To make it clear, seeing as it's the first time I've done something of this sort, this is a continuation of the narrative in Psychokinetic Lover.

"You know you can't hide behind that menu forever Silver. We've got so much catching up to do…" Silver knew he was trapped but that didn't stop him sinking deeper and deeper into his chair, menu obscuring his eyes and a good third of his quills. Sat opposite him Amy loosed a sigh, beginning to whine. "Come on, just one little story? I've heard so little since I made that deal with Blaze… I thought you'd at least tell me how things are going; you still owe me for all that advice, remember? All those tips on how to be more romantic?" She sang out that last word, saying it so boldly and clearly, Silver could feel himself growing redder by the second; he'd been in a relationship with Blaze for almost a year now, he'd grown so much more confident in his actions, yet facing Amy seemed to sap his composure. Was her shear assertiveness still so far beyond his? Evidently.

Silver took a deep breath, bringing the menu down to rest on the table; he'd made his decision minutes ago. "I think I'll just have the soup of the day."

Amy pulled back, rising from their booth, a smirk wide on her face. "If you're going to stall you could have at least done it well, the soup of the day's on a board by the counter; not on the menu. You start thinking of a story; I'll try not to take too long." She'd leave him with that Cheshire grin, he took his head in his hands. How Blaze had put up with this he had no idea, at least when they'd discussed tips it'd been in private!

He sat himself back upright, clenching his fists. He'd make his stand here, in this café; if Blaze had endured Amy's pestering then he could to! Sure she was stronger than him in a lot of ways, but when it came to being open he was better… right? Blaze was the sort to bottle her feelings while he, often naively as she put, tried his best to express them. He'd tried to take first steps in their relationship before Blaze; he'd been leading… even if he hadn't succeeded in really taking them. He shook his head, he had to do this; it was another step, with this his confidence would swell! When Blaze came back from her meeting with Amy her confidence had bloomed, if he could be open about his relationship then surely he'd be able to do more too! He'd never hesitate again, express his love to the fullest, he'd-

"Oh, where did Silver go? When did you get here Pink?" Amy had slid back into her seat, chortling to herself. "You're giving Knuckles a run for his money, but don't you worry; Blaze got pretty embarrassed too. Just a couple of stories will-

Silver's palms slapped down on the table, eyes locked to Amy's. He was very aware of the heat that masked his face, he could feel sweat on his brow; but he had to push hard, he had to grow confidence. "What did Blaze tell you? I-I can't just tell the same stories! What do you want to know? I'm prepared, I can do this!"

For a moment Amy seemed taken aback but not a second later there was a spark in her eyes, smile stretching even wider across her face; "Well the stories were about how romantic your powers could be and I'll admit that, while you didn't take my pointers, I was surprised by how well you did." That did admittedly relax Silver somewhat, he hadn't followed Amy's advice as her recommendations had seemed too forward and hearing them from Amy had further charged them with embarrassment. Perhaps one day he'd get that upside-down kiss though… he refocused on Amy, he had stories to tell. The pink hedgehog continued, "First she told me how you cared for her; sneaking through the window, how scandalous, and I heard you shared a bed? Multiple nights, consecutively?"

Amy had leaned in much too close wide smile reduced to a smirk, a spark in her eyes. Confusion overcame his embarrassment for a moment, he raised a brow; "Well it's not like we hadn't before that, it's not that big of a deal. Back in-

Now it was Amy's turn to smack the table, she stood; jaw dropped and eyes wide, releasing a sound only describable as a squeal. "You two were sleeping together before you were together!?" Her hands raised, she began to gesticulate wildly; "How are you two so shy? It makes no sense! You should be the most open and proud couple in the world, yet you couldn't even kiss her in the rain that night! It took you five months for a first kiss, really Silver? You set it up really well by the way, but five whole months?!"

That stung quite a lot, the confusion he'd felt vanished and a drive returned in its place; he rose, hands slamming the table once more, "I-It's not like I-I didn't want to kiss her! I-It's just…" He closed his eyes and balled his fists; "I love her so much and whenever I want to do something new i-it's like she stuns me, she's too pretty so I hesitate; I'm scared in case I mess up! After the first time it's been way easier! It's been three months since that kiss a-and I-I've been getting much better at doing it, ever since that first one, but I still can't help feeling so warm! My heart starts thumping; i-it's like the rest of the world vanishes when I go to kiss her. Sh-She's all that matters, in those moments and always! The closer I get the more I feel the-

Silver's spiel would be interrupted by the sound of clinking beneath him, looking to its origin he would sight a very embarrassed looking waitress; setting their tray down before immediately making herself scarce, almost running from the two hedgehogs. He looked to their surroundings; Amy had chosen a small café in the heart of Station Square for their catch up and he'd thought it relatively empty… until now. No fewer than ten sets of eyes were looking up at him, stares that ranged from anger at having a meal interrupted to those of mutual embarrassment. Silver threw himself back down to his seat, head in his hands; releasing a sound somewhere between a groan, a laugh and a sigh. He could feel the red heat radiating from his cheeks.

