Author's P.O.V. 
"Tails! It's so nice to see you!" Sonia smiled softly and walked to the young fox then hugged him. "Where have you been?"

"Hey, Sonia!" Tails chuckled and hugged back. "I've been busy." 

"Sonny boy! Miles! You're here!" Uncle Chuck walked to the two best friends and hugged Tails after Sonia pulled away. "It's been so long, Miles. You should come more often, especially now that Sonny here is staying with us." 

"I'm staying for a while, Uncle Chuck, not forever." The azure one chuckled at his uncle.

"Doesn't matter." Chuck shook his head and chuckled then messed with Tails' fur on the top of his head.

"No!" The fox giggled and tried to leave the older hedgehog's grip. "Sonic!" The azure prince laughed as he watched. 

"Hey, only I can do that to my best friend." He grabbed Tails' wrist and pulled him out of Chuck's grip as he laughed softly.

"Your friends are my friends too Sonny." Chuck laughed softly. 

Sonic let go of Tails and chuckled then nodded. "Tails is staying the night here." He told his uncle and patted the top of his best friend's head. 

"That's great. I'm sure Aleena will be happy to hear that." Chuck smiled. "Manic too." 

Sonic chuckled. "Manic is probably glad he has someone to pull pranks on." He laughed softly.

"Right. Prank." Tails mumbled, making Sonia laugh. 

"I'm sure nothing bad will happen, I'll make sure of that." Sonia laughed lightly. 

"I'll stay with you." He chuckled.

"Thank you." The young scientist laughed.

"Let's go show you your room." He smiled and started walking. "And for me to change since Ma doesn't like me being here without the suit."

The fox nodded and followed his best friend.

"Did I hear my name being called~?" Manic crept up on the two friends, making the younger one yelp and jump. 

"Y-you startled me!" Tails quickly turned to look at the green hedgehog. 

"You'll get used to it." Sonic chuckled quietly. "What's up, bro?"

"Nothing much, I'm just bored outta my mind." Manic scoffed. "I wanna go to the city again." 

"You're going outside more and more lately. What's up with that?" Sonia hummed and raised a brow with her arms crossed. 

"I wouldn't mind taking him but I am curious what you do? You tell me to leave once we reach a place." Sonic raised a brow.

"My life, my business." The green Prince shrugged.

"You're acting way too suspicious~" The pink one smirked and wrapped an arm around her brother's neck. "What are you hiding bro~?" 

"Nothing. Sis." Manic rolled his eyes playfully and pushed his sister's face away from his. "I'm just in the mood to go out."

"Fine. Just wear a hoodie and let's go." The azure hero laughed.

"I'm coming with you, I want to see what Manic is doing." Sonia chuckled.

"Why are you so obsessed all of a sudden?" The green hedgehog groaned quietly. "Just let me do my thing!" 

"Come on. Just tell us. Are you seeing someone~?" He smirked. "You can tell us, come on. I see no other reason why you'd want to keep going to the city." He crossed his arms. 

"Look, y'all too annoying. Y'all ain't helping, then I'm going on my own." Manic rolled his eyes and walked to his room, very lightly blushing.

"I'm pretty sure he's seeing someone." Sonia smirked and looked at Sonic. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking~?" 

Sonic chuckled and nodded. "Let's follow him, let him leave first." He smirked.

"You shouldn't do that." Tails laughed. "Without me." 

"Alright, buddy." He laughed. "Come on. Let's go wait in my room." He chuckled softly and started walking. 

"We're such a good family." The Princess laughed and went into the hero's room with Tails and Sonic.

Manic was just walking out of his room, wearing a hoodie, he walked to the gates, his pace was a little too fast. 

The hero, his sister and his best friend quickly followed behind the green prince. They were all being careful to not be seen or heard as they kept hiding from their brother.

Manic walked to the city, careful not to be seen, looking around every now and then. He turned to the neighborhood where most criminals were, making Sonia worry. 

"Oh no… Why is he going there…?" She whispered and lowered her ears.

The azure prince dropped his ears at this and whispered them to stay quiet. "Manic… he couldn't be doing that again… there must be another reason…" He whispered worriedly. 

"I hope he's not…!" The pink hedgehog dropped her ears. 

Manic was walking casually down the street, showing his middle finger to the guys that growled and whistled at him. 

"I'm going to tell Mother when were get to the castle." Sonia whispered in worry. "He can't be stealing again… He can't…!" 

"No, we need to find out why he is here in the first place. If you snitch on him, he will get mad. There must be a reason, a better reason. Come on." Sonic had his ears dropped and kept following Manic quietly, making sure he wouldn't see them.

