"Tails, I'm home! I have the stuff you asked for. All of it. Can you open the door for me please?"

Sonic was trying his best to restrain himself from trying to open the front door with his legs, since his arms were already busy (and aching from) holding all those boxes. He had done that in the past, and that got him a short trip to the hospital and having to wear a cast on his right leg for two months. And he couldn't stay in bed for two months right now, he had a race with Jet tomorrow! Thankfully Tails came to save him from his own hubris before he could even start lifting his leg.

"Let me help you with this." Tails grabbed two out of the four boxes he was carrying, making eye contact between the two possible at last. "I've seen that face before. You were about to—"

"I don't know what you're talking about, buddy." Sonic rolled his eyes and walked past Tails into the living room. He put his cargo down on the table and started removing its contents.

"Here's the parts you asked, here's the groceries, here's the… rocks? So you were making me carry rocks all along?" Sonic alternated his incredulous stare between Tails and said rocks. They didn't feel that heavy, truth be told, but the absurdity of the situation was still funny to him.

"They're geodes, noodle arms. The place I usually buy quartz at is out of stock, but they do have some of these mystery geodes that may or may not have some."

"So you're gonna make me go get more rocks if these don't have the thing you want?"

Tails simply shrugged. Sonic answered with a groan and continued to unpack everything. The remaining boxes Tails was bringing to the table contained some old video games and movies Tails insisted on getting in physical format, as well as school supplies. A lot of school supplies. Folders, notebooks, pencils and rulers among other things. Most of which he already had spares of in his workshop, but he wanted to keep his engineering career and school life separate. And Sonic respected that, of course.

"By the way, your phone was ringing like crazy. You should probably check it out when you go upstairs." The fox suggested, separating which boxes stayed in the house and which he'd move to the workshop.

"Really? That's new. I thought everyone was busy today." Sonic didn't think much of it as he went to the kitchen to grab himself a glass of water. It was getting dark outside already. A soft breeze shook the potted plants just outside their kitchen window, blue and orange windflowers Amy had gifted them many years ago once they moved from South Island to their current home in Station Square.

Some pink roses and red crown-of-thorns were added to the makeshift garden a couple of years later, followed by black dahlias, lavender and lilies-of-the-valley. The latest addition to the bunch was a single Persian ivy sprout he had found growing by the Mystic Ruins waterfall the week prior. Sonic was unsure about keeping it there at first, since it's not a flower, but he quickly became fond of it as he watched it grow. He even cleared out the grass and weeds around it so that the vibrant green could stand out more!

But that wasn't the time to think about his plants, someone was blowing up his phone and he didn't want to leave them waiting in case it was an emergency.

Now just where did he leave his phone? Sonic was sure it was in his room, but that didn't say much. That place was a mess with a capital M. Clothes everywhere, not a single part of the wall that wasn't covered in posters or sticky notes, and the little space he had to walk around on was made into an obstacle course by all the little trinkets he collected over the years but didn't want to store somewhere where he wouldn't be able to see them anymore.

That would require advanced tactics.

"Tails, can you call my phone for me please?" Sonic shouted, hoping his little brother was still somewhere in the house and not in his workshop. He waited for a full minute and was about to lose hope, when he heard a rumble. A muffled song he'd heard nowhere in particular and decided it was enough of a banger to replace his previous ringtone with. Coming from… his night stand, under the pair of gloves he forgot to put on before heading out to shop. Nice going, hero.

The usual notifications littered his lock screen. Mostly spam, some flower pictures Mighty started sending him daily after their meeting in Angel Island, a new video from a cooking channel Sonic promised himself he'd try one of the recipes from one day, and the ever-present low battery alert.

And ten to fifteen text messages from Jet. Most of them were just "hey".

[HAWK]: okay you're probably busy or whatever so I'll just type it for you to read later

[HAWK]: I know you said you wanted space until tomorrow but I got something special planned for tonight if you're up to it

[HAWK]: even ran it by the shadow guy if that means anything to you

[HAWK]: uhhhh I don't think this place has a name so I'll send the coordinates

[HAWK] sent a location!

