"So…Jet. What's up with you being an alien descendant again? How did that end up?"

Tails looked like he was trying his best to be polite to Jet despite the fact that he was… well, Jet! As if taunting Sonic at every opportunity over the most minor of things with his vuvuzela of a voice wasn't enough, the fox had to watch the two animals have a pizza eating competition with the large ham, bacon and pineapple pizza – the one Tails knew he'd regret ordering for Sonic. At least they weren't making a mess, despite how loud they were eating.

Jet looked away from his leftover crust to give Tails a shrug. "Eh, it didn't really go anywhere. They did some blood tests and all that but the Babylonian genes are so mixed in with regular mobian genes that it's hard to tell the difference at this point."

"So we just… casually discover that some mobians are part alien and nothing happens? Not a Nobel prize, anything?" Sonic decided he had enough of taunting Jet for his loss at the eating contest. For now, at least. He was sitting opposite to Jet, elbows resting on the table and head leaning forward to focus on the emerging conversation. There were still some crumbs on his muzzle.

"Like you need any more prizes, hedgehog. It's not really that weird considering the things you fight every year."

"I mean… Jet is kind of right, Sonic. There was that whole Black Arms invasion back in the day that pretty much confirmed to the general public that aliens exist. There's not a lot else you can say about them that would really make people be surprised anymore."

"Since when do you agree with Jet on things, huh?" Sonic huffed, blowing a few stray quills out of his face. Jet found it entertaining to watch, but he had to look away and huff when the hedgehog caught him staring.

"Don't make me recall all the times we had to team up with Eggman and you got friendly with him."

"Don't say it like that, gross!"

"Don't compare me to that buffoon, fox!"

"See? Now you two are teaming up against me!" Tails laughed. He got up and started taking away their mostly empty plates, but Jet wouldn't give away his.

"I'll wash the dishes. I have to repay you for the pizza somehow." That got him a very confused look from Tails. As if he didn't know Jet was capable of being nice.

"Oh! Um… Sure thing! Thanks Jet!" Tails still took away the remainder of the dishes, putting them on the sink as Jet walked there to begin washing them. "I… Guess me and Sonic can go ahead and pick what movie we're gonna watch, then! Do you have any preferences?"

The hawk opened his beak to open, but closed it after a few moments. That was a good question – what was the last time he had stopped to watch a movie? He was used to rewatching his races to see where he could improve – and sometimes even old reports about the Babylon Rogues when he felt especially nostalgic – but a movie? For fun?

"Jet—"

"The best ones you have! Don't waste my time with… with documentaries or whatever snoozefests you watch, though."

Tails raised an eyebrow and looked at Sonic, who just gave him a shrug and an equally confused look in return. He almost felt bad about talking to Tails like that, but it ultimately didn't bother him enough to dwell on it. He excused himself out of the room and called Sonic as well, leaving Jet alone with the dishes. The first floor was mostly silent now, besides the sound of the two mobians walking around upstairs.

Jet had to admit, it was a pretty nice house! Fairly big too, considering only two people lived in it. It had a kitchen, a living room, even a porch! It beat living in an airship for most of his life by a longshot. Plus, there was all the stuff upstairs that he hadn't even got to see yet. It was way more spacious than his own apartment, but probably harder to clean and organize. It felt like home. but not his home.

If he was still his old self, he'd immediately try to deduce where the valuables were – not that he hadn't, just not on purpose. The only thing on Jet's mind were the things he'd find inside that dusty airship and the amount of dishes he had left.

And Sonic the Hedgehog, for some reason.

Jet really didn't know what it was, but Sonic looked way more… calm? No, that wasn't the word. Way less feisty than usual. They weren't on bad terms anymore, but they didn't skimp on the taunts and quips either. The fact that Sonic didn't say a word until they had arrived by his house was pretty weird. He couldn't really complain about it anyways, it wasn't like it felt bad. Just out of the ordinary for their usual dynamic.

