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“Amy, I changed my mind, I can’t do this...”
“Oh, stop worrying so much, you’re fine.”
Miles "Tails" Prower currently felt a lot of things, but none of them were fine. He felt embarrassed, he felt anxious, he felt the scent of apple coming off the rinse that was supposed to make his fur shinier. And he felt that he should try and learn to say ‘no’ every now and again.
This is not where he was supposed to be today. He was supposed to be at his workshop, under the Tornado, installing the new radiator he had ordered two months ago and had finally arrived. However, that plan went down the drain as soon as he heard a knock on his door.
A fundraising auction. Eggman had gotten a little too excited in his latest stunt, so the idea came up to try and get back some of the money spent fixing the mad doctor's mess. So, when Amy showed up at his house saying they needed a last second replacement to one of the auctioned items, Tails was more than happy to help. The young genius had a number of inventions that could make the average Mobian’s life easier, and he was willing to give up a few gadgets that were either outdated or that he simply didn't need anymore.
But then the hedgehog said they wanted to auction him.
“I don’t know how you convinced me to come here. Sonic is the one who likes the fame and attention, I just-”
“And, like I told you, we couldn’t find him anywhere. So, we’re auctioning you.”
Oh, yeah. His big brother, the fastest thing alive, had agreed to be the special item the Restoration would be offering today. However, when the day came, the famous blue blur was nowhere to be found. Tails would be more worried about his best friend’s disappearance, but in all honesty it was fairly normal for him. Since Eggman had attacked not long ago, the chances of him being behind this were slim, so the most likely scenario was that Sonic was unwillingly hooked in another one of his solo adventures.
Or maybe he slept in at whatever meadow or cave he decided to spend the night on and forgot about the whole thing. That was also pretty possible.
“This is a mistake…”
“You’re such a pessimist! Everything will work out just fine, Tails. The house is full, the auction is going great, and you’re looking handsome!”
“I look like a plushie.”
Besides the relatively expensive hair products that now contaminated his fur, the only difference in Tails’ everyday outfit of gloves, socks and shoes, was a red bow tie that adorned his neck. Rather than looking handsome, he felt as if he was doing a Cheese cosplay, and a cheap one at that.
“That's a good thing, silly! Girls like a guy who can be cute and handsome.”
Tails blushed slightly at the comment. One of Amy’s "arguments" to bring him here was the possibility of his buyer being a beautiful girl looking to take him out on a date.
The kitsune wished his friend would stop teasing him. He knew that whoever bid for him would probably be after his mechanic or engineering skills, not his non-existing dating ones.
“Ah, yes. I’m sure the ladies are all lining up for a chance with the fox that does nothing but sit on his workshop all day, stained with oil and tinkering with-”
“Miles.”
Uh-oh. Amy calling him by his first name was never a good sign.
“Do not start on another of your self-deprecating rants. You are kind, sweet, thoughtful, attentive, and you've helped save the world more times than I care to remember. You, Miles Prower, are one hell of a catch.”
The slight blush had now grown over his entire face, making him almost the same color as the hedgehog in front of him. Before he could get his brain to formulate a response, said hedgehog suddenly had her arms wrapped around him.
“And besides all that, you're ready to help a friend with a last minute request, even if it's the last thing you'd wanna spend your Saturday doing. I really appreciate this, Tails. I mean it.”
Tails finally managed to find his voice. “N-N-No problem, Ames. A-Anytime.”
In truth, if it were anyone else at his doorstep that morning, Miles would probably have convinced them to take some of his inventions to be auctioned instead. However, his pink friend had a way of getting him to do her every wish. He felt that, if she asked him with those sparkling green eyes and that blinding smile, he'd jump off a cliff with his tails tied up.
“And now, ladies and gentleman, the moment you've all been waiting for! For the last item of the night, you'll be bidding for a day with our special guest!”
The voice of Jewel the Beetle could be heard from the other side of the curtains behind them, signaling his time to shine. Amy let go of him, for the fox's displeasure, and straightened up the fur her hug had scuffled.
“That's your cue. Remember Tails, just be positive and everything will work out.”
