"Don't open it in city limits, nobody sees you open it, and I never gave it to you, alright?"
"Understood." Shadow nodded grimly.
"Merry Christmas." Miles handed over the gold ribboned box with a nod of his own.
"Same." Shadow shoved a small box into his chest before spinning away, rapidly making distance between them without looking back, box disappearing into his hammerspace.
Another successful drop off, Miles smiled to himself, slipping his own box out of sight.
There really was a certain satisfaction when you were giving a homemade gift.
Though he didn't care much for crowds, Amy's social circle overlapped heavily with his own, and she'd made the right call to keep today's event "mobian only" to boot, leaving only a pair of bandicoot sisters as strangers and they were content to mingle far away from his observation point by the kitchen, nursing a cup of eggnog as he watched people enjoy themselves while still being close enough to be useful if needed, mainly by talking to people that felt the need to come up to him.
It was from this safe distance that he could appreciate just how odd his life must seem to an outside perspective. Blaze, purple cat and imperial princess from another dimension and stoic, solemn defender of all things good and emerald shaped, chatted amicably with the white-furred bat Rouge, secret agent in the employ of the local human government and cheerfully unrepentant jewel thief. Shadow, the "ultimate lifeform", was now talking about alien mind control - sadly not a conspiracy theory - with a baseline mobian who, like Amy, had trained hard enough during the last war to stand side by side with Sonic against Eggman, something that filled Miles with... mixed feelings.
It was both a who's who of some of the most respected, capable heroes in mobian society and a quiet, comfortable gathering of friends - at least Amy's friends - with music, food and a wide variety of non-alcoholic drinks - human law enforcement was particularly strict about that one. For mobians the laws referred to height, not age, and held strict punitive measures for exceeding the mandated blood/alcohol level. Which was quite reasonable in Miles' opinion, Mobians lacked the human tolerance leaving them even more vulnerable to intoxication than their typically tiny size would suggest, while simultaneously having a substantial proportion of the population be superpowered demigods by human standards.
This was just Sonic drunk on sugar, after all. And he was already back to picking a fight with Knuckles over something. Or just saying "hello" to one another, it was tough to tell, sometimes. Sonic had a way of enraging or befriending everyone with little in between. Sometimes both at once, such as the crimson echidna who managed to combine loyal friend and bloodthirsty enemy into being a "rival".
Miles didn't really have any rivals. Eggman was certainly a worthy adversary whose genius Miles had to respect, but he was hardly someone he'd want to invite to a party so much as someone he occasionally had to cooperate with because Sonic wanted the fat lunatic alive for some reason. There was that avian Extreme Gear mechanic, Wave, but as far as Miles was concerned the entire field of "flying jetboard" was a diversion he'd spent a few weeks on here and there, not something to get worked up over. Even if she had told him that his design was junk. Miles scowled at the memory. No, that would be like considering Marine the Raccoon his rival because she built boats.
… Heh. Assuming the suicidally naïve girl hadn't drowned herself by now. Fortunately for him, Amy and Marine had never met, and Blaze wasn't the type to bring a plus-one. Knowing his luck he'd end up stuck babysitting her all night or something. Wait, could a rival be a one-sided thing? Hm...
"Top you up, sourpuss?" Amy slipped out of the kitchen clutching a pitcher, pouring fresh nog into his glass without waiting for a reply.
"Huh?" Miles blinked, peering up at her.
"You're kinda grumpy looking, Tails. You not having fun? I'm sure Cream'll be here any minute."
"I'm fine though?" Miles put back on a sheepish grin. "Sorry! Was just thinking about… stuff."
"Hm… Alright. I just gotta do my hostess thing for a minute, then how about you help me out in the kitchen for a few?"
"Sure." Helpful was good.
Miles watched Amy swish through the room in time to the music, drifting from conversation to conversation with an easy smile and a ready laugh as she filled cups and made smalltalk.
