Work Text:
Amy’s kitchen was cozy. Pastel pink gingham made up the curtains, the tablecloths and the waistband of her otherwise white apron, tied neatly in a bow behind her. Currently, most of the pattern was obscured by flour and fruit juice stains.
“I can’t believe it took us this long to get a dessert request out of Rouge. Like come ON, it's her BIRTHDAY! One day a year you can demand special treatment!”
Shadow scoffed. “We are talking about the same bat, right? She always demands special treatment.”
Her giggle, like the gentle ring of a bell, was soothing. “Well this is the one time of year we have to somewhat entertain her…”
Bouncing in place as an idea sparked, Amy clapped her hands. “Since you’re here though, you can help me with this part! I wanna decorate it really nicely for her. I know I have a bat shaped cookie cutter around here somewhere…”
Amy rummaged through one of the lower drawers, pulling out a variety of odds and ends until a set of heart shaped cookie cutters were deposited on the table in front of him, as well as one shaped like a bat. Dusting herself off, she took the time to carefully align the various hearts on top of the bat cutter, sizing them up and testing them on some leftover dough.
“What do you think? Close enough to her logo, right?” The hedgehog asked, stepping back so Shadow could take a look.
When he answered in the affirmative, her smile was bright enough to blind him with its brilliance.
“Perfect, can you grab an apron and cut me out like three of the other sizes of hearts while I roll this out?” The remaining dough was slapped on the floured counter. Amy grinned as she set to work with a rolling pin.
“Uh. Sure.”
There were several aprons sized for their various friends hanging in the door of her walk-in pantry, each plain white but embroidered with a personalized design along the bottom edge. Music notes, chao eggs, the Tornado doing a loop in the air, a lineup of gemstones and some intricate traditional echidna patterns. There was usually a blank one for him and other infrequent guests, and he rifled through the stack for the unclaimed article.
Tucked in the back was the only colorful apron. A hand-dyed blue, with the green hill loop de loop trimming the edge of the bottom. Unworn, forever pressed in the back, buried under all of her other visitors’. It made his heart ache that the things she put the most love into never seemed to return to her.
As he ran his hand through the pile again, there was a dark spot that caught his eyes. Hidden behind the untouched apron was one that was more a charcoal than a black, and with a myriad of stars scattered across the body of the apron, including several constellations outlined in shimmering gold thread.
When he held it out to question for whom it was intended, Amy groaned.“Oh nuts! I forgot that it was there!! I’m sorry Shadow, it isn't finished yet. I was hoping it would be a surprise…”
An unfamiliar flutter settled in his chest as he ran his thumb over the embroidery.
“Is it okay if I wear it?”
“Of course. It’s yours, silly. It was supposed to be your birthday present…. But I didn’t know when it was.”
The fluttering intensified as he donned the apron, noting the way she had altered the straps so the neck loop could be tied rather than having to go over his quills. He set to his task to avoid thinking about the amount of effort the garment had taken to create.
The dough hearts came into existence as he tried to control the beating of his own under her watchful gaze. It took embarrassingly long for him to notice she was still waiting for an answer, patient and unhurried if not concerned at his delayed response.
He picked up one of the hearts and set it aside. “That's because I don't have one.”
“What!? Of course you have a birthday!” she said, setting down the rolling pin.
“You know I came out of a tube.”
Amy’s eyes flashed, brow furrowing as her hands landed as fists upon her hips. “Well… then pick one! It doesn't have to be your actual birthday, but it's at least a day all of your friends get to appreciate you and you get to feel special!”
She was in his personal space now, and he tried to digest the butterflies in his stomach.
“I’m already pretty damn special, last I checked.”
She pouted, smacking his arm with a fifth of her strength. “I'm serious! If you don't pick one-”
He couldn't help but lean in to tease her, to watch the blush race to her face like Sonic after a chili dog. “Or what?”
It worked. A soft, dusty pink stole over her cheeks. While he had expected her to turn away and cover her face as she usually did, she instead stepped closer, jabbing her finger into his chest.
“If you don't, I will. And I'll tell everyone but you. And you'll have to spend the next year just waiting in anticipation for a surprise party all about you! Whether you like it or not!”
“Not much of a threat” he scoffed, brushing her hand away. Now it was his turn to avert his eyes, and lean back, the brush of their noses just a little too close for his heart to take.
Scrambling for an ante to up, Amy continued. “I’ll - I’ll tell everyone you have the same birthday as Sonic and then you’ll have to have a joint birthday party with him Every. Year. A full day that you can’t get away from him.”
He must have pulled a face, because she dissolved into giggles.
“Fine, fine, I yield. But I don't really have a day in mind, Amy. Not like it's something I've thought about much.”
She hummed, pressing a single finger to her glossed lips. “Well… what's your favorite season?”
There was only one option, really. The smell of cut grass and warm concrete, of bonfires and blooming flower beds and garden dirt, a full harvest and the gorgeous sunsets.
“Summer.”
“Then why not pick the most summery day of the year? The solstice is…” she paused, bouncing over to the calendar she kept neatly in the corner of the room she had dedicated to her esoteric practices, her tarot cards still out on the table from the reading she’d been doing when he walked in.
