After their lunch was finished, Miles left the kitchen and went to the living room, and Tails followed him on what he thought was his way back to the lab. " I said it before, this place needs dusting, but because you delayed me by dragging me to your little lab… " Miles muttered using a broom on the living room floor, cleaning the house to the best of his ability. " So… can I go back to the lab now? " Tails asked nervously, not having much hope in that. Miles shot him a glare, and after a brief menacing silence, he ordered, " Get a duster and contribute! " and Tails jumped looking startled and started helping him clean the living room, slightly trembling as Miles complained,
" Just because you're the one who needs taking care of doesn't mean I should be letting you spend all your time doing what you want while I'm only tending to you. I don't get to do any of the things I previously enjoyed, there's nothing else for me to do in this world except run things in this house. I shouldn't have to do ALL the work around here! "
After a brief silence from hesitation, Tails said, " S-Sorry! Is, is there anything I can do? What did you enjoy doing, is, is there anything you're missing out on?... It'll make your life less stressful if I solve that problem for you. " There was a long silence, Miles looking at the floor in irritation with his eyes darting around as he cleaned the floor, before finally saying in annoyance,
" Well… I doubt this house has a violin. A piano would also be welcome, but finding and transporting one here would be more trouble than it's worth. " Getting excited that he was finally revealing what his hobby could've been to him, Tails said eagerly, " Not if I build something to make it easier! And I'm familiar with every house in the city, and I know for a fact that at least one of them has what you're looking for. This'll be another great excuse for me to engineer something! And to think I once thought that I ran out of things to build. " Miles looked stunned and confused, and said cautiously, " Alright… Good, " before apparently covering up his unease and paranoia at a good thing happening to him by saying, " Splendid, " and turning away again.
After they had their lunch, Tails flew the plane with a trunk full of metal pieces and tools to the grocery store with Miles, eager to get started on building a radio tower, as it would be the only way for the Tornado to follow a signal from it to get there on its own. " I found something you could help out with! Here, glue these metal pieces together like in this blueprint here. It'll be easy! " Tails said happily to him, handing him a container of nanoglue and a brush. Miles was told he could put the already shaped metal pieces together using a nanoglue brush, basically acting as a brick layer while Tails worked on making the wiring and putting it through everything. Miles was reluctant to help out with his engineering, something he never imagined himself doing, and only did so to have something to do. So he spent the next few hours doing something he never thought he would do with him, dipping the brown thick brush into the nanoglue and brushing the correct parts of the metal pieces of the radio tower to put them all together in the right shape. The radio tower was lying on its side on the grass in front of the grocery store as it was in the process of being built, and Tails planned to use a large crane to stand it upright and place it in its foundation when it was done.
Hours later, they were done, with the radio tower standing high above them and functioning. As Tails looked over at Miles' uncertain expression, he could tell that he wasn't sure how to feel about realizing that the radio tower they built was built because of him, even if Tails could've easily done it without him. Giving Miles a sideways hug holding him close to him, Tails was really happy to have bonded with him by having them build something together, and hoped it would continue happening in the future.
After returning home from building the radio tower with him, Miles taught Tails how to cook pork chops and potatoes and celery for supper, being calm and patient with an underlying deadpan snarker tone to his non-emotional instructions. Tails, trying to lighten the mood and start a conversation again, commented, " I'm surprised to learn that you're including meat in the meal. For the most part, you've been all about vegetables. " Miles scoffed and responded, " Meat is part of the main food groups. It gives you vitamins that you need to survive, you'd become very unhealthy if you didn't eat it. And that's why vegetarians are imbeciles. They literally need to resort to doctor-given vitamins to stay alive. I mean, I understand their reasoning, but I doubt it's worth it. "
Tails nodded politely in response, staying silent, and continued to watch and listen as he was told how to make a " proper supper. " An hour later after they finished it, he was given mint ice cream for dessert while Miles silently enjoyed his tea, and when that was done, he put Tails to bed again, leading him to his room by the arm and tucking him into bed like he did the previous day.
After Tails woke him up in the morning, he sleepily forced himself awake again, making him worry about his sleeping habits. Once Tails got him to the kitchen, the two of them worked together to make pancakes for breakfast, which was followed by Miles combing his hair once again, and then supervising as he brushed his teeth.
