A one-shot after the Sonic X episode, "Squirmish in the Sky." While Sonic X never really highlighted Sonic and Tails' brotherly relationship, you could make some up if you looked really hard—or just had an eye for it, growing up with AotSH and SatAM.

History is based more off other Sonic universes, as Sonic and Tails' past is pretty vague in the show.

Sonic the Hedgehog and related elements copyright SEGA; used without permission, no intent to sell.

**edit: a thank you to ITman496 for correcting me on my (lack of) plane knowledge. :)

Sonic wasn't one to really relax after a battle. He wasn't one to relax at all, actually. But trying a dozen times to use his speed to try and soar through the air and land on Eggman's Battle Fortress definitely depleted the blue hedgehog's energy reserves.

So, after returning home from destroying the giant airborne ship, Sonic sacked out on the couch and took a nap.

When he awoke, nighttime had descended on the mansion, with only a few scarce lights keeping the hallways visible. He must've slept through dinner, as the usually noisy rooms were empty and silent. While the living room was usually the place to go to in the evening, it appeared that Sonic's impromptu snooze kept the rest of the mansion's occupants at bay.

Sonic sat up and stretched, his pointy ears twitching and listening for sounds that indicated someone else was up. Hearing nothing in return to his straining, Sonic shrugged nonchalantly and walked to the kitchen for a late-night snack.

As he pulled sandwich supplies out of the refrigerator, he noticed a small glow through the kitchen window. Closing the fridge door to see the light better through the reflective glass, Sonic saw it was illuminating from the garage. Nothing but the glow of a lamp could be seen, however, because curtains concealed the details of the interior.

Sonic finished making his sandwich and practically inhaled it as he made the walk across the courtyard to the source of the light. While Sonic considered himself a nonconformist in sleep patterns, he knew Tails probably had him beat in the night-owl category.

And because he had opted to take a nap, Sonic figured he was going to be up for most of the rest of the night anyway. Bugging Tails seemed like an appropriate way to pass the time.

Sonic gave a light knock on the side door before entering, knowing full well that when Tails got caught up in one of his projects he tended to get a bit ... jumpy.

Walking in he could see the fox, his back to Sonic, sitting on a chair in the far corner of the makeshift workshop and tinkering with something on the tool bench. He also noticed that Tails had large earphones on, probably listening music.

Sonic wasn't much of a music lover, but Tails had lent him his mp3 player on a couple of occasions in an attempt to help Sonic relax.

It helped quite a bit, but Sonic didn't like tuning out the rest of the world very much. It made him feel like he was missing out on something, and Sonic never missed out on anything.

Well, he kept telling himself that, anyway.

Sonic walked toward Tails from the opposite side of the garage, hoping the fox would catch him in his peripheral vision. Last time Sonic had accidentally snuck up on the kid he had caused Tails to take to the air in fright, consequently slamming headfirst into the ceiling.

It had actually been quite hilarious, but Sonic doubted Tails saw any humor in it. Especially after the bump that had formed from that collision.

After what seemed far too long—in Sonic's opinion—Tails finally noticed Sonic's movements and glanced up quickly.

What Sonic hadn't expected was the tears in Tails' eyes.

The fox quickly turned away again, discreetly wiping his eyes as he did so, before turning back around to face Sonic, the stool he was sitting on squeaking in protest. Tails pulled down the earphones on his head and gave the hedgehog a rather impressive smile.

"Hey Sonic!"

Had Sonic not seen the tears he would have never guessed Tails had been crying. That worried him more than the teardrops themselves.

"Hey bro, what's wrong?"

Tails' smile flinched but did not falter. "Nothing—just working on putting remote access in the X-Tornado. That way, when we're in situations like today where we're stuck without transportation, I can access the mainframe to the X-Tornado and autopilot it to us. See? Here's—"

"That's awesome big guy, but that's not what I meant," Sonic interrupted Tails and his digressive talking, causing the fox to stare down at his dangling feet. "What was with the tears?" Sonic walked forward, resting a hand on the workbench. When Tails did not look up, Sonic used his other hand to nudge under Tails' chin, forcing the younger kit to make eye contact.

Tails' eyes were once again wet with unshed tears, causing Sonic to furrow his brow in concern. "Tails?"