“O-Okay. Thank you, Amy.”
“Thank you. Now go out there and break a leg.”
With one last nod and smile to his hedgehog friend, Tails mustered all his courage and got ready to walk through the curtains. Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad after all.
“...the savior of Station Square, the greatest sidekick, the Mobian whose intelligence can rival Robotnik’s! Give it up for Tails the Fox!”
With a cheer from the crowd, the man of the hour walked into the stage somewhat awkwardly, clearly embarrassed by everything that was said about him. Despite that, he stood tall under the spotlight and shyly waved to the multitude of people attending the auction.
Amy was proud of her two-tailed friend. When Jewel worriedly told her that Sonic wasn’t answering any of her calls, she immediately set course to the one person she knew would help her out. Not because he’d enjoy being here tonight, mind you. Being the center of attention as people put prices on his person sounded like a nightmare for the young fox.
But he’d accept, because that was just the kind of guy he was. Tails was the most dependable person Amy had ever met, more even than Sonic. Whether it was a friend or a stranger, he would always try to help and support everyone around him, even at his own expense.
She still remembers how much she owes the fox for everything he did for her on their younger days. Back when she was still a little girl following her crush around, Tails would be the one to convince Sonic to let her tag along on their adventures, and would even go out of his way to help her keep up with the impossible pace of her blue hero. One of her dearest memories was the day he gifted her a hammer he had made himself, one that would consolidate her place on the team and her identity as her own hero.
“Two hundred rings!”
“Three hundred!”
“Five hundred!”
Amy shook herself off her trip down memory lane as the bidding began. From her spot in the audience, she could take a look at the folks who were leading her friend’s auction. She could tell what some of them were by their clothing; mechanics, engineers, academics, scientists, and the like.
The hedgehog let out a sigh of relief. She felt bad about abusing the fox’s kindness to get him here, even if it was for a good cause. But if he spent the day with people like him, doing and talking about all the sciency stuff he loved, then he’d be able to enjoy himself despite everything.
“A thousand rings!”
“A thousand rings for the bat in the fro… Rouge?”
Rouge??
“Why, of course it’s me! As if I’d waste the chance of spending a whole day with my favorite little fox.”
What? Did Rouge actually want to spend a day with Tails? Amy knew the bat liked to tease him every now and again, but that sounded a bit far even for her.
The fox seemed to be thinking the same thing. “Um… Rouge? What exactly would a day with you entail?”
“Huh? What's that all of a sudden? Do you not trust me?” She growled.
Tails stepped back at the sudden aggressiveness the bat showed. As he started stammering apologies, the thief dropped her scowl and let out a small giggle.
“Oh, I'm just joking, cutie. If you must know, I'm looking for your skills. You can hack into security systems easily and you can fit into places I can’t, both abilities would be very useful for one of my, er, treasure hunts.”
Oh, that explains it. She wanted his help to steal stuff. Tails definitely wouldn’t be comfortable with this.
Not that her friend was exactly an upstanding citizen. The kitsune kept an arsenal that made GUN's weaponry look like toys. Amy wondered if they had set this up so Rouge could steal them some blueprints.
“Oh, of course, of course…” The beetle said, not sounding fazed by the statement. “You're also planning on paying with gems, I take it?”
“You know me too well, Jewel darling.”
“Very well!” The prospect of increasing the organization's funds seemed to outweigh where the money was coming from for the Restoration's director. “One thousand rings! Anybody care to top that?”
Some of the earlier bidders tried to top the bat's offer. The help of a genius on their projects and experiments was a pretty good investment, after all. However, the spy wasn’t making things easy.
“Five thousand for Rouge the Bat! The bidding is on fire, people! Any advance on five grand?”
Amy didn't like where this was going. The gem-obsessed thief seemed way too determined to win the auction, for some reason. If she was right and GUN was behind this, Tails could be in real danger!
The young prodigy appeared to be having similar thoughts. She could see the distraught look on his face, probably running scenarios in his head of what the teasing bat had in store for him in case she won.
