Tails' eyes open slowly, he looks next to him and sees Sonic sleeping next to him, snoring loudly. Tails takes a moment to look at him sleeping ever so peacefully next to him, he puts his hand on his chest and another on Sonic's.

"I had a great night last night... Thank you Sonic" Tails says.

"Good morning!" Silver shouts peaking into Tails' room.

Tails volleys a pillow at his face knocking Silver over and quickly covers Sonic with the bed sheet so he wouldn't see him in his bed. Silver groans and lifts the pillow off his face.

"Can you fucking knock?!" Tails screams.

"Sorry, I'm a bit excited, that's all" Silver responds, scratching the back of his head.

"You being excited doesn't give you an excuse to barge into my room without knocking!" Tails shouts, his eyes burning with rage.

Silver seeing how cranky Tails is looks down at the floor and stares at it in shock.

"Sorry" He says.

Tails sighs and gets out of bed to pick up his pillow. Silver notices the sizeable lump under Tails' bed sheet and goes over to have a look at what's under there, Tails swiftly grabs his hand and starts to squeeze it.

"Ah ah ah ow ow!" Silver whimpers.

He can see fire burning in Tails' eyes as he gives him the most intense, most heart stabbing death stare possible.

"What are you doing" Tails asks, still staring deep into his soul.

"J-Just seeing what you got under there-" Silver says with a wobbly grin, the pain in his hand and face grows more intense as Tails gets closer to his face.

"-Its one of my inventions that I forgot to put in my workshop, that's all. Now can you get out of my room!?"

Tails tosses him out of his room, Silver lands on his ass and looks back at the grumbling Tails as he slams the door, he scratches the back of his head. Usually when he did that Tails wouldn't react like a moody teenager, which makes him wonder...

"What was that about?" He says scratching the back of his head.

Tails dusts off his hands and takes a deep breath, he turns to his bed and flinches when he sees Sonic sitting up in the bed.

"Whoa, you gave me a heart attack!" Tails whisper shouts.

"Why are you whispering?" Sonic whispers back.

"Silver is outside the door" Tails answers.

"Hey Tails, I'm sorry alright, I didn't know you were moody and it's my bad. Hope you don't stay mad at me the whole day!" Silver shouts from behind the door.

"Just don't do it again!" Tails shouts.

"Thanks man, see ya at breakfast!" Silver shouts back, relieved that Tails wasn't too annoyed with him.

Once Silver leaves, Sonic peaks his head outside of Tails room to see if anyone's there. When he's sure the cost his clear he quietly tip toes back to his room and winks at Tails as he goes in and closes the door. Tails sighs and faceplants into the mattress.

"Long night?" Nine asks, peaking into Tails room.

"Yeah. It was fun though" Tails responds, his voice smothered by the fluffy matress.

"Glad you enjoyed yourself" Nine answers.

Tails rolls onto his back and looks up at Nine who's wearing a new pair of gloves Tails got him.

"Don't you want to go on a date with someone?" Tails asks.

"I uh, I don't know where to start" Nine responds, "Besides, Its hard for me to let go of Sonic... A lot harder than you think"

Nine looks down at the floor avoiding eye contact with Tails. Tails, rather then being annoyed by this just walks up to Nine and puts his hands on his shoulder making Nine jump, he braces for whatever Tails has to say and squeezes his eyes shut.

"You want me to loan him out to you for the night?" Tails says.

Nine opens his eyes and slowly looks his brother like doppelganger in the eyes. There's no anger or violent intent behind his eyes... At all, which makes Nine wonder if he's testing him.

"Uh um"

"Nine... Just consider it a thank you for helping me deal with Knuckles" Tails says, he says then he hugs him tightly.

"Oh... Okay, thanks" He says, hugging Tails back, "W-Where should I take him though?"

"The Heartburn Lounge in Nightstar City, Avenada Beach in Oceanwave City, or there's this new stadium in Deep Reef City and Sonic really loves sports!" Tails suggests, separating from Nine.

