Work Text:
"Well, i should get going"
"Now?"
For the past weeks, Eggman had been more of a... challenge. Of course, nothing Sonic and the others couldn't handle, but still kind of.. tiring.
His bots were beginning to appear with stronger materials, aumenting the force of their attacks and the endurance to Sonic's, nevermind those annoying arm cannons.
So, after yet another fight with Eggman that they left victorious like always, but still super tired, not like always, what better to host a tiny 'party'... more like hangout, for you and your friends?
Clearly a good idea. Amy is playing with Cream, Vanilla is chatting with Vector, Rouge is- "Rouge, get your hands off that necklace, i see you!" lifting her hands in the air in surrender.
"Man, we still haven't had lunch yet!"
"I know, i'll have lunch in my timeline! Don't worry!" Silver gave a smile and a thumbs up, but Sonic didn't seem all too pleased anyways.
"Well, who am i to stop your path, am i right? Good luck, Silver!"
"Yes! Goodbye, Sonic"
"Wait!"
Silver turned to look at the owner of the voice, a tiny golden fox with two fluffy tails, looking at him with the biggest blue eyes possible, and lifting his hands up, offering him a napkin with something inside.
"Take this. For your journey! I promise it tastes good. Maybe. I hope." Tails said, muttering the last part as Silver got ahold of the napkin and it's contents.
"What was that?"
"Nothing."
"Ah. Okay!" He nods excitedly, looking at the napkin with a smile. "What's this?"
"It's called an empanada. It's fried dough with meat filling inside. It's a common dish from West Side Island, i used to steal a lot of them. Try it!"
"Thank you! I sure will" Silver looked at Tails with a smile, ruffling his head's fur. "But later. Right now, i've gotta return home. See ya!"
In a blink, Silver was gone, leaving only the green of the grass were he was standing before.
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The dark hedgehog clicked his tongue, looking at the running form of Sonic in the distance. He turned around to see the fox kit that stupid faker had left him with, and began walking the opposite direction were the speedster went.
"Ah- Wait up!"
Shadow could hear the soft padding of Tails' shoes as he approached Shadow, who did not, in any minute, slow down. "Keep up."
Tails didn't answer. Shadow gave a quick glance to his side, checking if the kit was okay. When Tails looked to see Shadow's face, the dark hedgehog was already facing front yet again. "Can you run?"
"I can fly."
"Good." And soon enough, two streaks of red and golden flashed through Eggman's halls.
Shadow, Tails, and Sonic had broken into Eggman's base to steal a Chaos Emerald from him, wich, in a moment of distraction, Sonic couldn't stop him from taking in their last fight. So here they are.
Shadow took a look at the room in front of them, probably some kind of fixing space, if all the lined up Badniks with several damages were a hint.
Shadow walked cautiously into the gray room, but none of the Badniks were on.
After a glance at Tails, the fox took this as a sign to approach Shadow. "I doubt it'll be here."
"Oh. Does that mean we get to blow up this place?" Shadow raised an eyebrow at him. "I mean, since this is like a mass production of Badniks.. That will be used agaisnt us in a future..."
"I get your thinking, fox. No need to explain." Shadow continued looking around, moving or looking at blueprints, papers, bottles of grease and several tools, Tails hot on his tail.
"Are you tired?" Shadow asked after some minutes of silence.
"What?"
"I know you heard me."
"Eh- uhmm.. Not really? But if you want to we can take a rest"
"I don't need to rest."
"..hm... Ah, but i do am hungry. You know, i could eat an empanada right now." The fox rummaged through his backpack, taking all sort of stuff from there.
"What is that?"
"What is what?"
"That."
"That what?"
"What you said."
"That what?"
"Before."
"What is what?"
"Before before."
"That im hungry?"
"A little more later..."
"That i could eat an empanada?"
"That."
"Oh. That means i could eat an empanada. That i'm hungry for an-"
"Empanada, yes, i do know what the sentence means, i'm not stupid. What's an empanada?"
"Eh, folded dough with some filling inside. Wanna try?"
"No."
"...You kinda look like you do."
"No."
"..All right." Tails continued rummaging through his backpack, only stopping when he found what he wanted; a tupperware. He closed the zipper of his backpack, and swung it on his shoulder, opening the cap of the tupperware, and taking out an empanada surrounded by a napkin.
He stared at Shadow.
"What do you want?"
"Are you sure you don't want some?"
"I already told you, No."
"Okay okay okay okay sorry!" The fox opened his mouth, ready to take a bite, but did it so slowly... then closed it. Then put it back in the tupperware.
"Aren't you going to eat it?"
"Not hungry."
"Barely a minute ago you said you were hungry."
