Chapter Text
“so.” rouge hummed, sitting on the kitchen counter. she kicked her legs back and forth, puffballs on the ends of her slippers flying with the movement. “you and amy have that little outing today, huh? you guys really got close after those concerts.”
“you are very attentive, i see.” shadow sighed, swirling around the dark black liquid in his mug. coffee, made fresh this morning by rouge. the bat giggled. “well of course, hun! when the wedding bells ring, me and omega will be front row seated, ready to dine on cake and dance until our feet fall off.. and don’t forget the destination wedding, shadow, very important. maybe go for somewhere tropical? warm? nice water?” chiming in, omega beeped over from the hallway. “I VOTE YES TO THE DESTINATION WEDDING IDEA, SHADOW. I’LL MAKE SURE WE PICK OUT A GOOD PRESENT.”
face even more irritated, shadow turned around to look at rouge first, omega second, and let out the biggest groan. “who even said anything about a wedding?” he turned his back to both of them. “YOUR HEART DID. HA. HA. HA.” omega beeped, moving into the living room to speak his truth before dashing off in an instant. “did he seriously only come in here to berate me?” shadow grumbled, causing rouge to cackle. “we only want what’s best for you, shadow! miss pinky would make a great wife, im sure!” shadow did not laugh, he simply sipped his coffee passive-aggressively before getting up from the couch. “oh come on, sweetie! we’re only teasing.”
shadow walked off to the bathroom, sighing in relief as he turned the sink on. he splashed his face with extremely cold water, a temperature most people would shriek at, but not shadow. his phone started to ring, slightly catching the hedgehog off guard. he grabbed it, knowing it was most likely a certain pink quilled hedgehog.
“hi, shadow!” the voice on the other side of the line chirped. “i know it’s really early, im so sorry if this call is waking you up! but i just wanted to make sure you were still on for today! you haven’t replied to my texts, so-“ before amy could finish her sentence, shadow begun. “yes, we are still.. hanging out today. my apologies for not responding, i was dealing with.. something.”
the something in question was none other than rouge and omega.
“alrighty! just to double check, you got the text with the address, right?” she questioned. “yeah, i have it saved.” he murmured, mostly trying to focus on the drip of the cold water droplets still falling off his face rather than the sweet voice coming from the phone speaker. as he walked into the hall, amy ended the phone call with a kind “great! see ya then at the bookstore!”
“so you’re all worried about a bookstore date.” rouge held back a giggle. “a bookstore date.” rolling his eyes, shadow was looking for his wallet. “over here, big shot.” the bat pointed to the kitchen counter. “wow, she’s got you lost in her trance already, and she isn’t even here!” shadow sighed as he grabbed his wallet, turning to look at rouge. “im glad one of us is enjoying watching me pace around. and it isn’t a date. we’re not like that.”
“LIKE WHAT?” omega boomed, terrifying shadow. “what the hell omega! where did you come from?” he grunted, twisting around to make eye contact with the robot. “HA. HA. HA. SHE HAS YOU CONFUSED.” rouge walked over to omega, giving his metal hand a high five. “that’s what i said!” she snickered, leaning her elbow on the robot’s shoulder. “he’s clueless, even. poor thing. shadow, lets face the facts here.” rouge sighed, hand caressing her forehead as if she had a headache. “you’re totally falling for amy, and everyone knows it but you… and maybe even her, actually.” she smirked, pausing her motions as she turned to look at the hedgehog in question, who was tapping his foot on the floor in a constant movement.
“ACCORDING TO MY DATABASE, THE FEELINGS SHADOW HAS DESCRIBED ABOUT AMY ROSE SO FAR SOUND LIKE: LOVE.” omega bellowed, backing up rouge’s assumptions with ease. “POOR, POOR SHADOW.”
“i don’t need your pity.” shadow mumbled. “and for the record, me and amy aren’t.. anything. i don’t even like her that way.” he crossed his arms, looking away at his two teammates. the teammates in question looked at one another, then slowly back to shadow. “you’re kidding me. you didn’t even correct us when we were joking about you two tying the knot. all you said was; i quote…” as if on queue, omega begun playing back an audio recording of when shadow said “who even said anything about a wedding?”
“why did you record that?” shadow deadpanned. rouge and omega shrugged at the same time, as if they were in total sync with one another. “why can’t you two ever be this agreeable when we’re on an GUN assignment.”
