Silver looked around his apartment. There was still a little bit of cleaning to do. He picked up the breakfast dishes and brought them back into the kitchen. Tails' plate looked like it had been licked clean. The ivory hedgehog placed everything into the dishwasher and closed the door. Another glance around the room brought his attention to the dirty skillet and the plate he used to cook the bacon. He carried them over to the sink and started to wash them as well. Once they were clean, he put them back where they belonged. He sighed contentedly and looked around the now spotless apartment.
Wow. I don't think it's been this clean in a long time, the ivory hedgehog thought. He silently padded over to the bedroom door and put his ear to it. Faint snores drifted through the wood. He smiled softly and went back to the couch. He sat down and pulled out his laptop from its resting place next to the couch. He opened it up and waited for it to boot up. Suddenly, he heard something.
"No… no… no… no!" Tails cried. "Stop it! Stop it! Stop it! I'm sorry!" Silver jumped up and dashed into the bedroom, afraid of what he would find. Tails was thrashing about in the bed, but no one else seemed to be there. Silver ran up to Tails.
"Tails! Wake up!" Silver shouted. He shook the golden kitsune feverishly. The yellow fox's eyes sprang open, and he whirled his head around the room, as if he was looking for someone. His eyes settled on Silver, and he suddenly broke down into tears. Slightly surprised and very worried, Silver sat down on the bed, reached forward, and hugged Tails. He slowly rubbed his friend's back
"Sh, sh, sh," Silver cooed. "It's okay. Nothing's going to hurt you." Tails cried even harder but held onto Silver even tighter. At a loss of what to say, Silver just held onto Tails. Then he got an idea. He sang gently.
When your day is long and the night
The night is yours alone
When you're sure you've had enough of this life, well hang on
Don't let yourself go
Everybody cries and everybody hurts sometimes
Sometimes everything is wrong
Now it's time to sing along
When your day is night alone
If you feel like letting go
When you think you've had too much of this life, well hang on
Everybody hurts
Take comfort in your friends.
Everybody hurts
Don't throw your hand. Oh, no
Don't throw your hand
If you feel like you're alone, no, no, no, you are not alone
If you're on your own in this life
The days and nights are long
When you think you've had too much of this life to hang on
Well, everybody hurts sometimes
Everybody cries
And everybody hurts sometimes
And everybody hurts sometimes
So, hold on, hold on
Hold on, hold on
Hold on, hold on
Everybody hurts
You are not alone
As Silver was singing, Tails gradually stopped crying, but his body still wracked with sobs every so often. The final note escaped Silver's lips and the pair fell into silence. Tails tried to keep his breathing in check and gradually calmed down. Silver gently rubbed Tails' back and hugged him tightly. The kitsune sniffled one more time and let go. Silver could see a look of wonder in Tails' eyes.
"W-w-why would you do that?" the yellow fox asked. Silver smiled softly.
"Because you need someone to be there for you. Someone to hold you and tell you everything's all right," Silver answered. "I don't know your story, but I'm not going to ask. If you feel comfortable enough, you can tell me." Silver grabbed Tails' hand. "I want to be your friend. I want to be there for you. Call it whatever you want, I feel some sort of connection with you. I hate it when I see people hurting like this. And I want you to know that I will never hurt you. I want you to feel safe and happy here."
"You mean that?" Tails asked in amazement.
"Yes, I do," Silver nodded strongly. He brought out a set of keys. He gently held Tails' hand and turned it over. Silver dropped his keys into Tails' waiting hand. "These are my apartment keys. I want you to stay here with me for a couple days, but you can come and go as you please. And if you want to leave for good, you can do that too. But keep them with you in case you want to come back." Tails stared at the keys in his palm. He looked up at his newfound friend again. His eyes were filled with thankfulness.
"You don't have to do this…" Tails began. Silver reached over and closed the boy's hand on the set of keys.
"But I do. Keep them," Silver affirmed. Tails smiled sadly. A tear rolled down his cheek once more. "What's wrong?" Silver asked worriedly.
"It's just… no one's ever shown me this much kindness," Tails choked out.
"Well, they should. You seem like a great kid," Silver said.
The kitsune yawned loudly. "I need to sleep a little more… if I start screaming again, wake me up… I don't want to have another one of those nightmares…"
Silver smiled softly. "I will, Tails. Actually, I'll stay in here, if you don't mind."
