Chapter Text
The pitter patter of the raindrops on her room's window wakes Amy up this morning. Groogily,she opens her eyes and pries herself away from her warm,comfy bed.She checks the clock to see it's seven a.m., one hour earlier than when she usually wakes up. Her hazy gaze finds her calender, and notices today's date,circled by her blue pen.
It's Sonic's b-earthday today.
The realisation wakes her up immediately,and she rushes to the bathroom to wash her face. Maddie tasked her with distracting Sonic as Tails and Knuckles decorated their home,since Maddie and Tom'd be at work today.Maddie said she prepared snacks yesterday,but Amy wants to make her signature strawberry muffins, and the triple chocolate cookies Sonic loves, so she has to bake them before Sonic wakes up and she has to meet up with him.
Tails said they convinced Sonic to sleep in to make some time for her to bake,as he normally goes for a run everyday at 8 a.m., and passes by her cottage to say hi. Sometimes he convinces her to come with him, which only happens when the weather is nice.If she doesn't come along, he welcomes himself in,and they chat for a while. She almost always readies breakfast or some sort of a snack, because Sonic's stomach is a bottomless pit.He devours everything she makes on top of having breakfast with his parents before they leave for work. The thought makes her giggle as she changes into her red dress, and she does her bed.
With a few steps out of her room,she reaches her kitchen, as cottage she lives in is quite small,but enough for her.Her friends built it for her,with Tails doing the planning, Knuckles doing the heavy lifting and Sonic making use of his speed to help Knuckles out. Carl allowed them to build the cottage on his land,saying that he didn't have a better use for it. To show her gratitude,Amy helps Carl and keeps him company whenever she can. They get along so well,and Carl endearingly calls her the pink devil.The name's origin saddened her a bit when she first heard it,because Sonic was making his presence known only to Carl,and Carl was made fun of because of it. But Sonic and Carl always tell their tales with laughter,so she guesses it isn't much of a bad thing like she initially thought it was.
She puts her apron on, a gift from Rachel, and she looks through the window that oversees the path that Sonic always uses,and knocks on, before calling out her name,like a knock off Romeo.She laughs to herself, they are no Romeo and Juliet, but sometimes, she feels like it's impossible for her and Sonic to be together,like it was for them. For him, she'd gladly die,and she knows he'd do the same. But she doubts he'd live with her. The walls he built around himself are too high for her to climb,too thick to break through. It isn't that he is cold towards her, quite the opposite, he always says she is his best friend. That no one gets him the way she does.Amy stands up for him while also standing up to him whenever she thinks is the right time to do so,and Sonic has told her many times he is grateful for it, that she keeps him in check.
Then why,she wants to ask,so badly, why don't you love me?
The thought almost makes her tear up, and she sniffs,shaking her head and lightly slapping her cheeks to keep her composure. It isn't the time to cry, it's a day to celebrate. If Sonic hadn't come to this world, not even one of them would, as Tails had said many times before. The boys'd never find their parents, and Amy'd never meet them.She wipes away her tears,and takes milk out of her fridge along with some eggs,and after placing both on the counter she hears her phone ping with a notification.
It's a good morning text from Maddie, and when she clicks on it, Maddie calls her, saying that Sonic isn't on his bed, and asks her if she had seen him. She glances out the window,and sees the rain is even heavier than when she first woke up. Worry rises in her chest, and she tells Maddie she'll find him,and hangs up before Maddie can protest. She is the only one who knows the usual paths Sonic uses in his runs,as she accompanied him many times before,so this isn't a matter to think over for her, she is going,end of discussion.
She takes her apron off and grabs her raincoat from her wardrobe.She puts her boots on and takes the umbrella near her door. She opens her door, and the wind hits her face,sweeping up her bangs. She opens her umbrella, and tries to keep it over her head while quickening her steps. She follows the path Sonic uses often,and calls out his name once she enters the forest,as she'd wake up only the birds in here.The wind makes her umbrella turn inverse, and she closes it, tired of the battle to keep it upright.