After that, Tails taught how to move objects around in precise ways with the power of the wind, by controlling the force at which wind gets sent out of his palms and making the wind bend around the front of the object to let him hold it telekinetically before bringing it towards him. Tails wasn't sure if he would be able to do it at first, pointing out how suddenly the wind blasts out of his palms and at such a high speed, but Miles was insistent that he could do it if he relaxed, and after some failed attempts where Miles rolled his eyes and shook his head silently, Tails succeeded at last. He was able to get to the point where he could safely bring a tool in his lab to himself by carrying it in a small tornado to him.
Wanting to reward him and perhaps get him to be less grumpy in general, Tails led Miles to a house in the suburbs where there was a violin just like he wanted. " I told you I found one! Great, huh? " Miles stood there stunned for a second before smiling and gently picking it up, saying blissfully, " It's beautiful! Thanks! It looks just like the one I had at home. " Excited, Tails asked him, " So you're really good at the violin, huh? Can you show me? "
There was a silence as Miles looked unhappy and uncomfortable, before saying, " I prefer making music when I'm alone. Having someone else around would distract me. " Looking disappointed as they walked out of the house together, Tails said, " Oh… "
As Tails followed behind him walking away from the house through a grassy field, Miles told him, " I'll be taking an hour out of every day to practice with it, so hopefully you'll be able to handle being alone for an hour every afternoon. " Tails said sadly, " It's fine… " lying to avoid an argument, and said with a nervous smile, " I'm just glad you're happy, " thankful that he would be less grumpy in general from getting to do something he enjoyed every day.
Miles was delighted to have a violin for himself again, only to spend more time leaving Tails alone because of it, which caused Tails to half-regret doing that for him to begin with. " I wonder if I should've kept my mouth shut… " he thought as he walked home with Miles, disappointed that he was apparently too shy to play any music in front of him.
Trying to distract himself from the returning loneliness as Miles spent an hour every day from then on playing the violin in a locked room, Tails started constructing a bed for Miles to sleep in, wishing he was there. When that was done, Tails moved onto his next big project, a large object carrier on wheels designed to pick up and carry a piano and then a mattress, blankets and a pillow to bring them all home. When that was finished, he would renovate the house to make another bedroom because Miles didn't want to sleep in the same room as him. When that was finished, he built two back seats for the plane in front of the trunk. Tails was satisfied at all the engineering he got to do, and appreciated how Miles was at least still agreeing to help him out with most of it and even growing to appreciate and respect his engineering talent, but he was still sad that Miles was spending less time with him because of his music practice.
Whenever he found himself alone for the hour – and for two hours when he got him his piano – he spent that time alone not getting the benefit of his company as much as he did before, and as his frustration with it continued to resurface, he started to focus more on what bothered him about Miles and resent him for it. His patience with him was wearing thin. But he couldn't just tell him what was bothering him and expect the problem to be fixed, because he knew how much Miles loved being able to play music every day, and he was indeed in a better mood in general from being able to do that; he still spent most of the day deadpan and sarcastic to him, but at least he was smiling and even chuckling and joking around lightheartedly on occasion. He couldn't tell him to stop or force him to play in front of him with what he could only assume was stage fright, Miles was too stubborn about those things to agree to that. And he had no way of knowing if telling him what was bothering him would fix the problem.
As the days went by and he recovered from the months of isolation, finally able to think clearly again, Tails started to become more and more likely to get outright annoyed with Miles rather than tolerating him and blindly appreciating his presence, something that Miles only responded to by insulting him defensively, once responding, " You know, you used to be more polite. I suppose that was just a temporary ruse to lure me into your home… " getting Tails annoyed with him for thinking he was the victim.
Two weeks after Tails had found Miles in Empty Mobius, he finally reached the point where he couldn't mindlessly obey his every order anymore, even if his " orders " were all to ensure he would remain in good health. For the first time, he refused to finish eating the meal Miles had worked on with him, leaving the broccoli soup three-quarters of the way done. Looking up from his own soup, Miles questioned in annoyance with a cocked eyebrow, " What are you doing? Why are you getting up? " Tails deadpanned, " I'm full, " as he stood up from the kitchen table and pushed his chair in, being too annoyed to care about elaborating any further. " So? It's good for you! " Miles said in confused irritation, not seeming to understand the concept.