"Well, i've changed my mind."
"...I'll eat it, if you don't want it." In a flash, the empanada was in his hands, the feeling of the paper napkin welcome to his fingertips. He stared at it, and Tails stared at him.
"You... you take a bite."
"Shut it, i know what i'm supposed to do." He stared at it, then, after a minute, took a bite. Then another. And then another.
The crunch of each bite was like music to his ears, and the rich flavor of the seasoned meat inside mixed perfectly with the egg, the olives and the tiny pieces of soft potatos, that upon meeting his tongue felt like heaven and a thousand angels to his tastebuds. "mh.. Not bad."
"Yay! I made them myself, i'm glad you like it."
Shadow tentatively reached a paw towards the fox kit, and rested it on his head, gently petting.
"Uh.. Good.. job." Tails' whiskers twitched, and his two tails flickered from side to side.
"Thank you!"
--------------
¡crrrrrkkck!
In less than an instant, Tails was sitting upright on the bed he was previously sleeping in, his ears perked up as his nose twitched, startled by the slight creacking of the wooden flooring in his and Sonic's house.
He got out of the covers, storing his paws in fluffy white slippers, both his namesakes swishing with force from behind him. Without turning on the light switch, he got ahold of a cleaning broom, and held it over his shoulder in a fighting stance, ready to strike. Scared? Maybe. Coward? Never.
He walked down the stairs like a predator stalking it's prey, pupils in a thin black slit like a fine cut from an overly sharp knife. He gently opened the door... But no one was on sight.
The fox turned around several times, opening doors and checking cabinets and closets, but found no one.
He sighed, and walked upstairs once again, with slight peace on his mind but still with a too-hard and too-fast beating heart. He twisted the doorknob, and opened the door to his room, closing it behind him and setting the broom aside
"Hey, Tails."
"Huh?" Two bright eyes stared at him through the darkness.
He blinked.
The eyes did too.
"Ow ow ow.."
"Stay still."
"I'm trying!"
"Well, try harder!" The fox huffed, carefully pressing a piece of cotton covered in desinfectant on the gray hedgehogs cheek.
"That's gonna leave a scar..."
"Don't tell me. Maybe don't break into my house at 3AM?"
"I thought you cut your claws."
"I don't."
"Yeah, i see it now!" Tails gave Silver a deadpann look, and continued his work. He put the cotton away, and grabbed some gauze, gripping it by the edges and gently applying it over Silver's injury; three red diagonial claw slashes in his right cheek. Tails secured the gauze with some tape, and then stored all the stuff back in the medic kit. "What are you doing in my house, anyways?"
Silver shrugged, fidgeting with his gloves. "Uhh.. Hunger."
"Hunger?"
"Yes."
"And that's why you broke into my house?"
"Yes."
"At 3AM?"
"precisely. Now you're getting the hang of it!"
"Silver- You- Why-" Pinching the bridge of his nose, Tails took a deep breath, and then looked up to meet Silver's eyes again. "Why my house, exactly? Why not a restaurant, for example? Blaze's place?"
"Blaze doesn't have enpuhmadas."
"Empanadas."
"That." Silver pointed at Tails with a smile. Tails raised a brow.
"You want empanadas?"
"Yes, please."
"So... you liked them."
"Yes."
"Heh... you liked them!"
"Yes?"
"You! You liked them! Liked! Still like!" The fox leapped off the couch with a big smile spread on his muzzle, his namesakes waving joyfully behind him as he walked (more like jumped) to the kitchen, turning on the little lamp on the center of the table-like-counter.
"Here, it's what's left of those. Be grateful Sonic didn't eat 'em all." Tails put a plate with three empanadas on the microwave, turning it on and setting it to 40 seconds, waiting by the machine. Meanwhile, Silver sat by the table across from Tails, resting his elbows on the wooden surface, and leaning his head on his paws, fingertips hovering over the gauze and palm gently feeling the gray fur of his jaw.
After fourty seconds of silent yet not akward waiting, Tails got the plate out of the small cube like machine, and handed the food to Silver, resting the white plate in front of him. "Careful, it's still hot."
"Thank you, Tails!" He picked up the plate, lifting it slightly towards his mouth and blowing at the food in the hopes of getting it to cool down, just like you would do to a just brewed coffee.
"..Uhm.. I'm sorry."
"Uh? For what?"
"For the.. Uh.." Tails pointed at his own cheek. The right one.. The one with the gauze.
"Oh. Uh! This is nothing, don't worry about it! Even if it leaves a scar, it'll look sick." The gray hedgehog winked at the twin tailed fox, shooting him a smirk. The fox could only look at him with a small smile and two waving tails behind him.
