He couldn’t take it any more. He knew he had to get out of here. He didn’t know where to go, but he knew he couldn’t stay here. Scourge was running around in a panic. Running from his father’s bedroom to the living room then down to the basement, Scourge grabbed everything that belonged to his mother. Photos, jewelry, handmade gifts, anything he could think of. Scourge could still hear the bangs and yells of his father. He had locked the older hedgehog in the bathroom and barricaded the door, to try and get as much time as he could to grab his stuff. 
Finally making it to his bedroom, Scourge grabbed a suitcase and began to toss the clothes out to make room for his mementos. After a couple of minutes, Scourge got the delicate items into the suitcase, wrapped in a blanket in an attempt to cushion them. Scourge then tossed the suitcase outside into the bushes. Next, Scourge grabbed a dufflebag and began to put some clothes in there. He only had time to place his boots and his jacket in before he heard the bookcase crashing and shouting.
Scourge didn’t have time to grab anything else, so tossed the dufflebag out the window and began to climb out before he was grabbed by his father. The younger hedgehog had tears in his eyes. He began to kick his father to get away. His father finally let go after Scourge successfully kicked him in the groin a couple times. 
However, due to being hanging on the windowsill, Scourge took a tumble and fell out, his foot taking the brunt of the damage. Scourge fell to the ground with a sob. He didn’t have time to put on any shoes, so due to the rain and snow, he twisted his ankle. Slowly getting to his good foot, Scourge placed his knee on the suitcase and began to hobble onto the sidewalk.
The green hedgehog slowly rolled down the street with tears in his eyes. He was freezing. The sleet began to kick back up as he moved his knee to a better position. He didn’t have time to pack clothes. All he had to wear was the sleeveless shirt and gym shorts he was wearing, getting drenched. The dufflebag didn’t have much else in it, just his leather jacket and his boots.
For what seemed like hours, Scourge slowly hobbled down to a place where he knew that he could stay. By the time he reached his classmate’s residence, snow had combined with the sleet, so Scourge feel himself getting colder. Slowly making his way up the stairs, Scourge leaned against the door and pressed the doorbell.
“Coming,” Scourge heard from the other side of the door.
Scourge tried to lean back to try not to fall, but he could barely move. He felt the door open and he just collapsed on the welcome mat.
	“Oh my gosh Scourge!” The blue hedgehog yelled, “are you okay?”
Before Scourge could reply, Sonic got him inside, closed the door, picked up the his battered friend and carried him to the living room where Tails and his uncle were.
	“Uncle Chuck!” Sonic exclaimed, “I need some help!”
	“Goodness Scourge!” Chuck replied getting up to help Scourge, “Tails, go get one of my sweaters and couple of blankets.”
Tails did as he was asked and ran up the stairs. Chuck redirected his attention back to Scourge. Scourge was frail, very frail. He had a black eye and a bruised neck and arm. He knew who had caused this. Sonic had told him as much, but he didn’t know it was this bad.
	“Scourge?” he asked.
	“Yeah…?” Scourge rasped out.
	“Did your father do this?” Chuck asked.
Scourge turned his head away in shame and began to cry again.
	“Did your father do this?” Chuck asked again.
Through tears, Scourge nodded slowly. Chuck pulled the boy into a hug, and let the lime hedgehog cry onto his shoulder. Tails came back down with the blankets and the sweater.
	“Here you go Uncle Chuck,” Tails said, handing the to Chuck.
	“Thanks Tails,” Chuck replied, turning to Scourge, “Scourge, you must be freezing. Let’s get you into the shower.”
Scourge began to move away at Chuck’s suggested, he backed into Sonic who placed his hands onto Scourge’s shoulders.
	“Uncle Chuck, I’ll go with him,” Sonic said.
	“If your sure Sonic, I don’t want either of you to get hurt,” Chuck answered.
	“Don’t worry,” Sonic said, “we’ll be fine.”
Sonic picked Scourge back up and brought him up the stairs to the bathroom. Scourge was nuzzled into the blue hedgehog’s shoulder with a firm grasp around Sonic. Sonic kneeled down.
	“Scourge, let me help you,” Sonic said.
	“I-I guess so,” Scourge muttered, letting Sonic go,
	“Good,” Sonic said, “now let get your clothes off.
Scourge began to blush and covered his face with his hands. His ears drooped down and he crossed his legs.
	“Scourge?” Sonic asked, “what’s wrong? You trust me, right?”
	“Yeah, yeah,” Scourge said, “but, it’s embarrassing.”
After a slight pause, Sonic replied.
	“Would you feel better if I joined you?”
	“Please,” Scourge nodded, “I don’t want to be alone.”
