Tangle leaned against the hallway outside the door. The lemur really was going to force her to take on the day. Surge rolled her eyes but stepped into the bathroom. At least she’d been woken up by a cute girl instead of a freezing fire hose. The Restoration absolutely beat Starlabs when it came to lack of fire hoses and excess of cute girls.

She brushed her teeth and put her quills up in a ponytail. Pissed, rolled on deodorant and splashed cold water in her face. She put on her rings, earrings, and choker. That was basically her entire morning routine.

She was still in her pjs but since they were just a tank-top, and sweats they weren’t much different than her regular clothes. Well, it was appropriate enough for a Saturday.

Surge wasn’t surprised that Tangle actually waited outside the door the whole time. The Diamond Cutters almost never left her unsupervised, lest she sneak off to cause untold chaos and destruction. She didn’t understand why they didn’t do the same to Kit. She’d be pretty insulted if she were him. Little guy could absolutely bring down the building if he wanted to. ‘If he weren’t so busy messing around in the lab with Tails and that doll.’ She thought, a little bitterly.

Tangle didn’t feel the need to drag Surge the rest of the way, instead letting her walk on her own to the kitchen.

“You missed breakfast.” Tangle said. “Lanolin always makes pancakes on Saturday’s.”

“Neat~” Surge didn’t think it was neat. Tangle knew this. And it pushed her buttons.

“What do you have against making friends?!”

“Look we’re at the kitchen!” Surge pushed through the door, purposefully cutting off Tangle. She stepped into the weird new world that she and Kit had somehow found themselves in.

Lanolin and Whisper sat at the table eating together, passively watching some sport (not racing, so Surge didn’t care) on tv. They chatted happily over meals. Real meals! Not ration bars. Though Restoration HQ didn’t have windows, bright posters and painting kept the room optimistic. It couldn’t have been more different than an Eggman base.

“How did you sleep?” Lanolin asked her. Surge knew it was more out of obligation than genuine concern, so she answered with the same amount of authenticity.

“Slept perfect! I dreamt of you, beautiful!” Lanolin, like Tangle, knew to shake-off this kind of answer. She’d stopped reacting to Surge’s flirting after the first week. You’d think the tenrec would let it go now that it’s lost its oomf, but Surge could still tell it bothered the sheep no matter how stiff of an upper lip she kept.

“Is that why you slept in for an extra three hours?” Lanolin cocked her head in feigned curiosity. Surge barked a laugh.

“There she is! Have I told you that I like when you’re mean to me?”

“Frequently. It’s made it into my reports.”

“You write reports on me?” Surge said traipsing behind Lanolin’s chair, taking a second to lean over her shoulder to scrutinize her meal, as if the salad was worth noticing. “That’s a little gay. No offense.” Surge waved a hand toward Whisper, in a limp motion that telegraphed her statement as “friendly fire.”

The wolf stood from the table, without glancing her way. ‘Why do I try with her,’ Surge wondered as she approached the kitchen counter.

As Surge fumbled through the cabinet for cereal she noticed Whisper pull Tangle over to the opposite corner of the room. The wolf mumbled something to her girlfriend and, while Surge couldn’t hear it, she had a pretty good idea what the other girl was saying. ‘Coward. Just say it out loud. It couldn’t be more offensive than pretending I wouldn’t notice you whispering about me.’

Her suspicions were confirmed when Tangle, much worse at talking quietly, replied. “No. She was a perfect gentleman.”

“Don’t lie on my account, Springy.” Surge reprimanded while adding milk to her cereal. The wolf snorted, annoyed to have her rude-ass sidebar interrupted.

“Okay, so gentleman is a stretch, but she didn’t do anything wrong,” Tangle directed at Whisper.

“Damn right, I didn’t.” Surge agreed churlishly, but something about that phrase ‘didn’t do anything wrong’ made her feel… pride? Security? Well, it was a decent feeling whatever it was.

“Alright, that’s enough of that,” Lanolin said. She usually let the wolf and tenrec have a little back-and-fourth before stepping in. “Whisper, are you done eating?” The wolf’s mostly untouched sandwich was evidence that she wasn’t. And the sheep probably knew that. It was a coy way to tell her to sit back down. Surge didn’t get why the good guys always talked around what they meant to say. Surge thought about pointing this out when the other door to the kitchen opened.

“I hadn’t thought that of that solution,” a chipper, yet slightly mechanical voice sounded. The lederhosen-clad puppet clopped into the room in her clogs with Kit hot on her heals. “Using a water jet machine would be faster but are you sure you could be that precise?”

Kit shrugged. “Haven’t prioritized precision before. We could try, at least.”

Surge was still baffled by how fast the little marionette took to the blue fox, considering she still cringed at the sight of the tenrec. Drippy’s natural charisma had him making new friends left-and-right. Surge must’ve had pretty abysmal people skills if Kit was beating her at friend-making. Not that she cared!

“Morning, Ma’am!” Kit said when he noticed her.

“Sup,” Surge poured herself a cup of coffee. She didn’t address the doll. It only seemed to upset the little robot when she did.

Surge hopped up on the counter, with her bowl of cereal. Lanolin made an unimpressed face but she held her tongue. Surge imagined what she wanted to say.

‘Now Surge, that’s so unsanitary. Sit in a chair before I make a new rule about this.’

Kit grabbed a tube of yogurt (the portable kind, for kids on the go) and an apple. Belle grabbed a jar of motor oil. Then the two turned back to the door.

“Where’re you going?” Surge demanded.

“Back to the shop.” Kit said plainly. “We’re working on a new wispon design.”

“Actually, that reminds me!” Belle cut in. “Lanolin, can we borrow Maggie for the afternoon? We’re working on a sonic blaster.”

“A Sonic blaster?” Surge couldn’t leave it be. “Let me test it on him!” She held up her hand and Kit rushed over to high-five her.

Tangle stifled a giggle and Whisper gave her a tired look. One that said, ‘Don’t give her this.’

“I-I meant sonic: utilizing, produced by, or relating to sound waves.” Belle clarified.

Kit went back to the puppet’s side. “She knew what you meant, she was just…” As he explained Lanolin addressed her wisp.

“Maggie, You up for it?” The purple creature turned a mid-air summer salt and floated over to Belle. “Bring her back at dinner.” The sheep addressed the two little scientists.

The pair excitedly nodded and followed the wisp out the door. The other Diamond Cutters got back to their conversation but Surge wasn’t listening.

‘He didn’t even say bye. What? He gets buddy buddy with a few nerds and suddenly he doesn’t need me anymore?’

Surge ate fast. The sooner she was done the sooner she could go back to her room. She finished the leftover milk in her bowl with a loud slurp.

“Welp. I ate with you. You’ve done your little wellness check. I’m going back to my room.” She said, leaving her bowl in the sink.

“Hold up a sec,” Lanolin stopped Surge by the door. “We usually play board games and have dinner on Saturday night. Will you join us?”

“Why,” Surge grinned, meanly. “How does that help the Restoration?”

“Team building!” Tangle provided helpfully. As far as Surge was concerned, that made it worse.

“Sounds fun~” Surge lilted. “You guys have a nice time.” She slunk out of the room.

Lanolin followed her. Surge looked over her shoulder but didn’t stop walking.

“Stalking a teammate back to her bedroom? That’s awfully unprofessional. What’s HR gonna think when they hear you keep asking me out?”

“When have I ever?”

“Inviting me to game night? Dinner? Not taking no for an answer?” Surge hadn’t stopped walking and they were about halfway to her room.

“That’s an interesting complaint coming from you.”

“What could you possibly mean by that?” Surge’s wide toothy grin betrayed her confused tone.

“You’re like a chao chasing a hoverboard. What would you actually do if you caught it?”

“You think I’m bluffing?” Surge sparked with excitement. She stopped walking to give Lanolin her full attention. If she didn’t get to actually fight these people anymore, verbal sparing was the next best thing.

“Tell me, what would you do if I actually took you up on you’re offers.”

“You Restoration types don’t have the guts?” Surge stepped into Lanolin’s personal space, expecting her to take a step back.

“I asked you a question.” Lanolin took a step closer to Surge and she was all too aware of how close they now were.

Even as sweat formed on the back of her neck Surge continued. “I can’t exactly ruin the mood by spelling it out.”

“Then show me.” Lanolin clipped a pointer finger beneath Surge’s studded collar and gave it a tug bringing the tenrec close enough to feel the sheep’s breath on her lips.

Surge froze. “Um, well-i-“ ‘Come on! Say something! We can’t let her win!’ Surge cleared her throat. “Why don’t we go back to your room.”

Lanolin gave a curt ‘hmm’ and pulled Surge by the collar toward her bedroom.

‘What! Okay, okay, okay! Don’t be lame. This is the best thing that could happen to you today! Don’t ruin this.”

Chapter Text

Lanolin didn’t bother flicking on the light switch. The afternoon sun through the narrow, basement-style window was enough to illuminate the room. They didn’t need it too bright for what they planned to do anyway.

“If you’re really serious about this,” Lanolin said, as dire as she was during a life-or-death mission, “then shut the door behind you.”

As soon as Surge closed the door Lanolin was on her. The sheep twirled her around to face her and pressed a determined kiss against her mouth. Her first kiss! At least that she could remember. Surge jolted with the realization that this was actually happening. She was ready for this, right?

As Lanolin pressed a warm palm to Surge’s chest she decided she was, in fact ready. She grabbed the officer’s hips, and pulled her flush against herself.

Lanolin cupped a hand against the back of her head, protecting it when it hit the door as she forced her up against the wood. Surge hadn’t expected her to be this intense. She probably just wanted to get to the good stuff. The reason Surge was here. She had a job to do after all. She’d hold up her end of the bargain, then get her reward.

With that thought fueling her, Surge fumbled with Lanolin’s belt. It would be easier if she could see, but the sheep wouldn’t give up her attack on her mouth. And neck. And cheeks. And ears. Surge wouldn’t have guessed that out of all the Diamond Cutters, their stone-faced leader would be the most desperate.

*zip* Surge thumbed at Lanolin’s pant’s button, the final defense her cargos had against intrusion.

Lanolin pulled back and fixed her with a stare that was stern but strangely honest. Surge felt like whatever Lanolin was about to say, it was 100% sincere.

“We don’t have to go any further than this if you don’t want to.”

“If I didn’t want to do this, there’s no way you could force me.”

“You’re giving me your consent then?” Why were good guys always so caught up with that? She’d never even heard the word before joining the Restoration.

“Yeah, we’re good to go. Now drop your pants.” Surge side-stepped Lanolin, swapping their places and pushing her into the wall. She crouched down.

“Here? Standing? My sheets are clean, I assure you.”

‘As if sheet freshness is the problem.’

“The bed? Isn’t that a little…” ‘intimate?’ Surge smoothed over the fur on her neck that Lanolin had ruffled up.

“It’s more comfortable than leaning against a door.”

If Lanolin wanted the bed, Surge guessed she could accommodate her. She shrugged, letting go of Lanolin, and walked over to the bed.

Lanolin pulled her top over her head. Surge let herself take the woman in. She was muscular yet well filled out. ‘Wow! That bra is working hard.’

“Please undress.”

“What? Do you need me to be naked for you to get off?”

“Would you be more comfortable with them on?” Lanolin took a seat on the bed and unlaced her boots. Even though she wasn’t looking at Surge, the tenrec felt like she was being scrutinized.

“It doesn’t matter,” Surge lied. “I’m not insecure about it or anything. I just didn’t think it mattered.”

‘Very convincing.’

“It will matter when it’s your turn.” Lanolin slid her pants down her legs.

“You must be pretty confident that I’m gonna knock your socks off, if you’re already promising me a turn.”

Surge had only been a part of the Restoration for a few months but in that time she’d noticed that Lanolin always made a certain face when she was thinking really hard about something. It was a terrible trait for a leader to have. Even you couldn’t tell what she was thinking you could tell she was thinking. She made that face now. Surge had said something wrong. ‘Fix this.’

“It’s no big deal. You want me shirtless, I can be shirtless.” Surge yanked off her shirt without fan fair and stood with forced pride in her sports bra. She figure Lanolin would probably ask her to put the shirt back on soon enough.

Her body was covered in ugly scars. Her fast healing meant that instead of old skin closing together over an injury, leaving a thin line, new skin boiled up to close the wound, creating angry red swathes in the shape of the injury. And what’s worse than the nasty scars was that an unfortunate side effects of having her memory altered was that she couldn’t remember enough to tell any gnarly scar stories.

