A/N: Sorry for the two week delay but I have been working on the conclusion of SH, which will be out on April 10th, and the start of my new story called 'murder on Green Hill Island.' Thank you so much for your patience. It's time for the last two of the main supporting cast to shine. I hope you all enjoy Tikal and Silver :) And I hope you enjoy chapter 20 even more!

Chapter 20:

One Bad Birthday

Ever since Tails came out to his best friend about his true feelings, he, too, had denounced his faith like his mother. However, to keep up appearances, both him and Sonic had to continue to go to church every Sunday and pretend like they still agreed with the messages that were forced down their throats. Yet, for the next 2 weeks, Tails and Sonic felt like they had both she their mortal coil and were dancing with angels in heaven.

They had a strong love for each other, often enjoying private nights together. Sonic no longer had to bare the agony of pretending to be with Amy, doing everything that she told him to. Shadow had finally stopped bullying Tails, honestly sickened of what he found out and opted to just avoid the two at all costs. Shadow and Amy had finally given up their stupid quest on trying to take pictures, just focusing on avoiding the pair. Tails and Sonic had become even closer with the rest of their friends, specifically Blaze. Lastly, Tails was finally turning 17 on the weekend and everyone was eagerly awaiting his extravagant party.

"Hey Tails," Silver called out, waving as she closed the distance between the two.

"Oh, hey Silver, what's up?" Tails questioned, beaming a bright smile at the hedgehog.

"I was just wondering… I know that Amy punched you and Sonic dumped her and I know you guys never saw eye to eye with Shadow but I feel kind of bad for them, Y'know," Silver rubbed the back of his neck, trying to shed the anxiety that washed over him.

"Don't tell me you are insinuating that," Tails replied, rolling his eyes in annoyance.

"I think you should invite them on Friday night," he finished, giving Tails his goofy smile.

"No," Tails stated plainly.

"But…" Silver began.

"I don't think it's a good idea," Tails stuck to his morals. He felt bad, dismissing Silver for no reason. He couldn't help but love Silver's oblivious nature but he sure as hell wasn't going to tell the silver hedgehog the truth about why he couldn't invite Amy.

"I think Silver is right," Tikal appeared, chiming into the already underway conversation, standing beside Silver.

"But…"

"Please," the both begged in unison, smiling at the golden fox.

"Okay, fine," Tails gave in, caving under the peer pressure. He was, if nothing else, a people pleaser. Tails always wanted to make sure his friends were happy and although he couldn't tell them the real reason of why those two couldn't be invited, he had to admit that maybe they would lay off a bit more if Tails tried to show them companionship. He needed as many people on his side as possible.

"I'll go tell them the good news," Tikal laughed, skipping off down the hall.

"You did the right thing," Silver smiled, patting Tails on the back before walking off to his next class.

"I sure hope so," Tails sighed to himself, slumping against the lockers.

…

"It's okay Darling, I'll just go out camping for the night, I trust you kids alone," Tails' mother smiled.

"Mum, you don't have to leave if you don't want…" Tails sighed, feeling bad for asking for his house to himself that night.

"Don't be silly sweetie, I've been meaning to go touch base with nature for a while now and this is the excuse I've been waiting for. Have fun honey," she ruffled his hair before stepping out of the door. "Oh, and don't break anything!"

"I won't, love you mum!" Tails waved back to his exiting mother. As soon as she left the building, he quickly shot off a text to Sonic and in less than 5 minutes, there was a hasty knock on the mahogany door.

"That was fast," Tails remarked, welcoming the dressed up hedgehog into his house. Sonic looked much more presentable than normal. Although usually not wearing anything, he had on a black, collared over shirt that was unbuttoned draped over him. His traditional bandana still hung around his neck and he greeted Tails with a quick kiss.

"Fast is my middle name," he joked.

"Sonic fast Hedgehog? Nah, it doesn't have quite the same ring to is as 'the'," Tails giggled.

"What about…" Sonic pondered. "Sonic the-extremely-handsome-fastest-strongest-most-amazing Hedgehog?"

"Well, at least it's accurate," Tails laughed, hugging the hedgehog before turning his attention back to his house. "So, what do you think?" Sonic marvelled at the room. His second story loft, that hung over the main living room of the house, party lights hanging from the railing.

The same sets of tables were set up in a similar fashion to how Tails had done it previously, with the many kaleidoscopic colours of candy in plastic bowels dotting the yellow table cloths. A Marine Blue cooler, filled to the brim with ice held the cold drinks captive. They dripped with condensations, just waiting to be indulged and consumed by alcohol-fueld teens.

"Just go chuck your stuff in my room and we can sort it all out after everybody leaves," Tails suggested, watching Sonic retreat to the confines of his bedroom whilst he waited patiently for his guests to begin to arrive. The first two to grace his presence were Blaze and Silver.