After waiting for a tortuous amount of time (barely 30 seconds), Silver picked one empanada up, and excitedly nibbled at it, taking bite after bite with hunger. While the hedgehog ate, Tails sat up across his guest, and opened a crosswords maganize, clicking on a pen and getting to solving.
Maybe they didn't talk much, and maybe they didn't even communicate. But that's fine. Sometimes, silence can speak louder than words ever could.
-------------
Shadow peeked into Tails' workshop, the Black Rider's handle tight in his paws. He saw the two tailed fox tinkering with some stuff at his desk, back facing the dark hedgehog. He took a deep breath, and coughed lightly on his gloved paw-
"Oh, hey, Shadow!" Silver waved, Shadow cringed.
"Silver, i've told you to not burst through the door. I've got glass and other fragile stuff in here." Tails sighed, carefully setting down his tools and looking at the gray hedgehog with a raised eyebrow. Silver gave and apologethic smile, rubbing the back of his neck nervously.
Shadow cleared his throat once again, akwardly standing in the door of the workshop. Tails' looked back, furrowing his eyebrows slightly as he got up from his seat and walked towards Shadow.
"Shadow? What are you doing in here?"
The dark hedgehog fidgeted with the rubbed embedded in the handle of the motorcycle, looking straight into the kit's eyes. "The Dark Rider needs.. a fix. And i may... need some.. assistance, fixing her."
"Oh. Yeah, sure. Come in, it's cold out."
Shadow walked in, the wheels of his vehicle rolling next to the padding of his air shoes. Tails approached the metallic door of the workshop, jumping high enough to grab the handle and fall down, closing the door with a loud thud of metal agaisnt the floor. "Silver, can you turn on the light for me, please?"
"In a second!" Silver turned on the lights, flicking the light switch up. The lights flickered once or twice, a dim yellow illuminating the room.
"Thanks."
"You name it!" Silver gave him a toothly smile, and Tails shot him a closed-eyed thumbs up. Shadow just stared.
"Alright. What's wrong with your bike?"
"Ah. She is making strange noise everytime i stop or hit the brakes." Shadow helped Tails turn around the Dark Rider, the fox quickly opening it to take a peek inside.
"This won't take long."
Shadow nodded at the fox's words, walking over to Silver with crossed arms. "And you?"
"Me?"
"Did something happen to your future, again?"
"Nah. Don't you worry your fuzzy head about it!" Shadow glared at him. "Or should i say quilly? Fuzzy's your red scarf. Fancy." Silver winked.
Shadow's ears folded back, still glaring at Silver. ''I do not recall seeing three diagonal lines down your fur when we last meet. Did Blaze not enjoy the bubble bath?''
''I don't think i ever gave Blaze a bubble bath, i don't know exactly what you're talking about.'' Shadow looked away, glaring at the wall behind Silver.
"Ah, yes, concrete. What a nice material." Silver smiled, offering a thumbs up. Shadow sweated slightly, raising a brow.
"Make yourselves comfy, this'll take some time. Sonic isn't currently at home, don't worry." Tails called out from his spot under the Dark Rider, namesakes resting besides him, tips twitching and moving every once in a while. Shadow nodded, leaning agaisnt a wall next to the desk.
Silver walked across the room, dropping on a dark blue beanbag, obviously intended for Sonic. Grabbing a maganize from the coffee table besides it, the three fell into a comfortable silence as Tails worked on the Dark rider.
"All done. Normally, i'd ask you to give it a try to see if everything works correctly, but now's too late for that. What hour is it again?"
Silver checked the clock. "Uuuuuhhhh about 12:47"
"12:47?! I'm so sorry Shadow!"
"It is no problem."
Tails set down all his tools, and turning the bike upside down, setting it back on wheels and taking off his work gloves. "Let me make you dinner this time, yes? So i can make up for the wasted time."
"It is no need, fox. You have already done so by repairing the Dark Rider."
"I insist. Please, Shadow?"
The dark hedgehog didn't really know if the two tailed fox knew what he was doing to Shadow right now, but god, he hoped he didn't. Tails was grabbing one his namesakes, that was so fluffy that the fur coiled under his gloves paws, like hair ties on unruly hair. With his whiskers twitching and his ears slightly apart, he gave Shadow the biggest puppy eyes known to man, or atleast, to the hedgehog. Sparkling, big, and a baby blue that carried the whole sky within them, that told thousands of shapes that the clouds could take, that could count over hundreds of hundreds of sheeps jumping over tiny wooden planks. Baby blue, just like Shadow's favorite color. Like Maria's.
(The fox knew what he was doing, the little shit.)
"Yes, yes, yes???" Silver gave tiny jumps in front of Shadow, grabbing his shoulders and shaking him as he repeated 'yes' and 'please' over and over again.
