Tails sat at his workbench, carefully prodding at the circuitry before him. Crossing wires, soldering them in place, installing new diodes and capacitors, with almost surgical precision. This was his domain. His zen moment. He had spent weeks working on this particular gadget, and it was now so close to completion. Just a few more circuits to integrate. He prepared to fuse some more wires together, and it would be able to power on.
Engrossed in his work, he remained blissfully unaware of the impending doom, slowly, deliberately sneaking up behind him...
"Gotcha!"
"AAAH!"
Something latched onto his tails, startling him back into reality and making him nearly jump off his chair. He dropped a wire, causing it to cross with another. There was a loud snap of discharged energy and a puff of smoke, though Tails barely noticed, still recovering from his almost-heart attack.
He turned around, panting, and saw a young rabbit girl affectionately latched onto his tails.
"Hi Fwuffy!" That was Cream's cute nickname for Tails.
"You scared me, Cream."
"I missed you," she replied, nuzzling his fluffy namesakes.
The young fox shook his head and looked back towards his work, assessing the damage after noticing the distinctive electric odor emanating from it. "Oh, no..."
Cream opened her eyes and looked at him. "Is something wrong?"
"These circuits are completely shorted out," he groaned. "It took me forever to get them properly wired."
Cream suddenly felt much less cuddly, and she quickly let go of her boyfriends tails and attempted to stammer out an apology. "I-I'm sorry, Tails..." He sighed in response, and dropped his head to the workbench, which only served to make Cream feel worse. "I can help you fix it, if you-"
"It's fine, Cream," he sighed again, going to his toolbox to get some wire cutters. "You've told me you don't get this stuff, anyways."
At this point, she felt like she had a rock in her stomach. She knew it was her fault that Tails had broken his invention. She just wanted to spend some time with him, even if just for a little bit.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes."
At a lack for words, Cream shyly looked towards the ground. All she could think of doing was leaving before she made the situation worse. And with that, she slowly left the way she came, leaving Tails to work alone once again.
As ashamed as he was to admit it, even to himself, Silver liked stealing Sonic's food. Though he had long learned to never touch his supply of chili dogs, he found some amusement from Sonic's complaints at his seemingly ever-dwindling supply of bagels.
After Sonic saved Station Square, he was given a nice penthouse in one of the refurbished apartment complexes. Sonic rarely spent time there, but Silver and Blaze often took up temporary residence on their occasional visits. Tails also renovated one of the spare rooms into a secondary workshop, and Sonic's other friends would often come and go as they pleased. As such, Silver had come to know quite a few people who shared a mutual friendship with Sonic.
Silver's bagel popped out of the toaster. Being too lazy to do it himself, he levitated it over to the counter, applied a generous portion of cream cheese, put it on a plate, and returned everything to their respective places, all while standing in the middle of the room.
"Super speed is overrated," he commented to himself, and walked over to the living room. He expected to be alone- Sonic was out doing whatever, Tails was working and he had seen Cream go to join him. But when he got there, he saw Cream now laying on the couch, motionless.
He already knew she was sad about something.
Being one of Blaze's best friends, Cream had always seemed particularly fond of Silver, but he knew she was just friendly to everyone. Even Shadow. Silver had never had a problem with kids, but he never felt like they were ever very close to each other. Reluctantly, he approached the couch and sat down next to her.
Attitudes are contagious, and he suddenly lost his appetite, setting the bagel down on the table in front of him. He had already greeted Cream when she entered, so he didn't know what to say then. Blaze often commented on how naive she found him (her weird way of showing affection), but he wasn't clueless. He quickly picked up on the fact that something had happened between her and Tails.
His plan had been to watch TV, but having a young girl limited what he'd be able to watch, and having her so clearly sad only made the situation more awkward. After a moment of silence, deliberating on how to handle it, he spoke up.
"Want a bagel?"
...great going, Silver. Blaze would be proud.
Cream just shook her head and kept staring straight forward. Silver glanced at the bagel, then back at her.
"You sure?"
This time, he solicited no response.
"Alright then." He took a bite, chewed on it longer than necessary, forced himself to swallow, then set it back down. Deep down, he knew he wasn't making the situation any better by ignoring it, but he couldn't think of any tactful way to help her.
Come on, think of something. Blaze is her friend. What would she do?
Be blunt.
Okay, maybe she's not the best example of... ah, screw it.