Surge took her quills down from her ponytail. They’d cover some of the mess on her upper back at least.

Lanolin looked her over. Her heavily lidded eyes made her expression unreadable. Then she pulled the tenrec close, pressing her pillowy breasts against Surge’s underwhelming bust.

“You’re beautiful,” Lanolin whispered against her neck.

Surge tensed. “You don’t need to hype me up.” She tried to temper the growl in her voice. “I can do my job just fine without any white lies.”

“I wasn’t- This isn’t a job.” Lanolin said softly, her touches changing their intensity to match.

“Arrangement, then. Whatever you want to call it. Now lie down.”

“Surge,” the sheep said seriously. “If you want to stop we can stop. No explanation needed.”

“Yeah you said that already.” Surge put her hands on Lanolin’s shoulders and pushed her down onto the bed. “Just stop thinking about me for a minute, alright?”

Lanolin started to make that face again and Surge ducked down to waist level so she didn’t have to see it. She kneeled beside the bed, Lanolin’s knees by either shoulder.

Surge yanked Lanolin’s panties down her thighs, a coil of wool springing up from beneath the fabric.

Taking off her gloves would mean taking off her cuffs. Her powers would be muted considerably. Did she need her powers right now? Probably not. But what if? This could be a trap. An ambush? Though it was unlikely Lanolin would make herself this vulnerable over a mission. Besides, she was pretty wet.

Surge caved and peeled off her gloves and set them on the bed. She tried to ignore the old ring-shaped burn scars on her fingers as she combed over Lanolin’s cotton-like bush. The wool was soft and dense, but spreading her pussy open with her thumbs revealed that it didn’t encroach too much on the good stuff. Surge could press her lips to it without filling her mouth with wool. So she did.

Lanolin jolted and Surge realized she was probably moving too fast. She pulled her tongue back from where she’d been lapping at Lanolin’s entrance. Instead she focused on her bud. The raunchy magazines that Clutch traded in (one of the many dubious things the opossum sold) seemed to indicate that the clit was the ‘MVP of cunnilingus.’ Actually, she was pretty sure that was the tile of the article she’d read.

A hand touched her head, surprising Surge. She waited for it yank on her quills or for it to hit her, but it didn’t. It simply rested on top of her, the fingers brushing through her hair, gently scratching her scalp. She must’ve been doing a good job if she was being rewarded.

Surge rested her eyes and mindlessly sucked on Lanolin’s bud. She explored the folds with her tongue. Lanolin moaned and canted her hips upward against Surge’s mouth. The tenrec pulled back, mindful of her teeth. She was a little surprised that the hand on her head didn’t force her back down. She returned to her work, diligently eating out her team leader. She flicked her tongue faster.

“I’m close, please don’t slow down.” Lanolin panted as she put a second hand on Surge’s head. Surge lifted the sheep-girl’s hips, angling her just right. She was very aware of the combination of saliva and cum dripping down her chin but it didn’t stop her from messily lapping at Lanolin’s center.

“Ngh, good girl,” Lanolin groaned through clenched teeth. Electricity, the metaphorical kind, shot through Surge. ‘Good girl?’ Her short tail wagged ecstatically. She was doing good! She was getting a hot woman off! ‘Let’s see Starline do that!- No! Gross, gross, gross! Don’t think about that.’

Surge licked faster, redoubling her efforts, to keep from thinking about… anything other than what she was doing. Her work paid off quickly as Lanolin’s legs shook around her head. “Oh Chaos, don’t stop!” Surge didn’t usually like taking orders from authority figures, but these orders? From this authority figure? She obeyed happily.

Lanolin clenched her legs, burying Surge’s muzzle in her pussy. Surge’s mouth filled with sweet, musky fluid as Lanolin came. For ten seconds or so Surge couldn’t breath; her face smushed deep into wet wool. Then Lanolin’s grip on her head eased and she relaxed into limpness.

Surge sat back on her heels and wiped her mouth on her arm. From her position on the floor she could see Lanolin’s chest quickly rising and falling as she panted. She looked like she was down for the count. ‘Well, by now I’m used to not getting my end of the bargain.’

Surge stood up and stretched her sore legs. She collected her shirt, beginning to pull it on when Lanolin spoke up.

“Your turn.”

Surge blinked away her surprise and put on a neutral face. “Did good enough to get a spin, huh?”

“I told you. You’d get a turn no matter what.” And then she amended, “As long as you want one. I want you to have a good time, it’s not a trade-off.”

“Said like a naive goody-two-shoes. Everything is a trade off.”

“Said like a career criminal.” Lanolin bit back. Surge grinned at her, enjoying the challenge, and she tossed her clothes back onto the bed. “Now, what position do you want to be in?” Lanolin asked.

Surge propped up the pillows against the headboard and leaned back. She wanted to have a decent view of what Lanolin was doing. Surge slipped off her boxers. It just hit her that Lanolin would be able to see all of her. Like, every inch. It was too late now. Besides it’d be worth it to cum for the first time in… as long as she could remember. Surge took a deep breath.

Once settled, Surge gave a calculatedly lazy wave. The sheep didn’t seem to need any more instruction.

Lanolin rested a hand on either knee as she spread them apart. She sank down between them, dragging her tongue across the inside of Surge’s thigh. All the while her sleepy blue eyes were trained on Surge.

The tenrec felt immensely uncomfortable. She knew she was naked, and now that eyes were on her she felt so much… nakeder. How could her body feel so good while her mind felt so unnerved.

‘Don’t look at me,’ she wanted to scream. ‘Stop staring at me!’

Thankfully, Lanolin closed her eyes. It didn’t matter to Surge if it was coincidence or psychic powers. All that mattered was that the soldier wasn’t looking at her anymore. She could breath again.

Lanolin reached her groin and Surge braced for contact. She wasn’t entirely sure what to expect.

It felt exactly like what it was, really. A hot, wet tongue licking around her privates. She felt kinda dumb for thinking it would feel any different.

Lanolin pressed her lips against her clit and started sucking. Surge blinked, processing the new sensation. Pressure and suction in an uneven rhythm. Fingers gently prodding and stretching her folds. She hoped this is what she made Lanolin feel like. She didn’t want to be outdone. She didn’t want her pleasure to be unearned.

A soft buzz formed in her clit as Lanolin rapidly flicked her tongue over it. It wasn’t a dissimilar feeling to her electricity powers. Except that it was about 1/100th as strong. Still, her heart raced the way it did during a battle.

‘Maybe I should get a piercing down there.’ She tossed out the idea immediately. It’d be too risky if it didn’t work. And if it did work…well, she didn’t need to be orgasming in the middle of fights.

Lanolin pulled Surge back from her thoughts as she eased a finger into her hole. Surge’s insides tensed and relaxed around the finger as Lanolin steadily pumped it in and out in time with her mouth movements. It felt …nice. Why couldn’t Surge just focus on the feeling?

‘Were the squishy sounds this noticeable when I was working her pussy?’ Maybe the blood rushing in her ears at the time had drowned it out.

As Surge’s hips rocked, she worried that Lanolin had quite a bit more experience with this kinda thing than she did. She’d hate for Lanolin to realize how inexperienced she was.

Lanolin set her other hand across Surge’s abdomen, a comforting weight, anchoring the tenrec. The hand petted her gently, the way the one on her head had.

What did Lanolin get out of petting her like this? Her spines, while not sharp like a porcupines, couldn’t have felt that good to touch. Not like Lanolin’s wool. The fluff of her happy-trail probably felt decent enough though. Maybe Lanolin needed a tactile distraction from the task at hand.

‘Of course she needs a distraction. She already got what she wanted. This is just the payment process.’ Surge shifted uncomfortably.

It was getting difficult for her to sit through this. Should she call it off? She didn’t want Lanolin to think she was embarrassed or anything. And if Surge didn’t get her half of the deal, Lanolin might think the tenrec ate her out just because she liked her. That’d make Surge look pretty pathetic.

‘Stop thinking about her. Just enjoy it.’ But she couldn’t stop. Even between jolts of pleasure, guilty panicked thoughts bubbled up.

Was she doing a good job? A good job at being eaten out? Was Lanolin bored? Was this a terrible idea? It definitely was.

Her breathing was fast and irregular, but not the way Lanolin’s had been when it was her turn. Not from sexual excitement. Surge was shaking. Sweating. She wished these feelings weren’t so familiar to her. She was too exposed. If she didn’t escape soon she’d have a full blown panic attack in front of another person.

Lanolin noticed her struggling. She pulled her mouth away from Surge to ask, “You okay?” Those blue eyes were trained on Surge again. There was a concern in them she’d only ever seen on people who were pretending to care.

She couldn’t put up with this any longer. The sheep was too invested in Surge’s personal feelings. It made her stomach ache. ‘What’s her angle here?’

“You’re just not doing it for me.” Surge shoved Lanolin off of her. She felt an immediate sense of freedom, being unhitched from someone else’s needs. But when she looked at Lanolin’s face she was hit with an indecipherable puzzle of emotions. Lanolin looked so… hurt. And then Surge felt hurt. Why?

“Oh. Okay.” Lanolin tried to keep up an unflappable facade. But Surge saw that those big blue eyes were unmistakably disappointed and a little guilty. “I hope I didn’t make you feel like you had to do this for me.”

“No!” Surge answered quickly, almost cutting her off. “You didn’t force me into it!” For some reason it mattered to her a lot that Lanolin didn’t feel like any of this was her fault.

“Did I do something you didn’t like?”

Surge didn’t know how to answer that question so she stalled as she got dressed. “Not really. It’s just…” Surge racked her brain for an excuse. ‘Call her ugly. No! That’s too mean. Since when do you care about that? Lanolin doesn’t deserve that. She’s only ever been nice to me. Say she’s boring then! Stop. We have to say something!’ “You know?”

“I …don’t.” Lanolin said. Pain and confusion were evident in her voice.

“Just don’t worry about it.” Surge quickly donned her shirt, then pulled her gloves on over her scarred hands and finally felt dressed again.

“Then I won’t approach you about this again. We can just forget it ever happened.” Lanolin held her arms around her chest tightly. She couldn’t shake the terrible feeling that she’d done something wrong. Lanolin continued. “It’s best for both of us if you don’t mention…this,” she waved her hand between them, “to the others.”

“Like they would believe me anyway.” Surge reached the door. She rested her hand on the knob but couldn’t bring herself to turn it. “Um…When I said you weren’t doing it for me…” ‘What are you saying?!’ “It wasn’t your fault. You were doing a good job. I just wasn’t…” ‘Stop talking! She doesn’t need to know this!’ “I needed more time to prepare.”

Lanolin touched Surge’s shoulder, joining her at the door, wrapped in a blanket. “So…” She took a breath while she thought. “Then, would you want to try this again sometime? We can go slow. And it doesn’t have to be a whole thing! We could be friends with benefits.”

“Wouldn’t that require us to be friends?” Surge joked. She did actually want to have sex with Lanolin again. Provided she could shut off her brain while it happened. 

Lanolin cocked her head to the side. “I consider you a friend.”

Surge had to leave. Now. “Fine, whatever,” she choked out. “Find me next time you need me.” With that she zipped out of the room and didn’t stop moving until she was locked in her bedroom.

—

“What’s wrong? Are you okay?” Kit asked, jumping up from his nest. Surge couldn’t handle another person asking her if she was “okay.”

“Go sleep in the lounge tonight, Drippy!”

“But I-“

“Go!”

With that the little fox scampered out of the room and, after locking the door Surge set about having one of the most confusing masterbation sessions of her life. at least, as long as she could remember.

Chapter Text

Lanolin walked cautiously down the hall. She hadn’t seen much of Surge since their… whatever had happened yesterday. She’d missed lunch again.

Lanolin wasn’t entirely sure if she wanted to see Surge either. She wanted to make the tenrec was okay after she literally ran away last night but she wasn’t really sure how to go about it. Lanolin waffled on whether she should just call off their whole ‘arrangement.’

She had messed up so bad. Unprofessional. Self-indulgent. A massive HR violation! And yet so… informative. She’d stayed up all night processing what she’d learned from her time with Surge.

The way Surge talked about having sex- “a job, a trade-off, stop thinking about me” it was a clue to her past, her outlook on life. It even explained why she kept her distance from the team.

