Work Text:
House parties. Not something that Knuckles showed up to all that often, but if she was there, well then… He’d have to reconsider.
It started out as a simple crush when he was just a puggle. A small, innocent admiration of her that had persisted and grown as large and as tall as he did throughout time like a cedar tree. His love for her was just as evergreen… Yet she had no idea.
Her eyes were always for someone else. She didn’t even notice him - not in the way he’d have preferred at least. He had been exiled to something far worse than the friend zone - the ‘brother figure’ zone.
Nothing stung more than being called that by Amy Rose. The two hadn’t been raised together let alone existed in proximity to one another in any way that could resemble a family of any kind. They were a group of friends who looked out for each other, sure… But if that was a family unit, then why did Amy like Sonic?
There was a double standard there and it always hurt, like an itch that couldn’t find relief. An irritable little nagging feeling that would persist, evergreen as his love for her. All the same, he’d never say a word of it… He didn’t want to make things awkward between them or potentially compromise their tight friendship.
Maybe one day she’d figure it out. Maybe.
This house party was being hosted by Sonic. A well deserved get together that everybody had been looking forward to all week to unwind. As usual, he’d resign himself to the subjection of watching Amy flit about Sonic like a honeybee, oblivious or perhaps unconcerned with his lack of enthusiasm for her advancements.
He envied Sonic. The plastic cup he held in his hand crunched between his claws as Knuckles bristled beneath his vitriolic thoughts. Sonic wouldn’t know a blessing if it hit him in the face. Amy was far too good for him. He didn’t care about her at all - he didn’t even remember how she liked her tea.
It was him who stayed overnight with her at the hospital when she got her appendix removed. She was scared to be alone yet Sonic didn’t have the time for her- Knuckles did though. He held her hand and slept by her bedside. It was HIM who took her to the prom when she didn’t have a date. She had asked Sonic but he had declined. Over and over and over. At the time, Amy found it flattering yet sad that it was him who had to chaperone her.
That broke his heart.
He wanted more than anything for her to take off the blindfold and see him for who he really was; Someone who has always been there for her, someone who truly actually did LOVE HER. But… Alas. She liked the colour pink, and those rose coloured glasses suited her all too well.
She’d get rejected again, Sonic breaking off to go talk with Shadow in the corner. It had been obvious to everyone except Amy that he and Shadow had been getting especially cozy with each other. The suffering didn’t just come from Knuckles feeling unseen and unheard.
It also came from watching her get her heart broken.
Over.
And over.
And over…
Left to her lonesome, she put on a happy face to disguise her dejection and bid Sonic farewell. “Okay! Nice chat! Talk to you later, Sonic!...” When he was out of sight and she believed herself to be in the clear, her smile collapsed. Slinking off, she found the sofa to sit on by herself. Everyone at this party who wanted somebody had somebody. Sonic had Shadow. Silver had Blaze. Tails? Well, he was married to his work.
Yet there remained Amy, the most amorous of all roses, all by her lonesome. To Knuckles, this was an injustice. She deserved the whole world wrapped in a bow and yet she got nothing. Frustrated, he threw his cup a little too hard into the recycling and stormed outside for some fresh air.
This couldn’t continue any longer. They were getting older. He had to do something. He couldn’t just keep sitting idly by while she kept getting her heart hurt. Enough was enough. He was an Echidna warrior. A guardian. The LAST ONE. He didn’t pull punches. He was strong. He was determined to not let this be the one obstacle he could not conquer. No more.
Hyping himself up while outside, he began to bounce in place and warm up as if preparing himself for a boxing match. Once thoroughly stoked, he made his way back inside and marched into the living room with determination. Amy looked up at him with some relief, comforted to see her friend here to speak with her. She wasn’t prepared for how hard he’d sit down. It made her bounce on the sofa. He was a big guy after all… If he wanted to, he could really throw that weight around.
“Knuckles! Hi,” She’d greet all the same, trying to pretend as though she hadn’t just been holding back tears moments before he had arrived. Knuckles noticed how red her eyes looked. That detail hadn’t passed him by. For her, he’d soften… As pumped up as he was to tell her once and for all how he felt, he knew that an aggressive, passionate approach might not be a good call right now.
