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“Have you ever been to a concert?” Silver asks.
He’s visiting the past, as he often does. The future gets boring pretty easily, and he’s a kid with the ability to travel through time - of course he’s going to abuse it to visit his friends. The past has the added benefit of things like movie theaters and ice cream parlors, too, so it’s not uncommon for him to show up every so often.
Recently, he’s found himself enjoying video games a lot more than anything else. Luckily for Silver, Sonic and Tails have a few consoles and a decent collection of games. Both are more than willing to host Silver for a few days. Of course, he isn’t just playing games 24/7; Silver has other friends to visit, and there are plenty of natural locations that simply don’t exist in the future. But right now, he’s having fun playing Mario Kart with Sonic as his friend consumes his own weight in potato chips. Silver can’t help but be amused.
Sonic, who’s extremely focused on not losing, doesn’t even glance over at him. “Sure! My cousin’s a musician. Amy’s been super into this boy band for years now, too. I’ve been to a couple concerts with both of ‘em. Why do you ask?”
Here comes the hard part. “Well, I told Shadow I’d never been to one, and he gave me tickets,” Silver says. This is a stretch of the truth - he’d actually asked Shadow for recommendations, since he seemed like the kind of guy with opinions on music. Shadow’s music preference tended to be... on the loud side, to say the least, but eventually they’d found a band that didn’t destroy Silver’s ears. And because Shadow is a good friend, he’d done Silver the favor of scoring tickets with minimal complaining. That’s really all Silver could ask of him.
“Oh, yeah?” Sonic says His interest sounds genuine, despite the fact that he’s still entirely focused on the screen. Silver’s fallen a few places behind due to his nerves. Who can blame him? “You should go with Blaze. I don’t think she’s ever been to a concert before.”
That’s not what he wanted at all!
“...Do you think she would like that?” Silver asks helplessly. Sonic has pretty effectively stopped him short with just that suggestion.
Sonic shrugs. “Don’t know ‘til you go, I guess! Anyway, you should ask her. She’s coming by tomorrow, right?”
“Yeah.” They try to make their visits coincide whenever possible. Silver’s regretting that right now for the first time ever.
“Perfect timing, then!” Sonic says elatedly, practically throwing his whole body to the side as his kart drifts on screen. His elbow brushes against Silver’s upper arm and he almost drives off a cliff.
“Yeah,” Silver repeats dully. “Perfect.”
The good thing about Blaze coming into town is he has a chance to complain about the absolute failure that was the day before. The bad thing is that her advice is not what he wants to hear.
When Silver explains the problem he had run into, she just sighs and sips her boba, looking at him disapprovingly. “Silver,” Blaze says. “You have to actually ask him out if you want him to say yes.”
“I know,” he all but whines, resisting the urge to slam his head into the table. With his luck, his quills would get caught in the holes and he’d make an absolute fool of himself trying to yank them out. He’s not used to being in public (or the concept of "public" in general), so he's used to hyperfocusing on his behavior. It doesn’t help that it’s a really nice day out - Silver loves mid-summer - and everyone is outside. The park is full of families and couples and friends. They were lucky to find a spot in the shade.
Blaze levels an unimpressed stare at him. “You do realize that mentioning a concert isn’t actually inviting him to one, right?” she asks. “You could have just cleared up the misunderstanding and asked him.”
“Easier said than done.”
Blaze rolls her eyes. It’s very unladylike of her. The contrast between her poise and her expression is comical. “It always is,” she says. “Are you going to try again?”
“I don’t know,” Silver says honestly. “I guess. Kind of took the wind out my sails though.” He sighs heavily, sticking the bright purple straw in his mouth and drinking with as much bitterness as he can muster. It’s harder to be upset with a mouthful of boba. Somehow he manages anyway.
“For the record, I think you should,” Blaze says.
“Yeah? You enjoy listening to me lament that much?”
“Don’t be obtuse,” she says exasperatedly. “This time, try to make it more obvious what you’re asking. I still think you should talk to Amy about this.”
