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Of Orange and Blue

Chapter 4: Day 3

Summary:

Miles tiptoed his way over to the biplane, making sure to be as careful as possible, and stopped a few feet away from the sleeping hedgehog.

He looked around for a place to leave the food. Ough, he should have thought of this earlier, and his gaze landed on a lantern right in front of the hedgehog. There was no way he could miss it if he left it there.

Three things happened after that.

One, the hedgehog had taken that exact moment to stretch his arms and accidentally hit Miles. Two, Miles jumped a foot off the ground and dropped the box. And three, the box hit the hedgehog right in the head.

Notes:

T.W: There's a panic attack in this chapter. If you, for whatever reason, don't feel comfortable reading that, skip from "Miles could do nothing but stare." Until "After another, shaky breath, Miles opened his eyes and was reminded of where he was."

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

 

That was close, too close for Miles’ liking.

 

He had been careless, too caught up tinkering with the biplane, that he hadn’t noticed the hedgehog’s arrival, the town’s mechanic following close by.

 

He barely had any time to get away, the walrus screaming and already making his way to him. He remembered the last time he had caught him, the tire iron he had used to hit him with had left some nasty bruises. He didn’t want to go through something like that again.

 

Luck seemed to finally be on his side, his tails started spinning and he managed to put a good distance between them before he tripped over in the middle of the forest. Heart beating a mile a minute.

 

The hedgehog could catch up with him any second thought. His breath sped up at the thought. He scrambled, forcing himself to move despite the pain shooting up from his knee, and clumsily hid behind a bush. Clasping his hands over his mouth to not be heard.

 

Miles stood still for what felt hours. Breathing finally slowing down to a reasonable speed, and waited for while longer just to make sure.

 

He wouldn’t risk it, not again. He tripled checked his surroundings, the only sounds his ears could pick up was the distant chirping of some flickies and the dripping of water from the nearby waterfall. His eyes scanned around for any signs of movement, but apart form the gentle swing of the leaves, there was nothing.

 

Miles let out a sigh, even if he couldn’t see anyone, he wanted to be quick about this. He stood low, prepared his tails, and boosted himself to his hideout.

 

Unfortunately for him, Miles still had trouble when it came to slowing down. He got to the small clearing where he stayed but couldn’t slow down quickly enough and fell into the small lake that hosted the waterfall.

 

The water was cold, he gave a shriek as it grazed against some open cuts that hadn’t healed yet, a sharp pain following.

 

Miles clutched the edges of the lake with all his strength, pulling himself out of the water as fast as he could and laid down in the grass around him.

 

Okay that… that wasn’t ideal. He hissed when he tried to move around, pain expanding all over his body. Great, the water had reawakened the pain on his cuts.

 

He had thought he had dulled them out by now, already used to them from how often Slash and the other kids used pointy sticks to poke at him, but now it seemed he had to deal with them again.

 

 Miles was shivering, his fur completely soaked, and the movement did not help at all with his pain.  He had to dry himself off.

 

There weren’t many options for that though, the wind wasn’t nearly as strong today for him to dry quickly and he didn’t really feel like going to the town to wash off on one of the towels people left on the clothesline. So, his best bet was to stand in the middle of the clearing and wait for the sun to warm him up.

 

Which wasn’t that appealing in on itself. At least, until his sight went to the rock he had hidden the silver watch under.

 

He had kind of forgotten about it during yesterday's whole deal with the biplane, too excited at being able to work on such a machine, but now that he had messed up and the hedgehog would probably expect him next time… yeah, it was better for Miles to forget about the plane entirely and return to his original project.

 

His hand shook a little as he reached for the clock. Bringing it close to his chest while his other hand reached into his tails and took out the tools he needed, making sure he was sitting in a place where the sun could easily reach him.

 

He drew in a steadying breath and got to work. It was considerably harder to fix the watch with how his whole body shivered from the cold, but before long he let himself get immersed in his job. Pains of his body and cold forgotten to the monotony of the tasks.

 

As usual, Miles lost himself in his work until it was physically impossible to continue, the night’s light wasn’t nearly enough for him to see what he needed to do.

 

He gave a sigh, yet another reason why he didn’t like the night. But at least he had gotten a lot of progress done, while the watch wasn't still fully functional, it only required a little more work before it would be back to its former glory.

