After getting his hands on all of the Chaos Emeralds and Sol Emeralds, Eggman announced to the Freedom Fighters his plan to use his new dimensional transporter to travel to the first new dimension he found and take it over. Sonic, Tails and Knuckles immediately stormed his base to stop him, and prevented him from using it by fighting and defeating armies of his robots until they reached the room where Eggman told them the transporter was. But just as the battle ended, Tails was grabbed by one of the robots on Eggman's order, and trapped in the dimensional transporter just before everyone could destroy it. " What?! No! " Tails exclaimed in panic upon being grabbed by a metallic hand attached to a long metal arm, thrown inside the small white transporter and having the transparent glass doors shut in front of him.

As Tails banged on the glass in desperation, Eggman exclaimed, " Yes! It's just as I planned! You've fallen right into my trap! I'm going to send you to a parallel dimension where a creature similar to the Time Eater had caused everyone in it to disappear! It's a dimension devoid of people, a dimension where months inside of it are equal to days back home, where no one will be around to help you and you'll never disrupt my plans again! After I send you away, I'm destroying the transporter to keep you there! I should've done this years ago! " With Sonic and Knuckles panicked for his safety but too occupied with fighting a powerful robot to do anything about it, Tails screamed, " Sonic! " as he was sent away in a flash of light.

The flash of light went away and he was dropped onto a grassy field in the middle of a completely empty suburban neighborhood. Just like that, Tails was trapped in an alternate Mobius all alone, with nobody around to run or supply the stores or keep the electricity grid working.

He ended up learning that he would have to " steal " from the now empty stores to get everything he needed to live comfortably, from essentials like food to building materials, and ended up building himself a small house just outside the silent and empty neighborhood in a large empty field. That house had self-maintaining indoor heating, air conditioning, indoor plumbing, a water supply for the washroom and everything that he needed to make it comfortable, with one bedroom with a bed in it for himself, a living room with a couch and a TV and DVD Player he found, a kitchen full of dishes, a working fridge, and cooking implements that he found, and even a washer and dryer for his clothes and a dishwasher. His house was built to have a fully-stocked laboratory in a workshop near it, full of tools, chemicals, and metal for building. He decided to name the dimension he was trapped in, " Empty Mobius, " cursing his lack of originality.

Tails built self-sustained electricity generators for all of the buildings that he needed to continue having power, like all the grocery stores in his general area so that all the food in it wouldn't rot. This would ensure he would have an ample food supply for at least a couple of months without having to resort to farming, hunting and gathering to stay alive, the middle of which he wasn't exactly comfortable doing when he was a nature lover. Throughout all of his hard work at making the world into a place he would be able to survive in alone, Tails felt a triumphant sense of independence, pride and gratitude at his engineering talent that he never had before.

At first, Tails had to focus on all of that engineering, so he wasn't able to focus on how alone he was. But after he had been in isolation for an entire week, the prolonged loneliness started getting to him and gradually breaking him down, getting him more and more stressed out and depressed as the days went by with no sign of rescue. He started worrying that he was never going to get home, that his assumption that Sonic would be able to force Eggman to build a new transporter to get him home was false, and that he'd have to learn to build one himself. But he had no idea how to get back home when he had no idea where he even was in relation to home, and no idea of how to build such a device without both the Chaos and Sol Emeralds in the first place. He also couldn't find out where his current dimension's emeralds were when he'd need to have an emerald from it to build an emerald locater in the first place. But he was so desperate to get home that he became obsessed with trying to do it anyways.

This desperation combined with his need to distract himself from his loneliness meant he fixated on it to the point where all of his efforts at it were at the expense of his health. He often forgot to eat meals or deliberately skipped them, didn't bother to take baths or even showers, didn't comb his hair or brush his teeth, and would stay up incredibly late into the night or even pull all-nighters until he passed out in his lab because he didn't want to stop working on his project. He focused so much on engineering to distract from the loneliness, doing things like sending a satellite into space to try to figure out how far away he was from his own dimension, that he severely neglected his health.