It was clear that Surge only understood the world through transactions. She was used to people only doing things for her if she did something for them in return. That was the only kind of relationship she knew! Of course she didn’t trust Lanolin to do something nice for her just because she wanted to make her feel good.

What Lanolin was really curious about was why Surge left early even after she’d “earned her turn.” If it was just a transaction, then Lanolin was ponying up her end of the deal. Did she feel unsafe somehow?

Lanolin knew it was wrong for her to assume things about another person’s past but she found herself wondering what happened to Surge before joining the Diamond Cutters that made her like that. Every scenario she thought up just made her feel more concern and sorrow for the girl.

As ethically messy as it was, if Lanolin wanted to know more about Surge she’d have to maintain their “arrangement.” That was the reason right? To gain Surge’s trust, better understand her, and ultimately make her the best version of herself she could be, and by extension the best Diamond Cutter she could be! No other elements factored in at all!

Lanolin groaned and dragged a palm down her face. She wasn’t fooling herself at all.

“What’s wrong, Lanolin?” The sheep jumped, just now noticing Tails stepping up beside her. She was so exhausted she hadn’t even noticed him.

“Oh, just didn’t sleep well last night.” She knew she’d sound desperate but she asked anyway. “You haven’t seen Surge around recently, have you? Or Kit?” She added hastily.

“I’ve seen Kit. He’s in the shop. But I haven’t seen Surge today. Why?”

Lanolin didn’t know how to answer that but she didn’t like lying. She offered just a tiny part of the truth to Tails. “I just wanted to check on her.”

“Is something wrong?”

“Not necessarily. I just…” ‘Don’t lie but don’t give away too much.’ “I’ve noticed she doesn’t seem comfortable here. I want to help her acclimate… as the team leader.”

“That makes sense,” Tails nodded. Lanolin felt relieved that she didn’t have to explain herself further. “Actually, I …um, have some data from Starline that might be good for you to see.” The boy looked somewhat guilty, unsure he was saying the right thing. Lanolin could sympathize.

“Data on Surge?”

“She and Kit were his creations. More or less.” He pulled the Miles Electric out of his tail. “I took some picture of Starline’s blueprints when Sonic and I were exploring his lab.”

Tails handed the tablet to Lanolin and she scrolled through the hasty pictures he’d taken. All in all, it was only about ten pages of notes. Some were almost entirely covered in words, scribbled in tiny font. Others were just sketches with minimal explanation as to what they were detailing. It wasn’t nothing, but it wasn’t the gold mind Lanolin had hoped for.

“It’s definitely not all the info the Dr. had on them, but it’s all I could get to before the building came down. I was planning on finding another Starlab location to see what I could salvage from the hard drives, but a mission like that would require help from Kit. And I don’t think he’s ready for that yet.

“I still can’t shake the feeling that he really doesn’t like me. By the way, please don’t tell either of them that I have this data.” Tails joined his hands, begging. “I’m not sure how they’ll react if they find out that we know more about them than they think we do.”

“I’ll keep it safe.” Lanolin sent the files to herself to read in detail. “Does anyone else know about this?”

“Sonic saw it first hand. I tried to tell Belle since she’s been spending a lot of time with Kit, but she didn’t want to see the data. She said she wanted to get to know him on his terms.”

Lanolin felt a twinge of guilt. Reading up about Surge’s past without her consent wasn’t a nice thing to do but it was the smart thing to do. She could help Surge more if she knew what her problem was. And she didn’t have the patience to wrestle the information out of her.

“Thank you for giving me this information.” Lanolin handed back the tablet and marched back to her room. She’d have a lot of reading to do.

…

Lanolin spent hours clawing through Starline’s documents. Most of the pages were entirely Greek to her. Complicated mathematical equations with technological and medical terminology she had no context for. The diagrams proved to be the most useful to her and even then, the Dr.s’ labeling system was needlessly complicated.

All the time she spent reading amounted to three conclusions.

The subjects were designed to be equal opposites to Sonic and Tails.
2) To this end, the subjects were outfitted with robotic endoskeletons along with augmentations which allowed them superhuman abilities.
3) The subjects had absolutely no memories of who they were before they underwent the procedure. Their previous personalities were wiped to make room for their new soul objectives.

“Destroy Sonic the Hedgehog.” And, “assist Surge the Tenrec.

By the time Lanolin finally sat back to process what she’d seen, she’d missed dinner with her team. She tucked Starline’s notes away into a folder on her desktop labeled ‘recipes.’ It was innocuous enough that no one looking for her secrets would go through it. She stretched and headed to the hallway hoping to catch some leftovers before they were all gone.

There was a light still on in the kitchen. A good sign that maybe dinner hadn’t been put up yet. She pushed through the door, an apology for her tardiness on her lips, and was stopped in her tracks by a hard stare from the only person left at the table.

“Can’t believe that the day I finally decide to eat dinner with the team you skip out on it.” Surge had her feet kicked up on the table but her crossed arms and glare were anything but relaxed. Her bright teal eyes bore into Lanolin and the sheep, with context she didn’t have before, wondered if the slight glow of her eyes wasn’t just a genetic abnormality, an odd reflection of the light, but rather the result of her nature as a cyborg.

“Did you find out I was coming to dinner? And just decide to make it even more awkward by not showing up.”

“I didn’t do it on purpose. I got caught up with something.”

“Caught up with avoiding me?”

“I wasn’t avoiding you. I was working on something…personal.” Lanolin saw Surge’s interest pique at her phrasing and she wished she hadn’t said it. She needed to move the conversation forward quickly. “I’m glad you came to dinner. And I’m sorry I wasn’t there. If I’d known you were coming I would have put my project on hold to be here.”

Surge lowered her shoulders just a bit. “You’ll be happy to know that Wolfie and I didn’t even kill each other.”

“I am happy to hear that,” Lanolin said as she opened the fridge. She found a glass container with a slice of lasagna sitting in the very front. Her name was on sticky note attached to it. The handwriting was Tangle’s.

“I told them not to save you any but they wouldn’t listen. They told me if you didn’t come get it by 8 it was all mine. Shame you actually made it.” Lanolin popped the dish in the microwave, mostly ignoring Surge. “What’d you do to ‘em to make ‘em that concerned about whether or not you get a piece?”

“I didn’t do anything to them. We’re friends. Friends save food for each other.” Lanolin took her, now warm, food to the table and sat in the chair right beside Surge’s. The tenrec was visibly confused by her seating choice. She even took her feet off the table.

“Did you enjoy the lasagna?” Lanolin tried to make conversation.

“The what?”

Lanolin pointed at the pasta with her fork.

“Oh, that’s what it’s called. It was pretty good, I guess. Kit liked it.”

“Good.”

They say in silence while Lanolin picked at her food. After a minute or so Surge pulled her shoulders inward, guarding herself. They stayed quiet for a long time. Almost long enough for Lanolin to finish her Lasagna. And then. “When do you want to do it again.”

Lanolin juggled her fork at the surprise. Was that all she has to say?

Lanolin thought about everything she’d read that day. She dabbed her mouth with a napkin, buying herself time to think. The files didn’t affect her attraction to Surge, but it just seemed… inappropriate to do that with her while her history was fresh in Lanolin’s mind. Reading what Surge had been through did make Lanolin want to comfort her though.

“I’m not up for it tonight. But if you want to come over just to talk or… just spend some time together, I’d enjoy your company.”

Surge scoffed and picked at her nails. “I’m not good company.”

“I don’t think you’re that bad.” Lanolin tried elbowed her playfully.

“Heh,” A hollow smile crept onto Surge’s face. “I know you restoration types need people to blow smoke up your asses, but you don’t need to lie to me.”

“Why are you so insistent that I’m lying to you?”

“You expect me to believe that after all the times I thrashed your team, you actually like me?”

“You’re right. I didn’t like you…” Lanolin took notice of Surge’s faltering smile. “At first. But since I’ve been getting to know you, I’ve found I like quite a few things about you.”

Surge bristled. Her brows knit as she glanced at the ground. “It’s not worth it to get to know me.”

“Surge, listen to me.” Lanolin took her by the shoulders, forcing Surge to look at her. “If I didn’t think you were worth getting to know I wouldn’t have let you in the Diamond Cutters.”

It was a harsh truth but Surge seemed to respond better to those. She certainly didn’t know how to take a compliment. Had Starline ever paid Surge a genuine compliment?

“I promise, I won’t lie to you. When I say something nice I’m doing it because I want you to feel appreciated.” Lanolin placed a gentle hand on Surge’s cheek. “I want you to know what I like about you.”

“What do you get out of this?”

“Nothing.” Lanolin pressed her lips the Surge’s. She hoped Surge would reciprocate but she was frozen stiff. The sheep pulled back to see Surge sitting stiffly, red-faced and confused.

They sat there, just staring at (or more accurately around) each other for an eternity.

“Well!?” Lanolin wondered.

“You taste like pasta sauce.”

“I meant about our…” Lanolin lowered her voice, “relationship.”

Surge squirmed. “So, tomorrow night then?”

So none of the emotional stuff stuck, huh? Lanolin tried to hide her disappointment. She had really hoped she got through to her.

‘It’s gonna take time for Surge to adjust,’ she reminded herself.

“It’s a date.”

Surge stretched and slunk toward the door. “Well, Kit’s probably waiting up for me, so…” Lanolin thought that was all Surge would say as she walked through the door until, “I better see you at breakfast tomorrow.”

“I’ll be there!” ‘Maybe she had made some headway with Surge.’

Lanolin cleaned up her plate with a smile on her face. Out of the corner of her eye Lanolin thought she saw a teal blur whisp by the kitchen door. However, when she peaked around the corridor, it was empty.

Chapter Text

Surge stepped into the machine shop, feeling out of her element. The nerds didn’t exactly like it when she went in there. She didn’t like it either, but this was pretty much the only place Kit hung out anymore. She ignored the suspicious eyes on her as she sauntered over to the cubical where Kit, Belle, and Tails fiddled with an offline badnik. 

“Didn’t see ya at breakfast, Drippy. You left me all alone with the Pride Parade.” Belle gave her a dirty look. “What? I’m allowed to say it,” Surge shrugged. Belle huffed, unsatisfied, and went back to turning a wrench. 

“Oh, um…” Kit jumped down from the stool he stood on, and took Surge by the sleeve, leading her away from the table. “I just grabbed a banana and came here. We kinda have a big project we’re working on.” 

“What’s the project.” Surge side-stepped Kit and sidled up to the tech-covered table. 

“We’re trying to re-wire this caterkiller to free it from Eggman’s influence.” Tails provided eagerly. Surge still couldn’t get over how quickly Kit had given up his hate for the yellow fox. ‘I guess technically Starline only trained him to help me, not kill Tails.’ 

“It’s kinda hard to do to badniks with this simple of a processor.” Belle added. “Mr. Tinker found a way to deprogram them but I never found out how. We’re trying to reverse engineer the process by comparing them to Motobud.” She gestured to the ladybug robot on the table. The pint-sized scientists had opened up its back to reveal its mechanical insides. The bug chirped, clearly still aware of its surroundings. ‘Creepy.’

“If the processor’s so ‘simple’ why’s it giving you such a hard time?” Surge leaned her elbows on the table and Kit rushed over to scoot tools and blueprints out of her way. Or maybe out of her reach. 

Tails’s eyes sparkled as he talked about his special interest. “Eggman’s programming doesn’t leave a lot of room for nuance with these guys. It’s basically just ‘do whatever Eggman says.’ They would throw him off a bridge if that’s what he told them to do. They don’t have the processing power to understand that sometimes not following his orders is actually the best option.

“That nuance is our foothold for getting them to understand free will. That’s why it’s actually easier to reprogram more complex bots like Omega.” Tails sounded like he could go on forever but Surge was getting pretty bored with the tech talk. 

“Guess I should leave you too it.” Surge stood up and stretched her back.

“Yeah, it’s nothing too interesting,” Kit said pulling her toward the door. “I’ll check in with you later.” 

‘What’s his deal today?’

“Actually! Would you want to help with something?” Tails asked.

“Hhm?” Surge yanked her arm free from Kit and turned back to the table.

“I know you’re not a robot but” Tails lowered his voice. “I know you were programmed by Starline.”

Surge bristled and crossed her arms. Kit flinched. 