 

He absentmindedly took notice of the dryness in his fur. At least he didn’t have to worry about that anymore. However, as he made his way to his usual branch, the pain from the cuts returned full force and Miles had to take a moment to just breathe.

 

There was no way he was going to climb the tree in his current condition, but Miles couldn’t just sleep in the ground either, too many bad experiences had taught him how bad of an idea that was, so he had to come up with something.

 

He started to pace around, tails frantically moving as he struggled to draw any ideas. Augh, just why did he have to go and crash into the lake?! He still couldn’t use his tails on a reliable way, so why had he gone ahead and continued to spin them without a plan-

 

Wait, he had been spinning them in imitation to a plane’s propeller, right? But a helicopter’s rotor system operated under the same principle, so what if…

 

Miles stretched his arms at his sides, he was about to do something really stupid that he would never live down or something that would potentially help him for the rest of his life.

 

He closed his eyes, drew in a breath, and started to spin his tails. Just that this time, in a vertical way rather than horizontally.

 

Air began to form around him, the locks in his head brushing in the wind, before he felt himself getting lifted off the ground.

 

He couldn’t help the gasp that left him, extending both his arms and legs to try and stabilize himself. He was- he was flying!! This was unbelievable! Laughter filled the space around him.

 

His happiness was short lived, however, as a wave of exhaustion crashed against him. This was taking way too much energy, and keeping his center of gravity was proving to be difficult.

 

He pushed himself a bit more, gaining more altitude until he was within arm’s length of his usual branch. Miles took a few steadying breaths, and threw himself onto it, grasping at it as if his life depended on it. Which, it kinda did.

 

Miles breathed a little before he properly settled in on the branch, ignoring the sting of his injuries. Once he was certain he wouldn’t fall off, Miles brought his hands to his face and started laughing

 

That had been... it had been crazy. A fox who could fly- who would have thought!! Miles let his laughter die down before he curled up into a ball and settled in for the night, tails coming in as a blanket.

 

Those last two days had been the most eventful in Miles’ life.  First the biplane’s crashing, the hedgehog’s speed and now his tails… it had been amazing.

 

So many things he never thought possible were now available to him, there were so many things he wanted to test with his tails, theories on his potential limits and ways to make them more reliable. And Miles was… excited. For the first time in his life, he had something to look forward to.

 

As sleep began to creep in from the edges of his consciousness, his thoughts wandered to the hedgehog. All of this had happened because of him, after all.

 

He felt bad about eating his food, Miles had resisted the temptation for as long as he could, but had lost the battle and ate the pizza slices he had left on a bag near the biplane.  Hopefully he could make it up to him by fixing his plane.

 

That was, if the hedgehog even allowed him to get close to it again.

 

The lightness in his chest slowly disappeared at the thought. He hadn’t seen the hedgehog’s reaction to him messing with his biplane, too caught up escaping from the mechanic, but he was certain he was going to hate him for touching his stuff. Just like everyone else did.

 

But even then, Miles felt he owed him. It had been the hedgehog who had led him to discover the many things his tails were capable of, and his biplane had brought the most joy he had ever felt in his whole life.

 

…And he may or may not be feeling bad about eating all his food.

 

That settled it, then. Miles would try to work on the hedgehog’s engine while he went to town. Doing as much as he could even if the hedgehog probably didn’t want his help. It was the least he could do.

 

With that thought in mind, Miles let sleep take him without the usual complains coming from his stomach until the first rays of light hit his face.

 

The flickies hadn’t even started their morning singing, but Miles was already preparing to leave his branch.

 

He careful made his way down, set the watch in his usual hiding place, and dashed towards the beach.

 

He wanted to start his work as soon as possible. He knew the hedgehog would probably be there, but Miles wanted to be ready to start as soon as he left. He would just wait around in the same bush as always.

 

The sight of the biplane on the beachside was common to him now. The hedgehog was sleeping in his tent just like he had expected, snoring loud enough for Miles to hear him from the distance, and had a blanket lazily thrown over his body.

 

Miles had to fight back a snort, he did look a little silly like that, but had to suddenly regain his balance as he tripped on something, arms flailing at his sides.

