Miles hadn't needed to clear himself a parking space after all.

Not that he'd have done that. Really. The chill of autumn had driven away most, though not all of his potential targets - uh, competition - leaving him with almost his pick of where to park the Vortex.

"Here's the place."

He zipped around the car, opening the passenger door for the hedgehog who had voluntarily covered her eyes when he said they were close.

"... Gameworld?" Amy read aloud, her expression unreadable as she stared at the vibrant sign featuring cheery cartoon critters looming over the admissions booth.

Miles' stomach collided with itself. Was she mad? Disappointed? Should he have researched more? Maybe he should have checked with Cream what kind of places Amy liked? He braced himself for the hammer to appear, for her to yell. Or cry.

She laughed.

Miles blinked.

Well he hadn't been braced for that at all.

Amy didn't laugh that often, at least around him. And it was a nice laugh, bubbly and bright. The kind of laugh you'd want to hear again and again. But… preferably not at him. His ears prickled with heat, a blush response thankfully hidden behind a thick coat of fur as he looked away, rubbing the back of his head.

He'd thought it had been a perfect "first date". Something to talk about, activities to do together when conversation ran dry. And with nothing "fixed", there'd be no sense of commitment, so she wouldn't feel like she had to stay when she got tired of his company.

"I… guess I goofed, huh?" Keep smiling.

"Huh?" Amy blinked down at him. "No!" She gave him a radiant grin. "I guess it's just easy to forget you're younger than me, sometimes."

Ouch. This had been stupid. He'd been stupid. He should have realised she was interested in more than just basic stuff. He should have recalculated when he'd seen the dress she was wearing. Even if it wasn't as fine as the one she'd worn for the concert, that had been for Sonic. He was just Tails so clearly she'd expected more and-

"Shall we go?" Amy smiled at him, hand outstretched.

"S…" Miles swallowed, forcing his throat clear. "Sure."

Keep smiling.

"Two please." He held his palm out to the blue furred coypu at the welcome desk.

The coypu - "David" from his nametag - stared at the two of them blankly for a moment before holding his own palm over Miles', completing the transaction.

"Welcome to Gameworld, we hope you have a magical stay with us." His voice sounded as cheery as Miles felt, but he presented two thin strips of card to the fox with a paper thin smile before retreating to the small desk of his booth once more, where a small screen showed two teams of humans clashing over a ball.

"At… least there shouldn't be too much of a crowd?" Amy hazarded politely as she walked beside him into the park, peering about with polite interest.

Miles nodded mutely. Small as it was, this was primarily a mobian park, designed to cater to a population that rarely saw members over five feet tall. With that population decimated after the war there was so little demand that mobian only spaces like this were slowly dying out through a sheer lack of customers needed to keep them in business.

"Want to grab lunch first?" He jabbed his thumb towards a brightly coloured fast food shack nearby. She hadn't known where they were going, stood to reason she'd not eaten.

"Sure, alright." She rubbed her bare arms as she walked on ahead, glancing at the "8+" signs that marked a nearby casino building.

"They cleaned the place up a bit, huh?" Miles followed her gaze as he tried to keep up without seeming to rush. Stupid short legs. "They even have a minigolf course now."

"Cleaned up?" Amy looked blankly at him.

"Since the last time we came?" Miles cocked an ear in confusion.

"Oh!" Amy's expression finally brightened. "We came here! Sonic, you and me!"
Ah. Another mistake on his part. Miles smiled.

"Yeah, five years ago. Remember Eggman tore the place up looking for Chaos Emeralds?"

That had been the first time he'd ever been to a real theme park. Before he'd been tainted on the concept by Eggman's relentless obsession with them. The madman's twisted versions, full of robots and traps, left Miles only memories of bitter combat and stress.

He'd meant for this to be a fun thing for the two of them, remembering happier times when they'd first started to become friends. But Amy had probably been to dozens of theme parks in her life. What had been important for him had apparently been one-sided on his part.

"Ooo, I remember! The karting! And there was that big arcade!"

Miles nodded.

"And you won that big Sonic for me!"

"Oh, I... forgot about that part." Miles rubbed the back of his head with a grin. This had been during their early career. Part of how the trio had managed to get into the park in the first place was to cash in on Sonic's fame as a hero. And part of that had been a toy deal.

The idea of carrying a giant plush doll of his friend home had seemed a mortifying prospect, so he had foisted it off on Amy.

Well at least she was smiling now, polite interest replaced by genuine enthusiasm as she waited for him at a table, craning her neck to look at attractions and passing critter mascots.

"Uh, Mister Tails, sir?"

Miles snapped his eyes back to the vendor in surprise. The grey furred cat, maybe a few years older than him, smiled awkwardly, holding up the paper bag containing his food.

"Oh! Sorry!" Miles rubbed the back of his head with a sheepish grin, swiping his hand to pay before grabbing the food.

The cat winked at him.

"Have a great afternoon, sir!"

"Uh, thanks. You too." Miles put on a smile as he retreated.

"Everything alright?" Amy glanced at him as he came back to the table.

"No worries." He held the bag aloft. "Hope you're ready for a reasonably forgettable luncheon!"

"Chilli dog with the works?" Amy asked him drily, eyebrow raised.

"Huh?" Miles' ears perked. "I got you a burger and fries, sorry. Didn't realise you liked chilli dogs that much."

Amy's expression quickly flicked from surprise to distress, getting worse by the second. Miles quickly pulled out another, different, bag from his coat for damage control.

"And I- I thought it was too cold to enjoy ice cream, so I brought you a strawberry cake for dessert? I can get you a chilli dog as well? Instead? Two chilli dogs?!"

Amy giggled, as though she hadn't been about to cry. Crisis averted.

"When'd you get to be so cute, little Tails?" She grabbed the bag. "Now tell me about these 'bur-gurs'. I'm starving."

Miles let out a sigh. He was beginning to see why Sonic avoided dates, her messing with him was emotionally exhausting.

"Uh, well, these are… patented Tailsburgers. Old family recipe."

"Uh huh." Amy took a bite of hers, pushing the bag towards him. "Even though I just watched you get them from the kiosk over there?"

"Umm… Yes." Miles nodded gravely, carefully laying fries inside his own burger before taking a bite. "I… gave them the recipe?"

Amy stared at him for a few long seconds, chewing slowly.

"You know, if it wasn't you I wouldn't believe it." She grabbed a fry from his cup. "You, on the other hand, are exactly enough of a dork to do something like that except for one thing."

Miles nodded. He didn't have a fam-

"You only eat candy!" She grinned, devouring her stolen fry. "If we didn't check in on you for a few weeks we'd find you dead of scurvy."

"I eat sometimes."

"Properly?"

"Yes!"

"When's the last time you ate a hot meal?"

"Yesterday!"

"Sonic's there isn't he?"

Miles looked away. "...Yes."

"Mhm." Amy nodded sagely. "You don't sleep, you don't eat. You sure you're not a secret robot double?"

"No, he left with Sonic this morning."

"Hah. As if." Amy glanced at the kiosk, tapping her lip. "Hey, isn't that one of the cats from the concert last week? You gave her an autograph."

"Did I?" Miles shrugged. "Didn't pay much attentio- hey! You have your own."

"You were supposed to look away while I stole it though?" Amy smirked, another stolen fry between her teeth. "Yours taste better anyway."

"Oh yeah?" Miles snapped his fingers forward fast enough to leave an afterimage, two of her fries now in his grasp. "Better test that for science."

"Hey! Super speed is cheating! I'm taking a penalty!"

"Don't make me get my tails in on this!"

Lunch took longer than expected, and involved a good deal of laughter indeed.