A/N: I live in Australia where it is summer time at Christmas time but for the sake of this story, on the planet Mobius, it is winter time when this chapter is set (November).
Some people have asked me about the use of religion and I would just like to say that this story is in no way trying to belittle any faith or mock any religion. I just used religion as a plot point, by making up a Sonic related religion in which Chaos is considered the god like figure, to add drama to the story and to provide a reason for why it is such a big deal and a negative thing for somebody in this setting to be gay. Also, sorry if some people don't like the fact that Vector is Sonic's father but I thought he fit the part well. Anyway, that's all from me, enjoy chapter 3

Chapter 3:

Loneliness

After trudging home, Tails removed his shoes and gloves, and collapsed into the shower. He sat down and let the warm water wash over his face and soak into his orange tinged fur. He hugged his knees and pulled them tight into his chest. He picked up the shampoo bottle and squirted a pea sized ball into his hand and ran his fingers over, first his left tail, then the right. They were both extremely muddy and dirty after being dragged across the sleet covered ground all the way home.

Tails sat in silence, still clutching his knees underneath the running shower, glad that the water plummeting down onto his head from the circular tap was masking the tears that had been freely flowing from his ducts since Sonic had left him in the bush. He looked out at the window adjacent to the shower, watching the small snowflakes fall gently from the sky and dance in the November winds. They were so beautiful, peaceful. However, to Tails, although their white tinge made them sparkle in the moonlight portraying beautiful crystal like images, they were nowhere near as magnificent as the sparkling emerald eyes of his lost love. Tails sighed out loud.

'I really screwed this up,' Tails thought to himself, pinching his arm in pain. Tails tried to think of other things to change his train of thought. He began to think about the many things he learnt in his favourite class. Philosophy. This began with general questions about life but slowly grew and changed, being altered by the thought of Sonic, until his thoughts began to plague him.

He thought back to questions he had been asked by his philosophy teacher, Espio.

If you lost everything tomorrow, whose arms would you run into to make everything okay?

'I'd run to Sonic. He would make me feel better. Or, he would have,' Tails thought. He knew he should stop but his mind kept wondering, beating himself up for his actions. 'Why did I tell him?! Why was having him as my best friend not good enough for me?! Why, Why, Why!? Stupid! Stupid! Stupid' he yelled inside his head.

Does this person know how much they mean to you? When is the last time, if ever, you told them?

'I tried!' his thoughts shouted, exploding and colliding in his head. He remembered looking over to two of his friends, silver and blaze, who turned and began making out at the back of the class, sharing each other's welcome embrace, whilst Espio asked these questions. Tails could feel the jealousy rising inside of him. He remember glancing over to Sonic, who at the time had been staring out the window, like he did every class. Tails sighed again and the tears continued to flow.

"Tails, honey. Is everything okay in there? You have been in the shower a long time and it is way past your bed time. Get to bed!" His mother called from downstairs. Tails looked at his hands and saw the pruned skin of his fingers and decided him mother was right. Tails dried up, smoothing the towel through his thick fur until it became dry and bushy, brushed his teeth and dived into bed. He tried his hardest to get to sleep, pulling the covers up over him and trying to shy away from the world, like he used to always do at school, but no matter how hard he tried, the warming comfort of sleep never came for him and his confused thoughts never relinquished him to the land of dreams. Well, not the land of good dreams.

Tails picked up the phone, shuddering as he heard the words of his best friend, Sonic, talking slowly yet frantically into the microphone. "Tails, I can't stop thinking about you, about that kiss. I need to see you. I need to kiss you again. Come over now!" He threw the phone down onto the bed and sped out of the house and down the street, passing the familiar park that the two would frequent.

He pounded the door with his fist, anticipation rising inside him. He couldn't believe this was finally happening. His dreams were all coming true. Sonic reached up and opened the door to see tails, beaming up at him from the outside.

