Tales from the Phantom

Baby Steps

"Ok Sonic. Let's just take this slow, ok?" Tails encouraged, helping Sonic to stand up for the first time in a few weeks.
"Slow?" Sonic laughed, but he understood what his friend meant. Trying to take a step, his leg gave way and he tumbled to the floor, even with the crutches for support, "Whoops!"
"Gotcha!' Tails shouted, catching his friend before he hit the ground, hearing an annoyed sigh.
"Just be patient with yourself. Empire City wasn't built in a day," Tails reminded, before smiling, "Try again?"

It took a few turns for Sonic to be able to walk without falling flat on his face, though he was still a little shaky.
"You fancy a little walk?" Tails questioned, knowing the answer.
"You know it," the blue smirked.

***

"This is fine," Sonic thought out loud as he navigated the busy shopping center, hobbling and trying his best not to fall over anyone. If he was honest, he was feeling a bit overwhelmed by it all, for the first time in forever. But alas, Tails had errands to run.
"Hey, Tails? How much longer do we have to be here?" He asked, trying his best to sound causal.
"Not much longer, I just need to.." he cut himself of after hearing Sonic gasp.
"Sonic? What's wrong?" His head was turned towards the sky.
"I thought.. that I saw... Inf.." Sonic stopped. He couldn't even say his name.
Looking up, Tails could see a cloud that remarkably looked like the jackal. Glancing back, he could see Sonic getting himself worked up, eyes darting about breathing heavily and Stroking his arm.
"Ok," Tails gently took one of his hands, making him jump a little, guiding him into a coffee shop.

"A hot chocolate and an iced latte to sit in, thanks," Tails ordered before leading Sonic to one of table at the back, the ones with the couches, before someone came out with their drinks.
"Are you ok?" Tails asked after a few moments.
"I don't know? Is this what a panic attack is? I've never felt like this before. Everything was so overwhelming, and then boom!"

"That sounds like a panic attack to me," A familiar voice sounded. Turning around in surprise, the two saw Eggman sat by himself, watching as the person who had brought their drinks out, before sighing, "Mind if I sit with you?"
Tails Nodding, Eggman walked over, noticing Sonic's glaring.
"Sheesh. What happened for him to get this bad?"
"You," Tails simply said.
"Fair enough," Eggman sighed again, "Hey Sonic, can we talk? As a fruit salad to fruit salad?"
This caught Sonic's attention, "Ok. First of all, that's fruit cake to you. But, I'm also curious. What's up?"
"I... um..." the scientist went a little red in the face, "I may have a crush on him," He whispered, pointing towards the owner of the shop, "Stone,"

"Then just ask him out.. what are you doing?" Sonic watched as Eggman darted under the table, "I can't!"

Meanwhile, Stone looked over to the table before blushing. I know he's an evil mastermind, but he could be my evil mastermind. The egg had started coming here regularly for breakfast, coming more and more often, and Stone had fallen head over heels for him.
Today was the day he finally asked him out. The problem was, he was nervous. What if he said no?
Oh well, I've got nothing left to lose.

"I can't just ask him out like that! I'm not even dressed properly.."
*ahem*
"Ah!" Eggman practically jumped a mile when Stone walked up to the table.
"I've been want to ask this for a while now..." they both said in union, "Will you go out on a date with me? Wait, what?"

"You.. wanna go out.. with me?" Eggman squeaked, standing up.
"Of course," Stone replied with, "We will be united, your friends are my friends, and your enemies will be my enemies," the two continued to stare into each other's eyes for what seemed an eternity.

"Ugh.. Tails?" Sonic finally realized what Stone had said, "I think that we should.."
"Go?" Tails finished, "Um, yeah!"
The two tried to sneak out, only for the door to slam in their faces, "Hey," Sonic protested.

Stone laughed a little, but Eggman just shook his head, "Now's not the time, my love. Even I, an evil scientist, knows that you should take it easy when someone's mentally struggling," he nodded at Sonic, who found what he was saying hard to believe.
"Plus, it would be no fun to take down an already injured hedgehog," He added as he unlocked to door, watching Sonic hobble out with help from Tails.

"Come on, let's just go home," Tails decided, heading towards the Tornado.
"You had other stuff to do though," Sonic realized.
"They can wait. My buddy comes first," Tails informed, as he started the bi-plane up.

Arriving back at the little house on Angel Island, the two jumped out of their skins at the sight of Amy, yet again, sat gently swaying on the swing.
"You gotta stop doing that," Sonic commented.
"Doing what?" Amy protested, "I only came up here to see how you was doing," she continued as the three walked into the house, Tails helping Sonic get onto the couch.
"Wow, he really is quite bad, huh?" Amy realized as Sonic shot her a look, "It there anything I can do to help?"
"Yeah, grab that blanket from the heater," Tails pointed, Amy rushing over to grab them it, gasping and then dropping it as she realized how heavy it was.
"Weighted blanket," Tails corrected, Amy passing it over, watching as Tails helped his friend to calm down. The blanket itself had been given to them by Vanilla, who had read that they was good for anxiety.

Amy felt a bit awkward just stood there, "I'll.. uh.. get the kettle on then.." she side-stepped into the kitchen.
Tails could tell that Sonic was still shaking, "I still don't understand why I feel like this.. or why that even happened.."
"It's emotion, Sonic. And it's something we should allow ourselves to feel, not bottle it up until we explode," Tails sighed, "Just, breathe at least, ok?"
"Ok," Sonic agreed, picking up a book from the table.

Suddenly, there was a knock at the door, "Tails? Sonic? Are you in? It's Ben. I've come to check in Sonic's leg," The Möbian doctor shouted from outside.
"And me, Silver!"

Silver? Sonic thought, Chaos, what's he doing here?