Chapter Text
It all started when Amy Rose found the boxset in an old curiosities shop.
She was busy strolling through the heart of Central City, across busy streets and through tightly packed shopping malls, looking for an appropriate birthday present for Tails. He and Sonic had invited her and all their friends to his house in just a couple of days for a party, and she wanted to get him something she knew he would like. It would make Sonic happy, but her love for shopping would first and foremost show them both that she was a great friend... so she could not approach this lightly.
The problem was that she could not figure out what the present would be. As far as tastes went, Amy and Tails did not intersect much. She went to fashion stores and searched for clothes that would fit him... but not only did she not know his preferences, she wasn't sure if Tails would even want them — he seemed to be following Sonic and Knuckles in the 'not-wearing-clothes' department. She did know what Tails liked, but getting books was a risky prospect: they were filled with scientific and engineering jargon that she could not make heads or tails of (heh), and there was a chance that Tails knew all about those anyway. He had helped in saving the entire world with what his mind was already capable of!
So Amy diverted to an easier task — she tried to recall his personal interests.
She went to candy and chocolate stores that had plenty of mint stuff that he'd love, but her ego decided that it was too easy... something that was expensive, yet would be devoured within minutes and forgotten about the next day. No, this had to be something more memorable.
Perhaps a new vacuum or robot arm to help him in the workshop? Maybe, but Amy suspected that Tails would just be able to build a better one himself. And without the need for shipping, too.
A new car? Now, what would even be the point of that?
"Ooh, tough choices!" Amy muttered excitedly under her breath. She hurried onward, strutting past the humans on her enormous boots. Some funny glances were thrown her way, but she ignored all of them. She and her fellow anthropomorphic animals were a more rare sight on the continents than the islands they came from and usually lived on, so this was something that she was more used to since moving here.
She supposed she couldn't really blame the humans. They were probably intimidated and wary after having heard just some of the things that Sonic alone was capable of... but those capabilities had driven back Dr Eggman, so none of them were really complaining.
She turned the corner and turned her eye past the crossroads — and it landed on what looked like a crowded shop window on the other end of the street, trimmed with smooth wood and polished glass. In it were toys, games, what looked like old human artefacts, and... her eyebrow raised up. What looked to be an atlas of maps from the old human world!
"I do know Tails likes world maps," she remembered. "There might be something for him in there!" She made her way towards it and pushed her way inside.
At the counter was a human, a scrawny guy in his twenties with big glasses. He had curly hair and freckles all over his face like dried splatters of paint, and was clad in a t-shirt and jeans in a way that Amy liked. He was reading what seemed like a comic book, but he put it down and smiled at her as she strolled in.
"Hey!" He gave an awkward wave. "I don't see much of you guys around here, so it's real nice to meet ya."
"You too!" Amy nodded. "My name is Amy. I'm just here to look for a birthday present for a friend of mine."
"Ah, gotcha. He's... erm, not a human, is he?"
"No..." Amy frowned. "Why?"
He looked apologetic. "Well, this place — this is a curiosities shop for things from the old world. Like, thousands of years ago when it was really just us humans. I'm not sure if he would be interested in any of this stuff, considering..."
Amy crossed her arms, understanding what he meant.
"Well, I'll just say that he probably would be interested in this more more than I do." It was good to be honest. "What do you recommend?"
"What kind of stuff is he into?"
Amy racked her brain, trying to think of what she knew about Tails in all the time they had been together. And by time, the moments they had actually spent hanging out — because really, fifty percent of it had mostly been focused on fighting Eggman and all sorts of other villains. During the entire excruciating war to defeat Infinite, she didn't recall ever talking to him about anything else for months...
Then her eyes glazed over the comic book on the counter, and she remembered. Tails liked comic books! He had found a whole human collection of them in their earlier island days and read them in his free time. Amy had even asked him once about what he was reading — and he showed her a funny little cartoon human with wings on his helmet, and his giant best friend who carried giant rocks and had a cute dog.
"Do you have other comics?" She pointed her glove at the counter.
"Yeah, we do." The guy grinned. "Plenty in the back, take a look. Mainly superhero stuff."
"Superhero?"
"Humans with powers and cool abilities, who use them to fight bad guys and save the world." He laughed uneasily. "Sorta like what we have now with the rest of you guys, except usually less terrifying..."
Amy's eyes widened. Humans had already been imagining that stuff for thousands of years?! That was really intriguing — and she figured if she was interested, that meant that Tails would be too. She headed to the back of the shop.