Tails shook his head, wiping frustratingly at his eyes even though the teardrops had not yet fallen. "Sorry, it's really nothing," he mumbled, sniffing slightly as he did so. "I'm okay."

Sonic wasn't one to push others to get them to talk. He wasn't a talker to begin with, so that would seem a bit hypocritical to force someone else to.

Tails, however, was an exception. The exception, in fact. Tails had been a part of his life since Sonic could remember, and he had practically raised the fox when no one else cared to.

Call it parental instincts, call it being a friend. Sonic knew that he was one of the only ones Tails would open up to because Tails only trusted him.

Sure, both he and Tails had made friends here on Earth, as well as their other friends from Mobius. But Tails' past with others had led him down a rather dark path in regards to trust and protection, and it was not easy to gain Tails' trust.

"Come on, bro, you can talk to me." Sonic lightly punched Tails' shoulder when the fox's eyes remained fixated on the ground. "You shouldn't bottle it inside—it'll turn you into a grouch. Worse than Knuckles, in fact."

Tails smirked at the slight dig at the echidna, which Sonic was grateful for. He wasn't sure the extent of the reason Tails was upset and was hoping it wasn't too extreme.

If Sonic had missed the signs, this could be something that had been bothering Tails for a while.

And Sonic didn't want to think that he hadn't been there for his surrogate brother when he should have.

Tails finally sighed and looked up at Sonic. "It's about today. At ... the mall."

Sonic frowned and crossed his arms. "Something happen there?"

Tails shook his head. "The humans. They ... wouldn't leave us alone. Chris thought it was because we're celebrities to them, but..."

It suddenly dawned on Sonic what this was all about. "It felt more like gawking."

Tails glanced away, nodding. "A kid thought I was a toy. He pulled on my tails and ... and it just brought back bad memories. Of before."

Sonic sighed, taking a seat on top of the bench while Tails went back to staring at the ground. "It's not like that this time, Tails. We're all kind of different-looking to the humans here. None of their hedgehogs, foxes, or rabbits talk here..." Sonic paused, his eyes becoming a bit distant. "...Which is weird. Have you seen what they call hedgehogs out here? They're super tiny, slow, and—"

He glanced over at Tails and realized his tirade wasn't going to help any on this subject. He gave the fox's head fur a ruffle. "Come on, buddy, you know it wasn't about your tails."

The little fox sighed, resting his elbows on his knees and holding his head up with his hands. "How do you know?"

Sonic sighed, too. "Did they say anything about them?"

Tails kept quiet for a few moments, his eyes still wandering the floor. "No, not specifically."

"Was it just you they were focusing on, or were they gawking at Amy and Cream too?"

Tails smiled a little. "One of them asked if Amy's color was natural."

A snort of laughter left Sonic's mouth before he could stop it, but he quickly let it subside into a smile. "Well, then, it sounds like they were just more interested in us being, well, aliens to them, more than anything."

Tails finally looked up at Sonic. "But now that we're known to the public, what would they say if I used my tails to fly?"

Sonic laid a hand on Tails' shoulder. "Tails, bud, you can't worry over stuff like that. They're gonna stare at us because we're different. This isn't Mobius anymore. And, hey, they haven't gotten on my case about my speed."

"You don't think..." Tails bit his lower lip, seemingly nervous to spit out the rest of his question.

"Don't think what?" Sonic prompted.

"You don't think they'll ... you know, want to find out more about us, do you?"

Sonic stared at Tails with a confused expression before the sentence finally made sense. His eyes widened at the young fox. "You mean like capture us to do experiments and stuff?"

Tails, still biting his lower lip, nodded vigorously.

Sonic couldn't exactly say no. He wasn't psychic, and if there were any human beings out there anything like Eggman, well... He cleared his throat, running a hand through his spikes. "Tails, I don't think they would. We're on the government's good side for now, and I would think they'd be the only ones capable of pulling that off. For now, at least." He glanced at the fox and saw him staring at the gadget he'd been tinkering on earlier, eyes distant and a worried look on his face.

Sonic jumped off the bench, startling the kit. "Look, we got a lot of friends on our side here. Nothing like that is gonna happen, but even if it did, they wouldn't be able to pull it off anyway." Tails looked up at him, the only inclination of understanding coming in the form of a brief, small smile.

