Mobius. A beautiful planet. Long green grass, lush tall trees, neat buildings. Never any terror or disturbance to average life. The sky remained pastel-blue throughout the summer, turned golden through autumn, chilly blue again in winter, and then pink in the spring. Never was there a grey sky, never any kind of natural disaster such as floods or earthquakes. It would seem, then, that Mobius was in fact, the perfect place to live. And for most, it was heaven. Yet for others, for a very very small few, it complete and utter hell.
Because the citizens of Mobius, though on the outside would appear constantly cheerful and polite, always socializing with each other, making new friends every day, were holding a dark secret, causing pain and suffering and depression to that select few.
Every single child in all of Mobius, on their fifth birthday – sometimes even before – were taught how to hate and despise these people. They were taught that these people were wrong, they were doing something terrible which should never have even begun. They were told stories about what had happened to these people in the past, how they had been tortured non-stop for days on end, set up publicly for everyone to watch, even to join in with the torture. They would be beaten, jeered at, dragged around, forced to lay naked on a bed of glasswhile other so-called 'Ordinary' citizens walked across them or even set them alight...
That's right, they told this to five-year-olds, and the kids, boys and girls, were expected to nod and agree and laugh at the thought of torture inflicted on these people.
The ones who loved others the same gender as themselves.
Mobius, the planet thought to be perfect, peaceful, absolute heaven, was so cruelly homophobic as to torture gays to their deaths. Every single child, while being giving the homophobic lecture, was also told that they should grow up to get married to the opposite gender, have children... Most of them – every single one for the past sixty-odd years – did.
Two teenagers who had been given this same lecture almost ten years ago were two best friends by the names of Sonic the hedgehog and Miles the fox, known to everyone as Tails because of a unique birth deformacy which left him with an extra tail.
It was these appendages that had spurred the friendship in the first place.
It was early summer. Sonic was six years old, Tails four. Their parents had both decided to bring their children to a local playground, neither knowing the other or their identicle plans. They had arrived at roughly the same time, Sonic and his mother just a bit earlier.
Sonic, who had been confident and laid-back for the past five years, happily hurried over to the other children, his unique blue quills fluttering behind him. Anyone else would have been teased for having odd-coloured fur, but Sonic's cool, confident personality seemed to push it all aside, and everyone acted as if blue fur was completely normal, though no other known creature on the entire planet had cobalt-blue fur.
Tails was a lot more shy, clinging to his mother desperately at the sight of the large group of children in front of him, all happily chatting and playing together. Tails shrank back, shuddering at the thought of rolling around on the dusty ground, playfully fighting with the other little boys. Even the neat girls scared him a little, with their giggles and chatter, clumped in small friendship groups.
"Go on, Tails honey." His mother urged, "Go and play with the other children."
Glancing fearfully up at her, Tails swallowed, chewing his glove anxiously. He was given a gentle push of encouragement from his mother, and she smiled at him as he walked away, gazing longingly over his shoulder at her as he walked slowly towards the playthings. Most children hung from the climbing frame, or lay in the long grass, or sat on the roundabout. Tails looked over to his left, at a row of little swings, their seats red. It was about the only place that didn't have another child near it.
Tails toddled over, hoisting himself onto the nearest crimson seat. He clung to the ropes tightly, as if afraid that he might fall off. For a while he just sat there, swinging his short legs slowly. Then, he gave a tiny kick that pulled him forwards a little and then sent him swinging backwards. He gave a slightly bigger kick, thrusting his stumpy legs out in front of him. He was just swinging backwards again when he came to an abrupt halt, suspended in mid-air.
Tails gave a quiet gasp as he felt himself begin to slide off the plastic seat. He gripped the ropes desperately, before being shoved hard, sending him careering forwards at incredible speed. A loud squeal escaped his mouth as he was given another strong push and sent even higher. He heard laughing behind him, obviously from other kids who had decided to pick on him for fun.
This time, as Tails swung back, the swing seat was grabbed and tipped over, so he slid right off into the mud. He sat up, trembling, and then started to cry, burying his blue eyes into his fists. His tormenters jeered more.
"Aww, don't cry, little freak." The boy who had said this walked slowly around Tails, circling him carefully. He stood still as he reached the back of Tails, grinning like a maniac. The kid grabbed both of Tails' tails, tugging them hard so Tails was pulled backwards.
"Eww." The boy said. He lowered his head to whisper in Tails' ear. "Don't you know anything? You're not supposed to have two tails, stupid." He hissed, as if Tails had chosen to have two of them. "Oh well," The boy carried on, "I guess we can fix it." He siezed Tails' tails in both hands and tied them into a tight knot, causing Tails to yelp in pain, which only made the kid pull harder. All of his friends, plus more kids, laughed and jeered at the fox, some even coming closer to poke him and tug his fur. From where Tails' mother was, it looked as if Tails was simply making friends.
The leader, the boy who had tied Tails' tails, was now kicking at him, and telling others to join in. One even stamped on his tails, causing him to cry out in pain.
