Amiable Armadillo

A Gift

Tails giggled and smiled up at him. “Thanks Mighty. Really. I love it. I think I’ll keep it in my workshop.”

Mighty smiled back. “I’m glad that you like it.”

The armadillo reached for the glass of water he had set down earlier. “Sounds like a nice idea. Keep it someplace you’ll see it often.” he said before taking a graceful sip of his drink, pinky out once again.

A Gift

Tails chuckled, “A TAILSiman?”

Mighty couldn’t help but chortle. “Yes, you could say that.”

A Gift

Tails smiled thoughtfully, shifting his gaze from the crystal to the armadillo. Mighty really was a wonderful friend. It was clear that he HAD put thought into this gift. That made it all the more wonderful.

“Thank you…”, he whispered with a thick sincerity in his voice.

“You’re welcome.” Mighty couldn’t help but smile back.

“I hadn’t forgotten about that conversation you and I had when were making our way back to Angel island.” He looked down to the crystal. “Think of it as a lucky tailsiman to give you strength. Physically, mentally, emotionally.”

A Gift

Tails gave a short little laugh. “Of course. I’d love to know why it was this particular crystal you associated with me. That’s the most interesting part!”

Mighty softly chuckled back. “Well, alright.”

The armadillo began his explanation with a preface. “People have been mystified by crystals since the dawn of time. Some would even say they’re living beings made of light and vibration, and that the earth gives us them as helpers. They all serve a different purpose depending on their structure, color, things like that.”

In all honesty, Mighty could’ve babbled on into more detail, but he decided to get right to the point. “The reason I picked bloodstone out of the thousands of other crystals out there was because of what it’s said to aid with.” He paused for a moment and smiled softly.

“Strength.”

A Gift

Tails stared at the rock in his hand. “A rock…”, he whispered with a smile on his face. “…a beautiful rock.”

It was a different sort of gift, but one Tails appreciated nonetheless.

“To be technical, it’s a crystal. Bloodstone. Or Heliotrope, if you wanna call it what the ancients referred to it as.” Mighty was happy that Tails seemed to like the stone’s appearance. He drew a hand closer to the rock, pointing out its features. “The little red spots are what give it its name. They’re made of red jasper, most likely.”

The armadillo rested back on the couch, putting a hand on his shell as he looked towards the ceiling. “It was hard deciding which crystal to get you. There were a lot of nice ones I considered, but ultimately this was the best pick, I feel.”

He turned to Tails. “Shall I explain why?” His free hand raised, pointer finger extended. “Fair warning, I may get long winded and hippie-dippy on ya.” he offered as a lighthearted disclaimer.

A Gift

Tails wore a huge smile on his face as he looked down at the gift. It didn’t matter how small it was or that it wasn’t the most gracious wrap job in history. Chaos, he was just happy to have been thought of.

The fox slowly began to open it, until he finally revealed the gift inside.

Mighty watched with nervous anticipation as Tails slowly unwrapped his gift. Eventually the final layer of the tissue paper was removed, and the present was revealed.

It was a rock; or, at the very least, it had the appearance of a smooth, tumbled stone of some sort. The color was an interesting blend of deep greens and was dotted with bright red splotches splattered across here and there.

The armadillo stayed silent, waiting to hear any kind of response from Tails. He had no idea if the fox knew what exactly it was. Tails was smart, but Mighty hadn’t an inkling of an idea as to how informed the fox was in mineralogy.

A Gift

“H–Heh. Sure–heh!” He rubbed the back of his head nervously. He didn’t often get presents for his birthday outside of Sonic. This was such a nice surprise.

“Great!” The armadillo set his glass down and reached behind his back and pulled out a palm sized package from behind him. It was wrapped several layers in some kind of tissue paper, and while the wrapping wasn’t exactly the world’s best, Mighty remedied the lopsided present by wrapping a small ribbon around it to make it look more presentable. Whatever was inside was hard and gave the wrapping more weight, but it was about as heavy as one would expect for something that size.

“It uh, isn’t exactly big, nor is it super expensive or anything...” Mighty said sheepishly staring down at the gift. He then looked to Tails. “But, I put some thought into it, and I’m sure you’ll appreciate it once I explain it to you. Hopefully.” he added with a tad more confidence, cupping the gift in his hands and offering it to Tails.

A Gift

“Better.” He smiled. It was true, though he still had his issues, obviously. He was so happy to have Sonic back. “It’s nice to see you again.”

He beamed back. “It’s nice to see you again as well; Sonic too.”

“Ah, right.” Mighty suddenly remembered why he was even here in the first place. “Would you like your present now?” he inquired curiously.

A Gift

Okay, Tails noticed the whole pinky finger up thing and couldn’t help but smile.