She starts running,the soles of her boots hitting the ground,and the water splashes with her every step,dirtying her boots. She doesn't care,though,all she cares about is finding Sonic amd bringing him home. She shouts his name, the rain muffles the sound,but she doesn't give up. And finally,she spots him. He is a bit far from her, but finding him is enough. She calls out his name, but he doesn't hear.She tries to catch up,and quickens her steps,but the muddy ground makes her slip.She lets out a yelp as she falls on her side,her ankle twisting.
She groans as pain travels through her whole leg,and watches as Sonic puts even more distance between them. She looks at herself,her dress is soaked,and turned an ugly brown because of the mud.Her quills are flattened against her skull,and her ankle still hurts.Her throat is sore from shouting,and she feels like she is about to cry.
But she can't give up. Sonic might be very...reckless but even he wouldn't go out for a run in this rain.There is definitely something troubling him,and Amy is determined to find out what. So she pries herself away from the ground,and stands up, putting her weight on her healthy leg. She winces once she steps with her other foot, but clenches her jaw.She has faced worse before, walking with a sprained ankle is nothing to her. She takes a few steps,and picks up pace when she is accoustomed to pain. When Sonic is in hearing range,she stops,and cups her hands around her mouth.
"Sonic! Help!" She shouts, if there is something Sonic can't ignore,it's a cry for help.Just like she planned,Sonic turns around.Their eyes meet,and the sparks enveloping him fade.His lips part open,and his eyebrows knit together.
"Ames?" He asks,and he is by her side before she can even blink.
"What happened? Why are you here?" He fusses over her, circling her to see if she is alright.She catches his arm,making him stop.
"I should ask you the same thing! Why are you out running in this weather?" Amy gets closer to his face,and he turns his head away,almost like he is trying to hide something.
"Wait...Are you crying?" Amy asks,and he harshly wipes at his eyes, turnes to her, and lets out a wet giggle and forces a laugh
"Me? Crying? Nah,I don't do that! Must have been the rain or something." He crosses his arms against his chest and forces a huge grin on his face,but she isn't fooled.Because she didn't just see tears on his face,his eyes are red and he has dark eyebags.She doubts he got enough sleep,if any at all.
"If you say so..." Amy decides to let the topic go for now,and Sonic starts walking ahead. She follows him slowly,since she ran on her injured ankle it hurts a lot more now. She yips,and sees Sonic's ear turn towards her slightly,and he is beside her again.
"Are you okay? I forgot that you asked for my help!" Sonic says,finally remembering how he noticed Amy today in the first place.
"I'm alright.Just sprained my ankle.I'll walk fine if I just..." She mumbles. throwing her arm around Sonic's shoulders to lean on while walking.But Sonic hooks his arm on the back of her knees,and lifts her up.She yelps with surprise,and Sonic shakes his head to sides,clicking his tounge.Amy feels her muzzle heat up, she is sure she is blushing right now,so she places her hands on her cheeks as a futile attempt to hide her face.
"You think I'll allow you to walk on an injured leg? In this rain?! You don't know me at all, Rosy." With the usage of the most embarrasing nickname Sonic has ever given her after how her cheeks turn rosy when she is flustered, she is now certain that he knows she is blushing,and he is enjoying it.Amy groans,burying her face on his chest when he glances down at her.He is the rain she runs from, making a mess out of her.He is the one to make her slip and fall,yet also the umbrella she hides underneath, shielding her from the wind and the cold.He is both her worst daydream and prettiest nightmare.It's complicated,what is between them. Like a rush she'll never take a breath in,but it's also what keeps her heart beating.
Sonic keeps looking at her,half of her face is on his chest,while other half is covered by her quills, sticking on her face.He brushes them away, and finally sees her eye, shining like always.It's like someone stole stars from the sky and hid them in her eyes. Sonic likes to think they shine that way just for him.
