This story takes place after the game Sonic Riders. After you've read the story, you'll probably think it's a SonicxTails fan fic. But it hasn't got the kissing, or sexual content, and other stuff like that. But it's cool all the same. Enjoy.
Tails sat on the edge of the concrete step near Sonic's, Knuckles and his hideout, wiping a piece of cloth over his yellow, white and silver extreme gear board, near a silver skyscraper surrounded by other taller sky scrapers around him. He paused in his cleaning as he listened to engines of machines, roaring or zooming around in the sky. It sounded loud along with the chaotic background of the traffic. Tails tilted his head up to see the sunset beating down on his face. He exhaled a deep sigh as he looked back down on his board and continued to rub it over. His expression seemed bored but in a very deep thought. So much so, he didn't even notice the increasing sound of footsteps approach from in front of him. It wasn't until a familiar made him jolt just a little.
"Hey Tails! How you're doing?"
Tails snapped out of his thoughts, stopped cleaning once more and looked up in front of him. He saw a blue figure tower over him with a broad smile across their face. The fox gave a brief smile before her concentrated on cleaning his board.
"Hey Sonic." He greeted him. "I'm just cleaning my extreme gear board, that's all."
The blue hedgehog sat down besides Tails with his arms placed behind himself. Sonic turned his head to face the fox.
"You know? You did great today Tails." He commented. "That extreme gear board you made really helped out a lot."
Tails gave a short hum in response.
"Really?" He said.
"Of course it did Tails." Sonic answered. "If it weren't for you, Eggman would have got that so called "treasure", and use it to pay for some form of evil to get rid of me once and for all."
"Oh." Tails said monotoniously.
Sonic raised an eyebrow at his companion's effortless behaviour.
"What? Did you secretly want Eggman to succeed?" Sonic teased
The fox turned to the hedgehog and shook his head.
"No. I just..."
"What's wrong Tails?" Sonic enquired. "You're not as enthusiastic as you usually are."
Tails resumed scrubbing the cloth up and down the board. Sonic could see from his friend's behaviour that he was getting agitated. But still he thought if he talked to the fox, he could lighten his attitude up.
"Is it because you lost in the race to them Babylonians?" He asked him.
Tails shook his head.
"No way!" He replied. "It would be stupid if I got upset over a dumb race."
"I see." Sonic nodded his head. "I mean, you did intend to make sure those extreme gear boards were at peak condition before racing. And I know you're a perfectionist when it comes to inventing things."
Tails clenched his fists and screwed up his face and glared at him.
"I'm not just good at inventing things you know! I'm good at other things as well!" He shouted.
Sonic almost tumbled off the step at the fox's sudden outburst, but he managed to keep his balance and gave a concerned gaze at him.
"Woah Tails! I didn't mean to cause some offence to you!" He reassured him.
Tail's expression softened as he looked down onto his board.
"I'm sorry Sonic." He apologised. "I'm just not feeling myself, that's all."
Sonic just blinked.
"Do you wanna tell me why?" He questioned him.
At first, Tails hesitated to come up with an answer, but then he sighed.
"It was something Knuckles said before the quarter-finals." He mumbled.
"Knuckles?" The hedgehog said in a confused voice. "What did he say to make you feel this way?"
"Well..." Tails said. "He said it after that girl critisized about the extreme gear board I made for you Sonic."
"Well that girl shouldn't have dissed you." Sonic looked at him. "You didn't deserve to get your bubble burst like that. But what did Knuckles say to make you upset? He was on your side."
"And when he said that, I really wanted to turn and shout at him for saying it." Tails explained.
"Oh. I see." Sonic said. "Well I didn't think he intentially said it to upset you."
"I know." The fox agreed. "But I just felt this burning rage in me when he said it. I'm not just good at inventing things right Sonic?"
"Well what do you think you're good at apart from inventing things?" Sonic asked him.
Tails paused for a moment.