“Heh–it’s okay. Even if you only remember my birthday this once, it’s really nice. Sorry I don’t have any cake or anything to share with you. Things are only starting to get back to normal around here…”

“Hey, it’s alright.” Mighty assured. “No cake is fine.” he lied. He could totally go for some cake right about now, but that was beside the point.

“How’ve you been feeling since I last saw you?” Mighty didn’t exactly want to pry, but he had the fox’s well being in his best interests.

A Gift

Tails obliged and returned with just that, handing the glass of water to his guest.

“I really am surprised that you remembered my birthday.” He smiled. “I’m not really all that used to people remembering it–heh.”

“Thank you.” Mighty said, taking the glass from Tails and immediately taking a sip.

“Well” he said, lowering the glass from his lips. “As I was trying to say before Sonic made a run for it; I didn’t know the exact date of your birthday, just that it was around this time’a year. I asked Knuckles, and he told me it was coming up, so that’s how I know.” With his pinky finger out, Mighty raised the glass once more to his mouth and took another sip of water. Feeling refreshed, he added “Now that I know the date, I’ll be sure not to forget.” The armadillo winked at Tails, signifying a promise.

A Gift

“Y-Yeah–heh–he’s a…he’s something.”, Tails muttered nervously. “But–but he’ll be back soon…”

Chaos, he had not expected this separation anxiety. Well, he had–but this was more difficult than he had thought.

“Would you like something to drink?”, he asked.

The strongman was quick to pick up on the fact that Tails didn’t seem too well. Did Mighty overstep his boundaries by essentially calling Sonic a moron? He had hoped not, as he didn’t mean it sincerely.

“Uh, sure! Water’s fine.” Mighty replied, noticing he was feeling rather parched from his journey to the homestead.

A Gift

Tails sighed. “No…it’s fine. He’s so stubborn…I hope he doesn’t hurt his foot further. I wish he could just sit still and let it heal fully.”

Tails tried to shake it off and not show just how anxious he was about being separated from the hedgehog. He couldn’t sit there and worry about Sonic being gone. He couldn’t. Mighty was there. And–And Sonic was going to be fine… Still, the anxiety he was experiencing was not fun. He couldn’t let Mighty know that he was feeling anxious about this. He had to be a gracious host.

“Come on in. Have a seat.”, Tails said, showing Mighty to the living room.

“I’m sure he’ll be fine.” Mighty sighed, trying to reassure both himself and Tails that letting Sonic be wasn’t a bad decision. “Though, he can be a real blockhead-- er... unyielding kinda guy. Yes.” he tensed, quickly correcting himself.

The armadillo took a silent deep breath, releasing any kind of negative feelings he had. Now wasn’t the time to worry over Sonic, it was time to celebrate Tails. That was the reason he was here, after all.

“Ah, thank you.” Mighty said, noticeably more lively than he previously was. He followed the fox’s lead, taking a seat on the couch as directed. His eyes curiously darted around the room, taking in the sights of the interior.

A Gift

“Don’t–Don’t go.”, Tails whispered. “You don’t have to get me anything.”

He KNEW that’s what Sonic was going to do. It was too obvious.

“I know I don’t haveta!” Sonic said, taking a step out the door, “I wanna! Don’t worry— I swear I’ll be quick! Don’t wait up!”

And with that, he ran off— and, while considerably slower than he usually would have been, it was still a pretty good speed. Ooh man, did it hurt his leg, but he wasn’t focused on that.

“S-Sonic, wait!” Mighty yelled, trying to grab ahold of the hedgehog, but he was too late.

Mighty was in a bit of a rough spot. Sure he could’ve chased after Sonic, but it would’ve been futile. Mighty boasted some considerable speed of his own, but he was no match for the Blue Blur. Even if Mighty did manage to catch up, he knew Sonic well enough that once the hedgehog decided to do something, there wasn’t much a person could do to talk him out of whatever crazy thing he’d set his mind to do. Plus, it would’ve been rude to abandon Tails all of the sudden, especially on a day like today.

The armadillo let out an exasperated sigh, placing his hand on his brow. “I’m sorry.” he said to Tails in a crestfallen tone. “I should’ve tried to hold him back or stop him sooner. I could still chase after him, but I don’t think that’d be any good.”

A Gift

“No!”, Tails protested and grabbed the hedgehog’s arm. There was almost a look of fear in his eyes. The thought of Sonic going out without him–especially in his condition–that scared him. “Stay–Sonic, it’s fine. Mighty’s here. He’s our guest.”

The fox turned towards the armadillo. “Come in, have a seat. Sonic, you too.”