"Hey, buzz off! This is a private conversation, let him gush all he wants!" He heard Amy sit back down in her seat, felt a forceful hand pat the back of his quills. "You were doing so well too, Blaze was terrified of others hearing what she said; you really are the more confident one. Proclaiming your love like that is important! Let everyone hear it!"

His head crashed from his hands down against the table, not due to the pink hedgehog's (admittedly excessive) force but due to his still mustering embarrassment. "A-Amy please, g-give me a moment, I really didn't mean to s-shout like that."

The patting stopped, he heard Amy release a snort; "Well you can't take it back now; it seems you're a romantic deep down Pink, it's a good way to be! We're a couple of rose-tinted dreamers, in love with two fools too embarrassed to speak their hearts in public. I'm sure with time you'll match my confidence! Just you see."

"Uh… sure…" Silver highly doubted that but he'd long learned there was no point in arguing with the girl, besides; it was a nice thought. He raised himself, floating his soup over while Amy placed a very elaborate strawberry sundae before herself… confusion drew Silver from his embarrassment; "I thought we were having lunch?"

She'd already placed the spoon in her mouth, she made a positive hum; "Oh yes, I wanted something of equal sweetness to the stories, thank you for reminding me. Have you picked one yet?"

Crap, his mind hand gone blank! He scratched his chest fur, "Well… Blaze told you ones about my powers, so should I tell you some about hers? They can be r-romantic like mine."

Amy's eyes widened, her mouth hung slightly open; "I didn't really consider her powers, yours were so easy to scheme around, but… yes! That'd be perfect!" Her mouth reformed into a broad grin; "I'm already thinking of things she could do… but I don't want to spoil this! Go on, go on!"

"Uh… um…. G-Give me a moment, I'll pick a good one; I promise." He was pulling at his chest fur, free of tugs thanks to Blaze's intervention, mind mired as he trawled through the possibilities. One story did come to mind, forced to the forefront by Amy's prior mentioning of their first kiss. "I could tell you about the date that followed the first kiss?"

Amy leant in, scooping another spoonful of ice cream and smiling more softly, "Tell me whatever story you feel like Silver, as long as you found it romantic it'll do for me."

He stopped tugging his chest fur, setting his hands on the table. As he began to focus on telling a story he only grew redder. "Alright, I think you'll like this one…"

Blaze had picked out one of the larger untouched islands in her kingdom for that date; covered in these giant deciduous trees. She'd told me the island was special but to be honest, experiencing the sight of Autumn first hand for the first time, I was sure even the most basic of parks would have overfilled me with joy. We descended through the clouds; her still laying atop me though her hands had shifted back to my chest. She pointed out our destination, I twisted my head to look over my shoulder; our flight almost stopped entirely as my eyes turned to saucers. Despite floating far above it and a good hundred metres away I could still tell this island was special, from our position I couldn't see the ground as it was completely obscured by the multitude of coloured leaves.

Even in the lowlight of the cloudy afternoon the vivid colourations weren't lost on me, the outer rim of trees was brown but the deeper inland my eye was drawn the more vibrant the colouration became. Following brown was a pale yellow that eased a little brighter before transitioning into a light orange that slowly but surely became darker; finally came the crimson centrepiece of the island, a section smaller than the others yet by no means tiny. It was as though the island radiated autumn spirit, I finally looked back to Blaze; her eyes were on me, I could feel myself grinning. "Well?" She asked.

I turned back to it, continuing our decent. "Why is everything so pretty here? I'm never going to get used to this, it's all so amazing."

"I doubt you will, I'm glad you can experience this world now Silver." I could feel warmth flood from her voice, "I've seen it before but not with my memories intact and certainly not from this angle, it is a breath-taking sight. If only we'd come in daylight."

I shook my head, still smiling down at the sight. "Nah, this is great; big moons are a fall thing to right? Maybe the sky will clear. Where're we going to land?"

"Just aim toward the red, there's a further sight to behold." I looked up to her but she spoke no further, curiosity quickly overcame me; what kind of secret could this autumn wonderland hold?