What were they now anyways? Friends? That certainly felt like something friends would do together. A movie and pizza night, followed by a big race the following day. He was even going to be sleeping there and everything! The more Jet thought about it, the less likely the whole situation felt. Sonic really just came out of the woodwork and asked him to stay overnight like that, huh?

It made him feel… some sort of way. He still had to come to terms with the fact that he was having fun, he didn't have time for this mystery feeling just yet.

Jet had finished the dishes soon enough. He was about to climb upstairs to sneak up on his hosts to see if they were trash talking him behind his back, but they sped downstairs before he could even take a step out of the ktichen. Sonic carrying a big pile of DVDs in his arms and Tails had a blanket and some pillows with him, which Jet assumed would be his for the night. He couldn't help but scoff.

"What took you so long, Sonic the Hedgehog? I thought you were supposed to be the fastest thing alive."

"Being fast doesn't keep you from getting indecisive. We just ended up getting all of them, we can shuffle the boxes and watch them in whatever order they end up in. Unless you want to pick one."

Sonic put the movies down on the coffee table by the living room and Jet took some time to browse through all of them. Lots of Disney movies, a decent amount of Studio Ghibli, some comedies… he had to admit they had a pretty good taste in movies. He wanted to be cliché and pick Aladdin, but he wouldn't be able to stop nitpicking it now that he had seen the real magic carpet. Something action packed, something loud, something that would make him look cool in front of Sonic…

Wait, what was that last one again?

"I wanna watch Pacific Rim. The one with the robots and the aliens."

Sonic couldn't help but laugh a little at his movie choice. Jet hadn't even thought about it like that! Now he looked stupid.

"Getting nostalgic, huh? But good pick anyways, it's one of Tails' favorites." Never mind, everything is fine! "I don't think I've ever finished it myself. Only ever caught glimpses of it."

"You just doze off in the middle of a movie like this? You really are a grandma, Sonic the Hedgehog."

It was Jet's turn to laugh, so they were even now. The three of them moved to sit on the living room couch. Sonic was the last one to join, sitting in between Jet and Tails after he threw the blanket over them and put the movie on. Jet was trying to avoid sitting too close to Sonic, since the closer he got the stronger the mystery feeling got, but he eventually gave in because it was warmer if they all huddled together. He was still not touching the hedgehog, of course, but he might as well have been for how warm he was feeling.

Unbeknownst to Tails, who was completely focused on the movie, the two of them were actually fighting a silent battle. Jet first caught Sonic's eyelids drooping at about fifteen minutes into the movie only – and he just had to give sleepy blue a taunting smirk for that. Though after about five more minutes he was the one trying not to fall asleep. The two of them were now only half watching the movie, eyes moving left and right to check if the other had fallen victim to their drowsiness.

Jet just wanted an excuse to keep staring at Sonic. Not that he knew or would admit that, of course.

It was only when Jet's phone started ringing halfway through that the two of them broke their deep focus – both almost having a heart attack since Jet's ringtone was as loud as he was. Sonic had to admit though, whatever song that was it was sort of catchy.

"No turning back

We are born to dream

In a world full of seeing

What we never could reach

Air time makes on the wind, I'd be…"

Jet struggled to grab his phone from his jacket pocket in the chaos, almost dropping it a few times before firmly grasping it in his hands. Who could be calling him that late into the night? Spam maybe? Nah, he was pretty sure he took care of that a few months ago. Storm needing help with something stupid like taking care of his egg? Maybe. Wave never called him, but it wasn't entirely impossible that'd she'd start no—

"Father".

Of course. The worst case scenario.

"Hey, pause the movie. I'm going outside to take this call."

"H-hey, you can't just leave, I'm comfy!" Sonic booed and crossed his arms, while Tails complied with a slightly annoyed grunt.

"It's from my dad. He's going to ruin the mood."

"So? I promise I won't moan your name or anything dude, we're all grownups here. Maybe not Tails, but he's well behaved most of the time."