"There you are." He whispers, Amy lifts her head away from his chest,and their noses almost brush against each other. Their eyes widen, and Sonic turns his head away fast while praying that she won't hear his heart beat loudly in his chest. To his unaware dismay, his pulse provides the soundtrack of Amy's mental breakdown. Flustered,Sonic does what he knows the best.
He runs.
"Sonic!" Amy yells,stretching out the last syllable of his name even until they are halfway to her cottage.The wind against them hits their faces,full of raindrops.Amy squeezes her eyes shut, and balls her fists. Thankfully, they reach her house minutes after,otherwise Amy'd have too much time planning Sonic's downfall,and gather enough resolve to actually go through with it .He stops at her door suddenly, almost cartoonishly, and Amy starts fixing her bangs and quills that were swept up by the wind.
"Key?" Sonic asks,but Amy is too invested in fixing her quills to hear him.He smirks,and ruffles her quills,messing them all up again.Amy groans,and pouts at him,making him giggle.
"What do you want?!" She huffs,and Sonic laughs even more.He only stops when Amy punches his chest.He almost doubles down,but manages to steady himself,he hasn't been training with her and Knuckles for nothing.
"The key..." Still, him being more durable doesn't mean her punch didn't hurt,so he barely makes out the word through gritted teeth.Amy glares at him,and pulls the door handle down without even looking at it,the door slowly opens,and the creaking of it completes Amy's dramatic flair. Sonic wipes the soles of his shoes on Amy's doormat and steps in.
"You don't lock your door? We can't have that,Ames. What if a smooth criminal swipes in and steals all your stuff?" Sonic teases with a huge grin on his face,and Amy groans, throwing her head back so fast that Sonic worries her neck'll snap.
"I do lock my door.But today is an exception because some idiot decided to run in this weather,then his poor mother called me,and I had to find him!" Amy answers, turning her head away from Sonic.
"C'mon Amy, we both know mom wouldn't ask you to find me. You were just too worried to sit still,weren't you? I guess that makes us two idiots who decided to run in this weather." Sonic finally reaches her room,and Amy glances around, wondering if she had left something out that she wouldn't want her crush regretably to see.When she makes sure the room is clear,she sighs.
"I wish I had taken a kitten along instead! At least the poor thing'd appreciate me! " She says,placing the back of her hand on her forehead. Sonic deadpans,and drops Amy on her bed, she falls down with a yelp,the bed barely holding up beneath the force of her body colliding on it.She rubs on her temples ,and takes a deep breath.
"I just want to ask Sonic,why?"
"Since you asked for a kitten instead of me, you lost Sonic's bestie privileges, trademark pending." Sonic says with a chuckle while placing a pillow beneath her leg to elevate it. So much for losing privileges,she thinks, but she decides to play along.
"Privilege? What privilege?! I only know pain!" Sonic snickers, and pulls her chair beside the bed and sits,looking over her to see if he can do anything else.
"There you go,all set,your highness the drama queen." He places his elbows on the bed and rests his chin on his hand.She giggles,and her gaze softens.
"Jokes aside I...I appreciate you for...today.Really." He says,looking into her eyes, and Amy forgets to even breathe for a second.
"Don't mention it...It's what friends are for, right?" She says,the word feels wrong on her tounge, and she can't even bare to hear it filling the air between them,yet she says it anyway.
"Heh.Yeah,friends." He repeats, afraid that if he doesn't acknowledge it, they'll turn into something more...Something different. .Something scary. And most importantly,something Sonic isn't ready for.Not yet.
"And if you want to talk about...something else. I'll glady listen." Amy says, placing a hand on Sonic's arm. Sonic's eyes fall on her hand,and he feels his muzzle heat up.
"Something else? Like what?" He stutters,and Amy giggles,but her joy is short lived as she remembers the state she found him in today.
"Like,why did you go for a run today?" She asks,and he lets out a huff in relief, he thought she'd want to talk about...that something he isn't ready for.