"Hey Tails, thanks for the invite. This place looks amazing," Silver remarked, giving Tails a friendly hug before making a v-line to the snack table.

"Hey Tails," Blaze supplied a reluctant smile, wrapping her arms around the fox. Tails couldn't force himself to hug her back. He just left his arms by his side, face staring intently at the ground.

"Silver told me what happened. It won't be that bad and I'll be here for you ever step of the way," she whispered into his ear. "Okay?"

"Thanks, Blaze. You're a true friend," Tails managed to say, bringing his arms up around her hips, letting his hands meet together behind her back.

"We'll get through tonight," she gave him a quick peck on the cheek before breaking apart. "Besides, it's a party, so let's go dance," she laughed, shedding the sombre tone of the air as she pulled the kit onto the dancefloor.

"Awww, Blaze, you're supposed to dance with me," Silver pouted jokingly.

"Hey, you aren't getting out of dancing with me tonight Mr," she laughed, winking at Silver, a crimson colour flushing his cheeks. Sonic chuckled to himself, watching the three of them from the small overhang above them that connected to Tails' bedroom in the hallway.

He couldn't help but smile to himself, watching his closest friends, along with the love of his life dance their troubles away.

'Happy Birthday Buddy,' Sonic thought happily to himself. Yet, part of his gaze lingered towards Silver. Silver had been Sonic's closest, well besides Tails, friend since they were both in kindergarten together. In fact, Sonic was the person who first introduced the awkward hedgehog to Blaze, and just look how that turned out! But part of him couldn't help but stare, annoyed at him. After all this time, Sonic wanted to tell Silver, hoping beyond hope that he would understand true love but the part of him that knew Silver so well knew that the hedgehog would be the first one to two the duo into the town if he ever found out.

Sonic tried to shake the thoughts as he ran down the stairs and joined the trio on the dancefloor, smiling and laughing along with them when somebody knocked on the door.

"I got it," Sonic called, racing over to the door.

"Wait, Sonic, there is something I need to tell you," Tails replied, rushing over to stop Sonic from opening the door.

"Yeah?"

"I…I'm sorry but… but I had no choice," he sighed before opening the door, revealing the ebony and pink hedgehogs, standing in the entrance. Sonic couldn't reply, his eyes just widened as anger filled his insides.

…

The night grew long as the guests continued piling in until they had all finally arrived. There were about 40 people cluttering up Tails' living room and back yard, laughing, dancing and drinking. Even Shadow and Amy appeared to be having a semi good time, after their initial attempts to pry around Tails' house for any sign that he was gay turned out fruitless.

"See, I told you they would be alright," Silver nudged the fox with his elbow, causing Tails' to let out a slight squeal of surprise before bursting into laughter.

"I guess you are right, Silver," he grinned in response.

"No matter what people do, they always deserve a second chance, in my opinion at least." Before the two could continue their conversation, the lights all switched off, casting an eerie darkness onto the room. The sound system suddenly died and all of Tails' senses were plunged into a strange state of purgatory.

Slowly, a faint, fluttering light began to emerge, casting an array of different shaped shadows around the room that danced on the walls. Slowly, the faint light grew until Tails could make out the source. Right as his eyes adjusted to the sight, a chorus of singing erupted from the crowd.

"Happy Birthday to you," the singing began as Sonic, alongside Blaze, wheeled a big caramel cake that shared the appearance of the two tailed fox's insignia. Tails could do little to stop the enormous smile that spread across his face, reaching from left ear to right.

"Thank you all so, so, so much," Tails babbled, unable to hide his joy from the crowd after they finished singing.

"Close your eyes and make a wish buddy," Sonic laughed.

"I don't know what I could wish for. I have everything I've ever wanted right here," he giggled but Sonic insisted. Tails closed his eyes, made a wish and with a great intake of air, he blew as hard as he could until each candle had been extinguished. A round of clapping roared through the darkness as the lights were switched back on and Sonic handed Tails the knife.

"Now you have to cut the cake," he grinned. Tails pushed the sharp edge of the blade deep into the cake, pressing it with all his might into its depths until her felt it hit the plate below. As he brought it out, Silver chimed in.

"If it comes out dirty then you have to kiss the nearest girl." Tails flinched slightly when the knife rose out of the cake, covered in small bits of icing and caramel filling. He grimaced slightly, glancing over to Sonic who just gave him an encouraging nod.

"You asked for it Silver," Tails laughed as he grabbed Blaze and placed a purposely wet and sloppy kiss on her cheek. She howled in laughter at Silver's frown after seeing this display.

"I didn't mean my girl," he protested, half-jokingly.