"Hey!"

Jet rolled his eyes. He didn't have time to argue with Sonic about that – as much as he loved that song, he knew making his father wait would only make things worse. Right when he was starting to come to terms with the fact that he was having fun, dammit. At least he could prove a point to Sonic, even if it was petty. He put on the speakerphone.

"Hey da—"

"I'm surprised you actually picked up, I thought you'd be crying yourself to sleep right now you little runt. Picture me, watching the evening news, when I see someone familiar on the TV… my useless pigeon of a son! Looks like you won't be doing your cute little races for quite some time, yeah Jet? Let me guess, they also kicked you off for being a massive disappointment to their image. Don't lie to me, boy, I've put up with you for long enough so I know how things are. You're a disgrace to your ancestors and your…"

Jet looked around, and both of them were looking at him and the phone with the most horrified expressions he had ever seen. Those were freaking him out more than his dad's rant was. Jet put the phone under the pile of cushions besides him – muffled enough so that they could talk without having to shout but still loud enough so that he'd know when the old man started yapping.

"I warned you."

"You didn't tell us it was this bad, geez! Aren't you gonna say anything back to him?"

"It's no use, he just keeps going until he's out of ways to insult me. Just play the movie a bit louder."

"Can't you hang up on him then?"

"He'll call again."

"Just go ahead and block his number if he's gonna keep being a jerk like that!"

"…Mmmmh."

"Here, I'll do it for you."

Jet wasn't really planning on trying to stop Sonic – but it wasn't like he could anyways. The blue blur got up and took the phone from under the pile in a burst of speed, ending up besides Jet.

"…but I am very generous, you see! Even if our kind is used to taking away, today I'm going to be giving you another opportunity to redeem yourself to your legacy. All you need to do is—"

"Hey beakface, don't you need to breathe? We're trying to watch a movie here."

That… actually managed to make his father stay quiet? I guess Jet would be surprised too if one of his calls suddenly got hijacked by Sonic the Hedgehog, but… wow. Just wow.

"Yeah, that's right. Hear that? Exactly, and neither will Jet since I'm blocking your number. See you never!" Beep! "And… Uh, where's the thing… there you go, number blocked! Hopefully he won't buy a new phone or anything to pester you again, but if he does then I'll just have to go pay him a visit. Right, Jet?"

Jet had his jaw on the floor. He could have just… done that? All along? Sure it wasn't that easy, right? It felt nice to take a break from the old man putting him down pretty much every week, but at the same time…No, Sonic was right. If he was going to be a jerk, then he didn't deserve to be heard. The legendary wind master couldn't spare seconds off his precious day to let a crazy old man shout down his ear holes. Then why did that feel so… weird?

Because it was Sonic who did it for him, that's why. He wanted to be mad at Sonic, he wanted to be absolutely furious that the hedgehog was meddling with his family life. But he couldn't. He just couldn't bring himself to feel anything other than relieved. And he kind of hated himself for it.

"You didn't have to put on a show for him. Just hanging up and blocking the number was enough. I don't know if blocking the number is going to help at all either, but whatever." Jet raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms over his chest. Dammit, why couldn't he just be thankful?

Sonic raised an eyebrow at Jet, then his expression morphed into a glare. Oh no.

"You're welcome, geez." Sonic tossed the phone back at him gently, with a very unamused expression on his face. "The movie, Tails."

The fox was still taken aback by the whole situation, taking a few seconds before he processed the command and put the movie back on. Jet knew he had messed up. It didn't feel as warm as before. He could feel himself…panicking? What was that? He shouldn't care that much about how his dad reacted to all of that. Much less about how he made Sonic feel. He shouldn't care at all! They must have put something on that pizza while he was distracted, he never felt that weird before.

The remaining half of the movie played excruciatingly slowly. He tried to take a few peeks at Sonic like they were doing before, but the hedgehog was completely fixated on the screen. Jet wouldn't blame him, he also felt like he wasn't going to fall asleep in the next year or so. All because he couldn't keep his stupid mouth shut.