The superhero comics looked really interesting, too. They had all sorts of different art styles for different characters, who in turn had some really interesting powers that reminded her a lot of her friends. There was Black Widow, who reminded her of Rouge... Wonder Woman, who reminded her of Blaze... the Flash in his cool red costume, which reminded her of Sonic, of course...
And then, her boot tapped against what looked like a wrapped box. Finished with flipping through the comic and placing it back, she bent down to grab it and reach up — and saw what looked like an enormous set of what looked like DVDs, covered in plastic wrap. In a corner of one side of it, there was a picture of a stern-looking human with some kind of glowing glove.
It looked less impressive than the comic books, but she brought it back to the counter anyway to see what the expert thought of it. She expected him to be enthused or mildly enthusiastic like he had with some of the comics she'd shown him... but he one look at it, and his breath drew short.
"Oh... that's a big find," he said softly.
"Is it now?" Amy asked, curious. "I mean, it's not a comic book..."
"No, but I can guarantee that your friend will like this better than anything else over there," he promised. He turned the box set around to show her the logo. "The Marvel Cinematic Universe, a massive collection of comic book films and shows all telling a continuous story... spanning several decades and a whole lotta famous human actors."
"Ooh, about the superheroes from those comics?"
"Some of them!" The guy corrected her with a raise of his finger. "Sort of like a compilation of all those comic books. I've watched a lot of these and have had a lot of fun — and I'm not the only one, despite these being super old. This was one of the biggest pop culture events at the time, a seriously impressive work of human art. If your friend is interested in the past, this is also pretty much an enormous time capsule."
"That, and it includes superheroes..." Amy trailed off, inspecting the box with a smirk. Not super expensive. This definitely seemed up Tails' alley, that was for sure — and hey, maybe Sonic's too! A couple of movie nights certainly were in order, if she liked what she saw. And perhaps considering how involved the rest of Tails’ life was, this seemed like a good break from all of that.
"There's more where that came from," the guy shrugged. "But there's a good chance I'll have it if you ever come back for more."
"Well, I think this sounds great," Amy beamed. "I'll take it!"
The guy laughed, reaching under the counter for the credit card scanner. "Try not to get through them all too fast."
--
On the night, Amy was the first to reach Tails' house and ring the doorbell. RING RING.
It was Sonic that opened the door, naturally. His eyes lightened up as he saw Amy right in front of him. "Heya, Ames! I — whoa whoa WHOA!"
Amy pounced on Sonic, driving him back with a super tight hug — being a little careful not to drop the wrapped present. "SONIC! Oh, it’s so good to see you again. You feel so warm…"
"Ah hah…" Sonic's smirk was now a little fixed. "You too — it HAS been a while since we all hanged out, huh? Er, Tails?!"
"COMING!"
Sonic gently pushed Amy off him and guided her straight into the living room. "You’re the first one here, by the way. Thanks for comin' on such short notice."
"What? Honestly," Amy laughed, dropping the present on the table. "I wouldn’t miss this for the world. Besides, you two have been way too busy. You probably should have gotten me to do all this for you!" She scowled a little at that, chastising herself for the missed opportunity.
"Aw, it hasn’t been that busy…" the birthday fox giggled as he came into the room, his two tails rotating like a propeller. He placed some snacks and chili dogs on the table, and wrapped his arms around Amy's shoulders. He looked up at her with two bright blue eyes. "I'm so glad you're here!"
Amy hugged him back. "Happy birthday, Tails!"
"Thanks! Wow, is that for me?" he added in amazement, eyes looking over the enormous present.
Before Amy could answer, the doorbell rang again. Sonic was a lightning fast blur as he sped over to it and pulled it open to reveal — who else, but Knuckles?
He burst his way inside, holding what looked like an enormous basket of fresh fruit. Throwing it onto the table, he laughed boisterously as he enveloped Tails into a hug that lifted him off his feet. "Oh, it's good to see you young fox. Happy birthday!"
"Thanks Knuckles!" Tails winced. "Oof — too tight."
"Oops, sorry!" Knuckles placed him down, patting his arms. "I sometimes underestimate my own strength, heh."
"How's it goin', Knucklehead?" Sonic asked. "Security still tight on that Master Emerald?"
"Of course!" he puffed out his chest. "No one has dared make an attempt for it in weeks, not even Rouge. But thanks to the efforts of this wonderful fox, I have been safely able to leave my island alone for just tonight."
