Thanks to kimchi-tan, Amefloza13, NeckBreak, 01SonAmy01, Lynkia, Samantha27, Notyouraverageloser-chan, Captain, Blancis16, IT'S NO USE I'M OUTTA USE, AceisBae:

Thank you thank you thank you thank you! Y'all are the best readers/reviewers in the world. Thank you~ It's so amazing to check my email throughout the day and see all your kind words, it honestly means so much to me ~

Please enjoy this gigantic chapter! It's gonna be intense, awkward, and also a bit fun.

TW: rape/abuse, so skip the first section if you're sensitive to it. Seriously, don't read it if you're easily disturbed. (I can't even believe I wrote it tbh ~ )

Chapter 6: Past

CANDY

10 months. 10 long painful months without my pet. This was the longest time he'd left me all alone. I knew he was having some issues with his legs, but I'd cured that by just tying him up and making sure he couldn't move at all. Of course that meant I had to do all the work - he was so useless and pathetic. But also incredibly hot, and so sexy. That was the only reason I kept him around, and yet let him leave. Because he'd always come back. And when he did… I licked my lips in anticipation. It thrilled me beyond belief to know he was out there somewhere, doing his thing with girl after girl after guy after girl, and yet he always came back to me. Obviously no one could pleasure him like I could - especially because I punished him so good for being "unfaithful" to me. He was in love with me. And I was the only one who knew.

But 10 months was really stretching the freedom I was so generous to give him. I'd even seen him appear back on TV. If he knew what was good for him, he'd come back to me soon. Or I'd make sure he was in the news for very different reasons. I smirked to myself. The whole world wondered where he'd been, but I was the only one who knew the truth. But I wasn't about to share unless he forced my hand.

He didn't have the nerve. He was wrapped around my little finger - and my whole body. Damn, I missed him. When he came back I was going to punish him for leaving me unsatisfied for so long. I was going to punish the hell out of him.

His distinct knock on the door instantly made me moist. He was fucking back - about goddamn time! I was mad, but also thrilled that I would get to dom him again. He was so perfectly terrible and weak, I loved it. I opened the door, my body tingling with anticipation.

"Well, look who it is."

My pet was back. He stared down at the ground, motionless. He looked delicious.

"Took you long enough. Inside."

He followed my command, remaining silent. I found his leash and collar and slipped it around his neck, setting it oh-so-tight until he gasped. The sound honestly gave me life.

"So, how many this time?" I asked, running my fingers down his lean, muscled arm. His body was so unique. I was expecting a huge number as he was gone for so long.

"None."

What? No way. I slapped him across the face while still holding the collar tight, causing his neck to jerk at a painful angle.

"Do you think I'm an idiot?"

"N-no…. I-I really didn't, h-honest," he stuttered over his words. What a fucking loser, worthless piece of garbage.

"Hmph, I'll see about that."

I reached down to inspect his junk, knowing I would be able to tell if he'd been "faithful" or not with my hands. He squirmed as I stroked him, but he froze when I yanked on both his dick and the collar. I lived for the fear and anguish in his eyes.

I leaned in close to his ear and hissed as loud as I could. "Liar."

I pulled the collar tighter, hoping it would leave marks on him, showing he was mine. He choked and squirmed more, gasping for air, his arms twitching. Good. I let him suffer for a few seconds before releasing him. He fell to his hands and knees, panting. I kicked him in the ribs and he fell over like the worthless creature he was. I flipped him to his back and dug my stiletto heel into him. I wanted him to bleed for lying to me.

"Candy… please, stop… I don't wanna do this…" he said between raspy breaths.

Precious. "You know you do. Why else would you keep coming back? You love this so much. Now. Tell me. Who did you sleep with."

"I slept with... one girl. But we didn't... have sex."

"Hm, likely story. It's touching how you worry about me being jealous, but you know I'm so generous. I let you run around and sleep with whoever you want, and then punish you when you inevitably do. That's our game, hedgehog... What I don't want is you being a liar."

He raised his eyes to meet mine. "I. Didn't. Have. Sex."

What was this now? I was honestly taken aback. He never talked back to me, ever. He seemed to have some fight in him. I could sense it, he was right on the edge of trying to rebel. I only let him have his adventures (while being on a leash) because I knew he'd always be back. He could pretend he was a free spirit and some hero, but I knew the true Sonic the Hedgehog. I was the only one who did. And I wasn't about to let that spirit of rebellion actually take hold. It was cute when it was just a game, but there was no way I was going to let him really rebel. I had to quash every ounce of hope and dignity he had.