" I wanted to exercise? What is wrong with that?" He says,averting his gaze when Amy narrows her eyes at him.
"Exercise? You don't need to exercise in rain at the creak of dawn! And on your b-earthday, no less!" She says,and doesn't miss the way Sonic flinches when she says b-earthday. He falls silent,and sighs.
"Is this about it? Your b-earthday? What happened?" Amy asks,but Sonic stands up without looking back at her.
"I forgot to wrap your ankle. I'll be back in a minute." He mumbles, and Amy slaps a hand on her forehead. Now that he mentions it, she realizes he threw her on the bed with her boots on.That boy is going to be the death of her.
She pulls her boots and socks out,sighing with relief once the pressure on her injured ankle is finally off. Now that her biggest distraction is out of her room, she finally registers she should dry herself and change into new clothes. She stands up slowly, closes the door, limps towards her wardrobe.Her dress thrown on her chair,she dries her body and grabs her cotton gray long sleeved dress. Amy dries her quills next,and with her comb,she tries to give her quills and bangs their usual shape,but it's hard without using any heat. Her ankle starts to hurt, so she lays down on her bed again.Amy perks up when Sonic knocks,and she tells him to come in, and he opens the door, her first aid kit and an ice pack at hand.
"Hey." He greets softly,she greets back,raising a brow,and he takes a seat on her chair again.
"Can I see?" He gently pulls her foot towards himself when she nods,and furrows his brows,concentrating on her ankle.It's swollen, and she hisses when he touches it, but he doubts it's broken.Still,he resolves to take Amy to Maddie's clinic once it's closed,so that they'll be sure nothing is broken or fractured. It's the least he could do for her, he is the reason she fell in the first place.
"Move your foot up and down." She does as she is told,Sonic can see in her face that it hurts a bit,but the fact that she can do it means she isn't injured that badly. He purses his lips,and examines her ankle again,this time touching the parts that aren't swollen.She doesn't even react,but Sonic doubts it doesn't hurt,Amy has a bad habit of hiding her pain,especially when it comes to Sonic himself.
"Will I live?" Amy says with a laugh, and Sonic's taken out of his thinking process. It's rare to see Sonic quiet and so lost in his thoughts,and it bothers her more than she'd imagine.
"What?" Sonic asks,the word sounds like someything between a scoff and a chuckle.
"You look like you have some bad news,doctor." She teases,and Sonic rolls his eyes,fighting the smile that tugs on his lips.
"I think you just sprained it,but I want to take you to Maddie on the evening, just to be sure. For now I'll just put some ointments on and bandage it." He says,taking the ointments and bandages out of Amy's fist aid kit that Maddie prepared. Maddie taught all of them how to treat each other in case she isn't there,like when Metal Sonic attacked or they had to go after Shadow,and he finds himself grateful for that. He works slowly,and shows even more care when Amy hisses upon his touch.
When he is done,he places her foot back on the pillow,and puts the ice pack on top of it. Amy looks down at her foot, and admires how neatly Sonic wrapped it up.
"Good job! You're your mother's son,huh?" Amy says wtih a smile,and Sonic sheepishly smiles,scracthing the back of his neck.
"It's nothing,really! I just bandaged it." He waves her off with a laugh,and Amy shakes her head.
"For me, it's everything." She mutters, and Sonic's lip part,he is at loss of words. His eyes widen,and blood ushes to his cheeks, he is sure he is blushing now. Amy glances away from him,feeling stupid for making...what exactly is between them awkward. Then,she hears her phone ring, and Sonic turns his head towards the door.
"I'll go get it." He says under his breath,and before Amy can say it's in the kitchen,he disappears in a flash.Amy loudly groans,placing her hands on her face.
"I'm an idiot!" She whines,Sonic has been so sweet to her even though something is clearly bothering him,and she just had to ruin it.She takes in a deep breath, and tries to steady her nerves.His face after she complimented him flashes before her eyes.Despite the awkwardness after she says something that flusters him,Amy thinks she'll always love how pretty Sonic looks when he is shy.
