Yes, well...This particular chapter might have some...Suggestive moments here and there, so if you don't really like that kind of stuff...Eh, you won't miss much by not reading this chapter.
But I have no intent on making this a typical Taismo romance fic that has the occasional lemons. Actually, I opted for no lemons. Perhaps at a certain point, I might get around to writing a series of lemon one-shots taking place within this fanfic's continuity. Maybe.
Once again, if anyone seems a bit too OOC, there is likely to be a justification here somewhere. So...Yeah. Enjoy it. I promise, the next chapter will likely be a bit more significant that this one.
(A few days before current events, Gaia's Realm)
Lucas stood in front of what appeared to be a large lake. However, even though the lake's water was as clear as a crystal, it did not at all show the seedrian's reflection. The lake was not meant to reflect the one looking at it, but rather, what the onlooker wanted to see in the mortal world. Right now, Lucas was watching over his daughter, Cosmo, as she was quietly sitting under a tree. However, the plantgirl was not alone – sitting next to her was an orange-furred two-tailed fox.
What was the kitsune's name again? Lucas hardly remembered anything about him, probably because the only time the two met in the mortal world was when Lucas was still known as Dark Oak, and the two were mortal enemies back then. But that didn't matter to the seedrian – right now, he had other concerns besides knowing the name of the person that his daughter fell for.
"Are you stalking Cosmo again, Lucas?" – A sweet, but rather serious voice rang from behind Lucas. The purple seedrian turned around and saw Hertia standing behind him and giving him an accusative look.
"Hertia, my precious, you know all too well how worried I am about our daughter." – With that, the purple seedrian resumed looking at the sort-of-lake. Hertia sighed and walked over next to her husband, as she herself looked at the lake.
"Well, there's nothing to be worried about. She seems perfectly happy." – As if emphasizing the blue-haired plantgirl's point, Cosmo and Tails quietly held each other in an embrace, seemingly falling asleep in the shade of the tree.
"Sure, right now, it all seems perfectly fine, but…I'm more worried about her future rather than her present."
"Lucas, please, it's far too early to be worried about that, is it not? Gaia promised that Cosmo's firstborn child will be a pure-blooded seedrian, and so will be all the firstborns further down the family line, as well as having the ability to procreate with living beings not of their kind. So if I were you, I wouldn't be worried about the future of our kind so much." – Hertia replied in her usual sweet but serious voice. Lucas sighed and remarked: "It's not about the future of our kind, Hertia. It's about the future of Cosmo specifically that I'm worried about."
"She is much more mature than you give her credit for. I suggest that you leave her alone for now. I doubt there's anything to be worried about." – And with that, Hertia went silent, waiting for Lucas' answer. The purple seedrian replied in a rather exasperated tone: "Since when did you become so optimistic, woman?"
"Since the moment our daughter was given a second chance, of course. Now, I think we have some other matters to attend to, do we not?" - With that, Hertia walked away from the "lake". Lucas sighed and followed his wife as the "picture" in the lake changed back to a normal reflection.
(Present day, the mortal world)
Of all possible ways to get woken up, never had Tails assumed that on this particular morning, he would wake up to the feeling of Cosmo lying on top of him. When the kitsune opened his eyes and saw his girlfriend's beautiful face so up close, he groggily replied: "Oh. Good morning. What's with the sudden display of affection?"
The plantgirl blushed and replied: "Well, I didn't get to spend much time with you yesterday, since you seemed to be quite busy with your latest work, so I figured that today, I might as well make up for the lack of attention."
"That is…Not really necessary, but still quite welcome nonetheless." – The fox blushed as he said that. In the meantime, Cosmo got off of Tails and stood up from the bed, running off for a few moments. When the seedrian came back, she was holding a tray with two cups of coffee.
"Thanks for the coffee." – Tails replied as he sat up and took one of the cups of coffee as Cosmo also sat down next to him, taking the other cup. As the two quietly drank their coffee, Tails remarked: "You know, after a bit of overtime work yesterday, the coffee really helps."
