A/N: We were not only inspired by the song, like we usually are, but also we were determined to write a romantic Tails/Cosmo story for TailsLovesCosmo. Sword?

Sword: *licks Pen's hand to get him off* The author only owns Gauge. All other characters belong to Sega!

And the song that inspired this belongs to Owl City.

Fireflies That Dance With Us

"Calm down, will you?"

Tails studied his appearance in the mirror. Twisting his hips around, he checked for the slightest hint of oil or dirt on his body before fingering his strands falling in front of his eyes. He tried blowing them out of the way, pushing them back, and using saliva to flatten them, but they simply sprung back up into place. He sighed and ignored the irritated sigh from the other person in the room.

"You're going to be late," his friend informed him. Laying on the couch, a yellow striped hedgehog counted the bumps on the ceiling while occasionally switching his crossed legs.

"What do you think?" Tails asked, standing in front of Gauge. He stretched out his hands expectantly, showing off every part of himself in case the hedgehog could see a spot he missed.

Gauge let his eyes roam over the fox's orange fur. He, of course, thought it was quite silly to worry about something trivial like this. Especially since the fox had already showered twice, and checked himself in the mirror for the past twenty minutes, and had already asked Gauge this question several times.

"Well you have a spot of dirt right there," Gauge lied, pointing to one of Tails' namesakes.

Immediately, the harried fox rushed back to the mirror, inspecting every inch of himself. "Where? Where?!" his shrill, panicked voice cried.

Gauge chuckled from behind his hand. "I was just messing with you. Calm down," he repeated.

"I can't calm down," Tails replied, not taking his eyes off himself in the mirror. He reached for some cologne on a nearby dresser and sprayed it all over his body. Smelling his armpit, he made a repulsed face at the repugnant smell of lingering oil and gave it an extra spray. "I've never been on a date before."

"Neither have I, but I would say just act casual." Gauge lifted his head above the couch to watch him. "After all, you and Cosmo have been friends for a while now. So it's not like it's a blind date."

"But that makes it even worse." Tails pressed the pesky hairs down again in annoyance. "This is big. And I really want it to go well," he explained. "I really like her."

Gauge propped his head up onto the couch. "Well I'm not Sonic, but I could help you if you want. Act as a sort of wing man."

"No!" Tails shouted, nearly making Gauge jump in surprise. Shaking his head vigorously and waving his arms in defiance, Tails apologized. "Sorry, but no. Sonic tried that once before." He paused and stared off into the empty space of the room, as if catching sight of an elaborate cobweb that one must admire before rushing to get a broom to brush it away. "It didn't end well."

"I don't know Sonic," Tails said. His shaky knees agreed with him, threatening to knock together so long and hard that they would shatter. "She looks busy."

"Nonsense bro," the heroic speedster beside him replied. Thumbing his peach furred chest, Sonic smiled to him in reassurance. "I'll be your wing man and distract Amy. Then you can go up and ask her."

Up ahead of them were Cosmo and Amy, both walking down the sidewalk while the pink hedgehog window shopped. Cosmo did not bother herself with the "stunning dresses" or "cute earrings" that the other girl was obsessing over. Instead, true to her nature, Cosmo was more fascinated with how lovely a day it was, commenting on the bright sun and cloudless day, which fell on deaf ears to the shopaholic.

"Just wait until I've got Amy away from her," Sonic told Tails, slapping his back and dashing forward to the pair of girls. Waving at the pair of them, Sonic quickly passed them by, leaving the girls behind in his dust. But as soon as Amy had caught sight of her blue hero, then honed instincts had taken over her feminine shopping whims. Because as everyone knows, no power is stronger than love.

"Soooooonic!" Amy cried, forgetting about her plant friend Cosmo and giving chase after Sonic in yet another fruitless attempt to catch him. This left Cosmo alone, allowing Tails the perfect opportunity to approach her. He took it, quietly and nervously sidling next to Cosmo, hoping he could think of an opening line before she noticed him.

Unfortunately, luck was not on his side. Cosmo addressed his presence with a greeting of "Hello Tails."

Tails, not one to be rude or impolite, nodded to her. "Hello Cosmo," he replied, somehow forcing his mouth to actually work.

"Lovely day, is it not?" Cosmo asked.

Tails once again nodded in response. "Yeah." He kicked his shoes at the ground and mumbled, "Lovely."

"Is something wrong Tails?" Cosmo inquired, leaning forward to get a good look at the fox's face. "You seem troubled."