After three months in Empty Mobius time had passed, Tails had begun to take on the look of a mad scientist from being so unkempt; he had messy hair, various grease stains scattered around his body, a small labcoat he made himself full of pockets with a temperature modulator in its lining, and was skinny, in a similar manner to when he was living on Cocoa Island as a three-year-old desperately searching for food on an island that hunted him down, barely getting anything to eat, not that he even remembered that far back. He still acted like himself, being a cheerful child smiling and giggling a lot, but it was usually forced, a mask to hide his anxiety, loneliness, depression, and increasing insecurity and despair. He had reached the point where he would do anything to have someone to talk to.

On a week that seemed to have an unusual spike in thunderstorms that his weather satellite suspiciously failed to predict, Tails was flying over a grassy meadow full of flowers, hills and various scattered boulders, headed to the grocery store yet again, when he sighed melancholically. " I'm getting tired of seeing the same old scenery over and over again! Maybe I should fly to the other side of the mountain for a change of pace. " Tails said, talking to himself as he had done before he met Sonic when he had no one else to carry on a conversation with. He flew towards the small rocky mountain and around to the other side of it, and was slightly satisfied at seeing new scenery below him. But his satisfaction was soon turned into shock when he noticed what was near the bottom of the mountain.

" Anti-Tails?! " Tails thought, with a mixture of emotions rushing through him as he stopped flying forwards to stare down at his evil counterpart sitting on the grassy ground picking berries from a forest bush wearing a brown backpack. He was worried and intimidated, remembering how he had always been unable to beat him in a fight, and worrying about what would become of him if they got into a fight in a world with no one running the hospitals and clinics. But all of his fear and anxiety was overshadowed by the overwhelming joy, relief and excitement at finally being able to have someone to talk to. He was surprised and confused about Miles being there and wondered about the full story behind it, but since he wasn't likely to fully divulge the answers to his old enemy, Tails accepted the possibility that he wouldn't learn the answer until later, and instead landed on the ground near him and happily ran up to him to talk to him.
" Miles! " Tails ran up to his evil counterpart happily calling out his name, causing him to turn around in surprise and look at him in confusion. " Hi! " Tails said in relief and excitement, as Miles looked back at him stunned for a second in disbelief. " Tails, why are you… " Miles replied with his eyes widened, before crossing his arms and looking suspicious and annoyed. Before he could say anything else, Tails continued,

" Boy, am I glad to see you! I've been trapped in this world for months! I didn't think there was anyone else here! Oh, what a relief! How'd you get here? " There was a silence, which made Tails uncomfortable. " Miles? " he said unhappily, feeling intimidated as Miles stared at him with a suspicious look.

" Why would you be interested in that? " Miles said skeptically. Feeling like his efforts at kindness were being shot down and would continue to be, Tails pressed on regardless, desperate to convince him to stay with him at all costs. If that meant being nice to him in the face of consistent irritation and distrust, until he finally broke past his defenses and got him to warm up to him, that was just what he was going to do.

" I'm sorry, I'm… just trying to make conversation. Thought it'd be a good ice breaker, you know? " Tails said sadly, getting fidgety and uncomfortable. " Ice breaker? " Miles said, still confused and bewildered. " Yeah, " Tails replied, nervously scratching the back of his neck. Trying to treat him like his friend again, Tails explained, " I got sent here by Dr. Eggman. He said this was a place where all the people disappeared and the passage of time was different, so months here are only days back home. That'd explain why my friends haven't been able to rescue me yet. "

" Either that or your Rotor simply isn't capable of getting you back, " Miles remarked, looking away from him in disdain, which made him even more unhappy than before. Trying to pretend he didn't hear that discouraging remark, Tails said hopefully, " Are you sure you don't wanna tell me how you got sent here? D-Do you have a globe post with you by any chance? " " No, " Miles answered in annoyance.

" C-Can you make one? " Tails asked with a desperate smile. " If I could simply make one, my associates wouldn't have needed to steal them, " Miles retorted, still avoiding his gaze. " Besides, I do not care about building things, remember? I don't know what your problem is with a world without people. To me, it's the ideal place to reside! Far less troublesome… " Miles replied, and said under his breath resentfully, " And far less dangerous… "

" Won't it get lonely, though? I mean, there's a reason solitary confinement is used as a punishment and works! " Tails said nervously, wondering just how antisocial his evil twin really was. " Because the victim has nothing to do? If he possessed books or a television, I'm sure he wouldn't even notice, " Miles replied, faltering uneasily at the start before speaking condescendingly for the second sentence.