Since giving up on her obsessive crush on Sonic, Amy’s been dating around a bit. Nothing very serious, really, but she seems to enjoy getting to know people and finding all the cool places to hang out. If anyone knows a good way of asking someone out, it’s probably her. Silver’s been reluctant about it for a variety of reasons, though. For one, he hasn’t really talked to anyone about his… thing for Sonic, aside from Blaze. He hadn’t even been explicit with Shadow, just saying that there was someone he wanted to spend more time with. For another, Amy hadn’t stopped going after Sonic until recently. Wouldn’t it be awkward to ask her about taking her ex-crush on a date? That seems like something that would be awkward.
“I don’t wanna,” he says petulantly.
“Don’t be childish,” Blaze tells him with narrowed eyes.
“Sorry.”
Despite her seemingly callous behavior, she pats the back of his hand. “Don’t worry about it. I know you can do this, Silver. You just have to try.”
“Try again, you mean,” he says.
“Yes. You’re very stubborn sometimes,” she replies with a bit of a smirk. “Why don’t you put some of that stubbornness towards this?”
“I guess.” He rubs his temple. “Sorry to waste all of our time together whining about boy problems.”
She waves away his concern with a flick of her hand. “It’s truly no trouble. Though I do expect you to buy me lunch later.”
“Blaze. You’re a princess. You are literally rich.”
Her smirk widens, and Silver is reminded how much of a little shit she can be sometimes. “Irrelevant.”
He sighs. “What do you want to eat?”
The second time goes about as well as the first, with the added benefit of Silver feeling even stupider when it goes wrong.
It’s almost a month later, during his next visit to the past. It’s Tails’ birthday in a couple days. Almost everyone is in town to celebrate, and Silver and Blaze are sharing the guest room in Sonic’s house. Blaze is usually more busy than him - she spends a lot of time with Amy and Cream whenever she visits their dimension, which Silver can’t blame her for. It must be nice to hang out with girls her age (well, not Cream, obviously). From what little Blaze says, Silver knows she was generally pretty isolated growing up and didn’t play with the other kids. It’s good to see her with her group.
This does mean he gets left behind sometimes, which is fine. He has his friends too. Unfortunately, Silver ends up alone with Sonic a lot. This didn’t used to bother him, but after his last visit and impressive failure to deliver on asking Sonic out, Silver finds himself feeling a little anxious about being left alone with him. Hopefully he gets over that. Hopefully.
This time, he’s a little more prepared. He even wrote down what he was going to say beforehand. Obviously Silver doesn’t have the script with him - it’s in the future, sitting in his desk drawer, an embarrassing record of this whole ordeal. With any luck, it’ll be worth it.
It’s a little after noon, so he knows he’ll find Sonic outside on the hammock, either napping or just relaxing. For someone who moves so fast, Sonic sure does enjoy his leisure time.
Of course, that’s exactly where Sonic is. Silver can see him the moment he steps out onto the back porch, eyes closed as he reclines on the woven hammock. His hands are tucked behind his head. He looks for all the world like he’s asleep.
Silver gathers every ounce of courage he has and walks down the path to where his friend is relaxing. The trees overhead provide a nice amount of shade. There aren’t nearly as many trees in his time - it’s something he enjoys the most about the past. Everything is so green and alive.
Just like Sonic’s eyes.
Silver does his best not to acknowledge that thought.
“Hey, Sonic?” Silver begins, hoping he’s imagining the way his voice cracks.
One of Sonic’s eyes opens to look at him and a lazy grin spreads across his face. “Hey, Silver. What’s up?”
“Do you have any beach towels?”
What the fuck? That’s not what he was going to ask at all!
Sonic looks perplexed. “Maybe? I’m not sure, it’s been a long time since we’ve been to the beach.” He scratches his head, thinking silently for a moment. “If we don’t then I bet Amy does. Or Rouge maybe? Why, you planning a beach trip?”