 

After making sure he wouldn’t fall face-first, and that he hadn’t woken the hedgehog, Miles looked down to see what was responsible for almost ruining his plans.

 

A small, metallic box had been left on the edge of the forest. It was small enough to go unnoticed, but once Miles knelt to see it better, he realized it was a standard ration compartment.

 

He opened the lid and… yup. Inside were some cereal bars, dried fruits and even some cookies. A single bottle of water on its right side. Miles’ mouth watered at the sight, but he shook his head.

 

No, he was not going to eat any more of the hedgehog’s food.

 

Miles closed the lid, he probably just… drooped it! Yeah, that was probably it. He had seen the hedgehog run at incredible speeds; it wouldn’t be a stretch if he had accidentally dropped his food while on a run.

 

He should return it to him. Miles gazed back to the hedgehog and then to the box, surely the hedgehog wouldn’t wake up if he went and left the rations near him, right?

 

Miles tiptoed his way over to the biplane, making sure to be as careful as possible, and stopped a few feet away from the sleeping hedgehog.

 

He looked around for a place to leave the box. Ough, he should have thought of this earlier, and his gaze landed on a lantern right in front of the hedgehog. There was no way he could miss it if he left it there.

 

Three things happened after that.

 

One, the hedgehog had taken that exact moment to stretch his arms and accidentally hit Miles. Two, Miles jumped a foot off the ground and dropped the box. And three, the box hit the hedgehog right in the head.

 

The hedgehop was up in an instant, standing up and flailing his arms around. “Wazhteh-I’m up, I’m up!”

 

Miles could do nothing but stare. Oh no, no no no no! This can’t be happening- it can’t! how could he have been so stupid?! Please, please let it be a nightmare, please-

 

“Hey, are you okay there?”

 

Miles flinched as the hedgehog approached, scrambling back in the sand until his back hit something cold and metallic. He hissed in pain, drawing his knees close to his chest. Tails puffed up and hugging him close.

 

“Wow- I- It’s okay, little guy, I won’t hurt you.”

 

No, no that was a lie. Everyone always said that, the hedgehog wouldn’t be any different. 

 

“Oh Gaia- Um, A-Are you hurt there, buddy? Do you need help-?”

 

Miles grabbed his knees until his knuckles went white. I-It was okay! Hopefully this one wouldn’t hurt as much as the others. H-He, he just had to stay still and do as he was told. Y-Yeah! It would hurt less if he did! Yeah-

 

“Wow, hold on there, you’re hurting yourself-“

 

Miles shirked out loud as the hedgehog tried to grab him. Curling up impossibly further in himself and keeping his eyes shut. Shaking getting worse, when had he started shaking-?!

 

“Shot, oh no- this is bad, this is ba-“

 

Noises started to mix together. It was too loud, too much. He drew his ears close to his head. Please, please not again, not again.

 

He braced himself for the hit he knew was about to come. Tensing up in a weak effort to protect himself. Teeth clenched as he waited for the fist to collide-

 

-Only, it never came.

 

Was- was this some type of joke-? There was no way Slash and the others would leave him like that, right? N-No, this must be- it must be a prank! Yeah! Yeah, that was probably it. They would hit him when he least expected it-!

 

Miles kept his guard up. He knew that they would strike as soon as he relaxed, he just had to be strong, to wait just a little longer. They would grow tired of him eventually, they always did. He just had to wait long enough until that happened.

 

But… nothing came.

 

Miles decided to risk it, opening one of his eyes slightly to see-!

 

-A blue hedgehog sitting in front of him. Arms at his sides which continued to go up and down, following his breathing.

 

He stared at him, waiting for the moment when he would strike. But the hedgehog remained seated, drawing in breaths for four seconds, holding them for seven, and letting them go in eight. Movements exaggerated as he did so.

 

It was then Miles took notice of his own breathing. It was coming in fast; he could even distantly hear his own, ragged breaths as he tried to keep air in his system. Hating how that didn’t seem to work.

 

The hedgehog merely continued with his exercises. He- he seemed calm. Maybe Miles should try and follow his movements-?

 

He shakily started to draw breaths in for four seconds, it was surprisingly difficult. But after a few tries, he managed. He held them for seven and finally let them go in eight.