"..Fine. But let me go, or else it is a no."
The gray hedgehog quickly let go, dusting Shadow's fur, and finger gunning at him. "You won't regret it!" He rushed inside the house.
Tails locked the workshop's door, walked to the door Silver had just passed, Shadow trailing behind him. He held the door without a word. Shadow nodded, silently thanking him, and crossed the door, stepping on the living room. Tails locked the door behind them both.
Silver waited for them from behind the kitchen counter-like-table, looking at the two mobians with a big smile, and some packagings resting in the wood of the counter. Tails smiled, and gently got ahold of Shadow's paw, making him freeze at the sudden contact for a small moment. The two tailed fox guided the dark hedgehog to the kitchen, letting his paw go from his grip. Strange. Ever since both their paws interlocked, Shadow knew something was strange. From the way he didn't step away, to the way his fingers inmediately found their place in the fox's. And that's strange, strange in a way that scares him.
The only ever person whose fingers had fitted all too well with his was his big sister, and everyone knows how that story went. Maybe not everyone, but he does. And he forever will. Even with Rouge, that, don't get him wrong, Shadow appreaciates Rouge. But even her fingers have small gaps when interlocking with his. Her latex gloves don't do it for him. Tails' fur fills up those holes with fluffness, molding to the shape of his paw like it existed to... to shape up like water on an ice cube mold.
But his gloves also don't do it for him. But Maria never used gloves. Not even when she was designing a new tech piece, or when she was sketching on a blueprint Shadow's Air Shoes. And her hands just fit there like they were meant to belong, skin soft thanks to hand products and nails well cut, interlocking their fingers together and squeazing felt like everything was, for once, right.
"Shadow? Are you okay?" Silver waved a paw in front of Shadow's face, snapping him out of his thoughts.
"Yes."
"...Okay.. if u say so." Silver said, still looking at him with an unreadable expression. He turned around, smiling as he approached Tails, who had opened the packages of dough, set a tiny bowl with water next to him, and took out a big pot filled with chopped seasoned meat with different stuff mixed in like onions, eggs, pieces of potato and olives. "I want to help. Can i help?"
"Sure!"
"..What do you need?" Shadow stood next to silver and across from the side Tails was on, working on getting his head off distracting thoughts.
"Grab the edges of the piece of plastic separating each sheet of dough from each other, and set it in front of you, on the table." Tails explained as he did what he said, Silver and Shadow copying his moves.
"You may need to take youe gloves for the next part." Tails looked at Shadow with a small smile. "Or, you can do the filling."
The dark hedgehog passed his sheet of dough to Silver, who had already taken out his gloves.
"With two fingers, dip them slightly in water, and apply it around the edges of the dough."
Silver repeated the process.
"Now this is were you step in, Shadow. You grab a spoonfull of meat, and put it on the center of the dough. Then, you fold it, pressing the edges to the ones from the other side. That's why you apply water first!"
Shadow repeated while Silver watched with sparkling eyes.
"Now's the hardest part, if there even is one, to begin with." Tails smiled slightly. "You grab the edges of the dough, and twist aaaall the way to the end."
With quick expertise, the fox twisted the dough from the edges into a neat looking crimp. Silver clapped slightly, and tried doing it with one, but it broke in the middle. When the gray hedgehog went to fix the problem, it had already broken in other part.
Tails looked at him with a small smile. "It's okay, it happens all the time. This dough is pretty frail, and for inexperienced people, it may come across difficult to make certain folds. But, you can always fold it in different ways." Tails grabbed a fork, pressing it's back on the edges. Shadow huffed.
"I'll show you how it's done, hedgehog."
"Game on!"
Tails looked at both of them with a big smile on his face, and two wagging tails behind him.
For Tails, nothing lasts forever. His parents had abandoned him in the forest when he was just a baby, and only god knows how he survived. But he did. He knows that his parents didn't last long with him. He knows that Sonic won't last long if he continues how he is right now. He knows that Knuckles won't be there to guard the Master Emerald for forever. But he also knows that Eggman won't attack and try to take over the world for as long as he exists. He knows that his fear of thunder may not always be how intense it is now. And even if this moment won't last for forever, Tails has learnt to appreacite that not everything has. He won't fold empanadas for as long as forever. He won't interlock his fingers with Shadow's for forever. He won't take Silver to fun place's for forever. He won't cuddle up to Sonic whenever he's scared for forever. And, maybe in this moment, that's fine by him. 'Forever' is one of the first words Tails' learnt, and up to this moment, he thinks it's a pretty difficult one. What's forever shall last, and what's last shall be there for forever and always.