"What's wrong, Cream?"
"Tails is mad at me."
Her response was easier than Silver had expected. "What happened?"
Cream sat up, but still didn't look back at him, and recounted what she had done to Tails earlier, and how she messed up his gadget.
"He's been so busy working on it, it's like he doesn't have time for me. I just wanted to spend some time with him." She started to sniffle a bit. "I miss him so much..."
"Cream..."
"And now he just wants me to leave him alone, and he doesn't love me anymore, and I... I..."
And with that, she instinctively latched onto Silver and broke down crying, leaving him with a few conflicting emotions. A bit startled that she had grabbed him, sorry that she felt so badly, and above all else, confused with how to handle the situation at this point. It had been hard enough just to talk to her. At least his girlfriend was in total control of her emotions. He had never once seen Blaze cry.
Trying his best to emulate Blaze, he calmly put an arm around Cream, just letting her vent her emotions. After a few minutes, she had calmed down a bit, and he talked to her again.
"I know how you feel." Cream finally looked at him with her shimmering eyes. "Blaze and I don't get to spend much time together. I haven't seen her in at least three weeks."
"I-I'm sorry..."
"Don't be. We've worked it out." Finally coming back down, Cream let go of Silver and moved down the couch to give him some space, clearly embarrassed that she had just cried on him.
"Blaze gets caught up in her duties a lot," he continued. "I know I can't make her center her life around me."
"So I should just let Tails keep working?"
"Sort of. Even though we both have our jobs to do, we still spend time with each other when we can."
"But he's still mad at me..."
"Well, maybe grabbing his tails wasn't the best way to get his attention."
Cream's blush was clearly visible under her fur. "They're so fluffy and huggable, though."
Silver laughed and tousled her ears, soliciting a small giggle. "I think you should go talk to Tails. Let him know you just want to spend some time with him."
"Do you really think he'll want to?"
"If he cares about you, I'm sure he'll listen."
"Well... okay. I'll try." Before she stood up, she gave Silver a hug. "Thank you, Silver."
He was surprised again, but he gave her a quick hug back, then let her go and talk to Tails.
As soon as she was gone, he sighed and leaned back on the couch. "I can't believe I just gave relationship advice to a six-year-old." His hunger restored, he levitated the bagel back to him.
"...and now my bagels cold. Crap."
Back in his workshop, Tails hadn't even begun working again. He had remained frustrated while he gathered his tools, but there was still a gnawing feeling that had persisted ever since Cream had left. After a few minutes of attempting to get back to work, he finally admitted it to himself.
He had hurt Cream's feelings.
"Tails, you jerk," he muttered, and pounded his head against the workbench. The image of her crying was already in his head. He hated seeing her sad, even if it was imaginary. He wanted to go apologize, but he knew it was too late. Cream had probably already left for home, him having ruined the reason she was visiting him in the first place.
Pulling his head back up, he looked at his broken machine. It was worthless now, in every sense of the word. He didn't even feel like fixing it anymore...
"Tails?"
His ears perked up at the soft voice and gentle squeak of the door opening behind him. It was Cream, as dejected as before. He wanted to go over, hug her and make up with her, but he felt too ashamed of how he'd treated her.
"I'm sorry that I-"
"Don't," he cut her off, immediately regretting it after seeing her suddenly pained expression. "No, I don't mean like-" He bit his lip before he said anything else to make it worse. "You don't need to apologize for anything. I do."
"But I ruined your... thing..."
"I can fix it eventually. It's no reason for me to be mean to you." Finally beginning to work up the nerve, he shyly shuffled towards her.
"I know you love building things, too..."
"It's fun, but I love you, Cream." He gently took her hand with both of his. Only then did he realize how long it had been since they were this close. Knowing how much she loved them, he brushed the side of her cheek with one of his tails, tickling her and making her laugh. Once again, she grabbed his tail and held it tightly like she loved to do. He responded by wrapping his other tail around her and pulling her close, then began petting her ears just the way she liked.
She broke out his pet name again. "I wuv you, Fwuffy."
'Fwuffy' laughed, like he always did when she said that. "I love you too, snuggle bunny."
They cuddled a little bit longer before Tails let go. "You know, if you want, I can teach you some stuff about wiring, so we can work together."
Cream smiled brightly at him. "I'd love that."
Their brief conflict over, Tails got an extra chair for Cream, and they started working together again.