"Alright, we're going to shift for landing." Her grasp shifted, arms wrapping behind my neck and beneath my quills… my mind flashed to our repeated lip lock, what could have only been minutes ago when I emerged from the daydream she was staring down at me quizzically… or was it knowingly? "R-Right, yes lets… okay." I eased us to a standing position, keeping my arms wrapped around Blaze's waist, and accelerated our descent. Soon I could hear the cacophony of branches, rustling in the strong sea wind; leaves broke from their bonds and spiralled passed us as we approached, welcoming us to their home. As we passed over the treetops birds shot out from underneath, singing their songs of surprise, I was only pulled from the amazing colour for a moment to weave us between their darting.

We passed over brown, yellow and Orange but when we came to red I realised what the further surprise was. The other layers of this autumn forest had been constructed of many trees while the red section was formed of a single giant tree; it's trunk reaching out above all others and having the thickness of at least twelve of its friends. It wasn't as though the island's regular trees had been thin either, they'd been some of the thickest and strongest I'd ever seen! The leaves were like giant hands; four to six long leaves that extended in clusters from the ends of branches.

I turned to approach side on, granting Blaze the ease to see without twisting her neck; "It's… It's huge…"

"The largest on all the known islands, no one knows how old it is, where it came from or even who planted it, but it is heralded as the heart of seasons. Only when the last leaf turns red has autumn reached its height, only when the leaves have been shed does winter begin. With the first bud bloom comes Spring, with the last wilted flower the midpoint of Summer." I could listen to her for hours; she'd planned this through so thoroughly. I'd read a lot about the history of her world but I'd never come across this! I rounded the giant trunk as we made our way toward the ground, it's bark a dark brown nearing black with weathered and aged marks across its entirety, just taking in the forest's atmosphere. The ground was as amazing as the treetops had been, here rather than conformity and separation between the autumn colours the leaves mingled and mixed on the ground to make great blotches and spiralling patterns.

I lowered Blaze to the ground first, our grip extended from holding each other close to hand in hand as I set her down to the crackling of leaves beneath her heels. I brought myself down before her, immediately kicking up some leaves; there had to be a good inch of them…. I looked to the ground, then back to Blaze, then back to the ground and then back to Blaze. "Is it okay if-

She smiled, rolling her eyes. "Go on, have fun."

I shot back up into the air before plunging back toward the ground; feet first, a rapturous crunch sounded as, upon contact, leaves flew up around me. Taking them in my ranged grasp, psychokinesis acting as the wind, I dragged the mix of golden colours and felt joy overflow as that rustling sound consumed my ears. As I toyed leaves would slip my grasp, raining back down toward us. Eventually, probably after a little too long, I stopped, looking back to her and feeling more than a little embarrassed. "I-It's really good here, thank you for bringing me."

"I'm glad you like it. The seasons are like flowers, beauty but for only a moment; enjoy autumn while it last." To be honest, I hadn't even considered that, I was just really enjoying playing around with some leaves? But she was right, this was the kind of thing that I couldn't experience all the time; she really had thought this out. She looked to the ground for a moment, staring at our elongated shadows; "It's going to be dark soon, I should probably start a fire."

I nodded, "The food would probably be better warm too. I'll set things up." I tried not to lose myself in the crunching of leaves as, selecting a place a stone's throw from the giant tree yet still some way from the dark orange treeline, I used my psychokinesis to clear a circle. Following this, finding some rocks and shed branches, I used my powers to construct a small bonfire; we'd set up fires of this sort when hiking many times. Blaze approached, taking a seat before the wood, and with a flick of her wrist the pyre was set alight; shedding a warm orange-red glow, kept small to leave the low hanging branches untouched. Approaching I started to rummage through the bag, drawing out the marrow wrapped in tinfoil, stuffed with pepper and rice, as well as fish and tomato atop a crusty bread. There was also a picnic blanket but I hadn't expected it to be so dark, with the fire we couldn't exactly set it on the ground. I hesitated for a moment, looking to her with blanket in hand. Without hesitation she took it from me and so dexterously threw it over our shoulders; pulling it closed around us thus swaddling us together. I leant against her a little, "F-First the kissing and now that, you're really good at reading my mind."

She gently hummed; I could feel warmth gently ebbing from both her and the fire before us. With a small gesture I set the foodstuffs to hover over the flames, just out the reach of their licking. Our shadows were slowly fading into the darkness, the blanket blocked the glow from my symbols and so the world was being cast orange. I felt her head move to top my shoulder, ponytail pushing into my quills. "I'm still not really comfortable using these flames outside of a crisis but when it's just us…while I wanted to show you this island there is something else I wanted to do tonight." She seemed to hesitate for a moment; due to her positioning I couldn't turn to her so I gently wrapped an arm around her. "You use your power so freely in public, and one day I might too, but for now I just want to share something to you."

