Work Text:
When Azure was five, she started attending school. After a few months at home, getting accustomed to good humans, and learning how to be alive, Sonic thought it would be a good idea to enroll her to socialize her.
"She needs friends," he'd said when Shadow had mentioned how dangerous it could be, "She can't just stay with our family her entire life, she needs to be a kid,"
When Shadow couldn't find any reasoning against it, he enrolled her in the local kindergarten- the ONLY kindergarten in Green Hills, mind you- and they began to prepare her for it. Two weeks of learning rules and setting boundaries and she found herself freshly washed and groomed, a pair of pink overalls clasped around her body and a set of fresh clothes in her backpack. In each of her little hands a finger belonging to each of her dads, one of them significantly more at ease than the other.
"Ready to go in?" Sonic asked, using his free hand to brush the fur on her face away from her eyes.
Azure looked up at him with wide eyes, instinctively squeezing Shadow's shaking finger. "Safe?" She asked quietly, doing her best to take a deep breath, "They know?"
Sonic nodded, gently lifting her into his arms. Shadow, nervous as all hell, still didn't let go and kept a tight hold on her little hand. It would be endearing if it didn't impede Sonic's hold on their daughter.
"Yep! They know what you look like and all of your teachers said they'll treat you normally. A few of the other kids might try and pet you, but do you remember what we told you to say?"
"Please do not touch me, I don't like it!" She shouted, beaming when he gave her a nod. The nervousness from before melted away and she began to wiggle in an attempt to get down, wanting to be inside right that second.
"Remember, no running in school!" Shadow called quickly as she sped off towards the door, followed closely by her fathers.
Sonic laughed as he hopped into the building after his excitable daughter, scooping her up to keep her from zooming off and getting lost. "Your dad's right, bluebell," he said simply, carrying her giggling form down the hall.
She shrieked in glee, turning over in her papa's arms to look back at her dad. "Okay, daddy! I stay safe!"
Shadow sighed as he followed them to the colorful door, the sounds of shrieking children loud in his ears. Despite being convinced to do this and knowing that it was a good idea, he still didn't like the idea of a child as powerful as Azure being constantly surrounded by multiple human children and adults throughout the day. Especially if she had an episode during the school day. He shuddered at the mere thought as Sonic knocked on a colourful door and poked his head in.
A woman greeted them, a slightly older one with kind eyes and graying hair pinned back into a bun. She wore a simple, cream dress and a smile that almost made Shadow relax. Almost. She was still human.
"Oh hello!" She said sweetly, crouching down to be as eye level as she could with the tiny hedgehog, who was bouncing up and down on her toes, "You must be the little girl starting today,"
"I'm Azure!" The little girl supplied helpfully, giggling when Sonic rubbed the top of her head, "Hi!"
The teacher giggled back at her excitement, standing to lead the three in. "Why hello, Azure. I'm Miss Scarlet,"
Azure gasped at that, bouncing after her new teacher. "Color! Like me!" She said, voice not quite yelling but not quiet either.
Shadow had to hold himself back from telling her to keep quiet as a ton of little eyes turned to their little family. His whole body tensed and, had Sonic not been there to hold his hand, he would've yanked Azure back and teleported them both out of there. There were just so many humans- why did Earth have to be so full of them? And so many little ones, too, it was terrible.
Azure, for her credit, did slow down when she saw the amount of children in the room (19, as far as he could count) and tucked herself against Shadow's back, red green eyes watching as all human children stilled in awe of the new people that had arrived. He put a hand around her for both her comfort and his own, doing his best not to shove her behind him to protect, even though each of his instincts screamed at him to do so. That would not be a good first impression.
Miss Scarlet smiled, turning to the mass of children. "Everyone, I'd like you all to meet Azure," she said in a kind voice that felt like honey in everyone's ears, "I know she looks a little different, but please don't touch her without permission, okay? This is a lot for someone to process,"
The children all nodded, a few still eyeing Azure with their big gazes, several different colors staring back at the little hedgehog family. The little girl began to shake lightly, but still turned her attention to Miss Scarlet when she was addressed.
"Would you like to put your bag in your cubby?" She asked, gently leading Azure towards a wall of alcoves with hooks, most containing bags and a few jackets.
Once the little one deposited the bag in the cubby and dusted herself off, she quickly made her way back to her dads to give them each a big hug. "Back at 3?" She asked softly, beginning to shake in their arms.
