The Gang's All Here

31: We Need to Talk

Everyone stood in shock.

"WwwWHAAT? You have another kid!?" Scourge asked in disbelief.

Fleetway gasped and smiled. "I have another brother!"

Lora, aka Pearl, aka Platinum, nodded. "I actually told Manic about it when he first started living in your house. I had Silver with my first husband, but that relationship went downhill, and I wasn't able to get custody or visitation. Since Silver was around 2 at the time, part of me hoped that he would just be able to forget me. To try to make myself feel a little better, I joined my childhood best friend, Aleena, in her mission to get rid of organizations that try to turn creatures/kids into weapons. After a while, I met Scourge's dad, and you know the rest."

Shadow was a bit skeptical, and turned to Silver. "Wait, how did you know that this lady was your mother, if you hadn't seen her since you were a toddler?"

"Kids with telekinesis can sense their parents from a mile away," Silver answered. "I recognized her as soon as I saw her."

Silver then looked around, confused. "Hey, where's Manic? He'd be happy to see his mom."

"He and Sonia are talking. I uh... figured I should stay out of it." Sonic answered.

Aleena looked at her son, realizing that something was wrong, but deciding to ask about it later. "Alright. What room did they go into?"

Sonic pointed, and Aleena left into the room.

As her best friend left the room, Lora turned to Sonic. "Sonic, may I speak with you privately for a second?"

Sonic, not trusting the new lady much, refused to be alone with her. So Scourge volunteered to go with him.

Lora took them into another room, then asked Sonic, "Alright, why is Manic upset with you?"

Sonic, shocked at how Lora put that together so fast, turned to Scourge to see if he was also surprised.

Scourge shrugged. "She knows everything."

Sonic turned back to Lora and explained himself, ending with how he'd dismissed his brother's distressed phone call.

Lora was appalled. "Well don't stop there, explain yourself! How were you so distracted?"

Sonic now felt very embarrassed, and wished that Scourge hadn't walked in with him. But he also knew that he HAD to get it off his chest.

"I was distracted with trying to impress Scourge. I thought that if I could help him get back on his feet, I could get him to like me."

Scourge was now shocked. "You like me?"

Before Sonic could answer, someone knocked on the door.

Lora opened it, and Manic walked in. He was back in his original Manic form.

"Hey, you're back to normal." Scourge said, happy to see Manic. "You still look really tired, though."

"I am tired. But, my mom told me that Lora would probably want to talk to me."

Lora looked at the three boys in front of her. "Yes, but I think you three can talk among yourselves. I'll be in the living room."

With that, Lora walked out.

Manic turned to Scourge and Sonic. "So, what're we talking about?"

Scourge and Sonic were both blushing.

Sonic started, "Well, I'll go first. Manic, I'm sorry. I feel really bad for not listening when you tried to reach out for help, and I hope that you can forgive me...?"

Manic thought for a moment. "Well... Alright. I'm willing to let you try to fix things. I won't say that I forgive you just yet, because I don't. But, I do want things to get better between us eventually. You just have to give me time. "

That was NOT the answer Sonic expected, as he was used to immediately being forgiven for his actions. But for the sake of his brother, he accepted it.

Then Manic asked his brother, "Also, I just remembered. Back at your house, why were you so upset with Scourge wanting to stay at my house?"

Sonic REALLY didn't want to answer, but he knew better than to stay quiet. "I wanted Scourge's attention to myself. I wanted to get him to like me, and when I realized that you two had had some sort of relationship in the past, I was jealous."

"...you like Scourge?"

Sonic nodded and Scourge covered his face.

Manic stated what they all were thinking. "Well... this is awkward."

Finally, Scourge spoke up. "Actually, I wanted to talk about that too." He turned to Sonic. "Look, I appreciate you're help, taking me in and everything. But I do NOT feel the same way. I just figured once I could find work, I'd just pay you back for everything."

Sonic sighed. "No need. I'm taking all this as big lesson I needed to learn."

"Plus, you said you were a little uncomfortable with the idea of me being transgender, right?"

"A little bit, yeah. I'm not going to try to change your decision about yourself, I think I just need to try to understand it a little better."

Scourge accepted that answer, then thought.

"Another thing I wanted to add," Scourge turned to Manic. "I'm really glad I got to apologize to you for everything I did. But... okay, I-"

"You don't like me that way either?" Manic finished.

"Well... not that exactly. I still think you'd make a good boyfriend, but I need to focus on myself. I'm not really ready to be in a relationship."

Manic was relieved. "Completely understandable. I don't know if I can handle any possible relationship problems with my mental state. So, for now, just friends?"

Scourge nodded. "Just friends."

The three of them left the room with a huge weight lifted off their shoulders.