[HAWK]: meet me there at 7 pm if you're not a coward

[HAWK]: I dunno how long its gonna last but like we'll stay there until 1 am minimum

[HAWK]: don't bring tails sorry nothing against the guy but I only planned it for two people

[HAWK]: also bring your board of course who do you think I am hedgehog

[HAWK]: okay bye gotta go

…

Sonic immediately hushed back to the living room, and then up to Tails' bedroom. The fox couldn't even get a word in before Sonic practically shoved the phone in his face. He just needed, craved for confirmation that he had read that amazing string of messages with his own two eyes.

"Tails, does this look…?"

"Suspicious as hell? You bet, yeah." Tails furrowed his eyebrows, confirming they were in fact reading the same thing.

"Do you think… Eggman stole his phone or something like that?" Sonic asked. Tails just shrugged and went back to putting his newly acquired school supplies on the shelves of his infinitely more organized room.

"Nah, Jet is just like that sometimes."

Tails couldn't see it, but Sonic's face pretty much went through all five stages of grief and then some more. But in the end, it still landed on acceptance.

"I guess Jet is just like that sometimes."

Sonic was glad his phone still had enough signal for him to use the GPS app, because oh boy was he lost. Everything looked the exact same around him: river, grass, cliff, rock. Rinse, repeat, shuffle, repeat again. It was a labyrinth of green and brown that got even harder to navigate due to the sun not being out anymore.

So hard, in fact, that Sonic almost failed to see Jet right in front of him. Looking quite unamused, he might add. Sonic's little hedgehog nose was pretty much touching the tip of his beak. He had to take a step back before Jet would speak in an equally unamused tone.

"I've been waving at you for like five minutes, hedgehog." Jet was holding his board firmly against his side.

"Come on, give me a break! I'm not late, am I? I'm here five minutes before the time you set, in fact."

"And you'd be fifty minutes late if you hadn't bumped into me by complete accident. I think that should make me the winner of today's race by default, but I'm feeling charitable today so you get another chance to prove yourself."

Yep, that was Jet alright. No Eggman decoy would be able to replicate the particular way Jet managed to get under his skin just like that. It almost reminded him of Shadow's taunting, even if Jet's language wasn't nearly as… flowery, for the lack of a better word, it managed to rile him up just as much. But in a good way, if there was even one.

"You want to get rid of me so fast after making me run all the way here? Attitude of a coward, if you ask me." Sonic placed one hand on his neck, the other holding onto his extreme gear. "So what's the plan for tonight, Flicky? Are you taking me on a moonlit date? I didn't take you for the romantic type."

For just a brief moment, Sonic could see a glimpse of something other than friendly rivalry flash across the hawk's face. But it went by too quick for him to decode it. Jet opened his beak to retort but the words took a full five seconds to come out. Which probably meant Sonic had made a good jab at him!

"You wish, hedgehog. We're doing a marathon. Five hours from here to the finish line, no breaks." Jet stepped out of the way to reveal a little picnic basket and blanket placed at the side of the tree Jet had been leaning against. "We have fifteen minutes to eat. Any more and we'll miss it."

"You're not making a very good case against this being a date, you know that? And miss what exactly?"

Jet never gave him a reply, so he just went ahead and sat down by the picnic blanket. Sonic was the first to unveil the contents of the basket: two water bottles and a couple of handmade sandwiches. He went ahead and took a bite out of one of them. Pretty good! He could tell Jet was the one that assembled them, they had the same spice mix Jet put on everything he cooked back at the airship.

"Oh man, I know I'm supposed to not be eating too much right now but these are so good!"

Sonic was talking with his mouth full. Which wasn't an issue here, since Jet did the same thing.

"That's the last meal you'll have before your most crushing defeat so far, so enjoy it." Jet only took a few seconds to be done with his whole meal before he was up and doing some stretches. They still had about ten minutes to go, so Sonic took his time appreciating both the food and Jet's company.

It was rare for them to hang out outside of racing. That one trip had been the outlier – an attempt to get some quality time with one of his favorite rivals while also helping him let go of whatever baggage the hawk had been carrying at the time. The latter seemed to have worked, which was great! But the whole month of isolation he had from Jet afterwards really didn't help with the former objective.

It made him a little sad to think about it, but it was alright in the end. Jet was right there, right now. There was no use lamenting for the time they lost, only being thankful for the time they still had and would have.

