When Infinite returned to his fortress for the evening, Gadget was already in bed. As soon as he walked into the bedchambers, he could smell the red wolf’s irritation grow - Amy had been on the mark. He entered the lavatory for a quick shower before hesitantly approaching the bed. As was usual in the past week, his crimson canine pretended to be asleep. Once beneath the covers, he snuggled in close, and heard a displeased snuff of air leave the wolf’s nose. He wrapped an arm over the other’s waist and buried his nose into red fur. Reigning himself in and closing his eyes, he vowed to initiate a talk when the wolf was hopefully less ill-tempered in the morning. To his surprise, the scent slowly began to dissipate, and both canines were soon out like a light.

The next morning came quickly, and Gadget was indeed in a better mood. Infinite found him at the newly established kitchen table, stuffing his face with bits of smoked salmon. He glanced timidly at the jackal, who was unsure what the look meant. Unexpectedly, he gave Infinite a perfect segue into initiating a talk.

“Morning… were you tired last night? I’ve never seen you asleep before…”

Infinite sat down in the other chair at the table and took the wolf’s fishless hand in his own two. For reasons unknown, that had been the longest and most restful sleep for him in at least a year.

“I am sorry for continuing to coerce you into sex; it will not happen again. I have no excuses.”

Gadget’s eyes widened, and Infinite figured that he had not been expecting him to realize it.

“I was honestly ready to lose my temper on you when you got in bed last night, but then you didn’t do anything to me. You did ask me what was wrong, so I can’t blame you when I never told you to stop. You would have stopped if I had asked… right?”

Infinite’s face crumpled in concern.

“Of course I would have. I wrongly assumed that the annoyance I could smell on you didn’t have anything to do with me.”

“That was immature of me… I said I would give you a chance but I’m not being fair about it now. I’m surprised you figured it out though...”

“To be completely honest, I didn’t. I probably never would have, and I guess it would have come down to you getting angry with me. I apologize for making you feel like you can’t say no to me.”

One of Gadget’s eye ridges raised in question.

“I spoke with Amy before I returned last night. I’ll strive to do better and learn your nonverbal cues as well.”

The crimson canine felt dumb. For Infinite to bite the bullet and seek help from someone who hated him was very telling of how little the jackal knew about social norms.

“Um… it’s okay. I’ll speak up when I don’t like something in the future. So the talk with her went well then? Did you guys fight?”

“I suppose she gave me the benefit of the doubt, or more likely feared I would harm you if she didn’t. She gave me useful advice out of interest for your well being regardless… if you still wish to stay here, would you like your own room?”

That is unexpectedly considerate...

“Well… not at the moment. I’ll trust that you can keep your hands to yourself for now, haha…”

Infinite had to squash the urge to smirk distastefully.

“I would like to start over and get to know you better, if that is in your interest.”

“Yeah… I had figured we wouldn’t be doing anything too, well, physical. I’m glad we can get on the same page now. Ah… how old are you, by the way?”

“I am 23. You’re 19, are you not?”

Gadget’s eyes narrowed.

“In like 5 months I will be… why do you sound so sure of yourself?”

Infinite’s mismatched eyes flit to glance at everything in his vicinity, save for the red wolf’s eyes.

“I skimmed through the Doctor’s data on you after our second encounter. It seems it wasn’t very accurate, and there wasn’t much information as it stood.”

Should I even ask what else was on there about me? Nah. Ignorance is bliss.

“That’s really creepy, but I’m not even surprised at this point. No offense, but I thought you were like 30, and was hoping I was wrong. Why did you call me a child when we’re not even that far apart in age?”

“Well… I don’t have any excuse to make other than the fact that I’ve been a callous, flippant asshole?”

The red canine snorted. Infinite gazed at him with fondness and pressed a small kiss to the wolf’s hand. Unsure how to react, he opted to shove another piece of fish into his maw.

“By the way, that salmon could be more satisfying if you put it on toast with egg and avocado…”

The wolf tilted his head in interest.

