"What's with the VIP treatment, Tails?"
Sonic grinned down at him, scratching a fingertip across his furless cheek.
Miles stared up at him numbly, his hand locked around the larger hedgehog's arm.
Life and death.
"Not much. Just making sure we don't get separated."
At least everybody was giving them plenty of room. Humans either respected the personal space of a mobian hedgehog or swiftly learned to after bumping into them the first time, and Sonic was a regular enough feature in Soleanna that only a few revellers spared them a second glance.
"Hah, worried I'll disappear on you, bud?"
Yes. Miles shook his head with a smile. A series of fireworks exploded overhead, sending a shiver of barely repressed reflex rippling down his spine.
Sonic looked at him with a knowing smile.
"I see. No worries, Tails, you hang on as long as you want."
He wasn't afraid.
Miles pouted, looking into the crowd of giants walking around them, sparklers crackling in the hands of enormous children, a fire eater spitting flames across the dark sky above. Even jugglers hurled fiery batons through the air, reflecting off the water of the canals for which Soleanna was famed.
He wasn't afraid.
But he didn't like it.
It would be better if this was a warzone. Things made sense in warzones. What people wanted, how to react to things. Things exploding left and right, robots tearing apart with metallic shrieks, people yelling and shooting, pain and fear and crawling in the dirt as bombs and napalm made the jungle shimmer with heat and screams-
"Candy apple?"
"Please." He smiled.
Here was safe. He was safe. Even though his instincts screamed otherwise. Even though every unexpected blast made him want to dive for cover, drag Sonic out of harms way, stop being safe and become dangerous and to fight and burn and kill and-
"Here ya go!"
"Thanks!" Miles smiled again, forcing his breathing calm, his pounding heart still as he clamped his teeth into the crisp flesh of the fruit and its sticky exterior, not tasting either. "T'th g'd!"
"Right?" Sonic grinned, chomping into his own sugary fruit. "This place has the best apples."
How was he fine? He'd been fighting for almost as long as Miles had, maybe even longer. He'd been burned and shot at, he'd fought through explosions and fire and the deafening noise… But he loved things like this, the excitement, the thrill. Sonic roamed the world wisecracking and laughing and never minding the details even though everything was fire and people were staring and he didn't like it and he was tired and his chest hurt and he didn't like it.
"You, uh... Little buddy?"
"Huh?" Miles blinked. Splinters jutted from his palm, the apple nowhere to be seen. "Hah! Whoops. Guess that last one did make me jump a little."
At least he hadn't clenched the other hand.
"Last… what, Tails? Hasn't been any fireworks for a few minutes."
"Oh, you didn't see the thing?"
"The… thing." Green eyes bore down on him.
"Yeah, the thing. It went whoosh! And big flash. Wasn't expecting that!"
"...Ah huh." Sonic nodded. "You want to go sit down somewhere quiet? Maybe get that checked out?"
"It's fine, just stuck in the fabric of my glove." Miles lied with a calm smile. "Let's just find the girls. I'll be able to pull them out once we get there."
"You could let go of my arm."
"And have you disappear to Narnia this time?" Miles smirked. "Oh no, you're not getting away from meeting everybody that easy."
Even getting everyone to the right continent had been a logistical nightmare, after all.
"It's not everybody I'm worried about."
"Oh come on, I'm sure Amy barely even remembers that you sent out that video that got three hundred and ninety seven million four hundred and fifteen thousand seven hundred and twelve views as of this morning." Miles smiled brightly, hand hidden behind his back.
"Well when you put it that way-"
"Sonic so help me we are meeting our friends and you will show your face or I will tell Amy that you wax your arms right before she hammers me to death." Miles smiled his sweetest smile.
"Alright, fine, sheesh." Sonic rolled his eyes before getting distracted by a passing float of golden-robed dancing girls.
Miles breathed out softly.
All within tolerances. His included.
"Hey, is that them over there?" Sonic waved through the momentary gap in the sea of legs at a pair of mobians clad in the same golden yellow as the human festival goers.
"Hi, Mister Soniiiic!" Cream was first to leap up, the tiny blue form of Cheese the chao dancing in the air above her head. The gondola beneath her tilted dangerously.
"Cream! Long time no see!" Sonic grinned, hand held wide in greeting. "Uh… hey, Amy." He grinned her way too, perhaps a little less brightly. "So how are my Rainbow warriors doin'?"