"No!" Tails quickly responded, scaring Cosmo into jumping back a few feet. "Er, sorry. No. Or well, yes. Kind of." Tails kept babbling to himself, stumbling over his words while Cosmo looked on with curiosity and amusement. She giggled as Tails' blush crept over his entire face, turning him into a spitting image of Knuckles, if he were a fox.

"It's all right Tails. You can tell me if something is wrong," the girl said, moving closer to him.

Tails was quite sure he would die of asphyxiation from the lack of oxygen he was getting. His nose and mouth were not working properly as they ceased all functions to hold Cosmo's intoxicating scent. A mix of fresh grass with dew and lilies, along with hints of other flowers Tails could not describe. A very natural smell that the fox thought was heavenly.

His mind finally took control back over his body and he turned away, gasping for new air. After settling down, or at least as settled down as he was going to get, Tails faced Cosmo once again and opened his mouth to speak. "Well, I was wondering..." he trailed off, trying to put his words together carefully.

"Yes?" Cosmo pushed, encouraging him to continue.

"I was wondering," he repeated, fiddling with his fingers and pushing the two indexes together, "if you would want to-" But he could never finish the sentence. At that moment, Sonic zipped between the two, leaving a vacuum of space that was quickly filled with a blast of air. And seconds later, Amy bowled them over. All three of them rolled around on the ground and finally came to a stop.

"Sonic!" Amy yelled in frustration, hoping her cry would bring him back. To her disappointment, it did not.

It did however bring Tails out of his dizzy stupor from the crash to realize what a mess the whole thing had turned into. Seeing that Cosmo and Amy were unhurt and had already helped each other up, Tails dashed away, following the blue hedgehog. Behind, he left a very confused Cosmo and a seething Amy.

"Did not end well at all," Tails reiterated, shivering at the memory of an angry Amy. Shaking the thoughts away, he turned to Gauge. "Just stay here and watch my house. Sonic could be back from his adventure anytime now and need a place to rest."

"Roger that," Gauge mock saluted. "If he comes by, I'll let him in."

"And if Amy comes by?"

"Tell her Sonic isn't here," Gauge answered. "If Knuckles comes by, help him find the pieces of the Master Emerald he'll have obviously lost. If Shadow comes by, hide. Seriously, that guy scares me. And if Rouge comes by, shoot on si-"

"Gauge," Tails warned.

"Er, I mean, tell her you have no Chaos Emeralds and that you have defenses set up," Gauge corrected himself. "But what if Sonic comes by with Amy in tow and Knuckles chasing him for a Chaos Emerald along with Rouge?"

Tails ignored the silly question and straightened out his fur one last time before heading for the door. "Wish me luck," he waved.

"Good luck. And don't worry about your house. It'll be fine." Gauge waved back and waited until Tails closed the door before running up to it and peeking out. Tails stood on the porch for a few seconds, watching the night sky and then descended the stairs and took off for the shining city of Station Square in the distance.

Gauge grinned and activated the alarm system's controls that were placed next to the door. "Thirty seconds to intruder defense activation," a female synthetic voice said.

Quickly making a round to secure all the doors and windows so they were locked tight, Gauge ran outside the front door. All the while the voice slowly counted down. "Three," it said as Gauge leapt from the porch. "Two." The hedgehog was now several feet from the house. "One. Systems online."

He turned around and watched the house, expecting the defense machines to show themselves. However, not a thing moved or changed about the house's exterior.

"Odd," Gauge scratched his ear. "Shouldn't Tails have some turrets or something?" He stepped closer to the house, but suddenly jumped back with a red blast exploded in front of him. "Wah!" Gauge cried, dodging another one as it came from somewhere he could not see.

Running for his life, Gauge outmaneuvered the defense system and was soon in the clear. Taking a moment to recuperate, he leaned against a tree and glanced up, seeing the bright lights of the city off in the distance, beckoning for all visitors to come to her. "Alright," he panted, standing back up. "Time to help Tails. Whether he wants it or not."

The little fox glanced anxiously at the large clock on a post, situated right next to the movie theater he stood in front of and raised high for all to see. He groaned worriedly and searched around the street and sidewalks again, seeing only a mass of people twice his size walking about. "Where is she?" he asked himself.

Several minutes of continued waiting rewarded him. Emerging from the crowd like a budding flower does from the earth, the girl he had been anticipating slipped through the throng of people and walked to him. Her smile planted on her face, she straightened out the edges of her dress. "Hello Tails," she greeted him.