Like she belonged. Miles sighed.
A massive foot planted on the floor beside him. Miles didn't have to look to know its owner, Big the Cat, his dimension's very own purple cat, though he could hardly be more different to Blaze. Big more than lived up to his name even by human standards, and thanks to mobian density weighed more than half a ton, a hazard to floors and furnishings everywhere.
"... Hi, Tails." The giant said at last, big yellow eyes boring down at him.
"Hey, Big. Happy Christmas. Got a gift for you here." Miles grabbed a small package. A transmitter unit for Big's often lost pet frog. The tricky part had been setting it up to work entirely in simple spoken words for the fisherman's use.
"Thanks. For you." Big held out a hand, a glittering blue gem the size of Miles' fist drowned within it.
A chaos emerald? He hadn't even wrapped it.
"Uh, thanks, Big." Miles peered up at the mobian, slipping the emerald into his hammerspace before Rouge could see it. "How did you-"
But Big had already turned away, thudding his way towards the buffet spread once more.
Well… that was Big for you. For a… "simple" fellow, he had a peculiar insight that served him well in this sort of thing, but chaos emeralds were a big, heh, deal. Each of the seven was an effectively infinite power source, with various "mystical" applications when used by more talented people like Sonic or Shadow, or by him to cover the power needs of his more ambitious projects. Or reshape local reality to make even more ambitious projects possible in the first place.
This actually made the second emerald in his possession right now, and the first gift he'd received this evening that hadn't been some kind of mint, except for Shadow's "package".
Oh, and Sonic. He'd given him a selection of wrenches and screwdrivers tied together at the base with some twine, laughing about "a bucket of tools".
Still had no idea what that was all about, but he did have several buckets of tools, and more was fine by him?
"Okay, now you just look confused." Amy peered down at him, empty pitcher in her hands.
"Well… I was just talking to Big?"
"Ah." Amy smiled. "Well if you still want to give me a hand, I've got to put out some trays for dessert."
Miles nodded, slipping off his seat and grabbing a package from the heavily diminished pile beside him and trailing her into the massive kitchen, sized as it was for larger occupants.
Amy hoiked up onto a stool beside the oven, straining to grab a pair of empty platters from hooks before hopping down.
"Just going to be a few minutes." She jabbed her thumb at the oven.
"You're baking at your own party?" Miles raised an eyebrow. "Bold."
"No, silly." Amy grinned, brushing her fingers under her spines across the short fur that lay beneath, sending the mistletoe gently bobbing by her ear. "I made these earlier, but warm mince pies are best, aren't they?"
"Oh,sure. Um…" Miles took a small sip of his drink, grimacing at the odd taste before thrusting the package forward. "This is for you."
Amy raised an eyebrow. "Didn't you already give me a present? Sonic was holding it when he came in."
"Oh. Well, actually I guess I did get you two. That was… Uh… From him. Though." Miles glanced out the door where his friend chatted amicably with the wendigo sisters. He'd somehow located a glowing red nose now affixed to his face.
"Mhm. Sure." Amy nodded, a ghost of that forlorn smile returning to her lips. "Well just so you know the hairband is lovely and I appreciate it."
"Um, so…" Miles extended the large box to her again, awkwardly. "Happy Christmas."
"Thanks." Amy took the box with a wink. "Mind if I open it now?"
Miles nodded. She took that as agreement and tore into the packaging with an excited expression that soon gave way to polite confusion. "New hammer?" She held it up with a mixed expression. "I appreciate the thought b-"
"Try hitting me with it." Miles smiled.
Amy flinched. "What?"
"Hard as you like, give it a swing." Miles shrugged. "Or I can hit myself if you want?"
"Well… Alright." Amy took the mallet, designed to match the original as best he could from memory, and swung it down in a slow arc onto his head.
Piko.
It squeaked, the hammer bending from the impact as she pushed down.
