A/N: Hello, lovelies! Welcome to what I hope will be the coming-of-age fic to rule them all! (I know, lofty goal, but I can dream, can't I?) I'm gonna try my absolute best to give y'all the drama you expect with the feels you love—without making you want to shoot yourself in the process.

This is an old concept I've been working on since I was a young teen, and it's evolved dramatically, especially as I have grown into an adult myself and have faced some of the same things you will see here. It has become the most important story in a rather odd series of fics (see my profile for more info). However, it is not the FIRST in this series. That said, all you need to know for this one is that, right after Sonic's sixteenth birthday, he was forced to reunite with the Sonic Underground crew (namely Manic, Sonia, and Queen Aleena), and together they defeated Eggman for (presumably) the final time. The good doctor is now making his bed at the newly-rebuilt Prison Island, and Sonic's family is now a very distant (but still important) part of his life.

One final note: This fic is rated T due to sexual references. Absolutely nothing explicit will be shown, but it is discussed. Younger than 13? Read at your own risk.

All right, enough bold text. Let's GO!

Disclaimer: I do not own Sonic the Hedgehog or any characters, places, or objects associated with it. The only things I do own in this fic (besides the plot) will be noted as such later on. Also, for this chapter, they're playing New Super Mario Bros. Wii, and I don't own that, either. (Stupid disclaimers, always emphasizing what you don't have instead of being grateful for what you do have, nya nya nya...)

Chapter 1—Many Happy Returns

Eighteen year old Sonic the Hedgehog was as happy as they came. There were only a few things he needed to consider life sweet—running, chili dogs, his friends, and his music were about it. His birthday was a day when he had all four, plus a whole bunch of other cool stuff like cake, presents, and the inexplicable joy of turning a year older. He could wake up tomorrow morning to a beautiful summer sunrise and say he was nineteen, and for some reason that made him excited. Nineteen sounded so much older than eighteen, just like eighteen had sounded much older than seventeen.

One of these days all this growing up would catch up to him, but who cared about that?

All day he had run into friends who'd wished him well on his day of birth. Those he hadn't found wound up at the little get-together he and Tails were hosting, which was just fine by him. Only those he was especially close to would dare to venture within the doors of the workshop, which was a bachelor pad in every sense of the word. Sonic's eleven-year-old best friend did have some pride and tried to clean up the place a bit if he knew someone was coming to call, but he wasn't exactly known for freaking out over a messy front room if someone popped up unexpectedly. When confronted, Tails claimed such carelessness could have only come from Sonic, who'd shrugged and decided it was possible. He didn't care enough to bother refuting a statement which was probably true in the first place.

Either way, a path had been shoveled out between dirty socks, empty pizza boxes had been sent to their graves, and an odor-masker that smelled vaguely like fresh bedsheets had been sprayed in the living room so as to accommodate some of Sonic's closest friends on his birthday. Knuckles was there, of course, though it had taken some effort to get him to quit grumbling about leaving the Master Emerald long enough to agree to come. He saw no excitement in turning nineteen, since his twentieth birthday had already come and gone, but Tails had talked him into coming anyway. Cream and her mother were there, as well; Cream was nine years old now and didn't need a chaperone everywhere anymore, but Vanilla had grown to be the closest thing Sonic had to a mother in that his real mother lived on another continent and was busy doing whatever it was queens did. The older rabbit folded her wing over him when he needed it like he was her own son, and was thus welcome. Silver and Blaze had promised they would try to come, as well, but Blaze's duties in the Sol Dimension had cropped up at the wrong time, leaving the pair's plans up in the air. Their absence was felt in the empty spots on the love seat they usually took up, but the party was still lively as ever. Amy, easily the most excited guest, made sure of that.

Ah, yes, Amy—the fifteen-year-old girl Sonic just didn't know how to handle anymore. It used to be that he could be certain what she would do whenever they happened to meet up; it meant spending a solid five minutes afterward catching his breath and fighting an embarrassed blush when she hugged him. The real question had been in when and where she showed up, and it certainly wouldn't have been Sonic's idea to invite her to his birthday party. As they had gotten older, however, he couldn't even count on her sporadic "attacks" anymore. He didn't exactly mind; in fact, they had built a solid friendship over the last three years that wasn't half as treacherous for him as it had once been. He was just baffled as to what had caused Amy to actually give him his space. Tails loved to point out when she cast him longing glances when he wasn't looking, which was the only evidence he had against the theory that she had just given up on winning his heart.