"Eh, it's no problem. I do have one question – what exactly you were working on for the past few days? You didn't seem to be tinkering around with your plane or any weird mechanisms." – After saying that, Cosmo took another sip of her coffee.
"Eh, just been repairing some random citizens' kitchen appliances for money. During peaceful times, when you don't really get to find any rings or valuables randomly lying around, you've still got to make a living somehow." – Feeling his hands getting a bit tired from holding a cup full of hot coffee, the kitsune placed it down on the bedside table.
"Heh. I guess it's quite great to be a mechanic – you've always got some work on your hands, and you can get paid for repairs that seem like child's play compared to what you usually work with." – Another sip, another brief pause.
"And the best part about it is that it's sometimes only too amusing to try to find out the cause of the appliance breaking. Several of the microwaves I had to repair were usually broken by their owners deciding to stick in a metal object just for laughs, or just left a random spoon in there by carelessness." – Tails remarked. Cosmo laughed at the kitsune's remark, and only had one word to say: "Curiosity."
After that, the two went silent for a few more moments, before Cosmo blushed and asked: "So… What plans do you have for the future?"
"Oh…Well…" – Tails wasn't exactly sure what to tell her. Some awkward silence later, the fox barely managed to reply: "Guess I'll just be doing my usual business while it's still profitable, I guess."
"I see…" – Cosmo was a little disappointed with her boyfriend's answer, so she went a bit more specific: "…If we were to have a daughter, do you think her hair would be green like my hair, or orange like your fur?"
Tails choked on his coffee as he heard Cosmo's question. Taking some time to normalize his breath, the mobian replied: "Cosmo, don't you think it's a bit too early to be thinking about such things?"
"Oh…I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you feel uncomfortable!" – The plantgirl hurriedly apologized. Tails placed his coffee cup to the side and grabbed on to the plantgirl's shoulders, saying: "Cosmo, please, don't worry about that. I'm perfectly fine with your question. It's just that I think it's a bit too early for us to be worried about such things. Heck, we're not even close to the minimum marriage age just yet."
"Oh…Well, from what I heard, the minimum marriage age on Greengate is actually about twelve years – as that's usually the time when a seedrian female begins to properly develop physically and becomes ready to have children. So, I assumed that it was actually the right time to be inquiring about such things." – The plantgirl looked down into her half-empty coffee cup, sighed and took yet another sip. As for Tails, he continued: "Well, it doesn't really work like this on Mobius. The "legal" age for marriage around here is actually eighteen years. The absolute minimum I heard about was fourteen, but even then, it was some rather specific case. In other words, we really are far too young to be thinking about such things just yet. And besides, even counting the time we spent together on the Blue Typhoon, we still hardly know each other for half a year."
Cosmo sighed and continued on to drinking her coffee. After a few moments of relative silence between the two, Tails was the first one to speak up: "But…Considering the things we went through…I think we stopped being kids way earlier than we think we did."
Cosmo jolted upright by a bit before asking: "What do you mean, Tails?"
"What do I mean?" – Tails chuckled, and then continued in a somewhat sorrowful voice: "What I mean to say is, we may still be kids physically, but mentally, we stopped being kids way back then, after we were thrust right into the middle of an interstellar war."
Cosmo didn't even know what to say, so, letting Tails continue on with his trail of thought, she responded with a heavy, sorrowful sigh. However, seeing that Tails had nothing else to say himself, she replied: "To be honest… I kind of felt like our relationship was just about the only thing that remained relatively "innocent" during that time. On the off chance that we were alone together, not involved in anything related to that war, I felt like we were actually like perfectly ordinary kids for our age – just hanging out with each other and having fun, not a care in the world." – Cosmo remembered how she and Tails were preparing a surprise party for the rest of the Blue Typhoon's crew. – "And yet now…I feel like even our relationship is not so innocent anymore. After all, "those" feelings begin to slowly but steadily set in, and we are powerless to do anything about it."
