Sequel to Christmas party (Tails x Marine)

Requested by Dreadwing216

.

Knuckles and several others of their mismatched group of friends were currently peeking out through the door, eyes following the trail of footsteps in the snow, until the darkness shrouded the rest. Shouts and breathless laughter, and an occasional strangled noise here and there, could be heard from somewhere in the darkness.

Cream suddenly pushed her way past Knuckles, worried glance going to where Charmy was last seen. Snow was still whirling around aimlessly at the wind's mercy, and Knuckles worried that she'd freeze if she stayed outside…

"I'll go check on them, alright?" He reassured, and she looked up.

"Thank you Mr Knuckles! I'm a bit worried for Mr Charmy…"

With good reason, Knuckles thought wryly. The fox was quite scary when angered, as many of them had realised…

"I'll go with you then!" Amy said cheerfully, still sporting that pink… camera? Knuckles chose to ignore that, and shrugged.

"'kay. I'll go get a flashlight…"


"Ooh, that's gonna hurt…" Knuckles commented quietly, peeking out from behind a bush with Amy. The pink hedgehog hummed in agreement, eyes locked on Tails, Marine and Charmy, who all were partly hidden in the darkness. The scene unfolding was a rather comical act of revenge on Charmy, and Knuckles considered if they would need to step in or not.

…And just as he thought that, Tails dropped him in a pile of snow, and he and Marine both focused on the camera she had stolen instead. Knuckles and Amy both glanced worriedly at Charmy, and then they quickly strained their ears – actually, did Knuckles have any ears? – to hear what the duo then said.

"How do ya delete this junk anyway?!"

She shook the camera, and an alarmed Tails then quickly rescued the poor tech from her grasp. He held it up, pressed a few buttons, and said,

"Seems like this is the type of camera which-"

A piece of paper slipped out of it, fluttering down with the snow innocently. Tails quickly caught it, and held it up.

"Yup, the kind which prints it out, so to say," he concluded. Marine then stood on her toes – Tails was really tall in that weird were-fox-thingie-form – and she glanced at the picture too.

…And then Charmy moved, and Knuckles and Amy rushed over to him. Together they then dug him out of the pile of snow, and after a last glance at Marine on Tails, who still were fussing over the camera, Knuckles then decided that everything was under control… So then he and Amy and Charmy left, heading for the warm comfort of the house and the mulled wine and blankets contained in it…


Hearing the others walk away and disappear into the house, Tails then turned to Marine. For a second he got concerned – he realised that he didn't really know exactly how could it was out here, since his fur was so warm and thick like this – and Marine might just as well be freezing. But before he had time to look for any shivers racking her body, then she leaned forward, pressing her head against his chest – he pretended he didn't notice how his heartbeat completely flipped out here and prayed she didn't either – and turned her head so that she had a clear view of the photo, which Tails apparently was still holding…

What the heck is the kind of shampoo she's using, flew through his head, because whatever it was, it was intoxicating. Oh curse the fact that his sense of smell got so much better in this form too…

"I think we should keep the picture." She then said thoughtfully.

"…Eh, sure," was all Tails managed to say to that. And something then shimmered in the sky.

The moon.

Some clouds had parted, and the full moon shone down on the snow, and it glistened and shimmered and sparkled, a few lonely flakes fluttering around still. The snow on the ground soaked in hues of blue, and with every small movement you could see hundreds of small flakes on the ground, shimmering like diamonds or pieces of stars…

And Marine then stepped back and away from him again, and Tails tried to suppress the small spark of discontent at the action. And the moment and timing and everything had been so perfect too, so why-

A muffled sound of surprise managed to escape out into the winter night, as all of a sudden Marine then crashed her lips against his.

Wha-?!

Tails practically felt how his brain shut off, tried to restart, and lastly failed, as his arms then moved to hold her close. She smelled so wonderfully of Christmas, of that strange shampoo, of the sea and the ships and islands, and Tails… found that he really didn't mind the situation all that much.

And Marine then pressed up close to him, both of them relishing in the other's warmth, as snow silently continued to fall all around them. Lips still pressed together, Tails broke the kiss briefly to get some air, before then meeting the raccoon's lips again.

…She still was a good kisser.

Unfortunately…

Half-a-minute or so later, Marine then broke the kiss, both of them feeling way too hot even though they were standing out in the snowy Christmas night, a wind still playing with their bangs and ponytails…

…Good god, her eyes were absolutely gorgeous in this very sappy and very dimly lit light, Christmas lights casting flashes of colour upon her cheeks and reflecting in her eyes…

…And on a less happy note, it was really getting freezing out here.

Tails fought with himself for a second – would he be able to take the sappiness of his next move? – but then he just did what he planned to do anyway, and – seemingly absently – gripped Marine's hand with his own large one, carefully holding his claws so that she wouldn't even accidentally get hurt.

And Marine then grinned that mischief-filled grin, batted her – what? How had he not seen those before – black-painted eyelashes, and then she went off towards the house, Tails trailing after almost dazedly…

And they were both very happy and unknowing of the fact that Amy had almost all of just about everything on her camera… But they would continue with their happy unknowingness, because Shadow soon advised Amy to delete the video so that she would not have to fear for her life for the rest of the year…