That bothered him a little, but that was as far as his thought process ever got, and today was no different.

The cobalt hero mashed the buttons on his controller madly, willing his onscreen character to jump just a little farther. "Nooo!" he cried as the avatar missed the higher platform. "I fell! No way, now I'm stuck on the slow path!"

"Sucks for you," Knuckles pretended to sympathize. He gave his remote a jerk, and the character he was controlling twirled in midair to just reach the platform Sonic had tried so valiantly to land on. "See you at the flag, sucker."

"Oh, no you don't!" Sonic's character leaped onto a block and stomped down on it, causing an earthquake to knock his friend's avatar to its knees long enough for him to leap onto the head of an unsuspecting enemy and overtake him on the path to the finish. "You forgot there's a POW block under here!" the hedgehog singsonged with a maniacal laugh.

Knuckles growled and pushed his character forward, barking, "Tails, what's taking you so long? He's ganging up on me!"

"I'm out of lives!" The kitsune threw his hands into the air helplessly. "I can't come back until you guys finish the level!"

"Well, now's a fine time to mention that!"

"Yikes!" Sonic suddenly gasped, having found his character unable to leap over a pit of spikes with his natural trajectory. "I'm down to just me! Where's a mushroom block in this place?"

"It's up there!" Amy suddenly broke into the competition by reaching forward to point at the television screen. "Wall jump up there!"

"What? No!" Knuckles tried to stop him, but Sonic's lightning reflexes got him to the item block first, and he crowed triumphantly as his character changed color, "Hahaha, the Fire Flower is mine!"

"Hmph," Knuckles grunted, "I already had one. Even race to the finish?"

"You bet!"

As the two older boys charged toward the last stretch of landscape before the flagpole that signified the end of the level, Tails entertained himself with color commentary; "They're evenly matched, folks; looks like Luigi's speed isn't helping him as much as Knuckles wants! They leap over the bottomless pit—wow, what a save from Blue Toad! Luigi's in the lead, but boy, Blue Toad's looking to—oh no! Blue Toad just stomped on a green shell and threw it at Luigi! He's taken the lead! The flagpole is in sight, ladies and gentlemen! Who's going to win this battle of the century?!" Sonic and Knuckles were screaming incoherent things at the screen and each other, and Amy and Cream were cheering them on.

At last, the two characters soared off a staircase and reached for the top of the flagpole as one. "It's a tie!" Tails shouted over the excited noise everyone else was making as the characters slid down the flagpole and did their oblivious happy dance.

"Dude, I totally won," Sonic managed to say after a few moments of catching his breath.

"If by 'win' you mean 'lose,' then yeah, that's exactly what you did," Knuckles grunted as Sonic directed the now-threesome to the next stage.

"Amy? You wanted to play, right?" Sonic held up the remaining controller enticingly.

Amy reached for it, then backed off again rather suddenly. "I was gonna save my spot in case Silver and Blaze got here and wanted to play," she explained hesitantly.

"Who cares?" Knuckles shrugged. "You snooze, you lose. Besides, Silver's terrible at this one."

"Just come on, Ames," Sonic told her, pressing the button to call up the character selection screen. "Nobody's been Mario yet. I'll quit if Silver wants to play."

Amy's face lit up at his invitation, and that was the end of her reluctance. Cream, believing the competition to be a little violent for her tastes, remained in the cheering squad with Vanilla on the couch. Cheese fluttered around the screen, making joyous little cooing noises as the four players started another shouting match, this one even louder than the last.

"How the heck are you so much faster than me?" "Somebody get over here, I need a bounce to reach that coin." "Dude, Yellow Toad took my power-up!" "Sorry, not sorry." "Okay, who leaves green shells just lying on the ground, waiting for somebody to trip over?" "Ah!" "Hey!" "Get over here!" "Ack! Stupid bottomless pit!" "Rude!"

They were so wrapped up in the game that they didn't notice Cream leap up from the couch and dash out of the room, nor did they notice Vanilla following her daughter with an amused shake of her head.

It took a new but welcome voice to pull the foursome back into reality; "Hey, can I play next round?"

"Silver!" came the general exclamation, and instantly the game was left to its pause menu as they greeted new arrivals Silver and Blaze with warm hugs and handshakes.

"Happy birthday, man," Silver told Sonic as they firmly clasped hands.