"I'm …"

How adorably pathetic he was still trying to talk back to me. I'd allow it. "What? Spit it out."

"I'm asexual. And I don't want to have sex with you anymore."

I laughed right out loud, in his face, fully enjoying how his whole demeanor drooped. "You don't want me to pleasure you? You idiot. You live for this. This is the only enjoyment you can get out of life anymore. Look at you, you pathetic weakling. Prone on the floor, begging for me."

"I - "

"Shut up, hedgehog," I said and jammed my heel further into his back, grinning as he yelped in pain. Blood gushed out and I made a mental note of where this new scar would be. Right next to two of my favorites. But who was I kidding? His whole scar-covered body was my favorite. Once again I was tempted to mark up those arms and that achingly sexy chest, but I had to reel myself back. I couldn't let anyone else in our secret. Although - a thought struck me, as I remembered the news all of a sudden.

"It was that Amy girl, wasn't it? Aww, did your old girlfriend reject you? Ha, if I were her I would've refused sex with you, too. You're so terrible at it, I'm the only one who can put up with you. You're going to pay for lying. Worse than you've ever paid."

He whimpered on the floor, and I was so aroused, I began undressing myself. It looked like his legs were back to normal again, so I was about to make sure the rest of him was still in top form.

End TW

AMY

Trash bin overflowing with empty ice cream containers, take out boxes, and used tissues. Sweatpants and bunny slippers. Earphones in, listening to sad romantic songs, as she nurses a bottle of wine and stares with red eyes at old TV shows. The starterpack of a girl with a broken heart after a terrible break up.

Unfortunately that picture fit me all too well. I was such a stereotype, wasn't I?

I grabbed my phone, wondering how else I could distract myself. But after scrolling through tons of missed calls and unanswered texts from my friends, I set the phone back down. It was just a painful reminder of reality. What was the point, anyway? Nothing could make me feel better. Since Sonic had dropped me off earlier, I'd literally only crawled to my couch and stayed there, sulking and crying and questioning my own decisions. After watching my mind go in circles over and over, I just wanted to turn it off. But now TV wasn't even distracting me. Nothing had ever been able to get my mind off Sonic. I was destined to forever be in love with him and never happy. The world just hated me.

'Here, Amy', said the Universe. Have a loving deep caring determined crazy romantic heart. But only for the most frustrating individual on the planet. Yeah, that makes it fair.

I stood up, throwing my earphones off and stretching. I was tired, and felt like shit. And it'd only been a few hours since Sonic left me. After I told him not to go, and after I broke up with him. Was I in the wrong? Shouldn't I have been more patient? He had been through a ton of traumatic things, and I was a horrible person for being selfish like I was. I'd been selfless for years, though! Chasing him and loving him and supporting him without so much as a second glance from him, back when we were younger. Now he was back and had changed in so many ways, and I knew I could love who he'd become. But if he didn't desire me, how could I be with him and feel so unloved the whole time… then again, wasn't any Sonic better than no Sonic? No - I'd been moderately happy in those years without Sonic, and now that he was back, I, too, was back in the realm of painful unrequited love. Maybe that wasn't entirely true, because he claimed to love me… but it wasn't the way I wanted and needed to be loved. So it was just like he didn't love me at all if I didn't feel loved, right? Could I really afford to be picky? Was how I was feeling now, as painful as this was, better than the confusion and frustration I felt at being with him, as brief as it was? Could I just be friends with him, knowing what I knew, knowing his feelings and my feelings? If I couldn't be friends, would that mean I would just have to never see him again? - no way. If Sonic was back and out and about, I'd have to be with him. So I was just destined for unhappiness now matter how it panned out.

"Ugh," I moaned as I fell back down on the couch, feeling my eyes moisten again. I just went around and around in circles. I needed to talk to someone, I was tired of feeling lonely. But who could I talk to, who could possibly understand my hurt? I scrolled back through my contacts, shaking my head at each name - until I got to a friend that I'd grown a bit distant to. Thanks to recent events were had become closer again - and I could feel in my heart that this was the right call to make. I dialed the number and waited.

"Hello?"

She still sounded so young. "Hi Cream. It's Amy."

"Amy! Hi! It's been a while, how are you?"

I took a deep breath. "Not good. I just need someone to talk to, girl-to-girl. Do you have a moment?"

"Of course, of course, what's going on? You don't sound too good."

"Cream, can I ask you something personal? Are you still a virgin?"

"Amy, that's definitely very personal."

