A/N: ... uhh... hey! Remember me? *Dodges sharp objects thrown by angry mob* Hey! I'm sorry! I know it's been two months without an update, but Writer's Block takes time to ease off! Anyways, I guess a lot of people have been waiting for this chapter (in fact, I know they have because I have a lot of messages on different websites chasing me down for a new chapter). Some people even asked me if it was discontinued. Of course not! I wouldn't leave such a popular story to wither away in time, especially when I have some great ideas for it right up to the last chapter.

Although I'm not making promises that I may break, expect much more frequent updates from now on.

"Tails! Can you come down here please?"

Tails hurried downstairs at his mother's command. Walking into the kitchen where dinner was laid out on the table, he sat down at his place, both of his parents sitting opposite him. The teenager was completely unaware of his parents' odd expressions. They waited a while, watching him eat, before glancing at each other.

"Tails." His mother said. Tails looked up. She sounded like she was going to say something serious. He swallowed his current mouthful before answering.

"Yes?" Tails began to panic. Why were his parents looking at each other like that? His mother coughed uncertainly.

"Tails... Is there something... you want to tell us?"

"No." Tails replied, his voice barely a whisper. He hated lying to his parents, although, technically, what he'd just said wasn't a lie – he certainly didn't want to tell anyone about his secret relationship with Sonic. "Why? Is there something you want to know?"

"Well..." Mrs Prower muttered, staring down at the plate in front of her rather than up at her son. "You see... I heard you on the phone earlier..." The colour completely drained from Tails' face. He froze, heart skipping several beats.

"You... heard me..?" He gulped, his throat dry. "H- how much?"

"You said 'I love you' to someone, then put down the phone." His father spoke up. "Apparently," he added quickly, since he hadn't actually heard his son say it.

"S-so you didn't hear anything else?" Tails gulped. If his parents had heard even one more sentence of his phone conversation, he may as well have been dead. He sat absolutely still, watching as his mother folded her arms across her chest.

"Tails. You've obviously been talking to a girl over the phone." Tails' eyes widened as he flushed red.

"A... a girl?" Tails stuttered in disbelief. He was about to protest when he realised that he had an easy way out of a difficult situation. "I uh..."

"It's okay, honey," his mother insisted, her eyes softening, "but it would be nice if you told me who you were really talking to." Tails nodded quickly.

"Sorry, mom." He dropped his fork and stood up. "Can I be excused?" he asked politely.

Tails ran upstairs and picked up the phone, his heart thudding at how close he had just come to severe danger. Reaching into his pocket, the fox pulled out a scrunched up piece of paper and quickly dialled the number which was scrawled on it, rolling his eyes at the little heart scribbled at the end. After a couple of rings, Marine answered on the other end.

"G'day!" Tails slammed down the phone immediately, groaning in disbelief. Did Marine talk like that deliberately? Why couldn't she just say "Hello" like everyone else? The only reason Tails had rung in the first place was so that Marine's number would be the last one he called in case his parents pressed the 'Redial' button. He didn't expect his parents to suspect him that much, but he couldn't take the risk.

Sonic, you have no idea how close we just came to being rumbled, you know, The fox thought to himself with a sigh. I guess I should tell him...

Tails headed downstairs slowly. Reaching for his coat, a sudden noise behind him made him freeze. He turned his head and lowered his arm at the sight of his mother stnding above him.

"I'm going to see Sonic," Tails said quietly, still not sure of the look on his mother's face. "Is... that okay?"

"No," his mother replied, a slight smirk on her face. "You're grounded for lying to us."

"Grounded! For how long?"

"Until," Tails was tugged into the front room by his arm, "you've told us everything about your new girlfriend."

Tails groaned aloud.

***

As well as being grounded, Tails was forbidden to use the home phone, and restricted to his own phone, which, at the moment, wouldn't work.

So it wasn't until the next day that Tails got a chance to tell Sonic what happened. He had decided to inform his best friend as they walked to school, during the short four minutes they had alone before meeting up with Shadow for the remaining walk to school. However, when Sonic arrived in the morning, a little later than usual, he was already accompanied by a grimacing Shadow.

"What's he doing here?" Tails hissed to Sonic when the ebony addition was out of earshot.

"He turned up at my house half an hour ago," Sonic replied, not an ounce of joy in his answer. "Said he had to come early for some reason. I wasn't really listening." Tails shot an annoyed glance at the oblivious Shadow.

"But I really need to talk to you," Tails pushed desperately. Sonic was about to reply to the anguish in Tails' eyes when Shadow appeared right next to them, scowling.

"Are we going now?" he growled in annoyance, unaware at how irritated his friends were at him for arriving early. Without saying a word, Sonic glared at him as he stormed silently toward the door, yanking it open and stamping outside. Tails coughed awkwardly as his eyes met Shadow's, hurrying quickly after Sonic.

They didn't get any time alone until lunchtime, when the two of them drifted away from the rest of their friends and their usual gathering place and stood behind the main school building.

"Okay, what's on your mind?" Sonic pressed. "You'd better make it quick because this area gets flooded with smokers at lunchtime." Tails nodded and immediately told Sonic what had happened the previous night, keeping his voice low just in case.

"So she doesn't know?" Sonic asked when Tails had finished.

"No. I told her I was ringing Marine. But now I'm grounded so I can't come round and see you. I don't know when I'll be allowed out again."

Sonic shrugged. "Well, she can't stop me coming round to your house." Tails' eyes narrowed.

"You're not concerned about this at all, are you, Sonic?" He whispered in disbelief.

Sonic sighed and pulled himself away from the wall. "It was a false alarm, nobody found out and everything's back to normal. There's nothing to be concerned about." Tails averted his eyes away from Sonic's, staring at the ground.

"Do you have any idea how afraid I felt last night?" Tails hissed. "I thought... she knew... I thought it was all over, I thought we were going to be killed!" Tails went silent, freezing on the spot and breathing heavily. Sonic remained casual, his arms folded, an indifferent look in his smooth green eyes.

"You are unbelievable!" Tails spat, turning away from the hedgehog and trudging back to the outside bench where his other friends were chatting quietly. None of them said a word to the fox as he dropped heavily onto an empty space on the bench, sitting with his back turned away from the place he'd left Sonic. In his immediate view was a group of girls, including Marine and Amy with some of their other female friends. One of them said something which caused the other girls to squeal excitedly and all rush towards the same girl to hug her simultaneously.

Tails frowned at this action. Why was it that girls could be so affectionate to each other, when boys couldn't? Why didn't the stories about past gays ever mention two females being in love? Girls said they loved their friends all the time, and they were always huddled close together, hugging and the like. If any boys did that to each other, they'd undoubtedly be beaten up by their own friends.

Tails sighed, letting his chin fall into his hands as he thought hard.

"Tails, mate?"

The fox lifted his head to answer Marine, when he noticed Sonic to his left, watching the two of them.

"Hey, Marine..." He began, dragging his attention away from the hedgehog. "... You want to come to my house some time this week?"