" How long have you been here? " Tails asked him, wondering if he had only been sent there very recently to be okay with being alone. " W-Why do you want to know? " Miles questioned with a nervous tone and a resentful expression to hide it. " I-I'm just curious, Miles. There's nothing to worry about. I know you don't think of me as a friend, so I don't blame you for not wanting to tell me things. If you don't wanna talk about it, that's okay. I just thought it'd be better for us to have something to talk about instead of there being nothing but awkward silences between us, " Tails said with a nervously forced smile.

" What are you talking about? What are you planning?! " Miles questioned, paranoid and anxious. Realizing he was probably on a time limit, Tails decided to try to get out his request as fast as possible while still being persuasive. " I wanna make a deal. I know you'd like to live alone, but there are advantages to having someone around who's willing to help you! " Tails said sadly.

" I-I don't need anyone's help! I can survive on my own! I lived by myself for a long time before this and I don't need anyone's help! " Miles shouted with an angry expression and fists clenched, with his stammering and shaking giving his anxiety away. Tails exclaimed frantically, " But what if you get hurt?! What if you get really sick?! What if you break your leg and can't get any food or water for yourself?! No matter how careful someone tries to be, they're going to get incapacitated eventually! There's no avoiding it no matter how hard you try! I need you, Miles!... And if something happens to you, you'll need me! I'm not trying to insult you or anything like that! I'm trying to make a deal. It'll increase our chances of survival. Please! Come live with me! I've got a workshop right next to my house so it's quick and convenient for me to get to, my house has indoor heating and air conditioning and indoor plumbing and a water supply for baths and stuff, it's the only house in the entire world still like that, Miles! Anything you need, I'll give you! Please! " Tails was begging him to live with him by the end, and Miles was struck speechless, looking sad and conflicted the whole time.

There was a silence, and Miles, still with his arms crossed, avoided his pleading look awkwardly, with his expression of irritation proven a mask by his eyes nervously darting all over the place and his boots tapping the grassy ground and fidgeting. He must have been finding his deal very tempting. Tails said with a genuine smile full of hope, " Do you have a home of your own?... 'Cause I'll move there if you want. " After another brief silence, Miles replied reluctantly, " No, I do not… " with a sighing voice.

" You can feel free to think of our alliance in whatever way you like to make it easier on you. If you don't wanna call me your friend, you can call me your servant! Whatever makes it easier to adjust to! As long as we're helping each other survive, that's all that matters to me. I'm just happy to have your company, " Tails said cheerfully.

There was another silence. " This does sound compelling… " Miles admitted reluctantly, before turning to face him at last and saying, " Deal. You can be my servant. My assistant who will take care of me in my hour of need… " Tails smiled, full of relief. " Although right now, you don't even seem to be capable of taking care of yourself. You certainly require some fixing up first, " Miles continued in his more expected sarcastic manner.

" What do you mean?! " Tails said unhappily. " What do you mean, ' what do you mean?! ' You have bags under your eyes, your hair is unkempt, you're covered in spots of grease, you're all skin and bones and haven't had a bath in days! If not weeks. And you need your teeth cleaned. " Miles ranted at him disapprovingly, sounding almost frantic in how quickly he spoke. " Do I really look that awful? " Tails said in a sad and insecure tone, looking ashamed with his head hung low.

There was a brief silence as Tails inwardly insulted himself for being too focused on engineering to care about his personal hygiene, only for that train of thought to be interrupted when Miles exclaimed at him, " No! " in a tone that was shockingly sympathetic. This immediately snapped Tails to his attention and caused him to catch him with a worried and remorseful look on his face, before he could cross his arms again and look away in irritation once more. Tails was dumbfounded. Did Miles know how it felt to be ashamed of how he looked? He wouldn't have had that reaction to making him feel that way if he didn't know how it felt himself, so he must have been through that before in order to get some basis for empathy. " I wasn't insulting your appearance… I was informing you that you need taking care of, " Miles explained slowly and awkwardly in a quiet voice full of reluctance, regret and resentment, possibly more with himself than with him.

