"So did you have a good time, Cream dear?"
"Yes, Mama!" Cream twitched her tail happily. "I had lots of fun."
Amy smiled through a pounding headache, the hellish sunlight making her want to do anything except stand out in it, talking about what happened last horrible night. She would have been bright red if she hadn't been feeling quite so green.
Oh Penders that was embarrassing. Especially waking up like that. Tails hadn't even looked at her all morning and Blaze was- and Cream was- And her apartment. And Sonic saw her like that. Everyone saw her like that. And the police had come and-
"That's nice Cream. She didn't stay up too late, did she?"
"Oh no." Amy smiled. "We had her in bed by eleven."
"I knew I could count on you." Vanilla smiled.
Amy's stomach churned. Her smile broadened.
"Oh yeah, especially Tails. He was looking out for her all evening."
She owed that much to him at least.
"How lovely." Vanilla lightly rested a hand atop Cream's head. "Where is young Mister Tails anyway? I'd like to thank him for being so responsible."
Amy met Cream's glance briefly. Time for some Team Jubilee synchronisation.
"Sleeping."
"Cleaning."
Damnit.
"Uhh, he was up late helping me clean after everyone went home last night. He's sleeping now."
"Ah, I see. We shouldn't disturb him, then." Vanilla nodded. "Come on then, Cream dear, let's get you home, Cheese has been missing you."
Amy smiled and waved as the rabbits turned. Crisis averted. She could get on to crying about all her other problems.
"But dear, where are your leggings?"
Amy fled inside. Let Cream deal with that one. If they were still in the apartment then the last thing she wanted was for Vanilla to come in and look.
"Welcome back."
Tails sat in her living room on the battered couch, flanked by two piles - salvage and trash, Miles Electric computer on his lap the source of his undivided attention. He was the only one still there after the morning's collaborative clean-up efforts, as little as they'd achieved in making the place look less terrible.
He still didn't look at her.
"I called around. Nobody's available to fix the floor or the window until the new year. I'm not much of a carpenter, but I can replace the floorboards once I can grab the materials. Not much I can do about the carpet or the window though, so they're not arriving until next month. I tried to get you the same table-"
"Wai-wai-wait." Amy held up her hands. "I can't afford new furniture right now!"
"Uh… Happy Christmas?"
"And what about my landlord?"
"Oh. Uh… Well, I guess that's me now?"
"What?!"
"Well, there were problems." Tails rubbed the back of his head, other hand still flying across his screen. "She started talking about eviction and I kind of panicked."
"You panicked."
"Yes." The fox hung his head lower. He was still wearing the green sweater from last night, fabric heavily stained all down the arm and shoulder. "So I kind of bought the building."
"You panicked and bought a building." Amy climbed up onto the sofa next to him to plonk down with a sigh.
"I'm sorry." His ears drooped.
"You're nuts." Amy put her throbbing head in her hands. "You know you're nuts, right?"
"I just didn't want you to be homeless again."
Amy stopped, mouth opening and closing.
It was incomprehensible. Larger than life, beyond understanding.
But that was what he was. This was the world she'd thrust her way into. A world where Sonic saved the day every few weeks, where feats of unimaginable power and speed were mundane and miracles were ordinary. Where the fox sitting next to her that could barely remember to feed himself properly had just bought a house for her.
The fox who thought saving the world and helping his friends were of equal importance.
Amy put her hands over her eyes with a sigh.
"You can't - no, you shouldn't do this."
"I know, it's awkward having me as a landlord, right?" Tails tapped closed a screen dominated by painfully large numbers and opened another prominently featuring the logo of Fey & Co solicitors. "It's only temporary, I'll get things fixed up and I can sell it onto someone else. Unless you want it?"
"What? You can't just give me this place!"
"Why not?" He asked with genuine confusion in his voice.
He still wouldn't even look at her. Like Sonic. Like she was nothing.
"Because it's- Because I couldn't possibly pay you back for something like this!"
