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It was a nice day out. The sun was shinning, but the clouds and morning dew in the air meant it wasn’t too hot, nor was it quite early enough for it to be too humid. The perfect time on a perfect day to just lay on the grass, kick his feet up and relax. He found a spot on top of a hill that was great for feeling the breeze and watching the Flickys go about their routine. The sun was shining down on him, but it wasn’t bright enough to bother him so he didn’t bother trying to find a tree for cover or anything, and yet he suddenly found his sunbathing interrupted by a shadow looming over him. He didn’t bother tilting his head back to see who it was. He knew. He always knew.
“Sup Ames. How’d ya find me this time?” Despite the inherently accusatory question- he kept his tone light. Playful. He wasn’t actually upset to see her, nor would he be mad to know if she actually spent her morning hunting him down. He just liked to tease her about it. Seeing her cheeks turn red and puff out like a puffer fish on the defensive was as good a way as any to start the day.
Seems he wouldn’t be getting such a dramatic response this time. Amy’s voice was casual as she replied “Actually, you found me. See?” With that, Sonic craned his head back to look at the pink hedgehog, who was pointing off towards the grasslands and hill tops. He followed the direction of her finger, until his eyes landed on a picnic basket a couple yards away, surrounded by three brightly colored Chao happily flying around it and munching on fruits. Huh. How’d he not notice them sooner? Granted he had been dozing in and out for the last half hour or so, but he didn’t think he was that inattentive of his surroundings.
As Sonic’s eyes landed back on Amy’s face, she continued speaking. “Honestly I kept waiting for you to come over and join us, but you never did. So I came over to see if you were asleep.”
“Daaaw- sorry you missed your chance to cuddle up to me while I was clocked out. I’m sure you’ll find your window next time.” He let out a hum as his ear twitched from a sudden gust of cool air blowing past them. He watched as Amy lifted a hand to keep her quills from getting in her face- which was quickly turning the shade of red he had been aiming for with his last remark. The flustered girl lifted her foot to kick bits of grass and dirt at him, but he rolled out of the way before her earth clumps could get in his quills. Now on his stomach, Sonic propped his head up on his elbows with his chin resting on open palms. He quirked a brow at her, a familiar smirk tugging at the corner of his lips as he let out a soft “tsk” sound. “C’mon Ames- resorting to violence in front of the Chao? You should be setting a better example.”
“Keep it up and I’ll show you what resorting to violence actually looks like.” The foot that kicked at him firmly stomped down on the ground as Amy crossed her arms over her chest, and puffed out her cheeks with a huff. She wasn’t looking at him anymore- her attention had wandered over to the three Chao still flying and playing around their morning picnic. “One day you’re gonna be caught in a jam and I’m gonna be the only one there to rescue you. Then you’re gonna regret all the times you teased me about always knowing where you are when I turn tail and leave you to- I dunno, explode or something.”
“ Explode or something?” Sonic let out a gasp, placing a hand on his chest and letting his mouth fall agape in a display of mock offense. “You gonna marry a corpse now Ames? C’mon, you should have better standards for yourself than that! How are you gonna get an “I do” out of a guy who’s in pieces?”
Amy rolls her eyes at Sonic’s display, folding her hands behind her back as she begins to pace in circles around the field. “Hmmm- I dunno. I’m pretty crafty. I think I can find a way.” She suddenly stops in front of him and crouches down a couple inches in front of him. She wiggles her fingers about, mimicking the presto! motion a cheesy stage magician might make before pulling a stuffed rabbit out of a top hat. “Even if you’re dead, I bet I could call your spirit into the wedding ceremony! Then afterwards I’d just bind it to my house! That way you’d really be mine and only mine for the rest of my eternity.” She tries to say that as if she’s fixing to swoon from the sheer romanticism of the thought, clasping her hands together and pressing them to her cheeks with a tilt of her head- but she breaks the illusion by giggling at her own joke, and soon finds herself having to cover her mouth with the back of her hand to keep from breaking out into a fit of laughter.
Unfortunately he finds the occult concept too genuinely creepy and unnerving to share her sense of humor over it, so he just arches a brow at her and forces out a chuckle. “Oh yeah. Kidnapping my ghost. How romantic.”
“Oh hush!” Amy tries to play off his awkwardness with a gentle nudge of her elbow, before standing back up and returning to her absent minded pacing. “It was just a joke! Don’t you think if I was going to try kidnapping you in any sense I would have done it already? Not like I haven’t had plenty of opportunities to try.”