I rolled my eyes a bit. Cream was still pretty young and old-fashioned, but she was nearly an adult, old enough for conversations like this. She was all I had right now. "Okay, so yes. Have you at least fooled around with a guy?"

"Yes, I mean, I've made out and kissed and other stuff, yeah. What is this all about…?"

"Okay, so. Tell me I'm crazy or not. What if that kissing and making out and foreplay and stuff is all you'll ever do with a guy. Would you be okay with that? If you were never really intimate?"

Cream didn't answer for a moment, but I waited. "Um, I don't know what you mean. I don't think I'd want anything more with anyone unless I really loved them."

"But what if you really, really loved them, and thought they were The One, and you learn that they feel the same way, but just don't want to have sex with you. Ever. They don't find you attractive enough."

I heard her sigh through the receiver. "Amy, my boyfriend and I talked about this…" I smiled a bit, still thinking it cute she referred to him like that. "I really really like him, maybe even love him, and I wanna have kids. Lots of them. And I don't know if I could be in a relationship without that deep intimacy. Or if he didn't find me attractive. What's the point then? It'd be just like we're good friends, or roommates, living together."

"Thank you, jeez. So I'm not crazy."

Cream's voice got low all of a sudden. "Did you meet a guy or something?"

"Well, heh, - About that - have you been watching the news?"

"No? What's going on?"

I took a deep breath. Oh boy. "I'll tell you, but you have to promise not to tell Tails. Or your mom. Or anyone. Okay? Promise?"

"Promise."

Another deep breath. "Sonic is back."

She screeched into the phone. "What? Really? He's really back? And you've… you've seen him. Did he tell you where he's been?"

"Yeah, Cream, I've… there's no easy way to say this, so I'll just tell you. Long story short, he's been through a lot of stuff, and he confessed he always had feelings for me, and, against my better judgement, we slept together last night. But we didn't go all the way, and he's kinda made it clear the foreplay we did is all that's going to happen between us. And what good is foreplay if there is no play at the end of it? He got me so aroused and excited and then just stopped and left me there. I just feel so unwanted." Tears formed in my eyes.

"…. Oh…. that's what this is about… " I could hear her mentally connect the dots.

"Yeah. He's…" I hesitated, not wanting to bare all of his secrets that weren't mine to tell. "He's been through a helluva lot. And he says he loves me, but - Cream, I messed up. I broke up with him. I just… feel like he doesn't really love me, and he's just using me to get back to normal. He's not attracted to me, so I kinda feel like what's the point? I feel so ugly. But at the same time, I love him, and nothing I've tried will change my feelings for him… It's all so complicated, and there's so much I can't tell you, but my heart is a mess, Cream. And I just need to vent to someone. "

"Amy, do you really want to do this to yourself again? Let yourself fall in love with him? Remember all that we did together so you could get over him?"

"I know, I know, but…I feel like I don't have a choice. Trust me, there's nothing I want more than to just turn off my feelings for him, but my heart doesn't work like that. All we did to get him off my mind hasn't worked, obviously. I mean, yeah I dated other guys, but I would always still think about Sonic - I would always close my eyes and picture him instead. I felt like I was betraying him… and now that I know what he's been through, I feel even more guilty for dating them. But I know I shouldn't. I hate my stupid overly romantic heart sometimes."

"You can't live without him."

"Yes, exactly. That's the problem, Cream. I can't live with him, and I can't live without him. I just feel so stuck. Everytime I try to move on I keep coming back to where I was, daydreaming of him. Even when I dated someone else I can't stop wishing he were mine. I feel like I'm just destined to be unhappy. I can't be happy with what I want, and so my heart says I can't be happy with anything else either."

"Amy?"

"Yeah?"

"Let me get some ice cream. This might be a long conversation."

I looked at my fridge. I'd already eaten my emergency carton, but I hoped I still had my back-up emergency carton. "Good idea."

Next Day

TAILS

Another day. It was just another day. Life goes on and on, our routines are the same, nothing exciting happens unless we make it happen ourselves.

It turned out to most certainly not be just another day, but as I sleepily poured myself a glass of orange juice and a bowl of cereal, I had no idea. We never know when lightning will strike, when our lives would be flipped upside down - but that was part of being alive, I guess. I turned on the news as I had breakfast, wiping the sleep out of my eyes. Of course, the talking heads were fixated on these recent "Sonic Sightings". It's different this time, they said. We've seen him. So many people have. Sonic is really back!

