A/N: Happy Holidays everybody

Normalcy on Bygone Island was a relative thing.

Ask any villager there that isn't a main character about their day and they'll either react with apathy, panic or utter nonsense. Which is why another Eggman attack is handled with routine by the village's denizens.

Eggman attacks due to either a classic case of villainy or some perceived slight against him, direct or otherwise, villagers shriek in terror, villagers run around like idiots, villagers get rescued by Sonic and his friends, Sonic and his friends stop Eggman, villagers fix up ruined village, life goes on the same as yesterday and the day before that, repeat ad nauseam.

This recent attack by Eggman had been no different, only this time his shrink ray had made for not-so-fun times running around the size of a peanut. But team Sonic found a way and the good doctor got hoisted by his own petard yet again. He did the usual vow of vengeance spiel and proceeded to go about his day shopping for groceries.

All in all, it had been an average day, void of any typical shenanigans.

For a certain twin tailed fox however, it was another day for him to awkwardly struggle with his blossoming feeling for Sticks.

Tails sat alone in his workshop quietly tinkering away at some piece of slapdash machinery he'd cobbled together to distract himself. It was a metal cube with screws all over, probably didn't do anything useful outside of being a fancy paperweight or an art piece conversation starter.

Currently he was absentmindedly turning a single screw in place with his screwdriver, a look of focus etched on his face. Though he was concentrating on tightening the screw, his mind was abuzz with one thing and one thing only.

Sticks.

He couldn't get her out of his head, couldn't stop thinking about her.

It had been three weeks since his time as Stick's captive, having endured her hospitality and mating ritual, and in the three weeks since he had been struggling to look her in the eye half the time. Whenever he did manage to man up and make face to face contact with her he couldn't help but feel butterflies fluttering about his stomach and babble like an idiot.

Sticks was much prettier than he remembered, or rather it wasn't something he'd taken notice to until now.

In the rough two days where they were figuratively joined at the hip she'd revealed to him a softer vulnerable side of her that put her character as a whole into an entirely new perspective. He found it to be uniquely attractive. And the drowsy confession, her dreamy declaration of love for him, the thought of it still made him tremble in his shoes and tug at his heart.

Sticks was enamored with him, she had said it aloud.

The only problem was, he had trouble convincing himself whether or not any of that was real or if it was just some sick joke caused by a neurological disorder with him as the punchline.

A twinge of fear ran through his veins, causing him to put too much force onto his screwdriver and accidentally strip the screw he was working on. He frowned and dropped both objects onto his workbench before slamming his head down as well, groaning in frustration.

Tails was a nervous wreck, about thirty percent fox and seventy percent anxiety. He couldn't go like this, tripping up every time he encountered Sticks. It was starting to affect his effectiveness in fights, it had already affected his technical abilities. Everything he's built so far has been about as useful as a square peg to a round hole. And it was all because he was too afraid to approach her about the subject.

The fear of rejection, compounded with the fear of even attempting to court a girl had put him in a truly awful position. This was his first time feeling something like this, he didn't know how to do it properly, if such a concept even existed.

But one thing was true.

He was in love with Sticks.

The paranoid and at times utterly deranged conspiracy theorist who tread the microscopically thin line between civilized anthropomorphic animal and wild rabies ridden beast.

Even after taking all her flaws into consideration, Sticks was to him a wonderfully animated friend whose sense of good and self reliance barely outweighed her suspicions and distrust of, well, basically everything. And for someone who grew up in isolation, fighting for their very survival within the depths of uncaring nature trying and actually succeeding to integrate into a stable society, however slow the progress may have been, it was something to be admired.

The more he thought about all the time he's spent with Sticks, both the good and the bad, the more his love for her grew. All of a sudden the domestic home life he feared didn't seem as scary anymore.

That being said, he'll opt to wait a bit before choosing to become a parent.

Sonic would have a field day with his 'get the chance to have grandkids' spiel.