 

Slowly, but surely, the world began to gain focus around him. His ears perked up at the sound of the waves as they reached the beach, some flickies chirping in the distance and the relaxed breaths coming from in front of him.

 

He let his arms fall from where they had been hugging his knees. Fingers digging into the sand around him and nose picking up the salt in the air. 

 

It was… peaceful.

 

After another, shaky breath, Miles opened his eyes and was reminded of where he was.

 

The blue hedgehog was sitting cross-legged in front of him, but with a comfortable distance between them. His back was against something cold, and Miles soon realized he was leaning against the biplane.

 

A few moments passed, the hedgehog patiently waiting for him, and Miles decided to get this over with as soon as he could.

 

“Please don’t go too hard on me.” His voice was scratchy to his own ears, barely above a murmur.

 

The hedgehog visibly flinched at that, ears flattening against his head. “I-I’m not going to hurt you.” He drew his hands up in surrender. “I promise.”

 

“Everyone always says that,” Miles looked away. “it’s never true.”

 

A few minutes passed, marked only by the sound of the waves, before Miles heard a sigh.

 

A soft, metallic ‘click!’ was heard before the sound of footsteps against the sand drew closer to him. He just closed his eyes, too tired to try and shield himself. But nothing happened.

 

He opened one eye and saw the hedgehog kneeling close to him, a water bottle in his hand as he offered it to him. “Are you thirsty? I figured you could use this.”

 

Miles eyed the bottle with suspicion. His mouth was pretty dry, but he didn’t really trust the hedgehog…

 

His thirst ended up winning, a shaky hand grabbed the bottle and brought it close to his nose. He couldn’t smell anything weird in it, not like the other times, so he deemed it safe enough to drink from.

 

He slowly brought it to his mouth, but as soon as the first drop hit his tongue, he practically gulped down the entire bottle.

 

The hedgehog went to grab the bottle, but sharply stopped before making contact. “Wow, careful there! Wouldn’t want you to choke now, would we?” He gave an awkward laugh, trying to improve the atmosphere.

 

“Sorry.” Miles finally brought the bottle down, barely any water left in it.

 

The silence was back once more. Only this time, it was broken by the grumbling coming from Miles’ stomach.

 

The hedgehog merely chuckled. “I see someone’s hungry, hm?” He reached for something behind him and brought it to his lap. And Miles recognized it as the metallic, ration compartment from earlier.

 

The same one that had started this whole mess.

 

Miles stared as the hedgehog went ahead and took one of the cereal bars from inside, opened it up, and offered it to him.

 

Miles flattened his ears against his head, heat gathering in his face. “I ate all of your food tho, yesterday.” He brought his tails to cover him, wanting the ground to just eat him up.

 

“Oh, it’s okay, I’m not hungry.” The hedgehog’s statement was cut short as yet another rumbling sound was heard. Only this time, it wasn’t coming from Miles.

 

He couldn’t stop the snort that left him. As soon as the sound was out, Miles curled up into a ball, scared of the hedgehog’s reaction. They stared at each other for a bit before the hedgehog shook his head and gave a small laugh. “Okay, so maybe I’m a little hungry. Tell you what,”

 

A ‘Crack!’ was heard as the hedgehog split the cereal bar in two, offering the other end to him. “we can share! Is that okay with you?”

 

Miles stared at the food for a while, going over all the pros and cons, before nodding his head. He was pretty hungry. Taking the cereal and taking a bite out of it, albeit, more careful than he had been with the water.

 

The hedgehog made sure he ate first before he, too, took a bite of his food.  He settled down more comfortably, a knee up that rested his arm and the other stretched out in front of him, and put the metallic box in the middle of him and Miles.

 

They ate in a nice silence, each taking food from the box and eating it, before the hedgehog spoke up.

 

“So,” he started with his mouth still full. “you’re the one who’s been helping me with my biplane, hm?”

 

Miles looked down in shame, the hedgehog sparing a look at him before continuing. “You did an amazing job.”

 

That took Miles by surprise. “You’re not… mad?”

 

The hedgehog turned to look at him; head tilted in question. “Why would I be mad?”