"Didn't you guys already go to the Heartburn Lounge?"

"Yeah, but Sonic loves the food there too" Tails responds.

"Avenada Beach... I do like Oceanwave City, but isn't that a bit far from here?" Nine asks.

"You can fly and be there in 13 minutes, or ask Sonic to take you there, he can get you there in 3-" Tails says, wrapping his arm around Nine's neck.

"Hmmm" Nine says thinking hard about which option to choose.

"Food, Fun, or Sports..."

Tails sits on the chair by his desk while Nine thinks about what to do with Sonic that night. Eventually after debating himself and pacing around Tails' room almost endlessly... He still can't decide on where to take him.

"Oh man, I never thought this would be so stressful" Nine responds.

"Didn't you go out with the Sonic you knew?" Tails asks, baffled that he couldn't decide on where to take Sonic.

"He was the one who usually organised our date nights... That's why I said I don't know where to start-"

"Two suggestions: One, follow your heart. Where do you think Sonic would go if he had all the free time in the world? Or two: Get into the mind of Sonic, where do you think he would go, or want to go?"

Nine nods slowly and sits down on the bed to think for a bit while Tails sits next to him. After finally having a brainwave, he finally comes to a decision.

"He'd... Want to do all 3" Nine goes, sounding unamused at his conclusion, because after all this was the blue blur they were talking about.

"Y-You're not wrong-" Tails responds, somewhat amazed at the conclusion he made, "In that case - we should pick out an outfit for you to wear"

Tails and Nine go to his room and spend the next half hour trying to decide on what Nine should wear on his night out with Sonic. Eventually they finally come up with something for him to wear, completely black gloves, a black choker, a short sleeve t-shirt with some rather eye catching graphic designs on it, matching trousers and boots.

Tails ties a black rose to his ear and gives him a red earring, when he's done he leans over Nine's shoulder from the back with a mirror so Nine could see how he looked.

"Do you have any hair gel?"

"Say no more!"

Tails uses a bit of styling gel to slick the three hairs sticking out of his head back to create a suave like hairdo, he also styled Nine's fur a bit so he looked a bit presentable, yet he stood out. Tails finishes up his whiskers and when Nine sees how he looks he can't help but gush at the look Tails created for him.

"Tails-"

"Yeah, you look great! Are you satisfied?"

Nine stands up and embraces Tails, who hugs him back, a happy smile on his face.

"Very" He goes, crying tears of joy.

The two hold hands as Tails walks him to Sonic who's playing video games with Blaze in the living room. Tails knocks on wall to get Sonic's attention and the hedgehog looks over at him and a blushing, slightly bashful Nine.

When Sonic sees Nine and how different he looks, his eyes get glued to him.

"Sonic, Nine wants to hang out with you today!" Tails says, hands on his shoulders.

"Nine you look great" Sonic says with a smile.

"You even got your fur all styled up, it looks fabulous" Blaze says, clasping her hands together.

"Thanks" Nine responds.

"Yeah, Nine... I'll hang out with you, just give me a bit alright?"

He nods slightly and turns to Tails, the two high five and run off to the front door. After Sonic finishes playing with Blaze he comes to the door and puts on a pair of sunglasses.

"Ready to go?" Sonic asks.

Nine reluctantly nods, Sonic extends his hand and Nine takes it.

"See ya tomorrow Tails!" Sonic says.

"See ya!" Tails responds, waving at them as they walk into the ship.

Tails watches as it lifts up into the air and flies off towards Deep Reef City in the ocean ahead. Once they're out of sight, Tails' smile disappears and he goes back inside the base and to his workshop where he uncovers something hidden under a dusty purple cloth, what looked to be the hilt of a sword, a very special kind of weapon.

"Oh Shadow... If only you knew the gifts I've made for you when you inevitably escape your capture"

A grin straight from a mental asylum appears on Tails' face as he takes out a screw driver from his drawer.