"Thanks, Silv. Glad you guys could make it," returned Sonic with a characteristic grin. "What took ya?"

The white hedgehog shrugged carelessly. "I dunno, Blaze had some stuff to do before she went AWOL for the day, and I'm still kinda having trouble focusing on Chaos Control lately, so..."

"Hm." Flipping the game controller attached to his wrist once, Sonic turned to Blaze, who had been thoroughly welcomed with hugs from Amy and Cream. "Hey, Blaze, what's up?"

"Hello, Sonic." The smallest of smiles lifted the corners of the eighteen-year-old feline's mouth as Cream let go of her so she could dutifully accept the hedgehog's offered hand. "Happy birthday, and thank you for your invitation."

"Nah, no problem, you guys are welcome any time." A sparkle lit up the hedgehog's green eyes as he added, "Especially if there's cake involved."

"Yeah, cake!" Tails agreed instantly. "Can we do dinner and cake now?"

"Do chili dogs taste good?" Sonic retorted eagerly. He cut off what he was sure would be a negative response from Knuckles and said, "C'mon, since we're all here. Vanilla made some of her homemade pizza for anybody who doesn't feel like eating chili dogs tonight."

A loud chorus of delighted "Mmm's" accompanied a stampede into the kitchen.

Before long, the whole group was chiming into a noisy but heartfelt rendition of "Happy Birthday" over a large sheet cake Amy had lovingly decorated with enough sprinkles to make the icing crunchy—just the way Sonic liked it. The dining room table was crowded but hospitable as Amy dished out slices of cake and Vanilla scooped generous portions of chocolate-chip cookie dough ice cream onto each plate.

"Thanks for the cake, Ames," Sonic sounded gratefully as he licked a glob of icing off his lip. "It's really good."

"Oh! T-thanks," the pink hedgehog stammered, trying not to let herself blush even as the others gave their instant agreement. She beamed at him, and for a second's worth of time, something held him in that locked gaze. For that second, they were the only two people in the room.

"... sprinkles to break a tooth," came Knuckles's sarcastic voice to break the moment. Reality settled like a brick, and Sonic blinked, startled. "Icing shouldn't be crunchy."

"Now there's where I draw the line," Sonic re-entered the conversation, realizing immediately he had been too quick and too loud and compensating over his next sentence. "Icing's okay just plain, 'specially if it's chocolate, but come on, who can pass up a little extra pure sugar and yellow dye number five?"

Instead of an indignant rebuttal, a smirk crossed Knuckles's features, and he sounded like he wanted to laugh as he said, "About time you tuned in, hedgehog. You were practically in the Sol Dimension there."

Apparently he had been lost in la-la land for longer than a second. There was no use in fighting a blush now, but Sonic just laughed it off as easily as ever. "Sorry, I didn't know there was anything important going on here."

"I was talking to you," Knuckles glared.

"Like I said, nothing important." Sonic knew he'd won when Knuckles aggressively stabbed his fork into his slice of cake as a response. He himself took a bite, and for a second he was lost in the sweet, spongy treat, only this time, the others were, too. Cake was a rare treat, and aside from Knuckles, there wasn't an unhappy soul in the room in its presence.

"So what'd you wish for, Sonic?" Tails changed the subject through a monstrous bite of cake, leaning in eagerly for an answer.

Sonic scoffed, just barely remembering to swallow before replying, "Dude, I can't tell you; then it won't come true. I could ask what everyone else wished for; would you tell me?"

"These traditions are so pointless," complained a still-miffed Knuckles. "Why does everyone wish for something when one guy blows out a few tiny candles? Nobody actually believes in wishes, right?"

"How can you say that?" Cream piped up, shooting the surprised echidna a rather scalding glare. "Wishes come true! You said so yourself, remember?"

As Knuckles scoured his memory for any conversations involving Cream and wishes in the last five years, Sonic let himself reflect on the topic. He hadn't actually wished for anything when he'd blown out the candles; for one thing, he'd been focusing on how to blow out nineteen candles in one breath, and for another, he couldn't think of anything he wanted. Life was treating him well at the moment, and "I wish things could stay this great forever" was a pretty sappy wish. No, better to just leave things be and see what happened.

He congratulated himself for this new level of corny thought as he tuned back in to the conversation, which had turned surprisingly theological in his absence.

"In the Sol Dimension, wishes correspond to prayers," Blaze was explaining with as much enthusiasm as ever. "If we say, 'I wish for happiness,' it means around the same as if one of you were to pray for happiness.