“What of it?” Surge had almost forgotten that Tails and Sonic had gotten a chance to poke around Starline’s old notes. Luckily Kit buried all that. She didn’t need these people knowing more about her than she knew about herself. 

“You might be able to provide us some answers.”

“There’s no way I’m letting you cut me open!” Electricity sparked on Surge’s rings. 

“It won’t be invasive, I promise! I’m just gonna ask you some questions and monitor your electrical signals.”

Kit stepped between her and Tails “Surge isn’t going to-”

“Fine. I’ll answer a couple questions.” Surge pushed Kit out of her way. Drippy didn’t make her decisions for her!

“Great!” Tails zipped around his work space gathering tech. He cleared papers from a metal table and set a roll of shop towels on it sideways. “Sit up here and lay your head down on these towels. Sorry I’m not more prepared for this.”

Surge was already regretting her participation as she laid back on the table. 

“Now just let me hook this onto you.” Tails clamped a little metal alligator-looking thing to her wrist on top of her cuff. He scurried off, Surge couldn’t see where to, to hook the other end to something. 

Surge hated being laid flat on a metal slab like this. She felt like an experiment. A frog awaiting dissection. 

Tails reappeared with his tablet. “Okay! Let’s start with some control questions. How are you feeling?”

“Fine,” She lied. Somewhere a machine beeped. A familiar beep, though she couldn’t place exactly where she’d heard it before.

“What did you have for dinner?”

“Lasagna.” With Lanolin. Another beep.

“What’s your favorite color?” 

“Teal.” No beep. 

“Really?” 

“Is there some kinda problem with that?” Surge growled. Beep.

“No no! Nothing wrong with that! Are you ready to move on?

“Sure.” 

“How long were you working with Starline?”

Huh? She didn’t actually know. Time was hard to pin down in her memories. “A few years maybe?” Beep. 

“What’s your first memory of Starline?” Beep.

“Um, let me think.” What was her first memory of him? That was like asking her to remember the first song she ever heard or the first injury she got. It was like he was always there. Beep. Her past was so foggy. How far back could she reach? Beep.

Beep. Beep. Beep. 

She was in a small grey room. Florescent lights vibrated above her, hurting her eyes. The smell of metal and chemicals were thick in the air.

“How are you feeling, Child?” A figure in a medical mask hunched over her. 

“Okay,” her voice was groggy. It didn’t feel like hers. Where was she? She couldn’t remember. The thoughts drifting through her mind were too slippery to hold for very long. 

The figure gave a little nod, then leaned out of her narrow line of sight. “You don’t feel anything? That’s good.” 

The sound of metal clanking on metal. She was cold, numb… open? She tried to sit up to see what was happening to her. Something held her in place. 

She lifted her hands to feel at the thing holding her down but they only moved an inch before something around her wrists pulled taunt. 

“Nah uh uh. Stay still now. You really don’t want to throw off my aim.” The figure chuckled and leaned back into view brandishing a small circular saw to make his point.  

Something hot dripped from the saw, hitting her mouth. It tasted like copper and salt. 

“Oops,” said the figure. “Don’t you worry, girl. We’ll get you cleaned up, just as soon as I get these last few plates in place.” He disappeared again. A moment later her vision was blinded by a shower of yellow sparks. To her they looked like fireworks.

She should’ve been afraid, but her breathing was steady. She should’ve wanted to escape, to run as fast as she could, but she found she didn’t ‘want’ much of anything right now. What was happening to her?

“I really ought to come up with a proper name for you,” the doctor said to himself. Surge’s eyes glazed over as the sparks turned from yellow to electric blue.

“Take that thing off her now!” Kits voice, louder than she’d heard it in months, jarred Surge out of her stupor. 

Surge was finally able to sit up again. She tore the cord from her wrist and scrambled off the table. 

Tails was on the floor, stunned. Belle sprayed foam from a fire extinguisher at the roll of shop towels which had caught fire. Kit stood in front of her, facing Tails, his arms still outstretched from where he’d shoved the other boy to the ground. His tablet laid face up on the floor. Red lines were scribbled manically across the graph on screen.

Kit turned to look at her with concerned eyes. “Come on, let’s get out of here.” He took her by both hands and she let him lead her to the hallway.

When they were out of sight Kit tackled Surge in a fierce hug. “Are you okay?”

Her heart still pounded in her chest. She willed herself not to cry, using every ounce of her might. “Um yeah,” she was barely able to put the words together. 

“You’re sure?” Kit stared at her like he was trying to read her mind. After living with Starline, Surge couldn’t handle anyone else in her head. 

“I’m fine,” Surge stood up straight, and looked down at Kit, daring him to ask again. “I just don’t like being hooked up like a battery, is all.”

“Okay…um, why don’t you go back to the room to rest. I need to stay here. To clean up, I mean. I’ll visit you later.”

“You’re not coming with me?” Surge hated that her voice broke while she said it. 

“I need to make sure they’re okay too. You did almost electrocute Tails.”

“That’s why you shoved him?” Surge realized, speaking mostly to herself.

“Maybe you shouldn’t come back here anymore.”

“What?”

”It’s just that, well, it’s not really a place for…” Kit wrung his gloved hands, unsure how to say what he meant without enraging Surge. “The people in there, they aren’t like you.” 

“Are you embarrassed of me?” Anger; a much easier emotion for her to understand, boiled in Surge’s chest.

Kit hesitated before saying, “No.”

“You are!” Surge growled. “Why?!”

“Look, there’s a lot of sensitive tech in there! If you freak out you could destroy thousands of hours of work!” 

“So it’s all about them?” Surge yelled. Her fists shook at her sides. “What happened to helping me?”

“I’m allowed to have other friends.” Kit surprised them both by growling back at her. 

“You were made for me!” 

“And you were made to kill Sonic?” Kit snarled. “We’re both failing our goals.”

Surge roared and swung her fist as hard as she could. Kit stumbled backward, hitting the ground with an ‘oomf.’ He guarded his face with his hands and shivered.

Blackened, smoking plaster crumbled around Surge’s fist where it was planted in the wall. She wrenched her hand free, huffing. Lightning arced off her body as she glowered down at the fox. 

Kit stared up at her from the floor, enormous, terrified eyes focused on Surge, like she’d kill him any second. If she hadn’t moved her fist at the last second she might’ve. Kit scrambled away from her, wiping his eyes one at a time so he could always keep one on her. 

Surge shivered with energy but she let Kit pick himself up off the floor. She needed to let him leave before she did something worse than break a wall. Kit stopped halfway through the door and pointed to the charred hole in the wall.

“That’s why.” He didn’t say another word to her as he went back into the workshop. 

Surge stared at the hole in the wall. Through the small portal she could see Belle running to meet Kit.

“Are you okay!” Belle’s voice was muffled through the wall, but Surge could hear her genuine concern. Belle crouched to look Kit in the eyes. The little blue fennec shook his head, then Surge watched in horror as the puppet gave him a big hug. And he just stood there, hugging her back.

Surge stumbled back from the hole and wrapped her arms around herself. She ran clumsily to the nearest exit. Once outside she shot like a bullet toward the horizon and didn’t stop until her legs gave out. A thousand miles away. 

Chapter Text

Surge had run at top speed for hours. She ran until her legs gave out. She now sat on a boulder in the middle of a field of tall golden grass, huffing and puffing, catching her breath.

She had no clue where she was. Probably in a whole different continent given how different the landscape looked. It was dark out by now but she could make out the outline of staggered flat topped rock formations on the horizon. Massive trees dotted the savanna. Their thick, branchless trunks made them look like towers jutting up from the grass. With no buildings anywhere in sight, the trees stood out even more.

There was no light around either. Save for the stars. Surge stared up at them, more stars than she’d ever seen in her life. Even if she couldn’t remember her past, this was still probably the most stars she’d ever seen.

She wished that looking at the infinite velvet-black blanket of stars above her would make her problems feel smaller but it didn’t really.

Running had cleared her head, sort of. As long as she was moving she hadn’t had a single structured thought. Just emotions. Turbulent, unclear, powerful emotions. As long as she was moving, the tears would be caught on the wind and fly off her face.

Now that she was too tired to move she couldn’t keep from thinking about Kit. And she couldn’t stop the tears from welling up in her eyes and overflowing onto her cheeks.

Every time Surge blinked she saw Kit on the floor looking up at her through his fingers. It had been so long since he’d looked at her like that. She’d forgotten how often he used to look at her like that. She’d forgotten how often she used to hurt him.

‘No wonder he likes them more that you.’

Surge put her head in her hands, using her gloves to soak up her tears. Kit had real friends now. Friends who shared his interests and not just his trauma.

Kit was adjusting so much better than she was. He had friends and hobbies. He was doing work that benefited the Restoration. All Surge did was eat their food, take up their space, and break their things. She wasn’t cut out to be a good guy.

Should she even go back to them? She could start a new life in some no name village. Pick a new name. Stop using her powers.

Yeah right. She didn’t have enough self control to not use her powers. She’d ‘freak out,’ and ruin things again. It didn’t matter how hard she tried to be normal, she’d hear a certain sound or smell a certain smell and be launched into some messed-up episode.

Remembering said ‘messed-up episode,’ Surge lifted her shirt to look at the long capital I-shaped scar on her chest. She’d always wondered about it. That was one mystery solved.

The scar had faded considerably but she wasn’t sure it would ever go away. Maybe that happened before Starline infected her with the modified zombot virus?

Gaia be damned! She had so many questions that only that dead prick could answer. Sometimes she wished Starline was still alive so she could kill him again, but this was the first time she wished he was alive so she could just talk to him. And then kill him.

What she’d give to have Starline’s stupid vlogs! But with the base destroyed, Starline dead, and her own memories fighting her, she wasn’t gonna get any clear answers.

All she had were these Stupid. Fucking. Flashbacks!

Surge roared and jumped up on top of the boulder, throwing her hands to the stars. Lightning exploded in reverse; from the ground to the sky. The field around her was bright as day for a split second. The smell of ozone descended around her.

Surge slouched forward, huffing. Even that quick display of her power was enough to wear her out after the day she’d had. She watched the smoke trail from her hands. Then her eyes adjusted to take in the sea of extremely dry grass all around her.

Surge quickly clapped her hands onto her pants, putting out any remaining smoldering on her gloves. It would be just like her to accidentally start a wildfire. The last thing she needed was to cause another disaster. It would really prove Sonic right to hate her if she burned down a whole prairie.

“Surge?” Shit. Speak of the devil. She recognized his grating, condescend voice even without turning around. She was too exhausted to fight. If he wanted to take her out, now would be the perfect time.

“Sonic.” She turned around, putting on her nastiest scowl, hoping to scare him away without a fight, but she was taken aback by the state the Blue Blur was in. The hedgehog leaned forward with his hands on his knees, letting go of the handles of the cart he was pulling.

Surge had seen carts like this around the Restoration’s campus, usually filled with salvaged Egg-tech. They were a little bigger and squarer than wheelbarrows, and had higher sides to help contain the mountains of scrap metal. Did Sonic plan to bring her corpse back in this? Surge sparked, getting into a fighting stance.

“Take it easy, Surge. I’m just the taxi driver.” As Sonic said it, a fluffy figure climbed, shakily out of the cart.

Lanolin, clearly frazzled from moving at hundreds of miles an hour, smoothed her hands over her mussed hair, and pulled off her racing goggles.

A spark crackled over Surge’s body as she stared at Lanolin. “Give us some space,” she said to Sonic.

Instead of leaving, Sonic looked to Lanolin. She gave him a nod and in an instant he was a mile away.

“Why’d you bring him?” Surge growled.

“Obviously I couldn’t catch up to you on my own.”

“How’d you even find me! You got some kind of tracker on me?” Surge thrust an accusatory finger at Lanolin’s face. The sheep simply pointed behind the cart. A line of turned earth, the width of Surge’s gait, stretched far into the distance in the direction of the HQ.

“Oh.” Surge huffed. “Then you’ll have an easy time getting home.” Surge turned her back to Lanolin and plopped back down on the boulder. Behind her she heard Lanolin sigh.

“I heard what happened in the shop.” Lanolin sat down beside her. Surge scooted away.

Lanolin looked at her with tired pity. It made Surge’s stomach turn. How much did she know? Had she heard about the hole in the wall?

“I saw the hole in the wall.” Shit. “Do you want to talk about what happened?”

