#silgey

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Silver’s paws were sweaty underneath his gloves. He wiped them against his legs and glanced around the boisterous city. Tails would be arriving any minute with Mangey.

Just calm down, he chided himself. It’s only . . . kind of a date. Silver’s memories of the Forest Survival Zone were hazy at best, thanks to the mind control that happened once he’d been “recruited.” He remembered meeting an orange and red fox who gave him food, but that was about it. The strongest memories from the whole ordeal were of his imprisonment, of being forced by a sentient robot society to murder people.  

Apparently, his telepathic abilities had been impressive enough to warrant special attention, and he was brainwashed into being an Enforcer. The robots actually thought he’d willingly attack and police other people who were being forced to fight. Obviously, Silver refused, but they wouldn’t take no for an answer. He was subjected to various types of torture before they wore him down long enough to take control of his mind.

When Silver returned to Onyx City after being rescued, he purposefully avoided his friends. He planned to recoup in private, to get to a point where he could behave like a normal person for more than a few seconds but . . . Silver sorely overestimated his capabilities.

A few weeks into Silver’s self-imposed isolation, Professor von Schlemmer barged into his home. Despite how pathetic Silver knew he looked, the Professor said nothing. He merely sat down beside Silver and held him; gently but firmly.

Silver broke down and the Professor stayed for days, listening as Silver screamed and sobbed about everything he’d suffered through. He’d bawl into the Professor’s chest until he passed out, only to wake up hours later comfortably tucked in on his couch or bed, being watched closely by the Bits. They always alerted the Professor, who’d come back with something for him to eat or drink.

As humiliating as it all was—it helped. In time, Silver was no longer a nervous wreck, flinching at every shadow and wondering if he’d really made it home or if he’d retreated into his own mind for safety. He even met up to talk with Tails a few times and learn about how things went on his end. One day, Tails was smiling so widely Silver’s face hurt just by looking at it. Tails broke the news that he’d perfected his interplanetary portal, and he’d had the chance to meet up with the other members of his battle trio.

Early on, Tails had explained his friends were named Nine and Mangey, the latter of whom was responsible for Silver’s escape. The other two-tailed fox hadn’t known Silver was one of Tails’ friends, but demanded the person he’d met in the Forest Survival Zone be rescued by the Organic Liberation Movement as well. It was only then that Silver recalled his vague memory of meeting said fox, and Tails had a warm yet mischievous smirk on his face.

Eventually, Silver learned the other fox had been enamored by him. A little embarrassing, but seeing as how Mangey’s little crush was the only reason Silver had made it out of there alive? He could handle a little embarrassment.

When he told the Professor that Tails had made contact with his doppelgangers, his human friend made the surprising suggestion to meet up with Mangey. Silver had found the idea odd, pointing out that he didn’t take him to be the matchmaker type, but the Professor disagreed. He said the point wasn’t for Silver to hook up with Mangey, but to rather nurture the only positive moment of his abduction; just one happy thing to offset all the horrors, no matter how short it had been. Whether anything more came of it didn’t matter, because at least he’d make a new friend.

After some consideration . . . Silver agreed.

Tails taught him some basics of the sign Mangey used in preparation. It wasn't enough to hold a conversation, but Tails assured him it would be fine. At some point in the Battledome, Mangey had been given a phone with text-to-speech so Tails wouldn't have to tag along as translator. It made Silver feel better about the whole thing. After all, the two of them were too old for a chaperone for Gaia's sake.

Silver caught sight of two flying specks in the distance. It seemed Mangey also knew how to fly, and Silver wondered if it was before or after he'd met Tails. Once they were close enough, Silver noted the stark differences between the two and his anxiety eased.

Thank fucking Chaos. This whole time he’d been dreading the awkwardness of walking around with a Tails look-alike (even for a kind-of date) but to his eternal relief, Mangey was quite different.

He was taller than Tails, had an impressive red-dyed mohawk, was adorned with various red markings on his fur, wore leaf wraps in place of gloves and shoes, and his pelt was a deeper orange. Honestly, if Mangey didn't have two tails Silver would have assumed the two were cousins, not some cosmically ludicrous, interplanetary duplicates of each other. When Silver first met Mangey in that forest, his memories of Tails had been erased so he had no basis for comparison. It was nice to finally meet the other fox as his true self.

Silver waved awkwardly as the two landed in front of him. “Hello. Um, have a nice flight?”

"It was all right," Tails said. Mangey was beaming and moved his paws in rapid sign at Tails. "Mangey says this is far better than the Urban Combat Zone, because we have a nicer blend of technology and nature." He paused, and Silver could tell Mangey made some sort of joke going off his facial expressions, which was confirmed by Tails continuing with, "Of course, he thinks we could stand to have more natural zones, but not every planet can be as perfect as Boscage."

Silver smiled at the joke, and was grateful they weren't meeting up in Onyx City. Granted, it got better with each timeline disaster he fixed, but the future wasn't as green as it was now. He also mentally pat himself on the back for his chosen kind-of date activity.