Sonic returns with her phone,and hands it to her.
"It's Tails. They found your umbrella where we ran into each other, so they were worried you got lost too." He explains,and she gasps, looking through her missed calls to see Maddie and Tom called her several times too.
"They must've been so worried! How could I forget to let them know?" Amy whines, but she knows the reason all too well.Sonic. Whenever he is near,she is nothing but calm and collected.She used to pride on being the most responsible one in their team,but now she painfully sees that she is no better than Sonic.
"Don't mind it, Tails'll let mom and dad know, and no one'll worry anymore! Problem solved! Now scooch over." Sonic says,already sitting on the edge of her bed.
"Scooch over?" Amy mutters, her eyes widening as her brain reboots.
"Yes,you know,make room for me please?" The explanation is even more panic inducing for her,as she finally registers that Sonic technically wants to share a bed with her.Amy scooches over as she internally screams, either she actually fell on her head, and she is still lying on the cold forest floor, dreaming all of this, or it's Sonic who actually hit his head, because there is no way he'd share a bed with her. But the boy takes out his shoes, and lifts his legs on the bed,settling like he owns the place.
"Why?" She blurts out,her voice too small and shaky. Right now the powerful hammer wielding heroine is gone, love-sick Amy Rose took her place,and she isn't willing to go back to the basement in her heart anytime soon.
" I didn't get much sleep...also got tired from running today. As far as I know,there isn't any other bed I can rest on,right?" Sonic says with a chuckle,his gaze locked on the ceiling.Amy hums, biting down on her lip to keep herself from giggling at his poorly thought-out excuses.
"Besides,Tails did tell me to keep you under close observation." He says,turning his face towards her,just as she does the same.
"I mean...for your ankle! Yes! I'm only observing your ankle closely! What else could I observe anyways?!" He stammers, placing his hand on his knees. His mind gladly provides what else he could observe, as his eyes land on her lips,then how the dress she changed into hugs her figure- Nope,not going there right now. He averts his traitorious gaze and diverts it on to the ceiling.
" Yeah...My ankle! That I sprained very badly!" Amy stutters,and Sonic nervously laughs. Now that he thinks about it, Tails might have been teasing him. Sonic groans,that sly fox,of course he was making fun of him.He saw Tails' words as an opportunity to tease Amy,to see how rosy her cheeks get again, not thinking over what kind of a situation he'll end up in before lying down near her.Now,their faces inches away,their hands even more closer, Sonic is in the exact place he is trying to run away from,but also where his own feet carries him right into.
It's alright,he tells himself, Amy and him shared a bed a few times before,like when Knuckles and Tails woke up from their nap before them, and left them alone...Now that he thinks about it, he is very suspicious about that time too.
"Sonic?" Her voice is squeaky as she says his name,she cringes at the sound,and Sonic hums in response.
"Why couldn't you sleep last night?" Amy asks,and Sonoc groans. Just when he was enjoying her presence and trying to get a semblance of peace for today,she had to bring it up again.
"Why can't you just let it go,Amy?!" Sonic says,turning to her,and his voice comes out harsher than he intended.Her eyes widen, she turns her head away immediately,and Sonic regrets even opening his big mouth.
"Look,Ames,I...I didn't mean to-"
"What,Sonic? You didn't mean to hide your troubles from your best friend? You didn't mean to be all sweet ,didn't mean to lay on my bed beside me,then yell at me for just...caring? " Amy says,trying to keep her anger under control,but it's hard, and her voice breaks as tears fill her eyes. Sonic's mouth falls agape,and he balls his fists.
"That's not it!I just...can't right now..." He bits on his lip to stop it from trembling,and he averts his gaze as Amy wipes her tears away.He did this,he made her cry, and it's unbearable to see her shed tears for him when he deserves it the least.
