"I'm afraid I don't understand the question Silver," A wise yet weary voice admitted, finally conceding defeat to answer a question asked minutes ago.

"I'm asking you if I should call the foxglove Melisa, or if that name better suits the wolf's bane. I know it's a difficult decision, it's not the best name for either of them, but I've already used Gertrude and Mavis and nothing else seems to fit them." Silver the hedgehog, age 22, groaned; eyes darting between the two plants, "Come on Espio, I'm begging you, which one is Melisa? Or is there a better name for either of them? I'm stumped."

He and his chameleon housemate were currently squatted and stood around the side of the house they co-rented; plants, pots, paint and a paintbrush at their feet. Their home wasn't a large building but, given that the hedgehog was a barista (selling plants over the internet to help make ends meet) and the chameleon worked at a struggling detective agency, they were lucky to be renting it. Its outside was painted a stark white with the door and accents a corresponding black. Despite the aforementioned plants, and the many others Silver owned, there wasn't much in the way of garden space. While there was a green patch around the back, most of his plants were kept in pots, on windowsills or in their tiny greenhouse.

"I…" The chameleon's voice was as deep as ever, but his hesitation spoke volumes, "I don't understand how you name your plants in the first place, let alone rename them. Aren't all your purple plants name Ember and Ignite and such, fiery names?"

"They were, and those names fit perfectly, but in the next…" Reaching into his trouser pocket and drawing his phone, Silver gave the time a quick glance. Four in the afternoon, "Hour I need to replant and rename all of them, I've made a terrible mistake. If she sees them I'm done for, she'll never want to see me again. I've not seen her in years, well I saw her yesterday, but before that it was years! I can't scare her away like this. She'll think I'm some kind of crazy weirdo who-

"Silver," The level-headed chameleon cut the hedgehog off, "Who is it you met yesterday? Explain properly and I might be able to help you. Why would a girl care that you've named your purple plants after fire? If she's going to find anything weird it's that you name your plants in the first place."

Well, he wasn't totally wrong. Silver's hands ran through his quills, gloved fingertips pushing them all the way back. Defeated, he whined, "Because her name is Blaze and… she's purple." Before Espio could get another word in, Silver quickly attempted to further explain himself, "I hadn't seen her for ten years! I'd completely forgotten about her until yesterday, I was doing my shift in the café when she walked in and the memories hit me like a truck. When she saw me at first I don't think she remembered me, but when she sat down she kept staring back at me until eventually, I went over and…"

Silver remembered to breathe; finally turning to Espio the hedgehog wasn't met with his usual stoic expression. Rather there was a quirk he'd learned to notice over the past two years living with him, the reptile's lips were twitching as he failed to suppress a smile. He was on the verge of laughing. Despite that blow to his composure, Espio managed to state, "Well, Blaze is quite a peculiar name…"

Heaving a sigh Silver slowed himself, tugging at his chest fur and crossing his legs, "We were best friends as kids, we spent every minute we could together. You know it yourself, I was never the best student; she'd help me with that and, to make up for it, I'd help her with her powers." Silver blinked, realising he'd poorly explained, "O-Oh, um… she's called Blaze because she can control fire."

"Yes well, such a name would be bizarre otherwise," The reptilian detective quickly concurred.

"Whenever she cried or got angry her flames would slip free, so naturally the other kids would pick on her as a game; trying to be the first to force them out. So I started getting in their way, fighting back wherever she wouldn't and scaring them off. With my power, I could help quell her flames. I'd sit with her whenever they overtook her," Silver told him, glum memories of a young kitten being harassed playing in his mind, "I'd wrap myself in cyan light and hug her, tell her it'd all be fine and stuff; try to play games with her. It took a while but, eventually, she got used to me hanging around and then, even later, started coming to me," For a moment the hedgehog's gloom faded, there was a warmth in his chest, "I can't remember all the details of course but, I guess we were best friends, we walked to school together and I'd refuse to be partnered with anyone else for group projects."

Some sadness returned as he concluded, "Her family moved town to get her into a better high school. That was ten years ago, we were twelve, I remember being so sad but I was just a kid so I bounced back. I guess she just slipped my mind eventually."

"It's bizarre to forget someone so close to you, although I suppose ten years is a lot of time," Espio thought aloud, "So, you met again and things went well?"