"What do you mean?" Amy inquired.
"Oh, you don't know..." Tails rubbed the back of his head. "Well, I just set up a security system around the emerald that will go off if it senses movement. It has a camera and an audio feed and everything, and it's hopefully well hidden."
"And I have the remote for it right here!" Knuckles pulled it out under one of his enormous gloves. "One can never be too sure, but it allows me to be here tonight without having to worry too much."
"Man, I did not know this!" Sonic snorted and ruffled Tails' head, making him pout a little. "You really are incredible, little buddy."
Tails blushed a little. He was a little embarrassed by the compliments — like, he felt it was something that he really did not need. But if he voiced that in front of everyone, he certainly knew that everyone would disagree.
RING RING. He exhaled with relief. Saved by the bell.
The door was once again opened to reveal two familiar, welcome faces: Blaze the Cat and Silver the Hedgehog. They stepped inside, Blaze with beautifully packaged mint chocolates in her paws. "Your house is very lovely, Tails."
"Wow, y-you made it!" The fox gawped at the sight of these two. But his eyes sparkled upon seeing the chocolates. "Oh, my favourite! Thank you so much for these."
"It was nothing." Blaze smiled at this, knowing that it was nothing compared to the vast amount of possessions and riches in her own dimension. But she had nothing that would really appeal to Tails, other than the key to everyone's heart... their favourite food.
"Silv!" Sonic lightly punched his shoulder, accidentally brushing aside his quills. "Long time, no see. How's the future lookin' right about now?"
"Thankfully, very bright!" His smile was serene and full of more happiness than Sonic had ever seen him before. "I would know, because I sadly wouldn't be here if it wasn't. It seems that my place is still here, and if that means I get to be here with Blaze and be around for a birthday party..."
"Don't let that go to your head," Blaze teased him.
"I don't plan to." Silver grinned.
RING RING RING! "Wow!" remarked Sonic, tapping his foot. "Everyone's showing up all of a sudden..."
It was none other than Team Chaotix! The dynamic trio cheered and surrounded Tails as they pushed their way inside, and gave him and the others as many bear hugs as possible. Under Vector the Crocodile's long arm was a stack of CDs which he thrust into Tails' arms. "Your present! Some tunes for ya to invent your heart out to."
"Really?" Tails beamed. "Thank you so much, guys!"
"It was no problem at all, my friend," Espio said. "You are more than worthy of this gift of which we have bestowed upon you."
Charmy Bee flew over their heads. "Some of the songs in there are my favourite! We have rock, we have disco, some jazz... just everything depending on what mood you're in!"
"Awesome," breathed Tails. "Some tools in the workshop do get a bit loud, but I can probably just find something that will allow me to hear the music better! This is great."
"You're welcome! There will be no pay in return this time." Vector winked.
RING RING. Sonic gave Charmy a fist bump before saying, "I'll go get the door!" He raced over to it for what would probably be the last time... and opened it to a considerable shock.
There were three at the door — there was Cream the Rabbit with her beloved Chao Cheese. There was Rouge the Bat who was looking as suave and stylish as always, holding the ice cream cake as Sonic had requested. And... there was Shadow, standing there silently with his arms crossed.
Before Sonic could say anything else, Cream jumped into his vision. "Hey, Mr. Sonic!"
Sonic's eyes snapped to her. He chuckled. "Yeah, it's great to see ya again, Cream. Where's your mom, by the way?" He peeked out at the street. "I can't see her..."
"Mom is a little busy, but doing real swell!" Cream chirped. "She dropped me off here, but it's no big deal. I can just walk back afterward with Cheese, since it's nearby from here. Isn't that right, Cheese?"
"Chao, Chao!"
"Right, well come on in then!" Sonic stepped aside, casting a nervous glance at Shadow. Cream skipped inside and was greeted by both Tails and Charmy.
"Evening, Big Blue," Rouge pecked Sonic on the cheek. "I got the cake like you asked for, although annoyingly I could not find one that had mint choc chip..."
"Heh, it's okay!" Sonic shrugged. "Mint is really a personal preference, and Tails has already gotten enough of them —"
"Well, I wanted to be sure," Rouge interrupted, taking a green tub of ice cream that had been hidden behind the cake. Sonic couldn't stop himself from sniggering as she went to put everything on the table as well, and then went up to Tails to give him a hug. "Hi, sweetie."
"S-so good to see you, Rouge!" Tails took the hug, although he looked a little flustered as he did.