I muted the TV, eating more cereal to try and fill the hole in my chest. I couldn't deny the evidence was starting to pile up, but I'd let my hopes up too many times before. Sonic was gone. Why would he even come back after all this time? I didn't need him anymore, anyway. I'd done well for myself, or so I thought. I had a big house, a job, a girlfriend - things were good. Couldn't be better. At all.

I grabbed my cell phone and double checked my messages. I tapped Amy's name; still no response since two days ago. Where was she? Surely if Sonic had come back and met up with her, she'd let me know, right? Amy was my best friend now. But we'd been there for each other forever. I'd heard the news that apparently Sonic kidnapped her, but I didn't believe that for an instant. Surely he'd come to me first, right?

I set down my phone and pushed away the dirty dishes. A knock on the door pulled me from my thoughts, and I used my tails to hover towards the entrance. What was this now? Was the mail early? I was expecting a package... I took a peek through the peephole -

No. Way.

I fell to the floor, stunned, before desperately reaching for the door handle. I fumbled with the lock, immediately opening the door, revealing a blue hedgehog.

"S-sonic?" I stuttered, not wanting to believe it.

"Hi Tails."

That's all he said. That's all he needed to say.

I wrapped my arms around him, hugging him close as I could. He stood perfectly still, hugging me back, and it didn't feel real. But it was. Sonic was back. The news wasn't kidding this time. Somewhere, deep down, I knew he would be. Eventually. I wasn't sure how to feel now that he'd arrived. I guess I'd thought about what I'd do when I finally saw him again, and my predictions had always been I'd cry like a baby or be super angry or just smile and say hello. But I couldn't do anything, just hug him and stay stunned.

"Buddy. It's good to see ya." He patted my back, and I let him go.

"Sonic," was all I could say, feeling dumb. But who could blame me? I had my brother back. My brother whom I hadn't seen since I was a kid.

"Yeah, that's my name." He looked up and around. "You gotta pretty nice place. Can I come in?"

"Oh, right, uh, of course. Come on in…" I backed up and Sonic followed me. I gasped as he suddenly zipped in and out of sight, probably checking out the whole house. It shouldn't have surprised me, but it'd been so long since I'd been around him, I had to recalibrate my entire thought process and expectations of his behavior. I'd forgotten what it was like to be around him.

I'd missed him.

He was back in front of me. "Really nice place. So, how have you been?"

I bit my lip. While part of me was dying to know, I didn't ask. He'd tell me when he was ready and not a moment sooner. Or maybe he'd never be ready, and I'd never know - and I was honestly fine with that. It had always been our unwritten rule that when Sonic finally came back after his wanderings, I never asked where he'd been or made him feel bad about leaving me. Even though this must have been more than a simple excursion, I wasn't about to break our rule now. We'd always picked up where we left off before, and this time would be no different.

"Great, Sonic. Seriously, better than ever." I smiled genuinely, but I was so nervous my tails couldn't stop fluffing behind me. "You should see some of the stuff I've made."

He smiled back, but I could see something was off about him. Sonic was quiet, almost too quiet, and thoughtful. Like he was wearing a mask that he was careful to hold in place, lest it fall and reveal something terrible. His guard was definitely up. He'd put some miles on his soul in more ways than one.

"I bet they're great. You were always good at that, making stuff."

"Yeah." I exhaled a breath I didn't know I'd been holding, and then kicked the floor awkwardly. "I, um, I have a girlfriend. I guess that's kinda new."

"Oh?" He looked at me curiously.

"Yeah. Her name is Cream."

He took a step back. "Wait, Cream the Rabbit? That Cream? Whaaaaat?"

"Yeah. We've been on and off, I guess you could say. It's been hard since she moved away a few years ago. She got a really good job at a faraway Chao Garden and couldn't pass it up, and I have my thing here, so. We took a break but we're back together, I guess."

He clapped my shoulder. "Good for you, buddy. I knew you'd be okay without - " he stopped himself, but my mind filled in the blank for him. Okay without him.

More awkward silence commenced. I followed Sonic's glance over to the silenced TV, but luckily they weren't talking about him. Yet.

"So…." Sonic suddenly took a deep breath and looked terribly nervous.

"So?" I prompted.

"Tails, I - gotta tell you something. I need to know."

I tried to hold eye contact but he kept looking away, fidgeting his hands, tapping his foot. "Okay. You know you can tell me anything. No matter what."

Sonic suddenly took off, but returned a moment later, obviously trying to work up the nerve to get something off his chest. It looked painful for him, but I waited patiently. He took quite a few laps around before slamming to a halt right in front of me, wearing a determined expression.

"Tails. I'm asexual."

