Vellicate

Come rain or shine, summer or winter, busy workdays or lazy weekends, waking up with Silver at his side was wonderful.

"Hey, Espio?" a warm voice whispered inbetween his whisps of hazy dreams, rousing Espio from his sleep with a grunt as the voice's owner pressed a wet nose against his cheek. "Are you awake?"

Awake, well... Whatever part of his sleep-addled brain which knew if he was or not had decided to give out on him before he could so much as find out, and the chameleon merely mumbled back something incomprehensible. He was tired, his mind drifting and falling asleep once more anew the moment the voice let up its murmurs-

"Es. Hey, Es. Have you ever noticed your back is spiky?"

...Oh.

"...No," the chameleon sighed dryly as he buried his head away into the other's chest fur. Waking up with Silver at his side was wonderful every day, except when it was... about half past five, he discerned by the way the sun hit his face only mutedly and the silence outside his window. "No, I had no idea."

"Really?!" At the incessant prodding against his forehead Espio looked up, trying his hardest to shoot Silver a glare most unamused and failing horribly due to the grogginess dancing on his face and making him squint his eyes. "You didn't know?" the hedgehog repeated, bright smile on his face as the chameleon heaved a sigh so deep it made the whole bed creak.

"Yes, Silver, I did know. It'd be hard to miss, regardless."

Sticking out his tongue Silver chuckled, clearly not bothered by the other's slightly-sour mood or the darkness shrouding both of them, illuminated only by gentle whisps of cyan. "Rude, Espio. But do you know what that means?"

"That you figured I would appreciate being woken up at-" one look over the other's head at the small alarm clock on his bedside table confirmed Espio's fears- "5:17 in the morning to hear about that?"

"...Oh, it's still early. Sorry, I didn't check," Silver apologised as the chameleon deflatedly dropped his head into the pillow once more. "But that means you and I both are spiky on our backs! You're like half a hedgehog now!"

"No," was all Espio retorted with as he forced his eyes shut once more and wrapped an arm around the hedgehog to stop him from fussing. "Goodnight, tenshi."

Taking a deep breath to push down the groggy tiredness that would make him fall asleep so much easier if he were to follow its alluring call Espio waited. He knew his beloved well; there was no way Silver would be discouraged by his blunt answers, and indeed... "Do you like it if they are touched?" got whispered against his crest, and the chameleon froze for just a moment.

"...Uh." Although he had been wholly prepared for another stream of questions, that particular one succeeded remarkably well at catching him off-guard, and Espio sputtered as he opened his eyes and looked right into curious pools of gold. "What...?"

"Spikes. Touched. You know, like how I like mine to be touched too," Silver explained with only the slightest hint of a mischievous grin on his face that never failed to make Espio's chest clench in anticipation. With deceptively slow movements the hedgehog lifted up one hand, fingers wriggling teasingly as the chameleon followed them with a wary gaze. "Do you, hmm?"

Apprehension beginning to flutter ever so slightly in his stomach the ninja swallowed, getting an inkling that he was deep in trouble no matter his answer. Pushing down the butterflies by steeling himself resulted in immediate failure, the whirlwind only stirring up more, and from Silver's expression he figured it was best to be honest, lest he suffered the consequences. "...I do not know, and that's not a lie. No-one has ever done it before, and I cannot reach that far that long without dislocating an arm," he managed to murmur out with as neutral a voice as he could muster. Disclosing that particular titbit of information made him feel rather vulnerable indeed, and Espio had to fight down the urge to move away as Silver hummed while his hand inched closer to the chameleon's back ever so slowly.