"Better than well, it was great. It was a little awkward at first, we struggled to make sure we both had the right person, but as soon as we were certain I couldn't help hugging her," Silver admitted, "We spent so long talking I almost got fired. It started with just how we were doing, talking about our jobs and families, but soon we were laughing about old times and telling stories and… well… I invited her around. Just to catch up and maybe have something to eat afterwards, I-I thought it'd be nice to not eat dinner alone, seeing as you work the late hours, but, in hindsight, it seems like I accidentally asked her on a date?"

Those last six words were accompanied by a voice crack, the likes of which Silver hadn't heard from himself since puberty, "I only realised when I woke up this morning, I immediately started tidying, using my power to clean up as much as I could, before rushing out to buy fish so I can cook a decent meal. The plants slipped my mind until the last minute, I let myself get distracted trying to make everything else perfect for this kind of... sort of… date."

There was a brief pause, the patient chameleon likely carefully selecting his next words, "I don't think it sounds like a date at all, simply two long lost companions reuniting. There's nothing inherently romantic about that…" Truth be told, Silver didn't think Espio the best of informants when it came to romance. His boss Vector? Great, that crocodile watched romantic movies all the time and would wax poetic about his dates with a widowed rabbit he was so very clearly in love with, but the dark lizard always rolled his eyes at the green's antics.

"Th-That's what I thought at the time too! But looking back I think she was blushing when she said yes and it would explain why my boss was so mad at me and…" He managed to stop himself pulling at his fur, eyes shut tight. Seriousness flowed through him, "Regardless of what tonight is, I want to do it right and that means fixing this mess. I told her I've started selling plants on the side, she'll want to see them and it's not like I can hide all these."

Silver gestured to his sizable collection of purple plants, around ten fully grown flowers and bushes with a further thirty sprouts collected over five trays (their names on small signposts staked into the soil). He was down to the last five, outside the aforementioned pair was a small pot filled with lavender, a tall taiga clematis and his favourite yet, equally, the most embarrassing of his plants. Written on its pot in dark purple paint was the name 'Blaze,' yes, without realising he'd named a plant directly after her. Unlike than a cat, this Blaze the plant was a collection of purple calla lilies; their leaves like ripples and their petals large pitchers. Nestled in the centre of its purple petals was the plant's stigma, the site where the pollen was held, coloured a dark red… not unlike the jewel on the cat Blaze's forehead.

Catching himself slacking, staring at the latter plant, he quickly returned his attention to the matter at hand. Wolf's bane or foxglove, which one was Melisa? He couldn't exactly rename them once she'd seen them. If he did and she noticed that'd be impossible to explain; then she might put two and two together about the poorly named plant that looked quite like her. Silver's hands returned to his quills, he unleashed a groan.

"I still can't pick, what do you think Espio?" He glanced back to the chameleon, only to find him deep in thought.

"I don't think I'd name either of them Melisa…" The reptile crouched down, getting closer to eye level with the plants, before deadpanning, "Why don't you name the foxglove Foxy and the wolf's bane Wolfe."

Silver blinked, contemplating those names for less than a moment, "They're good Espio but they're not the most creative names, right? What's the point in naming them at all if I just name them after the type of plant they are?"

"There is no point in naming them to begin with, they're plants." He curtly responded, quickly returning to his feet in an effort to move away. "I need to get to work, you can take my advice or leave it."

He wasn't wrong, but Silver had neither the time nor the pots to undo the naming of his entire garden. The hedgehog named them because, well, he felt it was rude not to; they deserved names just as pets would. It made watering them more interesting, gave them more of a personality. If only the purple plants were unnamed her suspicion would surely be roused.

Before the detective could leave, Silver unleashed one final plea; "Please Espio, I-

The chameleon vanished before his eyes, flickering out to blend in with his environment. A voice sounded somewhere in front of him, "If you're so worried, just name them the first thing that comes to mind."

"She'll see through that, I'm sure of it; if she's anything like I remember she'll know that I'm lying. It needs to be genuine, even then it might not work!" There was no response, Silver got to his feet, "Come on, I swear we can knock this out in just-

His words were interrupted by the sound of pots breaking, followed by a thud; a purple chameleon manifested on the ground. Espio didn't often use his invisibility but on the rare occasions he did; he often focused too much on staying invisible and assuming his surroundings wouldn't impact him because they couldn't see him. Thus, he'd stumbled over the pots Silver had set aside; both the ones with fire-based names written on them and his remaining unmarked pots.

For a moment he just lay there, clearly unsure what had happened, before a look of embarrassment and regret crept over his face, "I'm sorry Silver, I'll pay you back for them."