"So… race tomorrow huh?"

Sonic's monotone voice snapped him out of… whatever that was. The credits were rolling, the couch was empty. Tails could just barely be seen climbing upstairs, and Sonic was staring at him from besides him with a painfully neutral expression. How did he get here?

"Yeah. Whoever gets up first wakes the other." There was no competitiveness in his voice, despite what that sort of proposal would lead one to believe. Sonic raised an eyebrow, indecipherable.

"Cool, sounds good for me. I'll see you tomorrow."

Even if Sonic was the blue blur, he had just… vanished out of Jet's sight as soon as he finished the sentence. He probably hadn't actually done that, but it felt like he did in Jet's dazed state. He could just barely see the moonlight peeking from in between the blinds. He was pretty sure it was past midnight by that point, but he didn't want to check his phone to confirm it. He had no clue what in the world had just gone down, but he hoped some sleep would help him clear his mind.

But despite how hard he tossed and turned, sleep would not come. The couch was comfortable, the blanket was soft and the cushions were still warm. And he was tired – oh boy he was so tired. There was no reason for sleep not to come.

Yeah there is.

Ugh, fine. Maybe he was a bit upset about being a dick to Sonic. So what! He was friends with Sonic now, of course he'd be upset. Just as upset as if he was accidentally rude to Storm or Wave… oh. Well, yeah, Storm and Wave were longtime friends, he had just started getting to know Sonic better. And now everything was ruined, just because he couldn't bring his dumb beak to say "thank you" once. Just once.

Whatever. It's not like they'd get along very well anyways. Sonic was really the fastest thing in the universe, and Jet just ended up trampling over him whenever he tried to catch up. He was never meant to have friends at all, even! His father was probably right.

Jet got tired of just laying there and feeling bad and went to grab a glass of water. He stopped to look through the blinds on his way there. The moon was still shining. He could barely see a glimpse of the city from where he was, bright and lively as always. Full of business, people having fun and what not. A new bus had arrived by the Station Square Station, but not many people were getting in to leave the city.

Leave… that's right, that's why he was there! The airship! It was at the other end of the city, but he could make it there in no time if he used his board. It wasn't like he had a set time to get there anyways – the gates were automatic and Jet had the small ID card that would allow him entry still in his wallet. The only thing he had to do was get out of the house.

Which was easier said than done. Jet's whole body felt like it weighed a ton. He had to take a small break when he reached the living room once again. And another one after he retrieved his board from the corner of the room. Now all that was left was to head through the front door. One step at a time. It wasn't a physical sluggishness; he knew that much. Something deep, very deep in his brain was telling him to stay. That he could fix the whole situation if he just stopped and had an open and honest talk with Sonic.

Bah, like he would ever be able to do that. He was Jet the Hawk, he didn't care about anyone's feelings. He was just a jerk.

His leg movements were heavy and clumsy, but he didn't make much actual noise. Years of thievery and heists ingrained the silent walking technique into his muscles. No matter how much noise he thought he was making, nobody would listen. The sun might as well have risen up again – the hawk was taking his sweet time opening that door even after he reached it.

And… there. The cool night air immediately hit him, hard. He wanted to go back to the warmth, to the fun. Jet was fully aware and conscious of the fact that he wanted to stay a little longer. But now his body was doing the opposite, forcing him to go ahead and put his goggles on. Fingers gripped the board with the little control he had. He was ready to go.

"Jet, hey… I'm… Jet?"

Of course, the worst case scenario yet again.

Jet got on his board and sped away as soon as he heard the hedgehog's footsteps getting closer. He could agree with his body on that decision – Sonic was the last thing he wanted in his mind right now.