"Hahahaha" He laughs.

---

3 hours later

Thousands of celebrating fans clamour outside the stadium grounds, celebrating the Nightstar Hawks big win against the the Deep Reef Sharks at an anticipated soccer match. Sonic tugs Nine out of the stadium shouting loudly while the fox just stares at Sonic almost aimlessly.

"That was awesome!" Sonic shouts, the slightly oversized soccer jersey he had on whipping around wildly.

"Y-Yeah it was..." Nine responds, snapping outbod his trance.

"Whoo!" Sonic goes, jumping up in the air as fast as he can.

Nine looks up, above them, water being so deep under the ocean made him anxious. Sonic notices him staring up at the dome and wraps his arm around him.

"It's alright, Tails knew what he was doing when he designed this place. 50 inch thick, the toughest glass you have ever see, there's a station in the city that also turns water into oxygen! Pretty neat right?"

When Nine hears Tails designed the city he begins to get curious.

"How many other cities did he design?" He asks, looking at Sonic with curious blue eyes.

"Tails designed almost all the new cities that started popping up on Mobius. His favourite, is Nightstar City, it's his piece de la resistance, his c'est sa meilleure œuvre à ce jour, his-"

"I get it, he's good at urban planning" Nine responds, "I tried to lead Moon City, where I came from after Sonic defeated the Chaos Council but I didn't do the best job at it so... I stepped down"

"Hey, you tried, it wasn't working out and you stopped. It happens... Even to me heh heh"

Nine looks up at Sonic, "Thanks"

"No problem, thanks for taking me out here pal, it's been a good night?" Sonic says.

"W-Wait!" Nine shouts, shocked Sonic thought they were done.

Sonic tilts his head to the side.

"Let's uh go to that restaurant you and Tails went to!" Nine says, looking at Sonic intensely.

"Okay? Sure-" Sonic says, putting his hand on his head.

Sonic scoops him up and takes Nine up to the docking bay above the city, on the surface of the ocean so they could take the ship back to the city. When they get up there, the weather is storming hard, heavy winds make ships docking harder and the waves are gradually getting higher and higher, so higher they raise the barrier around the bay to keep water from flooding the docking port and likely flooding the city below.

Sonic uses the jersey to cover himself and Nine as he runs into the ship with him. When he gets there he sets Nine down on the floor and vibates himself at high speed to evaporate the water on his fur and quills. Nine gets up and closes the bay door with one of his mechanical claws, Sonic goes to the cockpit and turns the ship on, Nine comes in behind him and sits down in the co-pilot chair with Sonic.

"So Nine, how ya doin?"

"Good"

"Great to hear"

Once the ship is in the air and flying off towards the mainland. Sonic puts it onto autopilot and gets up to stretch his legs, he looks back at Nine who's just looking ahead at the raging storm in front of them as they cross the vast ocean towards the cyberpunk city. Watching the rain patter on the windshield while flying over raging seas was just something that he found oddly satisfying.

Sonic comes back into the cockpit, holding a cup of hot chocolate and gives a cup to Nine who accepts it and takes a sip.

"How is it?" Sonic asks.

"It's... It's pretty good" Nine responds.

Sonic sits with Nine and looks out at the storm in front of them.

"Do you like the rain?" Nine asks.

Sonic takes a second to look at him and then back Infront of him.

"Depends on my mood. Sometimes it's a vibe, other times I just don't want it to rain period" Sonic responds, then he takes a drink of his hot cocoa.

"Something he told me before he died was that life is like rain. It's temporary, a crazy unpredictable mess, and something that can potentially be annoying. But when it stops, you never know what you have until it's gone" Nine says, still staring ahead into the storm.

Sonic nods, understanding what he said, "That's very thought provoking..."

Nine unbuckles his seatbelt and walks on over to Sonic, sitting on his lap. Sonic's face turns red as he watches him do this.

"You're my rain Sonic. The one thing I'll want forever-" Nine goes, putting his gloved hands on his face.

