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“Three!
Two!
One!
Happy new year!”
The entire village erupted in cheers. Amy and Sticks shared an embrace, and Knuckles tackle hugged Tails, pinning him to the ground. His hot dog costume was discarded now, and he was back to his normal attire. All through the village, everyone was jolly.
Amy noticed that one person in particular was absent. Sonic, the fastest thing alive, was nowhere to be seen. She glanced around, hoping to catch a glimpse of her secret crush at the stroke of midnight.
The two of them had been talking earlier and discussing their new year’s resolutions. Sonic had told Amy that he wanted to push his speed to new heights, and Amy had told him that she wanted to finally have one of her paintings shown off in the island-wide galleria of art. While their goals were not nearly the same, Amy knew that they’d both work together to achieve them. After all, they were a team.
What Amy didn’t tell Sonic was her other, secret resolution: to finally confess her feelings for him. She’d been trying to work up the courage to tell him all year, but she never had the chance. At one point, Tails’ translator robot almost told him for her! How she loathed that thing. Amy always tiptoed around the situation due to a mixture of embarrassment and not feeling it was the right moment. Not to mention that she wanted to avoid any drama.
Sonic and Amy talked about a great many things before midnight that day: gossiping about their friends, discussing current events in the village, theorizing about their favorite reality TV shows, dissing Eggman, the usual. There was always something for them to talk about. They got along fantastically. Amy always felt happier when talking to him, especially one-on-one. She couldn’t help but think back to all the times Sonic had saved her when she was in danger, or had her back when she needed backup. He’d saved her from Eggman’s robots many times now. His confidence and charm were overwhelming. He was her hero. Of course, she'd never tell anyone that.
But now, Sonic was nowhere to be seen. Amy blinked and glanced around. Earlier, Knuckles had passed by. Right after, Sonic noticed something off to his right and sped off, causing Amy to lose sight of him moments later. At the time, she just shrugged, thinking it was Sonic’s usual antics. But Sonic wasn’t the type to run away from a party. Where could he be?
The ball finally dropped. It was midnight. Amy had hoped to spend that moment with the blue hedgehog who she cared for so much. She decided to settle for her best friend Sticks instead. She may not be Sonic, but she still loved Sticks dearly.
Sonic appeared moments later. For some reason, Eggman was with him, gloating that he had finally beaten Sonic. Nobody had seen anything, though. They all assumed that it was Eggman’s usual antics and laughed it off. For once, Eggman was allowed to join the party and have a good time.
The pink hedgehog strutted back to Meh Burger and took a seat at their usual table. She was exhausted. The party was still in full swing in the center of the village, but she needed a few minutes away from everyone.
“Amy?”
The sound of a familiar voice caused her heart to jump to her throat. She would recognize that voice anywhere. It was Sonic’s.
Amy spun around in her seat to face the source. Sure enough, Sonic the Hedgehog was approaching her. His fur seemed to glow blue even at this time of night. Amy couldn’t help but be captivated. Her eyelids fell a little bit, and a small smile spread across her face.
“What are you doing here all by yourself?” Sonic asked. "You're missin' the whole party!"
Amy scratched the back of her head. “Oh, Sonic. I just needed a little break.”
Did he come to see me? thought Amy. He’s leaving a party to spend time with me?
Once he was close enough, Sonic plopped down into the spot next to her and crossed his legs. He leaned back against the table with his elbows and turned his head to Amy. There was a smug, charming grin etched across his face and his eyes seemed to sparkle when he looked at her. Amy was almost overwhelmed. Every single time their eyes met like that, she felt her heart flutter a little.
Oh no, she thought. I hope he can’t tell how I feel from my expression.
Suddenly acutely aware of how she looked, her face snapped back into a normal, completely platonic expression. That worried Amy, because that meant she was making a a non-platonic expression right before that. She broke her eye contact with Sonic and looked at the ground.
“Same here, actually,” the blue blur finally replied. “I just had a dance off with Eggman. I’m pooped.”
Amy shot him a look of confusion. “Uh, when did that happen?”
Sonic grinned proudly. “Oh, right. You guys couldn’t see it. Too fast for the naked eye, I guess. So Eggman built this weird contraption thingy that slows down time, but me being me, it just slowed me down to normal speed. Those last ten seconds for you before midnight was about an hour for me and Eggy. He really wanted to beat me at something before the end of the year, you see. We did all sorts of stuff, like checkers, ping-pong, and bingo. But he finally beat me at the dance off. Between you and me, it was only because I felt bad about beating him at everything. I let him win. You know, let him feel good about himself. Anyway, he turned off the device after that and we came back to normal. And… you don’t believe any of that do you?”
Amy raised one eyebrow, her hands on her hips. It was believable. She didn’t see it happen, but it could have. Stranger stuff had happened with them involved. Sonic had been known to exaggerate stories sometimes, though. Not sure what best to say, Amy simply shrugged.
She gazed at the hero sitting to her left. Everything about him was attractive. His confidence, his power, his demeanor, the way he talked, the way he walked, his boundless compassion, his status, his looks, his charm… Amy could list off his good traits all day.
Of course, she knew he had his fair share of bad traits as well. His overconfidence bordering on arrogance, his jealousy, his laid-back attitude, his recklessness, and his lack of brains when fooling around with Knuckles and Tails. Amy was seriously worried that Coconut Hurl would cause him or one of the others permanent brain damage.
At least for Sonic and Tails. Knuckles didn’t have much brains to damage in the first place.