Sonic stiffened a little as he felt a presence walk up next to him. He turned to look over at Shadow, who had not said a single word.
"I didn't expect to see you here!" he spoke. "But thanks for coming anyway, Shads."
"Just to be clear," Shadow raised an eyebrow. "I am only here for Tails. I hold far more respect for him than I do for you."
"Well, this is his birthday party after all," murmured Sonic. "Who said anything about me?"
"Tch." Shadow rolled his eyes. But given that he was not hurling insults back nor showing signs of superiority, Sonic figured that this was probably the most content he had been in a while.
And now that Sonic was looking around the crowded room, why else would he be? There was no threat to fight, no terrifying problem to face for what had felt like ages. Everyone was here not because they needed to be, but simply because they wanted to. Just to hang out together and to celebrate a good friend of theirs — which Sonic would happily take credit for arranging. There was no better way to celebrate his little brother.
He clapped his hands, drawing everyone's attention. "ALRIGHT! Looks like the party's getting started. Feel free to mingle, hang out and enjoy all the snacks. Let me know if you need help with anything, and I'll let you know when we get to the cake."
A few whoops and cheers. Tails smiled shyly, but still gave a grateful look to Sonic. He just winked back.
--
The party was a breeze. It mainly consisted of everyone sitting around the table or on the couch, catching up with each other about their lives and reminiscing on older times. It probably wasn't the party that Sonic personally would have wanted, but Tails expressed to him multiple times that he was perfectly happy with it. Still while they were singing happy birthday and Rouge was cutting into the cake, Sonic gave a loud and passionate speech about everything that his brother meant to him and gave him an enormous hug in front of everybody. Tails was both choking from the tight squeeze and embarrassed by the praise, but everyone cheered for them. It was adorable to watch.
Looking around, Amy could now see Team Chaotix hanging out with Rouge on the couch while Cream was talking excitedly to Blaze, Silver and Shadow in the corner. She, Knuckles, Tails and Sonic were sitting at the table enjoying the ice cream cake together — nearby, all of Tails' presents were in a small pile.
"Gee, I kinda feel a bit silly now," Amy shook her head. "I was the only one who wrapped my present, but I guess I didn't have to after all..."
"No, no!" Tails insisted. "It's fine, Amy. I really appreciate the gesture with trying to keep this a surprise — I'm super excited to find out what's inside. Is it okay if I open it now, though?"
"Tails, it's your present! Go right on ahead."
"Okay." The fox gave Amy a sheepish grin. He leaned over the table as fast he could for the present, but couldn't reach — so Knuckles reached over and batted it towards him. Tails swept away his bangs and started unwrapping the paper.
"What is this though, Ames?" Sonic asked her, happily eating his ice cream. "This is a big box, huh? Is there something machine-ry in it for Tails? Er, an engineering book, perhaps?"
"No, I decided to go in a different direction," Amy replied. "I don't know the first thing about that stuff, and I wasn't sure if I would anything useful for him... so I got you a —"
"Bunch of movies?" Tails cocked his head, eyes flying over the side of the now-unwrapped box. His brows were raised. "This is —!"
"Oh good, you recognise it!" Amy giggled, wiping a bead of sweat from her brow. "I knew you liked human comics, so I thought you would like that. I got it in a curiosities shop."
"Human comics?" Knuckles leaned over to look.
"Oh yeah, those drawn cartoons," Sonic nodded. "Tails really liked looking at the pictures of whatever we could find, even if some of the words were hard to read. And these are, what, movies based on those books?"
"That's what the cashier told me! He said they were a big deal in human culture. It really came down to this or a book of old maps —"
"Amy, you need to take me to this place someday," Tails interrupted with a sudden intensity. "I studied a lot to be able to build all those planes and defences... but a lot of what I know was based off what humans were able to do thousands of years ago! If these movies were made in that time, then by watching them now it will be like..."
"Looking into the past!" Amy finished. "Yeah, kind of. The cashier called it something like a human time capsule."
"Wait," Sonic scratched his head. "But these are stories that humans just created to entertain themselves. It's not like a documentary or anything like that, is it?"
"Well, no," Tails explained. "But there's probably a lot of stuff in it that kind of reflects what human society and culture looked like at the time. You know, humans making the stuff they wanted to see, about the people they aspired to be like? About the heroes that would help and protect them in the ways we do now?"
"I did see a few superheroes in that shop that had running abilities that were pretty similar to yours, Sonic."