"Like, from God," Silver added in an attempt to be helpful. "It's kinda more serious over there—people take it more seriously."

Blaze nodded her agreement. "Of course, we do not have as many... opportunities for wishing as you do. Birthdays are celebrations of life, not opportunities to demand something of Sol."

"That's kinda cool," Tails commented thoughtfully. Tails loved listening to either of his dimension-hopping friends describe their world, and he had been hanging on Blaze's every word this whole time. Sonic reasoned that the fox knew more about the connections between the two worlds than anyone respecting the laws of time and space ever should have. "I'm pretty sure that's how wishing started out here, too, but since people don't really believe in God the way they used to, wishes and prayers just kinda became separate things."

"So it really doesn't mean anything," Knuckles muttered in conclusion. "How about that; I was right."

Save for another annoyed glare from Cream, which looked completely foreign on the sweet young rabbit's face, no one knew how to respond until Sonic couldn't take it anymore and started laughing. "Man, Shadow kills conversations, but Knux brutally murders 'em."

"Where is Shadow, anyway?" Amy asked in hopes of steering the conversation back into lighter topics. "I thought you were going to invite him"

Sonic shrugged with an amused smirk. "I did. Rouge, too. I guess they decided playing video games and eating pizza were too immature for a pair of government spies."

"Well," came Knuckles's low and unfinished response with a shrug.

Sonic reached behind Tails to cuff the echidna's shoulder. "Shut up, Knux."

"Maybe they're just busy," Cream suggested with a hopeful smile. "After all, it would be awfully rude to not accept such a generous invitation." Wry smiles crept up everyone's faces at the innocent comment, each Mobian silently wishing Cream would never grow up.

"I bet you're right," Sonic told her with a cheerful grin. "It's okay. Means more cake for the rest of us, right?"

"Oh!" Amy suddenly exclaimed, jumping up from her spot at the table. "I'll give you some to take for Marine, Blaze. I know she was probably disappointed to miss out."

"She will be when she realizes what she missed," Blaze nodded. "I couldn't get a word in edgewise; she was much too excited about the prospect of some adventure on the high seas."

Sonic rolled his green eyes with an amused snicker. "Selective hearing at its best. Wish we could send some ice cream, too."

Amber eyes widened just a bit, but that was all the reaction needed. The cat cleared her throat and quickly replied, "No. She doesn't need any more sugar. I'll do my best to convince her to come next time; hopefully you'll still have some left."

Laughter bubbled up from all present, but it was Tails who said what they all knew to be true: "No guarantees."

That night was a peaceful respite from the action of the day. After cake and presents had been given and everyone had split off for the day, Sonic found himself seated comfortably in the living room, by himself, with an acoustic guitar in his hands instead of a game controller. On the couch seat next to him lay an open book of sheet music, which had been given to him by Amy earlier, and its pristine white pages were already marked with a few stray pencil lines as he attempted to play one of his favorite songs. The television was on nearby, quietly droning some news channel, but he wasn't giving it more than the occasional glance.

"Hey," came a sudden intrusion on his focus; he glanced up to note Tails's entrance. "Isn't that bugging you?" the kitsune asked, nodding toward the TV.

Sonic shook his head; "Nah, I can't even hear it."

"Then why'd you turn it on?" Tails plopped into the recliner opposite his surrogate brother, legs flopped carelessly over one of the chair's arms and arms spread out, and Sonic relaxed his grip on his instrument to properly converse with him.

"Cuz. I was wondering if Manic and Sonia did anything special today, and watching the news is easier than calling to ask."

Cerulean eyes lit up slightly in remembrance; "Oh, yeah, I guess it was their birthday today, too, wasn't it?"

"Mm-hm." Absentmindedly, the hedgehog plucked at his guitar strings, running a quick scale before saying, "Hey, I think I've almost got this one."

"Already?" Tails raised an eyeridge. "It's only been an hour or two."

"Yeah, check it out." Without hesitation, Sonic's improvisational playing turned into an organized song, one Tails recognized as soon as the melody flowed out. He nodded his approval, wondering where Sonic had picked up his musical talent and where he could get some of it, as Sonic added the words they both knew well.

"They say that a hero can save us, I'm not gonna stand here and wait. I'll hold on to the wings of eagles, watch as they all fly away..."