Surge didn’t answer. She didn’t actually know whether she wanted to talk or not. It could be nice to get out her side of the story. If Lanolin had only heard the story from Tails or Belle she probably thought Surge lost it for no reason.

Then again, talking about it might make Lanolin think Surge wanted life advice. And she definitely didn’t want or need life advice!

Lanolin leaned back and looked at the night sky. “It’s a beautiful night.”

“I guess.”

“You know, you ran over a thousand miles today?”

“It felt like it.” Surge rubbed at a sore stretch on her calf.

“Did it make you feel better?” Surge didn’t answer.
Lanolin gave her a silent minute to rest before she ripped the band-aid off. “Kit told me to tell you he’s sorry he set you off.”

“Goddamnit!” Surge doubled over, grabbing her head so hard it hurt. Lanolin jumped back at the explosive outburst. “It wa- he shouldn’t- AURGH!” Surge rapt her knuckles against her temples.

Lanolin waited awkwardly for Surge to stop…whatever this was. She hovered a hand over Surge’s back, unsure how to help.

“He doesn’t need to be sorry.” Surge croaked, her head still down by her knees. Lanolin’s hand finally came to rest between Surge’s shoulders. She rubbed in slow circles. It felt nice.

“Did he seem… was he okay?” Surge look up at Lanolin through her fingers.

“He’s worried about you,” Lanolin said gently. “He doesn’t know if you’ll come home.”

“Maybe I shouldn’t. He’ll be better off if I’m a thousand miles away.”

“Why?”

“I’m holding him back. He’s moving on with his life. He’s getting better but I’m just as bad as I was before. Joining the Restoration was supposed to fix me but I’m not getting any better.”

“Did you used to care this much about Kit’s feelings?”

“Well, No.” Surge sat up and wiped her eyes. She knew where Lanolin was going with this but being led to the conclusion still felt kinda good.

“You are making progress. You just have a lot to unlearn and it’s not gonna happen overnight.” Lanolin leaned into Surge’s side. “It’s okay to slip up sometimes. Just start by apologizing and try to do better.”

“What do you know about slipping up, little Miss Perfect?”

Lanolin sighed and rubbed her brow. “I was pretty out of line with the team during the sweepstakes.”

“The Mimic thing?”

“Even you knew?”

“I… um. You know I still had some shady dealings back then.” Surge rubbed the back of her neck. “Sorry.”

“Well, regardless. I should have listened to my team. I was too prideful to admit I might’ve made a mistake, even when they told me they had concerns.” Lanolin never cried, but her eyes had a glossy sheen to them.

Surge could tell the memories hurt. “Well, it seems like your apology worked on them. They’re cool with you now.”

“I won’t pretend that it didn’t change things between us. But we might be better for it. Our friendships were tested but they’re stronger now that they’re healed. And your friendship with Kit will be better for it too.”

Surge groaned. “I don’t even know what to say to him.” Just then the wind blew cold on the flatland, carrying with it the smell of rain. Surge shivered. She hadn’t brought anything but the clothes she was wearing.

Lanolin stood and offered a hand to Surge. “Well, you can think about it on the ride home.” Surge got the feeling Lanolin wouldn’t take ‘no’ for an answer. She took Lanolin’s hand and allowed herself to be pulled to her feet. Something deep inside Surge noticed just how easily Lanolin was able to hoist her up.

Surge had one more question on her mind. As they walked back to the cart she asked, “Why do you stick around every time you see me upset? Most people would just leave.” Surge said it without any venom. She just felt kind of defeated after the day she had. “Do you get some kinda sick satisfaction from seeing me like this?”

“Of course not!” Lanolin took Surge’s other hand too, so Surge was facing her. “When I see you hurting I want to help. I don’t want you to go through this stuff alone.”

“Why do you care if I’m hurting? It doesn’t affect you.”

“But it does. I don’t like seeing my friends upset.” Lanolin dropped her hands to rub Surge’s shoulders instead.

‘Friends.’ Lanolin kept calling her that. Maybe that’s what they were. Surge didn’t have anyone else to compare her to. Not even Kit. The boy was a lot of things to her, assistant, sidekick, comrade… Victim. Fellow survivor. But friend? It just wasn’t the right word for whatever they were.

But maybe she could be his friend if she made things right. She’d made friends with Lanolin somehow, she could do it again.

Surge hated to admit it but talking about her feelings had actually helped. A little bit.

“I, um… feel better now.”

“Then let’s go home so you can apologize to Kit. And fix the wall.”

Surge cringed. “Yeah, I guess that’s fair.”

“I’ll call Sonic.” Lanolin unclipped her bell, and her wisp floated out from where it was nestled in her wool.

Surge swiped the bell out of her hands. “I’d rather walk all the way home on broken glass than be carried by that blue boyscout!”

“Really?” Lanolin fixed her with a conspiratorial look. “You don’t think it would be fun to force Sonic to pull a cart for you like a pack mule? You’d rather walk?”

Surge imagined how annoyed it would make Sonic to have to carry her. “Fine.” She handed the bell back. “But I’m not talking to him.” She clambered into the cart while Lanolin rung the bell.

He zipped to Lanolin’s side before the end of bell’s first bong. “You rang?”

‘Chaos, he’s so annoying.’

“We’re ready to go home.” Lanolin reported.

“And she just gets a free ride while I pull the cart again?”

“Yes.”

Sonic opened his mouth to protest but Lanolin put her hands on her hips and stared him down.

Sonic sighed, defeated. “Fine. But you owe me twice my usual chili dog rate.”

“You’re changing the price last minute? That’s dishonest.”

“The first price was just for one person. You got me pulling twice the weight; I want twice the pay! Also,” Sonic lowered his voice, speaking behind his glove. “It’s you-know-who in that cart.”

Surge raised her fist from inside the cart to flick him off.

“I’ll pay your fee. Four weeks worth of chili dogs. But it’s max one a day!” Sonic extended a hand for Lanolin to shake. She obliged. Sonic took his place at the front of the wagon as Lanolin climbed into the cart, scooting up against Surge.

Sonic didn’t waste any time grabbing the cart’s handles and taking off toward the HQ, running just a tad slower this time around. Even at less-than-top-speed the cart still zoomed across the landscape.

Lanolin quietly put her arm around Surge’s shoulders as the tenrec shivered again. Her other hand took one of Surge’s and she brushed the back of it with her thumb. Surge leaned her head against Lanolin’s collarbone. Even if Sonic took his eyes off the road to look back, he wouldn’t be able to see anything over the high sides of the cart.

“Sorry I blew off our date.” Surge grumbled, hoping Sonic couldn’t hear over the wind rushing by them.

“This can count as our date if you want.”

“But we haven’t- I mean if you want to.” Surge joked, “It’s pretty bold with Möbius’s number one hero right there but-“

Lanolin side eye’d Surge coyly. “That’s not what I meant. Are you sure you’re even in the mood after all this?”

“Not really,” Surge conceded. “Maybe tomorrow?”

“How about we don’t try to plan it out beforehand. I don’t want you to feel like you have to, uh…” Lanolin waved her hand in a circle in the air looking for the right words. “Put out, just because we scheduled it.

“Besides,” Lanolin pressed her lips to Surge’s cheek. “We don’t have to have sex. I like being around you like this.” Having a body to press against, even fully clothed, felt nice. It must’ve felt good to Lanolin too, because she seemed pleased and serene.

Surge was exhausted and leaning against Lanolin’s plush warmth made staying awake an impossible task.

“It’s okay,” Lanolin said against Surge’s temple. “Rest. I’ll wake you up when we’re a mile out.”

Surge cuddled into the sheep’s fluff and shut her eyes. She was amazed that she could relax this easily with another person around. She was unguarded and yet didn’t feel at all threatened. She couldn’t imagine purposefully making herself this vulnerable when she lived with Starline.

Maybe she was just too tired to care.

Surge drifted off to sleep with the scent of clean wool. Lanolin rubbed her back diligently.

Chapter Text

It was late, well after midnight, when they finally got home. That was just as well to Surge. She didn’t need anyone seeing her sneak back to her room with her tail between her legs. 

Sonic dropped the cart off at the HQ, gave a curt wave to Lanolin, and sped off to wherever he normally slept. He was too tired for anymore small talk. That too, was just as well to Surge. She really didn’t want to talk to anyone right now.

Surge followed Lanolin into the Restoration’s entry room and was met by Whisper, Tangle, Jewel, and Kit, who sat hunched, away from the girls. All eyes were immediately on Surge and for the first time in her whole life (that she could remember) Surge didn’t want the attention. 

“Surge!” Jewel flitted over to her. “Welcome back! How are you feeling?” The bug’s mouth smiled but her eyes were tense, like she was looking at a bomb. 

“I’m fine.” 

“Happy to hear it,” Tangle said too enthusiastically for the situation. Whisper stood without a word and made for the door. Tangle glanced back at her girlfriend before adding, “It’s pretty late. We just wanted to stay up until you got home. To make sure you’re okay, and all.”

“Yeah well I’m back, so no need to hang around any longer.” Surge made for the hallway but stopped as her eyes met Kit’s. The little fox tugged on the straps of his backpack and shifted from foot to foot. 

Jewel and Tangle read the room and quietly slipped out to give them privacy. Before following her teammates, Lanolin looked back at Surge, checking in one more time. Surge gave her a simple nod and the sheep left her alone with Kit.

“Hey.”

“Hi.” Kit fidgeted with his hands. “I’m really sorry-“

“Kit, you don’t need to do that!” Kit was taken aback by her interruption. She needed to get it out quickly before she lost her nerve. “I need to apologize to you. I haven’t been treating you right. I don’t own you and if you want to spend time with other people I shouldn’t try to stop you. If you like them more than me, I get it. They’re nice to you and I haven’t been.”

“Surge slow down! It’s okay! I understand, it’s just how you are.”

“I don’t want that to be ‘how I am!’ I don’t want hurting people to be one of my personality traits. I can’t use what happened in the past as an excuse to hurt people who weren’t responsible for it.” Her voice crackled with emotion. “I don’t want people to be scared of me anymore. I don’t want you to be scared of me anymore.” 

Kit ran at her and Surge braced herself for impact. But instead of hitting her, his thin arms wrapped around her in a tight hug. “I forgive you,” he said into her shirt.

Surge wiped at her eyes, then hugged him back. She swallowed dryly. There was something she had to know. “Kit, do you mean that or is it the programming? It’s okay if you aren’t ready to forgive me.”

Kit thought for a moment, his brow furrowing. “I… think it’s real. I don’t want you to be sad about it anymore.” 

That answer wasn’t comforting to Surge. Kit still couldn’t tell his own feelings from his programming. Surge knew she’d still be mad if she were him.

“It might be good for us to have a little more distance.”

Kit’s eyes widened. “What do you mean? You don’t want me around?”

“No, that’s not it! I still want to hang out sometimes. I just think we should try to be less codependent. Each do our own thing, ya know?”

Kit’s little body shook with anxious energy. “But I need to help you! What about what happened today? If I hadn’t been there you could’ve gotten hurt, or you could’ve-” he cut himself off but they both knew what he would’ve said. 

‘Hurt someone else.’

“You don’t need to be responsible for me, Kit. If I’m gonna get better, I’ll need to work on myself. So,” she knew this was going to hurt, “I think we should find out who we are apart from each other.” 

Kit stared at the ground. He was quiet long enough for Surge to wonder if he blacked out. The only indication he was still in there were his shaking fists.

Surge wasn’t sure how to help. What would Lanolin do?

Surge bend down beside him and put hand on his shoulder. “I’m not mad at you, ya know? I just…” It was time to be painfully honest. Painful for her at least. “When I saw how well you were getting along with Belle and them, I got jealous that you seemed so happy. Then I felt bad because I realized it was messed up for me to be upset that you were making other friends.”

Kit stared up at her, taking in every word carefully. 

“So I think spending more time apart will help us get better separately.” 

Kit nodded sadly. “If you think that’s what’s best,” He said in a pained whisper. “Then I’ll do it.” It wasn’t the reasoning Surge wanted but at least he agreed. “I can sleep in the lab tonight.”

“No, it’s okay. I have… um… I can probably...” Kit stared at her, confused by her stumbling. She didn’t want to admit that she already had a roommate in mind. “I’m pretty sure Lanolin has a sleeping bag I can borrow until we can move my bed into a different room.” 