Even Sonic’s bad traits made him attractive to her. After all, his imperfections made him loveable. They all came together to form one heroic, beautiful, and sexy package known as Sonic the Hedgehog. Her fated lover.
Whoa, fated? she thought. Where did that come from?
Amy realized that the two of them had been sitting in silence for some time now. The pink hedgehog was staring at Sonic, but Sonic looked straight ahead. His peaceful gaze was focused on the dark sky in the distance.
“I’d say this is pretty romantic, buuuuut we’re at Meh Burger,” Sonic suddenly said, smirking.
Amy’s heart practically stopped.
Romantic? Did he just…
Seeing Amy’s obvious reaction, Sonic laughed.
“Relax, Ames. That was a joke.”
Amy laughed nervously. “Right. A joke.”
No! No, you big blue dummy! I don’t want it to be a joke!
She decided that if Sonic wouldn’t make the first move, she would. No better time than the present to get started on those new year’s resolutions.
“Well, it is new years,” Amy replied half-jokingly. “If there’s any good time for that, it’s today, you know?”
Sonic picked up on the change in her tone of voice. He tore his gaze away from the sky and looked directly at Amy with an eyebrow raised just a little bit.
“What are you sayin’, Amy?” he asked.
She couldn’t do it. Maybe now wasn’t the time after all.
“Oh, heh, nothing,” she told him, looking at the ground. “Nothing at all.”
She glanced back at Sonic after she finished speaking. There was a hint of disappointment in his eyes. Just about anyone would have missed it, but Amy wasn’t just anyone. She knew Sonic better than he knew himself.
Does he feel the same way?
Sonic recovered quickly with a hearty chuckle. He looked back at the sky and put his gloved hands flat on the bench by his side. “If you say so.”
Amy’s keen eyes immediately noticed his exposed right hand.
Maybe I can salvage this after all.
Moving deliberately, Amy mimicked Sonic’s movement. She put her hands down on the bench and looked at the sky too. Conveniently, her left hand landed right on top of Sonic’s. Or, it would have been convenient if that wasn’t her exact intent.
Sonic instantly jumped and blushed a bright red. Amy blushed too. The pink hedgehog feigned surprise and yanked her hand away.
“Oh, uh, sorry Sonic,” she said.
Sonic’s face was still flushed red, and his mouth formed a perfect o-shape. His eyes were wide too.
His head turned to face Amy. The moment he laid eyes on her, he seemed to regain his composure.
“Heh, don't worry about it.”
Both of them stared into each other’s eyes for some time. Sonic’s deep green irises were captivating. The glow of the lights from the party behind her reflected off of his weirdly shiny eyeball. There was peaceful expression etched across his face, and Amy couldn’t help but wonder what kind of expression she had on hers. But she didn’t have time to ponder it any further.
Sonic gracefully moved his hand back into hers. This time, they clasped together. Amy's heart started pounding faster. To her, it felt as though time had slowed down. She wasn’t sure if it was the romantic situation, or the contraption that Sonic claimed Eggman had built. She decided not to think about that. Eggman was the absolute last person she wanted to think about while having a romantic moment with Sonic.
She gingerly closed her hand around Sonic’s fingers. His hands were strong, yet just as gentle as she remembered them being from all the times he had caught her when she fell.
They turned to face each other more directly. Sonic’s eyebrows were raised a little, and Amy realized that hers were likely doing the same. They both looked bewildered and surprised, but also enamored by one another. They could not tear their eyes away.
Now fully facing each other, Amy took Sonic’s other hand in hers. She held them in her lap like the reins of a horse, and held onto them as if they were her lifeline. Her heart threatened to pound out of her chest. Was she about to kiss Sonic?
Sonic’s mouth hung open a little bit. Perfect for a nice smooch. This could be her chance, Amy realized. Her mind had ground to a halt, and all of her thoughts stopped. Except for one.
Do it!
Amy began to lean forward. As if in sync, Sonic did too. They could hear each other’s steady breathing clearly. All the noise in the background became tuned out, and their attentions were only focused on each other. Amy's eyelids slid shut as she began to move more deliberately towards the beckoning mouth of her hero. She moved closer, and closer, and closer. Until finally-
“Sonic! Amy!”
A voice from nearby pulled the two hedgehogs back into reality. They practically jumped apart and put their hands behind their back.
Tails was approaching, flanked by Knuckles and Sticks. For some reason, Knuckles was dressed as a hot dog again.
“You guys are missing the party!” Tails told them, matter of factly.
“Oh,” Amy said nervously and hesitantly. “R-right. The party.”
“Uh, are we interrupting something?” Tails asked. His gaze shifted from Amy to Sonic, then back to Amy, then back to Sonic again.
“N-nothing, Tails,” Amy stammered, shuffling her feet around. She stole an embarrassed glance back to her left at Sonic. The blue hedgehog simply shot her a confident smirk. Amy’s heart soared, feeling reassured all of a sudden. Sonic’s smile would never fail to make her feel better.
If he didn’t know before, he totally knows now, Amy thought with a gentle smile.
“C’mon, Ames,” Sonic told her, standing up in front of her and reaching his hand out. “Let’s party!”
Amy looked back into his comforting eyes and placed her palm on his. He helped her back to her feet. Together, they returned to the party with Sticks and Knuckles.
Tails lingered behind, watching his four friends go. He smiled knowingly at Sonic and Amy as they walked away.
They were still holding hands.