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Blaze was nothing if not loyal—or at least she liked to consider herself so—and Silver had been her ride or die for almost a decade of her life now. He put up with her blunt, sarcastic nature despite his quiet bashfulness. If she was feeling more poetic, she might pull out some flowery parallels about fire and water.
Silver always embarrassedly chastised her for being so brazen in his stead—stepping up for him when his anxiety grew too great, saying things he might not otherwise. From the outside looking in, she knew how it might seem—controlling, invasive, overstepping. But she just wanted Silver to be happy. She truly, truly did. So she helped in the only way she knew how—by being bold for the both of them.
And this had been her boldest plan yet.
She adjusted her trademark ponytail, the tufts of fur pulled through a glittering gold band to match the knight costume she was wearing. She leaned into the large plastic rock behind her, fiddling with the fake sword at her side as she watched Amy struggle to navigate a game of mini-golf through the ruffles of her princess dress.
Halloween at Eggman’s had apparently been something of a tradition for Amy and her friends when they were kids. And now that they had reconnected, she jumped at the chance to revive the yearly gathering.
So here they were among the cotton spiderwebs and the cheap skeletons thrown about—a half-hearted attempt by the employees to make the arcade appear more spooky. After hours of the bright lights of arcade games, some of their motley crew of costumed compadres decided to take a break outside with a quick game of mini-golf.
Knuckles had waved off the offer, staying inside to try and impress Rouge with his knowledge of various gems. Tails declined as well, using the inspiration provided by his pilot costume to beat his high score on some sort of flying simulator. And Silver, despite Blaze’s attempts to convince him otherwise, didn’t come with them either, quickly coming up with a flimsy excuse of wanting to try out the arcade’s new VR game.
Which left herself, Amy, and the real reason for Silver’s decline—Sonic and Shadow.
Blaze had been eyeing the pair all night. Shadow had only come because Sonic invited him—supposedly an opportunity to finally push Silver closer to his years-long crush.
But Shadow seemed almost reluctant to leave Sonic’s side all night.
Blaze knew she shouldn’t be meddling. She should just let the cards fall where they may. But dammit, if Shadow the goddamn Hedgehog of all people was who Silver wanted to be with, Blaze would try her best to at least nudge the cards into landing where they would like them to.
An excited shout from Sonic pulled Blaze out of her thoughts.
“Ha-ha! Take that, Shadow! Hole in one, which means I’m still winning!” He pumped his fist in victory, a few tufts of the cheap fake fur flying off of his ‘werehog’ costume.
Shadow crossed his arms and flushed as Amy giggled. To anyone else it might look like the reserved, grumpy hedgehog was just embarrassed about having his skills in anything questioned, but Blaze was suspicious.
Her gaze followed him as Sonic lined up his shot, watching as his eyes lingered on Sonic’s form, the way his look softened as Sonic grinned in delight.
“Oh, Shadow! Did you see that? I totally nailed that loop-de-loop.”
The briefest flash of half-smile tugged at the edge of Shadow’s lips even as he rolled his eyes at the antics.
Blaze blinked.
Oh.
Oh no.
Shadow was a lost cause. He had been for a while—she realized that now.
All of Shadow’s time with Sonic was starting to become filled with moments like this—soft, sweet, utterly besotted.
And, to Sonic’s credit, Shadow looked lighter than she had ever seen him.
Her chest ached for Silver’s pining—snuffed out before it could even begin to be requited.
Blaze let out a breath as she linked her arm with Amy’s, bending down to kiss her cheek. Sonic was a good guy, willing to go along with her self-titled ‘Shadilver’ scheme. But it was a wash from the beginning.
And, if nothing else, they at least deserved to be happy. She couldn’t take that from them. And she knew Silver wouldn’t want to either.
Sonic poked Shadow in the side as they walked away from the last hole, still grinning like a cat who got the cream—or a hedgehog who had won an impromptu mini-golf game.
“Good game, buddy.” Sonic said cheerfully, seeming to think nothing of Shadow’s silence as the older hedgehog walked ahead.
Blaze lingered behind, leaning against the counter as Sonic returned their gear.
She stopped him as he turned around. “You really don’t see it, do you?”
Sonic blinked, confusion breaking through the high of his competitiveness. “See what?’
Blaze deadpanned. “Shadow? The way he looks at you?”
“Oh you mean all grumpy-like?” Sonic joked with a shrug. “He does that to everyone.” He winked. “But I think he’s coming around. He didn’t even get mad when I called him buddy earlier. He usually hates that.”
It took nearly all her strength to not groan aloud at his ignorance. “Listen, Shadow is—to use your phrasing—‘grumpy’ around everybody except you. What do you think that means?”
There was a brief flash of panic in Sonic’s face, but it was gone almost as soon as it appeared, replaced with an awkward smile as he rubbed a hand on his neck. “Well, I mean, we’ve been spending a lot of time together because of this project so that’s gotta—”
“We both know that’s not what I mean.” Blaze paused, letting out a sigh. She placed a gentle hand on Sonic’s shoulder. “Look, full disclosure, this isn’t about Silver anymore. This is about you. And Shadow. And what you two want.”
Sonic was silent for a few moments, wide-eyed, before letting out a laugh. But it wasn’t as boisterous of a sound as it was earlier. It was...startled, almost. “Shadow’s just a good pal. He probably just seems weird because he doesn’t spend time with a lot of people—that’s all.” Sonic shrugged off Blaze’s hand, striding forward before she could probe him any further. “Anyway, they’re probably looking for us so we should get back.”
Blaze deflated, conceding and following Sonic back to the group. She watched as Sonic became more careful, kept more distance between him and Shadow, made his gestures explicitly fraternal.
She could almost feel Shadow wincing internally every time.
By the end of the night, she’d had enough. She pulled out her phone as her discarded knight’s costume landed on her bathroom floor, opening her thread with Amy.
“Abort on Mission Shadilver. Mission Sonadow is a go.”