“Ok,” Kit said, with no indication that he doubted her. “I kinda miss the old Restoration building. They had plenty of spare rooms.” 

“Yeah, bummer we only got to live it up there for like two days.” 

Kit offered a sympathetic chuckle. “Well, I guess I should probably get to bed.”

“Same here.” Then Surge added to smooth things over, “I’ll see you around.” It didn’t seem to help. Kit gave her a bittersweet nod and walked toward his room. 

Surge paced in the entry room for a bit, giving Kit plenty of time to get to their once-shared room. Then she made her way, somewhat bashfully, to Lanolin’s room. 

Surge knocked on the door softly, hoping the sheep wasn’t already asleep. The door opened almost immediately. Lanolin was in her pajamas; little yellow shorts and a thin tank top that hid nothing. Surge’s line of sight sank to Lanolin’s chest.

Lanolin wasted no time ushering her into the lamp-lit room. “You okay?” It seemed like she had an idea of how her conversation with Kit went. 

“I think we will be. But I’m giving him some time to be on his own. I told him I’d find somewhere else to sleep tonight.” Surge hoped Lanolin understood what she meant.

Lanolin nodded, clearly prepared for this outcome. “You’re welcome to stay here tonight, but we’ll need to think of a more permanent solution in the morning.”

“So… the floor or…?” It was obvious what answer Surge was fishing for. 

“I don’t mind sharing the bed.” Lanolin gave her arm a gentle squeeze. 

“If you insist! Just try to keep your hands off me, okay?” Surge winked. She desperately needed the sympathetic atmosphere in the room to change. 

“I’ll try my best,” Lanolin offered a tired smile. “Do you want to borrow some pjs?”

Surge didn’t want to admit that she usually just slept in her regular clothes. So she just nodded. Lanolin found her some loose fitting lounge pants and a worn t-shirt. Now to just change into the pjs.

Surge looked over at Lanolin, as she burrowed into the covers. Suddenly she was very nervous to undress. Almost as nervous as last time she was in Lanolin’s room like this. 

‘That’s not gonna happen tonight. Calm down! She’s just getting into bed. Like everyone does every night. And you’re gonna change into pjs the way a normal person does and you’re not gonna make it weird!’ Lanolin yawned and stretched her arms above her head. Her heavy bust strained the fabric of her shirt. ‘Fuck! Stop staring!’

“I’m gonna brush my teeth! I’ll be right back!” Surge tossed the pjs onto her shoulder and fled from the room, forcing herself not to run.

‘Be normal about this!’ Surge thought feverishly as she stalked down the hall. ‘Don’t be a freak. You shouldn’t be worry after the day you’ve had! What’s wrong with you?’ 

Surge pushed open the bathroom door and was affronted by a wall of steam. Water pattered loudly onto the tile within the farthest stall.

“Babe?” Tangle called above the noise of the shower. 

“Uh no,” Surge answered.

“My bad.” The faucet creaked, shutting off the water. The yellow towel hanging over the stall door shrank as the lemur pulled it to her side.

Surge forcefully ignored the recognition that there was a naked woman just eight feet way. But it was fruitless. She immediately imagined Tangle’s athletic body dripping with water. ‘Your chronic desperation is so pathetic.’ She shook the thoughts out of her head and grabbed her toothbrush. She stood in front of the gauzy, steam clouded mirror and started ferociously brushing her bear-trap teeth. 

Tangle emerged, wrapped up tightly in her towel. She wrung her tail out over the drain and walked to the neighboring sink. She reached up with her tail to clear a circle in the mirror. 

“Whoops, let me get your’s too.” Surge glued her eyes to the faucet as Tangle unleashed her reflection onto her. “I usually don’t take such steamy showers but something about showering in the middle of the night just makes me want to be in a steam room, ya know?”

Surge spat minty froth into the sink and looked to Tangle, keeping her gaze safely away from the mirror. “Why were you showering so late anyway? You and the wolf make a mess?”

“That’s not any of your business.” Tangle gave her a challenging smile, and retrieved a tube of lotion from the drawer. “I got a late start on my nightly routine. I was waiting up for someone, if you remember.” 

“I didn’t ask you to do that. That was your idea.” 

“Actually,” Tangle said as she rubbed the lotion into her fur. “Whisper wanted to wait up for you.”

What? “You mean for Lanolin?”

Tangle shrugged. “She just said we should wait up until Lani brought you home.” 

“Maybe she thought I’d come home in a body bag, and she wanted to celebrate.” Surge joked. Why else would Whisper be so invested in her? Her time probably would’ve been better spent barricading the doors.

“I think she’s getting used to you.” Tangle gave her a smile that felt genuinely… genuine. Between that smile and the fact the lemur was still in just a towel, Surge’s insides jolted. Not in a horny way, she didn’t think? Or at least, not just in a horny way. In a kinda fuzzy way. 

Surge didn’t have time to analyze it. She had to get her guard back up; step back into a territory she was more comfortable in; Vague flirting. “At least she finally stopped growling at me every time I get within ten feet of you.”

“Well, It did take her a while to get over what you did at the sweepstakes.” The lemur pulled her tail in front of her to show off the two fist-width stripes of noticeably thinner fur. “Longer than it took the fur on my tail to grow back.”

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure I already apologized for that.” 

“You have not.”

“I mean, maybe not with words but-“ 

“You also never apologized to Whisper for stealing her wisps.”

“I guess you can tell her I’m sorry, or whatever.”

“You can tell her yourself.”

Surge scoffed and put the toothbrush back in her mouth so she wouldn’t have to answer. 

“You bunking with Lanolin tonight?”

Surge bite down hard on the toothbrush. ‘Had Tangle seen them together? Did Lanolin say something to her?’ “How’d you know?”

“Those are her pjs, right.” Tangle pointed to the clothes still slung over Surge’s shoulder. 

‘Oh.’ Surge was relieved. “I’m sleeping on her floor until me and Kit get our room situated figured out.”

“The floor? Sure.” Tangle winked at her, detecting her lie. She headed to the door. “By the way, and I’m telling you this as respectfully as possible, you should take a quick shower. I can tell you went for a run today.” Tangle slipped out of the bathroom before Surge had time to react. 

Aw man, did she stink? Did Lanolin notice? Chaos, that’s embarrassing! My spines are probably a mess too! She could look in the mirror and find out for sure but she wasn’t ready to see herself yet. 

Instead, Surge shed her clothes, left the pjs on the counter, grabbed the bottle of 3 in 1 she shared with Kit, and rushed into the shower stall. A cold shower would probably do her some good but it was late and she didn’t want to shock her senses right before bed. In the end she settled on lukewarm. 

She showered as fast as she could, careful not to  activate her electricity. That would certainly end badly. 

Just as she rinsed the last of the suds off her she realized something important. She didn’t bring a towel! 

‘Don’t stress! The restoration has their shit together. Surely they have extras somewhere in here.’ 

Surge stepped out of the shower, dripping wet. She buzzed around the room, opening cabinets, leaving a trail of water on the floor. 

Toilet paper, extra soap, glass cleaner. No, no, no. Blow dryer? Maybe? Ugh, there wasn’t time for that! She was naked in the shared bathroom, just tempting fate! She needed a quicker solution.

Surge bent forward and shook like a dog, her speed causing droplets of water to shoot off her fur. She’d be air-dried in no time! She was a genius!

“What are you doing?”

Surge froze, hunched like a bony little cryptid in the beam of a flashlight, staring wide-eyed at the intruder. Lanolin gawked at her. She looked more troubled by this moment than by any of Surge’s previous episodes. Her face grew redder as her eyes took in Surge’s feral state. 

“Is… is this how you do it every time?” Lanolin asked in a hollow voice.

The question stirred Surge from her statue form. She couldn’t allow Lanolin to think she did this normally. “No! I just forgot my towel!” She spoke fast, nervous words slipping out as she tried to explain. “And I couldn’t leave the room like this so I was looking for something to dry off with. You guys don’t keep towels in here? That’s crazy. Everyone just keeps towels in their room and brings them to the bathroom? Why? You think I’m gonna steal them?” Her body burned with shame as she fought with her instincts not to cover herself with her hands. That would look just a bit too pathetic.

Lanolin looked around at the dripping ceiling and walls. “You could’ve done it in the stall.”

“I- yeah, I definitely could have done that.” Surge tried to stand as nonchalantly as she could while naked, a bit cold, and still pretty wet. 

“I’ll get you a towel.” Lanolin disappeared. Surge stepped back into to stall; she didn’t need to be walked in on by anyone else. She thunked her forehead against the door over and over. 

‘So stupid. You just stood there like a wet rat! At least that wasn’t her first time seeing me naked. It might be the last time though. No way she’s still hot for me after that.’

Lanolin returned moments later and passed the towel over the stall door. “I’m sorry for walking in on you.” She said while Surge roughed up her fur with the fluffy towel.

“No, that was my bad. I shouldn’t have done that outside the stall. I wasn’t thinking.” Surge wrapped herself up and stepped out. 

“We can start keeping our towels in here. We just got used to doing it dorm-style at the old HQ. We were sharing the bathroom with a lot more people back then.” Lanolin sounded wistful. 

The Restoration’s enrollment had taken a hit after what happened with Clean Sweep, as did the general morale. “Anyway,” Lanolin blinked away her thoughts. “Let’s get to bed.” 

“Didn’t you need something from the bathroom? Why’d you come in here to begin with?” Surge gathered her clothes and the borrowed pjs. She wasn’t dry enough to wear them yet. 

“I just came to check on you. You said you were going to brush your teeth and then you didn’t come back. I got a little worried…” Lanolin toyed with a coil of her wool, “that you found somewhere else to sleep.”

“I don’t think I could do much better than your bed,” Surge joked. 

They got back to Lanolin’s room without anyone seeing. Surge, still too wet to don the pjs, pulled the towel tighter around her. She felt Lanolin’s eyes looking over her bare shoulders.

Normally she wouldn’t be so concerned with being covered up. Kit would always turn away but even if he didn’t, she wouldn’t have cared. They’d seen plenty of each other during the “showers” at Starline’s lab. Once you’ve been sprayed with a fire hose together enough times, nudity loses it’s awkwardness. However, it wasn’t Kit Surge was changing in front of. It was Lanolin. 

Sure, she’d seen Surge naked before but that was different! It had been dark and Surge had been… distracted. Right now however, Surge was very aware of her own body. Her bony, cut-up, freakish body. 

Surge was sure she wasn’t in any danger, but her heart still raced and her palms grew damp. She wasn’t scared but her stomach turned. It was a feeling she didn’t have a name for. She didn’t want to be looked at anymore. 

“If you’re gonna stare, I should charge admittance to the show.” It could’ve been mistaken as a joke, but Surge’s voice was fragile.

“What’s this one from?” Lanolin spoke as gently as her fingers moved; tracing a scar until it disappeared under the towel. As comforting as the touch should’ve been, Surge couldn’t keep herself from pulling away.

“I don’t want to talk about that. Now stop staring at me!” Surge growled, pronouncing each word sharply. She knew her sudden mood shift wasn’t warranted but her body was ready to attack and the feeling escaped through her voice.

“I’m sorry,” Lanolin said, turning away. “I overstepped.” Surge heard her footsteps receded to the other side of the room. She quickly changed into the pajamas and tied up her quills in the towel. She didn’t care that the clothes stuck to her still-damp body, she just needed to be covered again. 

Surge looked at her gloves, in a pile with the rest of her clothes. She debated for a moment but eventually put them on. She didn’t care if they looked out of place, she wanted to cover up as much of her damaged body as she could.

When Surge turned around she saw Lanolin facing the wall, waiting patiently holding her hands behind her back like a soldier. Surge felt kinda bad for blowing up at her. 

“It’s safe now. You can turn around.” 

Lanolin took in Surge in her own old clothes and smiled. “They’re a bit big on you but you look cute.” 

‘Cute?’

“You still think I’m cute? My fucked up back didn’t ruin it for you?”

Lanolin’s smile faded into concern. She was silent while she turned on the lamp on her nightstand. She said nothing while she hit the light switch, sinking the room into the comforting glow of the lamp. Then she sat on the edge of the bed and, though she didn’t make any motion for Surge to join her, she left plenty of room beside her. “Do you remember what I said last night about not lying to you?”

‘Geez, that was only yesterday? It felt like forever ago.’

“Yeah.” 