Manic stopped in front of a house that looked just like the rest of the others and looked around, feeling like someone was watching him. He raised a brow and knocked on the door. 

The hero and his best friend watched quietly to see what he was doing. Sonic made sure to pull Sonia closer to their hiding spot so they wouldn't be seen. "I'm sure it can't be that bad… I know it can't…" He was worried that his brother was turning back to the way he used to be.

"Hey babe~" A male voice was heard, familiar for the blue hedgehog and the fox, but unfortunately the face of the male couldn't be seen. 

"Hey dude, how are ya?" Manic chuckled and rolled his eyes at the nickname.

"I wasn't expecting you here~" 

"Yeah, I wanted to surprise you. But I guess I can't do that." The Prince chuckled.

"Why are you saying that?"

"You don't look very surprised." Manic crossed his arms. 

"Well, I can show you how surprised I am~" 

"No thanks. You idiot." Manic laughed softly and shook his head and walked in the house, the door closed behind him. 

"What the hell?!" Sonia whispered furiously. "Who the hell was that?! Why was he talking like that to my brother?!" 

"Calm down, Sonia…" Tails lowered his ears. 

"That voice… I've heard it before…" he looked at Tails. "Didn't it sound familiar to you?" He sighed and picked up his sister then grabbed Tails' wrist and quickly dashed to his house in the city and let go of them.  "I swear I've heard that voice before…" He mumbled. 

He opened the door of his house and looked at Sonia. "Look, Sis, I don't like this any more than you but we can't do anything other than confront him about it without him knowing we followed him or he'll hate us. We have to figure out who that guy was… and maybe we will know what is going on. But you can't tell Ma." He sighed. 

"Sonic. Did you hear how he was talking to Manic?! That jerk shouldn't even look at my brother." Sonia growled lowly when she walked into the house.

"Sonia…" Tails sighed. "Even if they are a thing. It's his decision…" 

"I don't care! That guy is an asshole." Sonia glared at the fox making the azure one drop his ears and think about his boyfriend. "I am not letting my brother near him." 

"Sonia, that's enough. It is Manic's decision." He glared at his sister. "If you tell him anything or force him to stop seeing him, you'll have both of your brothers mad at you." He rubbed his face clear something was bothering him.

"His decision my ass!" Sonia raised a brow and crossed her arms when she saw her brother's actions. "What's wrong?" 

"You aren't telling Ma anything! It's his decision who he wants to be with! With you being this way makes me more uncomfortable about ever saying who I am dating! I can't trust you anymore!" He yelled. He didn't want to yell but he did so.

"I am trying to protect my family! Who are you dating? If it wasn't someone who we can trust then you wouldn't be so worried!" Sonia yelled back at Sonic, the poor fox sitting back with his ears dropped in worry. 

"It isn't any of your business who I am with. Not anymore. I trust Manic to make his own decisions, I trust that he knows what he is doing, we aren't kids, Sonia. I am worried, yes, but I would never betray my family like that, go and tell Ma if you want but don't expect Manic or me to ever talk to you again." He crossed his arms.

"You don't understand, Maurice. I. Am. Trying to help you." The Princess sighed. "Who is it? Tell me that it's a criminal…" She looked at her brother. "Because I'll lock both of you in." 

These words made Sonic growl. "You know what? I'm coming back home." He glared at his sister. "Tell the world that I'm a prince, that's always your threat to me, I don't care. I'm coming back." He didn't tell her who he was dating. "Now get out of my house. I don't want to see you, Sonia."

"You don't understand! I'm doing this to protect you! Both of you!" Sonia growled and walked out of the house then slammed the door behind her.

Tails was staying on the corner of the room quietly, his ears dropped, knowing that it was better if he left as well and that that fight hurt his best friend. 

"Tails." His voice broke, he was wearing his suit since he had changed into it when they had gone to his room. "Please don't tell anyone… I trust you." He tried to stay calm. "I'm sorry you had to see that. You can go home." He sat down on the couch, his heart ached from the fight. He hated fighting with his family. 

"I won't… I promise…" The fox nodded and walked to the front door. "You should… Call… You know…" He remembered how happy Sonic looked before they went to the castle. 

"Y-yeah… thanks." He wanted to cry but he didn't want to in front of Tails. "I will…" He sighed and rubbed his face. 

The young fox slowly nodded and left the house. 

The hero broke down crying as soon as Tails left. He tried to calm down and grabbed his phone then texted his boyfriend. 

Sonic:
I am no longer staying at the castle. I'm back at my house.

