"Amy, for the millionth time, I don't wanna date you!"

"Aw, c'mon, Sonic! We'd be really cute together!"

Tails couldn't help but chuckle to himself as he watched the all-too-familiar scene: Amy was trying to get Sonic to go out with her, to no avail. Still, he had to give the girl points for trying. She was certainly persistent. And that was one of the reasons that Sonic always declined her advances: what she perceived as persistence, he perceived as clinginess. Sonic had always been afraid of the term 'settling down', and that was exactly the life he'd get if he got together with the pink hedgehog. Granted, he'd still go off on adventures, but he knew that Amy wouldn't be joining him on all of them, and, being the gentleman that he was (though he'd never admit it himself), Sonic knew that she'd worry about him on those solo missions, and he couldn't do that to her.

Of course, Tails knew that was only one of the reasons. One of the reasons, among others (some of which Tails still didn't know), was that he was simply too stubborn to fold to her demands. Think of the whole 'unstoppable force, immovable object' scenario. It was all a matter of who'd break first.

"Tails! Help me out here, bud!" Sonic's shout broke his train of thought, just before he felt the ground shake slightly. Uh oh. Amy had unleashed her hammer. Tails was quick to action, taking off from his seat aboard the parked Tornado with his twin tails, before flying over to Sonic and hoisting him into the sky, out of Amy's destructive reach.

"Tails! You bring him back here right now!" The fox sighed. He liked Amy. She was like a slightly older sister to him, but even he grew tired of her angry shouts and threats of concussions from time to time. He had been travelling with Sonic for a little over 5 years now, and Amy, while certainly not the newest member of their friend group, hadn't even been around for half that, so when it came to Sonic, he liked to think that he had more authority in moments like this.

"Amy, would you please calm down?! You can't force Sonic to date you if he doesn't want to!" Maybe this time, she'd finally listen to him.

"I'll get to him eventually, Tails! You can't keep hovering forever!"

…

Or not…

So, he did the next thing he could think of: he turned away and flew, taking Sonic with him back to the Tornado, and taking off for a flight, with Amy's angry shouts still echoing in the background. He knew her well enough to know that her temper tantrums never lasted that long, and he was thankful that she wasn't the type to hold grudges, but he still knew to give her space and time to calm down before attempting to talk to her rationally. Besides, he'd accept any excuse to take the Tornado for a spin.

"Thanks for that, Tails. I really needed that escape. She's been getting crazy lately."

"No problem, Sonic. Although, it still surprises me that there aren't girls swarming around you any time you go anywhere. I mean, you're just so charming!" Tails' sarcasm was so thick, you could almost taste it.

"Ouch, buddy! But, seriously, she's why. She scares them all off with that stupid hammer of hers!"

"I know what you mean. I still have the bump on my head from that party last year!"

"I feel you there, Tails. I think everyone in our friend group has been on the receiving end of one of her swings!" The two adventurers had a chuckle, before the conversation continued.

"But, I'm still confused. I mean, I'm no expert on this, but you could definitely do worse than Amy, despite her hot-headedness. Why are you so against dating her?" They'd had this conversation before, but Sonic rarely gave a straight answer.

"You know the reasons, Tails." See?

"Not really, other than your stubbornness. I know you've said that you wouldn't want her to have to worry about you, but she probably does that already. Not to mention that she is a pretty decent fighter, so she'd be able to hold her own if we brought her with us. So, come on, what's the real reason?"

There was silence. "Sonic?"

"I don't know. She's just not my type. I need someone who can keep up with me, with my same thirst for adventure and my same love of doing the right thing. I'm not saying that I don't like her. I do, just not in the way she wants me to, and I don't want to lose her friendship by telling her."

"Well, maybe it's about time you two have that chat. Better to be upfront about it, rather than leading her on."

Tails still thought there was probably more to it, but, just as he was about to press Sonic for more details, the Tornado's alarms started blaring, and the plane lurched violently downwards.

"Tails, what happened?!"

"I don't know! We just lost power! It's like someone just flipped a switch and cut us off!"

An ominous laugh echoed through the skies.

"Oh ho ho, how right you are, Tails!"

Both Sonic and Tails recognised that voice anywhere. Dr. Eggman. It had been a while since he had last shown up, so neither of them was that surprised when his latest airborne transportation pod decloaked itself.

"Eggman! What did you do to my plane?!" Tails was furious.

"It's as you said, flyboy! I flipped this lovely little switch here and fried your circuits. I'm afraid you and your annoying blue passenger here will be enjoying a little swim. Have fuuun!" The two heroes had been so caught up in their chat about Amy that they hadn't even noticed that they were flying over the sea until the good Doctor had said the word 'swim'. Sonic immediately paled. It wasn't exactly a secret that swimming wasn't exactly in his wheelhouse. Tails noticed some land off to their left, so he decided to chance it.