Sonic raised an eyebrow, intrigued. "Really? That sounds kinda cool!" He leaned back and looked at Tails. "I think I wanna see this for myself."
"I'll open the box."
As Tails did (albeit a little carefully), Knuckles threw in his opinion. "Well, I won't pretend that this stuff is beyond me. But these movies sound like fun, so I'd like to watch at least one. How long do they go for?"
"Judging by the back of the box..." Tails squinted. "Average of two hours each?"
"And how many are there?"
"Well," Tails puffed out his cheeks. "There's a lot of DVDs here, I'll tell ya. But they all seem to be in the right order, and I do have what we need installed in our TV that will allow us to watch them easily. Could we..." He flushed a little. "Could we watch one now?"
"Tails, it's your birthday!" Sonic clapped a glove on his shoulder. "Of course we can."
"Great!" Tails stood up. "I'll set up the TV — uh, feel free to let everyone know. No one has to join if they don't want to."
The others went around and explained Amy's birthday present. To their surprise, they were all met with little resistance.
"Argh, the night is still young!" proclaimed Vector. "I wanna watch a movie, no matter who it's made by."
"I probably will not pay much attention," Espio told them. "This is not exactly something I'm interested in, just to let you know. But I'll still do it for the sake of my friends."
"Ooh, ooh, is it gonna have explosions?!"
"Er..." Knuckles was unsure how to answer. "Maybe?"
Charmy let out a loud whoop and spiralled up to the ceiling. Approaching Knuckles was Rouge, who held out an arm. "Then by all means, lead us to the couch, handsome..." Knuckles' smile became fixed, but he followed her orders.
On the other side of the room, Cream nodded eagerly at Amy and Sonic's suggestion. "Ah, sounds like an adventure! As long as it's not too long... I do have to be home in a few hours..."
"It probably won't be," Amy reassured her. "Mom's gonna rest easy knowing you're with all of us."
"That is correct," Blaze affirmed. "I have been interested in the human world from time to time, especially since they are not a part of my dimension."
"Me too!" Silver nodded. "I think I have heard of this before in our future. But probably once or twice, considering all the other things I've had to deal with..." He let out an awkward laugh. "But seeing as I now have all the time in the world —"
Shadow glared, and Blaze playfully nudged Silver. "Very funny."
"Thank you," Silver said gleefully. "I don't compromise."
"And uh... whaddabout you, Shads?" Sonic asked him, not sure of what he would say. He knew that he certainly did not have an excellent past with some humans, but knew some good ones that had once been a part of his life. It was kinda complicated.
"I had never really thought about any of the humans that existed before the Robotnik family, nor of what they used to entertain themselves with... but taking into consideration of humanity in general, I don't expect much heroism from them." He sighed reluctantly. "That being said, I don't particularly have time for anything else nowadays but working with GUN. It would be nice to have a two-hour distraction."
"That's real nice of ya, Shads!" Sonic grinned. "Tails will be glad for it."
"Don't push it."
"Yeah, I don't think I will," Sonic agreed. "Besides, what have you got to lose? It can't be too bad."
Shadow didn't reply. He just silently dragged his feet after Sonic and the others.
The two couches that usually were for Sonic and Tails were quickly occupied. Some remained nearby at the table with the snacks, those being Espio, Silver and Blaze. Charmy and Cream were perfectly happy to sit on the floor, which was thankfully covered by a rug. Sitting on a chair in the corner was Vector, with Shadow leaning against the wall next to him.
Tails meanwhile was setting up the TV — a big flatscreen one that he had partially built and hung on the wall himself, of course. It was plugged to a disc drive that accepted the DVD he slid in, as his gloved paws wrapped themselves around the remote.
His eyes widened as he turned back to see everyone patiently waiting for him. "Oh, wow!" His voice was higher than usual. "Well, uh, um... if any of you ever lose interest and you don't wanna keep watching —"
"We know, sweetie," Rouge winked at him. "That'll be up to us, you know? You don't gotta lift a finger."
"Right, right!" Tails nodded, and his tails started to spin. He flew over Cream and Charmy and joined Sonic on the middle couch, who had reserved a spot just for him. He leaned back and pressed play before he could change his mind, declare it as stupid.
"Heh, this should be fun!" Sonic said. "What's this movie called, by the way?"
"Oh, uh..." Tails cocked his head, remembering. "Iron Man?"
"Iron?" Sonic was confused. "What, like a robot? Like Metal Sonic?"
Tails shrugged. They would just have to see.