“cause it’s more fun messing with you. we love you, hun! have fun on your little.. not a date date!” rouge waved. “GOOD LUCK SHADOW. DO NOT MESS UP.”
ignoring omega’s oddly threatening farewell, shadow begun to walk over to where his bike was parked outside of omega and rouge’s shared apartment. those two would somehow manage to be the death of his immortal self. in all honesty, he knew deep down that rouge and omega may have been right about something. he could’ve at least thought about him and amy being.. something, once or.. twice. but that’s all it was, a thought. and it only came up when he’d think about his past, his present and his future. when he’d question it all. it was just passing thoughts.
right.
“SOMETHING TELLS ME THAT HE’LL COME AROUND SOON.”
—
meanwhile, in amy’s room, she was staring intensely at herself in her vanity mirror. she was deciding between sea foam green or light purple for todays outfit color scheme, before throwing both back in the closet and ripping out her favorite shade of red. a classic in the wardrobe of amy rose. the outfit wasn’t anything too detailed. a red sweater with a heart detail, a creme colored skirt with thermal leggings and some cute boots. simple, but sweet. and as a bonus, it already matched her favorite headband, so she didn’t need to worry about figuring out how to style a new accessory today.
“all set!” she cheered, adjusting a few fallen throw pillows on the bed. she made her way to the giant corkboard above her bed, sticking out her tongue in focus as she searched for the week. “there we go, i can cross off today!” she had scribbled “hang out w/shadow! >:)” in red and black pen for the first day of the week.
she had planned her and shadow’s hang out at an earlier time than usual, partially due to the plans she had in store for the two of them. shadow confessed he’d never visited the cute little bookstore in station square, and in amy’s eyes that was a crime. the cafe with pastries and coffee beans was nearby as well, which meant that afterward the two could have somewhat of a breakfast together before going through with the rest of the day’s plans.
“i wonder why he said yes, honestly. i practically wrote down a whole list!” she gasped, reading back her texts to shadow. it went a little like.
amy: okay, since you’ve never been to the bookstore, we gotta check it out together! you’re bound to find something!
shadow: Alright. What time?
amy: ummm.. well, if you don’t mind, we could do some other stuff too, if you’re free! im the opposite of busy this whole week.
shadow: Oh. That’s fine. It would be fine.
amy: great! but uh to answer your time question.. since the day may be busy, does 8 am work with you? i know that’s so early ugh!!
shadow: I wake up earlier than that, Amy. But thank you for looking out.
amy: ahhh!! okay! i’ll send some stuff we can do, there’s the cafe, the antique store, the-
and so on, so forth.
“geez, that’s a little embarrassing…” amy mumbled, a little flushed. she was well aware by now that shadow wouldn’t judge her for how she liked to spend their time together, but she couldn’t help but feel self conscious at times. she doesn’t want him to think she’s dragging him around town. “well, anyway! time to go!” she grinned, making her way to her car.
she sung along to her favorite songs on the radio, ignoring that early morning car chill. she waved to a flicky flying by, rolled her eyes when she got caught up in traffic.. and then she pulled into the parking lot of station square. she recognized shadow’s bike almost immediately, choosing to park next to it. “it was meant to be!” the girl nodded assuringly, making her way past the many vehicles parked to go and scope out the bookstore. “shadow!!” she squealed, rushing over. “long time no see!” she joked, snickering a little at her own joke. “kidding, you saw me last week.”
“ha, ha. i suppose this is the place?” he pointed behind him to the store. the front windows were foggy due to the cold atmosphere. amy was thankful she wore thermal leggings today, along with an extra toasty pair of gloves. “yep, sure is! i know the owner pretty well, too!” she smiled, pausing as shadow gently held the door open for her. shadow took in his surroundings slowly. there were shelves upon shelves of books, and the whole place gave off a very warm and homely feeling. he could understand why someone would want to take refuge in such a place. “this way, shadow!” amy whispered, ushering him over from a cart full of books.
“what genre are these?” he looked down, taking note of how shiny the spines of the books were under the lights. “they’re mixed genres! i usually look for romance first, fantasy second, recipe books third.. so on so forth.. makes shopping easier!”
humming in acknowledgment, shadow browsed through the little cart himself, before moving onto the large shelves. the two parted ways, agreeing to regroup once they’d found what they were looking for. shadow.. didn’t really know what he was looking for. he has been meaning to start working on his poems again, so looking for a book full of them could potentially being inspiring.. or he could search for a classic that he used to read from his days on the ark.. many options. eyes peeking at every book that seemed intriguing, shadow landed on one that stuck out like a sore thumb. “the book of love: 100 poems about romance.” he muttered, reading the title aloud to himself quietly. peeking over his shoulder, amy awed. “oooh, how sweet is that!” ears perking up and spine shooting straight, shadow turned his head to look at the slightly smaller hedgehog, who awkwardly laughed. “sorry! i should’ve told you i was right there. i thought you heard me coming, these big boots and all.” she kicked the floor as if to emphasize their noisiness. “no, it’s okay.” he whispered, looking down at her outfit. “is that a new sweater?”