"I didn't know someone could be the rain" Sonic says as Nine touches noses with him.

"I-I'm starting to wonder if I have a thing for foxes now" Sonic mutters, blushing intensely.

Nine laughs at him and kisses him on the neck, Sonic sighs and allows him to keep going.

"Maybe foxes have a thing for you"

Sonic grabs him by the shirt aggressively and pulls him close, it makes Nine smirk seeing Sonic get like this, "Someone's mad"

"What can I say, you know how to stir me up" Sonic says, following with a kiss on the lips.

Nine kisses him back and then climbs off Sonic, pulling him up from off the chair and leading him to the cargo bay, cool red light illuminating the entire room as the sound of the engines grows louder. Nine pushes Sonic against the floor and starts by taking off his shirt and gloves, Sonic feels a sharp prick on his neck and flinches slightly.

Nine is nibbling on him like he's a cooked dinner.

"Mmmf, your teeth were made for meat huh?" Sonic says, grinning nervously.

"What's wrong? Can't take a little pain?" Nine says as he unbuckles his belt and leans back over to kiss Sonic on the mouth again.

"Pains what makes us feel alive" Sonic responds.

"Isn't it now"

Sonic suddenly rolls Nine on his back and takes a moment message his chest and stomach. The sounds he makes make Sonic smirk, he sounds satisfied with moans and whimpers Nine makes as he caresses him, the fox smiles like a love sick puppy.

"Pleasure is another... Heh, you and Tails make the the most satisfying noises... And you have the same weak spots"

"Uh huh" Nine moans as Sonic spreads his legs.

---

Cream watches from the door as Tails works on what looks to be a blaster rifle. Since coming out of her coma, she's been silently watching Tails from the door as he works on his gadgets. The fox fly's up to the top balcony to get something from one of the drawers within, a welding tool. He fly's back down and sits back down on the chair, he puts on a welding mask and carefully starts to weld the circuit board to a few wires.

After a few minutes of careful welding, he takes the mask off and sets it down on the table. He stands up to stretch and goes to the fridge to get something to drink, a carton of strawberry milk, he pokes the straw threw the aluminium and takes a sip as he looks at the blueprints he made for the weapons, making sure he didn't make any mistakes.

Cream doesn't yet know that Sonic and Tails are officially together yet, so she still believes she can try and change Tails' mind and go out with him, she feels optimistic and determined, but is she prepared for the truth?

Tails grumbles when he realises he's missing a component that's vital for his new arsenal to function, he face palms and takes his phone out of the drawer and calls Sonic, the line rings as he taps his foot on the concrete floor.

---

Nine's losing his mind, breathing heavily, he's drooling and shaking as he lays on his back legs up in the air, his underwear hanging off his right boot. Sonic's head is in between his legs as he whimpers loudly and covers his face so Sonic wouldn't see how much of a mess he is.

"A-aah f-fuck... S-Slow down ngh"

Sonic moans while he slurps down on him. Nine squirms unable to hold himself back any longer. Sonic caresses his thighs as Nine looks down at him, Sonic hits a spot that makes Nine scream loudly, unable to take it anymore he suddenly grabs Sonic by the back of the head which scares Sonic somewhat because of how unexpected it was. He rolls him onto his back and starts to thrust into his mouth aggressively.

The heat gets to Nine and he finally lets go in Sonic's mouth, the hedgehog squeezing Nine's waist, he's warm to the touch. After a few deep breaths, he pulls out of Sonic's mouth and collapses onto the floor.

"Egh, faster warning next time" Sonic says, wiping his mouth.

Nine laughs weakly and smirks at him as he lays on the floor breathing like an exhausted athlete.

"I had to repay the favour somehow" Nine says.

Sonic climbs ontop of him and touches noses with him.

"I'm not done with you, ya know that right?" Nine says, stroking his face.