Sonic wrapped everything up inside the picnic basket once he was done and did some quick stretches as well. Jet was impatiently looking at his phone and trying to figure out what to do with said basket. In the end, he simply shrugged to himself and put it behind the tree to be forgotten forever (or until he went to retrieve it the next day). That was the one part of the plan he didn't run by Shadow, huh?

That's right, Shadow… Honestly, Sonic had no clue why the two were going along so well. Maybe because they'd only ever talked while Jet wasn't his usual self, because his usual self would have made Shadow want to shoot him on the leg. Anyone else that tried to get into an overfamiliar rival mood with him that wasn't Sonic usually got that treatment.

"So! Where's the finish line, exactly?" Sonic asked, starting up his board and tossing it on the ground.

"You'll know when you get there. Shadow put some plaques along the way to indicate where to turn, but besides those we're going in a straight line for like 90% of the race. The challenge is keeping your air tank stocked the whole way there. Otherwise you'll have to stop, wait for manual refilling and stay behind by ten minutes or so."

"Sure, sounds easy enough by me! I have to say Jet, you came up with a really creative way for me to kick your butt. I appreciate you for that."

"I hope you're still not full, because you're gonna eat my dust." Jet retorted. "Want me to count us down?"

Sonic nodded and readied himself. Jet counted down to ten, and started running forward on five. Sonic could get a winning distance between them if he went all out in those five seconds of sprinting, but he wanted to keep things fair. He kept up with Jet's pace until he hit one. And once he did, they were off.

The moonlight illuminated both racers as they went on with their dispute. Their boards hummed with anticipation and both their faces had shifted into grins without any of them noticing. The cathartic thrill of going at such high speeds, the refreshing sensation of wind rushing through and past his quills – those feelings were irreplaceable. Every little thing counted when it came to racing, especially aboard extreme gear.

Both of their forms were perfect. Their stances maximized their aerodynamics, their pathfinding was on point and they performed the most air-efficient tricks once they hit anything that even slightly resembled a ramp. Sonic knew his board probably wasn't on par with the craft of the Babylonian descendants (no offense to Tails of course), but he had the raw will and attitude to make up for it.

Sonic was an adept at taking advantage of nature. He had enough experience going through rough and untamed environments to know everything he could use to his advantage. Every rock formation was a ramp, every fallen tree a grind rail. The first part of the race was on a lush yet bumpy green meadow that Sonic would have just loved to run through with his own feet. A couple milliseconds ahead were all he could take, but take them proudly he did.

On the contrary, Jet's specialty was rushing past urban environments like they were made for him. Those milliseconds were taken right back as he hovered his way through the abandoned village that followed. He had been speeding through cities and catacombs his whole life. There wasn't a single manmade environment he couldn't dominate – past or present.

He was also not afraid of making his own way. A blast of wind from his fans was all he needed to turn a dead-end into part of the main path. Jet stayed true to the spirit of fair play and never used them to get himself a boost, though. He only used his fans to blow away obstacles that were absolutely unavoidable. He even saved Sonic from running into a poorly parked abandoned car along the way! How convenient!

It was in moments like these that Sonic could really appreciate Jet – all of Jet. His arrogance hid a desire to be evenly matched my everyone and everything that challenged him. They would taunt each other back and forth, for sure, but Sonic could appreciate all the little things Jet did to put himself ahead while staying fair and true to his ideals. Yet, the context in which he had been inserted – or perhaps forced – into for most of his life didn't let many of those qualities shine through.

It was in moments like these that Sonic could say he really loved Jet – all of Jet. Even if he himself didn't notice that attraction, it was there. And it was making him do stupid things like riding on extreme gear for five hours with only a sandwich's worth of energy.

Sonic's legs started aching at around three and a half hours in, and it only got worse as the time went on. He had run for much longer in the past for sure, but at least in those cases he could stop and stretch his legs. Or do… anything with his legs. He couldn't do so much as shift his position while riding on the extreme gear board without completely altering his trajectory.

Jet didn't look phased at all, of course he didn't. Not even a twitch of discomfort. Either that, or he was better than Sonic at hiding it. The hawk's grin only widened once he glanced at the hedgehog's weakened state.

"Tired already? You can always declare me the winner and give your baby legs some rest."

Well now he wasn't going to do it. Sonic replied with an eye roll and continued to focus on the road ahead. It was almost completely flat. They really had to optimize and get creative with their use of tricks and grinding. If this was at the beginning of the marathon it would have been a cakewalk. But here? It was Sonic's worst nightmare.