Shadow:
What? Why? Did something happen?

Sonic:
I got into a fight with my sister. She threatened me with locking me in so I am moving back and hoping she doesn't send the guards or I'll have to run away. Again. 

The azure one tried to stop crying.

Shadow: 
Do you want me to help you? 

Sonic: 
You don't have to. I'll be fine.

Shadow:
Are you sure? 

Sonic: 
Yes. 

He hoped Shadow wouldn't question him or go to his house since he was still crying.

Shadow:
Alright. Call me if you need any help. 

The azure one saw the message but didn't answer back and put his phone down. He kept his ears pinned down and sobbed.

This made the dark hedgehog worry and chaos controlled to his boyfriend's house then knocked on the door. The azure one stood up and cleaned his tears but his eyes were red.

He opened the door and immediately dropped his ears. "Sh-Shadow…?" He had never cried in front of his friends before.

Shadow saw in the hero's eyes and lowered his ears slightly in concern. "Hey… Can I come in…?" He asked softly. 

The hero slowly nodded and let him in then closed the door after he walked in.

"W-What…" His voice broke so he stopped then cleared his throat to try to calm down. "What are you doing here…?" He asked.

"I knew something was wrong…" Shadow answered softly and made Sonic look at him. "Why are you crying…?" 

Sonic kept his ears dropped and shook his head. "I hate fighting with my family…" He looked away almost immediately. "I'm sorry… you didn't have to come…" 

"Sonic…" The dark agent sighed quietly, seeing Sonic crying broke his heart. "I want to help you. I care about you, I really do. Please don't keep it all in. It will just make things worse." He was trying to show his boyfriend that he could trust him.

Sonic kept his ears pinned down and hugged Shadow tightly as he broke down. He trusted Shadow, more than everyone else.

The Ultimate Lifeform gasped and tensed up lightly then quickly hugged back and rubbed the hero's back as he purred quietly to calm him down, his ears were dropped at hearing him cry. "It's okay… I'm here…" He whispered softly to calm him down. 

The hero calmed down after a while and cleaned his tears. "S-sorry…" He said softly.

Shadow shook his head and kissed Sonic's forehead. "Don't be." He purred a little louder, happy that Sonic trusted him. "Take off your suit, I'll make you some tea. I'll help you calm down." 

Sonic's ears perked up, he had completely forgotten he was wearing the suit. "Right… I forgot…" He took off the tie. "I'll be right back… Make yourself at home." He started unbuttoning the suit as he walked to his room. 

The dark hedgehog nodded and went to the kitchen and then started making tea for the both of them. He remembered when he would do that with Maria when she was upset, he would make her some tea and hug her to comfort her.

The azure prince came back after he took off the suit. He walked to where his boyfriend was at, he had stopped crying already but something was still bothering him so he was spaced out. 

Shadow looked at him and hummed. "What's in your mind?" He turned and gave him his cup as he held his.

Sonic looked at his boyfriend as he snapped out of his thoughts and grabbed the cup. "It's just… I'm trying to remember something…" He sighed. "Manic wanted to come to the city but since he didn't tell us why, we followed him and I think he's dating someone, a criminal but I recognized his voice… I just can't… remember… Sonia and I fought because she wanted to snitch on him…" He sighed.

"A criminal?" The dark hedgehog raised a brow and drank a bit from his cup. "Do you want me to go look for him?" 

"I'm curious about who it is but if he sees you, he will fight you and you're still injured." He shook his head. "It's okay. I'll find out later…" He drank from the cup and guided Shadow to the couch.

Shadow nodded and sat down next to his boyfriend, he was hesitant at first but he eventually found the courage. "Do you know what I used to do with Maria when she was upset?"

Sonic looked at his boyfriend and raised a brow confused and curious. "What did you used to do?" He asked curiously. 

"We would usually sit on the window that faced the earth and hug, or cuddle, however you want to call it." He chuckled quietly as he remembered how peaceful it was back then. "We would always drink tea together. I don't know why, but we did." 

Sonic smiled softly and nodded. "That sounds so calming." He chuckled and rested his head on Shadow's shoulder.

The dark hedgehog wrapped an arm around Sonic, resting it on his shoulder and purred quietly. "It was." He rubbed his boyfriend's arm. "And still is." 

Sonic purred softly and drank from the tea again as he smiled, finally calming down and relaxing in Shadow's arms. "Thank you…" 

******
Alright, this chapter was a little bigger than the others. It's not because we'll stop writing this book, but it's just because we were too into it to notice how big the chapter was getting. I hope you enjoyed it because I personally loved this chapter.