I felt her shift slightly beneath the blanket, I looked into the crackling fire; unsure what she was about to do but thoroughly gripped by anticipation. She took a deep breath and suddenly the flames began to twist and shape, turning a brighter yellow, almost bursting for a moment, and from it wisps of flame too large to call embers broke free. The sun had finally fully set; clouds above blocked whatever potential moonlight would have filtered through the treeline. Embers surrounded us like docile fireflies, snuffing the instant they made contact with their environment. When I finally looked back to the fire, however, I saw what she intended to show me.

The bonfire had grown wider, I could tell the flames weren't moving naturally but it took a moment of blinking to recognise the shapes within it. There was an indent to the fire, almost like a cave, and within it the shape of a heart hung; glowing crimson against the surrounding soft yellow. The edges of the heart crackled, rippling out to stroke the edges of its hovel and slowly the colouration melded before completely swapping; outside crimson with a glowing yellow heart within. One of the wisps passed across my vision and I noticed it had changed, rather than being simple flames the yellow light had taken a form; that of a roughly rectangular shape, the pointed edges cut, it was a depiction of a sol emerald. I could feel her shaking slightly and tightened my grip, shaping flames was far harder than shaping psychokinetic energy; they never wanted to stay still and would constantly try to break their assigned form.

I cast my gaze across our surroundings, there were seven of them gently gliding through the air; rotating around the blaze. Suddenly the bonfire began to split, pieces of the crimson shell breaking away to leave only the golden heart. The flaming shards didn't just vanish however, rather they slowly ebbed from the burning pyre and took form; a circle with a line descending from its base. Immediately recognisable, it was the symbol on my palms. Seven of them, one by one, left the central flame; each headed for an individual Sol emerald, a depiction of Blaze.

Our representations collided in the air, the colours mixed and melded, and in the wake of the flames orange hearts pulsed and grew. Seven swelling orange hearts were orbiting a golden one; I felt her arm around my shoulder. I'd kept quiet but cloaked in her warmth, and basking in her light I couldn't help speaking. "It's wonderful Blaze, th-thank you."

The orange hearts began their approach on the golden one. I slowly floated the food down from above the fire, thoroughly reheated by her display. She didn't pluck anything from the sky, however, instead, I heard her speak "I'm sorry it took so long to do something like this. I'm still so apprehensive about using my powers in this way and it takes me a lot longer to plan than you."

The hearts reconvened, there was a burst of light, and then the fire was back to its original state; her body relaxed into mine. I leant my head against hers, quills rubbing her ears. "That was really hard and you picked such a great place, there's nothing to be sorry for. We're taking things one step at a time, right?"

"Yes, we are, but I've given it some thought." I felt her head pull away from mine; I turned to her and our eyes locked. "With today I'm going to take more steps, by telling you I'll be forced to hold myself to it." There was seriousness in her eyes; I felt her arms shift around me beneath the blanket. "I'm going to take initiative more often, I hope that's okay?"

My eyes widened; "Y-Yeah, sure! I think that-

And then, before I could finish and without a moment's hesitation, she leaned in and kissed me; the firelight growing brighter than it ever had before.

Steam could be seen on Silver's breath, there wasn't a patch of visible skin that wasn't boiling magenta. Despite this, however, there was a broad smile on the hedgehog's face, seemingly happy with the story he told. "And, well, that's it."

Amy circled her hand; gesturing for him to continue, sparkle in her eyes. "Go on! Go on! Go on! Come on Silver you can't stop there!"

"W-What? But that's where it finished… I mean, we ate after that but I thought the kiss was the romantic bit." Silver's brows had furrowed, eyes dropped to the rapidly cooling soup beneath him. "She'd kissed me, f-for … I-I… the fourth time that day?"

"And how was that kiss in the firelight? Details Silver! Details!" Amy seemed to be growing impatient, fingers rapping on the table as she leant closer and closer forward.

"Uhh… umm…" Silver, no longer telling this is part of a continuous story and suddenly painfully aware of his setting, stalled. When things were flowing fine, when the pieces were being set at his pace and in his mind, he'd been speaking without embarrassment… but now? How would he put it into words? He had enjoyed the kiss no doubt, it'd filled him with comfort and spread a warmth throughout his person; a warmth he was finding it impossible to verbally recreate. He hadn't counted them, he'd been far too distracted, but he'd enjoyed it down to the last millisecond; the mere thought of it made his heart beat faster and his legs start shaking. But how could he articulate that? Now he was thinking much too hard about it, this was the same sort of hesitation that kept him from acting with Blaze. "Umm… i-it was hot? L-Like the temperature! B-But I guess the other way t-too… eugh."

