"Is this all just a bunch of measuring?" Knuckles asked.

"It's not all measuring," Amy said as she squeezed the measuring tape around his waist. "I asked you if you had any design input and you said you didn't."

"That's 'cuz I don't know the first thing about fashion, Amy."

"That's ok! It doesn't have to be fashionable, it'll sell because of your name alone. I just want it to be something you'd actually want to wear when you work out."

"Well in that case, aviators aren't my thing. I'm more into sport style sunglasses. They wrap around the eyes and block out the sun better, so it works better if I'm on a run or exercising outdoors."

Amy paused for a moment. She set down her tape measure and walked over to her desk. Grabbing a pen and a piece of paper, she quickly sketched out a drawing of Knuckles wearing a pair of sport shades. After a moment of taking in the sketch, she said, "Wow, that does fit the whole outfit a lot better." She turned to look at her echidna friend. "And you said you don't know the first thing about fashion."

"I don't," Knuckles stated. "I just know how to keep the sun out of my eyes. Anyways, are we done yet? You've wrapped that tape measure around almost every inch of me by now."

"Almost. Are you sure there's nothing you'd like to add to this outfit? Anything at all?"

The echidna shrugged. "Not really. I mean, I guess sometimes I wear a small towel around my neck after I build up a ton of sweat, but that's hardly a-"

He was cut off by Amy snapping her fingers. "Of course!" she said excitedly, writing down something in her notes. "A workout towel! That would be a great piece of merchandise! The rest of the outfit should be pretty easy to make, so we can throw this in as a bonus to add incentive."

Knuckles shook his head and shrugged. "Yeah, I'm alright with that. Might be a bit odd for a fashion brand to sell towels, though…"

"Not really, we sell bathrobes. Those come with special soft towels for wrapping your hair in." She finished her notes and looked up. "Alright, if that's everything then we can probably leave."

Knuckles blinked. "We?"

Amy crossed her arms. "Yes, we. I'm off early tonight, so I want to see what Tails is up to."

The echidna grinned. "Why are you interested in what he's doing? You got a crush or something?" Almost as soon as he said that, the hedgehog's hand smacked him across the face. "Ow!"

"Quit being dumb," the ticked off hedgehog threatened. "I want to hang out with him because we're besties, nothing more, nothing less. You know that Knuckles."

The echidna rubbed the side of his face. "Jeez, woman, it was a joke! I'm messing with you, come on."

Amy took a deep breath and relaxed, an apologetic look forming on her face. "Sorry… even after all that anger management, I still slip up sometimes."

Knuckles waved his hand dismissively. "Hey forget it, I can't say I haven't been there. You've seen the aftermath of my… gardening first hand, after all."

A half smile formed on the hedgehog's lips. "True…" She let out a soft sigh. "I'll go clock out real quick and we head to the station." With that, she made her way to the door and left down the hall.

Knuckles leaned against her desk and stared up the ceiling. "That's twice this month I've crossed a line with my teasing," he thought. "I should work on toning that down."

Tails set the toaster he had just fixed down next to the others he had fixed that day, twenty-three in total. He hated fixing toasters. Not because it was difficult, no. On the contrary, they were usually pretty easy to fix. The problem was how time consuming they were to fix. That's why he put off doing them until he absolutely had to.

"Gee, I wonder what's wrong with this one?" he asked himself sarcastically as he picked up another broken one. He flipped it upside down and shook it around a lot. Lots of crumbs and chunks fell out from the bread loaders. "What a surprise! They didn't clean it out! Again!" The kitsune let out a frustrated groan. "You know, someone who realizes this is such a common problem should invent a toaster that's designed to be easy to take apart and clean on a regular basis." He rolled his eyes at himself as he unscrewed the bottom of the toaster. "Oh, wait, I did that, and it failed because no one wants to spend thirty bucks on a toaster, no matter how good of a deal it is!" He threw the back of the toaster to the side and began digging around the insides of it. "I paid a thousand in manufacturing, sold at a loss, and it still failed! Meanwhile these cheap hunks of junk get sold for around ten to twenty bucks and get nasty and break down. I don't get it."

