Clink! Clank! Clunk!

"Shit!" a voice came from inside a box of metal.

A giant machine stood in the middle of a small workshop. The hunk of metal was covered with various knobs, buttons, and flashing lights. It looked kind of like a newspaper press, but a lot more intricate.

A white glove reached out from an opening in the machine, put a flashlight on the table, grabbed a garage lamp and a metal hook, and went back in.

After a few more minutes of metallic noises, the glove returned. This time, however, it brought a body with it. The glove covered the hand of a golden-furred anthromorphic fox. He wore a one-piece suit splotched with grease and oil stains. His white, oil-covered gloves, a pair of tennis shoes, and a welder's mask covered up most of his body except for the two golden, white-tipped tails sprouting from his rear. He stepped out of the machine and brushed the dirt off his fur.

"Damn machine," the fox said as he lifted the mask and picked a clump of dried oil out of one of his twin tails. "Why is it that every time Sonic decides to come over, one of my machines suddenly needs fixed? I need to get a lock for this room…"

He continued to mutter to himself as he left the room and headed out into the kitchen. He took a quick swig from the beer can sitting on the counter, and then headed up to his bathroom to wash the oil and grease from his fur.

He stripped down and stepped into the shower, the warm water relaxing his tired muscles. With a thorough scrubbing, he finally managed to get the oil out of his fur.

After the shower, the fox went to his room and changed into his jeans and white T-shirt. Checking the clock showed him it was 2:00pm; way later than he'd wanted to be. As he left the room and went to return to the kitchen, he heard a knock on the door.

He answered the door to his girlfriend of two years, Zeta the Wolf. Her sleek and shiny grey fur looked like silver threads blowing in the breeze. Her long light purple hair blew along with her fur. She was wearing jeans and a dark grey top with her fingerless black gloves and her heart necklace.

Zeta had come to Mobius after a horrible war on her home planet of Statius. It had been a sister planet to Mobius with the same life forms and climates. It was farther away from their sun, so it was a bit colder; but not much. She now lived on Mobius with her twin brother, Alpha the Wolf.

"Hey, Miles!" she greeted him with a big grin. She was the only one who called him by his full name; even Alpha called him Tails. But Zeta said she didn't like nicknames.

"Hey, Zeta," Tails answered, relieved it wasn't Sonic again. "What are you doing here? I thought we weren't going out until tonight."

"Isn't a girl allowed to just visit her boyfriend and wish him a happy birthday?"

"No, no she's not," Tails joked.

After a playful punch from Zeta, the fox allowed the wolf into the house. But before he could follow her into the living room, there was another knock on the door. Tails opened it to find Alpha carrying a six-pack of beer and two gifts. He looked just like Zeta, only manlier (obviously) and his short-cropped hair was green.

"Thanks for holding the door for me," he said sarcastically.

"Sorry, Alpha," Tails apologized, "I didn't see you."

"Guess it's not your fault," the wolf said playfully, then yelled into the living room, "After all, my own sister didn't mention me!"

"Quit whining, baby!" she returned.

"Here, got you some beer," he whispered, handing him the six-pack secretively, "Don't let Zeta see it, she'll kill me. Happy 21st Tails!"

Great, Tails thought, more alcohol. Tails hadn't been 21 for fourteen hours and all his pals had brought him drinks. Sonic and Knuckles had shown up last night for some early celebration, Vector had brought him a bottle of Smirnoff at lunch, and even Shadow had sent him some Captain as a gift.

"I saw that!" Zeta called from the living room.

"Shit," Alpha and Tails said in unison.

"What are you doing?" she yelled at them, "Don't you know alcohol's bad?"

"C'mon, Sis," Alpha begged her, "It's only bad if you drink too much!"

"Well then he doesn't need any more!" she argued, "I saw that beer can in the kitchen!"

"Aw," Alpha whined, "Someone already got you beer?"

"And rum, and vodka," Tails admitted.

"Here I thought I was being original. Oh well. Can I have one then?"

"Knock yourself out," the fox said.

But Zeta grabbed the case out of their hands and carried it into the kitchen.

"Oh no you don't!" she told Alpha, "You've already had three cans today!"

"Hey! One of those was half empty!"

He mouthed the word "bitch" to Tails as they followed her into the living room.

After some leftover ice cream cake from his party with Sonic and Knuckles last night, Zeta insisted he open her present first.

Carefully opening the wrapped gift, he found a kit of bathing supplies specially formulated to get oil and grease out of deep fur.

"You're not going on any more dates with me looking as grungy as you did last week! I want that golden fur shining when we go out."

"Hey, it's not my fault the car broke down before we even left the driveway."

"Maybe if you didn't let Sonic drive it like a madman..." she joked with the fox.

Next was Alpha's gift. He tore the wrapping off to reveal a box full of sex equipment and protection. The fox's blush was visible through his fur and Zeta shrieked loudly in total embarrassment, "Alpha!"

"Well I figure you two need some fun! But I don't want you getting my little sister knocked up before you're married."

"You pervert!" she yipped and began to beat him over the head.

"Ow! Ow! Ow!"

Tails was glad he got to spend his birthday with his friends. Even though Sonic and Knuckles were his oldest friends, they sometimes got a bit too rowdy for the twin-tailed fox. And speak of the devil…

"Hey, Tails, ready to party some more?" came Sonic's voice from the slammed open front door with Knuckles blowing a party horn.

Here we go.

AN: Sorry guys, I've decided to make this a oneshot. On the bright side, these characters will return in another story.