“You can entertain our guest!” Sonic quickly said, “I wont be gone long! Just a minute, I swear— I’m fast!”

Augh. He wanted to do something for him. He couldn’t believe he didn’t know what day it was.

“Sonic, should you really be going out with a limp like that?” Mighty asked, giving a concerned glance to the hedgehog’s leg. The armadillo was no doctor, but it was plain to see that Sonic’s leg was still in the healing process.

A Gift

Tails quickly turned to Sonic and with a smile whispered, “It’s okay.”

His attention then turned back to the armadillo. “Yes–heh–yes, it’s my birthday. I didn’t realize you knew my birth date.”

Sonic was relieved when the armadillo admitted he might’ve been wrong— but then Tails had to go and totally destroy that theory.

“What?” Sonic stared, baffled. Okay? No, it wasn’t okay. He didn’t want to forget Tails’ birthday. He wanted to do something special for him…

“Just— just give me a minute!” Sonic quickly said and made his way to the door. HE COULD DO IT. He could run on his leg and get Tails something— anything— a cake, at least.

“Phew.” Mighty sighed, the unease quickly escaping his face. “For a second there, I thought maybe I got the dates mixed up. Actually, it was Knuckles who reminded me that your--”

Mighty became distracted mid-sentence by Sonic, who was now in a hurry to make his way out the door. Did Sonic really not remember it was Tails’ birthday today? Then again, if Mighty were to admit the truth, he too forgot what day it was rather frequently; it’s easy to lose track of whether it’s a Tuesday or a Wednesday when you’re out in nature without a calendar on hand, and considering all that Sonic had been through in the past few weeks, he could understand not remembering.

The armadillo wanted to stop Sonic from high-tailing out of here as his leg was clearly still healing, but on the other hand he wasn’t sure if it was his place to do so. Apprehensively, Mighty simply stood and watched.

A Gift

Tails blushed. It was so weird to him now that he was older to have his hair ruffled in such a way. However, it seemed many of his older friends didn’t really think about it.

“Oh–heh–Mighty, you didn’t have to do that.” Though he was grateful someone had remembered his birthday. At the same time he didn’t want Sonic to feel bad for not remembering. It wasn’t like things had been normal as of late.

Sonic smiled at the armadillo’s presence, but his smile soon faltered as soon as a birthday was mentioned. Birthday? What? Birthday? Whose—

Tails’ birthday? What? And Tails wasn’t correcting him— ooohh no. Sonic’s face blanched.

“Birthday!?” Sonic squeaked. Chaos, he had to get him something! He had no idea it was even October and— oohh no. This wasn’t good. Maybe he could force himself to run on his leg to grab something from the store…

“Ah, but that’s just not the kind of person I am Tails, and you know it.” the armadillo corrected Tails politely, giving the fox a final pat on the head. Mighty wasn’t exactly loaded with cash; far from it, but he loved finding things to give to his friends. Very few things beat the warm feeling in his heart from spreading generosity to others.

Mighty’s attention turned to Sonic once the hedgehog became vocal. Did Sonic not know it was Tails’ birthday? Or, perhaps did Mighty have the wrong date? “Er, it is your birthday today, riiiight?” he blushed, turning his head to Tails with a sense of nervous bewilderment.

A Gift

Since they had returned home, Tails rarely left Sonic’s side. Of course he did the things that were necessary, but he had had no reason to leave the house without him or vice versa. The thought of separating from Sonic made him anxious. Their time together had been much needed and well deserved. Having Sonic unable to really run was strange, but he enjoyed his company.

The hedgehog seemed more snuggly, which could have been a number of things–he had missed him, he had more time to just sit around, and the weather was getting cooler. There Tails sat, cuddled up against Sonic as the two of them played some silly racing game which the fox was convinced his boyfriend was trying to cheat at. That’s when there was a knock at the door. Not just a knock, but a LOUD knock. Tails’ heart jumped into his throat and he dropped his controller. He hadn’t been expecting that.

“S–Someone’s here…”, Tails whispered as he made his way to the door. They didn’t get many visitors. But…well, it WAS his birthday. Maybe it was someone they knew who just had a REALLY STRONG HAND FOR KNOCKING ON DOORS.

The fox slowly opened the door and peeked out. “…Mighty?”

Tails opened the door wide, a huge smile upon his face. “Mighty! Hi! Heh–Come in.”

Though Sonic was also startled by the knocking, he wasn’t nearly as much as Tails was. Tails dropping his controller was pretty amusing, but his attention was immediately brought to the door.

The moment Sonic heard Tails say ‘Mighty’, Sonic was instantly on his feet and making his way to the door. Luckily, he could walk now— just… with a considerable limp.

“Mighty!” Sonic beamed, “What’s up?”