Tails lays in bed, the events of that day still replaying in his head constantly, if it wasn't the assassin in white, he would have been Swiss cheese... And maybe almost getting killed was just the motivation he needed, the motivation to finally talk to Winter, be honest with who he actually was. He squeezes his fist and nods to to himself, his mind was made up this Friday... He was gonna introduce himself properly.

The day before he had decided to go and buy some gifts for the wolf, having read articles online about the things the wolf liked. Once he has everything on his checklist he keeps the bag in his room and practices saying things he might want to say to him, his goal was to be able to talk to Winter without stuttering or freezing, which he eventually got the hang of with some encouragement and advice from Cream and Charmy who he stayed in contact with, the only two other people who knew he was crushing on Winter.

Soon the day comes, around 6:30 in the afternoon Tails stops doing his work on the Tornado for the day and gets ready to go to Burning Hearts. He gets in the shower, while he's in there he wonders which scented shampoo he should use: Apple Cinnamon or Ocean Breeze... He ends up choosing Ocean Breeze, squirting the gel into his hands and slapping it on his head... A pained scream follows as he jumps around in agony - Yes dear reader, he got shampoo in his eyes.

Tails combs and brushes his fur, and picks out an outfit for him to wear, he starts off with a new pair of gloves he bought a few days prior, taking inspiration from the way Winter dressed he got a burgandy turtleneck and his brown flight jacket, attaching a pin with his insignia on it. Very reluctantly he elects to just wear some trousers, he has trouble choosing between white for simplicity or brown to match the jacket. Finally settling on white for simplicity sake, he puts on a new pair of high tops and his signature pilot goggles to seal the look.

A few cologne sprays, some checks to make sure nothing was on his face and tails, and an extra brushing of his namesakes later, the fox boy is ready to go.

He nods to himself, picks up the bag with the gifts he bought for Winter and starts walking to his plane, while he does he debates how he's going to introduce himself to the wolf in a way that won't immediately make him jumpy. He starts the Tornado up and is about to hop in when Knuckles runs over to him.

The fox looks at him, the engine on his plane buzzing pretty loudly, "Where are you off to at this time of day?"

"Nightstar City..." Tails says, visibly irritated as he finishes getting into his plane, "What do you need?"

"Uh nothing, Sonic did want to talk to you though-" Knuckles says as his eyes look down towards the dirt.

"Oh If that's the case then step back" Tails says, his mood souring when he hears Sonic's name.

"What?... Tails, we're supposed to have a team meeting later-"

"That's fine, you can catch me up when I get back" Tails says, his hand on the throttle.

"But you always go to these, what's going on with you fox? This behaviour of yours is unusual, even for you?" Knuckles responds, surprised Tails wasn't staying for the meeting.

"Step back! Now!" Tails says, this time much more firmly, raging flames eruptting from his normally tame blue eyes.

Knuckles' eyes show shock, confusion ,
a little bit of fear, reluctantly he steps back astounded to see Tails genuinely angry for once, the fox was usually more timid but he's noticed that lately he just seemed.

"I have other things I need to do than sit and listen to Sonic talk about things I could honestly care less about right now... If you're done, I'd like to take off!" Tails says, his eyes burning holes into Knuckles' tough exterior and rocking his usually stronger interior.

Tails sighs and closes the hatch, throwing the throttle forward, with that the plane takes off into the sky, Knuckles watches as it disappears into the setting sun and takes a shaky breath.

Sonic comes outside and sees Knuckles walking back towards the hangar doors, "Hey did you see Tails?"

"He uh... Went to Nightstar City" Knuckles says not looking at Sonic as he continued.

"What why-" Sonic says, shocked to hear his friend skipped out on a team meeting.

"I don't know, I don't care... He's changed, that's for sure" Knuckles says, disappearing into the hide out.

Sonic sighs, he believes he knows why Tails skipped out on the meeting, but can't bring himself to be upset enough. So he follows Knuckles back into the hideout, doing his best to hide his frustration.

Even after the meeting Sonic finds himself stewing in irritation, he apologised to Tails was even looking in to ways to make it up to him... He held onto hope that maybe his friend and him could move past it, but it was hard. Then he gets an idea, the perfect thing to cheer him up, a night out on the town...