"You did say the closest girl buddy," Sonic joined in as all three laughed at the silver hedgehog in front of the rest of the onlookers. Cream, who had been present, slunk further back in the crowd, wishing that it had been her that was standing up there instead of Blaze. She wanted to help but Sonic had insisted that Blaze and he had all the preparations handed. She mentally scolded herself for not being as assertive.

After the awkwardness had passed and the guests had all taken a slice of cake, refilled their drinks and went back to enjoying the party, Sonic decide to do some investigating of his own. He walked up to Tails, stuck in his pockets and tried to act nonchalant.

"So… what did you wish for? Was it a girlfriend?" Sonic smirked.

"Yeah right, I already have one of those," he punched Sonic playfully in the shoulder.

"Wait… what?" Sonic asked, slightly unsure of himself. Tails, upon seeing his reaction, just burst into a fit of giggles, holding his sides from the pain.

"I was talking about you stupid," he wiped away a tear from his eye.

"HEY!" Sonic retaliated, but couldn't suppress his laughter for long.

"Maybe I'll wish for a boyfriend with a slightly bigger… manhood," Tails winked, causing Sonic's face to flush crimson, recalling the first time they saw each other's parts and had an awkward conversation about sizing.

"Well I might be slightly smaller, but at least I'm faster," he beamed proudly. That was met with only more laughs from Tails.

"You know that's not a good thing, right?" Tails asked genuinely, not quite sure if Sonic was joking or not.

"Yes it is. Doing anything the fastest is always the best thing," he admitted proudly as Tails steeled himself, trying his hardest not to burst into another fit of laughter. "But seriously, pal. What did you wish for?"

"Don't tell him!" Silver rushed up, joining in on the conversation, much to the surprise of the two.

"Why not? It's not like it's a big secret. I just wished that everything would stay the way it is," Tails spoke in matter of fact.

"NO! If you tell people then it won't come true," Silver said worriedly.

"Haha, don't believe in that superstitious stuff," Sonic laughed. "C'mon, let's go enjoy the rest of the party guys," Sonic concluded, running onto the dance move to show what he was made of.

…

Tikal felt like her bladder was about to explode. She couldn't take the build-up of pressure one more moment. She scanned the room, eyeing the bathroom.

"There's gotta be at least 5 people in line. I can't wait that long," she moaned as she waddled through the crowd. If she was ever going to make it before her bowels relieved themselves then she would need to take drastic measures. Luckily, before she could decide what to do, she bumped into Tails.

"Tails, quick, do you have another bathroom? The line is massive and I can't hold it," she begged, placing her hands on his shoulders.

"Ummm, well… if it's an emergency then I guess you can use my ensuite but-"

"Thank you so much," Tikal interrupted, darting up the stairs and through Tails' bedroom, tripping over Sonic's bag that had been placed on the floor in her hurry to make it in time. Knuckles stood, leaning against a wall, watching the echidna scurry upstairs.

Flush

'Ahh, so much better,' Tikal thought to herself as she scrubbed her hands under the cool, flowing water. When she exited the bathroom, she noticed a pile of Sonic's clothes and belongings sprawled out across the floor, with his bag laying on its side, open. Tikal remember how she had tripped over it in her rush and dropped to the floor in a hurry, wanting to put everything back inside so that Sonic didn't think that she had been snooping. However, just as she placed the last object back inside and began zipping it up, she noticed a small book inside.

'Is that his diary? It wouldn't hurt to take just one peek,' she reasoned with herself, giggling as she took it out. Her smile turned to a look of perplexion when she read Tails' name on the front of it with the words 'Merry Christmas Sonic' on the front.

'Why would Tails give Sonic his personal diary for Christmas?' Tikal thought, yet curiosity took over her better judgement and she opened the pages, scanning through them. It started out rather boring, just little things from Tails but Tikal began to get a bit skeptical when the descriptions of Sonic slowly turned into something more… suggestive.

Suddenly, Tikal arrived at a page dated last year and her mouth fell to the floor. Her eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets and she dropped the diary to the floor, unable to comprehend what she had just read.

I stood there, at the door, allowing the freezing cold winds to enter my humble abode, snow staining my carpet as I marveled at him. Although he was downtrodden, sleep deprived and sickly looking, he was still as handsome as that night I fell for him. I tried to speak, apologizing for my previous transgressions but that was when he did something amazingly, indescribably, gratifyingly pleasing. He pressed his lips against mine! I practically melted right there on the spot. "Me too, I do love you, Tails," he spoke melodically, before he turned to sprint away. I couldn't move. I couldn't even feel the harsh winter winds whip my face and sting my eyes. All I could feel was joy, happiness and most importantly, love.

She quickly picked it back up and scanned through the most recent pages, up until Christmas. Then suddenly, the hand writing changed and Tikal assumed that this was when Sonic had taken over. That's when she got to the entry that was recorded around the same time that Eggman's invention was operational and everybody couldn't help but sing.