Sonic nodded, pressing a kiss to the top of her head. "Back at three on the dot, bluebell, I promise,"
Shadow nodded, brushing a hand against her ear before she tackled him in another tight hug. "And if you need us before then, just ask the teacher to call home," he said quietly, hugging her back just as tight.
She nodded and stepped back, wiping her eyes before she took hold of Miss Scarlet's hand and allowed herself to be led deeper into the classroom. It took all of Shadow's willpower not to follow and even then, he was tugged out by his co-parent, watching for as long as he could before the door closed. A pit opened up in his stomach that he did his best to ignore in the face of being away from his girl for the first time since he met her. Thankfully, his one distraction was one of the most chatty people ever.
Azure didn't know if she liked kindergarten. There were so many new smells and sights and sounds that it was both fascinating and overwhelming, a combination that made her want to observe from afar. So she mainly stuck to the edge of the crowd, chewing on her gloved fingers as she sat at her desk.
"Now, children, it's almost time to go outside, so I want everyone to finish up their drawings and clean up!” Miss Scarlet said, making her jump slightly. A chorus of ‘yes, ma’am’s filled the small classroom and Azure echoed it as well, looking at her empty desk. Oh well, she’d draw another time.
A few kids had begun to gather at a carpet near the door, so she quickly joined them, making sure to stay at the edge so no one touched her. A few did look, eyeing her with curiosity that quickly faded when something else caught her attention, but no one approached her. As much as she would say she preferred it that way, there was still a part of her that wanted to talk to someone her age, even if it was scary.
While her attention was on the space in front of her, her mind a long ways away, someone walked up to her, making her jump when she finally noticed. It was a boy her age, long, blond hair tied into a bun on the top of his head. He had some weird superhero on the front of his shirt that she vaguely recognized from her Papa's comic books, a man covered in red and blue with webbing on his face. The boy had a paper in his hand and was staring at her intently.
She shifted on her feet, picking quietly at her fur. "Hi..." She mumbled.
The boy smiled and waved. "Hi! I'm Arthur!" He said, showing off his missing front tooth, "Why are you fuzzy?"
She blinked at the question, but did her best not to shy away. "Um...cause I'm a hedgehog," she said quietly, wrapping her arms around herself, "The quills on my head are sharp, though,"
His eyes, a pale green she noticed, went wide at that and his attention snapped to her head, one of his hands twitching. "Can I feel?"
Almost instantly, she backed up, shaking her head. "Nuh uh- sharp means it hurts," she said quickly, pushing her own, gloved hands to the rough quills on her head, "Don't touch!"
He blinked at that and nodded quickly. "O-oh! Okay! Is okay!" He said quickly, taking a step back as well, "I won't touch. Pinky promise,"
Azure frowned at that, tilting her head to the side. "What's that?" She asked, carefully bouncing closer, "What's a pinky promise?"
Arthur gasped excitedly and quickly put his drawing under his arm, extending his hand with it curled into a fist, save for the last, littlest finger sticking out. "Like this! Make your hand like this!" He said excitedly, bouncing up and down, "And then- and then we hug pinkies! And! And that promise is never broken!"
She frowned more, but did as instructed, holding her littlest finger out for him to grasp with his own. He squeezed once before letting go with a big giggle, something that made her smile just a little bit. Pinky promise...she liked that.
She shifted to stand a bit closer to him, biting at her fingers again. "What'd ya draw?" She asked, trying not to yawn. She'd barely been in class for ten minutes and was already worn out.
He smiled, holding his drawing up to show a crude image of none other than Azure herself. The body was weird and wobbly and she had too many curls, but it was definitely her. She blinked at the picture, turning to him with wide eyes.
"Is that me?"
"Mhm!" He hummed, turning when Miss Scarlet called him back to clean up the rest of his mess, “Here!”
And the drawing was shoved into Azure's little hands, the paper crinkling ever so slightly in her small hands. She squeaked, but took it, carefully holding it against her chest with big, big eyes, looking up at Arthur in shock.
He simply smiled and ran off to clean up his pencils, leaving Azure to hug the drawing of herself as close to her chest as she could without ripping it. A bubbly feeling settled in her tummy and she hid a small smile behind the paper, trying not to giggle too much. Maybe she DID like kindergarten.
As it turns out, a lot of the kids thought she was cool. At recess, she had several of her classmates coming up to her to ask questions about her and try to touch her fur. They stopped when she repeated what her daddy taught her and she quickly made her way to an area of grass where she could sit and watch everyone. She didn't really like to play anyway, it confused her.