 

“I dunno,” Miles hid his embarrassment with another bite on his cookie. “that’s how everyone reacts when I mess with their stuff.”

 

“Well, I’m not like everyone else.” The hedgehog winked at him before staring back into the ocean. “But going back though, you did great with the Tornado.”

 

“That’s its name?” Miles couldn’t help the way his tails wagged behind him.

 

“Yup! The Tornado’s been traveling with me for a while now,” He gazed back at the aircraft, a fond look in his eyes. “she’s a great plane.”

 

“Yeah,” Miles followed his gaze, a hand coming to touch the biplane. “I’ve never seen something like her.”

 

“Wanna get a closer look?” Miles stared at the hedgehog as if he had grown a second head, mouth agape.

 

“You… are letting me near your plane again?”

 

“Sure! You’ve been helping me get her fixed up, the least I can do is properly present her to you.” The hedgehog’s smile was… genuine it seemed; a hand stretched out towards him.

 

Miles stared at it. On one hand, this could all be a trap. Some sick, twisted joke specially prepared for him, bringing all his hopes up just for them to come crashing down.

 

In the other one, however…

 

The hedgehog had multiple opportunities to do just that. He had been vulnerable in his panicked state, and he did nothing; in fact, he helped him calm down. He had offered him food and didn’t cast him out. He was even offering to show him his plane!

 

Maybe… maybe the hedgehog was telling the truth. He wasn’t like everyone else.

 

Miles let a smile form in his face, a firm grip as he accepted the hedgehog’s hand.

 

“Yeah, yeah I would really like that.”

 

The hedgehog’s expression was kind, some tension leaving his body before helping Miles onto his feet.

 

“Great, let’s get started, buddy.”

 


 

Sonic the hedgehog was at a loss for words.

 

Now that… that was new to him.

 

He had been expecting many things when he had been woken up today, something hard and cold landing in his head, but not a terrified child.

 

The same one he saw tinkering with the Tornado yesterday.


He wasn’t sure what he was doing up so early in the morning, but when Sonic tried to properly greet him, all that his saw was pure panic.

 

His blue, innocent eyes were dilated into small dots. His breathing speeding up to a point Sonic worried he wasn’t getting any air in and body trembling against the Tornado’s side.

 

Sonic didn’t know what do to, everything he tried only seemed to make it worse. He paced in the beach in increasing speed, panicking over how he could help this kid, until his own breathing began to increase.

 

Deep breaths, Sonic, deep breaths- Wait! That was it!

 

That always helped him calm down, hopefully it would do the same for the kit.

 

He sat down, a little further away from the fox, and began with his exercises. Exaggerating so the kid could see them more easily.

 

It took a while, but the kid took notice and started to copy him. Sonic had to contain the breath of relief he wanted to give so as not to disturb the sequence.

 

Sonic waited for him to make the first move. He didn’t want to scare the child more than he already had, but his words only made him more worried than he had already was.

 

Gaia, just what happened to this kid?

 

He remained curled in a ball, as if trying to take as little space as possible. His baby blue eyes jumped from one place to the other, following his movements closely as if waiting for something. His body was in no good shape either, his fur was a dull yellow, multiple dark spots all over his small frame, some areas were uneven, and Sonic worried over what his fur could be hiding.

 

But that could wait. Even from this far away, Sonic could tell this kid was way smaller than he should be for his age. He seemed to be closer to 4 years old, and man, didn’t that thought crush his heart, but was worryingly skinny, even showing through his fur.

 

His first order of business was making sure this kid ate something. Once he managed that, he made sure to be as careful as he could, his movements slow and all where he could see them.

 

However, Sonic was still curious about this little fox kit.

 

He had stars in his eyes as Sonic showed him around the Tornado. She wasn’t in her best condition for Sonic to show her to a kid, but he didn’t seem to care, tails happily wagging behind him.

 

In fact, the kit seemed to know even more than Sonic, correcting him in the pronunciation of certain parts of the plane or going into detail regarding the functions of buttons Sonic had never given a second thought.

 

This kid was a genius.

 

So just what happened to him? Sonic had a sneaking suspicion that he wasn’t taken care of back home, if he even had a home to begin with. But he wasn’t about to ask that to a kid, it had been hard enough getting him to open enough at the idea of looking at the Tornado, he wasn’t going to destroy his chances.