“Maybe,” Silver says lamely. “I’ve… never been.”
Sonic sits up suddenly, eyes wide open. “You’ve never been to the beach?” Silver shakes his head. “I guess that makes sense. Well, we’ll have to make a day of it. I’m sure everyone would love that!”
Silver does his best to suppress his disappointment. “You think so?” he asks, trying to sound genuinely interested. He’s pretty sure it works because Sonic is grinning again, much more excitedly this time.
“Yeah! The girls love a chance to wear their cute swimsuits. Plus, I don’t know if Shadow’s ever been to the beach, either.” He runs his thumb along his jaw thoughtfully. “Man, you two are missing some seriously important experiences. We’d better go before it gets cold.”
“Wait, don’t you hate water?”
Sonic doesn’t seem at all perturbed by his question. “Sure do. But the beach isn’t about the water. People mostly go to the beach to screw around and hang out. Plus, the shaved ice. Have you had shaved ice yet?”
Silver has to think a second. It’s hard when he’s still internally kicking himself for his two mistakes - the first being his inability to just ask Sonic out , and the second thinking that asking a dude who can’t swim on a date to the beach was a good idea. Oh, well.
“No, I don’t think so,” Silver says. “Is it like ice cream?”
Sonic shakes his head sadly. “Oh, dude. We have got to educate you.”
Despite himself, Silver smiles. “Oh, yeah?”
“Yeah! You’re missing out on so much,” Sonic says firmly. “Chaos, I can’t believe I haven’t thought about that before. You should make a list of all the stuff you haven’t done before so we can do it.”
Silver’s stomach flips. “I mean, there’s a lot of stuff I’ve been trying on my own. Like the movies.”
“Have you been ice skating?”
Silver shakes his head again.
“Add that to the list! I know Cream loves ice skating.” Sonic pauses for a moment. “Though I guess we’ll have to wait for winter to do that.”
“Wait, really? Why?”
Sonic shrugs. “I don’t know, just seems right? Anyway, I’ll talk to Amy about a beach day. You know she’s way better at planning than I am. You should ask Blaze if she wants to come. She’s pretty busy, so we’ll probably have to work around her schedule.”
“I’ll do that,” Silver says, feeling slightly less disappointed than he had the last time. At least this time he had confirmation that he and Sonic would be hanging out, even if it was as friends and in a group. Chaos, why was he so bad at this? “Maybe I should just talk to Amy about it?”
“Whatever floats your boat, man,” Sonic says. “You need anything else or can I go back to chilling?”
Silver plasters a smile on his face. “No, that’s all. Thanks.”
He leaves Sonic to his own devices. Once he’s inside, he buries his face in his hands and groans.
“That was terrible,” Silver mutters to himself.
Two strikes is enough to make him decide that yeah, he should probably talk to Amy. She’s a lot easier to be friends with these days, now that she’s not a heart-eyed fangirl with no respect for personal space. She’s still affectionate, of course, but she stops short of throwing herself at people (people meaning Sonic).
She’s busy with preparations for Tails’ birthday - Silver can guess pretty easily that she's baking up a storm in Vanilla's kitchen. Out of all their friends, she’s one of the few who can cook, and the only one who can bake. If you want a good cake, you go to Amy Rose. Silver finds her right in the middle of pulling a tray of cupcakes out of the oven, since Vanilla had been kind enough to let him in without more than a question or two.
Amy looks delighted to see him, eyes instantly lighting up. She sets her tray on the counter and springs towards him, hugging Silver tight. She’s still absurdly strong - much stronger than him.
“Silver!” she squeals. “Hi! I didn’t expect to see you until tomorrow.” Tomorrow is when they’re supposed to go shopping for presents - Blaze is also planning on meeting them at the mall.
“Hi, Amy,” Silver says with a strained smile. Don’t get him wrong, he’s happy to see her. Just nervous about what he has to ask her. “I had a question for you, actually, but if you’re busy I can come by later.”