Pulling himself away from the table, he walked over to his toolbox and opened up. Lifting the tray atop it, he pulled out two objects he had hidden in it and carefully examined them.

It was the gifts they'd made for each other for the mating ritual. In his left hand he held the bracelet, his gift to Sticks. In his other, the necklace, Sticks's gift to him. He'd put so much effort into making the bracelet as Sticks did with the necklace. These two items were more than just handcrafted trinkets, they represented the collective sum of their mutual affection towards one another. They were needed to complete the second to last step of the mating ritual.

Tails hadn't kept them for that reason specifically. He'd kept them banking on the chance that perhaps there was a slim chance they'd be able to jog Sticks memory about the entire ordeal. However, that option was strictly a last resort. Having all that come rushing back to her so suddenly doesn't sound like a good idea considering how jumpy she usually was. More importantly, if she remembered what she had done, the guilt would crush her.

Holding onto the gifts Tails felt his resolve strengthen an iota. He wasn't exactly the picture of composure or anything, seeing as his knees were still weak from the anxiety, but it was enough for him to finally make the decision he had been dreading to choose.

He was going to court Sticks.

"Now all I need to do is learn how to talk to a girl," Tails chuckled dryly, idly rolling the bird skull necklace in the palm of his hand. He then sighed heavily. "...I'm as good as doomed."

"Hey, Tails!" Sonic's voice boomed through the workshop, causing Tails to hastily stow away the gifts, slam the top of the toolbox shut and slip it away back onto the shelve. "Tails, buddy. You in there?"

"C-coming!" stuttered Tails, rushing to his front door. Flinging it open he was met with Sonic. "Hey, Sonic. What's up?"

"Not much," replied Sonic. "Thought you'd want to hang out together, maybe grab some lunch. You've been spending a lot more time here than usual." He peered past Tails, raising an eyebrow at the pile of failed inventions that littered one corner of his workshop. "And from the looks of things you haven't found very much success, have you?"

Tails scratched at his neck as his cheeks flared up in embarrassment. "It hasn't been a fruitful couple of weeks. But I'll take you up on that lunch offer. I could grab a bite and a change of scenery."

"That's the spirit. Come on, Meh Burger's got that limited run of chili burgers for sale," replied Sonic, leading his friend out. "I'd ask Knuckles too, but he's kinda busy at the moment."

"Him? Busy?" Tails raised an eyebrow. "With what?"

"Eh, said something about finding a big ol' emerald in the jungle. Said he was going to stand guard of it for hours on end, I dunno. Look, this is Knuckles we're talking about here. Best not to think too hard about it."

"On that, we're in agreement," chuckled Tails. "Actually, there's something I've been meaning to ask of you."

"Yeah? Shoot."

"Uh, h-how do you talk to g-girls?" Tails stammered. "I'm asking for a friend. His name is, er... Tiles, uh, Prowler. Yeah, Tiles Prowler. That's his name."

"Riiiiight," Sonic smirked. "Tiles Prowler is looking for tips on loving the ladies. So, does Tiles Prowler have anyone specific in mind?" He looked directly at Tails.

"W-what?! N-no!" Tails shot up his hands defensively. "I mean, uh, he's just at that age, y'know? Getting curiouser and curiouser and whatnot."

"...You know I'm not buying this whole song and dance routine, right?"

"...I was hoping you did."

"Well, well, welly well! Look at my best bud, finally getting on the saddle," Sonic maintained his obnoxious grin, ruffling the tufts of fur atop his head. "And here I was thinking you were going to build yourself a girlfriend."

"Sonic!" Tails cried, his blush glowing redder and redder.

"Heh, heh, kidding!" Sonic laughed. "Or am I? Anywho, have I got some tips for you. First things first, women like it when you act like you don't care..."

Tails didn't regret anything yet, asking Sonic for dating advice.

But he will.

He will.

The Mating Ritual of Bygone Island's Jungle Badger

END

To be continued in:

The Curious Crush of Bygone Island's Twin Tailed Fox