 

Instead, he went for a more middle ground. A conversation topic where he could hopefully help the kid figure some things out.

 

“Hey, do you mind if I ask you a question?”

 

The boy stopped playing with the Tornado’s control stick in the cockpit to look at him, movements a bit more apprehensive. “Um, yeah, I guess?”

 

“Yesterday, after you finished looking at the Tornado, you just dashed away. How did you do that?”

 

“Oh.” His hands dropped from the console, bringing them to his chest and fidgeting with them as his gaze fell to his tails. ”Are you sure you want to know that?”

 

“Of course!” Sonic could tell the kit was self-conscious about them, but he wasn’t going to let him dwell on it and loose himself in his head. “I’ve never seen someone do that before! You have any idea how many people I’ve seen who could maybe match my speed?”

 

The kit shook his head and sonic raised his hand, fingers forming a circle. “Zero. You have something special going on there, kid. Who knows, maybe I could teach you a thing or two.” Sonic chuckled and brought a hand to his neck. “Heck, I’ve already lost count of how many times I’ve crashed against stuff trying to control my speed, sure could’a used someone to help me back then.”

 

The kit brought his hands to rest under his chin, tails shifting as he thought, before he looked back at Sonic. A fearful yet determined look on his face.  “Okay, I think I can show you.”

 

Sonic grinned at that. He carefully watched as the fox dropped down, brows furring for a second in concern as he heard a small hiss, and waited for him to get into position.

 

He lightly bent his knees, put his arms at his sides, and started to spin his tails.

 

Sonic stared in surprised as he bolted across the beach, a cloud of dust following. He shook his head and grinned as he sprinted until he was side to side with him, going surprisingly fast.

 

“That was amazing!” He had to yell for the fox to hear him, wind brushing against their faces. “How you doing there, buddy?”

 

“I-I think I’m doing good!” The kit replied, laughter following soon after.

 

The sound was so sweet, so innocent. Sonic wanted to make sure he would hear it again, that the kid would be happy. “Great! Try using your hands for balance, bring ‘em close to your chest!”

 

“Like this?” He did exactly as he was told, Sonic giving him a thumbs up.

 

“Exactly! Now, let’s try practicing some turns, okay?”

 

“Okay!”

 

“Just throw your weight a little to the side, let gravity do the rest. Like this!” Sonic sprinted forward, demonstrating the action before returning to the fox’s side.

 

A spark of pride filled his chest as the kid managed to do it first try. It was Sonic’ laughter what filled the space this time. “That’s how you do it! You’re a natural at this!”

 

A small, tentative smile began to form on the kit’s face. His mouth opening to respond-

 

-but a yelp was what came out.

 

Sonic acted fast, the kid had tripped on something and was on his way to crashing face-first into the sand. He dashed and caught the fox in his arms, digging his feet in the sand to slow them down.

 

They managed to stop safely. The kit was trembling, Sonic quickly kneeled and helped him to his feet. Hands hovering but not really touching him. “Are you okay?”

 

“Y-Yeah, I think so.”  He was hugging himself, eyes going from one place to the next until they settled on Sonic. “You saved me.”

 

It was a statement more than it was a question. Sonic merely shrugged his arms, eyebrows slightly furrowing. “Yeah, I wasn’t about to let you fall.”

 

“Why?”

 

Sonic softened his expression. “Because everyone deserves to have someone there to catch them.”

 

They stayed in the middle of the beach for a while, the sound of the flickies in the distance marking the time. Before Sonic stood up. “We can call it quits for the day if you want. You’ve already made way more progress than I had expected.”

 

“No, no…” The fox intervened, bringing a hand to his face and using his palm to clean some dust on his snout. “I… I think I want to try again.”  His gaze returned to Sonic; a pleading look in his eyes. “Please?”

 

Sonic’s emerald eyes softened even more, chuckling a little as he shook his head. “Sure thing, buddy.”

 

The kit’s enthusiasm returned ten-fold. A new motivation in his movements, tails happily waging behind him. “Thank you! Thank you so much!”

 

“No problem, kid. Now,” Sonic settled down into his usual starting pose, knees bent and a grin in his face. “you up for a race to the Tornado?”