Sonic asks everyone to dress their best, for tonight they were going to enjoy themselves. The hedgehog waits outside wearing a fancy suit and shoes, tapping his foot on the ground. His impatience grows as he wonders what's taking the others so long.

Eventually Knuckles comes out wearing a purple suit, his quills tied into a pony tail of sorts. Seeing Knuckles in a suit makes Sonic grin, which annoys his friend slightly.

"What" Knuckles says, trying to adjust the collar on his shirt.

"Nothin, I've never seen you in a suit before that's all" Sonic says, crossing his arms and still grinning at him.

Knuckles scoffs and turns his head away, hiding his embarrassed face. Sonic starts laughing at him his reaction finally causing him to burst into laughter... However he's not laughing for long because finally Amy is out, and she dressed to impress.

A long pink and sky blue dress, a touch of lip stick, mascara, pretty pink diamond earrings, some styling of her quills and perfume. Both boys can't help but stare at her, Amy giggles when she notices she has their undivided attention.

"Well... How do I look?" She says, holding a small purse in her hand.

"Like a flower" Knuckles says, trying not to blush.

"Holy... When did you get this dress?!" Sonic says, a smile slowly appearing on his face.

"I got it as a gift from Blaze" Amy responds.

"Sheesh, she knows how to style" Sonic says, scratching the tip of his chin.

"Well then... Shall we get going" Amy says, holding a remote control of some sort, pushing the blue button in the centre of the device.

A large sleek silver ship slowly descends and lands right behind her, the team's transport ship. When it lands the back loading ramp releases, hissing as it finally finishes opening.

"Alright team! Let's make this a night to remember!" Sonic says, pumping his fist in the air excitedly.

"Sonic where are we eating?" Knuckles asks.

"Relax Knux, I know the perfect place. It's got food so good it'll knock your socks off" Sonic says, nudging him with his shoulder.

"Do they have good fruit" Knuckles asks.

"You know it" Sonic responds, a hand on his friends shoulder.

"Very well then..." Knuckles says, celebrating silently, his unflinching demeanor shaking with excitement.

"Woo! Let's go have some fun!" Sonic says, marching onto the ship, his friends following closely behind.

Once the hatch closes, they're off rocketing towards the city, having a good time talking and shouting as they talked about previous operations together, bantered and laughed. Sonic is happy enough that he doesn't really care about his current squabble with Tails, he had his other friends and for him, it's all he needed at the moment.

---

Tails walks down the street towards the subway station, people nearby can't help but take notice of him actually walking around in their area, the fox doesn't admit it but he loves the attention to some degree. While he's walking, he stops to get some flowers at a shop for Winter, hoping he'll love them, once he's done with that he's on his way.

Once on the train, even more people are looking at him as he sits there humming a song Winter sang not that long ago. He looks at his phone, checking to see how much longer until the show started...

8:23 PM

Early, exactly as planned.

He's excited, unable to believe he finally gathered the courage to actually talk to him, to say hello, begin this special friendship and finally ask him to marry him. He already was thinking of things he wants to do with him, he wants to teach him the things he knows, maybe even try and show him how to fly like him. There's so many things he wants to talk to him about and do, his tails wag a little has he thinks of the fun they'll have.

I can't wait to see him... What's he like?! Is he shy? Is he confident? What's his favourite colour? Is he into sweets like me? Does he like me as much as he says? Can I marry him?!?!

Soon the pumped up fox arrives at the 63rd Street station and walks under the brilliant neon lights of the city, a hopeful smile on his face as he moves with stride to Burning Hearts, he stops in front of the door and takes a moment to gather himself.

Alright... Let's do this...

The fox pulls the door open and walks inside, the smell of mouthwatering food assaulting his nose. He puts the flowers in the bag with the gifts and stands in front of the receptionist who's eyes are on the computer.

"Welcome to Burning Hearts, how may I help yo-"

When she sees Tails standing there, she drops her phone on the desk and stares at the fox.

"Good evening" Tails says, his tails wagging happily.