"You can't expect people to give up on you when you push them away,Sonic.You can't decide this."
"Then you decide." Sonic asks,his eyes so hollow that Amy feels like she is staring into a void.
"What?" She stutters,utterly in disbelief.He stands up,turns his back,and looks at Amy over his shoulder.
"Give up on me,Ames." His voice cracks,and he feels so,so pathetic.As he is about to stand up,she grabs his arm.
"You don't get to leave after saying something like that,idiot! How can you ask me to give up on you when I..." Amy's words trail off when she sees him trying to wipe his tears away,and she lets go off his arm.
"I know... I know how hard it's to....care.That's why I....I want you to give up so when something bad happens,you won't be hurt." He says.and turns his gaze down on the ground.Amy scooches over to him,gets as close as she can without hurting her ankle, and laughs dryly.Sonic raises a brow,but before he can say anything,she starts talking.
"What kind of logic is this? How... Please help me understand,why just me?"
"I allowed my family to get close before I realised the pattern,but now it's obvious.I couldn't protect them,but I can still protect you." Amy doesn't know if she should laugh or cry anymore.His seriousness while saying the ridiculous argument is actually funny wihout context. If he wasn't the love of her life and wasn't telling her to stop loving him,she'd laugh.
" Can't you see it, Amy? I lost Longclaw just when I started to...realize she was more than a mentor! Years ago,on this day, Knuckles and I lost everything."
"On this day..." Amy repeats,the puzzle pieces finally falling to their places.
"Today... might be your b-earthday.But before, it's always been the day Longclaw died." Amy says,and Sonic nods, taking in a deep breath.
"Then I.. almost lost Tom and Maddie,just after we became a family, both with Eggman and..what happened at GUN HQ! I... I left Knuckles and Tails behind...many times,when all they wanted to do was to be there for me!" He says,gasping for breath through his sobs. He takes his head between his hands,and Amy sits beside him,not minding how it hurts to keep her foot on the ground anymore.She gently places her hand on his shoulder, and rubs it in circles.
"I can't stand seeing you hurt...Let me have this one,Amy, let me save you." He mutters between his sobs,and Amy's heart breaks.She pries his hands away from his head,and he confusedly looks at her.She takes his face in her hands,and cups his cheeks,catching the tears that fall down his eyes. He places one hand on her right hand, running his thumb over it as he breathes in.She can't help but cry as well.She has never seen this sight of him,but she is glad he showed it to her.
"I've hurt you so much already." He whispers,as if afraid that even speaking out will somehow harm her.
"Then I can keep loving you, too." She says,and his hand on hers falls to his side.
"That's the exact opposite of what I'm saying!"
"How so? You said you were too late to save your family,as they've all been hurt because of you, that means you are late for me as well!" She says,and Sonic bursts into tears. How does he manage to be late for everything,when he is supposed to be the fastest thing alive?
"Aww, come here!" She coos,and wraps her arms around him,pulling him in her embrace.His arms hover around her form as she places her hand on the back of his head,and the other on his back.
"It still doesn't work like that." He says with a watery laugh, and Amy smiles through her tears.
"Then it can't work at all,I won't allow it." Sonic's arms finally embrace her, and she nuzzles against his cheek, their tears mixing alongside their fur. After a few minutes,Sobic tries to wiggle out of her hold,but she squeezes harder.
"Ames?"
"I'm not letting you go anytime soon."
"I wasn't going to ask you to."
"Then what?"
"Thank you.For loving me, I....Guess I'm not making it any easier."
" Who told you that?" Amy stutters,and Sonic laughes.
"You did.Minutes ago." Amy pushes him away from her,and takes her face in her hands,groaning.He grabs her shoulders with both hands,and squeezes,making her look up to him.
"It's okay. You aren't alone in this." He says,and winks,then dashes out of her room,stifling his giggled woth his hand like a little kid.
"Wha...What does that supposed to mean? Sonic!"