 

The fox kit’s brows furrowed in determination, dropping down to copy Sonic’s pose. “Always.”

 

“That’s the spirit! You ready? Three, two, one… GO!”

 

The beach was filled with dust clouds and blurs of cyan and orange, laughter from two different voices dancing in the air around them.

 


 

Miles finally understood the meaning for the word ‘happiness’

 

That light feeling in his chest whenever he ran, when the laughter was around him… so that’s what it was.

 

He head been happy as he raced around with the hedgehog. When the wind hit his face, he felt as if he could do anything. He felt free.

 

And the hedgehog… it seemed Miles had been wrong about him at first.

 

He had been genuine, about everything.

 

It was… weird to actually trust somebody. For him to finally meet someone who was telling the truth. But it had also been refreshing.

 

He had been kind to him, Miles couldn’t even remember the last time something like that happened! And had been teaching him a lot of things too!

 

He explained and showed him some blueprints that allowed Miles to figure out the model of the Tornado and how her inner machinery worked, now he knew exactly how to fix her. He had helped him control his speed, being with him every step of the way and catching him when he felt.

 

Miles wasn’t really sure why that had struck with him in particular. But it meant a lot to him.

 

The hedgehog was patient with him, ironic considering how fast he could go, and answered any and all questions he had. He was happy around the hedgehog.

 

But like everything else in his life, nothing ever worked out.

 

Miles’ exactment began to drop as the first droplets of water did. Thunder in the distance soon following.

 

He was lucky he wasn’t running this time. His whole body froze up, fur puffing up.

 

The hedgehog took notice, he stopped stretching and focused all his attention on him. “Something wrong, buddy?”

 

“I-I have to go.” Miles’ voice trembled a bit, eyes going from the clouds in the distance and back to the hedgehog.

 

He was about to respond but was cut off by Miles’ yelp. Lightning had struck in the distance, way too close for Miles’ comfort.

 

“I-I’m sorry, I had a great time with you t-though!” Miles was turning around now, going back into the pose the hedgehog had taught him, and prepared to take off.

 

“Oh, well, I won’t keep you then. But just know you can stay with me, if you want? My tent can help if you’re scared of the storm.” Miles’ utter surprise at that was enough for him to momentarily forget his fear, tails going slack on the ground.

 

“W-What?!”

 

The hedgehog threw up his hands into the air. “Only if you want too tho! Man, I’m bad at this…” He grumbled that last bit, but Miles’ hearing was able to pick it up.

 

“N-No, it’s just- I don’t want to bother you anymore.” He brought his tails close to him, fidgeting with his hands.

 

The hedgehog’s expression softened at that. “It’s no problem, really!”

 

Miles stared at the small, singular tent by the Tornado’s side. The hedgehog followed his sight and slammed a hand to his head. “Oh, right! Here, just give me a sec-“

 

And true to his word, it took him mere seconds to make proper accommodations for both of them.

 

A small, blue tornado formed from where the hedgehog was going back and forth near the biplane. Miles couldn’t make out many details, but it disappeared as quickly as it had arrived.

 

Where there had once been a singular tent, there were now two sleeping bags. The cloth from the tent had been used to create a makeshift roof above them, its extremes held by the Tornado’s upper aileron and a shovel which was neatly planted on the ground. A small lantern stood in the middle of the bags, providing enough warmth and light for them.

 

The hedgehog stood right beside his creations, making jazz hands. “Ta-da!”

 

Miles could feel the smile forming in his face. “You’re sure I won’t be bothering you?”

 

“Nah,” the hedgehog threw his hands forward, inviting him over to the small shelter. “now come on! The storm won’t get close to us, but the rain will. Better get inside before you get soaked!”

 

Miles laughed a little at that, and slowly made his way over to the hedgehog.

 

He took off his old red snickers and settled into one of the bags, the fabric so soft that Miles practically melted into it. Hedgehog following suit.

 

“Everything good, buddy?” He asked, and Miles merely gave a hum.

 

“I’m glad.” The hedgehog responded, sprawling himself in his own bag.

 

They stayed like that for a while, sleep slowly claiming Miles as some small droplets of water crashed against their shelter, before the hedgehog spoke up.