"Don't worry about it, most of them were unusable anyway," With a wave of Silver's hand, Espio was brought back to his feet; the clutter surrounding him bundled into a psychic orb, "I'll mix the chips in with the soil, it's good for drainage."

"If you're sure," The chameleon cringed, dusting himself off. He threw another glance to the plants before heaving a sigh, "I suppose, if I had to pick, the smaller one looks more like a Melisa; the Wolf's Bane, I think it is?"

Silver gave the plants another glance, juggling the two in his head, "I think you're right, thank you Espio."

"Best of luck with your not-date," Did he have to call it that? "Do try not to hurt yourself."

"I'll do my best," Silver conceded, feeling a heat on his cheeks, "Tell Vector I said hi."

Retaining his visibility, the chameleon turned and made his way back around the front of the house; leaving Silver with a mess to clear and three more decisions to make. He made his way around the back, bringing the terracotta chunks with him. Setting them in a tray within the greenhouse, he went to collect some replacement pots. It was easy enough to find replacement pots for four of the plants (the lavender and wolf's bane only needing small pots while the foxglove and taiga clematis required medium ones) but, search as he might, he couldn't find a pot large enough for Blaze. Searching ate up time, as if his talk with Espio hadn't already, so when he next checked his phone there were only twenty minutes till her arrival.

That collection of lilies was the largest of his plants, could he hide it even if he wanted to? His hands met with his quills as he thought for a moment; a closet maybe but that would surely make a mess. The only place he could really think was the roof, and even then he wasn't certain it'd balance correctly. Unwilling to waste any more time however, he quickly returned to the side of the house; setting the pots down before sitting himself.

Psychokinesis was great for gardening; it meant he rarely had to dirty his hands. With the flick of his wrist, Silver removed the wolf's bane from its pot (soil and all) and replanted it; paintbrush dipping in deep purple paint before writing out the name 'Melisa.' Hovering it aside he moved onto the foxglove, he'd been so focused on selecting the prior he hadn't thought of any more names. Tugging his chest fur, he eventually came to a conclusion; Mable, that name seemed to fit. Due to its height, the foxglove required a more delicate replanting but even this was well within his abilities. The lavender was dubbed Lola and, after some debate, he settled on Minnie for the taiga clematis. That left the big one, the one he didn't even have a pot for; Blaze.

It was only now, staring at her name on the pot, he noticed a difference in how he'd written it. His writing had never been neat, looking at the likes of 'Ember' and 'Flambe' they were written in block capitals, but Blaze was written in an undeniably stylised way. It was written in cursive, he hardly remembered writing her name; let alone like this! Embarrassment swelled again, his hand reached for his chest fur only for his shirt to get in the way. Debating what else to do, Silver picked up the empty pots and put them with the others in the greenhouse; stacking them so as to obscure their names. After dealing with this Blaze it'd be simple, the salmon he'd bought wouldn't take twenty minutes to prepare. Besides, he wasn't sure if they were going to eat first or just talk or-

Just before he could round his way back around the side of the house, the hedgehog heard a voice call out to him. "Silver, are you home?"

He froze, she'd arrived early; only around ten minutes early but early none the less! Silver quickly rounded the corner, hoping to quickly hide the plant, only to come face to face with her; "B-Blaze, hi!" His stutter was quickly swallowed, "I'm glad you found your way."

The two Blazes were no more than two metres apart, she was stood right next to Melisa. He had no idea how long she'd been here, she could have just rounded the corner searching for him or been there the whole time; waiting for him to return. Had she seen the names? Was there any chance she hadn't seen her name?

Silver was so lost in his thoughts that her words caused him to flinch, "I hope I'm not too early? I was certain your house was further away but it seems we're practically neighbours."

"No, you're right on time. I was just doing some work," He quickly replied.

Finally taking her in, he couldn't help feeling dramatically underdressed. While he was still in his gardening garb, some old jeans and an ancient t-shirt, she had dressed as though this was a date. The feline was wearing a purple sundress and high cut jacket, the former having an almost speckled pattern. Her hair was down, both as a child and adult Silver had never seen that; even when she slept it was hoisted up in some sort of ponytail. It'd been curled towards its ends, her hair's purple tips reaching no further than her shoulders.

"My housemate insisted I dress for the occasion. Go all out, is how I believe she worded it? I managed to talk her down from that but this still feels like a bit much," Blaze hastily explained, "Her name's Amy and she is far more… romantically inclined than I am. Once I'd explained the situation she wouldn't stop talking about how romantic it all was, she insisted that this was a date."

