Chapter Text
Tails has been planning something some would say was a bit evil and unethical, but those same people would also do what he was about to do if they had to deal with Sonic and Shadow and their flirting fighting. It was driving Tails insane and he’s only TEN, he’s too young to become a mad scientist. It’s mainly because whenever Sonic has a mission, Shadow will show up for whatever reason, pick a fight with Sonic and then after the fact Sonic will not stop talking about Shadow for at least a day or two, AND THEN once Sonic got over it Shadow would show up again and this cycle would repeat.
But Tails knew something that Sonic himself may not know. Sonic likes Shadow. Every time they fight and Sonic comes back with bruises. Tails can see the longing in his big brother's eyes.
So Tails was gonna force them into a situation where Sonic has to realize his feelings for Shadow. But like every great plan in history this one also has a few flaws.
1. Even though Tails is almost 87% sure that Sonic likes the Hot Topic themed hedgehog, 87 isn’t 100, even though Sonic goes on Ted talks DAILY about Shadow. Even though it isn’t the stereotypical “he’s so cool, and blah blah” It was a lot more like ranting to a therapist of why your toxic ex is still good for you. Plus there's the longing look that nearly always on Sonic's face wherever looking at the damage caused by the fights between the duo. So the problem? He isn’t sure that Sonic likes Shadow.
2. He didn’t have an idea to force them together. Because with how Sonic tries to stay calm, cool and collected near the anti-hero there's no way Sonic would let that mask down. But Tails and Shadows' relationship is really rocky because nearly everytime Tails sees the guy he beats him up. So he couldn’t ambush Shadow with Sonic in tow hoping to force them together, or in the reverse. The problem? There’s no way to get them together
3. As much as Sonic ramblings are starting to be annoying.( Not starting THEY HAVE BEEN IT’S BEEN MONTHS GAIA HELP) But Tail doesn't know if Shadow likes him back. And that’s the biggest problem because Tail could not let his brother’s heart be broken, because after everything he’s done for him he can’t sit around and let Sonic have his heart broken or waste his shot.
Sonic has been there for Tails since he was 4 and since been trying to raise him, while simultaneously trying to save the world. But something that also stood out to young Miles was Sonic’s love life. This really stood out when Amy Rose came into the picture, falling hard for his big brother. But suddenly one day she just stopped. It was obvious that she still had feelings, but she stopped chasing him so hard and started to find herself. And during that time when she was chasing so desperately, young Tails realized that if anyone was ever going to be good enough for his brother they would have to be able to keep up with him and not chase him.
And that matches Shadow. He and Sonic are equals; They match and challenge each other at the same time without slowing down.
The problem? Tails wasn’t sure if Shadow liked Sonic. And he needed to know this FAST
Good news, Tails knows how to fix the second and third problem. The fixes may not be the most responsible nor mentally sane but he would do whatever it took to make his brother happy.
Now Tails knew this part wasn't gonna be easy but he decided he needed Eggman's help. They had a complicated history (He’s known the man for more than half his life!) And when he wasn’t actively trying to kill him and Sonic he was kinda like a distance uncle. It’s really odd and as we have now established it is complicated.
Now he didn’t want Eggman’s help but he needed this to work. And there’s the benefit of Eggman being a genius and most likely tired of Sonic And Shadow dancing around each other, not making any moves on each other (other than punches and kicks) while destroying his robots. In summary there are a bunch of pros. Plus he’s old so he must know what love is right? RIGHT?
Tails didn’t really think of what could go wrong in any capacity, mainly because he’s tired of Sonic and his little Ted talks, longing looks at anything Shadow related. Now all he had to do was track down Eggman.
The next day he took off for Eggman’s base. It was early morning when Tails decided to set off for the base in Tornado, the sun was just coming up and the sky looked like a painting with many shades of beautiful yellows, oranges and blues. Tails found the base about mid day using a tracker he was able to put on a badnik and it led him here. “Here” were giant mountains with a VERY hidden door. And next to the mountain with the giant door implanted in it was a forest; which is where Tails decided to land Tornado.
Now normally when Amy, Knucks and Sonic are here they would just run up to the door and break it down but since Tails is not trying to start a fight but instead start a truce. He walked up to the oversized door and politely knocked.