“Nope! I have time. You’ll have to talk to me while I get the cookies ready for the oven, though. Why don’t you sit down?” She gestures to one of the stools next to the floating counter she’s working on. Silver follows her advice and sits, watching as she removes a metal bowl from the fridge and starts greasing a cookie sheet. “So, what is it you want to ask me?”
Reluctancy aside, Silver bounces his leg and tries to formulate his thoughts as well as he can.
“How do you ask someone out?” he asks.
Amy pauses momentarily in the middle of removing the saran wrap from the metal bowl and glances up at him. Her observation makes him a little uncomfortable. “You have a crush on someone?” she asks, seeming genuinely surprised.
“Unfortunately.”
She laughs, balling up the saran wrap and tossing it into the trash can neatly. She may be colorblind, but her hand-eye coordination is amazing.
“It doesn’t have to be unfortunate, Silver,” she says. “Have you asked anyone out before?”
“No.”
Digging her hands into the cookie dough, Amy begins making small, walnut-sized balls and setting them on the cookie sheet next to the bowl. Despite being focused on her task, she’s still looking at him thoughtfully.
“Well, I’d suggest you have a place picked out when you ask. Even if you don’t mention what you’re doing, it’s good to know,” she says. “I’ve found it’s best to be as clear as possible without being pushy. Saying something like ‘hey, I’m interested in getting to know you as more than a friend, would you want to go to the movies with me?’ generally works pretty well.”
“I’ve kind of done that already,” Silver admits.
“Wait, do you mean you’ve already asked them out?”
“No, not that. I’ve tried, but…” he trails off sheepishly, too embarrassed to elaborate.
“But?” Amy urges, working the dough between the palms of her hands.
“He didn’t really… get it? Or I wasn’t clear. I’m not sure.” He sighs. “I don’t know, Amy, maybe I’m just too awkward for dating.”
“Dating can be awkward! But it can also be fun. You just have to get used to it, really,” she says, offering him a reassuring smile. “And it isn’t the end of the world if he says no. It sucks, obviously, but you’ll live.”
“Will I?” Silver asks, not entirely joking. Amy laughs.
“Hopefully,” she says teasingly. About half the tray is full by now, and she pulls a bite-sized piece of dough away and holds it out to him. He takes it without comment, popping the dough into his mouth. The sweetness is welcome and overwhelming.
“I don’t know, Amy,” Silver says dejectedly. “It feels like every time I try I’m just making an idiot of myself. I’m not sure if I really want to try again.”
She contemplates this for a moment, fingers settling motionless on the rim of the bowl. It takes her several seconds to reply, and by that point she's still focused only on him, dough momentarily forgotten.
"You don't have to push yourself, Silver," she says gently. "A crush can just be a crush. Unless you really want a relationship with this person, you don't necessarily have to ask them out."
Silver doesn't say anything, so she continues. "Do you want to be with him?"
Silver has to think about that one. There's only one answer he can come up with.
"Yeah," he says.
Amy claps her dough-covered hands together, delighted at this breakthrough. "There you go! You should try again, since that's what you want." She smiles at him, all cheer and support. Maybe he should have talked to her sooner. "I think you're probably working yourself up a lot over this. You don't have to go into it with any expectations. I know I went on my first date expecting to be swept away, but that didn't really happen." She dips her fingers back into the dough, continuing about her cookie-making business with ease. It's clear she does this a lot from the way each ball is almost identical in size and shape. Even without focusing all of her attention, she's almost done.
Amy Rose is pretty cool sometimes.
"I'm expecting to be told no," he states, trying not to sound too self-pitying.
"Don't expect that, either!" Amy says firmly. "It's a possibility he'll say yes, and a possibility he'll say no. You can be prepared for either answer, but don't stop yourself from trying because you think you know what will happen." She winks at him playfully. "I bet you'd be surprised. People think you're a real catch, you know."
He can feel his face heat up and resists the urge to hide behind his hands. As it is, Silver starts nervously twirling his fingers in his chest fur - it's news to him that anyone would think of him at all, let alone call him a "catch." Amy's not a liar, though. He knows he can trust her on that.
