- Is to forget yourself

A yawn temporarily broke his concentration, removing the water that conjugated in his eyes with one hand before shaking his head and went back to the laptop. A headache in his forehead was either warning him about sitting in front of the artificial light more than he had to or wanted him to go to bed. Either reason wasn't enough of a reason to make him obey, the task at hand being more important.

Though it was frustrating – it was frustrating because he hadn't figured it out yet. He had installed the program, transferred the radio signal, and tried to demodulate it but it was much harder than he imagined. The headset that didn't even fit on his ears were hurting at this point, the only sound he had been hearing the last couple of days were static and more static.

He knew the reason was partly because he was not a total expert in technology, but he wasn't a novice either. Mechanics was his element, the base of his knowledge and interest – he could rebuild a capacitor with his eyes closed, he knew every little bolt and screw that an airplane engine consisted of. Knew what needed to be done if the engine sputtered, if the engine began to smoke or the landing gear wouldn't extend. The latter had most certainly been a tough landing.

He wasn't oblivious to the technical world, he could easily hack into various PC's, satellites, and mainframes, decoding and recording programs and being able to unlock doors with a simple movement of his fingers. He had built the Miles Electric, based off a simple tablet, his design was just way more advanced and would have made any other computer designer stumble. But radio waves, demodulation and fiddling around with virtual audio interfaces was a whole other branch of technology he hadn't been accustomed to.

He had done it before, somewhat, when he had to translate Yacker's language into their own, rebuilding and reconfiguring his Miles Electric into a the mobian language. But that had been different, Yacker's language and the other wisps made noises, sounds that was more related to music than actual language, a hypothesis he had created and carried out towards the end of the adventure, thus why it worked in the end. It was still waves, yes, but music and radio waves were different, which was why he was in the current process of both learning how to do this and deciphering a radio signal.

It was Eggman, as always, who had sent out a radio transmission to an unknown receiver. G.U.N had quickly waved it off as signals that went to and from different bases and robotic monstrosities and had stated that they would look at it once they had the time. But they knew better. They knew the mad doctor, and they were well aware that if he was sending out weird radio signals to someone who might not be robotic, then that was bad news. He had asked for the broadcast and had decided to try and decipher it himself, while the others were doing their work.

Shadow had been an odd partner, having disagreed with G.U.N and dug his own research, finding a couple of destroyed bases that were left behind in various zones, stating that not everything had seemed to be offline. Amy had asked around Station Square, pretending that she had done a research program about people's habit of sitting in front of the TV or radio and asked if they've experienced static or any other kind of interference. Practically every person she had met had said that something weird had happened to their TV or radio around the time that Eggman's radio signal had been sent to his receiver. Knuckles had very reluctantly agreed to getting a satellite installed on the island, trying to catch any more radio waves that would get transmitted to Tails' laptop, the emerald guardian most likely keeping a close eye on it.

And Sonic was out checking almost every zone in the place, searching for the mad doctor as if it was an everyday occurrence. He was up to something, and therefore it was up to the team to figure out what was going on. Eggman wasn't stealthy like that – if he was trying to hide and conceal whatever he was planning then it was something big.

The fox sighed and pulled his headset off, rubbing both of his hands into his eyes, temporary blackness filled with purple and blue colors, stars and such obscuring his vision until he let his hands fall into his lap.

He was tired – he could feel it behind his eyes, being irritated and his brain was one fuzzy thing, not many thoughts passing by the organ. But he knew that even if he did go to sleep then he wouldn't be able to close his eyes. Despite his brain calling a stop he still had ideas, trying to change something in his software, taking another direction. He wanted it done, since he knew that getting the radio signal deciphered would give them all the answers to the mystery. Eggman wouldn't be hiding it this well if it weren't something important.

His growling stomach made an interruption in his musings, padded it in a 'I know', now realizing that he had skipped dinner. He had no concept of time, the hours passing by quicker than he could register, the minutes spend being frustrated, tails whipping and exhaustion creeping closer and closer. Though he knew the latter he couldn't resolve, instead decided to get some food, and continue work afterwards, glancing at the clock in the workshop.

His eyes widened seeing that it was almost past two in the middle of the night, had told himself around eleven that he would keep going for an hour and then check if he couldn't get some sleep done. Though, that thought he had quickly concluded wouldn't happen and instead sat up from his chair, stretching his arms and back, making a satisfying pop as the muscles got stretched. His workshop was a tiny bit blurry, as he walked up the stairs, the headache only increasing from his movements.

