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Sonic was a stranger to not being able to sleep. It wasn’t the couch, he had crashed on Tails’ couch before and found it comfortable. He’d usually be sleeping in the guest room, but since Cosmo returned a few weeks ago Tails had practically given it to her. She had tried to let Sonic have it instead but he insisted that he didn’t mind. She was back and Tails was happy that’s all that mattered to Sonic. However, when those two were in a room together they always maintained some form of physical contact. When Sonic saw that it’s like he’d become aware of every nerve ending in his body. If Amy was in the room, it was almost as if he would be magnetically pulled to her. He wanted to grab her hand and hold it as casual as he’d eat a chili dog. The thought was unsettling to him. They’d held hands before, though it was Amy who would instigate it and Sonic thought it would be weird for him if he had tried to start that. As Amy grew she got less clingy, less touchy and Sonic appreciated that, but he secretly wished that she would be a bit more touchy sometimes. What was wrong with him? He was Sonic the Hedgehog. If he can face incomprehensible gods of time and space then he could surely just hold someone’s hand. He figured he’d do it tomorrow, after all the four of them are going shopping together for decorations of Cosmo’s room. Confident in his abilities to start some hand holding he felt himself drift off to sleep.
Apparently, Sonic the hedgehog was definitely one to chicken out of holding someone’s hand. Ever since Amy arrived at Tails’ place to get them started on the day, he had been trying to sneak his hand into hers, but she always seemed to move out of the way just before he could grab it. Not only that, but he was very hesitant whenever the moment presented itself. He’d stare at her hand for a few seconds before trying to reach, albeit with his own shaking. He silently cursed at himself at not taking the perfect opportunity when it was right in front of him. His chances plummeted when Amy had taken a turn to push the cart along in the store. He felt himself deflate as for the rest of the time they were inside the store, she was pushing the cart along.
Once they were done shopping, Amy had decided to take all of them out for an afternoon snack. Sonic had continuously glanced over at Tails and Cosmo, who hadn’t let go of each other the entire time or stopped talking. Everything seemed to excite Cosmo and she had wanted to understand as much as she could. They had all stopped by a place called Frosters for something quick. The golden retriever who was taking their order noticed who he was speaking to and was very hesitant with every word he’d said. Sonic rolled his eyes and looked into the worker’s. “You gonna ask for a picture or what?” That one question made his tail wag behind him as he nodded. Sonic and Amy stood behind Tails and Cosmo as the worker raised his phone into the air and snapped the photo. He gave a quick “Thank you” as he gave all of them their food. Sonic found it weird that an ice cream place would have chili dogs, but he wasn’t complaining. Amy had ordered a strawberry shortcake sundae and Cosmo and Tails had opted to share some mint chocolate chip ice cream. When they were taking the picture, Sonic could feel Amy’s shoulder press against his. That little bit of contact seemed to have satiated whatever problem he was having, but he still wanted more.
In the time Sonic had usually finished his chili dog, he had only finished half of it, which Amy found odd. She noticed that he had been staring at Cosmo and Tails as they sat there. She followed his gaze to see that he had been staring at their shoulders. She didn’t find anything odd about them, just that they were touching. Sonic almost seemed…jealous? No, but she did notice some longing in that gaze of his. Amy was very well versed in body language, as she had felt it helped people open up a bit more. Now that she thought about it, Sonic was acting weird all day. He wasn’t speaking as much and something seemed to be wrong with him. At a few points of the day she could have sworn he was mere inches apart from her when they were in the store. “Sonic, is everything alright?” She reached out to touch his arm and noticed he had flinched a little. He turned his head away as if pretending not to notice she was touching him. “Uh, yeah Ames. You know me.” He flashed her his usual smile, but she wasn’t having it. She had wanted to point it out right there but didn’t want to make him uncomfortable, so she decided to save it when they were back at Tails’ place.
Everyone had finished their food and threw their trash away as Amy had given the cashier a tip and wished him a good day. Once all of them had their seatbelts on, save for Sonic who opted to run, they made their way back to Tails’ place without issue and put all the stuff they had gotten in the living room. “Alright, everyone. We can get started tomorrow. Just enjoy the rest of your day as you want.” Tails dragged Cosmo up to his room explaining video games, leaving Amy and Sonic alone. “Welp, today was fun, Ames. Good to hang out with you all.” Before he could run off, Amy spoke. “Hold it, speedster. You’ve been acting weird all day.” She walked closer to him with a sympathetic look on her face. “Do you think you could tell me what’s going on?” Sonic froze, trying to think of a way out of this. He was being a bit more open with his feelings thanks to Amy, but it was still something he was hesitant to talk about. He was the hero, after all, he didn’t find his feelings all that important when the world was at stake. Besides, he rarely ever felt depressed and the closest he got was during the metal virus.
Sonic hesitantly turned to look at Amy. He could plainly see that she was worried about whatever was bothering him. It was just holding hands, so what was the big deal? Why was it bothering him so much? If it wasn’t such a big deal, why shouldn’t he ask right here and now. As he opened his mouth, the words got stuck in his throat. He knew Amy wouldn’t laugh or get upset, but the stress of how she might react got the better of him. That’s when she noticed the bags under his eyes. “Sonic, did you sleep well last night? You…didn’t have another nightmare did you?” The metal virus had done a number on everyone and nightmares were a common result of that apocalypse, to which Sonic wasn’t immune. Sometimes, Amy had cuddled Sonic whenever he had one, he never asked her to and would probably be worse off than right now if he had. The memories had made him much more aware of his nerve endings; he could swear he could count them. Thankfully Amy was patient and she knew Sonic well enough to know that while he was the fastest thing alive, he was also slow to confront his emotions.
“Just rip off the band aid Sonic!” He screamed to himself in his head. Taking a deep breath, he turned to Amy and started to speak. “I-I don’t know what’s going on with me. When Tails and Cosmo are around I just…can’t help but notice that they’ve always some form of contact going on. I’m not…jealous or anything just that I…want that a bit more myself, I guess? I don’t know, it's stupid.” Amy gestured for Sonic to sit down on the couch, when he did she sat down right next to him. “It’s not stupid Sonic. Let me guess, your body feels more sensitive than usual when someone touches you?” He turned to look at Amy, confused about how she could tell exactly what was going on. “How did you-” Amy cut him off. “It’s not anything to be embarrassed about. What’s happening to you is called touch starvation. When you want someone to touch you, whether that means hold your hand, or link arms. You just want it more commonly than it happens.” Sonic slumped down on the couch with relief knowing that it was normal.
Sonic snapped back into reality when Amy had grabbed onto his hand tightly. “Is this better?” He nodded, relaxing as he stared down at their hands with a smile on his face. Amy had decided to give Sonic the best she could, so she scooched close enough to him where she laid on his arm. “What if…what if I want this more in public?” Amy looked at him, seeing the stress in his face and gave him her best reassuring smile. “If you’re too nervous to say it out loud, just tap my fingers. I promise I won’t judge you. Same with at night, if you have a nightmare or are just feeling cuddly then just knock on my door five times.” Amy wanted to scream at how adorable Sonic was acting, but didn’t want to throw out all the progress she had just made with him. “Thanks Ames…” She leaned up to give Sonic a peck on the cheek. “Anytime Sonic.” She relaxed back onto his arm thinking that she could get used to this.