"... What?" Amy swung again, harder. The hammer once again crumpled and bent away with a cheery piko sound. She burst out laughing.
"I figured you got so strong nowadays that you're having to worry about accidentally breaking stuff when you get... mad." He tapped the head of the hammer. "No matter how hard you swing this, you don't have to worry about it."
"So… you got me this so you wouldn't get hurt so often? Very sly." Amy winked at him, replacing a flicker of hurt not quite quickly enough for Miles not to notice. Did he mess up?
"I- uh, it's not for me. It's just something I have to worry about myself and- um-"
"It's very sweet, Tails, thank you." Amy swung the hammer into her table with a faint smile before slipping it away to her hammerspace. "Going to have to try and remember not to get those two mixed up, I guess." Her smile broadened. "Here."
She slipped a much smaller, but much better wrapped box towards him.
"Thanks."
"Open it! I've gotta check the oven."
Miles slid the tip of his tails under the paper, tearing it neatly half and popping the lid off the box a moment later.
Brown boots lay atop a rugged brown leather jacket, a pale blue pilot scarf and sturdy, silver framed goggles nestled among them.
"Do… you like them?" Amy smiled hesitantly, trays already laid on the counter behind her.
"Uh-"
"Well you were talking about looking, um, girly in clothes so I thought why not get you something that lets people see how cool you are?"
"... Thanks, Amy." Though he knew very well that she considered him about as "cool" as she did applied trigonometric equations. Miles brushed his fingers across the coarse material, rugged and pragmatic. "Didn't we just talk about that this evening though?"
"Pft. Yeah, like we just met." Amy rolled her eyes. "Open your mouth."
"Huh-mph?" His question was cut short by Amy inserting a pie.
"I saw you hadn't touched the buffet. I swear I have no idea how you don't have scurvy at this point."
"M'nt flav'r'd multivitamins." Miles swallowed. "And I was working up to it!"
"Sure you were. Big's probably finished everything by now." Amy sighed, feeding him another mince pie despite his protests. "And don't worry, I'll help you with the laces when you put them on. You'll get the hang of them in no time."
"I know how to tie laces, Amy." Miles tilted his head away from the threat of a third confection.
"Really?"
"Fine, no, but I could look it up." He pouted.
Amy giggled. "If it makes you feel better you can teach me how to do some of the way more impressive stuff you know after. Win win for me after all."
Except it wasn't the idea of not knowing things that bothered him, it was not knowing basic things. Not knowing normal things. Reminding her that he didn't belong. A feral outsider who had attached himself to a hero and borrowed everyone's acceptance. Who nobody really-
A hammer squeaked on his head. When he opened his mouth in surprise, Amy inserted the third mince pie with a cheeky grin.
"Last one. Now help me load these up. They're getting rowdy out there."
Miles grumbled, still chewing, but placed his glass on the counter, helping Amy transfer from baking tray to fancy plates, watching as she stole glances out the door, the giggling of Sonic's increasingly raucous audience escalating directly in proportion to how much Amy's face fell.
Miles sighed. He could already tell her thought process. He was talking to them fine, why not her?
"Oh… This is for you too." He held out his second gift between his fingers.
"A concert ticket?" Amy turned it over in her hands. "Looks fancy."
"Yep. Exclusive performance. I gave Sonic the other one. Figured you might… like a chance to hang out... with him." He rubbed the back of his head.
"You're sweet." Amy sighed. "You know what?" She glanced out the door. "I'm going to go talk to him. I'm gonna do it." She gulped down the glass of eggnog beside her, scooped up both trays and strode out full of noble purpose.
"Good luck." Miles waved, quietly shaking his head at the empty glass.
He'd heard of dutch courage, but apparently Amy also needed reminding that eggnog wasn't alcoholic.
...And that had been his glass.
The door buzzer sounded from the handset. Miles glanced at Amy's momentary hesitance and waved her off to go answer it himself.
Cream had finally arrived.