Making it to the kitchen he considered taking a pill or something but was hesitant to take medicine that wasn't made by mobians. Not that humans and mobians were that different in anatomy, aside from the fact that they were descendants from feral animals, their immune system was different, the mobians being more resilient than a human. That, and the fact that he just didn't like the thought of putting artificial powders into his system as he opened the fridge door, rubbing a hand against his temple.

His blue eyes quickly scanned over the content, then grinned at the two chilidogs that was sitting on a plate in the upper shelf. He sighed before taking it out, kicking the fridge closed and opened the microwave. The small hum of the radioactive waves was the only sound in the small house, the night outside casting the entire zone into quietness. The house had in general been silent ever since the hedgehog had gone out mad-doctor-searching.

Tails bit his lip, looking at the chili covered hot dogs inside the microwave, slowly spinning around. He missed him.

Sonic had been gone for almost two weeks and he missed him. He had experienced the hedgehog being gone longer, not seeing him for months, but this was different. He wanted him here, wanted an outlet to his frustrations, wanted him to be here so he could tell him that it was going to be okay and that it wasn't a big deal, despite him knowing the opposite was at stake. This was important – and he hated to be the one to be wrong in his decoding and lead everyone into a trap of sorts. That was the least of his desires.

The generic beeping of the microwave pulled out his thoughts, opening the door and pulled out the hot dogs, the ceramics of the plate being hot against his glove, the food steaming. He closed the door with his elbow, before going back down the stairs, the headache increasing with every step. He sat down again with a sigh, the lone lamp on his worktable having a softer orange glow that was more soothing than the white light from the laptop screen.

He rolled the chair closer to the table as he took a bite of his first hot dog, the chili being hotter than usual but being around the fastest thing alive meant that you got immune to any kind of hot food pretty quickly. He left the program be for now, instead checked on the satellite but there was nothing out of the ordinary, quickly scrolling through a couple of files and another tutorial that configured your radio interface to what he needed.

What he was doing was essentially illegal, but he had gotten the clearance from G.U.N, the organization at the same time working together with them and was their enemy. They were the one who had made sure that he could stay under Sonic's care without getting taken off to a foster home of sorts. Stupid human laws. In mobian society you were 'an adult' when you were thirteen but by human standards he needed to be eighteen, which was way too much time that was spend where you could still do nothing. But it didn't matter either way because he was none of those ages and therefore could only sit and grumble about politics if he wanted to.

He pretty soon finished his food, cleaned his hands of excess chili and put the plate to the side, telling himself he would take it upstairs once he declared that it was bedtime.

This was unhealthy, he was aware – not sleeping for more than two days and living off whatever snack was in the fridge. If Sonic had allowed him to buy it, he would have bought coffee, knowing the effects of caffeine and why people drink it, but he couldn't acquire it just yet. Of course, being home alone for more than weeks at a time, he could easily buy the stuff and drink it without the hedgehog knowing. But a loyal part of him had always stuck to the hedgehog's rules, since he first of all didn't have a lot of them and second of all Tails knew that he was just looking out for him. He made sure that he was alright even in his absence. It was blind trust, something they had against each other practically the same day that they had met for the first time.

He sat leaned back in his chair for a while, just staring at the laptop screen as another yawn broke his considerations. He wanted to sleep, but he knew this was urgent – much more urgent than he had ever thought in his life, most likely. He shook his head and leaned forward only for his laptop to complain about the battery dying soon.

That was a rare occurrence, since he had built his own battery for the computer which could last for a week without needing a charger, but the program apparently used up a lot of power. He sighed annoyed before getting up from his chair and walked over to a shelf and took out a box, rummaging around the different wires and cables in there.

"Aren't you supposed to be sleeping?"

He yelped in fright, dropping the box with the wires, and hit his head against the corner of the shelf in the meantime. The hit was so brunt and quick that he felt to his rear end, clutching the spot on his head with both hands, hissing through clenched teeth. The abrupt pain started to soothe as the seconds passed, turning his head, despite knowing who it was.

Sonic was standing with his mouth agape, obviously surprised by the reaction that had caused his question, before green eyes locked together with blue, an apologetic smile making its way to his lips instead.

"Sorry bud. Thought ya heard me," He said, scratching the back of his head, with a slight chuckle. Tails grumbled annoyed, rubbing his head and knew that a bump was about to respond to the pain.