Amy laughs at his nervousness. Not cruelly, but light and airy, like she's endeared. Silver would probably be bothered if it was anyone else.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to embarrass you," she says.
"It's fine," Silver says. "Can you… make me a list of date ideas, maybe? I kind of used up my only two already and I don't wanna embarrass myself even more by reusing them."
Amy lights up like the sun. "Sure! I can do that tonight, if you want."
"Yeah, I'd like that."
"Is there anything else you want to know?" Amy asks. The cookie sheet is full, and she's gently pressing a fork down on each one of the dough balls.
Another thing he has to consider. "No, thanks. I guess I just needed to hear some reassurance."
"Well, I'm always here for that," she says, wiping her hands on her apron. Amy moves so fluidly through the kitchen, like she knows it so well she could do this with her eyes closed. With one hand on the cookie sheet, she opens the oven door and pushes the tray inside, setting the timer for fifteen minutes. Turning back to him with a friendly smile and rubbing her hands together, she asks, "You want to help me decorate some cupcakes?"
Silver nods, relieved to be done with the dating talk. "Sure."
Third time's the charm. At least, that's what Silver keeps telling himself.
Armed with Amy's advice and a new list of date locations, he's more than happy to wait for the birthday celebrations to wind down. It takes a few days - everyone's excited to shower Tails with the attention he deserves, despite the kid's shy attitude towards the whole celebration. Tails hasn't stopped grinning in days, though, so he's definitely enjoying himself.
Blaze heads home right after the party. Like she's always saying, she's a busy girl - she has a kingdom to run. Her duties wait for no one, especially not her. Honestly, she was lucky to get so much time off in the first place. Her advisor is probably losing his mind, or suffocating under all the work he has to do. Which leaves Silver to sleep in Sonic and Tails' guest room alone now.
He already misses her.
Silver gives himself a while to figure out what he's going to say. Still, after an entire party of Amy waggling her eyebrows at him when they make eye contact, Silver's starting to feel the pressure again.
It's okay, he thinks. It's just a date. Just a date.
Just a date.
When he finally pulls himself together enough to ask a third (and hopefully final) time, he has to keep himself from jittering too much as he walks down the stairs. The house is still trussed up with decorations from the day before, which they'll have to take down later that afternoon, but something about it cheers him up. Even as he almost slips on some star-shaped confetti at the bottom of the stairs. Seriously, he's an extremely powerful psionic and he still almost breaks his neck walking. Absurd.
Sonic is in the kitchen, shoving an entire cupcake in his mouth. Silver catches himself becoming momentarily distracted by the fact that it's one of the cupcakes he helped Amy decorate, but doesn't let that trip him up for long.
"Hey, Silver!" Sonic greets. Or, well, kind of. His mouth is too full of cupcake for him to be saying actual words. Silver can't help but grin.
"Hey, Sonic."
He waits for Sonic to swallow his food. When he does, Sonic says, "You looking for some snacks? Because we still have a ton of leftovers from the party, and if you don't help eat them I'm going to eat every single one by myself."
Silver doesn't doubt that. "No, I'm good. I had enough sweets yesterday to last the whole year." He's really more of a fruits and veggies guy, anyway. "I actually had something to ask you."
Sonic looks intrigued and hops down from where he's sitting on the counter, next to the open tupperware container of cupcakes. Chaos, there must be at least a dozen left. Amy's a baking fiend. Sonic brushes a few crumbs off of his chest and looks at Silver expectantly.
"Ask away!" Sonic says.
Silver steals himself. It might as well be now or never. Too late to back out now.
"There's this new arcade in the city that Amy told me about. I was wondering if you wanted to go with me sometime."
Hell yes, that came out perfectly.
Sonic laughs. "Is that all? Sure, I'll go with you sometime."
"This weekend?"
"Why not?"
"...As a date?"