That was, until Arthur came back to her. He had a ball in his hand, a bright orange thing that gave her a small headache, and a big grin on his face, smudged with dirt from previous games.
"Do you wanna come play ball with us?" He asked her, pointing to a couple of other kids a few yards away. A girl and a boy, both with brown, curly hair, and similar facial structures. Twins, maybe?
She frowned, looking back at the boy in front of her. "I dunno how to play," she said quietly, shame evident in her voice. She'd never played, no matter how much her Papa tried. It was just too odd.
Arthur grinned, undeterred. "We can show ya!" He said excitedly, "We're playing basketball!"
The twins began to whisper to each other, the noise unable to be heard by human ears, but Azure heard it. She heard everything, even when she didn't want to. Even if it made her sad.
"Why won't she play..?" The girl whispered to her brother
"Dunno," the boy whispered back, frowning, "It's weird,"
Azure felt her ears flatten at that, the words hitting her chest a little harder than she thought they would. Tears gathered in her eyes before she quickly blinked them back and shook her head at Arthur, going back to picking at the grass. She liked the grass patch.
Arthur's smile dimmed at that, face shifting from open and excited to disappointed. "Why not? It's not a hard game," he said quietly, pointing to a tall pole with a chunk of plastic and a weird ring at the top, "We just throw the ball to try and get it in the hoop. We only have one basket, so we can't play teams, but we take turns,"
She frowned a bit more, noting the size of the 'hoop'. "I dunno if I'm tall enough," she whispered, tilting her head. She was barely half the size of the rest of the kids in class, the top of her head sometimes brushing their arms if they got too close. There was no way she'd be able to throw something as big as that ball so far up.
Arthur followed her line of sight, doing the same calculations she'd done. "Huh...yeah, I guess you couldn't," he said quietly, tapping his foot. Just as Azure was sure he was about to leave, to ask some other kid to play, he simply tossed the ball away into the grass, leaving her confused.
"We can just play something else," he said simply, still confusing the small hedgehog, "Like soccer? Or tag!"
She blinked at those weird words, a scowl forming on her face. "I dunno what those are," she said quietly, picking the grass absentmindedly.
He turned back to her with a frown of his own. "You've never even played tag?" He asked.
She shrugged. "No," she mumbled, brushing her hand off quietly. The fabric of her glove was beginning to turn green.
Arthur hummed for a moment before gently taking her hand and helping her stand up, more confusion coursing through her. She blinked up at him, red green eyes going wide as he dusted off her overalls. He was far more gentle than most of the other humans she'd known throughout her life and...she kinda enjoyed it. Is...is this what Papa said about making friends? She distantly realized she wasn't supposed to physically make them with clay and paint, but find them and hold onto them for as long as they wanted her to. That seemed much easier.
Arthur's grin brought her back to reality. "When you play tag, there's one person that's- that it! And they have to try and touch someone to make them 'it'! It's a game of running!"
Running.
The word sent a small chill and thrill down Azure's spine and she had to bite her tongue to keep herself from cheering in joy. A running game! That's what she needed! Sure, she wasn't allowed to run at full speed or even half, so it would be fair, but she would still be getting energy out in some way! And she'd maybe make even more friends!
She nodded without even thinking, bouncing up and down. "I love running!" She squealed, doing a quick jog around Arthur, "I wanna play the running game!"
Her new friend beamed at that and began to gather more kids to play and explain the rules. Azure couldn't stay still as he pointed to the swing set and determined that it was a safe base, but you couldn't stay there the whole time. She didn't know what safe base meant, but she didn't need one. She'd never get caught.
"I'll be it first," Arthur offered, walking to the swing set and beginning to count.
As soon as he was at 'two', kids bolted, dispersing around the playground with loud giggles. Azure followed suit, hiding behind a climbing wall with her own enormous grin. Excitement coursed through her entire body hard enough to make sparks fly out of her eyes, bits of dark blue and purple dancing around her waterline like ballerinas. It was the most fun she'd felt since Uncle Knuckles had taught her how to wrestle and the game had barely started.
A moment after Arthur reached 20, a few shrieks of glee rang out across the playground, no doubt from other kids running from the boy. She giggled herself and peaked out to see him smacking his hand against a girl with black hair in a ponytail. The girl huffed a bit, shouted that she was it, and began to look around. Her little eyes spotted Azure and instantly she was off, bolting towards the hedgehog. Probably thought someone with such little legs would be easy to catch.