Miles finally turned to face Tails with his arms at his side and said authoritatively, " First order of business, you need a bath. As soon as you take me to your residence, I'm getting you in there and giving you one myself, because you clearly don't care enough to do an adequate job. N-Now hurry up! Don't dawdle! " stammering at the end awkwardly. Tails said with a nervous smile, " That's alright. We're basically the same person, I-I mean in that we're parallel counterparts and we share the same DNA, so from a biological standpoint, we're identical twin brothers! So it's fine if you do that for me. " Looking away before he could see Miles' reaction to him saying they were basically family, Tails quickly turned around and started leading him across the grassy field on the way to his house. He was still uncomfortable with the idea of what his evil counterpart was insisting on doing, but at the same time, he was so desperate for any kind of affection and care at that point that a part of him looked forward to the prospect of being taken care of by him, causing him to smile.

After a long, uncomfortably quiet walk through the grassy hills to Tails' home, the two twin-tailed foxes finally entered it and made their way into its washroom. " The house needs some serious dusting, " Miles muttered in disatisfaction, which caused Tails to be even more ashamed with his shoulders slumping from the remark. " Sorry, I was in the lab most of the time. Didn't really feel like doing housework… " he apologized quietly, remembering the times he fell asleep on the cold hard floor of his lab or sitting at its table, and he finally began to worry if he should've taken his passing out so frequently as a bad sign.

Miles closed the washroom door behind him, turned on the hot water of the bathtub to make it start filling up, brought down one of the towels to the floor and instructed strictly, " Remove your gloves and footwear and get in there. The other side from where the water's being sent, obviously. That way you'll know the entire time it's filling up if it's at the right temperature or not. " He proceeded to retrieve washcloths from the closet as Tails reluctantly obliged to avoid an argument with his ill-tempered twin. He had to trust him if he was to have his company, and he only hoped his endurance would not run out, because he couldn't imagine going back to being alone after seeing him again.

As Tails waited in the bathtub without his shoes and gloves on and Miles impatiently sat at his side with an empty peanut butter jar, soap, and a liquid soap dispenser nearby, there was another awkward silence. " So did you want to stay in this world? " Tails asked. " W-Why are you asking? " Miles asked him, looking paranoid again. " Because I'm curious about how things have been going for you since we last met, and I don't want an awkward silence the whole time I'm in here. It'd be better if we at least tried to have conversations, after all, " Tails answered. " … Yes, I did, " Miles answered reluctantly after a silence, convinced by his reasoning.

" And you can't get us back? " Tails said unhappily, still confused about why he'd go to a world with no people in it voluntarily. " No. I'm stuck here with you, " Miles answered. Tails was once again offended by him, wondering why he was a bad person to get stuck with to him when he had been nothing but nice to him so far. Trying to avoid getting really upset by dwelling on how it didn't seem fair, Tails instead pushed it to the back of his mind, and asked, " But won't the members of the Suppression Squad be wondering where you went? Why didn't you wanna stay with them? Are you mad at them for something? Did you do it to quit? "

" No! I would never abandon them! They don't deserve that! " Miles exclaimed looking offended, making Tails flinch from his sudden outburst of anger. Trying to stay calm and look unafraid, Tails replied, " T-They must have been great friends, then, " with a forced smile, trembling. Miles immediately looked melancholic, his anger dying away as he seemed to deeply miss them. " They were… They were, " he answered sadly.

Worried about pushing his luck, Tails stayed quiet after that, dwelling on the information he managed to get out of him. Were Alicia, Patch and Boomer really good enough friends to Miles that they earned his genuine loyalty and emotional attachment? Was there a side to them that he never got to see? Miles couldn't have wanted to get separated from them if that was the case, so either he was lying about coming to the dimension of his own accord, or he went there because something happened to them and he no longer felt safe without them around. Tails wanted to know desperately if that was the case, but realized that confronting him over that would be risky and pointless.

Soon, the bathtub had been filled up enough, although for the two foxes in the room, it had felt like an eternity. Miles turned off the water, told Tails, " Close your eyes and mouth and lean your head back, " and after he followed his orders, Miles started washing him at last, gathering water from the bathtub with the large empty peanut butter container and pouring it on the child in front of him, getting his entire body wet.