"Hey!" Came a small, but demanding voice. "Leave him alone!" Several children were shoved to the floor, some being trampled on. The leader kid was punched right across the face, knocking him to the ground. Sonic scooped Tails into his arms and carried him out of the crowd of scattering kids. Both mothers hurried over as they saw Sonic cradling a sobbing Tails.
Laying the young kitsune on the ground, Sonic gently untied his tails, smoothing them out. Tails scrubbed at his eyes, sniffing. His mother ran over and scooped him up into her arms, as Sonic's mother grabbed her son's hand. Sonic continued to stare up at Tails, cocking his head to the side in amazement at the sight of him burying his head into his mother's shoulder.
"Are you Ok?" Sonic asked quietly. Tails turned his head to look down at Sonic, and nodded. "You don't say much, do you?" Sonic observed. "My name's Sonic the hedgehog. What's yours?" Tails sniffed.
"Tails." He replied quietly. Sonic grinned.
"Heh. I think your tails are cool. And it's a cool name, too."
Both parents watched in awe as, slowly, a friendship was formed by Sonic's never-ending chatter and Tails' shy nods. Sonic turned to his mother.
"Mom, can Tails come over to our house to play?"
That's the line that sealed the friendship. During that house visit, a lot of things were discovered. But that's a different story, for another time.
Now, the two of them were teenagers, Tails fourteen, Sonic fifteen, and it was early January. They had started school again just last week. Although Tails was a year younger, they were both in the same class because of Tails' genius, which had moved him a year forwards, and it had been that way since they both started. Of course, they had other friends, but really preferred the company of each other.
It was Saturday, and Sonic was round at Tails' house (they actually lived next door to each other, but were constantly together at one another's houses). Today they were doing what they usually did, laying on their stomachs on Tails' bed, playing video games. Sonic laughed as he sent Tails' character flying off the screen.
"Heh, you're gonna have to try harder than that, buddy!" Sonic grinned. He glanced across at Tails, who was staring at the floor, deep in thought. "Tails, you're not even trying. It's no fun beating up something that doesn't fight back. Tails?" He gave the kit a nudge. "Tails!"
"Hmm? What?"
"Are you playing this game or what?"
Tails sighed, rolling over and tossing his controller to the side.
"I don't wanna play any more, Sonic." Sonic raised an eyebrow.
"Why not?"
"Sonic, we've got homework-"
"You'd rather do homework than play video games?"
"No..." Tails sighed again, sliding off the bed and sitting on the floor. Sonic sat next to him, switching the console off.
"Tails? What's wrong, bro?" Tails shook his head, glancing at his 'Big Brother'. Sonic had started calling Tails 'Lil Bro' when he was seven and the fox was five. They had a closer bond than most brothers, and Tails adored being called 'lil bro' by Sonic, so it had stuck instantly. Sometimes, they just shortened it to simply 'Bro'. Both being the only children in their families, calling each other brother seemed to join them as a family.
"Ohh... It's nothing, Sonic." Tails replied, making circles on the ground with his foot. Sonic tilted his head to the side in a sort of 'Come on' face.
"Tails... I haven't known you for ten years without getting to know you. Tell me what's wrong."
Tails shook his head again, more frantically this time.
"It's nothing Sonic, honestly it's not." Sonic sighed this time, reaching over to the backpack he'd brought along, pulling out a thick pile of books.
"Fine. Alright, what first, history or ma-"
"Sonic..."
Sonic turned to Tails, his emerald-green eyes widening as he saw that Tails' own eyes were brimming with tears, which built up, eventually spilling down his cheeks. Tails, though he was sometimes soft, and usually quiet and very emotional, hardly ever cried. But now, he stared helplessly at Sonic, tears flowing down his muzzle, sobs choking him up. Sonic gawped uselessly, as Tails continued to cry, slient apart from several odd, choking sobs.
"...I-it's not... n-nothing, S-Sonic..."
Sonic stared at the ground, sighing.
"Yeah... I kinda guessed that..." He said quietly, turning his head towards the window. He looked back at Tails, who now had his head buried in his arms, crossed around his knees. Sonic reached out, patting Tails awkwardly on one shoulder.
"Tails? Come on Tails, you can't do this without telling me what's wrong. And... I'm sure it can't be that bad."
"It is... y-you'll hate me... e-everyone w-will..."
"Tails. Tails, listen, there's nothing on Mobius that could possibly make me hate you, not after ten whole years of being best friends. We've never fallen out before, so what makes you think this'll completely break us up? And... Even if it is bad, and I do hate you... I won't stop being friends if it means everyone will hate you too... So tell me."
"Oh, Sonic..." Tails raised his head. His eyes were shining with unshed tears, muzzle stained with those before. The teenage kit lowered his head in shame, shame at himself. He sighed deeply, not wanting to admit it at all. Of course Sonic would hate him. Everybody would.
"I'm... I'm gay, Sonic." He whispered bitterly, shuddering as he finally confessed.
A/N: I'm sorry if the second part seemed rushed, and that you didn't really get much of an introduction to their teenage lives. That's because I'm going to build up their history throughout the whole story. You know what to do! Little green button down there...