“Hi, Amy,” He’d offer, settling into a low, comforting tone for her sake. He’d come up with something to break the ice with about as much grace as he could muster - which was to say, with a slight awkward silence and a fumbled delivery to it, but a shot was still a shot and you missed every shot that you didn’t take. “Your dress… Looks nice. I like it.”
Amy would glance down at her glittering red slip dress and light up like a christmas tree. “Oh, this old thing? Ah, thank youuuu! Could you believe I found this at the thrift store just a few days ago? I guess someone must have donated some of their old party dresses or something. I sure did get lucky by shopping there when I did!” Knuckles seemed to have pulled her out of that pit of despair since now she was all sunshine, delighted to talk about her thrift store adventure with him. Knuckles would smile as she did, finding it to be infectious and easy to do so.
She was so beautiful when she smiled.
“Would you say this find is as lucky as the time you found that prada sweater there?,” He’d ask fondly. She’d gasp and shake her head. “I’m surprised you even remembered that! And actually, no! Luckier!! I looked up the price of the dress when I got home and it was from the summer fashion catalog last year! I couldn’t believe it! But it’s not as though I bought it to just have it sit in my closet like some kinda treasure hoarder. I wanted to put it to good use!” She tucked some of her stray pink quills behind her ear and grinned at him. “...So thank you for noticing it! It means a lot.”
“...I’ll always be there to notice things for you, Amy,” He’d offer bashfully, coming completely undone as that grin of hers disarmed him.
Amy sat up to begin rambling at him some more but was encouraged to yield by Knuckles’ hand, which he had raised to ask for a moment of her time to speak. “I actually wanted to talk with you about something. In regards to… Noticing things.”
Amy’s smile wavered. She took a tissue out of her purse and dabbed at one of her eyes with it. “...You caught me, didn’t you?”
“I did.” He’d nod patiently.
“Ah… Busted… Haha… Yep, you caught me red handed! Sonic um, didn’t have any time for me tonight. A-again. But I’m sure that’ll change on monday! He said he had some free time and that he’d like to go get lunch with Tails and I and -” Her ramble would be cut short by Knuckles’ claw, which he’d press to her lips to silence her.
“...Amy,” His tone would shift into a more serious one. It seemed almost vulnerable. “About Sonic. I… I have this thing that I need to get off of my chest. I have to. It has been weighing on my mind for far too long.”
Amy’s ears perked up. For some reason a pit in her stomach began to form. The reason as to why had been unclear to her. “...Oh? You can tell me anything, Knux. You know this.” She’d place her hands over his wrist and hold his big paw in her own little ones. Affectionately, she’d draw invisible circles over the back of his palm with her fingertips. The sensation of her light grazing touches brought him to a soothe. All the same… He’d have to swallow a lump in his throat and be brave. This was it. He was going to tell her for real this time. Enough hiding.
“...I… I do not think Sonic is right for you. I cannot pretend anymore why I never like any of your new boyfriends, why I do not like the idea of you and Sonic. I think that… I think that I could-... That, I mean… I want to… I…,” He stammered helplessly. Amy’s ears flattened. She looked hopeful yet nervous. “Knuckles… What are you trying to say to me right now? Slow down.”
He quieted for a second before making eye contact with her and summoning all of his courage to tell her outright, plain as day, what he meant. “Amy. Rose. I… L-...”
…And as if on cue to ruin this perfect moment for him, Rouge turned up and derailed that conversation completely. “Amy! Your outfit! I am beside myself, where did you find that?”
Amy had been stunned. Not stunned enough that she wasn’t able to course correct and talk to Rouge of course, but enough so that she was now no longer focusing on the conversation she was having with her. For the most part she was now checked out. Knuckles was about to say something big. Huge. Game changing. And if he had just been given a moment longer-... But… She was too polite to dismiss Rouge outright.
Much to her utter dismay, Knuckles got the hint and slunk off someplace else. He had gone back outside to think long and hard about what he had just done - or almost did. Almost said. He had been so close and yet… It had failed. Again. He felt heavy and uncomfortable. Leaning against the house from the outside, he’d sink down against the grass and put his head in his hands to mull this over long and hard.
Eventually, he’d just go back to his island.