"It's nice to meet you properly, Mangey," Silver said. He held out a paw which Mangey shook, though he seemed to have lost some of his enthusiasm.

Tails coughed. "Mangey's more of a hugger, but he respects your personal space if you'd rather not."

"Oh, well—" Truthfully, hugging wasn't his first choice, but Silver wasn't against it either. Plus, he couldn't deny that Mangey's impressively fluffy fur didn't look inviting, so why not? "Sure." He held out his arms and Mangey perked up with a strangely endearing chirp.

Before he could blink, Silver was swept into a twirling, bone-crushing hug with his face smushed into incredibly soft fur. More surprisingly, Mangey knew how to hug him without getting poked, so he must have a friend back home who was a hedgehog or similarly quilled race. A simple purr reverberated in Mangey's chest and Silver fought to stop himself from blushing.

When he was finally back on his own two feet, Silver blinked back the daze and fought to keep the world from spinning. Both Tails and Mangey winced, with Mangey quickly flashing through some sign with a sheepish look.

"He's sorry for being so energetic," Tails translated. "It's just that the last time he saw you, you were unconscious and sickly. You barely weighed anything as he carried you out of your containment cell, so he's pleased to see you've made a good recovery. He says that it's still no excuse, and he's truly sorry."

Wow, that was . . . Silver couldn't blame him for going overboard, knowing that. To think that someone he barely knew had cared for him that much, to have been affected by his sorry, malnourished state? It was actually quite endearing. The last of Silver's anxiety over this kind-of date melted away.

He reached out to touch Mangey's arm. "It's okay," he said. "I'm glad we have this chance to get to know each other outside of a life-or-death situation." Mangey's worried look disappeared and Silver was pleased to have made him smile again. He gestured down the street. "Shall we start?"

Tails and Mangey shared a mischievous smile. “Before you go, I have something for you, Silver.” Tails pulled out some gold glasses with . . . earpieces attached? “Trust me.” Silver shrugged and bent down slightly so Tails could hook the earpieces onto his ears better.

Nothing looked out of the ordinary once the glasses were put on, though Silver did notice the frames were heavier than he expected. Tails gave him a critical once-over before stepping back with a proud look on his face. Mangey was practically vibrating with excitement; his tails thumping against the concrete with enough force to make Silver concerned. He’d seen Tails carry Omega, so if Mangey’s tails were bigger and fluffier?

“All right,” Tails said, turning to Mangey. “Don’t forget to not go too fast, okay?”

Mangey nodded and looked straight at Silver with an enormous grin on his face. He started signing with his paws, and just when Silver started to panic (because Tails had promised language wouldn’t be an issue!) a robotic voice chirped in his ears.

<I’m so happy to see you again!> the voice said. <Thank you for inviting me to see your planet!>

Silver gaped at Tails. “How—you—what—” Tails beamed with some well-deserved smugness, and it was only now that Silver noticed the faint bags under Tails’ eyes.

“Mangey’s version of sign is obviously unique,” Tails said, “so there might be some words he uses that the glasses can’t translate.” He held up his Miles Electric. “I’ve set it up so the device will send me a clip of all signs it doesn’t know and I’ll work on updating it with him later. And so you know what he means, just ask him to clarify what he said using his phone.”

Mangey fished a simple phone out of his tails and held it out proudly. It looked so out of place with his whole look Silver couldn’t help but laugh.

"Tails," Silver started, "this is—I can't—"

His gratitude was waved off. "It wasn't just me, Nine helped. You can even meet him when you guys are done, just come back to my workshop." Tails winced. "He didn't come because he didn't um, want to chance running into someone, heh," he said, anticipating Silver's question. An odd response, but ultimately it had nothing to do with him, so Silver saw no need to press. "Have fun!" Tails waved and accepted a hug from Mangey before taking off in a familiar blur of orange.

<He’s so fast!> Mangey signed, his mouth wide in shock.

“Yeah, that's what happens when your big brother is the fastest thing alive,” Silver said. It was strange for Mangey to be surprised by Tails' speed, but Silver supposed with all the restrictions and set-up from their captors, he likely never had the chance or need to use it. “So um, what do you want to do first? Have lunch or check out the flower garden?”

Gold and Professor von Schlemmer spent an afternoon helping Silver brainstorm ideas for his kind-of date. They eventually settled on treating Mangey to a meal, seeing as how Mangey went out of his way to feed him, even though Silver could barely remember the encounter. He actually felt guilty about that now, though he had a feeling Mangey wouldn't hold it against him. Still, he wanted to avoid revealing that unless absolutely necessary.

Second, taking Mangey to a flower garden would be a thank you for well—saving his life. Tails had mentioned Mangey’s home was an endless jungle and that he was by all accounts a botanist. Silver wasn’t entirely sure what a jungle on another planet looked like, but at least on Mobius there were only so many flowers that could survive in a specific biome. In an actual flower garden, they could enjoy flowers from all around the world!

Mangey considered the options, tapping his foot as his tails idly flicked back and forth. <The flower garden first so we work up an appetite.>

Sound enough logic. "Works for me." He gestured down the street once again and they started walking. "What can you tell me about your home?"

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