Azure gasped and let her get about a foot away before beginning to run, making sure to stay at a normal kid pace. She didn't streak across the yard, but she was at the swing set in a matter of moments, a bit of dust flying as she skidded to a stop and held onto the pole. Everyone froze watching her for a moment before she just giggled and the game continued.
No one targeted her after that, simply trying to grab her if she passed by them, but no one outright ran after her for a good five minutes, the title of ‘it’ changing four other times. It wasn't until Arthur was it again that she got to really enjoy herself.
He paused in the middle of the grass, eyes locked on where Azure was crouched near the edge of it. He was between her and the swing set, both wearing big grins. Either he ran at her or she ran at him to try and get past. One of them had to move.
Arthur decided that it would be him, making a break for it across the grass to try and jump at Azure. She shrieked happily and darted to the side just as he landed, beginning to run towards the swing set. He got up fast, if the noises behind her were any indication, and he was FAST. Within seconds, he caught up with her and she felt the air around her quills move when he nearly grazed them. The feeling made her stomach drop and, before she thought about it, she was actually running.
With a streak of dark blue, she bolted across the playground before colliding with the metal pole of the swing set with an audible BANG , body snapping back to collapse into the dirt the moment the inertia wore off. She felt her skull cave in and turned over so none of the other kids saw, burying her face into the dirt with a small groan. It hurt a lot, it always did when her brain got hit, but it wasn't a bad one this time, it was fixed before Miss Scarlet was at her side.
"Oh my gosh! Azure, are you alright?" She asked, hands flying across her face and body to check the small girl for injuries that were no longer there.
Azure merely watched her, letting her fret. "I'm okay," she said, brushing dirt from her fur, "Sorry, I didn't mean to go that fast,"
Miss Scarlet sighed, sitting back on her legs once she deemed the little hedgehog in perfect health. "I'm gonna have to talk to your dads when they pick you up," she said, breathless.
Azure frowned at that, knowing she'd get in trouble, but nodded, wiping a bit of dirt from her gloves. "Can I sit down for the rest of recess?" She asked, the eyes of her classmates making her want to curl up for a little while. She wasn't meant to run like that, she'd specifically promised her dads not to, but she couldn't risk someone touching her sharp quills. She'd already hurt more people than she'd like to admit with them, she didn't want it to be her new friends.
When Miss Scarlet nodded, she made her way to the side of the school building, sitting down with a small sniffle. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Arthur staring at her in awe while the other kids got back to their game of tag. She frowned and turned her gaze back to the grass she was sitting in, not wanting to make eye contact. That was so embarrassing...
The rest of the day was pretty uneventful, save for a few kids asking questions that she didn't want to answer, but they quickly figured it out and found their own things to do. She simply followed the routine throughout the day until 3 o'clock rolled around and her dads came to pick her up.
By the speed with which her Dad scooped her into his arms, she figured someone had called him.
"Azure! Why in the world-!"
"Shads, deep breath," her Papa said softly, putting a hand on his shoulder, "Let her explain,"
Azure frowned again, tucking her face into her daddy's shoulder with a whine. "We were playing a new game...called tag," she mumbled, "And...someone almost touched my head..."
Shadow sighed softly, pressing a kiss to the top of her head. "We said no running at school,"
"I know," she whispered with a tiny hiccup, "I'm sorry,"
"It's alright," Sonic said quietly, brushing a hand through her fur, "It's your first day and it was only one mistake. At least no one got hurt, right?"
She pursed her lips a little. "No one but me...head went in when I crashed," she mumbled, "But no one saw..."
Sonic wrinkled his nose at the thought, never fond of the reminder of who Azure was and what she could do. Shadow simply shifted to hold her tighter, burying his face in her fur.
"Let's go home," he mumbled, cradling her closer with a small squeeze before setting her down.
She nodded, hopping from foot to foot before biting her lip. "Energy...can- can we run...?" She asked, biting at her fingers next.
Before Shadow could protest, saying that she had already broken the no running rule, Sonic grinned. "Yeah, of course! You need to get some energy out," he said, getting into position, "You remember the way home?"
She squealed, getting into a similar position. "Uh huh! I'm ready!"
Shadow sighed at his little family, but got into position as well, checking that the tracker on Azure's clothes was working fine. She got lost sometimes.
"Aaaaaand go!" Sonic shouted, both him and Azure shooting off into the breeze with loud cheers. Shadow followed closely behind, a small smile on his face.