Tails brightened slightly. "Really? That would be perfect…"
Silver nodded. "Just let me get my laptop and phone. And I have to put your stuff into the dryer too. I won't be long," Silver replied. He got up and went back to the living room. He turned and went into the laundry room. Thankfully, the wash was done so he put the stuff into the dryer. He returned to the living room to gather up his laptop, phone, and a pair of earbuds and brought it all into his bedroom. He silently thanked himself for having a full-size bed.
"I'm going to have to squeeze in next to you. I hope you don't mind," Silver said. "The bed's too narrow for each of us to have our own space."
"Not at all," Tails replied sleepily. He yawned and settled back down underneath the covers. Silver placed his phone on the nightstand and gently hopped up onto the bed. He sat up with his back against the wall and opened up his laptop. Tails shifted around next to him and started to snore softly once more. Silver looked down at his sleeping form. He wondered briefly what his nightmare was about. He shook his head again. It wasn't his place to ask.
Silver opened up his laptop and opened up an internet browser to log onto Netflix. He looked down at Tails once more and plugged in the earbuds. He only put one in his ear, leaving the other one open so he could hear if Tails was having a bad dream again. Tails shifted around once more and threw his arm around Silver's waist, cuddling up against him. A blush formed on Silver's muzzle.
He sighed and clicked on a show he was watching. After a few minutes, Silver started to feel sleepy. Maybe it was the comfy bed. Maybe it was the warm body next to him. He shut off the computer and settled down into his bed. He looked over at Tails one last time. He seemed peaceful when he was sleeping. No tears marred his beautiful face and no lines of worry creased his forehead. Silver reached over and brushed a loose strand of fur into place on Tails' forehead. He smiled softly and closed his eyes. Within minutes, he drifted off to sleep.
Silver woke up and glanced at the clock. It said it was 11:34. He looked around him. Tails was still sleeping peacefully, with his face buried in Silver's chest fur. Silver's arms were wrapped around Tails and Tails was holding onto him. Silver blushed furiously and started to gently remove himself. Tails stirred and yawned loudly. He opened his eyes and looked up at Silver.
"Good morning," Tails said sleepily. He yawned again. "I think I might sleep some more…" Silver smiled.
"If you keep sleeping, it will be night! We should get up." Tails stretched and stood up from the bed. He wobbled slightly, but still remained standing. Silver got up too and guided his wobbling friend into the living room. Tails abruptly flopped down on the couch. His stomach growled loudly. Silver laughed lightly. He remembered the wash and brought out Tails' gloves and socks. Tails pulled them all on and a warm smile spread across his face.
"They're still warm," he hummed happily. Silver noticed Tails' dirty shoes and picked them up. He brought them into the kitchen and pulled out his bottle of shoe cleaner. After a few deft scrubs, they were spotless. Silver brought them back into the living room and found Tails almost sleeping again. Silver nudged him gently, bringing Tails back to wakefulness.
"Here," Silver said. Tails looked at the sparkling shoes.
"You didn't have to do that…" Tails started. He was interrupted by a particularly loud growl from his stomach.
"But I did. Now put them on. There's someplace I want to show you," Silver said, extending a hand to Tails. Tails slipped on his shoes and cautiously took the hand and stood up. They walked out of the apartment and Silver locked the door telekinetically. Silver walked down to the elevator and hit the button.
The pair left the apartment building and stepped onto the busy sidewalk. Silver held tightly onto Tails' hand, afraid he might get caught up in the crowd and disappear. Tails followed Silver as closely as he could, as he didn't want to get separated either. Silver was the one person in the entire world who had shown him any kindness. Silver suddenly stopped and smiled.
"We're here," Silver said, looking up. They had arrived at a Chinese restaurant. The smells coming from inside the building were wafting through the air. Tails' mouth started to water and his stomach let out a loud growl. Silver guided Tails inside and brought them to a table. "This is a buffet. You can get as much food as you want." Tails' eyes widened. A purple bird walked up to the table.
"What can I get you two to drink?" the Mobian asked.
"I'll just have water," Silver said.
"Nothing for me…" Tails mumbled. Silver looked at him.