"They had… sex?" she gasped aloud.

"Tikal, what are you doing in here?!" A voice boomed from the doorway. Tikal spun around to look at the boy standing in front of her, her whole world collapsing in on itself in her disbelief.

"Knuckles, look at this diary! Sonic and Tails… they are-"

"Gay," Knuckles sighed, finishing her sentence.

"How did you know?" she questioned.

"It wasn't that hard to figure out. The way they used to act around each other compared to now. The fallout between the group and Amy. How Blaze had been acting different after she went up to get the two when we had the sleepover. It all adds up," he stated, causing Tikal's mouth to drop all the way to the floor.

"But… but…but you're,"

"Stupid," Knuckles shot in reply. "Just because I might not be the smartest academically doesn't mean I don't know my friends and I treat my friends with respect!" he snapped, grabbing the diary off of Tikal.

"Well whatever, let's go. We need to share this with everybody," she hollered, walking out the door. However, she spun around when she realized that Knuckles wasn't following behind her. "What are you doing?"

"You can't tell the others," he sighed again, tightening his grip on the book. "They are happy together. Don't ruin their lives. They are our friends."

"But they are gay. That's just wrong and disgusting," she replied.

"Why?"

"It just is. Now let's go," she stamped her foot on the ground to emphasize her commanding tone.

"No."

"What did you just say?"

"I said no."

"If you don't do this with me then I'll tell everybody that you knew all along and didn't tell anybody. That's almost worse than what Tails and Sonic are doing. You'd be burnt alive with them!" Malice was clearly evident in her voice.

"If you tell everybody, we are through," Knuckles stated in a flat tone. Tikal thought for a moment, before she remembered everything that had ever been taught to her. All the philosophies that had been ingrained into her brain since she was just a small child in Mobius.

"Fine, I guess we are done. Doing the will of Chaos is more important than a boyfriend," she spat. Suddenly, without warning, Tikal ran at Knuckles and snatched the diary off of him whilst he was unprepared and ran down the stairs. Knuckles, infuriated, rushed over to the balcony that overlooked the party and yelled down to the two boys who were dancing with Blaze and Silver on the dancefloor.

"SONIC, TAILS! RUN!" Knuckles bellowed, causing all pairs of eyes to drift up to him. When both boys made no indication of running he added something that made both their hearts skip a beat. "SHE FOUND TAILS' DIARY!"

Instantly, the two, and Blaze, shared horrific glances as Tikal bounded down the stairs and smashed into Shadow.

"What was that for?" he growled, holding his leg in his arms to relieve some of the agonizing pain.

"Sonic and Tails are gay," she replied frantically.

"I know," he sighed angrily.

"Was I the only one that didn't know?"

"Amy and I knew but when she tried to tell everybody, nobody believed her. We need proof," he admitted. A broad smile formed on her face as she held up the diary.

"You mean like a diary in which Tails wrote all about what the two did while they were alone?" she chuckled. Shadow's eyes lit up as an evil flame danced in them.

"Quick, go tell everybody. I have a call to make," he insisted, shoving her onto the stage.

"Sonic and Tails are gay. This time, we have proof!" She shouted. This time, without even a second of delay, the whole party turned to Tails. It was as if, upon hearing the word 'gay', they had turned into mindless zombies whose only task was to obey the will of Chaos.

"Get them!" Amy shouted, causing the guests to circle the two.

"I SAID RUN!" Knuckles shouted again. Sonic, instincts taking over, picked up Tails in the bridal style and sprinted as fast as he could out of the house. He had to smash through the window pane in order to escape but the many cuts that the two received as they were showered with broken glass paled in comparison to the fear of their friends that allowed them to keep running.

Shadow dialed Big's number into his cell phone and waited for the raspy reply on the other end before speaking.

"Sonic and Tails are gay. We have proof. Action needs to be taken… tonight!" Shadow spoke with speed and ferocity, his anger dictating his actions.

"I'll inform the town immediately," was the response before Shadow heard a dial tone. He smiled to himself as he watched the two boys jump through the window and try to flee.

…

'Happy Birthday Buddy,' the thought echoed in his brain again, taunting him as the two ran into the night.

A/N: Well, looks like there secret is out. No more fake outs, I promise. This is the real deal. Who thought that it would ultimately be Tikal, the least developed supporting character, that would discover the secret? I told you that I had plans for all the main supporting cast (Blaze, Amy, Shadow, Knuckles, Silver, Tikal and Big.) Please review and let me know what you thought of the chapter. Was the reveal interesting? What do you think our main heroes have in store in the final 4 chapters? There is officially no turning back now, this story will never be the same again xD. Next chapter has the final song in the story as well :) I hope the wait was worth it and I will try to make the next one a little sooner. See you all next time.