“... is tonight. Crud, I entirely forgot it was Litha, I’ll have to set out a LOT of moon water to charge…” She shook her head and moved to the calendar on the wall, humming in dissatisfaction. “Hm… We need another idea, it's too close...”
Curiosity got the better of him. “To the solstice?”
She pointed out the spots where Rouge and Sonic’s names were written in glittering pink gel pen on the 18th and 23rd respectively.
“You deserve a day where you aren’t in his shadow…. Pun unintended”.
He shrugged a little. “Not like I'll be telling anyone but you. And only because you insist on me picking something. June 19th is fine. And hey, you don't even have to do any extra work, you already got me something.” He gestured down to the apron he was wearing.
“If you're sure…” she hummed, stepping closer to press a soft kiss to his cheek. “ Happy birthday Shadow.”
Time stopped for a moment.
Not the way it did when he used chaos control, where the air grew thick and moved like slow molasses. Not like when Silver froze him with his telekinesis, cold and rigid. This time his heart beat in his ears so loud it almost drowned out the sounds of Amy moving back to her work station to continue her task. A blush bloomed across his face, burning and almost unbearable if he hadn't noticed the matching swatch on her muzzle.
He tried to return to the hearts he had been tasked with creating, but a nagging thought caught his attention. Shadow wiped his hands and flipped through her wall calendar when she was distracted by the timer indicating the pie crust had finished baking.
Rouge. Vector. Charmy. Espio. Vanilla. Cream. Cheese. Tails. Knuckles. Sonic. His name included, hastily scrawled in perfect script, still wet.
“Okay, it's ready to be baked! Did you- is everything okay, Shadow?” she asked, tilting her head ever so slightly to one side.
“Amy, when’s your birthday?”
For all the years he’d been looped into shenanigans with the group, he couldn't recall an event that Amy had been the star of. Dozens of birthdays, of social events, of signing cards attached to gifts that Rouge bought and slapped his name on, impersonal. But never for her. He would have made more of an effort, surely.
So when he looked up and she wouldn't meet his eyes, his curiosity only grew.
“Amy?”
She took a shaky inhale, and set the pie inside the oven, closing the door with a rougher slam than was necessary.
“I don't celebrate my birthday. I don't want people to make a fuss.”
He kept his righteous anger suppressed, voice low despite his disappointment in her answer. “That's bullshit.”
Amy rolled her eyes.
“You go out of your way to plan events, host parties, and make intricate and extraordinary gifts for everyone else.” He stepped toward her. “That isn't fair ”
“It’s... Complicated.” She started to clean nervously, dusting off the counter until he stopped her with a gentle hand on her arm.
“You're being a hypocrite, Amy.”
When their eyes met next, he was surprised to see hers misty and damp. She looked up at him, and he watched her eyes flicker around his face like she was searching for something.
“... And if I tell you, you won't make a big deal?” she asked, wrapping her arms around herself as if to fight off a chill.
“I promise.”
“Swear on it.”
He took her hands, holding them in his own to warm her cooled fingertips. “Have I ever broken a promise I've made to you?”
He knew he hadn't, as she settled back into the counter, keeping her hands in his, seeking both his warmth and his comfort.
“...Did Sonic ever tell you about how we met?”
“No. It’s never come up.”
“Sonic and I were pen pals as little kids. I was turning… eight? I-I sent out invitations- Gaia, I don't know how but he found out - and then Metal - and I remember Daddy’s shotgun and Mama screaming - and then…”
Amy wiped her tears with shaking hands, gently so she wouldn't disturb her makeup. “I’m sorry, it's your birthday and here I am-”
“Stop.”
Her jaw clacked shut, and he paused to grab her tissues. She took a few, with a small smile of thanks.
Shadow set the box down, taking her hand in his again. After a moment of silence between them, she leaned in to press her face into his shoulder. He let his arm slip around her as violent sobs wracked her petite frame. When she stopped quivering in his arms, he nudged her forehead with his chin to get her attention.
“I would still like a day to celebrate you the way you celebrate everyone else. You deserve to be showered in all the love you give other people.”
Her hold around his ribs tightened. “I can barely keep it together around that time of year. I don't think I could take it.”
“Then you pick a new one, same as I did. Spring is your favorite season isn't it?”
Her nose wrinkled, something he felt more than saw. “Yeah it is…. But it's still winter when Ostara comes around. Things don't start getting nice until April.”
“Okay. April. That's a good choice,” he encouraged.
The silence was deafening as he waited.
Finally she spoke, a near whisper with a voice still raw from crying. “April first.”
“Okay. It’s yours. But isn't that-”
She cut him off. “April fools day? Yeah. That way no one will know if I'm joking or not. Plausible deniability.”
He chuckled, “ Sure. Whatever you’d like. But at least that gives me time to think about what to get you.”
Some line, something suave was forming on his lips, an offer to give her whatever she wanted at any time.
Amy’s sigh curled around the hollow of his throat. “This is enough.”.