Inside the fox was more than happy to see the hedgehog, could have been squealing with delight, but the abrupt startle and the frustration from the decoding only made him irritated.

"Well I didn't," He said in a low voice, looking away from him again and at the box in front of him, seeing the cable that he needed. His ears flicked backwards from a lightheaded chuckle.

"C'mon, don't be mad. I've scared you worse than that," He rationalized, before steps made it over to him and Tails turned his head to see a hand reached down to pull him up. The annoyance slowly sipped away with that, the smile that was plastered onto Sonic's face making him feel a million times better about the whole situation.

He gave him a light smile back, before picking up the charger and took Sonic's hand, getting helped up on his feet. The amused grin was still on his face as the fox thanked him and walked over to the laptop, plugging the charger into the outlet and the laptop, the screen brightening up again.

"What are ya doing so late at night?" Tails turned around as he sat down and looked at him, the hedgehog leaning up against the table with his arms crossed, emerald green eyes curious and welcoming at the same time

Sixteen. He was sixteen but despite that he was the exact same hedgehog.

He didn't know what it would entail in becoming on year older, he had experienced Sonic becoming one year older for all of the years they had known each other and didn't know what to expect. He had seen him change, the light blue color fading into a darker shade, the quills getting longer and his legs making him taller, those black eyes slowly dimming into green between the age of twelve and thirteen. From there his appearance hadn't changed that dramatically other than he might have gained more muscles in his legs and under his fur on his stomach.

But his personality hadn't changed the slightest. He was still that goofy, nonchalant, laid-back, and utterly relaxed hero that he had known throughout the years. He hadn't gotten more mature, quite the opposite in fact, that small child inside of him living his life to the fullest as long as it could. It was weird to think that almost another year was passing, time went much faster than he remembered it doing when he was younger.

He shrugged after he had analyzed Sonic for a couple of seconds, gesturing towards the laptop where he had reopened the program.

"I'm still trying to decipher that radio signal – I haven't really made any progress," He said, before turning back to his older brother. "What about you? Thought you would be sleeping on someone's roof by now."

The hedgehog grinned at him, his eyes scanning over the numbers on the screen before he shrugged his shoulders.

"I've already checked in the east side of Mobius and decided to come back around. I could really use a bed," He said, making the sidekick chuckle.

"You? Sleeping in a bed? I thought you were getting used to the cold hard ground by now," The hedgehog let out a 'pft' grinning at his little brother with an amused gleam in his eyes.

"You never get used to that. Remember back in the day? When we were sleeping in caves almost every night?" Tails nodded, the memories making a nostalgic feeling erupt in his stomach, the anecdotes making him smile.

"I do. After Casino Night Zone we didn't see a hotel until Metropolis – that was some cold nights," He said, though Sonic snorted in disagreement.

"You mean it was cold nights for me. Someone was sleeping against my stomach and hogging all the warmth. You have thicker fur you know that?" Tails grinned fondly, remembering full well that his preferred method of sleeping back then had either been against the hedgehog or curled together against his chest or stomach.

Back then it had been out of comfort than warmth, actually having it too warm at times but sleeping against another living and breathing being who wanted his company was something he wanted to enjoy as long as he could. And he did, until he became sheepish about it and wanted to take care of himself.

"Sure. Blame the four-year-old kid who actually had someone who wanted him around," –

"Dude, don't make me feel guilty!" Tails laughed goodheartedly at the expression he was given, was glad to get his mind off of this important stuff for now. He had always loved Sonic's company, and this was no difference, the laughing, and the grinning feeling more than awesome in his abdomen.

Instead of actually feeling guilty, because both of them knew it was out of banter, the hedgehog was smiling instead, before nodding towards the clock in the workshop.

"You should be sleeping though, it's your nineth birthday tomorrow."

Tails had been looking over the laptop before he blinked and turned his head towards the hedgehog. "Or rather today actually," He chuckled.

The fox had completely forgotten – he knew his birthday had been this month, but he had hardly given it any thought since they had been trying to figure out this Eggman-problem for such a long time.

"I totally forgot," He said, rubbing a hand against his temple both in confusion and to try and soothe the headache that was still there. Sonic was laughing in the meantime, shaking his head at the fox.

"How you forget is beyond me. It's like when you forget to eat," He said looking at the fox with still that amused gleam in his eyes, though there was an edge of seriousness in them as well. "I think you should sleep. I've got some things planned tomorrow that you don't wanna miss," He winked, though Tails snorted amused, looking back at him.