He waited for about 2 minutes before the Doctor looked at the cameras to see the two tailed kit standing outside. Luckily when Eggman built this base he installed an intercom even though it was illogical at the time because if Team Sonic discovered him and this base they would never politely use the door. Frankly the Doctor was shocked and a bit intrigued why was Sonic's glorified sidekick was at his front door without Sonic. Unless Sonic and his ridiculously colorful friends are near?
The intercom crackled on “What do you want, Fox?” The doctor’s voice came out glitchy and a bit unclear but the message still got through, this time.
“Um hey Doctor Eggman” he took a brief pause and waved to the camera where he was hoping that Eggman was watching because if he wasn't that would be awkward. “ I got a business proposal for you. And before you start plotting, no it’s not evil” Now Eggman was REALLY intrigued because if the Kit had any plans or ideas, he could just tell Sonic and the boy would go to the moon and back to help the Fox.
“You got my attention.. Now get on with it, Boy!” Eggman yelled into the intercom and the last part squeaked so bad, Tails couldn’t tell what Eggman was saying. “Ok, ok geez, no need to yell. Ok so I have this theory that Sonic likes Shadow and honestly I wanna set them up. But I don’t know how I would get the two of them in one spot and I also don’t know if Shadow even likes Sonic; And the reason im doing all of this is because for the past, I don’t know how long actually they have been dancing around eachother and Sonic keeps ranting about Shadow and having these odd looks.” Tails rambled into one breath.
“Also I think they have been flirting or maybe not. I'm not sure but with what I have read about flirting, they literally do it all the time!” Tails was getting a little frustrated with the last part and was gesturing wildly. Which Eggman found incredibly entertaining because now he had this child on his porch making animated gestures and ranting about Sonic and Shadow.
“But why should I help you? Quite frankly you gave me every reason not to help you. With you destroying my badniks, not even last week.” The doctor said it quite smugly, but inside he was feeling a lot more conflicted than he led on. Because yes, Sonic most likely likes Shadow. Ivo knew this with the way the cobalt hero just ditches they’re battle to go race the ebony hedgehog, or worse rushing though it WITH the ebony hedgehog just so then they could go fight forgetting about him.. But recently he’s been talking about the hedgehog like a teenage girl with a crush would sometimes Ivo just retreats or just mentally checks out because he’s not dealing with THAT.
On the one hand Ivo has known the little blue bastard since he could first run. And that makes him want to help with this "thing" that is making him act like a teenage girl with a crush; but on the other hand, Sonic is his nemesis. And that makes him want to use this to his advantage, exploit it.
“So what do you need with a genius like myself?” Eggman’s tone drips with ego.
“ I’m not sure about how, but we need to get them together in one room. So what if we locked them in a closet?” Tails' eyes shimmered with pure joy of having a new and exciting problem to solve.
“That won't work, French fry. We’ll workshop it.” Though Eggman sucks at romance and anything related (except he doesn’t because he has a husband) but he knows a few things, like the closet stuff? It only works in fanfiction.
“So you don't, how we will get them together. Do you at least know if Shadow likes Sonic?”
“No” was the squeaky reply. Eggman started to rub his temple because, how the hell was this kid a genius? Eggman pressed a red button and the humongous door in front of Tails started to open, slowly and dramatically too.
Before Tails could walk inside Eggman’s voice came over the intercom telling him where to go.(go straight, 2 rights, 1 left and then it’s the door labeled “Evil”). When Tails finally got to the room, he looked traumatized, like he had seen the secrets of the universe.
“What about Rouge? She's probably the only one Shadow actually considers a friend and a close one at that. She would know if he likes Sonic or if he’s been acting differently.” Tails said after emotionally recovering.
“She could work but she never does anything for free, and if we want information we would most likely need to make a deal with her for it. But–” Eggman was promptly cut off by Sage and Metal Sonic running into his office.“ Father, Sage has ripped my arm,” Metal Sonic said while gesturing with his remaining arm to the socket without the arm. “Sage, is this true?” Eggman asks with an eyebrow raised with Tails reaching into his backpack for popcorn.
“I did do that, Father. But Metal called me a lump of useless code.”
“Well I'm kinda in the middle of something, kiddos, so go find your Papa. This is his problem now.”
And with that the two kids left to go find Agent Stone