"Hi Cosmo," Tails replied, a blush already settling on his face at just being in any close proximity of the green plant girl. "Are you ready to go in?" He indicated the doors to the theater, which may as well have stayed open with how many people went in and out of them.

The girl nodded politely in response. Tails offered her his arm, which she happily took hold of, and they strode to the doors. Tails, ever the gentleman, held it open for her while a few onlooking girls cooed at the sight. "Aw, that's so sweet," one said. Tails blushed harder and hurriedly followed his date.

Jogging around the corner, Gauge came skidding to a halt in front of the theater. He bent over, holding his knees and gasping for air for his deflated lungs. "Why," he rasped with each word, "couldn't he have chosen a restaurant near his house?"

Glancing up at the box office, Gauge beheld the vast amount of people waiting in line for a ticket. Seeing no sign of Tails or Cosmo, he guessed that they had already bought their tickets beforehand. "Probably online," he mused in thought. "Maybe I should do that next time. Skip the kiosk and order them from Fanbango."

The hedgehog checked the titles of the movies and saw that there was only one movie starting at that moment. "Ergo," Gauge said to himself as he walked over to the doors to wait, "they shouldn't be out for about two hours." He settled himself on the corner near the doors, but out of sight behind a trashcan. "I'll just wait."

Gauge's ears perked up when he heard the melodious voice of Cosmo. "That was a wonderful movie. Did you like it?" she asked.

The familiar scratchy voice of her date replied, "Yeah. I thought it was good." Gauge peeked out from around his hiding place to see Cosmo holding onto Tails' arm, her head resting on his shoulder, while Tails was looking both flustered, yet extremely pleased with himself.

"Tails, you smooth operator," Gauge chuckled. He waited until they began strolling down the street before following them. Gauge made sure to keep at least several feet behind them and hid when he felt they were on to him. This proved to be harder than he initially thought since the night life was beginning to take ahold of the city, as were the crowds that slowly filled the street in a steady stream.

The couple ahead held each other tighter, maneuvering around the pedestrians. After several minutes of walking, Tails looked down at Cosmo and asked where she would like to go. "How about the park?" she suggested. "It's beautiful at night."

"Of course," Tails replied, turning on a corner and heading for the city's park.

"Of course," Gauge rolled his eyes in amusement.

She had been right. The large, spacious park of the city was very beautiful at night. It held an oneric feel to it. The darkness pervaded it, plunging it into it's inky black depths, while holding a sort of dreamlike surrealness with glowing lamp posts peeking out from behind trees like fireflies. It may have been small compared to wildernesses or forests, but for the city's inhabitants, it was just right.

Cosmo sighed softly, taking in the natural beauty, while Tails took in hers. Both were at peace as they walked through the park, not aware that a figure was darting from tree to tree above them.

"Let's see," Gauge muttered, hefting himself on top of a branch and leaping for the next. "What can I do?"

"Those lights look like fireflies," Cosmo commented to Tails. She pointed, directing Gauge's and her date's eyes at the lamp posts' lights.

"That's it!" Gauge exclaimed a little too loudly. Holding himself steady on the branch above them, he began to conjure up some balls of electricity.

Below him, Tails spun widely about, sure that he had heard a voice. But he could not see anyone beyond the glow of the lamps. "Who was that?" he asked both Cosmo and the darkness. Taking flight, Tails lifted up off the ground to see if he could get a better look around them. Gauge moved further into the branch and out of sight while continuing to make his little electrical orbs.

Meanwhile, Cosmo was trying to call him back down, telling him there was no cause for alarm. "It was probably just your imaginat...ion...," she trailed off, suddenly becoming aware of her surroundings. In the past few minutes, the light around them had grown exponentially. When Cosmo saw the cause of it, she quickly called for Tails to come back down quickly.

"What is it?" he asked.

"You would not believe youreyes even if you saw it!" she replied. "Just come back down!"

Tails reluctantly returned to earth and was pointed in the direction of the sudden cause of the light. He stared, gaping at the sight of a swarm of flashing balls of light hovering in the air around them. "Are those-?"

"They must be fireflies," Cosmo answered. The little bugs were everywhere, lighting up every crevice and dark area around them. "There must be ten million fireflies here!"