Sonic stares at him. It's way too late to regret it, though - he's already said it.
"As a date?" Sonic repeats. His tone is unreadable. He doesn't look mad, just blown away. It makes Silver even more nervous. The suspense is absolutely killing him.
"Yes, as a date," Silver confirms, despite the bile rising in the back of his throat. Wow, maybe this was a mistake! Maybe Sonic's going to be so uncomfortable having Silver stay in his house that he'll have to leave and stay with Amy, or Shadow, or-
"Yes!" Sonic says, very suddenly and very loudly. He seems to realize just how loud he'd been and tries again. "I mean, yes. I'd like that."
Never mind, this is the best moment of his life.
Silver can't stop himself from grinning like an absolute idiot. "Really?"
"Yes, really," Sonic says, like he can't believe Silver would ask that. "What do you mean, really? I like you, Silver. I'm just surprised, is all."
This is fine.
Silver is totally fine.
"You do?" Silver asks, since it's his turn to be shocked now. "I had no idea."
Sonic looks just as ecstatic as he feels. They must be wearing identical stupid smiles on their faces, but Silver would argue it looks way better on Sonic.
"Dude, I thought you were dating Blaze," Sonic says. "I'm just as surprised as you."
" Blaze? " Silver asks, astonished.
"Yeah, I mean. You two are always together. You even sleep in the same bed."
"Sonic, Blaze is gay."
This startles a laugh out of Sonic. "Chaos, is my gaydar really that broken?" he asks, rubbing his nose sheepishly.
"Yes! I'm gay, too!"
"Well, I know that now ," Sonic says, still looking a little embarrassed. "Wait, is this why you asked me about the beach? Were you trying to ask me on a date to the beach?"
Now it's Silver's turn to laugh. He's more relieved than he's ever been in his life. Well, outside of preventing the end of the world, of course.
"I was," he admits. "Very badly."
"Listen!" Sonic says with mild indignation
Silver can't help but laugh again at Sonic's appalled and defensive expression. While he snickers, Sonic takes a step closer to him, so he's right up next to him, and tugs his ear playfully.
"Hey! Stop laughing at me," Sonic complains. "You didn't even say the word 'date,' how was I supposed to know?"
"I'm laughing at us ," Silver clarifies.
Sonic relaxes visibly, leaning back against the counter and eyeing him with a healthy degree of amusement.
"Good. Because you've been just as much of a disaster about this as I have."
Silver doesn't admit that he's probably been more of one. He also doesn't mention his first attempt, with the concert. If he's lucky, Sonic won't remember it on his own and he'll be spared the additional embarrassment. Of course, he's not very lucky, but Silver isn't going to ruin it for himself.
"I wouldn't say disaster…" Silver says, despite agreeing internally.
"Well, I would. Do you know how long I've been, uh- pining about… this? It's been driving Tails crazy."
"No, I don't know, because apparently I'm really, really stupid."
Sonic looks at him and, oh Iblis, Silver didn't think he could be any more attractive. But when his eyes are positively swimming with affection - for him! For Silver! - he can't help the way his heart threatens to jump out of his chest like a feral animal.
"You aren't stupid," Sonic assures. "I… didn't want to say anything. Thought it would make you uncomfortable."
"I thought it would make you uncomfortable," Silver says.
Sonic grins. "Yeah, well. Maybe we're both kind of dense."
They're quiet for a moment. Distantly, Silver can hear Tails laboring away in his workshop in the basement, unidentifiable clatters and clangs coming up through the floor. Otherwise, the kitchen is nearly silent.
"Can I…" Sonic begins at last, "Can I give you a hug?"
Silver would love nothing more. He nods vigorously, almost too enthusiastic. Sonic doesn't care, because as soon as he has Silver's consent he's reaching out and squeezing. His breath is hot on Silver's shoulder, and he finds he likes the way Sonic is just a bit shorter, short enough to lean his chin into the slope of Silver's neck. He responds in kind instantly, looping his arms around Sonic's back and holding on.