"Wait, we're having round 2? Oh dude, when-"

"Now"

"Say what-"

The fox pushes Sonic over and kisses him passionately. Sonic notices his phone ringing and reaches for it while Nine sits on his lap and sighs loudly, Sonic almost drops the phone when he feels Nine sit on him, making him moan.

"W-Wait, Tails is calling"

"1 minute" Nine says, then he lays on his chest.

Sonic answers the phone while stroking his head, "Hello?"

"Hey Sonic! Are you on your way to Nightstar City by any chance?" Tails asks, looking in a drawer praying he had the component he needed.

"Yeah, I'm going to the Heartburn Lounge with Nine, why?" Sonic responds.

"I need a Polyplasma Converter and Sadrina Battery, can you go to the market after you go to the lounge and get the parts I need?" Tails asks, still looking through drawers.

"Yeah, sure, I'll be sure to ket Nine know" Sonic responds.

"Awesome, thanks" Tails says as he closes a drawer.

"Hey Tails... I love you" Sonic says, still stroking Nine's head gently.

Tails giggles, "I know... I see you later"

"Bye"

Sonic hangs up and puts the phone on a crate, "Now, where were we?"

"You were about to fuck me" Nine says, waiting for Sonic to get him on his back.

Sonic does indeed get Nine on his back and proceeds to thrust into the little fox, making him moan and squirm. Sonic squeezes his warm, sweaty body and bites his shoulder. The hedgehog can feel his energy running out but he doesn't want to slow down, to disappoint the satisfied little fox, Nine grabs his face and aggressively kisses him.

Nine separates from him whil Sonic keeps thrusting into him, he looks exhausted yet his face is begging Sonic to keep going.

"You better not stop" Nine grunts.

"Mmmf, you're a lot of... work" Sonic says, as he keeps on going.

Sonic's punishment soon pushes Nine to his limit and he can feel ever so gradually feel that he won't last much longer, the pleasure and burning overwhelming him to the point where he can't think straight.

Sonic, getting lost in the moment, starts to press on faster, he can't get enough of the way he moans and squeaks when he's hot and hormonally charged as he is, he starts to sort of fold him slightly while keeping himself firmly planted in him. When the fox boy sees what Sonic's doing he smirks.

"I don't think your ready for that one just yet" Nine says, as Sonic lifts his legs up.

"Don't underestimate me" Sonic responds.

Sonic presses hard into Nine, the fox bites his lip and sighs loudly.

"H-He loved this one-" Nine moans, thinking about the action he got with his Sonic.

"I guess I love it too" Sonic responds, still thrusting and pressing into Nine.

He's fast and hard on him, as both boys draw near to their limits, Nine clenches onto Sonic and pulls him in taking a firm chomp into his neck, the agonising pain wakes Sonic up and he regains his momentum.

Sonic squeezes Nine's warm body tighter, and Nine releases his jaws from his neck. Soon Sonic can't hold in anymore, he pushes as far deep inside Nine as he can and squeezes him as tight as he can, Nine moans and shouts while Sonic finally lets go inside of him, dumping all he stored up since his first round inside the tender little fox. Nine unable to hold it in with either pops out and releases, some of it gets on his shirt and stomach.

Sonic collapses on top of him breathing heavily, Nine licks his face and laughs weakly.

"...Still think me and Tails are the same?" Nine asks as Sonic lays his head on his chest.

"No, ah fuck, you're a lot more aggressive... And you like pain... A lot"

"How can you blame me... You do such a good job"

"So I hear... Next time no biting, gah that stings!"

Nine laughs and kisses his cheek, completely satisfied with his experience with Sonic. He looks up at the nav screen on one of the walls and realises him and Sonic are getting closer to Nightstar City.

"Does this thing have a bath or shower or something" Nine asks.

"Heh... Yeah, it's on the lower deck" Sonic answers, "Let me just... Oh man... Catch my breath, you sucked up a lot of my energy"

"You know what else I could suck up?" Nine teases, poking his stomach.