"Since when did you ever plan stuff?" He snickered, raising an amused brow at his older brother.

The hedgehog practically never planned anything – Eggman fights consisted of adrenaline rush and the hero of Mobius taking things as they went. The same thing accounted for anything else for that matter, as he never planned an evening out, staying at the Workshop or taking a trip to an exact zone. He did things in the now and loved living like that. For the hedgehog to actually have prepared something for his birthday was more surprising than anything. Usually it was the birthday congratulations and then he asked what he wanted to do today or suggest a couple of things. The only thing he planned regarding the day was the gift, but everything else was left to coincidence.

"You're turning nine tomorrow dude, that's something," Sonic said with a smile, nodding towards the laptop with hands on his hips. "That can wait 'till tomorrow."

Tails smile faltered a little with that notion, looking at the laptop, the beforehand excited mood dimmed. He sighed and focused back on the laptop, rubbing his hand against his forehead to try and soothe the headache that was only hurting him more and more.

"Eggman doesn't care about birthdays," He mumbled, his eyes going over the program that he was using, the radio waves displayed and edited time and time again, to try and get something.

He saw Sonic shift a bit in his peripheral vision, his head leaning a bit closer to the laptop.

"Tails it's fine – even if Egghead has something going on then-" –

"Yeah, then what?" Tails turned his head towards the hedgehog, feeling the beforehand frustration slam him in the back of his head.

Sonic looked confused more than anything, blinking at the fox since he most likely hadn't expected to get interrupted. How he didn't understand the importance of the situation was beyond the fox.

"Sonic, this is urgent! Eggman could be transferring messages about ambushing a village, he could be planning on attacking Station Square or something much worse! If I don't get this finished in time before he makes a move, then it's my fault!" He exclaimed, placing his palm against his heart. "If I translate this wrong then you could end into a trap or something! People could die because of me!"

His heart was pounding, all the stress and all the frustration of the entire situation slammed into him. He had spent so much time on doing this that he hated the fact that he had gone nowhere. He had made no progress, other than getting the static turned into a mumble which he didn't understand, but that was still nothing. Eggman could be planning a massive attack tomorrow and they wouldn't know because he wasn't finished!

He didn't look at Sonic, was instead looking through him, the frustration getting sighed out, leaning back in his chair, and looked down at his fingers fidgeting in his lap.

"I'm not smart enough to do this."

That was the only conclusion to this. He didn't know how to do this and therefore wasn't smart enough to do it. He was letting Sonic down.

For a moment silence only remained in the workshop, a painful one, since the sidekick was pretty sure that it meant that he was right.

Until Sonic crouched down in front of him, and a single finger lifted his chin, making him look at his eyes. His beforehand amused grin was turned into a serious expression, something that the hero of Mobius only did whenever he needed to tell him something important.

"Tails – you're the only person who can do this. You are smart enough – none of us can compete with you. I'm sorry we can't help you with it, but you need to understand that it's okay. If you don't get it translated in time and Eggbelly does something stupid, then we'll stop him. Like always. You don't need to overwork yourself into exhaustion because of it. You didn't become my sidekick to sit alone in your chair and feel like you have all of the responsibility for yourself. You don't. It's cool, we'll figure something else out, alright?" He said, a serious edge to his tone, slowly morphing into the amusement that the fox was so used to hearing.

His eyes had been stern, making sure that Tails listened to him, and ended it with a soft chuckle, just to dispel the serious situation he had created. Sonic usually didn't let out soap boxes, but this time around he felt like it had been necessary. And it had worked.

The sidekick's cerulean blue orbs darted around the hedgehog's emerald green eyes, before a tired smile came to his lips, felt a whole lot lighter as a ton of weight got lifted from his shoulders. He couldn't deny it, couldn't argue against it because he knew deep down that Sonic was right. Something that didn't usually happen.

"Thanks," He exhaled, making the hedgehog smile before he leaned forward with his arms spread out, putting the fox into a hug. Tails obliged and fell into it, his own arms locking around the hedgehog's back, resting his head on a blue shoulder.

"Hey. I'm your big brother, right? And I love you too much to be able to sit here and listen to you knock yourself over the head over something this ridiculous," He said with a snicker. "So how about you go up to bed and then we'll celebrate ya tomorrow huh?"