Up above them, Gauge watched the pair as they marveled at his creations. Using power from the nearby lamps, he had formed small balls of electricity that gave the appearance of lightning bugs. "This should set the mood," he smiled.

He audibly gasped and winced when Tails began jumping to try and catch one of them. Moving the ball further up, he sighed in relief until he saw one of the balls land on Cosmo's hand. Afraid she would yelp in pain from a potential shock, Gauge once again tried to move it. But this one would not follow his commands. "Huh?" he wondered. "Why isn't it moving?"

Cosmo held the light out to Tails, touching his hand and allowing it to fly from her hand to his. Both of them blushed at the contact while the firefly settled itself in the palm of Tails' glove.

"Huh," Gauge said, sitting back in the tree and looking around. "I guess my light show attracted some real fireflies. Even better."

The dancing swarm of fireflies that were filling the night air descended upon the couple. Many landed on both of them, covering their bodies in blinking lights. Tails sneezed softly. "They're tickling my nose," he exclaimed. The tingling sensation spread to the rest of his body as well, as if he was receiving ten thousand hugs from ten thousand individuallightning bugs.

Cosmo laughed in a soft, almost delicate, manner, but stopped when she felt herself being pulled forward. Tails too experienced the same sensation. They both were confused as to what it was. "Could it be the fireflies?" their faces asked. But it did not matter. Whatever force was guiding them, it brought them together. Chest to chest, nose to nose, cheek to cheek.

Yet that was not the end of it. The fireflies showed that they were still hard at work as the same force lifted Tails lit up hand to place it on Cosmo's hip, much to the modest fox's apprehension to do anything like that too quickly. But his hand was kept firmly there while his other was raised into the air, awaiting a partner to join it. And soon a companion did indeed rest in his hand. Cosmo's delicate hand to be precise. Tails could have easily swatted away the bugs, but his body and mind would not. Instead they wanted to let the experience continue if it meant staying this close to Cosmo.

Tails swallowed, perhaps a bit too forcefully as he was sure that he was swallowing his tongue. Both of them were once again pulled, but were kept close together. The force of the fireflies moved them around in a circle, picking up their lead-weighted feet and making them move gracefully in step with each other.

"Are we-?" Tails posed the question, but Cosmo already knew what he was going to ask.

"I think so," she nodded. "We're dancing."

Swirling around, and off the paved path, the fireflies led them among the trees. Slow enough though so that the voyeuristic hedgehog could follow along, jumping and swinging clumsily from the outstretched branches. The couple was subjected to every kind of dance possible, from a simple two-step spin to having their cheeks pressed together in a tango. It was quite the experience for both of them.

Eventually the fireflies led their hostages into a wide expanse of grass. A secret field, hidden by the trees, but lit up by the moon. It became their own ballroom floor as the couple was slowed down into a special, moonlit dance. They were both swayed softly by their captors to a silent melody only the lightning bugs could hear.

"This is," Cosmo paused, searching for the appropriate word, "nice." She looked up into Tails' eyes to see he agreed.

"Yeah, it is," he smiled. They both kept their eyes on each other after that, choosing to admire the beauty of the other's eyes.

As silently and discreetly as they had appeared, the fireflies freed the bodies of the couple and flew back into the night sky, continuing their light show and mating ritual. Down below, the two continued to move by themselves, not wanting the dance to end.

But, like all good things, it did end and they did come to a standstill. Both smiled shyly, the blush on their cheeks evident by the shine of the moon. And try as they might, they could not refrain from looking at each other.

Neither was ever sure who moved first. Even Gauge could not recall afterwards. All they knew was that, possibly at the same time, they leaned in towards one another. Cosmo stopped part of the way, closing her eyes in anticipation. Tails, faltering only for a moment, pushed forward with all his determination.

However, it may have been too much. Tails lost his balance from leaning too far forward and crashed into Cosmo, knocking her over. Yet there was no shriek, which caused Tails to wonder why. He also wondered exactly what it was he felt on his lips that was so smooth and wonderful when he had expected to taste the grass.

Snapping his eyes open, Tails saw the amused, but gentle eyes of his date, who stared deep into his eyes. As for the fox's questions, they were explained with one simple answer. His lips had made contact with Cosmo's, resulting in one of the best experiences either could ever remember.

Cosmo closed her eyes and deepened the kiss. Tails followed suit so he could focus on the feeling and commit it to memory. He never wanted to forget a single moment of this.