He was so busy angrily rambling to himself, he failed to hear the door to the hanger from the main house opening and someone walking in. "If it makes you feel any better," a voice said from behind him, "I still use the one I bought from you."

Tails turned around. Amy stood over him, a soft smile on her face. The kitsune smile back. "Glad someone still uses those," he said, turning back to his work. "Doesn't make the commercial failure sting any less, though."

Amy looked over his shoulder. "Well, next time, you should focus more on advertising the product first to gauge interest before you go all in on manufacturing. That's a big rule of business." She pointed at something in the contraption in his hands. "Also, that's definitely mold. A lot of it."

The kitsune looked closer at where she pointed. "Huh, so it is." He set it down and kicked it across the floor.

The toaster slid across the floor before it slammed into five other gutted toasters. Amy frowned. "I'm guessing that's the 'lost cause' pile?"

Tails shrugged. "I can't exactly repair something that's eroded to the point mold is forming on it. At that point, there's moisture in it, which ruins the circuitry. I may be a mechanic, but I'm not a wizard. I can't magically fix that." He stood up and sighed. "Well, I'm done for today. I'm exhausted. What do you wanna do?"

"Oh, I'm not sure. I just wanted to stop by and say hi, see how you're doing. I didn't really have anything planned."

"In that case, let me make you dinner and we can decide on something to do later."

Amy smiled. "Sounds good to me."

"When you said you'd make dinner, I was expecting something more… dinner-ish, I guess," Amy grumbled.

"Hey, I'm a mechanic, not a chef," Tails replied defensively. "If you didn't want grilled cheese, you should've told me. I would've made… uh… I don't know, mac and cheese?"

"How you've lived on your own this long, I'll never know."

The two of them sat on the couch, watching a romcom they found on Netflix. It was about two childhood friends that reconnected years later and fell in love. What the description didn't say, however, was that the reason they reconnected was because of the guy friend recently getting his heart broken after his ex-girlfriend broke up with him.

"How do I tell her how much she means to me?" the male lead asked. "She's my best friend… I don't want her to hate me or anything."

"Dude," his roommate said, "you watch cheesy romcoms and she cuddles up to you while you do that. Do you seriously think there's nothing there?"

Amy rested her head against Tails' shoulder, leaning on him a little. "Do not instill with false hope, movie," the kitsune thought.

He looked down at her. "You tired?" he asked.

She nodded. "Long day," she muttered. "Measured Knuckles a lot. Approved another run of production on some clothes. Denied a collaboration with a company I don't like. C.E.O. stuff."

Tails nodded in response. He couldn't help but stare down at her. She looked sleepy. She looked cute. Before he realized what he was doing, he was running his fingers through her bangs. Amy looked up at him and smiled.

"So… is that our thing now?" she asked. "Running our fingers through each other's bangs?"

Tails blushed out of embarrassment. "Umm… it doesn't have to be," he said quickly. "I just kinda, umm started doing it. I'm sorry…"

"Don't be, I don't mind it."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm sure, Miles. You know I'd tell you if something bothered me."

"Right."

They sat in silence for a while, watching the movie. Suddenly, an idea struck the two-tailed fox. "Wanna see something cool?" he asked.

Amy looked up at him, confused. "Uh, sure," she replied.

Tails got up off the couch and ran to the front door. "Then follow me!"

"Huh…?" The hedgehog panicked for a moment and ran after him. "H-hey! Tails, wait for me!" She chased him out the door and across the Mystic Ruins. The kitsune led her up a giant hill, stopping at the top. She tackled him to the ground, a grin on her face as she saw the look of surprise on his face.

"I finally got you, trickster fox!" she said playfully. "Now… Why did you drag me all the way out here?"

Tails smiled and simply pointed up. Her gaze followed and she looked up to see the beautiful, lavender and orange sky of the setting sun. "Woah," she whispered, rolling onto her back. "The sky's really pretty this time of day…"

"You should see the stars from here," Tails replied, smiling as he stared at the sky. "When I've got a lot on my mind, I like to come here and stare up at the stars and just think for a while. It helps me relax. I guess I thought that it might help you relax as well."

"Well, it is really calming here… thanks, Tails."