“I find you incredibly attractive.” Lanolin said seriously. “I like looking at you. I like that your scars give you character. They show how much you’ve been through.”

“Don’t be so sappy.” Surge scoffed.

“Well, how about this; I think your scars are hot. They make you look like a badass.”

Surge paused, any argument she had forming died in her throat. After an embarrassing silence she mustered up a choked, “Do you mean that?”

Lanolin reached out a hand to Surge. The tenrec had to admit, the sight of Lanolin sitting on a bed, in tiny pajamas, reaching out to her was impossible to resist. She took Lanolin’s hand and let the sheep tug her down beside her. 

Lanolin kissed her on the forehead. “I like you. And we don’t have to be having sex for me to enjoy your company.” She held Surge’s hand like she had in the cart. “If you aren’t ready to show me all your scars, that’s okay. I’ll wait.”

Surge swallowed. Lanolin sounded like she meant it. The fuzzy feeling came back even worse than before. 

“Now,” The sheep continued, her blue eyes drooping. “I’m sleepy, and I know you’re exhausted too, so let’s go to bed.”

“Okay,” Surge didn’t mean to whisper but her voice came out weak and soft. Unrecognizable to her. 

Lanolin slipped under the covers, inviting Surge in after her. Maybe it was the thousand miles she ran, or the emotional exhaustion of splitting up with Kit, but Surge could barely keep her eyes open as Lanolin pulled the covers up around them. As soon as the sheep flicked off the light, Surge was asleep. 

Chapter Text

Lanolin was a light sleeper. She had been one her entire life, but it had gotten worse when Eggman had briefly taken over. Even after the Resistance defeated him, Lanolin kept her guard up even in her sleep. Even the smallest disturbance would wake her up. This is how she found herself woken up in the pale early morning hours. 

A small noise, a sniffle, caused Lanolin’s eyes to flutter open. She was laid out on her back, a weight on her chest pinning her in place. Surge nuzzled into Lanolin’s bust and hugged her tightly. Lanolin watched her back rise and fall quickly as she struggled in her sleep. 

Sweat beaded on Surge’s forehead and she balled her fists in Lanolin’s shirt. “N-no,” she whimpered. “You’re not real.” Her ears flattened back against her head and a broken growl gurgled in her throat. 

‘Is she dreaming about the doctor? Should I wake her? Maybe I can get more info out of her while she’s sleep-talking.’

“Whose not real?” Lanolin whispered. 

“S-stop.” Surge folded in on herself, protecting herself from something that wasn’t there. 

“What’s happening?” Lanolin tried to coax an answer from her. 

“No more tests.” Tears pooled in the corners her eyes. Lanolin bit her lip. She had more questions but as she watched Surge quiver in fear she couldn’t bring herself ask anything else.

Lanolin rubbed up and down between Surge’s shoulder blades. With her other hand she wiped Surge’s damp forehead. She was warm but not feverish. Surge whined and turned her head away. 

“Shhh, You’re okay.” Lanolin brought her hand up to Surge’s ear and she gently soothed the thin cartilage between her fingers. Surge rubbed her face against the sheep’s chest, her shoulders still shaking. Lanolin couldn’t tell if she was helping or not. “It’s okay, baby.”

Calling Surge ‘baby’ reminded Lanolin of a song. Something about losing dogs. She didn’t remember most of the words but she knew the tune. Lanolin hummed softly. She hadn’t sung in a while but she was told she had a nice voice. She hoped a woman’s voice would help remind Surge where she was. 

As Lanolin hummed, Surge’s grip on the her tank top loosened. Her breathing, while still shaky, slowed down steadily. Lanolin gently scratched behind her ear, while her other hand pet long strokes from between Surge’s shoulders to the base of her tail. 

By the time Lanolin finished humming Surge was sleeping soundly again. Unwilling to move and risk waking Surge, Lanolin eventually drifted back to sleep as well. 

Chapter Text

Lanolin scooted her bed over one final foot, finally content with its position in the room. Its headboard now rested against the center of the wall instead of in the corner. This way she and Surge wouldn’t have to climb over each other to get in and out of bed. Lanolin had asked her that morning if she wanted to bring in a second bed but between the already small size of the room and the hassle it would be to move in the furniture, Surge shrugged and said it’d be easier to share.

Even though Surge didn’t admit it, Lanolin got the feeling that her choice was heavily influenced by the cuddles she’d woken up to. Surge hadn’t mentioned what happened early that morning, but she had blushed when she woke up in Lanolin’s arms. Lanolin couldn’t tell if that meant she remembered last night or if she was just embarrassed by the drool mark on Lanolin’s tank top.

Lanolin moved her nightstand to what she figured would be her side of the bed. She had to unplug the lamp on it but luckily, enough light shone through the window that it hardly made a difference.

As she stood back to admire her work someone knocked at the door. Surge stepped in, not waiting to be invited. It was her room now. The knock had just been a courtesy.

“I fixed the wall.” Surge pulled at the front of her shirt to show off the glop of spackle as evidence of her hard work.

“Good job.” Lanolin said adjusting the quilt on the bed. 

“You haven’t even seen it yet. I could have done a shit job.”

“I’m trusting you. Do you think you did a good job?” Lanolin looked deep into her eyes, trying to detect honesty.

“Um well,” Surge squirmed under her gaze. “It’s like a seven out of ten. Unlike you, gorgeous!” Surge shot finger guns, changing the subject. “You’re a ten out of ten! At least! If it went higher than ten you’d be that! Because you’re so hot!”

Lanolin rolled her eyes but smiled despite herself. “Thank you, Surge. You’re at least a ten too. We can forget about the wall.”

“Good!” Surge looked relieved, then noticed the change in the room. “I like what you did with the bed. Can’t wait to try it out.” She gave Lanolin a toothy smile.

“Oh yeah?” Lanolin wrapped an arm around Surge’s waist and pulled her near. “Why don’t we get you out of that shirt?”

Surge’s flirty expression slipped for a moment. “It’s still pretty bright out.” She said with a nervous lilt. Surge glanced at the window, her eyes betraying how uncomfortable she was.

Lanolin didn’t have curtains and the blinds did little to keep out the afternoon sun.

“Hold on, I can do something about that.”

Lanolin, like any decent butch, kept a toolbox under her desk. The hammer and nails were easy to find but she had to think for a moment about what would make the best makeshift curtains. Eventually she settled on a towel, the same one Surge had used last night. It was pretty thick. Hopefully dark enough to block out the daylight.

“Hold the other side up for me, please.” Lanolin asked as she positioned her side of the towel. Surge obeyed. The towel darkened the room considerably. It was dark enough that after hammering the first side of the towel to the wall, Lanolin had to turn the lamp back on.

Once she’d hammered the second nail in place Lanolin stood back to look at the slightly crooked towel. “It’s about a seven out of ten job, but I think it’ll do.” She smirked at Surge.

Surge tried to restrain her smile as she reached for the lamp. The room was plunged into darkness for just a moment as Lanolin’s eyes adjusted. It was dark, certainly, but she could still make out Surge’s slightly glowing eyes and her silhouette as the tenrec pulled off her shirt.

“I take it this is dark enough?”

“Yes.” Tactless hands found Lanolin’s shoulders and pulled her against Surge’s body. Lanolin’s hands rested against the strained fabric of Surge’s sports bra. It was old and worn, and yet still too tight.

The tenrec missed Lanolin’s lips, pressing her lips to the corner of her mouth. On the second try Surge connected her lips to Lanolin’s. Surge kissed her ferociously, desperately, and in a way that made it clear to Lanolin that she was very inexperienced. Lanolin hadn’t been kissed like this since she was in high school. Messy and needy but sweet. Honest, in a way. Surge always held up that faux tough-girl facade, but now cloaked in darkness, she must’ve felt free to act on instinct.

Surge reached her arms around Lanolin’s neck and coiled her fingers in her wool. Lanolin allowed Surge’s tongue to enter her mouth. It was safer for Lanolin to keep her own tongue away from Surge’s fangs.

Surge felt around blindly for the hair ties that contained Lanolin’s mane, and removed them one by one. Lanolin’s thick white curls cascaded down her back and fell in messy ringlets around her face. The tenrec’s fingers wound back into her wool and she tugged firmly.

Surge walked them backward to the bed, dropping onto the mattress clumsily when the edge pressed against the back of her knees. Lanolin, being lead by the fists in her hair, had no choice but to follow closely. When Surge fell backward Lanolin fell with her. She braced her hands on either side of Surge’s head to keep from knocking their heads together.

Lanolin pulled her knees onto the bed, straddling Surge. She pressed herself down hard onto Surge’s waist, grinding through her clothes.

Surge released Lanolin’s curls and grabbed the edge of her shirt instead. Lanolin sat up and allowed Surge to pull the shirt over her head. She tossed it to the floor carelessly.

Surge sat up, pulling herself up by Lanolin’s shoulders. Lanolin parted her lips, eager to be kissed again. But it wasn’t her lips that were met with Surge’s mouth. The sheep jumped in surprise as Surge pressed her face into her cleavage. The tenrec squeezed her over her bra as she sucked on the soft skin of her breast.

“Having fun?” Lanolin asked as she felt a hot tongue paint her skin.

Surge hummed a pleased response, not pulling her head up from Lanolin’s chest.

“Let me make things easier for you.” Lanolin reached backward and unhooked her bra, shrugged it off, and let it drop onto Surge’s lap. Her freed breasts drowned Surge, who struggled to keep their weight from spilling out of her hands.

While Surge readjusted her focus to Lanolin’s nipples, the sheep eased the hair band out of Surge’s spines. She played with the tenrec’s quills distractedly while Surge took a quickly firming bud into her mouth.

Lanolin worried for a moment as she felt sharp teeth graze her sensitive skin, but then a velvety tongue quickly spread itself protectively over her nipple. Surge sucked diligently as her hand kneaded Lanolin’s other breast.

Lanolin allowed her hips to move back and forth over Surge’s lap. The tenrec’s free hand slipped down to Lanolin’s lower back, just at the base of her tail. She scritched at the thin fur there and Lanolin had to fight not to bounce her leg reflexively.

“Can I take your bra off?” Lanolin asked, moving her hands from Surge’s hair to the band of her bra.

Surge pulled her mouth away from Lanolin’s breast. “Sure.” She let go of Lanolin to raise her arms. There was no clip in the back so Lanolin eased the elastic upward and over Surge’s modest bust. She carefully maneuvered it over Surge’s head. ‘How does she get this thing on by herself?’

Lanolin tossed the bra aside. She brushed her hands down the sides of Surge’s torso, noticing the dimple the tight band had dug into her. “Awfully tight. Isn’t that uncomfortable?”

“I guess,” Surge shrugged. Then she added bashfully, “It’s the only one I own.”

“Let’s go shopping tomorrow. We’ll get you some bras that fit.”

“O-okay?” Surge sounded unsure. Then she added, “As long as you’re paying.”

“Deal.” Lanolin kissed her again then pulled off her fingerless-gloves. She brought her hands around to feel Surge’s mostly flat chest. Her nipples pebbled under Lanolin’s fingers. “How do you want to do this?”

“You should take off your pants.” Surge tugged at her waistband.

“Okay, and after that?”

“We can just go with the flow.” Surge undid Lanolin’s cargos, her fingers beginning to fish around beneath the fabric.

Lanolin frowned at the non-answer. She still didn’t know what made Surge so uncomfortable their first time. She didn’t want to overwhelm her again. “Are you sure you don’t want to establish some ground rules?”

Surge hesitated. Lanolin watched her glowing eyes narrow. “Whatever you want to do, I’ll handle it,” Surge said seriously.

“I don’t want you to have to ‘Handle it.’” Lanolin’s air-quotes could be heard in her voice even if Surge couldn’t see her gesture. “I want every part of this to be good for you. Tell me what you want.”

Surge’s hand stilled. In the low light Lanolin saw the girl shrink in on herself. “I’m not sure. I haven’t… I don’t really know what I’m doing.” She sounded small. Fragile. It was these rare moments of honesty that made Lanolin’s heart hurt for the girl. As prickly as Surge could be, underneath all that she was a scared, lonely girl.

Lanolin wrapped her arms around Surge, pulling her against her soft chest. She rubbed up and down her scarred back with one hand while the other rested on her cheek. “We’ll learn together.” Surge, after a moment of shock, pulled her hand out of Lanolin’s pants to hug her back.