Amy huffed, lowering herself back into her chair; arms crossed and looking away with her eyes shut. "Honestly Silver; way to flub the climax! Don't pick a story if you can't finish it properly! The ending's supposed to be the best part, as lovely as what she did was; the kiss at the end of the story is supposed to be the most romantic part, you've really got to expand on it! Tell me how you felt, the thoughts running through your head and how your bodies intertwined!" Her tone was whiny; she'd dropped her elbows on the table, head in her hands, and was staring at him in an excessively judgemental way… it wasn't quite as harsh as the sort Blaze would give when he did something truly foolish but it still made him feel guilty. Amy continued; "Just tell me a story you can finish this time, alright? I want two more stories to make up for this disappointment."

Silver groaned, throwing his vision to the roof. "Two more? Why is me messing up worth twice what I ruined?"

"It's worth double because now I'll never get to experience that story in full, you built up something so great only to destroy it at the last moment. You're telling me two more because you got my hopes up! Besides, you know Blaze told me three; so don't you want to match her?" There was a teasing tone in her voice, even Silver could see he was being manipulated, but…

Knowing he didn't stand a chance arguing against Amy he lowered his vision back to her, there was a mischievous leer on her face… clearly she'd known she'd won from the start. "Alright, that's fine, j-just give me a moment to think of another."

The smile shrank to a grin as Amy took another spoonful of ice cream, Silver was much too focused to even touch his certainly lukewarm soup. Moments came to mind, one in particular he knew Amy would want to know about but he feared he'd mess that up like the last. He wanted to tell it… but he'd have to psyche himself up first. If he told it then it would be the last story he told her. His thoughts were interrupted when Amy sighed; "Come on Silver, I can't wait forever; my ice cream will melt… speaking of melting though you mentioned her warming you up a couple of times. I take it that happens often? That's pretty smooth, I'm surprised I didn't think it up; does she do that often?"

"Oh yeah, that's probably the thing she does most! She's really good at it, " At the mention of Blaze's shared body heat Silver's mind latched onto a thought and, without even really intending to, he began to tell a story.

Blaze doesn't feel temperature like most people; she can wander through tundra without the slightest of shivers and stride across deserts without breaking a sweat. As fluffy as I am I don't share the former trait with her, having grown up in a burning city I can handle the heat pretty well but a mild breeze will prickle my spines and leave me shaking. I'd only noticed it in the last couple of months, maybe something changed, but Blaze's bedroom is always freezing. We don't spend too much time up there, unusually it's just when I stay over after a spar or, as it happened a couple weeks ago when we start falling asleep in the library.

She had lead me up to her room and was carrying with her a thick tome of ancient prose about a prior king while I carried a newer book on the Coral Caves; an island I'd only been to a couple of times but really enjoyed. Blaze had insisted that I was far too tired to journey back to the beach and much too late for that regardless, as the door opened however chill swept out and plucked my drowsiness from me. Immediately a shiver ran down my spine. Opening a palm I sent a pulse of green-blue light into the room, gentler than turning on a proper light.

She turned to me, completely unfazed by the cold, "I'll change in the bathroom, make yourself comfortable." Right, changing, she had to do that. Embarrassment attempted to heat me up, engaging the chill in battle, but the only way I'd be warming up tonight was clear. I entered the room and immediately noticed one of her big double-door windows had been left open. Wandering over to close it my eyes caught the sky and of course I froze, like most Autumn skies it wasn't without clouds but every so often an almost full moon would emerge from behind them. The stars were wonderful too; Southern Island being an island doesn't have many ground lights to pollute the sky so when it's clear it's always wonderful. I'd been beneath that sky for seven months and yet it still pulled me in, even through my shivering.

I was pulled from the skyline by the feeling of a body leaning against mine and arm wrapped around me, my eyes met with a set of glowing amber ones. Blaze's hair was down, a sight I'd grown more accustomed to but I doubt I'll ever get over the change in her height when she lowers it and sheds her heels. She was dressed in a baggy magenta shirt and black pyjama bottoms, heavy tome in her free hand. "So this is comfortable is it?"

Looking back to the sky I could feel warmth ebb into my body from the points of contact; a response had come naturally to me and I didn't want to waste it. I leaned into her and tried to say something at least a little romantic? "It is now." Somehow I didn't even stutter but in the moment I had no idea if that was the right thing to say. The feeling of a warm head leaning against my shoulder told me that, at the very least, it wasn't wrong. My muscles were beginning to loosen, I could feel drowsiness creeping up on me. As the clouds passed obscured the moon I turned back to her; "You know, you keep it really cold in here."