The other bidders had apparently thrown in the towel. No one seemed to be able to top Rouge's determination. Maybe she should-
“Ten thousand rings!” Shouted a girl with dark hair and a black and red dress.
“Wow! Ten thousand for the yellow cat in the back! Wait… Aren't you…?”
Someone just topped Rouge by five grand? Hold on, she knew this cat from somewhere…
“Well, I don’t know if you've heard of me, but maybe you've heard of Honey Clothes and Accessories™?”
“Are you Honey the Cat?”
THE Honey the Cat? CEO and designer of her own clothing brand? Black belt in three different martial arts? The woman who made the dress Amy was wearing right now?
“Holy moly! I-I love your designs! How did you even hear of this auction?” Jewel asked in astonishment.
“Why, everyone has heard of the Restoration, and how they help every time that maniac Eggman decides to attack! A chance to support the heroes that protect the world, and have one of them modeling my new collection? I'd never lose an opportunity like that.”
She wanted Tails to model for her? Amy couldn’t imagine the fox enjoying the idea, and the way he sweated on the stage as the cat finished her sentence seemed to confirm her thoughts.
This was unexpected. An icon of the fashion world showed up out of nowhere and had apparently saved her furry friend from a night of thievery with the bat burglar. But Amy still had a nagging feeling in her chest.
What was this sentiment? Did she feel jealous that Tails would get to spend a day with a celebrity? The feeling was similar to jealousy, but it didn't seem aimed at her friend…
Before Amy could dwell on it any longer, Jewel's voice rang through the speakers. “O-Oh… We at the Restoration are honored to have your presence! Ten thousand rings for Honey the Cat! Any advance?”
Amy’s eyes snapped to Rouge in the front row, wondering if she'd top the designer's offer. However, the next bidding came from a voice further back in the crowd.
“Fifteen thousand!”
The hedgehog turned her head to take a look at the owner of the voice, but was surprised to see that she couldn’t. Apparently everyone who was sitting in the area decided to get up and take a glance at the bidder, which prevented Amy and anyone else from seeing their face.
“Fifteen thousand for… Uh… Can we please let the buyer breathe, everyone?”
The auction's security stepped in to free the poor Mobian from the growing crowd, and allowed the rest of the room to see the culprit of such commotion, a yellow mongoose with purple hair that reached her back.
“M-M-M-Mina Mongoose?”
That explained the fuss. Amy could see an overcoat and hat on the seat the rockstar was previously on, probably how she went unnoticed for this long.
Seeing the mongoose actually brought a frown to Amy’s face, not that she had a problem with her or anything. But the sight of the musician brought a painful memory to the hedgehog’s mind.
One of her last attempts at a date with Sonic. Two tickets for the Forget Me Knots, his favorite band. She wore her best outfit, her most expensive perfume, and was even carrying a bag of chilli dogs as she went to ask him out.
But she didn't even make it that far. As she knocked on the door to Tails’ workshop where she knew Sonic was, Amy heard a sonic boom coming from the back of the building, signaling the blue blur's departure.
He didn't even hear her out. All that effort, and her hero immediately made a run for it the moment he realized who was at the doorstep. The prospect of interacting with her was just that awful.
It was Tails who came to her aid that day. He brought the sobbing mess she had become inside, and guided her to his couch. She went on to spend the night at his place, alternating between raging outbursts and teary rants, all the while the fox listened on and comforted her to the best of his efforts.
Just one of the many times her orange furred friend had helped her get back on her feet. The same friend who now had two celebrities bidding for a day with him. Amy wasn’t sure why this thought was making her upset.
“Having the savior of Station Square as a special guest in my concert would be just amazing! Actually, my newest song was inspired by your team's latest victory against the fatman with the mustache!”
The crowd went wild with this new information. However, the fox in question didn't seem that excited. “Oh, um… I can’t really sing though…?”
“You don't have to, silly. I just want your presence.”
This didn't seem to calm his nerves at all. This event already put Tails out of his comfort zone. However, standing in a huge stage, being seen by the thousands of Mobians who usually attended the mongoose's concerts, would rise his anxiety to the sky.