I tilted my head to the side. Well, that wasn't what I expected. Far from it, actually. I was confused at exactly what he meant.

"Sonic, uh, I hate to be the one to tell you this. But hedgehogs aren't asexual. They reproduce by sexual intercourse."

He shook his head. "No, no. Not that kind of asexual. I mean, I'm not sexually attracted to anyone. Not girls, not guys. I'm just not into that… stuff." He shuddered a bit.

"Oh. Well, that makes sense," I said casually, turning to pick up my glass and bowl. I flew myself towards the kitchen, but Sonic jumped in front of me, his eyes wide.

"It does?" He looked so uncertain, so unlike Sonic, that was I was genuinely surprised this was concerning him so much.

"Yeah," I shrugged and put the dishes away. "I mean, you've never really been into girls like me and Knuckles were. We'd talk about how hot a girl was and you'd just be like, whatever. Remember when we first met Blaze, and Knuckles and me were smitten with the kitten, and you said we were being dumb? We made fun of you so much for that. Remember - how Knuckles teased you about how you both had super forms, and you didn't get it? Same with Rouge, you just never responded to her flirting, and I thought it was kinda funny. We even thought you were gay for a bit, but you didn't seem into that either. So we just thought it was you being you. You did stuff your own way. Actually it all makes a lot of sense now."

"Tails, buddy, you have no idea how much it means for me to hear you say that."

I looked at him oddly, noticing how serious and genuine he sounded.

"Sorry, sorry, I just." He sighed. "It's been quite a few days for me. More like quite a few years. And I don't feel at all like myself. Like I'm trying to find myself again. I don't even know who 'myself' is anymore."

"I can tell. Do you wanna talk about it?" I offered.

"No. No. It's just - enough to know you accept me as I am."

"Of course I do. You're my best friend in the world," I was suddenly choking on my words.

Okay, I was going to cry. I didn't know why, but the atmosphere had suddenly gotten so much more dense, and heavy, and emotional, and deep, I didn't know why but this felt like such an important moment for both of us.

"Sonic, you've never let anyone else tell you what to do. I don't know all that you're going through, but I know you can get through it. Whatever this self-doubt is, you can beat it. I believe in you."

"You're right. I know I can. It hasn't been easy, but I've always been able to bounce back from anything." He stood up straight again, wearing that grin that made him famous. And just like that, he was back to his old self, as if he'd shaken off a dark cloud of doubt. That was quick - but it was Sonic after all. It was wonderful to see that I was able to help him out just a bit.

"So, you wanna tell me when you got taller than me?" He crossed his arms in annoyance.

He was right - I'd grown a ton since he left, and now he was looking up at me. Oh, this would be fun. I poked his chest. "Yeah, looks like I'm the big brother now. Hey, speaking of growing up - looks like you finally have chest fur, huh? Look out Shadow, here you come!"

Sonic pounced on me in an instant, putting me in a headlock and grating his knuckles against my skull. I was laughing way too hard to mind, though I struggled to get away. I whipped my tails around, trying to gain some momentum, and broke free of his grasp, finally airborne. Sonic leaped off the walls to try and catch me, but I flew higher and higher.

"Considering you're almost as ancient as he is now, I guess it makes sense," I taunted him, laughing every few words.

"You're the little bro, you don't get to mess with me! Come down here you little twerp!" He shook his fist at me.

I grinned from ear to ear. "Twerp? 1991 called Sonic, they want their lame insults back."

He fake laughed and tapped his foot on the ground. "Ha ha, 2010 called and they want their lame jokes back."

I relaxed my tails and fluttered to the ground in front of Sonic. "Well, current me called and said he's glad that you're back home."

Sonic suddenly buried me in a hug, his strong arms holding me close. I hugged him back, feeling tears prick at my eyes. Sonic was finally back - it just now hit me. My big brother was home. We'd finally get to hang out again, just like we used to. All of the years and years of missing him, that I'd buried in attempt to be strong, came rushing back into my heart. I told myself that I should do my best and succeed because that's what Sonic wanted me to do. And now that he was back and could see all the fruits of my labor, it was so satisfying. And if I could help him out with whatever identity crisis he was having, even better.

"So how's Knux doing?" Sonic asked.

"Oh, he's fine. He's a G.U.N. agent. Probably looking for you now along with the rest of them. Rouge too, more than likely."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, they're married now." I immediately turned away to hide my smile. He wasn't going to believe me, but I could try.

"What? No! You're shitting me."

I folded my lip and shrugged. "No, they got married like, 2,3 years ago. Me and Amy were just speculating that Rouge is pregnant."

