Yeah I gotta be real. The recent chapter of the comic broke my heart a little because I'd always felt like Tails had the best chances of getting through to Kit, and (without spoilers) it feels like that window is either closed or closing. I feel the need to advise that you, the reader, should treat this as an AU as a result. Please enjoy.

Chapter 3: Sunshower

Tails woke up with his face pressed against something hard. Everything about late last night felt like a big blur. After Surge and Jewel had left, the golden yellow fox stayed with Kitsunami until he'd fallen asleep. Tails himself had a hard time sleeping after seeing what made Kitsunami tick, so he'd stayed up cleaning up the workshop. Taking down curtains, putting non-sterile equipment back where it had belonged. Images of flesh and machinery joined in a way Tails had once thought impossible flashed in his mind, dampening his groggy stupor. Feeling around, cracking his eyes open, he'd finally realized where he'd woken up.

"That checks out…" the fox groaned, pushing himself up off the floor of the workshop. He'd realized he had stayed up so late to clean up that he had passed out from exhaustion. His face was sore, and his neck felt terribly stiff. The spare room had turned into a makeshift hospital room for Kit to stay in while he recovered. "Oh, wait, Kit…! W-what time is it?" All too quickly, Tails got up onto his knees, now feeling a lab coat fall from his shoulders and down onto his tails. "When did…?"

"Oh, good morning," Kitsunami called out to him, calm as a cucumber as he stood up on a ladder to water some of the ivy plants atop the bookshelf, right next to Tails's special sprout. "More accurately, good afternoon."

"What are you doing…?" Tails asked, trying to rub the sleepiness from his eyes.

"Dr. Starline designed me to draw in and condense water from water vapor in the air. With that, he made me very sensitive to humidity and to water levels in soil," Kit explained matter-of-factly, watering the ivy with the most generic watering can imaginable instead of his hydrocoil tails.

"That's cool and all, but," Tails began to clarify as clarity came to him in real time, "what are you doing out of bed? You just had a major operation. You really should be in bed."

Kitsunami shrugged, his sprinking the ivy and watching the miniature drizzle plop onto the leaves and vines, and into the soil. Droplets sat demurely on the leaves, pure, clear beads of glistening in the light that filtered in through the windows. Tails tilted his head, cracking the tension from his neck, every pop bringing a wave of satisfying relief. Kitsunami smiled in satisfaction and pulled the watering can back, judging he'd given the plant exactly enough for the time being. As he did, Tails started spinning his tails, flying up to join his fellow fox.

"Was I helpful?" Kitsunami asked gleefully, beaming at Tails. Based on demeanor alone, one would never guess that he had just had a life-saving operation. Tails couldn't help but smile, titillated by Kit's pure-hearted enthusiasm.

"Very," Tails affirmed, earning eager tail-wagging from Kit. "Just be extra careful, especially with this next one."

Kitsunami's tail wagging slowed as his attention shifted from Tails to the pot that was next to the one containing the ivy he'd just watered. Off-white ceramic pot that looked aged, weathered, hosting a single, verdant green sprout. Etched into the side of the pot was a single string of five letters. 'COSMO'

The fennec looked at the pot holding the ivy, then back at this engraved vessel with this seemingly special plant. Save for the engraving, it seemed ordinary in just about every way. Tails could tell from the contemplative wistfulness of Kit's expression that he was stuck on the phrase 'especially with this next one', as though it were a riddle he had only half-heard.

Tails let out a soft sigh and summarily said, "It's a long story…"

"How long could it be? You're labeling your plants is all," Kit inquired, now looking even more confused. He leaned forward, not minding his footing on the ladder.

"I guess Cosmo could be referring to the flower, yeah… That name means so much more to me than that…" Tails remarked, lost in memories bygone for a single, solitary moment before realization caught up to him at Super Sonic speed. That was all it took.

As Kit scooched closer to the plant, both hands on the watering can, he shimmied over the side with most of his weight leaning away from the ladder, and only one foot on the rung. Tails's eyes widened, and time slowed to a crawl as Kit lost his balance and his grip on the watering can. As Kit went into freefall, Tails swooped down and grabbed the fennec. The two foxes tumbled across the floor, Tails wrapping his arms tightly around Kitsunami. Tails felt heat rise to his cheeks and the tips of his ears as he found himself looking into Kitsunami's magenta eyes.

"Th-thanks…" Kitsunami murmured, his gaze falling to one side.

"Y-yeah…" Tails mumbled before clearing his throat. "Ahem. First rule of ladder safety: always maintain at least points of contact with the ladder. Rule number two, the navel rule: if leaning to either side, don't go past where your bellybutton lines up with the ladder."

"Sorry," Kit mumbled, still looking away.

Glancing up at the plants, which remained undisturbed, Tails turned his attention back to Kit and wore his most sympathetic smile. Tenderly, he said, "Hey, c'mon. I'm not mad. I'm a little freaked out, sure, and the adrenaline's still running its course, but I'm not mad at you."

"You're not?" Kit asked, filling Tails with a mix of joy and relief when their eyes met again. "You didn't seem too happy that I got out of bed, and I could've broken your pots and ruined your plants. And that cosmo plant means a lot to you."

"She's not just a plant," Tails retorted on reflex, surprising himself as the declaration flew from his mouth. Kit's surprise and confusion returned, and Tails's ears drooped as he gave a sheepish chuckle. "Sorry about that, but Cosmo's actually her name, not exactly a reference to the kind of flower she is."

"O-oh. Well, umm…" Kit murmured, "it's nice to meet her. But who is Cosmo?"

Tails gazed wistfully at the small plant atop the bookshelf. Softly, somberly and with a smile on his face, he replied, "Cosmo was my first love. I like to remember her that way." He glanced back down at Kit, who was giving him a mournful stare.

"What was she like?" Kit asked cautiously, choosing his words as though he was tip-toeing across a minefield.

"Well, she wasn't like us. She was from another world and a bygone race, but she had the biggest heart of anyone I'd ever met. She was a little clumsy, and often hard on herself and apologizing for things that were out of her control," Tails reminisced. "She was generous, gracious, always trying to help others in her own way. Cosmo was troubled from trauma, from bad people turning her life upside down, but it never stopped her from trying to do what she thought was right." As he went on, meeting Kit's attentive gaze, he saw more and more of Cosmo's most admirable traits in the fennec fox. Helpful, generous, troubled but not broken. Tails hoped Kitsunami wouldn't go away, give his life for everything, for others to have a life he couldn't. Like she had.

Kit snuggled closer to Tails, returning his protective embrace. Tails could feel the heat in Kit's cheeks but had trouble distinguishing it from his own blush. He felt tears that he didn't even realize he'd shed. The foxes sat there in each other's arms for a long moment, silence in the workshop permeated the ambient noise of the outside world.

Tails's next words came out as a choked whisper, forcing them through a tightening throat as he blinked back tears, "Please don't let me lose you like I lost her…"

"I'll try," Kit assured, not promising anything more than that. He pulled back as the sound of a stomach growling reached his ears. "Hungry?"

"Yeah," Tails sheepishly admitted, wiping away his tears. "A little stiff, too, but I guess I did fall asleep on the floor."

"How about I fix us something to eat?"

"Hey, which one of us is supposed to be on recovery here?"

The two foxes shared a laugh at that, getting off the floor and meandering into the kitchen and living area of Tails's home. Tails, far savvier with mechanical and electronic creation than culinary creation, reheated some leftovers and made a note to himself to try to pick up some simple recipes from Amy or Vanilla sometime in the near future.