_______________________

The two canines went their separate ways after Infinite had made them a proper breakfast. Gadget had quickly decided that it could be his new favourite breakfast food, and was surprised that someone as neurotic as the jackal could have any culinary aptitude.

Infinite was currently in Sunset Heights undoing laser damage to all of the homes. The Doctor’s data had told him that this also happened to be Gadget’s hometown; hopefully at least that was correct. The dark jackal pushed himself to work faster while keeping his nose alert, as it was a large city. Sometime in the afternoon, he caught a trace of his feisty wolf’s scent. It made sense, as he had made it to a sparsely damaged area - a section of the city designated as temporary rehoming. 

He descended towards the neighbourhood. Tracking the scent to a particular townhouse, he peered through the front window, despite the action essentially marking him a peeping tom. Inside, three wolves sat at a small table eating lunch. Two were coloured dark cyan, while the singular female was crimson red. This was without a doubt his love’s family.

__________________________

It was saturday. Gadget wasn’t sure what he was going to do with his time, and he was even less sure what the dark jackal had planned for himself. He understood the need for breaks, even though the post-war restoration wasn’t a full time job with Infinite shouldering most of the damage he’d caused. 

The featured topic of his musings appeared in the doorway of the foyer.

“Are you going to the Resistance headquarters?”

“Nah.. everyone else is taking time off, so there wouldn’t be anything for me to do on my own. I guess I’ll just relax for today.”

Infinite stepped forward and grasped the wolf’s hand in his own. A moment later, they were transported onto the porch of a stranger’s house.

“I will return later.”

Gadget choked in bewilderment. 

“Hey! Why are you suddenly dumping me off here?!”

Infinite sent him a lopsided smile. His eyes held a degree of guilt, which further confused the red canine. He bobbed his head towards the door before disappearing in an array of cubes. Gadget huffed and eyeballed the house he had been deposited in front of. Taking the hint, he knocked on the door. Maybe it where one of his friends lived. Before he could mentally sift through the possibilities, the door was opened and a female bare-faced version of himself was in his face. She stared in shock before calling her husband and son over. Gadget could only stare incredulously.

“... Mom?”

Infinite had located Gadget’s family. 

Two dark cyan wolves appeared in the doorway. The larger glasses-wearing canine was guarding the other two in an instant, and pointing a baseball bat at an overwhelmed Gadget. They stared at each other for a moment before all three snatched the flustered but ecstatic wolf into the doorway and squashed him in a three-way hug. The female wolf sobbed as she nudged the other two out of the embrace.

“Oh honey it’s been almost a year since we’ve seen your sweet little face, we’ve been grieving every day thinking you might have died on the battlefield!”

The small dark cyan face appeared to the side.

“Did you get to see Sonic the Hedgehog up close at all?!”

Gadget rolled his eyes in amusement.

“I missed you too Gears… yes I did, we’re friends actually! I met him after I left the city, and helped break him out of prison around 4 months ago.”

Gears whooped.

“No way! I wanna meet him! I have a famous brother now!”

Gadget’s father interrupted his youngest child’s episode.

“Sorry for the aggressive greeting, son. We’ve all just been on edge since we lost contact with you. That being said, no more military business for you. You’re more than capable of going to university now that this is all going to be over.”

“I know, I was hoping to someday anyway! But not yet. I still have things to do until the world is repaired. Hey… did you guys move to a new house because our old one was wrecked?”

“Yes. This house was given to us by the council of Sunset Heights until ours is repaired. Luckily there is minimal damage. We’re very fortunate - our insurance covered us, but not everyone has that same luxury.”

Gadget’s mother grasped his hands and stroked the top of them with her thumbs.

“We were about to start making lunch before you got here! I was starting to think we would never have a family meal again…”

Gadget’s gaze fell downcast. Even though it wasn’t his fault, he still felt awful for what they must have gone through in the time he was gone - not that he had fared any better. 