"M-Mister Prower! Um, what brings you to our restaurant this evening?" She asks, sweating profusely.

"Nothing really, I just wanna listen to your boss sing tonight", the fox shows his pass for the Heartburn Lounge making the receptionist.

"Right... Uhhh follow me then" She says, standing up from her desk so she can walk him to the lounge.

People begin staring as Tails is walked to the doors, their eyes glued to him like cameras. Outside he looks confident enough to conquer the world, but on the inside he's still as shaky and jumpy as ever, he wants everything to be be perfect, no slip ups.

The bouncers at the front standing by the doors to the Heartburn Lounge even find themselves shocked that someone as well known as Tails would have a membership for the lounge, let alone want to listen to Winter sing.

Once the receptionist gets Tails to the loung, behind the gathering crowd the receptionist exhales dramatically and looks at Tails who's eyes are already wondering around the lounge as everyone chatters and laughs in anticipation of the show. Some lo-fi was playing on the speakers on the ceiling, the calming tunes almost drowned out by the amount of people talking to eachother in the room, a purple melting neon heart decoration behind him as he stands therr looking towards the stage.

"Hey, can I ask for a favour?" Tails says, looking at the receptionist.

"Um alright, what do you need?" She responds.

"Just for you to not tell your boss I'm here, I wanna surprise him" Tails says, smiling warmly.

"Um alright, I'll let him be surprised then" She responds, "I should return to my post. Um... Enjoy the show"

With that she promptly leaves so she can return to the front desk. Tails sits down near the back, setting his gift bag down by his feet as he ponders on what to order for dinner. His hands and face feel warm as he looks on at the stage, holographic shapes bouncing around the room in warm vibrant colours.

A waiter approaches Tails and immediately freezes upon seeing him, the fox gives a friendly wave causing him to snap out of it.

"H-Hello there, uh what would you like to eat tonight?" He asks, clearing his throat.

"Can I have a large steak, mac and cheese, and strawberry cream soda please" Tails says.

"Um okay..." He takes a moment to write down his order and then looks back at him, "Anything else?"

"That's all, thanks"

"Oh... Okay, you're food will be here soon"

The waiter walks off to the kitchen, and when he's gone Tails opens his phone and goes to the website, curious to know what songs Winter was performing that night... When he sees the song list for that night, he gets excited and there was a reason why.

In no time at all Tails meal arrives, the dog handing him his food almost drops the steak but Tails catches it and gives him a friendly smile.

"Apologies" The waiter says.

"It's okay, just take it easy" Tails responds.

The waiter nods and finishes handing him his food before leaving Tails to enjoy, the fox cuts a piece of steak and eats it. Just as he liked it, rare, full of flavour. When he's finished eating his meal the show starts, watching in intently with his strawberry cream soda in hand. The crowd cheers on excitedly as the lights dim, the holographic shapes disappear and Winter rises onto the stage waving to everyone as he walks forwards people reach their hands out and he politely high fives everyone he can.

"Hello Nightstar City!"

As everyone cheers excitedly, Tails rests his head on his hands, his eyes completely focused on the show the wolf was about to put on, his tails swishing around lightly in excitement.

"Who's ready for an amazing show?!" Winter shouts, pointing on at the audience who respond by shouting even louder in excitement.

Tails' heart patters against his chest, as the music starts his focus on Winter intensifies, his body feels warm as if Winter was his sun...

Song: Lossapardo - Mr Nobody

"Don't give me too many options
I'm not among these people good at making choices
Don't give me too many options
Already got enough
To regret, remorses, regrets, remorses
If I could just
Split in two or three or four
If I could trust myself
Just a little more
I gotta learn to how to grieve
How to let go sometimes
There's a war inside me
I gotta learn to how to grieve
How to let go sometimes"

Tails moans as he mouths silently sings with Winter, dreaming of holding his hand while singing with him. Winter dances around the stage his big fluffy tails enamouring all the onlookers.