"Ugh fuck you" Sonic moans, still exhausted from the action.

Nine nuzzles his face and reaches over for his phone, his lock screen a picture of him and his previous Sonic taking a selfie under an aurora borealis, the picture slowly transitions to the two kissing each other. It makes Nine a bit emotional when he sees it, but he's happy with what he has now... This Sonic, the blue hero with a heart of gold, this potential new love.

"You okay?" Sonic asks, slowly picking himself up off the floor and sitting up.

"Yeah" Nine answers, crawling onto his lap.

Sonic wraps his arms around his stomach and rests his head on his shoulder, "You sure?"

Nine nods so Sonic doe's not worry about him.

"If you wanna talk, I'm here-" Sonic responds.

He rests his head on Sonic chest, "I'm okay Sonic, I promise"

"You thinking about him, aren't you?"

Nine sighs and looks down at the floor at one of the grates below, "Yeah. We used to screw each other like rabid animals and have sweet moments like these where he'd hold me close and crack some stupid joke"

"Like what?" Sonic asks, curious to know what kind of jokes an alternate version of himself would make.

"That was a "blast"... Blegh..."

"Hahahaha, oh I get it"

"Oh man, you both have the same sense of humour. Wonderful"

"Oh, heh heh"

"Ugh, those were gross. But I didn't want to rain in his parade so I just laughed anyway"

"Aw, that's nice of you" Sonic says, planting a lazy smooch on his cheek, that's when Sonic finally takes notice of  the gel in his fur.

"Wait your fur was gelled?" Sonic asks, smelling him.

"Mhm, Tails helped me out" Nine responds.

"I was wondering why you looked so fancy" Sonic responds.

"Yeah, that's why" Nine goes.

"Why don't I help you re-apply it"

Nine smiles, "I'd love that"

After a shower, Sonic reapplies the fur gel to Nine's fur, finishing just as they arrived at their destination. The hedgehog puts the gel bottle back in the medicine cabinet and helps Nine up from off the stool, taking his hand and leading him off the ship and towards the restaurant. When they arrive at the Heartburn Lounge, it's a lot more crowded then it was the day Sonic and Tails went there, it was as if Sonic appearing there.

"Whoa this place got busy" Sonic says.

"Well, can we get around the crowd?" Nine asks.

"We'd need a Seven of Melting Hearts..." Sonic checks the pass he has and to his amazement he did have A Seven of Melting Hearts pass for the lounge, "I do have them... Huh?"

"Can we please just go into the restaurant" Nine asks, adjusting his t-shirt.

Sonic and Nine push threw the crowd to the front, when they see Sonic they start cheering and Sonic just doesn't seem to know why. When he makes it to the front, the bouncer stops them. When Sonic shows them the Melting Seven of Hearts pass and immediately let's them inside, they go passed the main lounge and go the lounge and through the double doors to the Heartburn Lounge itself.

Nine looks around at all the neon shapes and lights, Sonic listens to the softer chattering from the patrons, the sound of prace. Sonic smiles and leads Nine go a booth table by the wall.

"Sonic, can we sit closer to that melting heart. I kinda like it" Nine says.

"Sure fine" Sonic responds, confused as to why he'd want to sit there.

---

Tails leans back on his chair and sighs, he's been hard at work for a few hours now preparing for Shadow's inevitable return. He reaches for a tablet on a stand and turns it on, the screen appears to be displaying vitals for someone and repeatedly scanning for any diseases, Sonic. Since the disastrous night of their first return to Mobius, he's secretly been sneaking nano bots into everyone's blood stream via his cooking, Sonic was the last one to receive them as Tails didn't want to risk something happening to him if they malfunctioned.

A smile appears on his face when he sees Sonic's stable, he swipes to check Nine's and sees he's fine as well.

"Hope you two are having fun out there" Tails says, stroking the picture with Nine's smiling face on it.