"You can get whatever you want, Tails. Just ask," Silver said. Tails shook his head vigorously. "What's your favorite soda?" Silver asked.
"Root beer," Tails answered, caught off guard. Silver looked up at the waitress.
"Can you get us one water and one root beer then?" Silver asked. The waitress scribbled the order down and scurried off.
"Wait!" Tails called weakly. Silver looked at Tails.
"It's okay. You can have a root beer. It's my treat. Now go and get some food." Tails stood up slowly and walked over to the buffet. He came back to the table quickly, only having one spring roll on his plate. "You can have much more than that. Fill up your plate!" Tails stared at Silver like he had three heads.
"You… you mean that?" Tails asked.
"Of course I do! Go back and fill up. I'm going to get some food too." Silver got up and brought Tails back to the buffet. Silver picked up a plate and started to pile on the food he wanted. He looked back and saw Tails was filling up his plate too. The pair sat down at their table. Silver hungrily ate his food, but noticed Tails was barely picking at it.
"What's wrong?" Silver asked. "Do you not like Chinese food?"
"No, no, I'm fine," Tails responded. He took a tentative bite of some of the food on his plate. His eyes closed and a smile spread across his face.
"Don't eat too fast, Tails," Silver reminded him. Tails finished his plate in less than two minutes and got up to get more. Silver felt his phone vibrate and took it out to see what was on it. There was a message from the gay dating app, Grindr. Silver smiled to himself. This might be fun.
HiThe message said. Silver looked on the guy's profile. It said he was only into hookups and only wanted to top. Not the person Silver wanted to date. Ever. He got an idea.
[ERROR No. 258452] Message delivery failed. Please try again later. Silver shook his head. It was always about sex. But then again, it was sometimes fun to troll other guys. His phone buzzed again. Someone else had messaged him.
Got a cock pic for me? The message said. Silver grinned evilly. He sent a picture of a rooster to the guy.
U don't do naked pics do u?
Why didn't you say so? Silver sent a picture of a raw, plucked chicken. He chuckled softly to himself. He went back to the homepage and started to scroll through some of the guys.
"I didn't know you used Grindr!" Tails suddenly said behind Silver. Silver yelped and jumped out of surprise. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" he quickly apologized. "Please forgive me," Tails groveled.
"It's okay. I just didn't expect you to be behind me," Silver said.
"You sure?" Tails asked tentatively.
"I'm sure," the hedgehog confirmed. Tails sat down across from Silver with a new plateful of food. Tails started eating once more. "So you don't care that I'm gay?" Silver finally said.
"Nope. Not at all. When you shared your mind with me, you shared that part about you too." Silver's muzzle flushed red in embarrassment. "I'm actually gay too…" Tails said between bites.
Maybe Tails was being bullied for being gay.Silver thought. And he was on the run from the people he knew. But that still doesn't explain why he didn't think to sleep on the bed…Silver's brow furrowed in thought.
"You okay?" Tails asked. Silver shook his head to clear it.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Silver said. "Just thinking…"
"About what?" Tails asked.
"Just Grindr. It's not important," Silver said. Tails shrugged and devoured his plate. He gulped back the soda and leaned back contentedly.
"That was awesome…" Tails sighed. Silver smiled.
"I'm glad you liked it." The waitress came over with the bill and Silver paid with cash. "Let's get back to my apartment. Actually, no. Let's go to the store. You might want to get a few things there." The pair got up and left the restaurant.
"What are we getting at the store?" Tails asked.
"Just some basic things. Do you have a preferred shampoo and conditioner?" Silver asked. "And you need a toothbrush and a regular brush."
"You really don't need to do that," Tails insisted.
"But I do. Now come on, we need to get to the store before it gets really crowded!" Silver grabbed Tails' hand again and the pair dashed off towards the nearest pharmacy.
Me: Second chapter done!
Silver: So what's the story behind Tails?
Tails: Well, whatever it is, I don't think it's really good…
Me: You will find out. Give it a few chapters. All will be revealed. And more will get complicated.
Silver: Just a hint?
Me: Nope! And to my readers, there's this beautiful white box right below to put in your reviews.
Silver: Seriously, tell us what you think.
Me: Tell me what you like, don't like, if you want clarification, but I don't give away plot.
Silver: Please review!