"No problem, Amy."

The two of them stared up at the lavender sky, taking in the atmosphere and enjoying each other's company. A thought crossed the pink hedgehog's mind as she briefly glanced over at her best friend. "Hey, Tails? Can I ask you something?" she asked him.

"Go for it," Tails replied nonchalantly.

"Why does, umm, this-" she ran her fingers through his bangs a bit, "-help calm you down so much?"

A somber smile crossed the Kitsune's lips. "Oh, I'm not sure. It's always worked on me. That's how my mother used to calm me down. She used to do that a lot, even when I didn't need to be calmed. I guess it was her way of showing she loved me."

Amy turned to look at her friend, curiosity growing inside of her. "Your mother? Do you remember her all that well?"

Tails thought for a moment. "Sort of. I know her name was Rosemary. And before you say it, yes, that does make me Rosemary's baby. Heard that joke a lot but didn't get it until I watched that movie a few years ago. Anyways, aside from that, I don't remember a whole lot. I know she loved me and cared for me, but my last memory is her saying she's going to go out for a while and she'll be back in a little while." He hung his head. "She never came back. I still don't know what happened. Tried to do some research into it, but I found nothing. It's like she just vanished…"

Amy rested her on his chest. He looked down at her, surprised, but she simply smiled back at him. "I… don't remember my parents at all," she admitted. "I, umm… have tried to do tarot readings on what they were like, but I don't think that ever worked."

Tails gave her a funny look. "I didn't know you still did tarot readings."

"Fortune telling has always been my hobby. I just do it mostly in private now."

"I remember you used to read fortunes all the time about whether or not Sonic had a crush on you."

"Ha… yeah…"

The conversation went quiet for a moment, before Tails spoke up again. "Hey, Amy? Can I ask you something now?"

She nodded. "Of course you can."

"Ok, don't take this the wrong way, but… say you and Sonic do end up together. Do you think you'd be truly happy?"

The pink hedgehog gave him a puzzled look. "What do you mean?"

"It's just… he's rejected you a lot. Ran away from you a whole lot. Ran off at the sight of you even before I had a, uh… 'brother-to-brother conversation' let's put it, and told him to stop. My point is- after all the rejection and heartbreak and all that stuff, are you sure he'll make you happy if he said yes to going out with you?"

Amy stared at him for a moment, lost in thought. Tails tensed up, afraid he may have angered her, but he calmed down the moment he felt her fingers running through his bangs. "Relax, silly," she said to him with a smile. "I'm not mad. I know you're talking from a place of genuine concern for me. I just needed to think about it a little bit." She paused to take a deep breath. "I think so. He's saved my life a lot of times, especially when we were younger, and I… call it childish if you want, but I think he's my soulmate. I don't know if you believe in that stuff, or not, but one time I read my own fortune and asked where my soulmate is. I got the answer they were close, and lo-and-behold, you and Sonic showed up at my door asking if I wanted to hang out with you guys." She smiled bittersweetly. "I can handle a little rejection every now and then. I don't ask him out anymore, though, because I'm sure someday he'll ask me out." She looked her fox friend in the eyes. "So… yes, I do think I'll be happy, yes."

Tails stared at her, unsure of what to say. At last, he closed his eyes and smiled. "I see…" he muttered softly. "That's good to hear. I want you to be happy, so you have my support." He opened his eyes, but averted her gaze. "I want nothing more than to see you smile all the time."

Amy hugged him. "That makes me really happy to hear you say that, Miles," she whispered. "You're a really sweet guy." She rolled off of him and looked up at the sky once again. Looking over at him, she said, "Hey, Tails?"

He turned to face her. "Yeah?"

"Thanks for always being there for me."

He smiled. "Ditto."

They returned once again to gazing at the sky in silence. As they stared at the dimming evening sky, the smile on Tails' lips faded. "Everyone told you to tell her before it's too late, Miles," he thought. "Now it's too late."

He could feel his eyes beginning to water, but he refused to cry. Not over this. Not in front of her.

"It's too late."

Author's note: This one ended up being pretty short as well. Oh well. Hopefully the next one isn't so short. Hope you guys enjoy, be sure to read and review. :)