"Why I wanna do things like Nobody does
In the real world angels can't forget
In the real world angels can't forget
I'll wait for the last second
When my back touches the wall
When there's no choice
But to make one
If I could just
Split in two or three or four
If I could trust myself
Just a little more"

Winter's voice seemed to be effective at making the fox melty inside, he giggles as he continues to stare on, entranced by the wolf's body.

"I gotta learn to how to grieve
How to let go sometimes
There's war inside me
I gotta learn to how to grieve
How to let go sometimes
I gotta learn to how to grieve
How to let go sometimes
There's war inside me
I gotta learn how to deal with my ego
I can have it all
I can have it all
The world is mine
The world is mine"

As the song comes to a close, everyone cheers. Winter laughs and takes a breath before looking back at the audience and waving...

"Alright! Who's ready for the main course!" Winter shouts, throwing his arms up.

The crowd errupts excitedly as Winter turns and nods to the DJ backstage, he gives him a thumbs up and taps on a button within the holographic screen in front of him playing the next song... The lights on the stage go all the way dark, the colours in the lounge become more monochrome, holographic skulls appear and start floating around the room, the tone was set for the next song

Hide My Tears - Unlike Pluto

"Hide my tears, I don't want you to
Know, know, oh-oh
Know, know, oh-oh
These tears are fears that I don't want you to
Know, know, know
Hide my tears, I don't want you to know
(Hide my tears, I don't want you to know)

As the music gets more exciting the lights on the stage turn back on and a small group of back up dancers appear and dance with Winter, causing the audience to get rowdy and Tails to jump out of his seat in pure excitement.

"Let's play a game of emotions
Twists and turns of life cause commotions
Written on my face, causing bellyaches
I don't want to feel this anymore

Everything in life is "Sink or swim" in tears
Everything in life is "Sink or swim

So, hide my tears I don't want you to
Know, know, oh-oh
Know, know, oh-oh
These tears are fears I don't want you to
Know know know
(Hide my tears, I don't want you to know)"

The crowd and Tails cheer on excitedly as they all dance to the rhythm of the music, the holographic skulls turning into black hearts, the red in Winter's eyes highlighted with special effects making him look as scary as possible.

"Hm, I can feel the toxin leaving me
Flooded with the tears you'll never see
It's different everyday, let it pour away
I don't want to feel this anymore

Everything in life is "Sink or swim" in tears
Everything in life is "Sink or swim

So, hide my tears I don't want you to
Know, know, oh-oh
Know, know, oh-oh
These tears are fears I don't want you to
Know know know
So hide my tear I don't want you to know!
(Hide my tears, I don't want you to know)"

As the song reaches it's conclusion, everyone starts singing along and dancing around excitedly, this is what Tails loved about Searing Symphony, the fires of excitement, happiness, love all burned in his little heart in one night.

"The feelings are real!
Oh, my heavy soul, it takes a toll
My heavy soul, it takes a toll
The feelings are real!
Oh, my heavy soul, it takes a toll
My heavy soul, it takes a toll"

The crowd explodes as soon as the music ends, Tails jumps out, overcome with joy and excitement. His feelings for the snow coloured wolf growing stronger with each passing moment.

"Was that a strong enough song for you!?" Winter shouts.

All the audience can respond with are excited cheers and shouts, as Winter steps forward slightly, sweat beading down his face from all the dancing. He's exhausted but he's not gonna let this tire him out, Friday nights were his nights to impress the world after all.

"So you want another?!" He shouts pointing down at them.

They all cheer seemingly agreeing with the fact that they wanted more! More of him, more of his amazing voice... And it was the moment Tails had been waiting for, hoping for, getting this opportunity meant the wold to him.

"For this act, I'm going to try something a little unique: I'm going to perform... Whilst blindfolded!"

Everything in the audience starts ooo'ing and gossiping as Alex runs on stage with a black blindfold in his hands, Winter turns to him for a second and then back to the audience so he can continue explaining to everyone what the gist was.

"...And while I'm blindfolded, I'm going to take a random person on stage and introduce them to the world at the end of the song!... Hence the reason I'm blindfolded, so everyone has an equal chance and I'm not biased or whatever" Winter adds throwing his hands up in the air.