After doing that, Miles used the liquid soap dispenser to put soap on what Tails noticed were his gloves as he washed the top of his head with them. Staring at his evil twin in confusion, Tails wondered in confusion why Miles wouldn't take off his gloves rather than get soap all over them, but before he could question him on it, as if Miles knew what he was going to say, he was strictly instructed, " Don't say a word!... You do not want to risk water or soap getting in your mouth, especially soap. "

Miles washed the bubbly pinkish white soap out of the hair on Tails' head and proceeded to wet one of the four washcloths at his side, pick up the solid soap and start scrubbing him with it and then the wet washcloth slightly roughly, saying, " Work with me here, " to get Tails to lift his arms and then tails later on. Tails dealt with the discomfort with a slight grimace, although he was surprised and confused at how Miles was washing his tails a lot more gently, with a worried look on his face.

While Tails wasn't entirely comfortable with the experience, he did appreciate all the genuine effort Miles was putting into trying to get him clean. He didn't have to do that for him. As Miles toweled off his face after scrubbing it with a soapy washcloth, Tails smiled. He thought, " Have I ever been taken care of like this before?... No, not even by Sonic! After all, he always let me take baths by myself… "

Wondering if he was allowed to talk and have his eyes open again, Tails asked, " Don't you wanna do this without your gloves? " with a quizzical expression. " Why?! " Miles asked defensively, taken aback with anxiety in his voice and eyes. Tails thought nervously in exasperation, " Wow, he gets worked up over everything! " and said, " W-Well, you're getting your gloves all soapy. Can you get that out of them? Are they- "

" They're fine! T-They don't need replacement! They never will! I can wear them in any circumstance and they'll still remain usable. I've had them for years and years, " Miles explained quickly with an irritated look. " Okay. I-I guess the same can be said for why you didn't take your sweater off, right? " Tails said carefully, wondering why Miles was so reluctant to be gloveless. Was he hiding something? " I, right, exactly, " Miles replied, still anxious and defensive with his eyes darting all over the place.

Miles instructed suddenly, " Let me see your hands! " with a clearly nervous and scared tone. " T-To wash them, of course, " he clarified unnecessarily, and Tails brought his own ungloved hands to Miles', allowing them to be held from beneath surprisingly gently, and washed one at a time. To his shock and confusion, Miles parted the fur on his hands and looked at the skin beneath them with a stunned look, struck speechless, and had his gaze fixated on them completely. Tails reassured him, " It's okay, Miles. I've had those scars my whole life. I don't even remember where they came from, to be honest. Probably from me when I was young and still teaching myself engineering. It's no big deal, " stunned by his sympathy and pity.

Miles sighed in clear frustration, and grumbled, " Of course you don't remember, " under his breath through gritted teeth. Tails heard his response, and was upset when Miles then looked him in the eyes again to bitterly and condescendingly remark, " You probably did give them to yourself out of incompetence. You should've known that something as easy to hurt yourself with is something children shouldn't attempt. Of course you'd get hurt. But it doesn't even matter because you don't even remember the experiences. " Ironically enough, he spent that time washing Tails' scarred hands even more gently than before, and only showed his anger through scrubbing his legs roughly later. Tails grimaced, sad and offended, and wondered if Miles had scarred hands as well and was bitterly jealous of him because he actually remembered how they got that way. Naturally, Tails decided that would be a touchy subject.

" Did you ever try engineering in your life? " Tails asked gently. " No, " Miles replied immediately, looking down on the very idea. " I-I was just wondering because if you tried and got hurt from it a lot, then it would make sense for you to decide to focus on something else. It'd be a logical decision to make, so I wouldn't blame you, " Tails said nervously, as Miles started scrubbing his feet with the soap and wet washcloth. " I never even had an interest, as far as I can recall. If I did, I would've used it to my advantage for years to come. Engineering is too risky for an amateur to attempt. Too many ways of getting burned!... Or electrocuted, not that I'd have to worry about that. "

" Why not? " Tails asked curiously, hoping that he had finally gotten a conversation going as Miles started once again pouring water over his body. " Well, believe it or not, I'm actually immune to electricity! I simply absorb it and can control it to my convenience, " Miles explained nonchalantly with a hint of genuine joy and pride in his tone. " I only discovered it after your previous encounter with me, along with most of my other abilities. That is why I didn't show you them earlier, that and the fact that what little I had discovered at the time I wanted to take the time to master before showing it off. " His eyes then darted around nervously, implying that there was more to it that he wasn't telling him.