She rolled her eyes and looked away, head leaving my shoulder; in the low light, I could see a blush on her face. "That would be intentional Silver. I did plan for today; sharing warmth with you is the easiest way to share my power with you. Should I heat up further? Is it uncomfortably cold? Perhaps I didn't think this through far enough…"

I flinched a little, the pieces slotted together in my mind; I thought I'd begun to overcome my denseness but evidently not. "N-No, it's fine; you're doing great, I guess I was just too oblivious again. I love snuggling with you I-I just didn't realise you were actively planning it." I wrapped my arm around her waist, pulling her closer still and melding into the heat.

Blaze's eyes met mine again; they were far more distracting than the emerging moon. "You bring me light so I'll gift you warmth." The heat was wearing deeper and deeper into me; I turned away from the skyline and rested my chin atop her head, my arms enveloped her and I felt hers gently wrap behind me. One hand was between my shoulder blades, the other closer to my waist. The warmth that fully enveloped me, a pocket defended from the cold of the room, saw to it that sleep was on the horizon. Beneath me I felt her shift, the sounds of a deep breath filled my ears and instinctively I yawned with her, groaning as my eyes squeezed shut. I don't understand why but for the longest time whenever she yawned, whether I could only hear or see it, I'd immediately release one too.

Finishing the yawn, sleepy tears in my eyes, I managed to pull away from the top of her head; the comfort slowly escaping from my chin. "You want to sleep?"

She squeezed closer for a moment before parting, "Yeah, come on." She began to lead me away, with a wave of my hand the window closed and the curtains with them; even in the mere moment we'd spend apart I could feel the cold beginning to reclaim me. Blaze slid beneath the covers but as I went to follow she furrowed her brow, I raised mine. "You're not wearing boots in bed Silver."

Sure enough, they were still on; I'd been far too distracted. I sheepishly bent down and slid them off, my rings hanging in place. I got in next to her, setting my book on her bedside table, and immediately she shifted her head into my chest. With the twist of a hand the covers tucked in around us. The heat began to flow into me again; I felt my smile grow wide as I loosely wrapped my arms around her back, light from my symbols being muffled by the duvet. Blaze returned the gesture, one arm snaking it's way to my scruff while the other held the base of my back. The warmth was good but I wanted more, my legs bundled against hers and I lowered my head to top hers once more.

The warmth was almost smothering, it surrounded me entirely, we shared yawn after yawn bundled together; it was almost worth breaking away to see her fangs but I was much too comfortable in her arms. Feeling myself begin to slip I called out; "Blaze?"

"Silver?" Her tired voice was adorable, a gentle almost mumble made further unrecognisable by her position within my chest fur.

With my tired stupor had come some degree of confidence, the closeness and the warmth only further amplifying it. "I want to keep sleeping like this, can I just stay here with you?"

She hesitated, for a moment I thought she might have drifted off. "Eventually this will be the norm, but for now I think Gardon would have a heart attack. He's worried enough about us being together, let alone sleeping in the same bed; if he knew about this I'm sure he'd be on edge." I felt her head shift a little; she'd turned so her cheek was to my chest rather than her pressing her full face into it, I shifted my chin to sit between her ears. "Let's just enjoy this warmth whenever we can."

"Alright, eventually then. It's a promise." I nuzzled my chin against the top of her head, pressing deeper into both her and the heat. "Goodnight Blaze."

Her purring grew slower, purrs strong enough that I could feel them shaking through her, "It's a promise. Goodnight Silver."

Silver was beaming; eyes closed as he confidently concluded his explanation; "So yeah, she's really good at using her warmth! That was a bigger example but usually, it's just little things, warming up when we're holding hands or hugging, but I think because she doesn't need to make a flame she's much more comfortable doing it in public. I hope she'll learn to show her flames more freely but it's great!"

When his eyes opened he was surprised at Amy's expression, her jaw had dropped and her eyes were eyes sparkling. "Silver… you're not even embarrassed, it was shorter than the last story but you're not even blushing. Why aren't you blushing, what was different this time?"

As if coming back to reality redness spread across his cheeks, "I-I guess I got carried away? I didn't even realise I'd started to tell a story before I'd already finished."

Amy's mouth closed, she tilted her head a little; brows furrowed, Silver could see gears turning in her head but he had no idea to what end. Scraping up the last spoonful of her sundae she spoke; "Alright, that was good enough. You don't need to do another one."

Silver was taken aback a little at that, trying to get a read on the pink hedgehog and completely failing. "What? But I thought I was meant to match Blaze, she told three right?"

"She did, but I'm impressed Silver. You've shouted publically about your love, so casually overcome your embarrassment, this will do. You've not even touched your soup, go on go on." She waved his questioning off, sundae now complete she pushed it toward the centre of the table; head resting in her right hand. Silver, still very confused, did as he was told; raising a spoonful of the soup to his mouth… only to be met with chunky and cold lentil with that awful soup skin on the top. He'd grown used to eating well but, Crisis city days still part of him, he could handle this. Swallowing the bile he began to eat only for Amy to begin talking again, "You know, I'm sure you'll get that kiss in the rain soon. You two can only go for so long before getting caught in it again, right?"