Soon enough, their lungs gasped for air, breaking the magical contact so they could breath. Neither spoke for several minutes. They just laid there, Tails on top of Cosmo, and caught their breath. Once their hearts had slowed down to a steady beat, Cosmo spoke. "That was..."

"Yeah," Tails agreed. Neither could find the word for it, but each knew what the other had felt. Because they had felt it as well. The fox rolled off of her to lay in the soft hold of the grass and gazed at the stars with his date. And, ever so slyly, he inched his hand toward her's, slowly curling his fingers around it and giving it a slight squeeze. She returned it and they smiled contentedly while pointing out various shapes in the stars to one another.

Up in the trees, Gauge smirked and wiped a stray tear from his eye. "I just love happy endings," he sniffed. He glanced around and saw a small group of fireflies float past in a dizzying dance. He waved to them as they passed him by. "Thanks for the help guys."

The town's clock chimed its midnight toll, telling Tails and Cosmo that they had been there for a few hours. However, sleep had overtaken the couple as they had tried, and failed, to resist dosing off while relaxing in the field. On the fifth or sixth bell, Tails awoke with a start and glanced around wildely. His first thoughts consisted of where he was. Then he noticed Cosmo's head on top of his fluffy chest and blushed.

"Oh yeah," he muttered, recalling the events of the night. He pulled out a small pocketwatch and checked the time while rubbing the sleep away from his eyes. Seeing it was a little past midnight, he carefully nudged Cosmo awake. He almost felt guilty for doing so. She seemed so peaceful, and dare he say beautiful, while she was snoozing and he had to fight the urge to just hold her and go back to dreamland.

Cosmo's eyes fluttered open. Pushing herself up onto her arms, she surveyed her surroundings before focusing on Tails. "What time is it?" she yawned.

"Past midnight. We'd better get home." He stood up and offered her his hand, which she took while nodding in agreement.

Gauge watched silently as they walked away from the field and back to the park's path. Sighing happily, he stood up and just stared at them until they completely disappeared from his view. "Ah, what a lovely couple," he commented. A few seconds passed before a sudden realization hit him hard enough to make him fall from the tree.

Hitting almost every branch on the way down, and landing on the roots headfirst, Gauge yelped in pain when he hit the ground. "Stupid tree," he groaned. He shook his head and quickly jumped up. The hedgehog shook a vengeful fist at the old oak. "I don't have time to deal with you, you pile of firewood," he exclaimed. "I gotta get back to Tails' house! He'll kill me if he found out I left!" And with that, he hurried off in the general direction of the house that had been left in his charge.

It was at least an hour later before Tails arrived back at his house. He had bade Cosmo a good night at her house. Much to his disappointment, there had been no repeat kiss, but she had embraced him in a loving manner to let the fox know she had enjoyed their time together. And that was enough to make the boy feel elated.

Tails reached into his glove and pulled out a small remote. He pressed one of the buttons, shutting down the defense system for his house so that he could walk safely up the stairs, through the door, and drag his tired feet up to bed for a long night's rest.

"Gauge?" he called out once he was inside.

"Right here," Gauge immediately replied from the couch. He lifted his head, but kept the rest of his body hidden behind the furniture. He did not want to have to explain the various burns and cuts on his body from when he got back to the house and had forgotten about the defenses. After getting shot and shocked several times, he had drained all the power from the turrets and all the other traps before dashing inside. Shortly afterwards, he had given back the electrical energy to the system and collapsed on the sofa to recover.

"Thanks for watching the place," Tails said as he kicked off his shoes and headed upstairs.

"How did it go?"

Tails paused on one of the steps and his bright blue eyes held an amorous glaze to them. "Perfect," he replied. He nodded his head to affirm it. "Perfect," he repeated and continued his climb. "Absolutely perfect."

Gauge's body eased out on the couch as the huge weight was lifted from his shoulders of being found out. "That was close." He wiped his brow in mock relief and rolled over on his side, careful of the still stinging burn marks. Before he shut his eyes and drifted off to sleep, he could swear he saw a multitude of fireflies dart by the window.

A/N: Hope you all liked it. Comments?

Pen: Criticism?

Sword: Praise?

Then leave us a review.

Sword: Yeah! It's right down here!...Oops. I think I broke the review button.

Pen: Good. Now I will not be forced to read the trash these people write and respond in a polite manner.

When have you ever been polite?

Sword: Wait! I can fix it! I just need a hammer. *swings hammer around wildely*

Pen: Be careful with that thing you idiot!