" Really? That sounds cool! I'd love to see them some time! It sounds fascinating that a parallel version of me could have all sorts of cool powers that I don't. I know I'm not immune to being, well, you know, thanks to Eggman and my earlier fumblings with engineering… " Tails responded with curious excitement at first, only to become sad by the end of it. Tails continued sincerely, " I'm glad I stuck with engineering, 'cause it's what I'm best at. It's what I'm happiest doing and most passionate about. It'd be a shame to abandon it after that! Even if it did have a steep learning curve and so getting good about it with no teachers was rough, that's why you stick with your hobby until you get good. I don't know what else my passion would be focused on other than inventing. What did you end up being interested in? "

" Well… nothing really practic… Never mind. N-None of your business, " Miles said melancholically, looking irritated with him as he avoided eye contact. Throughout Tails' heartfelt words about his experiences with engineering, he seemed bored and disinterested, until the last few sentences where his eyes widened and appeared sad as if he could relate to it. But when he was questioned about what his own passion was, he refused to tell him it. Tails wondered if he was insecure about his own passion because it wasn't as useful as his. Was he jealous of him? Did he feel inferior to him in any sense and try to hide it? " It doesn't need to be practical as long as you enjoy it. It's good to have a hobby! Makes your life happier because you always have something fun to look forward to! If you, ever wanna show me, you can. If I have a talent, you've gotta have one, too! "

There was a silence as Miles continued to look depressed, although his eyes darting back and forth as he washed him at least implied he was considering his offer. Tails looked forward to the day when Miles would trust him enough to agree to it, as it would be an important step towards getting them closer as friends. It was already far harder than it should've been getting Miles to open up to him, as he was so paranoid that he would use any information against him or judge him, and so easily offended, getting worked up and emotional over the slightest of things, and while he hadn't attacked him in his anger, Tails still felt like he had to be walking on eggshells around him. It was exhausting, to say the least, but the more he got to know him, the more sympathy he had for him.

As Tails thought about that, Miles unplugged the bathtub to drain the water, ordered, " Get out of the tub, " and proceeded to towel him off with the towel not lying in front of the bathtub, drying him off the best he could. Tails was lost in thought over what he had learned about Miles earlier as he dried him off from head to toe, instructed him, " Sit down, " and put his shoes and gloves back on him, being careful and gentle as he held each hand from beneath to put the glove back on it as he sat on the towel-covered floor. " Alright, now stand up, " Miles ordered, not sounding as resentful so much as bored.

It was only when he had finished and started combing the knots out of his hair that Tails realized once again how much effort and care Miles was putting into what he was doing for him. Looking back on it, he even saw a small likable smile from Miles when he briefly looked him in the eyes after drying his hair, put his hands on his shoulders for a second and said, " Now stay still, your hair's full of knots. "

Tails had assumed at first that Miles would only be taking care of him reluctantly to ensure his personal servant's survival, but he seemed to be actually happy with it, feeling a sense of accomplishment as he was doing something good. " He's really getting into this… He has a soft side! " Tails thought, torn between being unsettled and being delighted at the discovery that even his evil twin had a nurturing side to him.

As Miles combed his hair, surprisingly keeping his regular messy-looking hairstyle rather than making it in the same manner as his like he had worried, Tails smiled in spite of the pain of the knots being combed out of his head fur, appreciating how Miles had a soft side and could feel good from doing good things, rather than only being uncomfortable with them.

Soon, Tails noticed how strange it was that Miles wasn't facing the washroom mirror when he was tending to him, instead combing him right in front of the bathtub facing it instead of the mirror. Even when he had finished combing his hair, he placed the comb on the counter very hastily rather than stopping to look at his own reflection, and focused on him while ignoring it. Was he not comfortable with his appearance? Tails thought, " Oh, boy, first the gloves and now mirrors. Not to mention he's defensive of the Suppression Squad. I didn't realize there were so many different things that could get him all worked up… Then again, I've never spent so much time alone with him before... How sensitive IS he? There must be a reason he's like this when I'm not! Think, Tails. Why would I, be like that? "

Having finished tending to him in the washroom, Miles said, " There, perfect. Don't you feel better knowing that you're finally clean? You look great, " with his hands on his shoulders at first. He seemed to speak to him sort of affectionately, with a genuine smile on his face. He was clearly feeling pretty good about doing something as kind as taking care of his worst enemy, enjoying the sense of accomplishment it gave him… But then he looked depressed again, and looked away.