"W-Well, you look great," Those words had just tumbled from his lips rather quickly, he heard his voice squeak and cringed internally, he was close to pulling his quills out. Embarrassment was flaring beyond his control, he tried to change the subject; "I-I don't blame her, I only realised how I worded the offer this morning, I panicked quite a bit myself. I might've gone a little overboard, I wanted everything to look neat so I started replanting."

"I couldn't help noticing the pots," For a moment his blood ran cold, panic almost fully set in. 'Blaze' was the furthest away of all his plants but, equally, it was the biggest, "Do you name all of your plants?"

"Oh, y-yeah." Silver's mind was outpacing his body. Worry catalysed thought he was certain she'd noticed, "I just think it gives them a little more personality? I know it's silly but…"

He didn't have the strength to explain but, fortunately, she didn't force him to; "That's… rather cute, I'd never considered doing that."

Well, if he wasn't blushing before he surely was now. He'd done this to himself though; he couldn't blame her, "Th-Thank you, I don't get to show them off very often."

It was only now, having almost recovered from the surprise, Silver noticed the feline was keeping one hand behind her back. But, before he could question it, she asked a much harder hitting queery; "Do you name them all after people?"

The world seemed to freeze yet speed up all at once, panic set in. Without a moment of hesitation, he reached down and swiped up the plant; presenting it to her, "I just… I," His head lowered, "I don't really know how to explain this."

The brief silence between them felt like an era to Silver.

"Is it named after me because it's for me?" With that simple question, she stole the burden off his shoulders. To be honest, he wasn't certain he could keep a plant that not only bore a striking likeness to his once best friend but also bore her name.

Unfortunately, before he could come to that conclusion, a stupid response escaped his lips, "I-I guess?" Swallowing his stutter again, Silver managed to speak properly, "Seeing as it's a gift I figured I should just write your name on it. N-Now that I look at it though, there is more than a little resemblance."

He'd never been a good liar, not that it mattered whether she remembered that; his heart was on his sleeve at almost all times. The hedgehog was practically shaking, arms outstretched and holding the pot and hoping his explanation would suffice.

After what felt like an aeon, she responded; "Well, I've got something for you too," The hedgehog managed to open his eyes and peer through the plant between them; she'd pulled out a small, purple, paper bag, "I… I know they're not perfectly made, but I hope you'll enjoy them."

They fumbled for a moment, struggling to exchange gifts simultaneously, fingers briefly brushing and thus further heightening embarrassment. Despite its size, the bag was rather heavy; its top sealed shut to prevent him from seeing whatever was inside.

"Can I…?" He gestured to open the bag.

She gently nodded, though Silver couldn't help noticing her eyes were fixed on the plant rather than him. Peeling off the tape, the scent of smoke immediately met the hedgehog's nostrils; the likes of which would cause others to recoil in tears. For Silver, however, that smell triggered a burst of nostalgia. As he recalled, it wasn't that Blaze liked cooking so much as what it symbolised. Cooking was a way to use her flames peacefully, a way to create something good with fire. Not long into their friendship, she'd taken up baking, insisting that no one helped her in the endeavour because she could handle it all by herself.

"As you can see, I've not improved much," She admitted, clearly embarrassed by her efforts, "No one else would dare try them, let alone request them, so I didn't have much reason to improve."

They looked closer to flat, black, rocks than the cookies they were surely meant to be; in an attempt to rectify this she'd thoroughly iced their tops, there was a layer of white and (atop that) the shape of his symbol crudely replicated. He picked one out, the charcoal smell was even stronger at close proximity but the hedgehog didn't hesitate. He took a hearty bite and, immediately, heard a sound like rocks grating on metal followed by an ear-splitting crunch. The icing was nice, even if its only real flavour was that of sugar, but the biscuit tasted as it sounded; just as he imagined a lump of coal would. As he swallowed it didn't get any better, the aftertaste was mildly acidic, but he managed to get it all down.

A grin reached the corners of his mouth, not forced so much as the result of bashfulness. "They taste even better I remember, th-thank you, Blaze."

"You're still so naïve." She'd gone from not meeting his eyes to, very obviously, staring into the plant's soil. "You've… got some in your teeth."

Unable to check, he tried his best to remove whatever blackness or crumbs lingered with his tongue, but just as her gaze fully left him; Silver couldn't help looking away. His hand found its way to his quills, it was like when they'd first reunited at the café; awkward and embarrassing. It'd all been so simple when they were kids, he'd stroll up and hug her or call out her name with reckless abandon; begging her to play with him. She'd grown up just as he had; it was plain to see. Without adulthood he wouldn't have been working in that café, she wouldn't have got that house share.

