To say Sonic was shocked was an understatement. It took Tails a couple of seconds to realise what he was doing, before he quickly pushed away, staring at the hedgehog as he stared back, unmoving.

"Sonic! I'm so sorry! I-I don't know what came over me!"

Silence.

"Are you angry with me?"

Silence.

"So-Sonic? Please say something."

Silence. Tails began to tear up again.

"Ok. I understand. I messed up. I'll go and find someone to help you."

With nothing else to say, the heart-broken fox took to the sky with a twist of his namesakes and took off, not even daring to look back at the hedgehog behind him. And, now that he had nobody to hide his emotions from, the tears fell freely.

For the first time in his life, Tails felt like an idiot. Of course Sonic didn't think of him that way! Sonic wasn't gay! He was sure that the hedgehog hated him now. Great job, Miles! You've been friends with him for 5 years, and you've just ruined it all in a matter of seconds! Even if he does forgive you, he's never gonna be able to look at you the same way again! He was so lost in his train of thought that he almost missed the movement below him. He quickly wiped his tears away, and was about to go down and get their attention, before he stopped. The Mobian he was about to approach was pink. Wearing a red dress. And wielding a giant hammer.

Amy.

The guilt he was feeling immediately doubled. Not only had he just kissed Sonic, and supposedly ruined their friendship of half a decade, but he had kissed Sonic, the guy this girl had been chasing for the past two years or so. She would not take the news well. But, she was the only person that Tails could see in any direction, so he'd have to suck it up and get her to help.

"Amy!"

"Huh? Tails? What are you doing here? Where's the Tornado? Where's Sonic?!"

"Doesn't matter, but he's hurt! Badly!"

"Oh no! Where?"

"I'll take you there, but can you talk to him alone? I don't think he wants to see me anymore." Tails started crying again, fresh tears soaking into his fur. This got Amy's attention, so she walked over to him and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Why would you think that, Tails? You know you mean the world to him, right? Sonic wouldn't ditch you just because of… whatever it was you did…"

"I'm not so sure. He didn't say a word to me as I left. I think it's best for me to just stay out of his way for now." Amy sighed. She'd have to talk to Sonic when she got there.

"Ok, ok. Calm down. I won't force you to tell me what happened, just take me to him, and I'll see what I can do."

"Ok." Tails took off again, and reached his hands down to lift Amy. Once she had grabbed on, they began the journey back to Sonic, after making a quick pit stop at Amy's to grab some medical supplies.

As he watched Tails fly off in the distance, all Sonic could do was stare. He was too shocked to do anything else. Tails had just kissed him. Kissed! He had heard Tails talking to him afterwards, but it was as if he was talking from underwater. The rational part of his brain was screaming at him to say something to the fox, who was clearly hurting from his lack of reaction, but the words just wouldn't form in his mouth. Honestly, he wouldn't have known what to say, because he wasn't even sure how he felt about it.

He hadn't pushed him away.

Did he like Tails in that way? He'd never thought about it before, mainly because they were both guys. And, he liked girls… right? He'd never once thought of Amy, or Blaze, or Rouge in that way either. Granted, he'd never thought of anyone that way before, so he didn't really know what it felt like.

He supposed he always felt differently about Tails than his other friends. Originally, he would have likened it to the relationship between two brothers, but that kiss had now made him question everything. The past 5 years of life had been filled with amazing, action-packed adventures, and Tails had been with him through all of them. Of all his friends, Tails was the one he'd go to if he needed cheering up, or cheering on. He was the one the hedgehog would choose to lead in his absence.

He was the one Sonic would trust with his life.

…

Ah.

He was in love with Tails.

The realisation hit him like a ton of bricks. And then, a split second later, he realised that he'd already messed it all up. Tails had flown away in tears when he hadn't responded. Tails probably thought he hated him now. If only he had said something.

"Sonic!" Amy's voice caught his attention, and he immediately turned to where the sound had come from. He looked up to see her being lowered by the fox in question, but as soon as she had touched down, he took off again, not even bothering to look back as he flew back to his home.

Tails, wait! Once again, words failed the hedgehog, and all he could do was watch the young kitsune fly away.

"Oh my gosh! Sonic, what on Mobius happened?!"

"Where's Tails going?"

"We'll talk about that later, Mister. He came to me in tears earlier, and he's under the impression that you don't wanna see him anymore. But first, you're going to tell me what happened to your ankle!" So, he was right about Tails thinking he hates him. Great.

"Eggman. He caused the plane to lose power, so Tails turned to the land so I wouldn't have to go swimming. But, we ended up being too low, so we had to bail before the plane collided straight into the cliff. Tails didn't have enough time to get us airborne under his own power, so we had a rough landing, and I must have clipped this boulder with my foot."

"And Tails?"

"Was fine. I protected him for the most part. A couple of scrapes, but that's it. I think his pride took a bit of a knock, though. He blamed himself for crashing the plane, and misjudging the trajectory. Not to mention losing the Tornado. It was his baby. I'm sure he's devastated."

"I'm sure he is, but you and I both know that's not all that happened. Why does he think you're so upset with him?"

Oh boy. This was gonna be fun. Amy had just about finished stabilising his well-and-truly broken ankle, and wrapping the bandages around it so it would be steady for the trip to the nearest hospital, but now he feared for the safety of everywhere else, once he said what came next. He also knew that Tails' neck would be on the chopping block too, but he knew that she'd likely see through any lies, so he decided to rip off the metaphorical band-aid.

"He kissed me."

Silence. He dared a glance in her direction, only to find her as shocked as he had been when it had happened. He had expected her to be in full anger mode by now, but she was just still. It looked like she was fighting a silent battle with herself, one side wanting to rip the two of them to shreds, the other willing to hear what they had to say about it. Thankfully, it seemed like the latter side won.

"I'm sorry. He did what?"

"He kissed me, Ames."

"And, what did you do?"

"…Nothing."

"Nothing?"

"Yeah, nothing. I didn't push him away, but when he realised what he'd done, he pushed himself away. H-He asked me to say something, but I stayed silent. I was too shocked to think of the right words to say."

"Oh, poor Tails. I had no idea he felt that way. No wonder he looked so sad."

"Honestly, I don't think he knew he felt that way until today. He seemed as shocked as I did."

"And, what about you?" Amy paused for a second, trying to compose herself. "How do you feel about him?"

"I-I don't know." And then, when Amy didn't look satisfied with that answer, he added, "I think so."

Amy was pretty good at hiding her emotions sometimes, but Sonic could pick out her slight deflation at that news.

"I see. So, there's really no chance for us to be together?" He sighed, as her eyes started to water.

"Ames, I hate to break it to you, especially like this, but we were never going to be together. I don't see you that way. You're a great friend to me, but that's it. I hope this doesn't change that." She flashed him a sad smile.

"It doesn't, don't worry. I'm going to have to live with that, I suppose." Amy smiled again. "But, this isn't about me, for once. This is about Tails. You really hurt his feelings earlier." Now it was Sonic's turn to flinch. "You really should tell him. As much as it hurts me to have to let you go, I'd rather see you happy, even if it's with someone else."

"Thanks, Ames. For everything. Although, there is one more thing I'd like you to do."

But, you'll have to wait and find out in the next chapter! I'm still not 100% sure where this story is going, honestly, but I don't think it's going too badly so far! There are still plenty of ways I can take it, so we'll just have to see how things unfold, won't we? I'm really happy to have you all along for the journey! I'll see you in the next one! Ciao for now!

OnTheSpectrum