Worried, Tails asked him, " Have you been combing your hair and stuff too? I mean, do you need in here? " awkwardly trying to learn why he looked away from his own reflection without being too blunt about it. " No, I'm fine, " Miles said standoffishly, and Tails replied, " Good. I thought so. You look like you've made a lot of effort taking care of yourself. More than me. Good to see you're keeping your hair neat and everything. "

" Um… Where, um, yes, you're right. W-Where's this coming from? Why are you complimenting my appearance? " Miles asked nervously, looking insecure and skeptical. Then he glared at him with a resentful look, and questioned, " Are you sucking up to me? Because if you think that pretending to like me will manipulate me to your benefit, you can just stay quiet, " looking at him with a cold bitter glare.

" I'm not pretending! I'm just trying to be nice! It'll make things a lot less stressful for you staying here if I treat you with compassion and respect, even if you aren't very used to it. Besides, I've been your enemy for such a long time, me being nice to you is long overdue. I'm sorry if that's coming off as fake and manipulating. I-It is forced to some extent, but that doesn't mean I don't care about you. I wanna learn more about you, and I promise there's nothing to worry about from that. We have to learn to trust each other, you know? It'll be easier to live together that way, " Tails said sadly, with clear panic in his voice at first before speaking with compassion and sympathy afterwards, a nervous smile as he held back on blinking and only blinked at certain times to try to hold back the tears welling up in his eyes. He decided not to ask Miles why he was ignoring the mirror or even point it out after that, fearing another outburst of anger from him. He hoped he would get used to the sudden emotional outbursts from someone normally calm and emotionless, because from what he experienced so far, Miles was unpredictable.

Fortunately for him, hearing that heartfelt speech made Miles' anger deflate, and he went right back to being depressed, looking away from him with his head hung low. Wanting to avoid any more outbursts of anger from him, Tails asked with a forced smile, " So what's my next order, Miles? " preferring having him acting like an authority figure over him being depressed. There was a brief silence. " Oh, right, " Miles said quietly to himself facing away from Tails, as if he had completely forgotten that Tails was letting him be in charge. That implied something all by itself, which Tails didn't fail to notice.

Miles turned to face him looking stern again and ordered, " Next you need some sustenance. You're coming with me to the kitchen to obtain some nourishment. It's supper time, so some broccoli soup sounds about right, especially to make up for the lost nutrition from the several meals you've obviously skipped, " walking out of the washroom with Tails following him by the third sentence. Miles added insultingly, " I hope those inventions of yours were worth it, " in a grumbling tone. This naturally made Tails sad again, and his ears drooped with his head hung low in shame, wondering if some of his engineering really was pointless. After he had already done all the work he needed to survive, he had only continued with it to distract from the loneliness, and now he had no reason to do it when he had someone to keep him company and he'd already built everything he wanted. But what else would he do all day? He had to keep engineering, even if it was pointless.

" Tails, is there ANYTHING in this kitchen?! " Miles shouted in frustration, looking through the last cupboard in futility. The sudden shout distracted and startled Tails, and he jumped up from the kitchen chair and flinched. " I-I'm sorry! I-I was going to get some more food before I found you! L-Look, I know where the nearest grocery store is. I'll go get everything we need from it, just give me a list! " Tails exclaimed in a panic. " No. I'm coming with you. I'll tell you what we need to get. It'll be faster that way, " Miles replied, thankfully with his fury already cooled down to mere frustration with him. At least his anger was always limited to short temporary bursts, and didn't lead to anything more than him shouting at him. " I hope he's all bark and no bite, " Tails thought nervously.

Tails stood up from the kitchen table ready to leave, before Miles made him stop in his tracks with the words, " Take a sweater. Or a lab coat if that's all you have, I don't care. You just finished a bath after all, and I'm not having you catch a cold! " Tails was dumbfounded for a few seconds at Miles acting like a concerned parent more than an old enemy without even realizing it, before hastily saying, " Good idea, " and rushing to his bedroom closet down the hall to get his lab coat on, leaving Miles alone in the kitchen. He couldn't help but be stunned by all the displays of compassion that Miles had and all of the kind gestures for him that he didn't have to do, but cared enough to do anyways. Either he really wanted to make sure his caretaker-for-emergencies was healthy at the expense of his dignity, or he was already beginning to care about him.