"Well…" At that, he turned a little pink, the story he'd thought of before entered his mind… but Amy had said she was fine with two stories. There was no pressure on him, feeling in control he took a deep breath. "I could tell you about that."

Amy's next action was incredibly bizarre to Silver, he heard the sound of crunching; her hands were digging into the table and shards of wood breaking away, but her face was kept in a gentle smile; eyes closed. "Just share what you want to share Silver, there's no pressure to tell a story or anything." She had to half shout to be heard over the rapidly splintering table.

A little distracted by Amy's show of force he waved his hand, psychokinetically lifting objects from the table lest it turn to dust beneath her. His mind wandering, not entirely focused, he began. "Well, it didn't exactly happen normally."

A week had passed since Blaze had told her stories, she was supposed to be guarding the Sol Emeralds directly today but in the twilight hours of the morning she'd come to Marine's hut and awakened me. The tide was rapidly receding, the sky above mired by thick clouds; pink and purple colouration streaking out from the horizon and colouring the grey sky. We'd been walking for a while now, the ramshackle house far in the distance, conversation had been scant and I could tell she was anxious. She wasn't looking at me, rather everywhere else; most often to her feet, occasionally to the sky and rarely to the sea to her immediate right. Her posture was normal but there was a small frown on her face, a pout almost.

Finally taking initiative I took her hand, fingers slipping between her digits and thumb sliding beneath hers. I felt warmth begin to radiate from her but she still wasn't looking me in the eye, I took another step closer to her. "Blaze what's wrong? Are you alright?"

She'd stopped walking and sighed a little, finally our eyes met; her ears were pinned forward and there was scarlet coloured her cheeks. "It's fine I'm just… waiting for something to happen. I was sure it would have started by now, there's something I want to do and it's just... it's taking a lot of focus. Soon people might show up and I'm sure I'll be too terrified to do it, as much as I want to."

"You're waiting for something? But what-

She turned to me and shifted our grip, her fingers now running up the length of my palm and mine up hers. She grasped my other hand in hers; eyes fixed to my boots, she took a moment to think over her words, warmth continued to spill over. "It's a surprise, please let's just wait a little longer and see if it happens. If it doesn't we can do it another time but… I wanted to do this as soon as possible. I don't know when the next opportunity will strike."

I felt myself blush, I had no idea what this could be but if she was struggling so much to do it then it was important to her and thus incredibly important to me. I brought my thumbs up and gently rubbed her hand, "I'll wait as long a-as we need to, don't worry." She was waiting for something, but she also wanted to do something? I didn't want to think about it too hard, it was supposed to be a surprise after all, but curiosity was eating away at me. Her eyes were still locked to the ground, the seconds were trickling by so much slower than they had been; with every second I could see the weight growing on her, glowing redder and redder. I looked to the beach around us for some indicator of what she was looking for, something to relieve her pressure, when it dawned on me. Was that something she was waiting for an action from me? Was I supposed to do something? But what…

My eyes were cast down to her shoes to now, sight obscured by our linked hands. All I could think was that she wanted me to kiss her; it couldn't be anything more than that could it? What more was there to do? Was there anything else I could possibly do? Was there some kind of position I was supposed to hold her in? Had I forgotten something so vital? Her feet were shuffling, was she trembling? I raised my head; she wasn't looking to my feet; rather to the ground on her right. I leaned in, moving my right hand to her shoulder; her eyes met with mine for a moment but she turned away. "No Silver, not yet, I'm still waiting for…" I pulled back, a little glum but at least she'd said not yet. I felt her left fist clench around my hand, heating up, a thought seemed to strike her as her eyes shot back to me. "Turn around and close your eyes."

"Wh-What?" There was seriousness in her eyes, cutting through the embarrassment spread across the rest of her face. I hesitated for a moment but eventually dropped her hand, whatever this was I trusted her completely and she clearly wanted to do it quite badly. "Alright, I promise." I turned away from the sea, eyes shut, and immediately I heard Blaze walking away… but not further up the beach, she was walking toward the sea. Soon the crashing of waves hid her footsteps, I have no idea how long I stood waiting there; surrounded by the scent and sound of the sea, a light wind blowing my quills. Eventually though something made me flinch, another of my senses had been touched… a drop of rain had flicked my nose. My eyes cracked open as more droplets began to fall but quickly closed my eyes again remembering the promise. Raising my hands a barrier formed overhead, protecting me from the pelting droplets. The rain was tumbling faster and faster, the sound of rain overcame the waves; quickly going from a light drizzle to a downpour.