“Sorry mom… but I’m here now. I’ll help with lunch, and I promise I won’t burn anything this time. I’ve at least learned a few things while I was gone!”

The female wolf dried her eyes and laughed. The pack of wolves set themselves to making and eating lunch, while catching each other up on their struggles in the last year. Gadget’s mom had since cheered up and was just happy to have her family whole again. 

“We finally have television again, and it looks like the war has actually come to an end! So we’ll have our home rebuilt in no time. What else do you need to do? Apparently the jackal that wears a mask overthrew Eggman, and took a member from the resistance in return for peace. I feel sorry for whoever it is... why would a horrible person like him even want a hostage?”

“Whoever it is is probably dead already!”

Gadget’s father swiped a newspaper off the counter and whapped his youngest on the head.

“You need a filter on that mouth of yours.”

“You’re at least staying here to live with us now that you’re back, right honey? How did you manage to find us by the way? We were going to look for you and spread the word once internet was back up again - we weren’t going to give up.”

The crimson canine bit his lip as he primed himself for a family feud.

“I’m not staying here, sorry mom and dad… and I actually had no idea where any of you were until you opened the door, heh... before I tell you my situation, you have to promise not to freak out. Don’t make this hard for me please?”

The large dark cyan wolf snarled.

“Is the Resistance sending you on dangerous missions?! Screw whatever contract you may have signed with them or whatever they do to trap people, you are young and need to prosper living a normal life!”

The female canine put a hand on her husband’s shoulder.

“Dear… let our Gadgy boy speak.”

“Dad, they’re not even a real army! It was Sonic’s friends running it all. You know about the captive thing? I’m… uh… the captive in question. I probably have to go back soon.”

Jaws dropped before his mom grabbed his hands again.

“Please don’t joke like that. We’ve only just reunited with you - I almost puked.”

“Wouldn’t you be like chained up in a dungeon or something? Haha! I didn’t believe you for a second.”

Newspaper met the back of Gears’ head a second time.

“War has given you a nasty sense of humour, boy. So the verdict is that you’re staying here, right Gadg?”

Gadget sighed. He knew they weren’t going to handle the information well; he wouldn’t react favourably to a loved one in his position either.

“Guys… I wasn’t joking. It’s a long story that I’ll have to tell you another time, but right now I’m choosing to stay with Infinite. I know it sounds crazy, but he’s been fixing what he can lately so I think there’s hope for him.”

“You would be mangled and barely alive if you were that jackal’s captive! I love you, sweet cheeks, but I don’t understand why you’re trying to feed us this nonsense!”

The spectacled crimson canine huffed. His mother would probably be the most difficult one to deal with.

“Come outside then. I’m pretty sure he’s waiting for me.”

Without giving them any more room to argue, he was up and out the door. His family followed suit. To their horror, there was Infinite, hovering above with his one visible eye keenly trained on them.

“Thank you for finding my family for me. It means a lot.”

“YOU found us?! Why haven’t you killed us then?!”

Gadget’s parents screeched in horror and slapped their hands over their big-mouthed child’s face, and waited for the end of their lives. Infinite only laughed, chilling all but Gadget down to the bone.

“My feisty little wolf would not be happy if I did that. I have no taste for murder anymore. Come, lovely one. I have some things to do that I’m sure you would be happy to lend a hand in…”

“Am I allowed to see them again?”

“Of course. If you wish to remain here, you may do so as well. I would miss you dearly though…”

“I’ll go with you then. But you have to bring me here tomorrow! And whenever I want to after that!”

“So demanding… Let us depart.”

“Like I said, I’ll explain later. See you tomorrow and I love you guys!”

Infinite displaced next to Gadget, threw him over his shoulder, and warped away. His family could only stare in horror.

_______________________________________

“Infinite? How did you find my family?”

“Their scent bears an undertone of similarity to yours. It was luck that I caught wind of it while passing above.”

“My nose isn’t that good…”

Infinite let out a wicked laugh.

“You grew up without needing it for survival. No matter, there are many other things about you that make up for it…”