Presents

Disclaimer: I don't own any characters in this story.

Character(s): Sonic and Tails

One, two, three, and turn.

One, two, three, and turn.

Ah, pacing, the simple activity that has unintentionally become my most favorite pastime as of December. I've repeated this process for so long that by this point, I could blindfold myself and shackle my legs together with the shortest chain on the face of this earth, and still do this perfectly.

One, two, three, and turn.

"Sonic!" My ears impulsively swivel upwards at the sound of a slightly high-pitched voice screaming exasperatedly at me, the muffled sound originating from somewhere below me: Tails' Workshop, where said fox was probably glaring at the ceiling right about now. "Stop pacing! I can barely hear myself think down here!"

I forcibly bite back my tongue to fight the irritated sigh rising in the back of my throat at the abrupt and unexpected command, my eyes subconsciously rolling as the house drifted into a static silence, save for the distant buzz of Tails' tools downstairs.

Nevertheless ( and true to my kind nature) I abruptly halt in my hasty laps around the living room – I believe I had reached the two-hundredth seventy-third pace by that point – and cast a frustrated glance at the creaky workshop door held slightly-ajar across from me before scanning the rest of the room for something to keep my mind occupied. Ultimately, I decided to watch some TV, or – more or less – use it as background noise. As soon as my back hit the couch, I immediately wished I was doing something else, something slightly more physical. Like running, even though pacing hadn't been too bad considering what I had to work with here. Additionally, Tails would just yell at me more, so . . .

And it wasn't as if I was angry at the fox; it's just that I feel like I need to do something. I know he's frustrated with me, but does he really think I wanted to spend an entire twenty-four hours in this place? I mean, it's great to have a home like this to come back to every so often, but spending long periods of time here isn't that appealing to me. It's a little too claustrophobic to stay in for that long, if you ask me, and there's not much room to run, even without a two-tailed fox to yell at you for doing so.

To be honest, I'd rather be taking my chances outside right now, but even I know better than to run over three-hundred miles per hour when it's raining hail outside. So I've been stuck indoors all day, and Tails wouldn't even let me help him down in the workshop today either. He said that he'd rather work alone and disappeared in a flash down the stairs. Yeah, right, sure he didn't want my help.

However, after witnessing his near-desperate exit, I've had a sneaking suspicion that he's been working on my Christmas gift this whole time, but I think I'll wait till Christmas Eve to even begin to bother him about that. Though I'm betting he won't let me catch a glimpse of it until Christmas day.

So, since I had absolutely nothing better to do, whatnot with the hail, I decided to tackle a very important mission, one that I had personally thought would be insanely easy: Tails' present. As one can probably guess – with my incessant pacing – it wasn't as easy as originally thought. In previous years, he had always made it obvious what he desired for the holidays, so I wouldn't have to rack my brain aimlessly in order to determine what to get him; this year, Tails hasn't spotted anything too special. So, upon my questioning of what he would like, he simply answered with, "Whatever you feel is best."

Yeah, there's not too much to go off there.

And it doesn't help much considering that I've only got a little over a week to find the perfect present for him, not to mention all my other friends (although I already planned most of their gifts out; it's just the matter of actually getting and wrapping them). All in all, my real dilemma here is Tails, who seems to have a clear, concise idea of what I want.

Whatever that is, who knows; I know I sure don't. He knows I'm not too materialistic, so it won't be something too superficial. It'll be something that I like; Tails hasn't yet given me something that doesn't fit this description, and I don't need to worry about it. Right now, what I should be focusing on is that I do just as good a job as he does this year. Can't be outdone by my little brother, now, can I?

Smokestep: I think this is the first time I wrote in first person for this story, although I may be incorrect. If it is, hopefully it's not too different from my other chapters, in terms of quality. Of course, that's for you all to decide, and I would really appreciate if you'd share what you thought. See you at the next installment!

Responses To Reviews:

Christian Ape99: Yes, I have. Multiple times, actually. Anyhow, thank you.

ABCSonicKirbyWarriors: Yeah, thank you for the correction.

Twin-books: Well, at least I'm consistent with my chapters; and, even though I have my doubts with a few of the chapters, thank you. Believe me, I'm trying to keep up what I'm doing. I'm just glad today's the last day of school until 2015 rolls around; until then, I'm free! And I'll have a lot more time to write, so there's that. Also, you need around at least 500 more words to match one of my chapters, so there's your benchmark to reach that goal.