The sound of footsteps stopped soon after he zigzagged up to the Station Square Station through the wooden platforms. Jet thought that was it, but the familiar sound of a second extreme gear board echoed through the empty night air besides him. He didn't need to look behind him to know that Sonic was closing the distance. The station was empty enough so that he didn't need to dodge anyone, thankfully. He took a dive forward and out through the other side, using the stairway's rail to grind and recover some of his board's air supply.

The city was a different story, however. Full of both pedestrians and vehicles, it would be quite a challenge to navigate through – for anyone that wasn't a pro, at least. The legendary wind master could do it with no issue on the regular, doing it in his current weird hyper-aware yet dazed state would be even less of an issue. The things in front of him were a good way to distract himself from what was in his mind and right behind his board.

Two blurs dashed through the city, one blue and one green. For anyone that happened to be nearby, it was like a light show. The hawk and the hedgehog constantly changed paths, branching and then reuniting. Both of them had the exact same type of extreme gear, so they just had to spot anything that looked like a grind rail to predict where the other was going next. Ramps weren't out of the question either. The vertical distance between them would ultimately be what decided who the winner would be.

Jet knew he was going to come out the loser regardless.

They were on top of stores at first, thanks to a conveniently placed dumpster with wooden planks sticking out of it at an angle. Next were the small apartment complexes. Even without anything ramp-shaped in sight, they had enough momentum going on so that reaching greater distances and heights wouldn't be so much of an issue.

How they got on top of the city's tallest skyscraper Jet didn't know. And how he was going to get off it… He didn't know either. None of the other buildings matched it in height, there was no comfortable landing spot. Even the closest building he could go down to would probably result in a few broken bones for him – but his board would be intact. It was just a matter of doing it.

He had decelerated quite a bit so that he could think about his next step, but he couldn't hear the sound of Sonic's board anymore so he didn't worry too much about it. He set his sights onto the apartment complex in front of him, and boosted forward.

For a moment, he was in the air. He couldn't feel the air from his board hitting the building anymore, and gravity started catching up to him. But then he just… stopped. Frozen in midair while still hanging off the building. He was pulled back onto solid ground after just a few short moments of watching his board fly off into the distance without him and fell on his back. The blue hedgehog was now looming over him.

Gaia, he was a mess. Stray quills sticking out here and there, sweating and panting heavily. Jet had no idea how he managed to get so worked up over a little chase – he was Sonic the Hedgehog, the fastest thing in the universe. A little tour around the city on his board shouldn't be enough to tire him out like that. Why did he even get his board anyways? He'd probably have catched Jet much sooner if he just ran after him.

"What the hell is your problem, man?!"

They just stood still in their positions for a while. The hedgehog had fire in his eyes hot enough to melt and reshape the building so that it would consume the hawk where he laid. Jet didn't dare to avert his gaze away from Sonic's face either, though it was mostly out of silent intimidation than anything. He had never seen Sonic this angry before, not even on the day of that rigged extreme gear race six years ago. Jet wanted to disappear.

But he didn't. Instead, Sonic's expression softened at a very slow pace. Anger turned into annoyance, annoyance turned into frustration and frustration turned into… something between pity and guilt. Jet couldn't tell, he wasn't good at reading people. The blue blur eventually took a deep breath, slumping down on the floor besides Jet once he finished exhaling.

"Sure is pretty up here, huh? I just don't know how we're gonna get down, I jumped off my board so I could reach you fast enough." Sonic let out a small chuckle, chin tucked to his knees as his emerald gaze wandered into the city below.

It was still very "alive", but things looked like they were starting to calm down slowly. People were starting to head back home from their night jobs, some ending their shifts and getting replaced by equally sleepy workers. There were barely any cars in the streets now; the ones that did arrive stopped by gas stations and convenience stores to refuel. It was still very bright down there, but it was as if a cozy veil of silence and tranquility had been lowered into the civilization below.

"Jet, I… Look. It was pretty rude of me to freak out on you… trying to defend your dad or whatever that was. Tails told me that people who were emotionally abused as a child often do that subconsciously. I wouldn't know that, but I should have known that. That wasn't cool."