Cream begins to wonder if Nines the one Tails is after as she peaks into the workshop. Either  way though, it still frustrates her that Tails isn't interested in her though... And so she begins, begins a plot, the plot that will finally give her the one thing she wants... Tails.

Cream walks away from the workshop door back to her room, Tails' ears pick up on her footsteps and he grips the tablet tightly, he knows Creams watching him and he knows she's up to something, he just doesn't know what.

"The fuck is she doing..." The fox asks himself.

---

Nine bites into the ribs he ordered while Sonic enjoys the chilli dogs on his plate. The two sitting in the glow of the brilliant pink and blue lights enjoying the food, when Nine's done eating his ribs he looks at his hands and sees the sticky barbeque sauce on his fingers, he sighs and tries to reach for the napkins. Sonic stops him and takes them out for him so he can wipe the fox's hands.

"Thanks" Nine says.

"No problem" Sonic says as cleans his hands with the napkins, "You know, I never thought I'd ever see you this happy Nine. Kinda warms my heart"

"You and Tails have done so much for me, I haven't felt this good in a long time... Since he died" Nine explains, looking down at his newly cleaned hands.

Sonic tosses the last piece of chilli dog in his mouth and takes his hands, holding them gently in his.

"You had a rough patch, it happens... Believe me I've had several"

"Oh I believe you"

"Don't you now? Heh heh"

"Oh yeah, I know"

The two laugh and Sonic lets go of Nine's hands so he can put his gloves back on.

"So, why do you have those mechanical tails?" Sonic asks, curious to know why he made them.

"To defend myself originally. The bullies I had back in my universe were merciless, savages" Nine says looking into Sonic's emerald eyes.

"Dang... It was that bad?"

Nine nods, "I told Tails already, he told me he went through something similar"

"Yeah. Tails was bullied because of his extra tail, he suffered because of it, and to make matters worse the village he grew up in burned down. Not too long before Eggman died, he took me to where it once was and we planted some flowers"

"He survived a fire?"

"Yeah, I said to him that he was really brave that day, he'd agree"

As Sonic continues to talk, Nine notices a pair of red eyes locked onto him from across the restaurant sitting all the way at the bar, a fox with white fur sort of like him with red eyes and a white coat matching his fur. He smirks at Nine and puts on a pair of sunglasses, standing up and walking towards the exit right passed Nine. Sonic notices him too and nods slightly.

"I think he likes you" Sonic teases, point at him with his thumb.

Nine's face turns red immediately and he starts hitting Sonic playfully for saying that out loud, "Fuck you! Fuck you! Fuck you! Ugh!"

Sonic laughs, taking the slaps from him as he covers his head, Nine sits back down and Huff's loudly.

"Okay, okay sorry haha"

Nine is silent for a moment as his takes a sip of his drink, then he looks back up at Sonic who's drinking his watermelon soda.

"Do you think he likes me?" Nine asks, blushing slightly.

"You can always go find out" Sonic responds flexing his eyebrows.

"N-No, I'm with you" Nine responds, hesitant to leave Sonic's side.

"You sure?" Sonic responds.

"Yeah, I can't just ditch you like that... Besides, he's a stranger, who I haven't seen before" Nine responds, scratching the back of his head.

Sonic sighs, slightly disappointed he didn't try and go for it, but he's not gonna complain as long as Nine's comfortable.

"You in the mood for dessert?" Sonic asks.

"Maybe another time, we still have Avenada Beach to knock out. And I heard they have gazebos where you can sleep at night by yourself or with a partner"

"They indeed do" Sonic responds, remembering what he was talking about.

After leaving the restaurant, the two fly to the market on the east side of the city to find the components Tails is looking for, once they're done they stop by the base and give him the bag with the components he asked for and fly off in the ship to Oceanwave City.

Tails picks up the bag and watches as Nine and Sonic wave to him. He smiles lazily and waves back, once the ship takes off again he goes back to his workshop and continues working on his arsenal. Cream returns yet again, peaking into the workshop from the doorway. Tails knows she's there because he hid a camera in the ceiling near the doorway and he's watching her on his phone, he sighs and continues working despite the unwelcome visitor at his door.

