There wasn't a cloud in the sky.

The summer sun sparkled off the rooftops of Water Palace zone in the distance, flocks of sea birds paddled serenely in the azure waters, and a refreshing breeze blew out towards the coast, carrying with it the smell of fresh cut grass from the neighbouring hill zones.

And Miles "Tails" Prower, fox, genius, mechanic, and occasional, if unwilling, hero, could see exactly none of it. Which suited him fine.

Sure, the breeze felt nice against his fur as he lay stretched out on the runway by his lab, nestled beneath the fuselage of one of his planes, but the ticking of the ratchet in his hand as he worked had a soothing quality all its own. Every now and then he would reach a gloved hand out to a bowl positioned nearby to fish out a round mint which would disappear into his mouth with a crunch.

Miles sighed contentedly.

Yeah, this was pretty much perfect. Doctor Robotnik wasn't causing trouble, no angry deity or ancient warrior race had awakened to bring doom to the world. Sonic, much as he loved the hedgehog, was elsewhere and not making a mess of his lab. It was just a quiet, pleasant afternoon, with just enough work to keep his mind occupied.

"Good morning, Mister Tails, long time no see!"

"Ah!" Miles jerked upwards, banging his head against the bottom of the plane with a hollow metal boom that echoed between his ears.

"Oh no! Are you alright, Mister Tails?"

Rubbing his forehead, Miles twisted towards the origin of the cheery voice to see a pair of red and yellow shoes standing beside his head, their owners' pale-furred legs disappearing up into a dress the same tone of red.

"Cream?" Miles quickly averted his gaze and scrambled back to the other side of the plane. "Where did-what are you doing here? Is your mother okay?"

"Hm? Mom's fine, thank you. G-Merl is still there after all." The rabbit's smiling face poked down under the plane as she dropped into a crouch, hands gripping her knees.

"Oh... right." Miles nodded, he'd been the one to program the robot after all. "Well, uh, Sonic is currently over in Carnival Night checking out some strange energy readings. Do you want me to call him for you?"

"That's fine, no thank you." Cream smiled brightly. "I was just coming for a visit, that's all."

"You sure?" Miles raised an eyebrow. "You've come a pretty long- Wait, where's Cheese?"

"Cheese?" Cream's ears twitched as she looked over her shoulder, seemingly by reflex. "Oh. He stayed home to help Mom and Chocola today."

"Oh…" Miles nodded thoughtfully. He'd rarely ever seen Cream without the fluttering blue chao somewhere close at hand. Well, it wasn't like she needed the protection in these zones. Even a rabbit should be safe with Eggman not around, though-

"Mister Tails?"

"Whah?" Miles' train of thought derailed.

Cream leaned forward, her ears brushing the underside of the plane as she moved in closer, her nose only a few inches from his.

"Are you sure you're okay? You bumped your head pretty hard."

"Uh- I- No- I mean yeah, I was... just... thinking, sorry."

"Oh, okay. You sure do think a lot, Mister Tails."

Miles squinted at Cream, wondering if she was making fun of him. He wasn't the best at dealing with girls, or strangers. And while Cream wasn't exactly a stranger, they hadn't really interacted with her much over the years… Well, he'd actively avoided her.

The rabbit girl tilted her head, returning his stare silently until suddenly she smiled once more.

"There you go again!"

Miles' cheeks prickled beneath his fur and he turned his head away, tails whirling around one another reflexively.

"Uh…. Yeah, I… I guess I was. Hey, can I get you anything?" Miles surreptitiously shifted one of his tails in front of his bowl of mint candies. "I've mostly got junk food. When Sonic shows up he's usually looking to intake as many calories as quickly as possible to offset the metab- uh... he's usually really hungry." He rubbed the back of his head. "So… I'm not sure what you eat, but it's mostly burgers and chili dogs, though there's maybe a little salad left. And… I think there's some ice cream in the cooler?"

Polite disinterest transformed almost instantly to childish delight when he mentioned that last one. Miles grinned. "Ice cream, right? Yeah, it's a perfect day for some. I'll be right back."

A little too quickly, Miles lurched up and back, scooping the bowl of mints up and into his hands as he turned and fled into his lab.

The warm summer day gave way to air conditioned chill. Miles pressed his back against the door as it closed behind him.

Was he doing this right?

While he'd come a long way from the feral cub that knew more about flicky nesting habits than basic mobian interaction, the number of people who visited Miles normally fell into only three categories. A: People who wanted him to fix or build something for them. B: People looking for Sonic. And C: Sonic. Miles' experience of actually having guests and having to deal with them was virgin territory for the young fox. Especially since the guest in question was a girl.

Well, there was Amy, but as far as Miles was concerned she didn't count. She'd been breaking into his lab to wait for Sonic for so many years she was practically family. Weird stalkerish family.

Miles peeked out the door. Cream had moved away from his plane to kneel down on the grass, her hands on her knees and her ears swaying gently in the breeze.

Okay, Miles swallowed. She really hadn't left. Sliding the bowl of mints onto the counter he rummaged in the fridge until he finally emerged with two cones and hurried out.

"Sorry it took so long, they were, uh, they were all the way at the back."

"It's no problem." Cream's eyes lit up as they alighted on the cone in his hand. "Thank you very much, Mister Tails."

"Oh, no problem." Miles peeled off the wrapper of his own cone to reveal the green tinted ice cream beneath as he settled on the grass a little away from her.

"Um... what flavour is this?" Cream peered down at her own cone, a tuft of fur on her chin now tinted green.

"Mint!" Miles grinned happily. "Isn't it great? They don't usually have it in Water Palace so I had to fly some in."

"It's... very… interesting." Cream resumed eating, perhaps a little less enthusiastically than before, and the two fell into silence.

Miles shifted uncomfortably, tails coiling around each other as he ate. What to speak about? Was he supposed to talk right now?

From what he knew of Cream, she was a happy, normal girl with a loving family, with a brave heart and a sweet, cheerful, temperament. She didn't care for violence or, apparently, mint.

In other words, she couldn't have less in common with him. Maybe parents with terrible naming sense? Well, hers wasn't even that bad in comparison. When they first met, even looking at her made him uncomfortable. She reminded him of his own youth, and that was a sore-

She was staring at him again.

"What?" Miles flinched, hiding behind a tail. "Is there some on my face?"

Cream, her ice cream cone mysteriously vanished without a trace despite her earlier hesitation, just smiled.

"You're a pretty interesting person, Mister Tails." She stood, dusting off her dress and tail. "Well... I can see you're busy, so I'll let you get back to work. Thank you again for the ice cream, goodbye!"

"Oh. Uh-"
Before the already flustered Miles could stand, the young rabbit had turned and ran off towards Water Palace, waving behind her as she went. He waved half-heartedly after her before picking himself up and heading back to work.

"... Wait, where did I put my wrench?"