"Do you still miss being a hero?" Tails found himself asking. The thought had only barely crossed his mind before he spoke, and he was just as surprised as Sonic, whose playing abruptly stopped mid-chord.

"Well, sure," he answered incredulously with a careless shrug. "Every day. It's hard sometimes, not having Egghead around. That was my life for so long, and now that it's over... I gotta find something else to do."

The moment of awkward silence was cut mercifully short by the return of the news program from a commercial break—featuring a picture of two figures both boys found familiar. No words were needed; Sonic reached for the remote to turn up the volume in time to hear the twenty-something human news anchor begin her story.

"In overseas news tonight, we have a positive report from the royal family in Mobotropolis—the kids have survived another year. Nineteen years ago today, High Queen Aleena and her husband Prince Jules welcomed a set of triplets into the world that would change everything as we knew it. Sheldon Anton has the story live from Mobotropolis tonight, and Sheldon, don't you remember when these three were born?"

"Slow news night," Sonic commented dryly as a middle-aged turtle dressed in a snazzy bow tie appeared on screen, with the palace in Mobotropolis standing proudly over him; well-dressed people could be seen milling around on the lawn behind him for no apparent reason. "Heh, no need to make me feel old, Rea, but yes, I was around nineteen years ago when Crown Princess Sonia and her two brothers Manic and Sonic were born. But no one could have guessed, looking at those tiny babies, what a difference they would make in the world, especially Sonic, the oldest—and fastest—of the triplets."

This was the time Sonic chose to tune up with his guitar again, muttering, "I just want to know what they did today, not hear my whole life story."

However, he didn't even have time to make it through the chorus of the song again before the segment ended in a surprisingly short, concise time, for it seemed the reporter had more interesting things to talk about. "Fast-forward to today, and we find them all living peaceful lives. Sonic has lived independently in Mobian-human territory since he brought down Dr. Eggman three years ago, in tiny Emerald Town outside Station Square, but Manic and Sonia both live here in Mobotropolis, where today the Princess revealed to the world her next step forward in life." Blue and gold ears perked in interest as a picture filled the screen—and Sonic immediately shouted "What?!" as the reporter continued, "She brought, for the first time, a suitor to the party thrown for her birthday—Bartleby Montclaire, the twenty-one-year-old son of noble Hugh Montclaire."

"Oh, come on!" Sonic cried incredulously, openly burying his face in his hands as best he could when his guitar was still in his lap.

Tails, on the other hand, stared at him like he'd grown another head. "What's wrong with that?" he wanted to know.

"My sister's dating the biggest dork on the planet, that's what's wrong with that!" came the indignant response.

A smirk carved its way across the fox's face; "Who, you? You're her brother, man."

"What?! Ew, no!" The sheer disgust on Sonic's face made Tails want to burst out laughing. "If you wanna call me a dork, then I'm a cool dork, and he's just the dorkiest dork who ever dorked."

Tails remained unconvinced despite his brother's raised, defensive quills. "What, does he have all nine Galaxy Wars movies on DVD?"

Sonic shook his head quickly. "No, no, not that kind of dork. The annoying, jerky kind of dork. He's a total snob and he almost turned all of us in to Robotnik just to save his own ugly skin and—and Sonia just forgave him, apparently! She has no problem with the fact that he almost got her killed and apparently decided he's good husband material, which he most certainly is not—"

"So they're getting married now?" Tails pointed out, folding his arms. "I'm pretty sure you're overreacting, bro."

Unwilling to outright admit to being shot down, Sonic grunted, slumped back in his seat, and looked back down at his guitar. "Thinkin' about writing a song called 'My Sister's Dating a Chump,'" he muttered for good measure.

Despite knowing there wasn't anything of note on the ceiling, Tails found himself unable to resist checking. "Good luck finding a rhyme for 'idiot'."

A/N: The song Sonic plays/sings is "Hero," sung by Chad Kroeger (from Nickelback) for one of the Spider Man movies (I think); I did not write it. Just imagine it being a super pretty acoustic set instead of... well, Nickelback.

Fun fact: the birthday party scene was modeled after a typical birthday party at my family's house. I love our birthday parties, and I figured Sonic would probably like about the same type of deal—something small and intimate, with just those he's really close to.

Thanks for reading! Drop a review if you liked it, please, if only just to let me know I'm not ruining my credibility by posting this...

Also, a big HAPPY BIRTHDAY to the blue blur himself! We've finally hit the big 25! Here's to another quarter century of fun and coolness! :D