Sonic visibly shrunk at Amy's name, and I chewed on my lip, suddenly wishing I hadn't mentioned her. They'd definitely met up yesterday. But he was here, and Amy still hadn't texted me back. Was she okay? I promised myself I wouldn't ask him any questions, but I was suddenly worried for her.

"Sonic, have you seen Amy yet?"

He kicked the ground, avoiding my eyes, staring at the floor. "We had a big fight yesterday."

"Oh." I reached for my phone again. Still no messages from her. "Do you want me to talk to her?"

"No. Please. I should. But I don't think she wants to see me."

I sighed. Oh boy. Did this have something to do with him being asexual? Was that why he was so emotional about this whole thing? "Sonic, she hasn't texted me back in a few days. I thought something might be wrong."

"Tails, I love her." His sudden admission was so him, but I just wasn't used to this direct, unpredictable, emotional, unraveled hedgehog in my living room. I was going to have to catch up quick.

"But?"

"She doesn't even wanna talk to me right now. And I think what she wants and what I want are too different."

He looked so dejected and emotional - I so wasn't used to this. "Sonic, I can personally say that Amy has loved you forever. And she never stopped, even with… you gone. She just loved you more if anything. She tried to get over you, but we could all tell she still wanted you. In fact, Sonic…" I reached forward to grab him by the shoulders, trying to shake him out of his current funk. "Amy loves you for so many reasons. She loves you because you're funny, and cool, and heroic, and caring, and cocky, and charming, and a smartass, and apparently good-looking but I wouldn't know. She loves you for those reasons, don't forget about that, okay? You are so much more than asexual. You're Sonic the fucking Hedgehog."

He looked at me and half-smiled. "Can I be Sonic the 'actually-I-don't-do-the-fucking' Hedgehog instead?"

"This is gonna sound so strange coming from me to you, but you can be whatever you want, Sonic. That's something you've always told me. Remember when we first met, and you saved me from those bullies? I was so ashamed of who I was, but you grabbed me by the shoulders and said 'You be you, Tails. You can be anything you want, don't let anyone tell you otherwise'. Well, now I'd say it's time for you to take your own advice."

He nodded slowly, and his body language improved noticeably as he stood up straighter.

"You're right. You're exactly right, Tails. Thanks. I'm done feeling sorry for myself. I'm gonna be me, this is the way I am. I'm Sonic the not-fucking Hedgehog."

"Hell yeah!" I reached out to give him a high five.

"There is still Amy though. And I know, she loves me for who I am, but she was pretty adamant that she didn't like this part of me."

I nodded. "Being in a long term relationship myself, I'd say that compromise is super important."

"I'm not sure I can compromise on this. This is who I am, and I've never adjusted who I am, what I do, what I believe for nobody. Or at least I don't want to."

"But you love Amy, don't you? What about what she wants?"

"She wants to get married," he said immediately. "And all that entails. She wants to feel safe and secure, like I won't leave her again. And I get it, I do. But.. how am I supposed to show her I want that, too, when it kinda goes against my nature? How can I promise her that when I don't know if I can fulfill it? Right now she's not even listening to me."

"I think you'll have to decide what's more important - you being you in every way that you want to be, or you being with Amy. I'm not saying you have to compromise everything, Sonic, but it'd be wise to pick your battles. If you don't want to have sex, then, don't. But be with her in the ways she wants, too. If you draw a line there, you might have to put more wiggle room in things that aren't as important."

He nodded, then nodded even more. "Makes sense. I guess I'll figure it out and stop worrying so much. Doesn't suit me, heh - I just wish I could go back to when I could run around without a care in the world. But that's not me anymore. Oh well."

"I'm glad we figured something out." I glanced at the clock and winced. "Good talk Sonic, and I'm so glad you're back, but, uh, now I gotta go to work."

"Wait, what? You have a job?"

"Yes. That's what adults do. We go to work and support ourselves."

"Haha..." he followed me to the garage. "You know, you gotta pretty sweet place here. So what do you do?"

"I'm an aeronautical engineer."

He snorted and rolled his eyes. "Of course you are, of course you are, what else?"

"Just because it's boring to you, doesn't mean I don't love it."

"And how many PhD's do you have?"

I shrugged. "Three. I'm working on a fourth just for fun."

"Good for you, Tails." Sonic said with half-sarcasm, and rolled his eyes even more.

"Hey, don't hate. My job allows me to make stuff like this."

I flew up to the ceiling of the garage and unhooked a large white cloth. It billowed to the ground with grace, and I couldn't help but beam as it unveiled my favorite and most prized possession, the HeavenRush. Sonic's jaw hit the foor.