They've hugged before. Obviously they have. Sonic's an affectionate guy - he likes to throw an arm over a friend's shoulder, likes to tug playfully on a quill here or there. This is altogether different. Suddenly, it feels like Silver can really touch him without fear of crossing some boundary. Like he doesn't have a nasty secret anymore that prevents him from enjoying the moment.
Silver breathes in deeply, unaware that he had been holding his breath until that moment. He almost wishes it could last forever, this quiet, warm spot in time where he's no longer worried about violating his friend's trust. But if it did, he'd never get to go on that date.
Sonic doesn't pull away, so neither does he. He's sure both of them could stand there all afternoon, or at least until Tails comes upstairs for some leftover cake and tea. Eventually, though, Sonic does step back, hands lingering on Silver's elbows for long enough that it's noticeable.
"Thanks," Sonic says.
"No problem," Silver replies, breathless.
Amy calls him that night. On Tails phone, since it would be pretty impractical for Silver to have his own phone. It would only work in this current time, after all, and he'd probably break it if he took it to the future. He's surprised when the little fox pokes his head into the guest room where Silver is reading, phone held against his chest.
"Amy says she wants to talk to you," Tails says, sounding just as perplexed as Silver feels.
"Sure," Silver says, sitting up on the bed and swinging his legs around to the side. Tails crosses into the room to hand him his cell phone before leaving again, tails swishing as he goes. Silver waits for the door to close behind him before putting the phone to his ear.
" You were talking about SONIC?" is the first thing she says to him. It's so loud that Silver roughly jerks the phone away.
"Yes?" he confirms tentatively.
"Silver, he's been moaning about being in love with you for months!" Amy says, sounding absolutely delighted. "If you'd told me who it was, I could let you know you didn't have to be so nervous."
"...It was embarrassing," Silver says truthfully. Not everyone can be as open about their crushes as Amy.
"...I guess that's fair. It's not like he made it very obvious."
Silver sighs and leans back until he's flat on the bed, staring up at the ceiling. "For real. I thought he might kick me out for a moment when I asked him."
"He wouldn't do that," Amy assures. "Unless you repeatedly violated his personal space and made him uncomfortable."
Now she's speaking from personal experience. She doesn't sound bitter, just like she's stating a fact.
"Is that why you called? To talk about this?"
"I was really excited, okay?" she says exasperatedly. "I love to see young couples get together. It's so cute."
"Well, we aren't together yet. We're just going on a date."
"But you like each other! That's great!"
Silver does have to agree with that. "Yeah," he says. A blush is already rising on his cheeks at the thought of what had happened in the kitchen - they'd talked for so long about their missed connections before Tails finally came up and gave them an excuse to be embarrassed in private. "It's really great."
"...So is Blaze really gay?"
Silver just about chokes. Her tone is in no way casual - even he's not inept enough to miss what she's really getting at.
"Why do you want to know?" he asks.
"No reason!" she says quickly. "Sonic just mentioned it, since he thought you two were a thing and, well, you aren't. To be honest I kind of thought that until you asked me about asking out a guy."
Silver can't help but laugh. He's glad he was never as obvious as Amy is.
"Yes, Blaze is gay. You should talk to her about that, though. She's kind of private about it."
"Oh. Okay," Amy says, and her voice is obviously straining to sound less excited than it really is. "I'll do that."
Silver pulls the phone away from his mouth so he can snicker without her hearing. Then, he says, "So I bet you wanna hear all about it?"
"Yes!" Amy says. "Well, I kind of already did from Sonic, but I want to hear your side of it!"
Silver grins to himself, alone in that quiet guest room.
"Since you were such a big help, I might as well."
He's still talking to Amy when the clock hits 10:30 PM, and Tails knocks on his door to get his phone back. Silver says a quick goodbye, feelings of warmth swimming in his stomach and chest, and lays on his bed in complete silence for several minutes while he tries to wrap his head around everything that's happened today.
How'd he get so lucky all of a sudden?