Eventually Lanolin eased back, keeping her hands on Surge. “Do you know about stoplight safewords?”

Surge shook her head, then realized Lanolin could barely see her do that. “No.”

“If I ask how you’re feeling while we’re doing something you can just tell me ‘green, yellow, or red light.’ Green means keep going. Yellow means take a quick break to talk. Red means we immediately stop. You don’t have to explain anything to me, you can just say one word and we’re all done. Do you think that would work for you?”

“Yeah,” Surge swallowed nervously. “I can do that.”

“Good. I really should have set up safewords before our first time too.” Lanolin toyed with the end of Surge’s quill, a little embarrassed as she admitted, “I was too excited. It slipped my mind.”

Surge made a self-satisfied noise. “I got ya too hot and bothered, huh?”

“You certainly did.” Lanolin brought a hand back around to rest on Surge’s chest. “And I’m pretty hot and bothered now too. You ready?”

“Sure am! Or uh…green light, I guess.” Surge slipped both thumbs into either side of Lanolin’s waistband and slid the pants down her hips. Lanolin raised up on her knees, helping Surge get them the rest of the way off.

Surge pressed a hand to Lanolin’s mound but the sheep set a hand over hers to make her pause. “Your gloves?”

“Oh, right.” Surge pulled her hand away and slowly pealed off her gloves. Lanolin had noticed her gloves were special to her but she needed them off for what was about to happen.

Surge returned her bare hand to the front of Lanolin’s underwear. Lanolin rested herself on Surge’s thighs and kissed her again. This time Lanolin was brave enough to loose her tongue into Surge’s mouth and explore around her jagged teeth.

Surge, preoccupied with massaging Lanolin, didn’t have much of a reaction to the sheep returning a hand to her breast. The tenrec was wholly focused on rubbing forward and back over the thin fabric hiding Lanolin’s folds. Her other hand followed the line of the woman’s spine downward until it disappeared beneath her panties. Surge palmed Lanolin’s plump rear, squeezing her fingers into the soft skin.

Surge’s front hand pulled gently at the edge of the panties threatening to uncover Lanolin’s privates. She pulled away from Lanolin’s mouth enough to shyly ask, “Can I?”

“You may.” With permission granted, Surge released her grip on Lanolin’s ass and pulled the fabric down her thighs. Lanolin couldn’t see it, but she suspected there was a thin slick trail between herself and the underwear.

Surge eagerly returned her hand to Lanolin’s body. Her thumb traced her folds up to her clit and pressed against it firmly while her fingers flirted with her entrance. Her other hand laid flat on Lanolin’s lower back and pressed her forward against Surge’s front. Lanolin could feel the woman’s rapid heartbeat against her chest.

Lanolin put her arms around Surge’s shoulders, holding steady while she bounced her hips against her hand. She buried her face in Surge’s neck which muffled her moan as she pressed a finger into her.

The first few exploratory pumps were shallow and shy but Surge quickly got more comfortable and a minute later a second finger joined the first.

Lanolin shifted off of her knees, wrapping her legs around Surge’s hips. With her feet crossed behind Surge’s back she pulled herself as close to the tenrec as she could.

In the dark it was easy for Lanolin to focus on the sounds the two of them made together. Surge’s hurried breathing, her own gasps, the bed’s rhythmic creaking, and of course the wet sounds of arousal echoed in Lanolin’s ears.

“You’re doing so good.” Lanolin was halfway out of her head, enjoying the stretch and fullness of her fingers, but she was present enough to notice Surge shiver at her words. “Do you like that? When I praise you?”

“Um hm!” Surge swallowed hard and nuzzled into Lanolin’s shoulder. She was cute. Too cute not to kiss.

Lanolin kissed along Surge’s neck, feeling the tenrec’s raging pulse against her tongue. Her fingers fluttered inside Lanolin. Her thumb strummed over her clit with an inhuman speed. Lanolin could get rid of her vibrator. This was way better.

Lanolin ground herself down onto Surge’s hand, her hips moving in short but hard thrusts. “Keep going, baby,” she choked out. “I’m almost there.”

At that, Surge burst with uncontainable energy. She flipped Lanolin onto the bed. She rested one foot on the ground, her knee pulled up on the bed beside Lanolin’s hip. Her free hand pressed between Lanolin’s breasts, pinning her down. Her other hand was aided by her thigh as she rocked her whole body against Lanolin. Her palm ground into her clit while her fingers clumsily fucked her.

Lanolin reached up for her. She struggled to catch Surge, but when she did she yanked the tenrec down against her chest. Surge pressed her mouth to Lanolin’s neck and licked and nibbled on her skin. Surge rocked her hand against Lanolin’s pussy harshly and Lanolin urged her body in time with her.

“Finish me,” Lanolin begged. Surge groaned and sucked on Lanolin’s skin. Lanolin realized she’d almost certainly have a mark. It’d be hidden just under her collar. One piece of fabric would be the only thing keeping everyone from knowing about her and Surge. Lanolin hissed sharply as she came.

She squirted into Surge’s hand, and between that, and the grip her pussy had on her fingers, Surge understood and slowed her pace considerably.

Surge let go of her neck. “Are you okay?”

“I’m great,” Lanolin panted. She relaxed her grip on Surge.

The tenrec slipped her hand out from between Lanolin’s thighs. Surge carefully rested her wet hand on the other woman’s hip and collapsed on top of Lanolin’s body.

Lanolin brushed Surge’s quills out of her face. They rested for a moment while Lanolin caught her breath.

“Do you want me to get off of you?”

“No, stay.” Lanolin rubbed Surge’s back while she rested. Surge made a noise like a purr and rested her head on Lanolin’s chest.

Lanolin gave herself about 5 minutes before patting Surge firmly on the back and sitting up. “Your turn. Want to pick up where we left off the first time?”

Surge sat up anxiously, “Yes!”

Chapter Text

“Pants off,” Lanolin commanded. She listened to the shuffle of clothes falling to the ground. Then she heard the creak of a body perching on the edge of the bed.

“Remember, if you don’t like something I’m doing, tell me.” With that Lanolin sank to her knees beside the bed. She groped in the dark for a moment looking for Surge. Her hands landed on the tenrec’s knees.

Lanolin shifted her hands up Surge’s legs to where they met her torso. Lanolin was pleased to find there was no underwear in her way. She squeezed the meaty part of Surge’s muscular thighs.

Lanolin leaned forward between Surge’s legs, inhaling the mouthwatering scent. She pressed a hand to Surge’s abs, encouraging her to lean back. With her other hand she spread open Surge’s folds.

Lanolin lead with her tongue, mushing it clumsily into Surge’s salty folds. She kept her tongue soft and malleable as she squirmed inside her. Surge jumped at the intensity and Lanolin eased back a bit.

It had been way too long since Lanolin had eaten out a woman. She was admittedly out of practice. She did have a brief… “encounter” she guessed she’d call it, with a Clean Sweepstakes racer between rounds. But fucking in the Stadium bar’s bathroom for seven minutes didn’t really count. It had been a bad idea. Remembering it still made her cringe.

Anyway, Lanolin didn’t need to think about that right now. Surge was her priority. She pressed her thumb against her clit and rubbed in a tight circle. When she returned her tongue to Surge’s pussy she did so slowly, giving her time to adjust.

Over time Lanolin ramped up in speed and range of movement. She knew she was no where near as fast as Surge but her routine certainly had the desired effect.

Unsure hands found Lanolin’s horns and held on tightly. Surge shuddered and took a deep, but shaky breath. Lanolin could tell she was trying to steady herself.

Lanolin pulled her tongue out of Surge. “Color?”

“Huh?” Surge needed a minute to even process what the question was. “Oh, green.”

The sheep bent forward, lapping over Surge’s folds a few times before diving back into her insides. The slippery muscles inside clenched rhythmically around Lanolin’s tongue.

Her hand switched places with her mouth, toying with Surge’s opening. Lanolin slid her mouth upward to Surge’s clit and she flicked at it with the tip of her tongue.

Lanolin slowly dipped a finger into Surge’s hole, giving her plenty of opportunity to call yellow or red. Surge didn’t. Instead she moaned as Lanolin began to ease further in. Surge’s legs folded around Lanolin’s head.

Lanolin curled her finger upward, delighted by the responsive tug she felt in return. As her moans grew louder and her insides fluttered, Lanolin knew Surge was close. She sucked diligently on Surge’s clit, hoping that would take her over the edge.

“You’re my a good girl.”

Surge clamped her legs even tighter around Lanolin’s head and buck wildly against her mouth. Lanolin flattened her tongue against Surge’s body as the tenrec moaned desperately and flooded her mouth with tangy cum.

After a moment of shocked stillness Surge fell back on the bed, relaxing her legs, and freeing Lanolin’s head. Lanolin rose shakily and sat beside her exhausted partner.

“You were so good for me.” Lanolin reached down to cup Surge’s cheek. She could already go for another round.

Surge didn’t speak. Instead she rolled toward Lanolin and rested her head on the sheep’s thick thigh, closing her glowing eyes. She pulled her legs onto the bed beside her, curling up. Lanolin let her rest, stroking up and down her ribs gently.

The tenrec’s chest rose and fell rapidly. Lanolin waited for her breathing to steady. But that didn’t happen. She tucked her legs up closer to her stomach. Her arms raised to guard her chest.

“Surge?” Lanolin rubbed her shoulder, trying to coax an answer from the panting girl. “You okay?”

“Yeah.” She practically gasped out the answer. Lanolin knew she was not ‘okay.’ She was panicking.

‘It’s like last time,’ Lanolin realized.

“Just breath.” Being curled up like that would only make it harder for her to calm down. Lanolin pulled Surge upright into a hug, stretching her torso away from her knees. She’d breath easier that way.

Lanolin reached to pet Surge’s hair, then remembered her fingers were still sticky. Instead, she ran her palm slowly up and down Surge’s back, hoping to encourage her to breath in time with the strokes. “What’s wrong?”

Surge sniffed and rubbed at her eye. “Nothing. I need to go.” She moved to sit up but Lanolin held her firmly.

“Shh, stay.” Lanolin maneuvered Surge so she was sitting across her lap. She forced herself to ignore the slick squish of Surge’s bare privates against her leg. “Breathe. Then tell me what happened?”

“I don’t know,” Surge struggled to speak. “I don’t know why I’m…”

“You don’t have to have an answer right away.” Lanolin grabbed the corner of the quilt and pulled it around the them. Being wrapped up seemed to make Surge feel better. Her inhales got deeper, her exhales longer as she rested her head against Lanolin’s chest. Eventually she relaxed, her shoulders coming down and her jaw unclenched.

“Guess I ruined the mood again.” Surge mumbled.

“You don’t have to worry about that. I just want to make sure you’re okay.”

“I’ll be fine.” She sniffled as she said it.

“I don’t want to push you…but we need to talk about this.”

“I-” Surge cut herself off and pinched the bridge of her nose. “Do we have to?”

“If you want to keep sleeping together then yes.”

Surge groaned. “I don’t know what set me off.”

Lanolin doubted that. “You really don’t have any idea?”

Surge huffed. “I guess… I don’t know how to say it.”

“What if I lead you? Could you answer a question?”

“I guess.”

“Did I hurt you?” Most important question first.

“No.” Lanolin was relieved by her answer.

“Did you want to call red light?”

“No.” Another response that reassured Lanolin, but it gave her no clue as to why Surge was so upset.

“When did you first start feeling bad?”

“I didn’t feel ‘bad’ exactly. Just weird.” It took Surge time to gather her thoughts but Lanolin waited patiently. “And it was when you said that thing.”

“What thing?”

“Being your…good girl.” Surge struggled. “Look, it was just a new feeling is all.”

“Did you like it? You came after I said it.”

“Yes? I think I did. It kinda made my stomach jump; like I was falling.”

“Do you think you were just feeling a little… sexually overwhelmed? Maybe a little vulnerable?”

Surge thought for a moment, shifting in Lanolin’s lap. “Definitely.”

“Well,” Lanolin said optimistically. “Both of those are things we can work through. The more we…experiment with each other the more used to it you’ll get.” Then Lanolin carefully amended, “If you want to.”

“Yeah,” Surge said shyly. “I’d like that. Like right now?”

“Why don’t we take a breather first.” Lanolin kissed Surge. “And we can talk about what you want to try next.”