"What? You don't think I walked to work everyday, did you?"

Sonic whistled, and immediately ran over to inspect every inch of my ride. "Tails. Wow. This thing looks like it's built for speed. So aerodynamic. I think I'm in love. You're building cars now?"

I frowned. "Oh, it's not a car. Yeah, it has wheels and is street-worthy, but lemme show ya this..." I hopped into the driver's seat and started up the engine, feeling so satisfied at the purr that kicked it to life. I opened up the garage door and began rolling out into my driveway, Sonic beside me. The hedgehog was obviously chomping at the bit for a run.

With one press of a button, the car's wheels retracted into their compartment, hovering the car above the ground. The wings jetted out the side, ready for me to turn on the thrusters. I watched Sonic's expression with glee, as he looked so very impressed, his jaw slack, his eyes wide, his body motionless.

"Tails, I...I think I'm in love with your car plane thing," he joked. "I mean... wow." He ran his hand along the wing. "You even painted it red. Oh man…"

"It's okay, I won't judge. She's gorgeous, I know. So, you wanna go for a ride?"

"Oh, hell no."

I raised my eyebrow at him.

"I wanna race it."

He had a daredevil grin, and I matched it, feeling something I hadn't in a long time. Electricity. That feeling of being with Sonic, and you could just feed off of his energy, excitement, and love for life. He really had that effect on everyone he met, you couldn't help but like him. I was just lucky enough to be his lifelong best friend.

"Let's do it."

"You're already behind me!" He shouted as he took off, and it was on.

I jammed the thrusters to go, and the HeavenRush took off with a jolt. She soared into the air, about 100 feet off the ground, barely enough to dodge buildings. I suddenly remembered that I wasn't supposed to fly this thing without G.U.N. permission, but oh well. Sonic was back - like hell I was gonna follow the rules when he was around.

The hedgehog was clipping at a blindingly fast pace below me, but I kicked the speed up a notch. Sonic didn't even know where I worked, so I had that over him.

"No way, Tails!" he yelled up at me, and I watched as he picked up his own pace, speeding into a blue blur.

I set the dial to Mach 4. Sonic was about to shit himself. I grinned as the supersonic hyperdrive kicked in, and leaned back, ready for the rush. The HR burst forward, booming through the air, and certainly gaining tons of attention from everywhere around us. I laughed with delight - I hadn't had a joyride like this in ages.

I heard a bump, and looked over - Sonic had jumped onto the wings of the plane.

"Tails, this thing is badass!" He shouted, and gave me a thumbs up.

"Get in!" I motioned to the seat next to me, and Sonic appeared there in a heartbeat.

It was old times again - Sonic and I rolling around at the speed of sound, in one of my creations, laughing and having fun just like two kids with nothing better to do. For just a few minutes, we lived in the moment, taking risks and pushing ourselves to the limit. But I knew the time was coming for me to rejoin the real world.

I pulled the HR into a field nearby my workplace, and cut the engine off. Sonic gave me a bittersweet smile, as he knew what this meant. He opened his mouth to speak, but all of a sudden we were surrounded by G.U.N. agents. Shit. I knew they'd been following us, and our approach hadn't exactly been subtle.

Sonic just giggled. "Haha, we're so busted."

"Sonic the Hedgehog and Miles Prower. Please submit yourself to the Guardian Unit of Nations."

I recognized that voice - I looked up and saw Rouge glaring at me, Knuckles at her side as usual.

"Hey, look who finally decided to show up," Knuckles said, smirking at Sonic. "Bout time."

Sonic jumped out from the HeavenRush and crossed his arms, looking cocky as ever. "Knux. What up, man. Long time no see."

"Sonic, our boss wants to see you," Rouge said.

"Hm," He grabbed his chin and pretended to think for a moment. "That'd be a big nope. Bye! Catch ya later, Tails!" He took off, giving me a salute on his way out.

I waved back at him, still grinning like an idiot before turning back to the scowls of Rouge and Knuckles.

"We can't let him get away," Knuckles said, punching his right hand into his left. "I can't believe that idiot is finally back. I can believe it, but it still pisses me off."

"Sonic's not ready to talk yet," I said. "Just give him a bit of time. I think he's okay, but... nah, he's okay."

"Our boss wants answers yesterday," Knuckles said.

"Then stall for time! You know you can't catch him anyways," I shrugged.

"But we know someone who can," Knuckles looked at Rouge, but the bat shook her head.