Amy couldn’t have been done with this conversation sooner. She had to get back to Knuckles as soon as possible. Having found an out of this conversation, she promised she’d catch up some more with Rouge later. In the meantime, she had to find Knuckles. He was about to say something really important and she wasn’t able to catch the end of it.
She’d look all over the property but he wasn’t there anymore. He had gone home.
…
Amy too had made the decision to call it early. This night had been a rollercoaster of emotions, having skipped from dejection to relief and then straight into a hope that hung off of the edge of a cliff. How could she reconcile with such a confession when it had been stillborn? There was the possibility that she could have been jumping to conclusions, misinterpreting and over exaggerating his intent to a fatal degree. How humiliating would it be if her assumption turned out to be wrong?
The only option that she had was to ask him directly. More than anything right now, Amy wanted to hear the end of that sentence. Word for word.
He had a phone. It was something that he kept on his person in the event that his crew needed to summon him. Although he didn’t use it all that much, he still responded to every text she sent him, no matter how trivial its contents may have been. He never left her hanging.
Hopefully he wouldn’t leave her hanging now when she needed him to respond more than any other time prior.
This was not a matter for texting. Amy attempted to instead call him - much to her dismay, he did not answer. She was redirected to his inbox to leave a message, which she begrudgingly did in lieu of any other alternative.
“Hey, um… I know I’m going to wish I never sent this message in the morning, but… I wanted to tell you-...” Her words got caught in her throat as she spoke into her phone as though it could lash out at her in retaliation at any moment, fearing for what may occur if she had been wrong. Yet still, she persisted. She had to.
“...You never got to finish what you were trying to say-...,” She muttered, her breath snagging against her tongue as her courage suddenly depleted with no echidna to directly bounce off of. No soothing deep voice to gauge her success off of, no thoughtful violet eyes to scan for sincerity. No big arms to fall into should she need someone to catch her.
She held onto that pause.
…Her thumb grazed over the red button that would end the call. “Forget it.” Amy chose to end the message there.
She was no fool. Deep in her heart, Amy knew the truth. Sonic didn’t want her. He never did. Nobody did. She was convinced that she was too much for anybody at this point. Every relationship she had been in had crashed and burned like a runaway zeppelin smashing into the side of a building. A fiery catastrophe of failure and regret with every investment she made into another person.
Why would Knuckles be any different? If she had no idea he could have felt this way all along, what evidence was there that it could hold any water in the first place?
Stupid girl. Love is in fairy tales and movies. It isn’t for you.
And it never will be.
…
She had no idea that Knuckles had received her call. Amy had been completely unaware that the reason he hadn’t answered as he sat parked in front of his verdant charge was because he had been too terrified to pick up the phone. He listened to her message as she relayed it, his paws clammy, his throat dry, his stomach churning. Amy had caught on. His cover was blown and it was all because of one impulsive lapse in judgment.
This would only hurt her further, he had no doubt about it. If he didn’t finish what he started she’d continue to ache. He couldn’t do that to her. What kind of a friend would allow their friend to wait in the dark suffering like that?
After everything that they’d both been through together as a team?
Knuckles found his resolve yet again. He stood up and puffed his chest out so that he would no longer feel so small in the presence of such a daunting task. Like a tree, he would bend and sway with the elements. This would not break him. Nothing could.
He called her back as soon as she hung up, leaving her not a moment further to wallow in doubt.
Much to his relief, she’d pick up just as swiftly as he called.
He did not greet her with a ‘hello’ or even by calling her name to confirm that it was her on the other end of the line. He cut right to the chase. Enough of her time had been wasted tonight. “You want to know what I was going to say?,” He announced confidently into the speaker.
Amy swallowed hard, shrinking underneath the anticipation of what he could possibly have to say to her. “...I’d be lying if I said I didn’t,” She meekly replied.
“I’ll tell you then. I will tell you what has been true for as long as I have known you, Amy Rose. I will tell you the secret I have kept from you for nearly twenty years. I will tell you what I have ached to tell you since the moment you got your heart broken the first time.” He’d inhale deeply and nearly bark into the phone, finding he had to force it out lest it get stuck somewhere in his throat like it always had.
“I AM IN LOVE WITH YOU!”