Amy was starting to regret getting her friend into this. She was hoping the fox would get to talk science or tinker with machinery for the locals, but these rich women had to show up and ruin everything!
“F-Fifteen thousand for Mina Mongoose! I love your last album, by the way… Ahem, any advance on fifteen thousand?”
“I guess fox-boy is more popular than I expected. Twenty!” Claimed the bat.
“Ooh, this is getting fun! Twenty-five!” Added the cat.
“Bring it on, ladies! Thirty thousand!” Shouted the mongoose.
Any prospect of joining the bidding now gone, the audience had settled to watch what had turned into a three-way tug of war for the two-tailed fox. Said fox stood awkwardly on the stage, seemingly having a hard time processing his own situation.
Amy, on the other hand, grew increasingly more upset as the trio continued their competition. The solidarity aspect of the fundraiser was gone, and instead they were treating Miles as a prize to be won, and this did not sit well with her.
“You know, as much as I imagine you two got money to splurge, it still seems a bit much to be spending on this. Are you girls not telling us everything you plan to have foxy doing?”
“Oh, your wallet's feeling the strain already, bat? Still, you're right. It'd be a waste to send him home after just a bit of modeling.”
“Agreed. It's not good for the band for me to stale too long, I gotta make the most of it.”
Huh? What are they talking about?
“Wh… What exactly do you girls want from me?” Asked the subject of the discussion.
The three girls looked at each other and smirked. They knew they all had similar plans to the clueless kitsune. Three voices then rang at the same time:
“A date.”
“What!?”
What.
The crowd grew loud with gasps and murmurs. A GUN agent and two celebrities seeking a date with Sonic's sidekick would undoubtedly be the front page of every gossip magazine in the country by tomorrow.
“You see cutie, in my line of work, it's hard to find a good match, y’know? You never know if a guy’s actually interested in you or only in your treasure chest.”
There was no time to ponder on the double meaning in the phrase before the cat chimed in.
“It's soooo hard to manage your company and work on your social life! I just can’t find the time to meet new people!”
“That's right. It's pretty much impossible to find someone who wants to get to know me better and not just have a fun night with a rockstar. I've run into more than a few jerks who thought my lifestyle meant I was ‘easy’.”
“B-B-But still, why me?”
“Why sweetie, I’ve known you for so long and I have no doubt you'd treat a lady right. You're the kindest fox I know and you've grown into quite a hunk over the years.”
“Though we don't know each other, you got a pretty good background to back you up. Fights evil, helps the needy, and super cute to top it off? Sign me up!”
“Same for me. You don't look like the type of guy who'd only talk about himself or act like an obsessed fan if we had dinner, rather, I feel you’d try and make sure both you and your date had a good time. Also, yeah, you're pretty hot.”
Tails now sported a deep blush that the spotlights pointed at him couldn’t hide. That was definitely more compliments than the fox was used to receiving, especially from girls.
Amy, however, was seething in her seat. She knew these unreasonably rich girls were up to something! Just who they thought they were to try and get Miles to-
Wait. Wait wait wait wait wait. Hold on just a minute.
Why was Amy so mad about this? She was the one who brought up the possibility of a girl wanting to ask him out in hopes to convince him to come here today, but she wasn’t expecting it to actually happen.
Not that her friend couldn’t land a date if he wanted. The hero fame made him quite popular and he had qualities that women looked for in a man, like the wealthy trio had already pointed out.
Then why did Amy feel like this? She should be happy her friend was finally getting the appreciation he deserved, being able to shine outside of Sonic's shadow for once. Right?
But she couldn’t help it. These girls only knew Tails superficially, maybe not even that. They didn't grow up with him. They didn't go through a thousand and one life or death situations by his side. They didn't have him with them at their lowest moments, helping them get out of rock bottom. They didn't know his favorite dessert, or his greatest fear, or the way his eyes shone when he talked about a new invention, or how his-
Wait. Wait. Did… Did she actually-
“Fifty thousand!”
“Oh my Gaia, fifty thousand rings! This is going great!” She heard Jewel say.
Hold up, fifty thousand?? Amy was so caught up in her own thoughts that she didn't realize the bidding kept going.