“Y'know that isn’t the reassuring comeback you seem to think it is.” Despite that, Sonic found himself letting out a few snickers as he picked himself up off the ground, and dusted the dirt and bits of earth off his knees. “Stalking? Pffft, that’s fine. Little Miss Rosey the Rascal will do that with her eyes closed. But kidnapping? Now that’s just being weird.”
This time Sonic didn’t even try to move as he felt Amy’s hand smack the side of his head. That familiar angry puffer fish look had made its reappearance. And so soon? He was flattered- even if the high pitched shrill of the girl’s voice nearly blew out his ear drums. “Keep it up and next time it’ll be my hammer!”
“That’s assuming you can catch me-” Still, he took the hint. Best to lay off her for now. Actually, this entire conversation has reminded him of something he’s been meaning to bring up for awhile. “How do you keep doing that anyways? Finding me, I mean. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not trying to hide myself away from ya or anything- but no matter where I am you just seem to, y’know.” He shrugged, not quite sure how to word this. “Show up.”
Amy didn’t answer at first, merely crossed her arms over her chest and narrowed her eyes into a glare. Her muzzle twisted into a pout- as if she had just eaten something sour. “Are you still making fun of me? I told you to knock it off, Nikki!”
Oof. She’s busting out the first name. Guess he must really be hitting a nerve. He held up his hands in surrender, dropping the smugness and attitude in favor of a more lopsided, goofy grin. He didn’t mean anything bad by it, honest! “Chill Ames, I’m not trying to poke at anything for once, I’m just genuinely curious. I think its neat. I wanna know how you keep pulling it off.”
“Neat…?” Amy parroted the word back at him, as if she had to take a minute to process it. Suddenly the hints of red on her muzzle had washed out its usual peachy color, leaving the hedgehog a flustered mess that was blushing from her cheeks to the tips of her ears. He only had a few seconds to drink it in before her hands were moving to cover as much of her face as possible.
For Gia’s sake this girl was all over the place. She’s the only person he’s ever met who not only emotes so strongly, but flip flops between them so quickly. He can barely keep up with her changes in mood and demeanor. Just looking at her makes him feel tired. He can’t imagine having to live with that kind of emotional energy all the time. Still- he couldn’t deny that it was amusing to watch. She was his favorite person to tease for a reason after all. He thought about giving her a couple seconds to compose herself, but quickly banished the thought. Where's the fun in that? It’d be way more hilarious to double down.
Sonic pressed the back of his hand to her forehead and smooths her bangs out of the way, as if he’s checking her temperature. He keeps the most innocent and bewildered expression he can muster- gotta keep that plausible deniability in case the hammer comes out. “You feelin okay? You look feverish. You need to lay down?”
“ I’m fine! ” Amy practically screeches out the words, swatting his hand away and nearly jumping two feet off the ground as she stumbles away from him. She keeps an arm held out and wildly flailing in the air as her other hand tries to cover her muzzle, which has somehow gotten even redder than it was before. “I’m fine! Promise! Just stubbed my toe or something!!”
Sonic tilts his head to the side, trying to seem confused- even as he desperately holds back the laughter bubbling up in his chest. “You were standing still…?”
“Shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up!!!” Amy’s flustered squeaks suddenly shift into irritated growls as she grabs the quills that frame either side of her face, gently pulling down on them and kicking more clumps of dirt in his direction. “You’re doing this on purpose!!!”
Once again, Sonic easily side steps out of the way before anything can hit him. He shrugs at the accusation, but doesn’t try to hold back his grin anymore. “Maybe. You’re not innocent either though. You didn’t answer my question! Quit stalling.”
“I wasn’t stalling in the first place! You didn’t even give me time to answer before you started being all-” She cut herself off with a hiss through her teeth. ”Y’know you are such a jerk sometimes!” Amy stomped down on the heel of her boot a few times, kicking up more earth and weeds in the process. After a few moments of this, she took a deep breath in through her nose and let it out with a shaky huff- taking her time to collect herself and stop blushing so damn much before answering. “But to answer your question…I uh- don’t know?” She gave a half-hearted shrug. “I just kinda do it I guess.”
Sonic narrowed his eyes. “Bullshit.”
“I’m being serious!” Amy let out a heavy sigh, folding her arms behind her back as she began to pace around again. “Half the time I’m not even trying to find you! I just run into you by happenstance- like when zero was chasing me, or back during the whole dark Gia fiasco- or today even! Usually I’m either just following whatever world-altering thing is happening around you because I’m trying to help in some way, or I just end up running into you because we happen to be in the same place a lot of the time. We have the same friends- we hang out in a lot of the same places too y’know.”