"You know how Shadow is. He doesn't think Sonic has done anything wrong, so he doesn't want to bring him in."

"Well, he hasn't. Sonic will only come in when he's ready," I said.

"Yeah, that's never going to happen," Knuckles crossed his arms.

"We can stall for time, darling," Rouge drawled, making fake eyes at me. "But you're going to have to give us something to make it worth the wait."

I shook my head. "No. Not a chance."

"C'mon, he must have told you something this morning? Something juicy?" Rouge asked. "Has he been with Amy?"

I rubbed one finger across my lips, indicating they were zipped tight. I was not about to betray my best friend.

"Tails, you don't have to protect him anymore. He's hardly your friend if you haven't seen him in 10 years like the rest of us." Rouge pointed out.

"I'm not protecting him, I just got his back. Now, excuse me, I have to go to work."

I spun my keys around my finger, knowing I must look cool. Okay, maybe I couldn't quite pull off being super cool. But being around Sonic had that effect on me. Okay, I was swaggering. Good grief.

"Wait a minute - "

I spun around - Sonic had come back, and he was staring at Knuckles and Rouge.

"What?" Rouge asked. "You finally ready to talk?"

"Are you guys... " he glanced at me, and then shook his head. "Never mind."

"Married?" Rouge grinned, and then showed Sonic her left hand, where a gigantic sparkling diamond sat. She constantly wanted to show off that ring.

"Huh." He seemed to stop and think for a moment. "Nah. I don't believe it. You guys are messing with me. I'm outta here." He sped off again, and I headed into work. My head was still spinning from the crazy morning I'd just had.

But if I had any plans of getting work done today, they were shot. My co-workers invaded my office one by one, asking about Sonic nonstop. How I knew him, oh I was that Tails, where has he been, is he really back, what did he do, where did he go, and my favorite - is-he-single-he's-soooo-dreamy-and-handsome.

My boss came by at only 10, saying that I was causing too big of a distraction and I had to go home. Of course as soon as I left the building, I was literally surrounded by reporters, asking me question after question after question in an overwhelming fashion. I just wanted to go home at this point, I was still processing everything that happened, but all these damn extroverts were not giving me any space. I of course ignored all of them and just kept running towards my ride.

Just as I was about to head back in the HR, I noticed Sonic was already there, hamming it up in front of the media. What the hell was he doing back? I thought he didn't want to talk? What had he done in the past few hours? I gulped. The journalists were going crazy, and they blinded me with camera flashes. I try to hide in the driver's seat, but Sonic jumped up on the wings of my plane again, suddenly wanting to be the center of attention.

"I'm ready to talk. But only to you guys, not the government. So, what do you wanna know?"

They all shouted questions, but one girl yelled in a most obnoxious manner: "Are you single? I love you Sonic!"

Oh no. Not this - but to my shock, Sonic simply grinned and said casually,

"No. I'm dating Amy Rose."

Everyone stopped talking at once, but the camera flashes and chaos suddenly started again. I looked away, but my jaw was still on the floor. What was he doing?

"But, uh, she doesn't know that yet, so keep it quiet, yeah?" He joked, and winked at the camera, pointing right at it.

I'd had enough of his showboating, so I poked my head out the window. "Sonic, please. She knew you were dating before you did. She's been your girlfriend forever." I rolled the window up behind me and shook my head in frustration. I was going home. I started up the engine, and I saw Sonic grin and give me a thumbs up before hanging onto the wings.

I ascended the plane as fast as I could, leaving those annoying papparazzi types on the ground and in our dust. Once we were airborne, Sonic hopped in next to me, his head bobbing as if he were dancing to music only he could hear.

"Well, someone's in a good mood," I elbowed him. "Did you make up with Amy while I was at work?"

"Nope. But I bet I got her attention, huh?" He laughed like a maniac.

"Sonic, you are too much."

Just then, my phone blew up. I picked it up and my heart dropped as I realized who was calling. I showed the face of the phone to Sonic and his carefree expression suddenly vanished, leaving behind a terrified hedgehog. He started to retreat into his hedgehog ball of safety, nothing but his quills out, his face hidden.

I waved the phone at him. "Amy's calling. Isn't this what you wanted?"

"I did not think this through."

Oh, big surprise there. We both just stared at the buzzing phone until Sonic finally reached just his arm out of his hedgehog ball to shove the phone at me. "Answer it!"

"I'm pretty sure it's for you - "

"It's your phone, you answer it! I'm not here by the way."

His mood swings were something else. "You're pathetic," I growled, and pressed the green button.