"I thought seedrians feel no such…Desires?" – Tails immediately ducked off to the side, as if expecting Cosmo to punch him or something for such a question. To the kitsune's relief, the plantgirl just smiled and replied: "I suppose that may be a common misconception. I doubt I would have any of those desires if I was physically incapable of it, though. So my guess is that other seedrians may not have been above it after all."
"Well…You know, Cosmo, now that I think deeper into it…It feels like our attraction to each other may be against the laws of nature in itself." – The kitsune immediately corrected himself: "Not that I think that our relationship is bad or anything! If anything, I'm only too happy to-"
The plantgirl giggled and replied: "Perhaps we are so attracted to each other because we have so much in common, don't we? Despite the fact that we're so drastically different physically, we're still pretty much kindred spirits. And because of that, our relationship is based not on desire, but on trust and faith. At least that's how I think it is."
"That…Actually does make a lot of sense. But still, what do we do about-" – Tails didn't get to finish his question, as Cosmo put her index finger on his lips and said: "Tails, I suggest we'll try to not discuss this matter any further until we're of legal age. I can clearly see how uncomfortable you are about it, so let's try not to dig ourselves too deep, shall we?"
The kitsune nodded in response, to which the seedrian smiled and replied: "I suggest we head out into the forest and take a short refreshing walk, so that we both feel a bit more clear-headed."
"Actually…I had an idea for a different place to visit. It's not too far away, and I'm sure you probably saw it a few times on the way to the Mystic Forest. But I'd like you to bring your swimsuit over there. I'll get my swimming trunks as well."
"Oh…Are you talking about that small lake beneath one of the smaller cliffs on the way to Mystic Forest? Well…I do hope the water there isn't too cold. Just give me some time to get the necessary things." – With that, Cosmo went to check through her clothes drawer, while Tails didn't need that much preparation – he just took his usual pair of swimming trunks. And with that, the two had headed out of their house, at first going by the same route as the one to the forest, but then taking a detour off to the side. Soon enough, the couple had arrived to the place that Cosmo mentioned – a moderately-sized lake situated beneath a cliff.
"Okay, if anything, you can go change your clothes just behind that particular rock – I do think it should obscure just enough." – Tails remarked, pointing at a particular rock near the lake's shore.
"Come on, Tails, I trust you enough, and I know you won't peek." – After hearing that from Cosmo, the kitsune remarked: "I don't really know… You know, I am rather surprised at how you're acting today. You sure that it's not your hormones deciding for you?"
The plantgirl laughed at her boyfriend's remark and gave him a light nudge on the shoulder, exclaiming: "Tails!" After calming down, however, she replied: "Okay, I'll go behind the rock then."
In the meantime, Tails waited at the shoreline, trying to get some form of distraction from what was going on. Except there wasn't a soul other than them around this place – not even any flickies wanted to go anywhere near the cold lake. Leaning on his knees and sighing, the kitsune later asked: "Cos, are you done?"
"Hold on, I'm not sure where I should leave my clothes…"
"Just leave them on the ground. If they get dirty, we'll wash them off later." – And with that said, after a few more moments, Cosmo approached Tails from behind and replied: "So, should we take the slow and steady approach, or you want to dive right in?" – The plantgirl then realized that her words kind of came out wrong, and corrected herself: "I mean, will we just slowly go into the water, or just cannonball right in?"
"Well…I guess we may have some fun and opt for diving?" – The kitsune replied, standing up.
"Okay, then you go first, so that I know the water's alright. Of course, if you're not comfortable with going first…" – Cosmo didn't get to finish her sentence, as Tails remarked: "Actually, I was just about to ask if you wanted to go first, as I…Kind of wanted to dive in first myself…Right. In any case…" – Tails stood up, took a few steps back to get a running start, and just moments before it, remarked: "You might want to stand back though."
And with that, after running and jumping, Tails used his namesakes to gain some height, and when he felt like he was at just the right altitude, dove right down. The resulting splash was enough to leave a few drops on Cosmo's skin and swimsuit. A few moments later, Tails resurfaced, shivering slightly, and remarked: "The wa-water's g-g-great! You c-c-can go right in!"