"Not if I can help it!" Tails almost broke the controls as he forced the plane to bank hard towards the grassy hills, which isn't easy when you've got no power. Once he had aligned the plane to what he thought would be the correct trajectory, he cast his attention back to 'Baldy McNosehair', only to find that he had disappeared again. Tails figured that Eggman had fallen back to watch from a distance. Coward.

"Alright, Sonic, this is going to be a pretty rough landing! I can't even call for backup! His EMP must have fried the communicators too!"

"Uh, Tails, I think 'rough landing' might be a bit of an understatement!" Sonic pointed ahead, and Tails realised his mistake too late. He hadn't accounted for how much altitude the sharp turn would cost him, and now his beloved plane was heading straight for the cliffs in front of them, and he froze.

This was it.

In a few more seconds, he'd be nothing more than a stain on the stone. He'd be responsible for the death of Sonic the Hedgehog. He was only 13, he wasn't ready to go yet! He felt tears welling in his eyes.

"—ils! Tails! Tails, we need to bail! Now!" Once again, Sonic's shout snapped him out of it. The hedgehog was standing on the wing of the doomed plane, holding his hand out for his friend. Tails reached for it immediately, before closing his eyes as Sonic jumped, with seconds to spare.

The force of the explosion propelled them upwards, and thankfully towards the top of the cliffs. They landed with a hard thud, with Sonic wrapping his arms around the smaller body of his friend, as a sort of protective barrier. They bounced a few times before finally coming to rest beside a large rock.

Neither one of them noticed the crunching sound.

"Tails, are you ok?!" The orange fox opened his eyes to see Sonic's snout a few inches from his own, green eyes filled with worry.

His heart fluttered.

"Yeah. I'm fine, thanks to you. A bit bruised, but nothing serious. And you?"

"Please, we've had harder landings before. I'm fine!" Sonic grinned before standing up. He made to take a step over to Tails' side, to help him up, but instead he almost instantly fell over again with a scream.

"Sonic?! What's wrong?!" Tails was immediately on high alert, his own scrapes forgotten. Although, he didn't need to hear Sonic's answer, because he was fairly certain that feet weren't meant to turn that way.

"Oh no, Sonic, your foot! You're hurt, because of me!" Those tears from earlier came back with a vengeance. "I messed up the trajectory! If I'd just paid more attention, you'd be fine." He was silenced when he felt Sonic's hand grab his own.

"Hey, none of that, alright? This is not your fault. It's Eggman's. We wouldn't even be here right now if it wasn't for you. You'd be bobbing around out there, and I'd be falling to the bottom of the ocean. Tails, buddy, you just saved my life."

Another flutter.

"But, your ankle. What if it doesn't heal right? What if you can't ever run again? Or walk?" The tears were back again, joined this time by their partner-in-crime: sobs. Sonic released his grip on Tails' hand, opting instead to embrace the younger fox in a tight hug.

"Then you'll just have to build me the world's fastest wheelchair!" That earned a chuckle. "Tails, look at me." They released their embrace, with Sonic now holding onto Tails' shoulders. "If I hadn't met you on that beach all those years ago, I probably wouldn't be here today. You've helped me get out of so many close calls, that it would be impossible for me to repay you. If I decide to get myself hurt while making sure that you don't, that's on me, not you. If I had to choose between never being able to run again, or never seeing you again, I'd pick you. Every. Single. Time. Got it?"

Another flutter, and suddenly, something clicked inside Tails. Deep down, he always knew that he saw Sonic a little differently to the rest of his friends. He had been trying to deny it for so long, because he was scared about how Sonic and the others would react, but that was going to work anymore. He just had to admit it to himself first:

Miles "Tails" Prower was in love with Sonic the Hedgehog.

So, he let his instincts take over.

And, he leant forward and kissed him.

Sorry, Amy.

Well, that was exciting, don't you think?! Even at the start of this chapter, I hadn't planned on there being a plane crash, but here we are! I mean, there are certainly worse ways to get the ball rolling! I'm gonna try to make these chapters a bit longer than normal, just to see how it feels. If I don't like it after a while, I'll shorten them back down again!

I also hadn't planned to get all lovey-dovey this early, but just going with the flow is my specialty! Feel free to let me know what you think in the reviews (or PM me), regardless of whether the feedback you have to offer me is positive or (constructively) critical. I look forward to hearing from you! Thank you to Yzyz for adding this story (and me) to your favourites! Hopefully I don't disappoint!

Anyway, enough rambling, so I'll see you all in the next chapter! Ciao for now!

OnTheSpectrum