"Inside, now!" Sonic hissed, grabbing tails by the waist and running upstairs, throwing him on the bed. Sonic pressed his lips against tails' neck, swirling his tongue around in circles, enjoying the taste of the young fox.

"Oh Sonic, that's amazing," Tails moaned. Sonic kept going, further down as Tails began to sigh louder and faster, writhing in anticipation as Sonic's tongue and mouth began to get closer and closer to Tails' goods. It was all happening so fast, it seemed so unreal. Just as Sonic had passed the kit's bellybutton, he quickly pulled his head up and began laughing hysterically.

"W…What's wrong? Did I do something?" Tails asked, confusion washing over him.

"You are so GAY!" Sonic laughed, tears falling from his eyes as he couldn't contain it any longer. "What did you think I was going to do with you?" he mocked continuously. "GROSS!"

Tails began to realize the cruel, sick joke that Sonic had played on him. "How could you," Tails whimpered, choking down the tears that began to form in his eyes.

"How could I not!?" Sonic retorted, having the time of his life. "Hey dad," he called from upstairs. "Tails just tried to kiss me. He said he was in love with me! Help me!"

Tails just looked back in disbelief, his mouth agape. "You bastard!" Tails yelled. "How could you do this to me?"

Right as he screamed this, Sonic's dad burst into the room. The familiar green crocodile that Tails had always been afraid of had fire in his eyes, clutching his signature beer in his left hand. "May chaos look down on you, ungodly child!" Vector yelled, making a fist and punching Tails in the face.

"May chaos cleanse your soul!" he yelled, punching again. Tails cried out in pain, clutching his broken and bleeding nose. He cried out in angst as Vector, Sonic's dad, continuously punched him, screaming that he has denounced his faith with his sexual orientation and that his soul was no longer welcome with Chaos in heaven. He watched in horror as Sonic, his love and best friend, watched on eagerly, loving every moment.

"You deserve this, freak!" he hissed, laughing as his dad punched Tails again, knocking him unconscious.

Tails fell hard on the floor with a thud. He screeched in pain as him mother came rushing into his bedroom. Tails was sprawled out on the floor, sheets littered the room everywhere. "Honey, are you okay?" she asked, concerned.

"Just a bad dream," Tails replied, wiping sleep, and a little bit of blood out of his eye.

"You look horrible. Did you sleep at all? Maybe you should stay home today," his mother replied sweetly.

Tails simply shook his head and walked downstairs. As much as he loved learning, any excuse to not have to deal with the bullies at school was a welcome one but he needed to confront his friend, his love.

"That's my little trooper," his mother called out lovingly as Tails flew out of the house and down the street. A small layer of snow lay on the ground, covering the grass and cement. Tails was glad for his twin tails, allowing him to hover above the ground so that the wet snow didn't soak his socks.

He arrived at the park, waiting for his friend. When Sonic didn't come, he glanced down at his wrist watch and saw the time. 8:15 it read. 'Sonic should have been here 5 minutes ago, like we do every morning before school. Maybe he didn't want to see me or walk to school with me anymore after last night,' Tails thought. He began walking to school, too depressed to continuing hovering after realizing that Sonic no longer wanted anything to do with him. He sledged through the snow, his socks becoming damp, wet and uncomfortable. When he arrived he simply walked to his first period class and sat down at the back, burying his face into a book to mask his sadness from the rest of his classmates.

Tails refused to look up from his book until he heard the familiar sound of the brass bell chiming, signaling recess time. 'I need to find Sonic. I need to talk to him or I am going to explode,' he thought to himself.

"Hey Tails, wait up!" A voice called out from the other end of the hall. Tails span around on his heels and saw a small, cute, 13 year old rabbit and a blue and yellow chao hovering next to her in front of him.

"Not now cream, I need to find Sonic," Tails dismissed, waving her away with his hand

"But he wasn't in home room today. The teacher said he stayed home today. I think he is sick," she said softly. Tails felt bad for dismissing her so quickly but the feeling of his heart dropping in his stomach as he realized his cobalt friend faked sickness to avoid him at school made his feeling of depression and insignificance even greater.