Jet couldn't bring himself to look at Sonic, but he could give him a very, very faint nod. In truth, he wasn't sure if that was the case himself, but what Sonic was saying did fit his situation pretty well in most other cases.

"Can't talk for once? That's fine, I'll just keep monologuing. Feel free to chime in at any time to tell me I'm full of crap, though. I know you love doing that."

Another laugh. As if Sonic wanted to find a way to release the tension between them instead of finding his own words genuinely funny.

"I feel bad admitting this, but I… I don't know. I sort of invited you to stay over because you looked kind of in a bad headspace. I mean… you stopped talking back to me! Like, that was more than half an hour of silence. You had me really worried, I didn't know you could stay quiet for that long."

That got a chuckle out of Jet, and he even took his goggles off his face. If Sonic was trying to get him to talk by making him laugh, it was working.

"Chaos, I… barely know anything about you now that I think about it. I have an image of you in my head, but it's like… the fourteen years old Jet. Always racing, always mad about something… that's why it's so jarring to see you have like… emotions and all that, you know? Like when you idolize someone so much that you're like… surprised they have real world problems as well? Amy could have taken a page out of that book a few years ago, that's for sure."

"So you idolize me?"

Jet was delighted to see how surprised Sonic got by him finally speaking up, a giant shit eating grin on his beak. The hedgehog raised his hands up defensively.

"What? No way dude, I was just using that as an example! You're cool and all, but you used to be like a professional thief! That's not the kind of role model I'd want." Sonic settled down after, looking away. "Though that's…old Jet, like I said. I mean, I don't know if you still do stuff like that nowadays, but I haven't seen you on TV recently that's for sure."

"I have a job now, Sonic the Hedgehog. A real job where I can get real money. I wouldn't throw that away just for the sake of thrill-seeking."

"Sorry, I just wasn't sure. A lot of people go back on their bad habits, I'm glad to see that's not you. And… you can just call me Sonic, dude. You don't see me calling you Jet the Hawk every time."

"Hmph. I'll do what you ask this once, Sonic."

It felt foreign. Personal even, like he was invading his personal space just by calling him his name. But that's what they were doing, right? Breaking some of the boundaries between them and establishing some new ones.

"There you go! Much better, huh? You can cram even more snarky comebacks into your sentences now that you're not saying my full title."

Jet was glad Sonic was taking this all so well, especially because he still couldn't bring himself to say "sorry" or "thank you". There were still some things he needed to figure out before he could do that – both about Sonic and himself.

"…That counted as our race, by the way. And I won."

"Huh? No it didn't!" Sonic exclaimed, followed by a few slightly exasperated chuckles. "That wasn't fair, I wasn't really trying to win anything. I was just trying to figure out what the hell you were doing."

"Those sound like the words of someone who just lost a race…. Sonic."

"Can't we have a rematch tomorrow, then? I'm ready to tie the score at least."

"Sure, but I'm busy tomorrow. Have to do some stuff for Wave."

"Can I come?"

"Huh?"

Jet finally turned to look at Sonic, a great deal of confusion on his face and a big rush of mystery feeling once again.

"I mean, only if you're not gonna steal or anything like that."

"I don't steal anymore, shut up with that!" Jet huffed. "I'm just going to sort out the old Babylon Rogues airship to see if there's anything valuable still in there. Not really a good field trip if you don't wanna be reminded of the old Jet."

"I mean… I can get to know the new Jet too, you know. I wanna see his reaction to whatever's still in there. Who knows, maybe he'll find something that makes him go back to stealing. Or worse, he might even start being nice to me! Could you imagine?"

"Don't talk like I'm not here right beside you, it's weird. But whatever, you can come as long as you help me with the work. Moving stuff around and all that."

"Can do! I'll even bring Tails to help, I'm sure he's still annoyed with me for letting you stay but I can bribe him with sweets."

"…Shouldn't you call him to get us down from here?"

"Good idea."