“Well ladies, how about that? Are you willing to top this?” The mongoose showed just how serious she was.
The other two competitors looked apprehensive. It seems that they had finally reached a dangerous point in their budgets, and were wondering whether or not to throw in the towel.
Amy felt her heart pounding in her chest. She was having problems coming to terms with her now confused feelings, and it felt like if she didn't make a decision soon, she could lose something very important.
“Well? Any advance on fifty thousand?” Asked the beetle.
Wait, she needed more time! This was all too sudden, Amy still wasn’t sure where her feelings laid, and she-
“It seems like the rockstar came out on top, people! Going once! Going twice! sol-”
“A HUNDRED THOUSAND RINGS!”
…
Silence. All eyes were on her. His eyes were on her. She felt the blood rush to her face and her heart slamming against her ribcage.
The mongoose was the one to break the silence. “Wow. You were just letting us have our fun while you waited to claim your man, huh? That's a bold move.”
“That's so romantic! You waited to see how far we'd go, and then you outbid us to show just how much he means to you! Still, that was a bit overkill.”
“Geez, girl. If you just said you had your sights on him I would've backed down.”
Oh no. She shouldn't have done that. Her eyes found his. He looked shell shocked. Oh no, he hated her. This was a mistake. She had to-
“What an amazing turn of events, people!” Jewel hit her gavel. “Sold to the pink hedgehog in the red dress!”
…Oh Hoshino, what had she done?
“You planned this from the start, didn't you? You should’ve let me in on it, Amy!”
The hedgehog was once again backstage. The auction was over and she now had to wait for her ‘prize’.
“I should know you were up to something with the way your eyes lit up when you told me Tails was coming. You're gonna tell me everything after your day together, got it?”
Amy blushed for what felt like the thousandth time that evening. Before she could say anything, Jewel turned on her heels and went to fetch the fox who now plagued her thoughts.
She messed up big time. Tails had the chance to go out with three girls who were richer, more famous, more beautiful than her, and she had ruined it. He would never forgive her.
Where did that even come from? She had always seen Tails as her friend, her best friend even. But the moment someone else shows interest in him, she's suddenly jealous and possessive? What was wrong with her? She'd be lucky if the fox even looked her way after what she pulled toda-
“H… Hey…”
Amy almost jumped out of her skin. She got lost in her own thoughts again, and now the reason for her distress was standing in front of her, alternating between looking at her and the wooden floor.
“H-Hi…” She also had trouble meeting his eyes, feeling her cheeks getting warmer the longer she held her gaze on the fox.
Neither of them knew what to say. They just stood there awkwardly for what felt like ages, until the kitsune decided to break the silence. “I… I didn't expect you to do that.”
“Me neither, to be honest.” She let out a small chuckle.
“I'm glad you did.”
Her eyes snapped to the fox. His face was pink, and his namesakes were getting tangled in embarrassment. Before she could say anything, a few Mobians passed by them carrying boxes and equipment, signaling they were about to close for the night.
“W-We should probably get going.” Said Tails.
“Y-Yeah.” She agreed, and they started walking next to each other.
As they made their way to the exit, Amy once again tried to make sense of her feelings. Just how long had she felt that way about Tails? Maybe during one of the times when he comforted her after a heartbreak, or when she dragged him out of his workshop in an effort to get him some sun, the fluffy and gentle fox had sneaked his way into her heart. But still, she couldn’t help being worried. She had never been lucky when it came to romance, and if this didn't work out, she was in danger of losing one of her most important friendships. Was it really worth the risk?
As if sensing her distress, a gloved hand intertwined its fingers with hers. She looked at her furry friend, as he tried to fight his own embarrassment.
“Um… Any idea where you wanna go for our d-date? I can cover it anywhere you choose, it's the least I could do after all the money you spent on me.”
Amy felt her worries subside. For a moment, her affection towards the kitsune outweighed any negative thoughts she could have. Maybe, she should try and make the most of the situation she found herself in.
As soon as she figured out where the hell she was gonna get a hundred thousand rings.