That was when I heard her shout; "Silver, don't turn around yet, drop the barrier!" I didn't hesitate; dropping my arms rainwater began to rush over me. My quills cascaded down to top my eyelids and fur was quickly soaking. Soon there wasn't a dry patch on me; I felt cold begin to set in only for a warm hand to grasp my shoulder. Quite suddenly I was turned on my heel; my eyes opened wide just in time for a pair of lips to collide with mine. I couldn't see her for my fallen quills, I couldn't even tell if her eyes were open, but I could feel her, she was warm as always but this warmth was subdued; she wasn't evaporating water as she usually would! Her hands shifted, one chased around my side and up my back while the other reached from my shoulder; both met with my drooping back quills and pulled me; shifting my stunned position, my head was turned and with that turn our kiss was deepened. It was happening! Just as I'd researched, just as I failed to do, a kiss in the rain!

I fumbled to react, wrapping my right arm across the top of her back while the left her waist, but between her tugging and blindness, it was clear she was in control. This was different from our prior kisses; for Blaze to lead wasn't uncommon but as her hands ran through my quills and her body pulled closer I could tell this was going to be something else. This was new, but I loved it. But the moment I became certain of that I felt her tug on the end of my quills, my lips were snatched from hers; my eyes opened wide, I went to speak, and that's when it happened. With a tug on our lips met in a formation I was unfamiliar with, I went to close my mouth only to realise hers was slightly open too. She tugged my left quill, pulling my head down and tilting my mouth further into hers; to aid the movement my knees bent, my head was beneath hers. Surprise initially overtook me as something pushed passed my lips and then I remembered it, I'd seen this before; in those movies tongues would enter other people's mouths but I never could understand why until it finally happened. My hands shifted to her shoulder blades, trying to pull her in closer even though no space remained between us.

To describe the movements within my mouth is difficult, both due to the surprise as well as the rain overwhelming my senses, but I know for certain she led; her tongue taping mine before pulling back, I awkwardly raised mine to approach but Blaze was very much in control of this, both internally and externally, and frankly I had no problem with that. One of her hands released my back quills only to trace up to the ones obscuring my vision, my eye opened as she cleared my view but her eyes were closed tight; fur drooping down, uninhibited in the rain. I'd overcome the surprise but between her hands pulling through my quills, the sea salt smell and the drumming of rain across our bodies I was finding it hard to focus on one thing so I closed my eyes and just kept leaning in… until our teeth kind of bashed then I decided to just let keep control of this. I didn't care to time how much longer it lasted, her tongue exploring while I tried my best to contend with it, all I know is we stopped as the rain did; eyes wide and panting.

Our bodies were still close; she began to heat up; slowly drying our bodies. "This is what you wanted to do those months ago, right? I-I didn't know about kissing in the rain but Amy mentioned it and I wanted to make up for what we missed."

Only one of my eyes was really exposed, I was still panting; "Y-Yeah! Th-Tha… eheh… ehh… th-thank you!" I might have fallen were she not holding me by my quills. I was certainly making a lot of noises but not a lot of words were coming out.

She shifted and pushed my five front quills back; "Y-You're welcome. Th-Thank you for being a part of it, I-I'm sorry it took so long; I was sure it would rain today but when it didn't I had to boil the water myself. F-Force a reaction to make it rain."

The quills kept slicking back to flop over my eyes; I shifted my arms from her shoulder blades to around her waist. "I-I-I d-didn't expect a-all of it but...y-yeah I wanted to kiss you in the rain that day. I-I'm sorry I couldn't but I-I never w-would have done that well." I was such a stuttering idiot, she'd done something so cool with her powers and taken such initiative and here I was struggling to get words out. I steeled myself, crushing my hand behind her back; "C-Can we do it a-again?"

Silver had been far too caught up in his explanation, the fact he was meant to be having lunch with Amy had become totally secondary. His eyes had been closed through most of his unintentional storytelling; too caught up in remembering the moment… when he heard a loud bang though reality quickly returned. He opened his eyes only to find Amy wasn't there anymore… and neither was the table. Looking to the floor he found the pink hedgehog in what could only be described as a state of shock, the table had fallen with her and split into chunks. Was she laughing? It sounded like she was laughing. Silver had no idea what to do so he looked to their surroundings… everyone besides the wait staff had vanished while they were hiding behind the counter. Quite suddenly Silver understood his actions, he took his head in his hands; redness overcame him.

From the floor Amy managed to sound between breaths; "You can stop now Silver! That's enough, even for me!"