"Is this what's been bothering you, big guy? That these people knowing about us is gonna make it dangerous for us here, too?"

Tails' ears folded back, a sign Sonic knew too well as fear on the fox. "Back home, that's what they threatened when I started using my tails to fly. They said I shouldn't be able to do things like that and I was gonna make Mobians mad; that they'd see me as a freak that needed ... that needed to be fixed."

Memories of Tails' past were well known to Sonic. He had taken the kit under his wing when the fox—no older than six at the time—had fixed up his plane for him. The kid was smart, and the only thing the natives of the island saw was his deformity.

No, not a deformity, Sonic chastised himself. Those tails had saved his butt lots of times, whether it'd been Tails pulling him to higher ground by flying or by using them to keep alongside Sonic when running.

But, unfortunately, Tails had been the brunt of cruel jokes long before Sonic had had the chance to meet him.

The injustice of it made Sonic's blood boil, but he always opted to hide it from Tails. He needed to show Tails to take the higher ground; to ignore the bullies of his past who couldn't see the fox as anything more than a freak.

Thus, Sonic took a deep breath to calm himself before speaking.

"Those guys were idiots, Tails. Look around you. Since then have you had anyone pick on you because of your tails?" The fox looked ready to rebuff, but Sonic continued before he could. "You can't keep letting what a bunch of sleazebags said affect you this way. It'll keep eating at you until it's all you can think about—and if that's the case, then, those guys definitely won."

Tails harrumphed, crossing his arms. "I don't think I'm a freak just 'cause they said I was."

Sonic smiled at him. "Good, 'cause you aren't one."

Tails uncrossed his arms to pull the headphones off from around his neck. He looked at them briefly before setting them on the workbench. "How come you never looked at me that way?"

Sonic frowned at the fox. "Li'l bro, when I met you you had successfully souped up my plane in a matter of hours. You were six. I don't even think I noticed the extra tail until you flew up into the cockpit."

Tails smiled a little at the memory. "The plane didn't need that much work. It only needed some re-wiring in the radial engine, plus the paint job, of course."

Sonic sighed. "You. Were. Six!"

Tails nose crinkled as he thought back. "I think was still five, then, actually."

Sonic threw his hands up in the air, exasperated. "You're way too damn modest to even realize that those bullies probably hadn't even learned the alphabet yet!"

Tails looked up at Sonic, eyes wide. "You think so?"

Sonic shook his head. "Tails, you're nine now and they're still probably having trouble with it."

Tails pondered this briefly before standing up out of his chair and picking up the gadget he'd been working on. "And I bet they wouldn't even begin to know how to make a remote access nodule for the Tornado—heck, they probably have never been in a plane in their entire life!"

Sonic laughed lightly at Tails' small epiphany. "Tails, bro, the most those duds have probably ever done is take out the trash—themselves included!"

Tails laughed, putting the device away in a nearby cabinet full of odds and ends of things Sonic couldn't even begin to describe. As Tails shut the cabinet and locked it, he looked to Sonic and smiled. "Thanks, Sonic. How is it you always know what to say?"

"Eh, comes in the Hero Workbook. How to Keep Your Sidekick from Losing It, or something like that." Sonic quickly dodged the small bolt that was flung his way. "Hey, you asked!"

"Yeah, yeah," Tails pouted good-naturedly. Sonic smiled and ruffled the fox's head bangs again, causing Tails to yelp an indignant, "Hey!" and try to fix them.

"So, you up for a run?" Sonic asked as Tails futilely combed his bangs back down with his hands.

The fox stopped and glanced at his wristwatch. "At one-thirty in the morning?"

Sonic crossed his arms and tapped his foot. "Hey, since when do we ever follow the norm?"

Tails paused and remained silent, unable to rebut his question. Sonic grinned.

"All right then! Last one to the end of the block gives up his television time to the winner!"

As Sonic revved up and took off out of the garage, he heard Tails' faint yell of, "Hey! No fair!" followed by the familiar sound of Tails' tails spinning into action.

Sonic smiled to himself. Being a hero didn't always mean you felt like one, by any means; cheering his brother up, however, helped considerably.