 

“Hey, do you mind if I ask you a question?”

 

“Hm- yeah-?” Miles sleepily replied, the hedgehog slightly chuckling.

 

“I don’t really expect an answer but… what’s your name? I don’t think you’re comfortable with me just calling you “kid” all the time, are you?”

 

That took away the sleepiness from Miles. He turned to look at the hedgehog, resting his weight on his arm.

 

“I don’t really mind you calling me that, really.” Miles bit his lip; he wasn’t really comfortable telling his name to anyone though…

 

“I figured as much, but maybe I could try calling you something else? Like a nickname!” The hedgehog suggested and Miles tilted his head in question.

 

“What’s that?”

 

“You know, something that friends call each other! Tell you what, you can give me a nickname and I’ll give you one too!”

 

Miles’ mouth was left wide open, voice barely above a whisper. “You really mean that?”

 

“Um, yeah? Wait a second- are you crying?! Oh, Gaia, I broke him-“ Miles laughed at the hedgehog’s surprise, a hand coming to wipe away his tears.

 

“Heh- no it’s just that… I’ve never had a friend before.” Miles gave the most genuine smile he could muster. “Thank you.”

 

The hedgehog’s face was completely blank, and Miles laughed yet again. He soon shook his head, his expression the softest he had ever seen. “Well, I’m thankful you’re my friend too.”

 

They just smiled at each other before Miles looked down, fidgeting with his hands. “I think I would like to try that nicknames thing.”

 

The hedgehog beamed at him. “Alright, I was thinking I could maybe call you… Tails?”

 

Miles went to respond, not really comfortable with it, but the hedgehog shook his hand, stopping him in his tracks. “Now listen, I know you’re not exactly happy about them, but just think off all the amazing things you can do with them!”

 

The hedgehog stood up, back straight as he began to speak, an admiration in his voice. “You can use them to run almost as fast as me! Do you know how cool that is?! You told me you used them to clear the Tornado, they help you sleep at night and are the fluffiest things I’ve ever seen! They are special, buddy. You are special.”

 

Miles was speechless, no one had ever said anything remotely nice about his tails. But the way the hedgehog talked about them… It was all true, too. They even helped him fly…

 

The hedgehog’s happiness seemed to increase ten-fold; Miles hadn’t noticed he said that last bit out loud. “See?! This is exactly what I’m talking about! Oh, you so have to show me that tomorrow!”

 

Miles laughed a bit at his excitement. “Well, when you put it like that… I guess they are pretty cool…”

 

Miles took a steadying breath, a new spark in his eyes. “I think I like that nickname.”

 

“I’m happy to hear that, Tails.” The hedgehog’s smile was the brightest so far. “Alright, so now’s your turn! What should my nickname be?”

 

Miles- No, Tails brought a hand to his chin.

 

The hedgehog had named him something unique to him, so he should probably do the same?

 

“What about… Hm... Spike?”

 

Tails couldn’t help his snort at the hedgehog’s reaction. “Excuuse me?”

 

“Oh, you know. You named me after my tails, I should get to name you after your spikes!”

 

“Yeah, I get that, but not even about my mad skills or speed? What about Speedy? Wait, no- scratch that, that’s worse-”

 

Tails went howling with laughter. Having to take several minutes to calm down, stomach sore. “U-Unless you want me to call you Spiky!”

 

No. Nope, I am not dealing with that, thank you very much!” The hedgehog tried, and failed, to keep a straight face, but he soon joined Tails in his laughter.

 

After he could control himself enough, the hedgehog cleared his throat a little louder than what was reasonable, drawing Tails’ attention. “Okay, let’s try this now.” He stretched his hand towards him, a smile on his face. “Hi! I’m Spike, Spike the hedgehog.”

 

He stared at the hand and took it on his own, a strong grip as he shaked it. “Tails, Tails the fox.”

 

And so, Tails settled in for the night.

 

For the first time in his life, with a comfortable place to sleep, a full stomach and a friend at his side.

 

Notes:

Hi!! This is the longest chapter yet and the most important so far! Hope you guys enjoyed, I know I certainly did while writing this chapter. As usual, I'll be fixing any grammar mistakes that I find and will be reading you guy's comments! Hope you have a nice day!