"Huh?" His ear twitched. "I don't need you to pay me back?"
"It's a house. It costs a- well to me it costs a fortune!"
Tails raised a finger, still looking at the screen, then sighed.
"If I had a Chaos Emerald on me, and called in Shadow to Chaos Control all this stuff back good as new, what would you have done to pay us back?"
Amy opened her mouth, then shut it with a frown, feeling stupid.
"... Probably... bake you something." She hung her own head, cheeks burning in embarrassment.
But Tails didn't laugh, even though he should.
Because she was partly in that mad world too. They were just Chaos Emeralds. One of seven universal power sources, something nations fought over, some of the most important and valuable treasures around and possessing the power to perform literal miracles.
And she thought it would be reasonable for someone like her to just bring one over to fix her coffee table. What would be the rental cost of infinite power? The hiring fee of someone who could use it like Shadow could? Tails never talked about money, but he had just casually reminded her of her own insignificance as easily as he'd just saved her from destitution. To him she was the weird one, the stupid little girl in the presence of giants who never even realised just how ridiculously small she was until one of them dropped a crumb.
No wonder Sonic barely even looked at her.
Especially now after this.
"W-wait, are you crying?" Tails glanced part way towards her, eye wide as he raised his hands from his computer. But only part way.
"What am I to you?" Amy turned on him, hammer in her hand and swinging without consulting her brain. "A pet?!"
Piko.
It sproinged away from Miles' face without so much as disturbing his hurt expression. It squeaked harmlessly against that awful computer that he'd rather look at than her.
"I… thought we were friends?"
The soft question hurt worse than if he'd hit her back, teary eyes became a sob.
"Ahh! Is what I did that bad? I-I'll burn it! I'll burn the whole place down! I'll build you a new one! Do you want a moon base? Anything, just please don't cry."
"Why would you even want to be friends with someone like me?" Amy turned away, hammer disappearing back to her hammerspace as she wiped her cheeks. "You're amazing. You have a moon base. I bake crêpes."
"Technically I don't have a moon base, I'd need to build it, it would take a few ho-"
"Tails."
He flinched, rubbing the back of his neck, muttering something she couldn't quite hear.
"What was that?"
"I just think you're great."
"This again?"
"I'm serious." His ears were flat against his head. "You're one of the best people I know."
"Tails, Cream is stronger than me. She's six."
"Almost seven," Tails replied. "And what's more impressive? A human that can run at fifty miles an hour, or a plane that can fly two hundred?"
"You think of me as a human?" Amy recoiled in horror.
Tails flinched again.
"I... you're not the strongest, or the fastest, but you never give up, you're always trying to help people, and- and you're always trying to see the best in everything and…" He rubbed the back of his head again. "You're brave enough to always follow your heart. That's amazing."
Her eyes widened. Tails looked fully away now, ears still lowered.
"... You're a dork."
He winced. Amy leaned over and grabbed a tail, pulling him closer with a surprised yelp.
"You're always taking care of everyone but yourself, you have no common sense, you're a complete wuss, especially with girls, and you are way too into math."
"Hey, maths is cool."
"Shut up." She hugged him. "You're awesome. Thank you for saving me. Again. And for last night. And I am so sorry for everything that happened. I can't even think about how to begin paying you back for all this but I will-"
"Amy, I'm serious, you don't need to pay me back."
"But-"
"You literally promised me anything last month if I helped you with Sonic."
"... Oh." Amy rubbed her neck. "Right. Guess I did."
"Can't owe me much more than that, right?" Tails shut off his computer with a sigh. "Alright, paperwork's all done. Think you can give me a ride to the hospital?"
"Is that your anything?" Amy raised an eyebrow.
"If you like." Tails shrugged.
"I'm just messing with you. Who's at the hospital, what's going on?"
"Just want to get my eye checked out." He turned his head away with a shrug. "Don't worry, I've had w-ah!"
Amy grabbed his chin and twisted him to face her, blood draining from her face in horror.
"Ohshima. Tails, what did you do?"