" You know what else was good for me? Every other meal you made me eat! I think I've already had enough ' healthy meals ' to last a lifetime! Whatever happened to the really tasty dishes that weren't necessarily nutritious, like chili dogs, I haven't had those in ages! " Tails ranted at him, letting out what he had been holding back for a long time. " Now hold on a minute, I give you ice cream every single day, isn't that enough junk food for you? Do you have any idea how much of a brat you sound like right now?! " Miles said in frustration as he stood up from the kitchen table and walked up to him angrily.
Tails snapped at him, " How am I the brat when you insist on me doing everything you say exactly as you say so?! And when you don't get your own way - when I don't do what you want - you flip out on me! Or treat me like I'm pathetic! Constantly shaking your head at me and talking to me in resignation and, if anyone's the spoiled brat here, it's you! You haven't spoiled me at all! " Miles scoffed and he exclaimed defensively, stammering while looking nervous and unsure at certain points, " Excuse me?! I-I-I'm not spoiled! How the hell can I be spoiled when I never even had parents?! I-I mean, I had parental figures, and they were, understanding and accommodating of me, but not, well, they were lenient, but, SHUT UP! "
Tails rolled his eyes at him and said, " You can't even take criticism without yelling at people for it! " Miles yelled, " I took nothing but criticism my entire life, and I barely visibly react to it most of the time! You don't know me at all! " " I know that you're an oversensitive control freak who always acts condescending and expects me to do everything you want! " Tails shouted at him. Miles' eye twitched at the eighth word and he shouted furiously, " What did you call me?! " shaking with rage. If Tails hadn't been so annoyed with him and absorbed in letting out his pent-up frustration, he would've been intimidated and started dreading Miles attacking him in retribution.
" You heard me! You're controlling! No wonder you went with the Suppression Squad and Scourge taking over your world! It's constant with you! You won't even let me comb my own hair or bathe myself because you say I won't do it well enough. Can't I ever get a break from you?! " Tails shouted in exasperation. Miles took a second looking upset before stammering angrily, " I-It's not like I like taking care of you or anything! I do it to keep you alive! Whatever happened to all the appreciation I got? I-I don't even like you! " with sadness in his eyes as they darted around the room.
" I'm so sick of this from you! If you hate being around me so much, then why don't you just LEAVE?! " Tails said quickly before shouting the last couple words impulsively. There was a stunned silence from Miles, his eyes widened and his expression devoid of anger, and Tails took that as him giving up on the argument and stormed off to his lab three seconds later, frustrated and hoping he would leave him alone.
It was because of his leaving that Tails failed to realize how devastated he was. Tears were welling up in his eyes and he blinked rapidly and irregularly to fight them back, trembling as he kept being reminded of all the times people from his home island would tell him they wanted him to leave, with him hearing hateful voices in his head of all ages and genders shouting things like, " Get off our island! " " You're not wanted here! " and, " No one likes you, freak! Stay away from us! " As he was so absorbed in memories that he failed to see or hear anything going on around him with a thunderstorm starting and raging on outside his window reflecting a whirlwind of negative emotions from him spiraling out of control, it eventually ended off with him remembering the landslide that claimed the lives of the Suppression Squad and left him alone, the reason he came to that dimension in the first place.
Having a nervous breakdown from the stress of it all, Miles thought while looking miserable and progressively angrier, " First my parents rejected me, and then Scourge left me, multiple times, and then the rest of my family did, I lost them too! Everyone I love leaves me! And now… Even HE doesn't want me around! I'm not wanted anywhere! That, that bastard! That bully! Screw him, I don't care! I'll just leave! Let's see how HE likes it, being abandoned! "
So overwhelmed by emotions and flashbacks that he wasn't thinking straight, shaking uncontrollably as strong winds roared outside, Miles stormed off to his room, put all of his clothes from the closet in a suitcase after folding them, closed the suitcase and stormed out of the house with it in his backpack. Sending wind out of his palms with a force push behind him, he started running away with a tornado blasting him forwards at high speeds. He didn't care that he was running out into the worst thunderstorm that the world he was in had ever had, he only wanted to run away, and he wasn't sure where to.