Don't hammer him. Don't hammer him. Don't hammer him.
Amy smiled.
Thank Yamaguchi.
"Not too bad, we grabbed some snacks while we were waiting." She brushed a hand over her spines, looking out over the black water. "Was starting to worry that you wouldn't make it."
Cream lunged forward, her chao fluttering behind her on tiny wings as she held aloft two strips of yellow fabric. Apparently those snacks had contained more than their fair share of sugar.
"I got you ribbons!" She beamed up at them. "For the festival!"
"Why thank you, Cream." Sonic smirked, bowing his head low to allow her to loop the cloth around his head.
Not a great fit, given the spikes, but they both seemed happy enough as he stood, a streak of yellow against blue. "You looking forward to the lanterns?"
"Yes! I saw them setting everything up. They're so pretty!" Cream turned her attention to Miles, batting her lashes at him as she laid a finger against her lips. "I… guess I should have picked you out a different colour, huh Mister Tails?"
"I guess I do already match pretty well." Miles grinned, rubbing the back of his head and regretting it as wood stabbed deeper into his hand.
"Well..." Cream frowned, then looped the ribbon over his neck, pressing her hands against the white fur of his chest as she looped the fabric around on itself. Explosions flashed overhead in spectacular patterns once more.
Did she feel his heart hammering against her fingers?
"There we go, nice and smart! Just like Cheese!"
"Chao!" The spritelike creature beamed happily as it flitted up to his face. The tiny red bow tie on its neck did indeed resemble his own.
"Thanks, Cream." Miles grinned, resisting the urge to run his finger under the fabric now binding his neck. "Should we get on board? It's going to start soon."
Sonic's arm tensed under his hand. This was the most dangerous part. Sonic didn't hate boats, per se, and he certainly didn't hate Amy, but being stuck on a boat with Amy was dangerously close to a deal breaker.
"Good idea, Tails, why don't you come sit up front with me?" Amy patted the seat. "Cream can keep Sonic company while he handles the pole thing?"
Amy wasn't acting lovey dovey, seemed to be in a good mood, and he got to be the one doing the steering? Plus Cream and Tails were there, so it was a safe friends thing, not a "date", and since he was in control of the boat he could always stay close to the edge of the canal, a safe jumping distance from freedom in case he saw any hammers.
Boom, the tension faded. The trap was set.
Miles let go of Sonic's arm to clamber onto the lopsided boat, sharing a small smile with the hedgehog who was his partner in crime on this dastardly venture.
Because, naturally, the plan was to get the two of them alone on the boat with as much of a romantic atmosphere as possible, and a slim possibility of Sonic getting whacked on the head with a hammer, depending how sore Amy was about the whole video thing. This was why Cheese was scheduled to race off "unexpectedly" once they got away from the shore. Miles would then fly off with Cream to help find it, a plan Amy had been delighted with when he'd explained it to her, and she and her hero would be left alone together at approximately the moment that paper lanterns were to be released into the night sky in an atmosphere so romantic that they'd made movies out it.
Sonic might be a tiny bit on the inconsiderate side at times, but abandoning Amy in a boat on the middle of a canal all by herself was probably beyond even him, ensuring a perfect opportunity for Amy to get her romance on. Cream could go play in the festival to her heart's content, and he could find the darkest, quietest corner in town, curl up in his tails and cry until the sky stopped being on fire. Truly a magical evening for all.
And some friendly comeuppance for his friend, since Miles had been in that video too.
It all seemed to be going perfectly until Sonic kicked the oar as was stepping into the boat, spooking their star performer as the wooden implement was knocked over onto its head.
"Chao!" Cheese soared out of the gondola, clutching its oversized cranium in a stream of incoherent, but probably obscene, chao noises.
"Cheese! No! You're not supposed to go anywhere yet!" Cream launched out of the gondola, hands outstretched as she slipped through the crowd and out of sight.
"Cream!" Sonic spun on his heel, kicking off the stern to leap from the rocking vessel back to dry land. He disappeared into the crowd after the rabbit with a yell of "Hold on!".
And finally, as Miles watched in aching slow motion, the oar, sent flying by the commotion, dropped into the dark water with a plop.
The partners in crime sat in stunned silence as the gondola coasted out into the middle of the waterway, fireworks above them bursting in cackling rhythm.
And, with a precision borne of long years of friendship and collaboration, both opened their mouths and spoke as one.
"Penders."