“oh, yeah! hey, you noticed!” she grinned, brushing down her sweater with a gloved hand. “you could probably guess why i bought it, red and all..” shadow murmured under his breath, something something “big heart”. “what, i didn’t catch that?” amy tilted her head. “did you say i have a big heart?”
“i said, it suits you. i like the big heart.”
she looked down, realizing, oh yeah, this sweater DID have a large white heart on the front. duh. oh no, she just said something that probably makes him think she’s egotistical. “you have a big heart too, though.” he added on softly, sliding the book under his right arm as he continued to search through the poem section. amy stood there, quietly absorbing the conversation as if it was soap and she was a sponge. a big heart… usually only cream or vanilla told her things like that. it felt nice to hear it from a dear friend!
“how many books do you have?” amy looked down at shadow’s collection of books, way more than just a few minutes ago. geez, how long did she just stand there thinking about that comment? it was just one sentence! cmon amy! “oh, i got a couple. i read most of these back on the ark, so i’d like to own them again. are you ready to pay?” the two walked over to the cash register, and amy swore she felt a little warmer than usual.
—
as they continue their walk, amy held her hands behind her back, taking big steps. “what are you doing?” shadow raised a brow, immediately noticing how she was practically leaping across the road. “playing a non-jump version of hop scotch.” she shrugged. “me and cream play this game when we walk this way. i guess i kind of subconsciously do it now!” instead of replying, shadow begun to copy amy. he stumbled a bit at first, not expecting the road to be so icy, and then-
slipping at least 5 steps ahead, shadow unfortunately met a sad fate with the very cold concrete floor. “shadow!!” amy yelped, rushing over to his side. “that was a bad fall! are you okay?” her frown was huge, a little bit of guilt eating up at her. “no, im fine.” he groaned, brushing himself off as he got up from the ground. “what’s next? the cafe?”
“i don’t want to go just yet, what if you’re hurt?” she scolded, stubborn and caring as ever. “sit for a moment, please?” she looked up at him with her large green eyes, and shadow swore the world may have stopped for a second there.
he took a seat a bit too quickly for his liking.
the bench was very pretty, he had to admit. a cute green vine design, with little flowers. why was he focusing on such insignificant things like bench details when- oh yeah, amy is inspecting his face for any scuffs. “everything looks okay.. well, you’re good to go then!” she nodded. “please be careful, shadow! i don’t want you getting hurt… ah, your scarf is wet!” shaking his head, shadow begun to speak, voice a bit gruff from the cold air. “it’s okay, amy. it’s just a scarf.”
but he’d be lying if he said he didn’t enjoy the doting a little bit.
—
after the slipping incident, the two had sat inside the cafe, as originally expected. amy was blowing carefully on the lid of her coffee. a white chocolate mocha with peppermint drizzle. shadow had two items, his usual coffee bean cup order but a cup of hot chocolate that amy had insisted she buy him because it was simply too cold to not have a warm drink in hand.
“you know, you did not need to buy this for me.”
“okay, and i did need to buy it for you. now what?” she raised a brow, sipping her drink while making direct eye contact with him. “well then.” he paused, blowing the steam from the lid away before taking a small sip. “it’s not bad.”
“see? i told you hot drinks make cold mornings better!” amy beamed, eyes sparkling. “they warm you right up.”
and so do soft smiles, shadow thought.
—
knocking on the door of rouge and omega’s apartment, shadow realized he completely lost track of the time. it was 4:00 now, and he and amy had been hanging out for hours. they practically visited every building in station square, and then some.. amy got distracted by a nest of flickies that she wanted to photograph, and then they made a snowman.
“the bachelor has arrived.” rouge chuckled to herself as she opened the door. “what’s in the bags?” she pointed down, noticing how heavy it looked. “books, we went to the bookstore, remember?” shadow grumbled, walking in. he had a pep in his step that did not go unnoticed by rouge, however.
“books about what? i know you’re a bookworm, but color me curious.” she yawned. “preferably keep it to a few quick sentences before i pass out. i need a nap.”
“you can look through the bag. i need to get something out of the cabinet i left last week.” shadow stayed, searching for said mystery item. curiously searching through the bag, rouge’s eyes darted to the little romantic poem book. “ohohoho, someone’s in deep yearning territory now. it’ll get him before he knows it. bad.”