Tails almost didn't hear him, leaving his left cheek on the blue shoulder and snuggled his head into his neck. This is what he needed. He wasn't touch starving or had the desire to be hugged every day but getting it every now and again was nice. Sonic wasn't usually mushy, and wasn't one for physical contact, high-fived people and fist bumped and had mostly kept the side-hugs and full hugs to his younger best friend, from the sole reason that he was a kid.

A toddler needed comfort, something that the hedgehog had to suck up and comply to. It had then lessened as they got older, but the inner child in him wanted a hug, wanted a hand to hold on to when the times called for it. And getting to know that it was alright that he hadn't made progress was the best news he could receive. Tails smiled.

"I love you too Sonic," He said, his voice muffled into the blue fur, and made the hedgehog chuckle and run his hand up and down his back.

They sat like that for a bit, the sidekick thinking that he could fall asleep like that, when he was suddenly lifted into the air, making him yip in surprise.

"Alright, alight if you can't go to bed yourself then I'll have to make you," Sonic laughed, placing his sidekick on his shoulder, like a sack of potatoes, legs and tails dangling on his right shoulder next to his face. Tails was laughing, not struggling like he usually would have and let the hedgehog get up from the floor and walk up the stairs, a hand left on his back to keep him steady.

"Aren't I getting to heavy for this?" He snickered, as they got up to the kitchen and through the living room.

"No way. If anything, you're still too light – I can ragdoll you around if I want to," –

"Oh really? Then maybe we should trade diets because I can hardly lift you in the air anymore," –

"Hey, don't make fun of my gorgeous body alright?"

Tails snorted, as the door to his bedroom was gently kicked open, almost hitting his head against the doorframe as he was transported inside.

"Last stop: The amazing Miles 'Tails' Prower's bed!" Sonic announced with an overenthusiastic voice, like a game-night host, gripping his sidekick around his waist, and plopped him down on the bed, said sidekick yipping again before laughing, the hedgehog laughing with him. It felt good to laugh – the frustration from beforehand forgotten, and mood and tiredness increased with the feeling. Tails was well aware that Sonic had that kind of power.

He got his breath as he kicked off his shoes while the hedgehog took the blanket from under him, making him roll around on the mattress with another giggle. For nostalgic reasoning more than anything the hedgehog crouched down and pulled the blanket over him, the fox taking it in his hand and smiled at his hero, the big brother who had the ability to make him feel a million times better. Sonic smiled back at him, when he had settled and ruffled his bangs with a snicker.

"Sleep tight litl' bro. Big day tomorrow," He said, the sidekick nodding with a yawn, the tiredness once again completely overwhelming him, getting himself comfortable in his bed.

"Sure, thing Sonic," He mumbled, as he watched Sonic get up from the floor and walk over to the door, turning off the light.

"G'night bud," The blue blur, the hero of Mobius and the the big brother said with a smile before he closed the door.

"G'night Sonic," He said to himself at this point, emitting a sigh of relief as he closed his eyes, blanket tugged up to his chin and snuggled his head into his pillow.

He was tired, that was for sure, but now he could feel that he was actually going to fall asleep. All considerations, all ideas, all thoughts about the dumb radio waves were long gone. It was going to be okay. Even if Eggman decided to attack them on his birthday tomorrow then it was still another thrill, another fight that he and his friends was going to go against, making sure that Mobius would be safe and sound. The kind of safe and warmth he felt right now.

Being a sidekick to the fastest thing alive was the very best thing he had ever agreed to do, and even though Sonic was now sixteen and he was turning nine tomorrow, then there were still no way on Mobius that anyone could split them apart. Far from. He was going to stay his sidekick as long as he wanted.

It had its up and downs, its tough times, and its fun times. But it was all worth it. He could never wish for something better.

Since there was nothing better than becoming -

A sidekick.

Author's note: A quick shoutout to my two main awesome reviewers: Irritable Fabulmancer and LordChico – thank you for the amazing support!

Thank you to all who was exited for this small collection and enjoyed it. Thanks for checking it out and thanks for every favorite and follow plus any favorites I get in the future (If I get any :D) - tell me which chapter was your favorite, I'm generally curious :)

And don't worry the stories doesn't stop here. Please check out my AU if you haven't - if you're a Tails fan then I think you're going to like it ;) - and I have a couple of oneshots planned as well as some longer future stories. I'm not done writing - so stay tuned if you're enjoying!

Again, huge thank you to the reviews, favorites, follows and views. It really means a lot to me. Have a good one everyone! :D