Sonic sighed and slowly began to remove his clothes. He took off his shirt and pants before he helped Scourge remove his clothes. The two stood their in their undergarments before Sonic slowly removed his underpants, revealing to Scourge his vulva. Scourge slowly did the same, and revealed to Sonic his vulva, causing Sonic gasp in astonishment.
	“You’re intersex as well?”
	“Yeah, I just don’t like to talk about it. Please don’t tell anyone!”
	“I won’t…only a couple of people know that I am intersex.”
	“Same…”
Led by Sonic, he and Scourge made their way into the tub, where Sonic began to fill it up with warm water. Scourge sat down with Sonic kneeling behind him. Sonic began to wash Scourge’s body, letting the water get into Scourge’s quills. Sonic scrubbed the shampoo into Scourge’s quills as Scourge began to clean his body.
After about 10 minutes, Sonic got out and handed a towel to Scourge. Scourge accepted it and began to dry himself off. Sonic opened the side door of the bathroom and called out to Tails, asking the fox to bring them some clothes to wear. The fox yelled back his reply and Scourge could hear Tails coming up the stairs. Sonic wrapped the towel around his waist and leaned against the counter. Scourge sat on the side of the tub and blushed again.
	“Scourge, did something happen when you were younger?”
	“What do you mean by that?”
	“Well, you were so scared of Uncle Chuck suggesting that you take a bath to clean up and warm up…were you scared of Uncle Chuck’s reaction?”
	“No…no I ju-”
His answer was stopped by Tails knocking on the door, slightly opening it, and handing Sonic some clothes. Sonic thanked Tails and handed Scourge a shirt, some pants, his undergarments, and a sweater. Sonic began to put his clothes on and Scourge stood there, looking down at the clothes.
	“I hope you don’t mind,” Sonic said, pulling the shirt over his head, “using some of my spare clothes.”
	“No, not at all” Scourge said, letting the towel drop to the floor, “I’m just surprised.”
	“Surprised by what?” Sonic asked, picking up the towels.
	“With how nice you’re treating me.”
	“Because you are my friend.”
Scourge looked down again and blushed. He placed the sweater on him and laughed. The sweater was a pastel yellow color with the school’s logo on the front, however, it was at least two sizes too big. It went past the length of his arms and down below his tail. Sonic chuckled as well, and opened the door back to the hallway.
	“C’mon Scourge,” he said, “Uncle Chuck is making hot cocoa.”
Sonic and Scourge made their way down the stairs and was greeted by Chuck holding two cups of hot chocolate.
	“Here you go boys,” he said, “I got the fire going to warm us up.”
	“Thanks…Uncle Chuck,” Scourge said.
	“You’re welcome Scourge,” Chuck said, placing his hand on Scourge’s shoulder, “I placed your bags in the living room as well.”
Sonic and Scourge made their way to the living room and sat in front of the fire. Sonic placed a blanket on his and Scourge’s shoulders and Scourge leaned his head onto Sonic’s shoulder, beginning to doze off.
	“Sonic?”
	“Yeah Scourge?”
	“Can I stay with y’all?”
	“I don’t see why not.”
	“Good, because I don’t want to go back.”
	“I would do everything in my power to make sure you don’t ever go back.”
	“Thank you.”
	“Don’t mention it.”
The two stayed like this for several minutes, watching the fire crackle in front of them. The silence was broken by Tails entering the room and sitting down next to Sonic.
	“Sonic?” The fox asked.
	“Yeah Tails?”
	“Would you want to build a couch fort?”
	“I would!” Scourge said.
	“Are you sure?” Sonic turned his head at Scourge.
	“I haven’t made one in like ten years!” Scourge exclaimed, standing up and heading over to the couch.
Sonic chuckled and got up to join him. Tails followed as well. The three began the process of building a couch fort. Scourge took the couch cushions off, Sonic got the blankets from the linen closet, and Tails went upstairs to grab pillows. Once all three got the materials needed, they began to build the fort.
It was something. The fort went from the end of the couch to the end of the love seat. Tails placed chairs to make a strong wall so there was no way for it to fall over. The fox also clipped a large sheet to the ceiling to make the fort look like a teepee. Sonic grabbed a large bowl of popcorn from the kitchen. The three laid down and Sonic put on Moulin Rouge! onto the TV and the three boys began to watch the movie.
Shortly after the movie ended, Scourge rolled into a sleeping Sonic, nuzzling into the blue hedgehog’s arms. Tails did something similar causing the sleeping hedgehog to be surrounded. Slowly, Chuck made his way down the stairs and snapped a photo of the boys cuddling in their fort.