But he persisted. Sonic persisted using the power or friendly rivalry, spite and repressed gay feelings. And it paid off, it really did! Or at least that's what he would say if he knew where the hell they were going. Or where they were for that matter. All he saw for miles were sharp rock formations leading into a river flowing in the opposite direction to them.

And then, he found it. A huge, crystal clear lake where the stream originated from. Near the shore two plastic lawn chairs rested – one green and one blue. Jackpot. That was it! They were now side by side, grins wide and eyes tired. All they had to do was somehow get off their boards and onto those chairs.

Except both of them were behind the wrong color of chair. And their legs were way more tired than their adrenaline-fueled bodies led them to believe they were. Sonic and Jet failed to get off their boards in different ways, but both of them ended up running over a chair each and getting flung into the cool water ahead.

Sonic didn't know who surfaced first, but they started throwing "I touched my chair first so I win!" as soon as they saw the other do it. The brawl persisted until Jet finally remembered they were on a time limit. The hawk grabbed onto Sonic's wrist and pretty much dragged him along to the shore. A quick check confirmed both of their phones were somehow still working, and that it was almost midnight. That sure did feel like five hours! Jet was alternating his gaze between it, the clear night sky and Sonic.

"It's almost here, it's almost here! Shut up and watch, it's gonna blow your mind."

Sonic had not said a word and still had no idea what was going on, but Jet had so much conviction in his voice that he complied without any retorts. He looked at the sky and waited. And as the clock hit midnight and the date officially changed, it finally happened.

The moon came out from behind the clouds! It was a full moon that day, and Sonic found really pretty the way that it reflected on the surface of the lake and illuminated everything around them so vividly. Even after getting dunked in cool water, the temperature was just perfect. All this accompanied by the low humming of various critters and the gentlest of breezes. It was the most beautiful thing Sonic had ever experienced, even if one of the simplest.

Jet, on the other hand, wasn't having any of it.

"Are you kidding me? Nothing? NOTHING?!" Jet yelled at the sky in frustration. "We've come all this way only for Little Planet NOT to show up? Not even a peek?!"

"Little… wait, what?"

Everything suddenly clicked in Sonic's mind. He knew that lake was very familiar to him somehow. He had been there before!

"You… you made us ride all the way to Never Lake?" Sonic wasn't upset. Not at all. He was just really surprised with their destination.

"Amy said she thought Little Planet would show up this month because her tarot said so or whatever. She said you'd like it." Jet curled up with his knees close to his chest, feathers still soaked and dripping. He was also shivering slightly.

"Amy was in on this too? Aw, man… That's… That's wonderful, Jet!"

Jet shifted his head to look at him so fast. His eyes were wide and his breathing completely halted for a moment.

"…What? No it's not, we put this much effort into it and it didn't work!" He whined.

"It doesn't matter if it worked, I still liked it. A lot."

Both of them remained quiet for a long time, simply enjoying the visuals. Sonic was the first to move, but only to move even closer to Jet. Their legs pressed together, bodies becoming warmer by the second. Finally, Sonic rested his head against Jet's shoulder. He wasn't shivering anymore, but he was incredibly tense.

He could feel just how tense Jet had gotten with the contact. He hadn't pushed him off or anything, so there must have been something bugging else him. But Sonic wouldn't force it out. He was too comfortable to do so. He liked to be around Jet, he liked to touch Jet. His feathers felt so nice against his short cobalt fur. With the amount of fatigue running through his body right now, he might as well fall asleep right there and then. And he was almost doing so, before Jet's voice brought him back to consciousness.

"Hey Sonic… I…"

Sonic waited. They had all the time in the world.

"…Do you want to maybe… hang out more often? Just… I don't know. Outside of racing. We'll still race, of course, just…"

Another pause.

"…I like spending time with you."

Sonic hummed to himself, taking a bit to reply even though he knew the answer since the moment Jet opened his beak. He wanted to make sure it felt right.

"Of course, Jet. I would love to. I appreciate that you put this much thought into something just to ask me if I wanted to hang out more often. You even got Shadow involved! And he agreed! That's honestly amazing."

Sonic let out a small sigh.

"You're amazing, Jet. I'll spend all the time in the world with you."