He deflated from the relief of finally having these words pass his lips to reach her. With a thud, he dropped back down onto his step and laid there, panting from the thrill of such risky words escaping his thoughts and entering the domain of reality, where there would surely be consequences.
Amy squeaked a bit in response to not only the volume, but the weight of his confession. She had not been imagining things after all. Her conviction was entirely correct. Her best friend had been in love with her all this time and the fact that she had been too caught up in chasing people who didn’t want her for her to realize this ripped a sob out of her. She clasped a hand over her eyes and whimpered, trying (and failing) not to indicate to the man on the phone that she was crying.
Knuckles knew.
His heart felt like it could shatter.
“...You-...,” Knuckles felt a pregnant pause. “...You don’t need to-... I…”
He sat up and carded his claws through his quills, fretting deeply as he had been known to. Social situations were never his forte, least of all romantic ones. “The last thing I want is for you to hurt over this. Forget me if you must.” He took a deep breath and stabilized himself, as he hoped Amy would follow by example. Much to his relief, he heard her inhale and exhale along with him.
“...I have always felt honored to be in your presence. As a friend, as an ally in combat, as… As a brother, if you must,” He declared as he felt a metaphorical dagger wedge itself between his ribs. How he loathed this honorific, but if he had to shoulder that burden for her emotional wellbeing he’d do anything.
She offered him no verbal reassurance. He was only met with the sound of her breathing.
The silence was agonizingly loud.
He shut his eyes tightly and tried his best not to squeeze his phone too hard. It was expensive. He didn’t want to put Tails out and have him make another one just because he couldn’t control himself. Instead, he opted to squeeze his own thigh. His claws crushed the mound of muscle there as he bargained with his soul to expel the tension outright. It was far easier said than done.
“...Please say something,” Knuckles begged quietly.
…
“I was so unaware,” She mewled, sniffling audibly against her mouthpiece as she did. “...That you feel this way. How didn’t I see it sooner?”
Knuckles soothed only somewhat. He still wasn’t certain of whether or not this spelled catastrophe. Left with little other option, he decided to take a page out of Sonic’s book and use some light humour to perhaps alleviate some of this tension between them. “...You um… I always said you may need glasses, right?... Ha… Ha… Um…”
She responded with a giggle. The sound made his heart sing. As if by magic, for but a fleeting moment everything felt okay. He laughed along with her.
“You’re right,” She sighed with relief, laying back in her bed and speaking to him as she buried her cheek against her pillow. “I’m a bit of a blind ditz sometimes, aren’t I? But… But still, you were good at hiding it from me.”
“I guess I was,” He trailed off awkwardly.
“Knuckles?”
“...Yeah?”
“Why did you keep this from me for so long?,” She inquired, her voice wibbling and wobbling as tears once again threatened to escape from her face and stain her sheets.
He could feel his heart soften in response to her vulnerability. Knuckles gave it some thought first, considering his words carefully before offering her some kind of an answer for what must have felt like an injustice to the hedgehog. “...I didn’t think I was on your radar. I um… You are… You… Deserve someone who will treat you well. Someone like me whose duty bound to his charge-... What could I offer you down there?”
“There’s nothing for me down here.”
…
“There’s not?,” Knuckles probed, his confidence shrinking rapidly by the second.
“You’ve seen it. You’ve been there. Even tonight. There is nothing for me down here.”
Amy allowed for another pause to proliferate as confidence changed hands from echidna to hedgehog. “But up there-...”
Knuckles felt his stomach leap up into his chest. As though he somehow wasn’t already, he found that now he was hanging on her every word even more than before. “...Up here…?”
“Maybe… I… I don’t know, maybe I should start looking up. Don’t you think?”
Knuckles sat up. His tail would betray him as it began to wag hopefully. “...Um. I-I guess so.”
Amy laughed fondly, softly. It was an intimate, shy giggle that made his cheeks burn. She hadn’t even considered it until now, just how soft and sweet he could be. If Knuckles were allowed the room to breathe, it seemed as though he could be really charming. “So…” She trailed off only for a moment. “Do you want to… Come over sometime for coffee?”
“Yeah. Yeah I’m… I always have free time for um. For you.”
“Tomorrow morning?,” Amy suggested, a smile in her voice once again.
“It is a date.”