"Uh… Well, I don't really have any ways of getting any extra height, so…Eeeeep!" – The plantgirl ran forward, closing her eyes and, as soon as she felt that she stepped into a bit of water, jumped forward. While the resulting splash wasn't as big, there were still a few extra drops that got on Tails' fur.
"Nice one for a beginner, I guess." – Tails seemingly got used to the cold water and didn't shiver anymore. And in the next few moments, Cosmo resurfaced in such a way that her hair even sort of flew up a bit, scattering drops of water, and afterwards, the plantgirl reached with her hands to rearrange her hair. Seeing Cosmo chest-deep in water like this made Tails feel a little uneasy, but he still blurted out: "You…Look really gorgeous in that swimsuit, Cosmo."
"Oh…You didn't tell me that earlier on the beach." – The plantgirl remarked, looking a bit confused.
"I was just a bit too shy to say it back then. But considering we are all alone here, I decided I might as well go for it since I was given the opportunity to." – The kitsune swam a little closer to the plantgirl. Just when he was about a few inches before her, he quietly asked: "Is…This too close for comfort?"
"No-no-no, it's…It's alright. It does feel a little weird to be getting so up close and personal with you, but…It's okay." – After Cosmo said that, both she and Tails looked a bit off to the side, blushing.
"We won't take it any further than a kiss, right?" – The kitsune asked, sounding a little nervous, to which his seedrian girlfriend nodded and answered, a bit uneasy: "Right…"
The two leaned forward just enough, and then kissed each other on the lips. The kiss almost immediately went from the typical "shy" type of kiss to a more typical French kiss. As the two continued kissing, Tails' hands had slipped a little lower from Cosmo's shoulders. The plantgirl pretended to not notice this, but the moment her foxy boyfriend's hand slid all the way down to her bottom…
"No, Cosmo, tough it out. He promised not to take it too far. You trust him to fulfill that promise, right?" – It was unclear just where this could have went had Tails not opened his eyes and looked a little lower. The moment he noticed just where his right hand was, he immediately moved his hands off of Cosmo's body and pushed her away slightly. After taking a breather, the kitsune guiltily said: "Sorry, Cosmo…You were just too tempting, and…"
"Tails, don't worry about it. You kept your promise, right?"
"Only because I realized what I was doing. Chances are that if I didn't pay attention to what I was doing… Ugh, nevermind." – And after Tails said that, there was an awkward silence, only broken by the sounds of water and the occasional birds in the distance. A few moments after, Cosmo was the first one to speak up: "Did you say I was…Tempting?"
"Well… Maybe?" – The kitsune's muzzle was almost beet-red from the ensuing conversation. – "Look, if that's not the kind of compliment you wanted to hear, then-"
"No-no-no, it's…it's fine. I just…Didn't expect something like that from you." – The plantgirl remarked, blushing almost as much as Tails – her cheeks were almost the same color as her buds.
The way home went by in even more awkward silence. Tails hardly said anything to Cosmo, looking rather guilty and ashamed of himself, while Cosmo herself was a little worried about the way Tails was acting. After the two went upstairs and into Tails' bedroom, the bedroom's owner was the first one to speak up: "Look, Cosmo, I'm terribly sorry about-" – but of course he didn't get to finish his sentence, as Cosmo placed her index finger on his lips and replied: "Tails. Just don't. Let's not bring this matter up for now. I can clearly see you're too uncomfortable with such things right now, so we better not push it any further."
"If that's how you want it, I guess…" – The kitsune replied in a somewhat uneasy tone. As Cosmo decided to go downstairs, she stopped in the doorway for a moment, then turned to face Tails, looking a bit lower down than usual.
"Oh, and…" – Cosmo barely managed not to snicker. – "You might want to start actually wearing pants from now on. I can clearly see you have trouble keeping your 'feelings' to yourself."