Yeah- okay. These were some amazing points and all, but he wasn’t buying it. Sure, there were definitely times they ran into each other by chance- despite all his teasing he didn’t actually think she was stalking him. He wouldn’t hang around her at all if that were the case. But still. “You’re deflecting. You know that’s not what I’m talking about, Amy.”
“Ohhh, c’mon! Don’t use my first name like that! It makes me think you’re mad at me!”
“You did it first! Quit avoiding the question!”
“Fine!” With a childish pout and one last kick at that poor, poor patch of grass for good measure, Amy let out a sigh and gave into Sonic’s interrogating. “You’re gonna think this is stupid, because you always think this sorta thing is stupid….but…” As her face began to turn red again, she averted her gaze back over to the Chao- finding it hard to look at him as she said this. Seems she was a bit embarrassed about whatever she was fixing to admit. “I just…know? Okay? I don’t have some elaborate technique for tracking you down or anything. I just- follow my heart. Whenever I need to find you or see you- be it because I’m in danger, or lonely, or just miss you or something, I just kind of…follow wherever my heart tells me to go.”
“Huh.” Sonic hummed at her explanation. She was right- he did think it was an incredibly stupid answer. It didn’t make any sense to him, but she obviously believed what she was saying, so he wasn’t about to spit in the face of her intuition.
After a few seconds of silence, Amy looked down at her hands- which were now clasped together in front of her as her thumbs nervously fidgeted about. Her ears folded back against her head, and her mouth twisted into something between a pucker and a pout. She looked beyond flustered at this point- but he liked it for some reason. It wasn’t exactly cute in the traditional blushing Amy sense- but it made his chest feel warm anyway. He kind of wanted to hug her, except that would be super weird, so he just folded his arms behind his head to give them something to do instead.
He watched as she opened and closed her mouth a couple times, thinking and rethinking what to say. For once, he didn’t tease her about it. He was the one who brought this up after all, and she’s clearly trying to be as honest with him as possible. It's only fair that he behaves and hears what she has to say.
“Sometimes when I’m really upset- or I’m hurt and trying to get somewhere safe- I’ll think of you. Of trying to find you- and…its almost like I can see this thin red line. It wraps around my finger.” She makes a swirling motion around her ring finger, as if to visualize her explanation. “And extends out and out- and if I keep following it-” She takes a step forward, then another, and another, until she’s standing just an inch or so away from him. “It leads me to you, without fail. It always leads me to you.” With that, she punctuates her statement by poking the tip of his nose with her index finger, causing him to blink down at her. “Right where I belong.”
Though he’d never acknowledge it, Sonic could feel the heat beginning to pool beneath his skin. Guess this was payback for teasing her so much earlier. Curse the laws of karmic justice. Mumbling something incoherently under his breath, the blue hedgehog turned his head away from the girl in front of him, no longer able to comfortably hold her gaze. It made his face too hot- his chest too heavy.
Amy smiled as if she was able to hear what he had said, and perched herself up on the tips of her toes to gently press her lips against his cheek. “I love you too, Nikki.”
Rather than give a verbal response to her little heartfelt confession, Sonic kneels down and quickly grabs Amy by the crook of her knees, knocking her feet out from under her as his other hand lands on the small of her back to catch her fall. She lets out a squeak in surprise as she’s suddenly lifted into his arms bridal style, and carted off towards the Chao picnic in the distance. She barely manages to vocalize her confusion through her laughter. “Pffft, what are you doing?”
“Kidnapping you, obviously. But since I’m such a nice guy, I’m letting you take your Chao and fruits with you.” There’s a pause, following by a soft inhale through his teeth. “Actually, scratch that. Gonna have to drop the Chao off at the Garden on the way.”
“Uh huh- “ She arched a brow in confusion at the other hedgehog, not quite piecing together what was going on. “And where are you taking me after you do that?”
“My house, obviously. Man, for a stalker you really don’t know how this works. You should read up on that.” Sonic wasn’t even surprised to feel the sharp sting of Amy’s elbow colliding with his ribcage. He just laughed it off as he whistled over to the three little Chao and motioned with his head for them to follow.
“Right right. And what is my big scary captor going to do with me once we get to his house?”
“I dunno.” He shrugged. “Lock you in the basement. Watch a movie. Bash some bots if things get exciting. I’ll figure it out once we get there.”
“Ooooo, I vote you lock me in the basement. I wanna see Tail’s reaction when he gets back from his workshop and finds me there.”
“Alright, alright- I like how you think. First thing on the agenda when we get there- build a basement to lock you in.”
“Daaaaw- a whole basement just to imprison little ol me?” Amy places the back of her hand to her forehead and throws her head back, pretending to swoon. “How romantic!”