—
the moon lit up the front porch of amy’s cottage with a elegant glimmer, shining through her kitchen windows. she hummed to herself as she mixed together some cake batter, red velvet. her hot honey vinyl played in the background, and she swayed to the music slowly as she continued to mixup the batter. today was a great day, she thought to herself.
pouring the fresh batter into the heart shaped pan, she wiped her head and sighed. “im beat. im totally sleeping in tomorrow.” she groaned to no one but herself. she wrapped up the pan in saran wrap, sticking it in the fridge. then she eyed the stack of DVDs she’d rented from the library, and grinned ear to ear.
now, some may say eating a bowl of ice cream and watching cute romantic comedies on a monday evening didn’t sound appealing, but this was really just what she needed, amy thought. she was only in the beginning of the movie, yet she already realized how cliche it was. the social, peppy girl fell for the jock guy, but she then realized that overtime, she started to fall for the broody bad boy.
yes, the irony was lost on her.
as the movie went on, amy got into it more and more. it held her full attention, minus when she had gotten up to fetch a refill on ice cream for her bowl.
“that jock guy seems good on paper, but her heart really did align with the other guy all along…” amy rubbed her eyes, welling slightly with tears. “they had stuff in common they didn’t even know about until they became unlikely friends!” she sniffled, finishing off her ice cream as the credits begun to roll. yawning, she got up from her cozy sofa, fixing up the lopsided pillows before placing the bowl in the sink. not looking forward to the amount of dirty dishes in the sink, she chose to turn the other way and march upstairs, just wanting to sleep and think about the sweet movie she just saw.
after doing her nightly routine, she curled up in bed, plush flicky by her side as per usual. she took a second to look at all the photos of her friends on her bulletin board, smiling to herself when she locked eyes with the image of shadow. the image was the two of them, a very subtle smile on his face. omega had taken the photo one day, when neither of the two were paying attention. she giggled at the memory of shadow chasing after omega after the bright flash went off.
romantic comedy still on her mind, the hedgehog couldn’t help but start thinking about love… real romance. amy had always thought about the idea, and she used to think about it much more when she was younger. for a moment, she thought of sonic. but after years of fawning endlessly for the blue blur, things have started to shift and change. she wasn’t entirely the same hedgehog she once was.
“we just want different things right now.. that’s all.” she murmured, staring down at the little flicky plush. its button eyes stared deep into her soul. “things change.”
—
shadow: I didn’t text you back, my apologies. Thanks for the outing. I like the books.
shadow stared down at his phone, sighing. she was most likely asleep, she didn’t do all nighters on weekdays. he was crashing tonight at rouge and omega’s place, slightly because they had begged him to spare some details about the days events and he didn’t want to brush them off again with an eyeroll like earlier.
“you two are sickeningly sweet.” rouge had winced, grabbing a handful of popcorn. her and omega had dedicated their day off to watch scary monster filled horror movies all day, the exact opposite of shadow and amy’s sweet shopping trip.
“MY DATABASE SAYS THEY SCREAM CLICHE ROMANTIC COMEDY.” omega beeped, head turning to look at shadow. “I CAN SCAN FOR HIS HEARTBEAT.”
“oh, damm you two.” shadow turned away, looking grumpy. “someone’s just mad we’re on to him.” rouge sneered, throwing a piece of popcorn directly at shadow’s head with a playful glint in her eyes. “so. what if i did like her? why do you guys even care.” shadow scowled, but it wasn’t really serious. he just was sick of the questioning, he felt like he was being interrogated or something.
“ooooh.” rouge and omega gasped at the same time. “it’s okay, we believe you.” rouge shrugged, focus now on the TV screen. “ooh, that monster is real scary. right omega?”
“no, you’re lying.” shadow stared at rouge. “you’re only saying that because i.. ugh.” he grunted dramatically. “i don’t really understand certain things sometimes.” suddenly the movie was paused, and rouge’s eyes were attentively on shadow. “go on?” she urged. “well, when we go out places. she brings out a different side of me. it would scare you.” he joked, coughing to cover up his slight chuckle. “i think i need to go on a walk. bye.” as if he regretted this entire conversation, shadow stood up, slowly walking out of the house before he begun skating at rapid speeds around the block.
“yep, he’s got it very, very bad. the denial phase is fading off.. we’ll see how it plays out.” the bat sighed. “omega, let’s go for a drive. something tells me we owe our dear friend a box full of coffee beans.”