"Are you okay? You seem sad," she chimed in. Tails stared at the ground, refusing to look up at her. "Come on, let's go eat," she smiled at him and took his hand, sliding her finders between his. Tails suddenly recoiled, wrenching his hand from hers and putting it by his side.

"I…I'm sorry, Tails" she said, looking up at him with her glistening eyes. Although Tails was small, Cream was the only other person in the younger year level who was shorter than he was. She was in the year level below Tails and had been his best friend until he first met Sonic back when he was only 10 years old. Although she didn't get to move up a year with him, she was still one of the only people, other than Sonic, who Tails felt confident to tell anything to. Well, almost anything.

"Trouble in paradise," a voice mocked from behind the two teenagers. The two turned around and saw a big, tall, black hedgehog with red stripes through his upwards tilting quills standing before him.

"What do you want, Shadow?" Cream asked, noting that Tails had still not looked up from his feet.

"Feisty are we? I would be too if I were rejected by this loser," he remarked, pointing one gloved finger towards Tails.

"Don't call him tha…" Cream began but was cut off by Tails suddenly spinning around and sprinting off down the hall, away from the other two.

"What a baby," Shadow spat as he walked away.

"Tails…" Cream whispered as he ran out of sight.

Tails ran all the way home, not stopping for anybody. His friends Amy, knuckles, Blaze, Silver and others tried to call his name but he refused to stop. They were only friends with him because he was best friends with Sonic, they didn't really care about them. They couldn't help. Nobody can help. Except Sonic.

Tails spent the rest of the day in bed, hiding under the covers. His tears stained his sheets but he didn't mind. His mum periodically tried to come in to see what was wrong, or offer him food but he refused her plea's to help each time. Eventually she gave up, turned off his light and wished him well. Tails tried his hardest, screwing his eyes as tight as he could to block out the pain, but it never left him. It was like an ugly shadow, following him where ever he went and never giving him even a moment of peace.

Tails begged for the sweet release of sleep. Even though he knew he would be plagued by nightmares, anything was better than the pain of a gigantic crack in a heart. Just when he began to slip into the world of dreams, he heard a slight tap.

'Probably nothing,' he thought to himself.

He heard the noise again, and then again, louder this time.

Tails got up and parted his curtains slightly to get a peek at what was making the noise. A small pebble smashed against the window pane, startling Tails slightly. He looked down and saw Sonic, standing outside his window in the freezing cold, snow gathering around him. He looked horrible. Tails rushed downstairs as quietly as he could, draping a scarf around his neck from the wall as he ran and slid the door open a crack before slipping out into the street.

"What are you doing here, Son…" but before he could finish his question, Sonic grabbed tails and pressed his lips tightly against Tails'.

A million thoughts raced through the young fox's head but before he could say anything, Sonic whispered into his ear, "Me too. I do love you Tails." Tails heart skipped a beat, he wanted to say more, to make sure he didn't just hear things. Was Sonic just making fun of him like he did in his nightmare? Did he really feel the same way? Yet, before any of Tails thoughts could escape his mind and transition into words, Sonic sped away, utilizing his amazing speed, and left Tails standing alone in the cold, snow covered street.

If you like the story it would be much appreciated to favourite and leave a review. It's always nice to know that people are enjoying my work and it helps to keep me motivated. Any constructive criticism is greatly appreciated and feel free to leave some in the form of a private message. Any help to make my work better is always welcome. Finally, make sure to follow if you would like to keep up to date. I have quite a few things i am working on and doing in my life right now but I will continue to keep writing and adding chapters to this story when I get time. I currently have a plan for up to chapter 22, which will finish off the story but I have some other ideas I might add in the middle chapters to fill out the lore and events so there is plenty more to come :) Thanks for reading.