That makes everyone in the crowd very rowdy, the chance to actually meet Winter... Walk with him on stage, hold his hand potentially, Tails wasn't alone when it came to having that as his wish... Still the fox refused to let it make him feel small, he just hoped and prayed Winter chose him to come up on stage.

"Alex... Would you do the honours?" Winter says, looking up at the mountain lion.

"How are you going to avoid knocking people over?" He asks him quietly.

"Magic" Winter responds, with a playfully mischievous smirk.

My assassin training, of course...

Alex sighs and reaches around so he can tie the blindfold over his eyes, once it's secure Winter takes a deep breath and gets ready to sing, Alex turns to the DJ and give some the cue to play the next song.

Just before the song starts Tails hears a familiar voice... One that interrupts the flow of his excitement, almost stops the flow of serotonin in his head...

"Ah man, the show already started-" Sonic says as him and the other members of Team Sonic come in.

"Whoa, this place is packed" Knuckles says, looking around the room at the rowdy crowd of people.

"The owner has probably the heavenliest singing voice ever! He performs almost every Friday night for people eating here in this specific part of the restaurant!" Amy explains as they all sit down.

Tails ducks behind the table in an effort to not get spotted by them, if they saw him it would ruin his night, and he'd probably have to gang out with them the rest of the night. The frustration in his eyes was bubbling up so much... But the song starting and the crowd cheering made him feel somewhat at ease, as long as he wasn't seen, he was gonna be okay. At least he hoped he'd be.

Think Later - TateMcRae

"Live now, think later, I do it so well
Live now, think later, I do it so well
Fall hard, heart breaker, I want him, oh well
Live now, think later, I do it so well"

Winter starts walking around the crowd, everyone gives the wolf space as he walks around blindfolded, a lot of people amazed at how he wasn't knocking anyone over as he walks on by...

"Met you at a night out in Boston
Put your hand on my thigh in the Commons
Been drinking something blue, turn my phone off
'Cause if it's not you, I don't wanna talk
Don't know if it's been a minute or an hour
Kinda cute when you're bribing the bouncer
My friends got scared, and they called the cops
But I'm just at the Ritz with the door locked"

Tails watched on absolutely enamoured by the wolf's voice as he walks on past him, he was so close he could smell him... And he smelled really good to him, like caramel and strawberries.

"Live now, think later, I do it so well
Live now, think later, I do it so well
Fall hard, heart breaker, I want him, oh well
Live now, think later, I do it so well

Dance with your hand in my back pocket
I picture your face in my neck locket
Just give me your beating heart, I'll stop it, girl
Don't lie, I know you want it, yeah
Gotta make a quick stop at the ATM
I know you won't make me pay, but I'll just pretend
Laughing in the backseat of the black car
It's not a good night if you don't take it too far"

As Winter dances around to the instrumental around the crowd of excited fans, Tails reaches down checking to see if his gift bag was still there, and sure enough it was which relieved him. As he's bringing his hand back up to the table however... He feels himself get pulled away from his seat, he manages to snag hold of the gift bag before he's whisked away from his seat... At first he panics, did Sonic finally see him?... The answer to that question was in fact a no. It was Winter, dancing around with him and twirling him around.

Tails' heart feels like it's going to explode as the crowd starts to get rowdy recognising who it was Winter just decided to bring onto stage, the fox gulps and tries to keep his composure but how can he when Winter is holding his hands and dancing around with him.

"Live now, think later, I do it so well
Live now, think later, I do it so well
Fall hard, heart breaker, I want him, oh well
Live now, think later, I do it so well"

Tails laughs and sings with him as Winter takes him to the stage...

"Live now, think later, I do it so well
Live now, think later, I do it so well
Fall hard, heart breaker, I want him, oh well
Live now, think later, I do it so well"

As Tails finally emerges on stage, he's finally noticed by not just the rest of the crowd who didn't see him get chosen by Winter prior... But by his own friends, their mouths drop when they see Tails on stage, all of them stare as the crowd continues to cheer on the two of them.

"I-Is that?" Amy says, not believing what she was seeing.

"What the fu-" Sonic starts.