"I don't know." He answered him. "What do you think I'm good at?"
"Well..." The hedgehog placed a finger under his chin to think. "You're always enthusiastic and you hardly complain about anything. In fact, I don't hear you complain as much as I've heard Knuckles or anyone else have. Plus, you're a good problem solver. You always manage to find the answers to any problem we're posed with. Your genius may mean diddly to others, but I had to admit, Knuckles did look funny while you were explaining that Kutta-Jou- what's his name's lift theory."
"It's the Kutta-Joukowski lift theorem." Tails corrected him.
"Right." Sonic nodded. "See? You try to work really hard to help us. If it weren't for you, we all could have been toast."
Tails gave a smile.
"I suppose so."
"There's that Tail's smile I was after." Sonic grinned as he pulled on the fox's cheeks. "Happy and enthusiastic."
Tails laughed before pulling the hedgehog's hands away from his face.
"I got cha." He giggled.
"Well that's good to hear." Sonic ruffled Tail's fringe as he got up to walk away.
"Sonic! Wait!" Tails placed his board to the side of him and stood up to face him. "There's something I gotta tell you too!"
The hedgehog turned to the fox and listened attentively.
"You're... a really good friend to me." Tails confessed. "But you're also good to everyone else too."
Sonic found it a little suprising to find one of his friends actually saying this to him. He didn't expect anyone to admire him as much as Amy does, but not in a romantic kind of way that she envision's it. Tails fidgeted as he continued his confession.
"I really do look up to you because you're so brave and confident." He said.
"So?" Sonic shrugged. "Everyone who I've saved says that."
"But you don't understand." Tails said firmly. "You give me this confidence when you're about to do a good deed. And that makes me believe in myself more than I usually do. You make me and everyone else more determined to succeed into anything that may seem impossible. And the truth is Sonic... We're all really grateful for that. And... thank you... for being there when we need someone to listen to."
Sonic just stared at Tails. The traffic engines were the only things that could be heard. They both stood facing each other until Tails looked down onto the ground.
"I'm sorry." He apologised once more. "You must think I'm weird for saying that to you like a love confession or something?"
The hedgehog hesitated for a moment before bursting into laughter. Tails looked up to find him doing so.
"What's so funny?" He asked.
Sonic continued laughing before he started to control them. Tails felt afraid that maybe his intuition was right about him thinking he was a fool for saying those feelings. Sonic opened his mouth.
"Tails..." He still giggled. "You really take things to heart you do."
"Huh?" The fox couldn't really understand what his friend was saying.
"You really do care what people say to you too much!" He chuckled. "You really don't have to get upset over it!"
Finally Sonic cleared his throat, but still gave Tails a smile.
"Thank pal."
"What!?" The fox was definately lost in the whole discussion.
"Nobody would reveal those sorts of things to other people incase they're afraid they get laughed at." Sonic continued. "What you did was brave, and I'm quite proud of what you've said. So, thank you Tails for making me smile too."
"Uh..." Tails was about to form a word when Sonic pinched the fox's lips together.
"Don't worry. You don't have to thank me." He assured him as he released his grip on Tail's lips and started to walk away from the confused fox.
"Come on." Sonic encouraged him. "Lets tell Knuckles off for upsetting you earlier. He should be hanging out at the gym or somewhere of his expertise."
Tails snapped out of his overwhelmed trance as he ran up to catch up with Sonic. Even at walking pace, he struggled to keep up with the hedgehog. Both of them walked beside each other until Sonic turned to Tails.
"By the way Tails," He broke the silence. "I feel the same about everyone else too."
"Yeah." Tails nodded his head while smiling. "But is it okay if I explained to Knuckles what we discussed?"
Sonic grinned.
"Of course you can." He gave his permission. "I'll back you up if you need it."
"Right." Tails said as they both continued on their journey to find their friend and give them a piece of Tail's mind.
Enjoy.
