Chapter Three: Fall and Love

It was now one breezy Autumn day on Mobius. Bare trees stood still with small bursts of wind occasionally blowing through their naked branches as leaves started falling down from them. Meanwhile, Sonic and Amy were in their backyard raking the leaves that had fallen the night prior. Tails' yard didn't have as much leaves as theirs' did.

"Phew!" Amy exclaimed. "There sure are a lot of leaves!".

"Tell me about it..." Sonic let out with a huff. "It sure would be nice if we had some help!" Amy said.

"Yeah...I'll call Tails, and see if he's awake yet." Sonic took a break, and went inside to call up his little buddy.

It was currently 7:30 in the morning. Cosmo was asleep upstairs in the spare bedroom, while Tails had fallen asleep on the couch during the movie he was watching that prior evening. He tried his best to stay awake for the safety of his beloved.

Then suddenly, Tails' phone rang. He awoke, and picked it up. "Mnh...hello?" Tails answered drowsily. "Hey, bud. I had no clue if you were awake yet." Sonic replied. "Yeah, Cosmo slept over. I stayed up all night to make sure she was okay...I didn't go to sleep until around, like...3:00 in the morning. Heh..." Tails chuckled nervously in his tired state, as he really did care for the seedrian.

"Sheesh, buddy..." Sonic said. "You don't have to worry about her so much, bro. She'll be alright." He gave Tails some advice to try and help him sleep more easily.

"I-I know..." Tails replied. "B-But I'm her friend! And it's my duty that I care for her, and stay by her side all the time." He blushed.

"Whatever you say, Tails..." Sonic said tauntingly. "But anyhow, I called to ask if you wanted to help us rake up these leaves. Do you mind helping us out, bro?" The blue hedgehog requested.

"Sure, Sonic! I'll be right over!" Tails replied.

"Alright! See ya then." Sonic said.

Tails grabbed his coat and was ready to go. But before he left, he went upstairs to the bedroom Cosmo was sleeping in. "I'll only be gone for a little while..." Tails kissed her on the forehead, then ran out the door.

When Tails arrived...

"Hey, guys!" Tails yelled.

"Hi, Tails!" Amy replied. "Hey, man!" Sonic and Amy waved. "I brought my rake!" Tails said.

"Alright then, let's get to raking!" Sonic exclaimed while striking his rake up in the air.

Meanwhile...

Cosmo awoke from her bed, and yawned. She went downstairs to the room where Tails had fallen asleep in. "G'morning, Tails..." She said in a sleepy voice while rubbing her right eye. "...Tails?" She then realized that Tails was no longer there. "Tails, where are you?" She looked around the house for him. She then came across a note on the kitchen counter that read:

"Hi, Cosmo! If you're reading this, I'm at Sonic's place helping him and Amy rake leaves. I'll be back as soon as I can! Please don't be scared! See ya later! - Miles 'Tails' Prower"

There was an XOXO crossed off the page, but luckily for Tails, Cosmo didn't see it.

"Oh! Phew..." Cosmo let out a sigh of relief. "Well...I guess they could use the extra help." Cosmo went back upstairs, and changed back into her regular gown. After she got dressed, she ran down to the coat rack, grabbed her coat, and ran off to help the others.

Back at Sonic's house...

Tails let out a huff. "Man, Sonic...you weren't kidding. Look at the big piles of leaves we made!" He said.

"What? Did'ya think I was kidding?" Sonic asked like a smart-aleck.

"No, I'm just saying! Wow! I don't even have this much leaves at my place!" Tails replied. His house was only a few blocks away from Sonic's.

"I dunno...The trees must really love us or something." Amy said. Then, someone was knocking the back door. It was Cosmo. Tails opened it. "Oh, Cosmo! What are you doing here?" He asked nervously. "I thought you were asleep?".

"I was, but then I woke up to find you were gone, and I was scared until I found your note." Cosmo replied. "So I decided to come here and help you guys!" She added. "M-My note?" He didn't realize at first. "Oh yeah! My note that I left." Tails chuckled. "I hope she didn't see the XOXO on the note..." He thought to himself.

"Yes...that one." Cosmo giggled lightly to herself. "Oh no!" She realized she forgot something.

"W-What's wrong, Cosmo?" He started to worry. "I forgot to bring my rake!" She replied.

"Oh...Well, you can share mine! If...you want.." Tails offered with a blush. "Aww...Thank you, Tails." She embraced the fox with a nice warm hug. "Mmm..." Tails swooningly mumbled to himself. Cosmo heard him. "What's wrong?" She asked. He had a blushed up happy face on him. "Tails?" She yelled out to snap him out of it.

"HuhWhoWhatWhere?" Tails let out a string of nonsense. "Is...everything alright?" She asked him again. "Oh, it's nothing, Cosmo..." Amy saw them and interfered. "He's just so happy you're here!" She answered.

"Alrighty, Tails...Let's get back to raking now..." Amy said to him. "O-Okay! Heh..." He chuckled nervously.

Later that day...

"Finally!" Sonic huffed with a shout as he struck his rake in the air victoriously. "Alright guys, uh..." Sonic looked at Tails and Cosmo to find out they're both asleep, holding the rake that they shared. "Hey, wake up, Sleepyheads!" He shook both of them to wake them up. "Huh?" Tails let out. "Was I asleep?".

"Yep." Sonic replied. "But anyway, come around the other side of the yard, you two. I got a surprise for you!" He lead Tails and Cosmo to where they had to go.

"Surprise!" He shouted. It was a pile of leaves just their size. "A pile of leaves?" Cosmo asked. "Yeah! You can jump in it!" Tails explained to her. "O-Okay! That sounds like fun!" Cosmo said. "Wahoo!" They held each other's hands as they jumped in.

They both laughed and shouted with excitement. Then, the two both sat there for a minute. Tails grabbed a maple leaf, and put in her hair. Cosmo grabbed a bunch of leaves and threw them at him playfully. Tails giggled, and then did the same. Sonic chuckled to himself, and ran back in the house for the day.

At around 7:00pm...

"Hey guys, time to go back home!". Sonic went back outside to tell Tails and Cosmo that they had to return back to their humble abode. The two had fallen asleep yet again in the pile of leaves that they played in for hours.

"...Hmm? Okay, Sonic!" Tails yelled. "... Cosmo? It's time to head home." He looked at her to find out she fell asleep on his shoulder. He smiled, and then picked her up to fly back home.

He landed by the front door, and then went inside, with Cosmo still in his arms. Tails put her down on the bed, and tucked her in. "G'night, Cosmo." He said as he stroked the seedrian's forehead. Eventually, Cosmo woke back up and kissed him. "G'night, Tails..." She replied. "Hmm..." Tails mumbled swooningly as he fell on the opposite side of the bed in a daze.

Then, his tiredness finally caught up with him and Tails immediately fell asleep on the bed. Cosmo giggled to herself, and then tucked him in next to her. The young fox smiled as the seedrian embraced the warm blanket around him. It was then that the two finally fell asleep that cold, windy Autumn evening.