"Don't worry 'bout, don't think about
I ain't stressing 'bout not a fucking thing
Don't worry 'bout, don't think about
I ain't stressing 'bout not a fucking thing

Live now, think later, I do it so well
Live now, think later, I do it so well
Fall hard, heart breaker, I want him, oh well
Live now, think later, I do it so well"

The crowd errupts making Winter flinch slightly, the wolf not expecting a reaction as loud and excited as the one he just got. Tails looks his way, his heart beating loudly, as if it was going to just jump out of his chest, he was holding hands with him... Again, he felt like the luckiest fox alive at that moment, a lovestruck smile slowly appears on his face as he waves to the crowd.

Ok Tails, he's blindfolded, he doesn't know you're the one on stage with him. This is perfect! I just hope he doesn't pass out or something, that would be worrying...

Alex stands there frozen in shock, something a one in a million chance just happened, he could only imagine Winter's reaction the moment he saw Tails. Worse case scenario, he'd faint...Which he prayed didn't happen.

"Wow, you all sound rowdier than usual tonight, I guess my performance did wonders didn't it"

The crowd goes on cheering more and more, as Tails winks at them and turns to Winter who's laughing nervously, his bushy namesakes swish around a little faster as he continues to look at his face, examining his details.

"Hey Alex! Are you gonna come take this thing off my eyes mate!" Winter calls, still holding Tails' hand.

Alex snaps out of it and runs on stage to take the blindfold off Winter's face, as he's untying the blindfold he clears his throat and moves close to Winter's ear.

"Please don't faint" Alex says.

"Huh? I'm not gonna faint, I feel fine" Winter says, confused as to why he said thatvto him in the first place.

"Trust me, you'll be fighting the urge not to in a moment" Alex responds, finally finishing removing the cloth from his eyes.

Winter is left bewildered by what Alex said to him as the mountain lion walks off stage and quickly looks on from behind the stage curtain. He slowly opens his eyes, taking a moment to allow his vision to adjust to the light.

"Woo, I'm glad to have that thing off my face, if I tried to explain how I did what I did we'd be here all night. Thanks for helping my out here guys!" Winter says, making the audience scream and shout, "Well then, why don't we see who we've bought onto the stage toni-"

The wolf doesn't even get to finish what he's saying when the audience starts cheering and screaming even louder than usual, he notices some of them pointing at Tails...

So he turns his head and when his eyes meet Tails' eyes, his glowing smile... He freezes, blinking twice - He wasn't dreaming, the one, the only, Miles Power was on stage with him, holding his hand and singing along with him not that long ago, he feels his face go soft as he stares at Tails who eventually gives him a well deserved and well earned hug, resting his head on the wolf's chest.

"Hi" Tails says, looking back up at Winter.

"Awwwwww!" The audience goes.

At that point, tears start streaming down Winters face, the realisation of what was happening finally dawned on him... He'd finally met him, his idol. His grip on the microphone loosens and he drops it on the stage, the feedback echoing throughout the floor as he sobs and shakes.

Tails giggles and wipes the tears from his face with his hands... Seeing him cry tears of joy made him feel warm inside, this felt right, making his dream come true just felt right.

Winter gets more and more messy and sniffly from the emotions dancing around inside him as Tails takes his hands, looking into his eyes and continuing to smile at him.

"Still think you're not worth my time?" Tails asks him, fighting back tears of his own.

Winter manages a shaky smile, and exhales shakily.

"I-I... I don't know w-what to say?" Winter sobs.

"You don't have to say anything... You've earned this" Tails responds laughing

The two share a heart-warming hug together while showing the world their happy smiles, the audience all to happy to see them finally meet explodes, Alex and the other team members back stage clap and celebrate, the members of Team Sonic in the audience cheer on for Tails as the two finally let go of eachother and turn to the audience and wave while continuing to hold hands.

Sonic, though still a bit irritable with his friend, was happy to see his friend showing kindness to someone he didn't even know that well.

The two look back at eachother and smile friendly, toothy smiles with eachother.

That night a friendship like no other bloomed like a flower, Tails took the first step to finally telling Winter how he really felt about him and for Winter it would be a night he would for sure never forget.