---

Avenada Beach,
Oceanwave City

The wind blows calmly as the two boys walk up the steps into the gazebo. The view of the sea in front of them captivating in the sunset, Sonic opens the door and lets Nine in first before following once they're in, Nine jumps onto Sonic laughing joyously, Sonic spins him around and the two fall onto the bed laughing together.

Nine takes Sonic's hand and sighs, "I didn't know this place had a TV"

"Neither did I-" Sonic responds looking for a remote.

He finds it and turns it on, "Whoa, they have a ton of stuff to watch"

"Quiver of the Night... What's that?" Nine asks pointing at  one of the presented movies titles.

"It's a action movie, it's got it's fair share of romance too. I liked it but it was uh... Pretty violent-"

When Nine hears "pretty violent"...

"Let's watch it!"

Sonic looks at him shocked he'd say that, "N-Nine, I just said it's really violent-"

"I know, that's why I want to see it" Nine responds, excitement in his eyes.

Sonic stares at Nine blankly, violence was his thing after all so it didn't really surprise him.

"You're terrifying you know that right?"

"Well aware, thanks"

Sonic face palms and plays the movie, him and the fox watch from under the sheets, the parts that make Nine excited are the parts that pretty much traumatize Sonic.

"Yeah! Cut his head off!" Nine shouts.

Sonic looks at him as if he's lost his mind.

"Woo!"

Why did he have to pick the 4 hour directors cut...

After the film, Nine is able to sleep peacefully with a starry grin on his facem... And Sonic can't at all, especially after seeing all the blood and guts. He stands up to close the curtains of the gazebo, while he's doing so he sees a shadow watching them from the dark, Sonic eyes the shadow and realises it's watching them so he runs over and gets to the rock where they are watching him and Nine from... But when he gets there, there's no one there.

Sonic looks around behind him the city, in front of him the ocean, to his sides nothing but sandy beach, cool sand and the smell of sea salt. Sonic jumps down from the rock and stretches his arms while yawning.

When he comes back to the gazebo, Nine wakes up as he closes the curtain.

"You okay?" Nine asks, standing

"Yeah, I thought someone was watching us"

"No one knows we're here Sonic. Come on... I'm cold"

Sonic looks back at him with a smirk, "Cold huh?"

"Yeah asshole, I'm cold... Come warm me up"

Sonic grabs Nine and holds him close to him while kissing his forehead, Nine giggles enjoying what Sonic is doing.

"Consider yourself... Melted" Sonic says.

"Mmm" Nine goes, closing his eyes, "Thanks Sonic... This has been the best day of my life. The best sine I've arrived here"

"Anything for you buddy" Sonic responds.

"You think Tails would be jealous?" Nine asks, head still rested on Sonic's chest.

"Haha yeah... But the adventures we had on Earth are just as amazing... And Tails wants to have more of them" Sonic says.

Nine looks up at him, "Can I come?"

"I'll ask him. Doubt he'll say though" Sonic responds.

"Okay"

"Come on, let's get some sleep. We'll fly back home in the morning, Tails is making everyone breakfast and I don't wanna miss it"

"Yeah, his foods pretty good" Nine says.

As the two climb back into the bed, the shadow from earlier watches them do so, before running off towards the city.

---

When Nine gets back to his room, he looks at a photograph of him and Sonic on the ship hugging eachother with a view of Nightstar City behind them, happy with a chance to make new memories he hugs the piece of paper and puts it up on the wall by his desk.

He puts his hands in his pockets, and feels something in his right one. Nine digs around in it and inside is a card with a phone number on it, he's bewildered unable to remember how he got it, until he remembers the arctic fox with the red eyes him and Sonic saw at the Heartburn Lounge and how he passed by him.

His face turns red almost immediately.

"Shit" He says looking away from the card.