"Oh, uhm, the flowers are calla lilies. They're quite easy to keep; as long as their soil isn't too dry and they get enough sunlight they should be fine. If their soil is nutritious they shouldn't need food either, so if you ever need them repotted you can just drop by and I'll give you some," He quickly caught himself, "Th-That is if you want to come by again after however today ends up going?"

"I'm sure I will Silver," Her next words refroze his blood, almost sending him reeling, "It'll take more than a lily named after me to scare me away."

"Wh-What I…" Their eyes finally realigned, albeit obscured by the lilies. Silver knew she'd be able to read him, he was still an awful liar, "I swear I didn't remember you when I did, it just kind of… fit, you know? I guess I saw the colours and, on some subconscious level, they just reminded me of you?" He briefly bit his tongue, eyes shutting tight,"I'm sorry, that's pretty weird, isn't it?"

"It is," She agreed, her tone was just as blunt as he remembered, "But, I can see the resemblance and, to be honest, I've done… similar things."

"O-Oh?" The sweat on his brow was growing thicker with every passing moment; it'd wasn't like this in the café! It'd been so easy! His own mind was his greatest enemy; reminding him this was (kind of) a date.

"Well, safe to say I'm glad we're meeting at your house rather than mine. Amy and I had it repainted before we moved in and my colour selection included rather more cyan than I first thought. That and, well, my family's pet chao is …" Her seriousness was holding, despite the reddening of her ears, "Well, not only is it named after you but the two of you rather share a likeness."

The feline fumbled a little, setting down the lily before drawing out her phone. She showed him her lock-screen, featuring a picture of the aforementioned chao. The resemblance was undeniable. Not only was the little creature a grey-white colouration but his head was topped with five spikes that matched Silver's own quills. Its eyes were his same shade of yellow and its wings were not dissimilar to the spines on the back of his head. As if this wasn't embarrassing enough, the blob that usually topped a chao's head had warped into a heart. That state was brought on by a nearby chao-fruit but it was present none the less.

"H-He's… um…" On one hand, Silver was relieved; her doing this meant his naming of plants wasn't as strange. On the other, coming face to face with an adorable doppelganger was rather surprising. He didn't know whether calling it cute was narcissistic but he knew he had to say something, "I can certainly see some resemblance."

Again, awkwardness lingered in the air. He couldn't imagine any other pair had experienced this bizarre phenomenon. For one of them to have accidentally taken inspiration from the other was weird, for both of them to have done it seemed downright impossible.

This time, she was the one to break the quiet, "I-I only got him two years ago. He was a gift for moving out and, with time, he just kind of matured to look like…" She quickly shut her phone away, "Regardless, yes, don't worry about the plant. I'm in a similar situation."

"Well, you can have the lily anyway. Now that we've reunited I guess we won't have to make these accidental replacements?" He quickly realised how poorly he'd worded that, almost tripping over himself; "N-Not that I want your Silver in exchange! O-Or for you to get rid of him! I-I just mean, I-I've decided I do want you to have this Blaze. Because I just feel like it'd be weird a-and now that you're here and I'm here we-

Her laughter halted his stuttering, that sound brought back so many memories. She'd never been quick to laughter, even as a child. He tried so many silly things to make her crack a smile but, more often than not, it was mistakes like that which tugged them free. That wonderful sound she'd always tried to hide, punctuated by snort-like purring she'd so often insisted she hated. He'd always loved it, hearing it again was like music to his ears. It felt like he was melting slightly, his body relaxed but he felt more heat rush to his face and ears.

Suppressing her laughter, turning away and balling her fist in front of her mouth, Blaze managed a few words, "Don't worry, I understand. This is all a little strange."

"Y-Yeah, it is," He said still struggling for words, thoroughly captivated, "Maybe we should just pick things up where we left off?"

The last of her chuckles smothered, she responded clearly; "We were ten Silver, I'm not sure how possible that is." Her stern tone lingered in laughter's wake but, even a decade later, Silver could identify her subtle excitement. "But, I agree with your sentiment. Let's just be ourselves and see where that takes us, we've got a lot of catching up to do and," She was still smiling through her blush, "Even if we didn't notice, I think it's clear we missed each other."

Blaze the plant was left outside while their cat counterpart followed the hedgehog into the house, undoubtedly unsure but excited to see where their rekindled relationship would lead.